ELISHA VALLADARES-CORMIER
CATHOLIC VALUES COLUMNIST
National
Police officers killed in Texas, New York
Two police officers were killed in the line of duty last week, one in Harris County of Texas and the other in New York City. Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, a 10-year veteran, was shot in the head Sept. 28 after he had pulled over a car and spoken with the driver. When Dhaliwal began walking back to his patrol car, the driver he stopped allegedly stepped out of his vehicle and shot Dhaliwal in the back of the head before fleeing from the scene. A 47-year-old man, Robert Solis, was arrested and charged with capital murder. A veteran officer of the New York City Police Department for almost seven years, Brian Mulkeen, was shot and killed in the early morning of Sept. 29 during a struggle with an armed suspect. According to police, Mulkeen was questioning a man about potential gang activity when the man fled and Mulkeen pursued. Mulkeen struggled with the man, who was reaching for a weapon, and shots were fired by five separate officers. Mulkeen and the suspect were both killed.
https://time.com/5688620/texas-sikh-police-officer-killed/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/york-city-police-officer-shot-killed-bronx/story?id=65934433
Court kills Trump detention policy
The Trump administration’s new regulations that would allow migrant children to be detained with their families were blocked by a federal judge Sept. 27. According to U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, the regulations violate a 1997 federal consent decree that dictates how migrant children are to be treated in government detention and how long they can be held. The government has been trying to nullify this decree, called the Flores Settlement Agreement, by arguing it creates a “catch and release” system that encourages migrant families to come to the U.S. with the knowledge they will be released to await court proceedings, according to U.S. News. The proposed new policy, which had been slated to go into effect Oct. 22, would have eliminated limits on child detention and created a new licensing scheme for the detention facilities. The administration is expected to appeal the ruling.
MLB regular season ends; playoffs begin
Sunday marked the end of Major League Baseball’s record-breaking regular season. For the first time ever, four teams broke the 100-win mark. Four other teams had at least 100 losses, only the second time this has occurred. Teams also hit home runs at a record-setting pace, with 6,776 home runs being hit on the year and the Minnesota Twins setting the season record for a team with 307 dingers. The Twins’ opponent in the American League Division Series will be the New York Yankees, who set the season home run record last year with 267 and, this year, came in second to the Twins with 306. The Boston Red Sox, last year’s World Series champions, will not defend their title as they were eliminated Sept. 21. No team has successfully defended their title since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/29/sports/baseball/mlb-standings.html
International
New South Wales legalizes abortion
Abortion was legalized in New South Wales, a state on the east coast of Australia, on Sept. 26. Abortion had been outlawed in 1900 as part of the New South Wales Crimes Act, which punished anyone procuring an abortion with up to 10 years in prison. Abortions that a doctor deemed necessary were legalized in 1971, but this legislative update will allow for abortion under any circumstances if the pregnancy is under 22 weeks. After 22 weeks, two specialists will have to give their approval for the woman to abort her child. Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher decried the new law, calling it “a defeat for humanity,” and said the Australian Church would still work to end abortion “no matter what the law says.”
Saudi Crown Prince admits responsibility for journalist’s murder
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is taking full responsibility for the murder of a Washington Post journalist last year. In an interview with “60 Minutes,” the crown prince denied ordering the killing but said that as a leader of Saudi Arabia, he takes full responsibility for the “heinous crime.” Journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the country’s Istanbul consulate last October, and his body has never been found. Saudi officials have charged 11 people in connection to the murder. However, the country has kept the court proceedings closed to the public and refused to allow international investigators to work on the case in the country. Despite the crown prince’s denials of ordering the killing, NBC News reports that the CIA and other international intelligence agencies have concluded that he did, in fact, order Khashoggi’s killing.
400 boys, men freed from Nigerian torture building
Nigerian authorities announced Sept. 27 that approximately 400 boys and men had been rescued from a building in northern Nigeria where they had been chained and subjected to beatings, starvation and sexual assault. A police spokesman said there were visible marks on their bodies that showed some of the 400 had been tortured. According to the building’s owner, the men and children were brought to the location by their families to learn the Quran or for rehabilitation, such as for drug addiction. However, authorities said the building had no such licenses. The police spokesman said the owner and six others who claimed to be teachers in the building were arrested. The police had organized the rescue following a tip, according to the Associated Press, but it remains unclear how such a facility could exist without being noticed.