Month: February 2023

The office of Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she will travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to attend the funeral of Tyre Nichols on Wednesday.

Civil rights lawyer and Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump said Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and stepfather, Rodney Wells, spoke by phone with Harris for more than 30 minutes on Tuesday about Nichols’ death. Crump said in a statement: “Tyre’s parents invited Vice President Harris to the funeral tomorrow, and were pleased that she accepted their invitation. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are grateful for Vice President Harris reaching out to them during this heartbreaking time and for her sensitivity on the call.”

The 29-year-old Nichols, a black man, died on Jan, 10, three days after he was beaten by Memphis police officers at a traffic stop. Graphic footage of the incident was recorded on officers’ body cameras, and the footage was released to the public on Friday, sparking nationwide outrage. As a result, five officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death. Two other officers were relieved of duty amid an ongoing investigation. Three fire department personnel (two EMTs and a lieutenant) who responded to the scene were also fired.

The funeral will be held at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, where Harris will join several other senior White House officials, including Keisha Lance Bottoms, senior adviser to the president for public engagement, Mitch Landrieu, senior adviser and infrastructure implementation coordinator, and Tara Murray, deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement. Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, and George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, will also be in attendance. The service is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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President Joe Biden announced during a visit to New York City on Tuesday $1.2 billion in federal funding for nine key infrastructure projects, the largest of which is the Hudson Tunnel Project on the northeast commuter rail corridor.  The $292 million for the Hudson Tunnel Project will see an entirely new tunnel built, followed by heavy refurbishment of the two existing single-track crossings. The multimillion-dollar investment comes from the National Infrastructure Project Assistance Discretionary Grant Program, part of Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, passed in late 2021.

The current tunnel’s two separate tubes opened in late 1910 and carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains under the Hudson River and connect Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station with Weehawken, N.J. They allow for a maximum of 24 trains per hour on what is the busiest commuter rail corridor in the country. More than 450 trains carry 200,000 passenger trips per day during the week through the tunnel. Both underpasses were damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The U.S. Department of Transportation says on the project website: “It is in poor condition as a result of storm damage and requires regular and, occasionally, emergency maintenance that disrupts service for hundreds of thousands of rail passengers throughout the region. Despite the ongoing maintenance, the tunnel’s systems continue to degrade and can only be addressed through a comprehensive rehabilitation of the tunnel.”

Biden also highlighted eight other large infrastructure projects across several states. The other major grants announced is $250 million for the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky, as well as $150 million for the Louisiana Department of Transportation for improvements to the Calcasieu River Bridge along a busy stretch of interstate, and also $117 million to improve a two-mile corridor of Illinois’ Metra Commuter Railroad. That corridor includes 11 separate bridge replacements.

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