Veterans Day honors those who served, Kyle Rittenhouse trial gets heated: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Veterans Day remembers those who served
On this Veterans Day, we look back at Armistice Day and consumer travel reporter Eve Chen talks about buffalo soldiers. Plus, the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse gets heated, Washington correspondent Ledyard King explains how USPS vehicles are going electric and a lawsuit has been filed against Alec Baldwin after the fatal movie set shooting.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 11th of November 2021. Today, things get heated in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, plus marking Veterans Day and more. Here are some of the top headlines.
- China and the United States, the world's two biggest carbon polluters agreed yesterday to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions. The move marks a rare joint effort between the two countries.
- Boeing has reached a settlement with the families of the Ethiopian 737 Max crash. The 2019 tragedy killed 157 people.
- Elton John has received the highest British honor. The rock star and philanthropist was anointed by Prince Charles as a member of the Order of Companions of Honor.
Taylor Wilson
The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse will continue today, that's after a dramatic and contentious day in court yesterday when the accused broke down on the stand.
Kyle Rittenhouse:
And I was cornered from in front of me with Mr. Ziminski, and there were... (sobbing) three people right there... (sobbing)
Taylor Wilson:
Rittenhouse and his defense team continued to argue that he shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber in self-defense. He faces counts of intentional homicide and attempted homicide after the shooting during Kenosha, Wisconsin protests last year. In court yesterday, beyond Rittenhouse's emotions, things also got heated between legal teams and at one point, Judge Bruce Schroeder, ordered the jury out of the courtroom and chastised prosecutor, Thomas Binger, for a line of questioning.
Judge Bruce Schroeder:
Don't get brazen with me! You know very well that an attorney can't go into these types of areas when the judge has already ruled without asking outside the presence of the jury to do, so don't give me that!
Taylor Wilson:
The question centered around a video taken 15 days before the fatal shootings. In it, Rittenhouse and his friend are seen in a car watching people they believe to be shoplifting. Rittenhouse said, "I wish I had my AR. I'd fired some rounds at them." Rittenhouse's attorneys also called for a mistrial.
Rittenhouse lawyer:
Mr. Binger is either forgetting court's rulings or attempting to provoke a mistrial in this matter. He knows he can't go into this and he's asking the questions.
Taylor Wilson:
His lawyers made clear they wanted a mistrial with prejudice. That's a rare action that would prevent Rittenhouse from being prosecuted again. But some legal experts were surprised by the judge's reactions in court yesterday, with one calling them extraordinary. Judge Schroeder previously made headlines when he ruled that those killed could not be called victims, but could be described as looters.
Today is Veterans Day. Its origins go back to 1919, when it was first recognized as Armistice Day. The date marks when Germany and the allies signed a 1918 agreement to end World War I hostilities. Fighting ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, and was considered at the time to be the end of the war to end all wars. President Woodrow Wilson called November 1st, 1919, the first Armistice Day commemoration and marked the date years later in 1923, with what's considered the earliest recording in radio history.
President Woodrow Wilson:
That we should have thus done a great wrong to civilization at one of the most critical turning points in the history of mankind is the more to be deplored...
Taylor Wilson:
Then in 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that changed the name to its current form, Veterans Day. The move shifted the focus from the original dedication of World War I veterans to veterans of all wars. Commemorations these days include a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and more. Lots of businesses will also be closed for the holiday.
If you love national parks, you have Buffalo Soldiers to thank on this Veterans Day, but who are they, and how did they do it? Consumer Travel reporter, Eve Chen, explains.
Eve Chen:
Robert Stewart, the superintendent of the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument told me that according to folklore, the name was given by Native Americans and the term means quote, "man with hair like Buffalo." At first, it was originally given to the cavalry. This is back when the military was segregated, of course, and the name stuck, and it was used on all Black regiments within the U.S. military all the way up into the Korean War. Even though the military was supposed to be integrated by the early 1950s, Shelton Johnson, who was a long time interpretive ranger and a specialist in Buffalo Soldiers at Yosemite National Park said that effectively, they were still segregated into the Korean War days.
Buffalo Soldiers literally helped shape America's earliest national parks. Before the National Park Service was even established, they were among the first rangers at the national parks. In addition to protecting the actual lands as the rangers, they were literally carving roads at Sequoia National Park. The first superintendent was actually Colonel Charles Young, and he was the first black superintendent of any national park. He helped complete the first functional road into the Giant Forest there at Sequoia National Park. They were pulling out the huge trees and at Yosemite, they helped build the first Arboretum there. They contributed a lot to the way the parks look today, even though some of the things like the precursor to the Mauna Loa trail at, I think it's Volcanoes National Park, isn't there. They helped make it what it would be today.
Taylor Wilson:
For more, search Buffalo Soldiers on usatoday.com.
President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill may help both the struggling postal service and the climate. Part of the legislation being negotiated in Congress would dedicate billions of dollars toward making most USPS trucks electric. Washington correspondent, Ledyard King, has more.
Ledyard King:
There's 6 billion dollars that's part of the 1., roughly, 85 trillion dollar bill. That money would be used to basically electrify postal trucks, as many as 165,000 of them around the country. If the bill passes, we could start seeing some of those trucks hitting the streets by 2023. The contract's already been awarded to a company called Oshkosh based in Wisconsin. So some trucks will already be coming out, but this will accelerate it like no other. It's an important part of the climate agenda that Biden wants to push because the postal fleet is so huge. It's basically, almost one out of every three federal civilian vehicles is a postal vehicle.
Climate activists have been pushing for electrification of the fleet for the better part of a decade. But with Build Back Better, this was an opportunity that presented itself to Congress and activists to add whatever they thought was important for taming the climate. Climate's getting worse, so that was one of the pressures. The postal service is a money loser, so that was a problem that they had to overcome as well. What this particular proposal does, and it's mainly the brainchild of a Congressman in California named Jared Huffman. Although others have their hands in this, Huffman's proposal would require that by 2040, every single vehicle that the postal service buys is electric.
Taylor Wilson:
To read this full story and check out designs of the new truck, search USPS on usatoday.com.
Alec Baldwin has been sued after the movie set tragedy that killed cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. The civil suit was filed yesterday on behalf of Serge Svetnoy, chief lighting technician on the film called Rust, and a close friend of Hutchins. According to the complaints, Svetnoy was present last month when Alec Baldwin fired a live round from a prop gun, killing Hutchins and also injuring the film's director, Joel Souza. Svetnoy says he heard the loudest gunshot he's experienced on a movie set in what he called a strange and terrifying whoosh before seeing Hutchins on the floor, grabbing her abdomen.
The lawsuit names Baldwin, who is also a producer on the film along with set armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, assistant director, Dave Halls, Rust movie productions and other companies and individuals involved with the film. Svetnoy is seeking damages and a jury trial while alleging general negligence against all defendants. His suit is the first to be filed in the wake of the shooting.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven days a week right here wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA Today.