promoearn: Emmett Till's death still haunts us. Here's why

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Emmett Till's death still haunts us. Here's why

What we've been getting wrong for years about Emmett Till's death

The weighted body of Emmett Till, 14, of Chicago was found Aug. 31, 1955, in the Tallahatchie River near the Delta community of Money, Mississippi.

63 years after the grisly murder of Emmett Till, many misconceptions still exist

He was abducted, beaten and shot in the head. His body dumped in a river. You've seen the picture of his open casket, but do you know the true story of what happened to Emmett Till? The 14-year-old, who was black, was abducted Aug. 28, 1955, three days after Carolyn Donham, a white 21-year-old shopkeeper in the town of Money, Miss., said Till grabbed and wolf-whistled at her. A 1956 Look magazine article on the killing – long regarded as a confession by the two white men acquitted in the case – was, in fact, a cover-up concocted by the men and their lawyers to conceal others involved in Till's brutal murder, experts say. But a fresh look at the case by a band of Till experts, a new investigation by the FBI and the voices of witnesses refuting myths around the murder have begun to unravel these cords of deception for a new generation. Here's how dreams of a Hollywood movie played a role in lies concocted about Emmett Till and his 1955 slaying.

President Trump says Google is 'rigged,' and he may do something about it

President Donald Trump is considering new regulations on Google's search engine to address concerns that it turns up too many stories that are critical of him and conservatives, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Tuesday. Kudlow said the administration is "taking a look" at regulations, after reporters pressed him about a tweet the president sent. Earlier Tuesday, Trump expressed frustration on Twitter that when Americans type "Trump News" into the search engine, it generates mostly negative news about him while conservative media are "shut out." So, is Google pushing a liberal agenda? Google said in a statement that its search engine is not designed with the intent of promoting a political ideology but is instead aimed at generating "high-quality content" in response to user queries.

There's a fight brewing between 'fake' meat makers and the meat industry

Missouri became the first state in the country to have a law on the books that prohibits food makers from using the word "meat" to refer to anything other than animal flesh. This takes aim at manufacturers of what has been dubbed fake or non-traditional meat, made from plants or lab-grown meat made of cultured animal tissue cells. Violators of the state law may be fined $1,000 and imprisoned for a year. Proponents of the law say consumers were confused by meatless products, and the law will protect ranchers. But the makers of Tofurky are not taking this lying down. On Monday, the company that makes Tofurky filed an injunction in a Missouri federal court to prevent enforcement of the statute, alleging that the state has received no complaints about consumers befuddled by the term "plant-based meats" and that preventing manufacturers from using the word is a violation of their First Amendment rights. Why does this matter? The meat-substitute market is expected to reach $7.5 billion-plus globally by 2025, up from close to $4.2 billion in last year, according to Allied Market Research. And this battle is not going away.

It may be time for an STD test

New cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis spiked for another year, and it has health officials alarmed. There were 2.29 million new cases of these three sexually transmitted diseases in 2017, continuing a four-year rise of the common yet treatable STDs , officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday. So what's causing this record-high rise in cases? For one, a lack of awareness and changing sexual behavior. Medical technology such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a daily medication used to reduce the risk of HIV transmission, means some are no longer using condoms. Federal funding to address STDs also hasn't increased since 2013 – when the CDC reported that the "steep, sustained increase" of STDs began.

•	Also alarming in the CDC's report: Drug-resistant gonorrhea is going to make it's way to the United States. "It is not a question of if but when," said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors.

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Attention readers who have a fear of snakes: You can probably stop reading this newsletter now – especially those of you in Florida. In today's edition of snake news: A super snake breed in South Florida. Burmese pythons invaded the area about 40 years ago, but a new study suggests at least some of those pythons are partly Indian pythons, too, indicating – yep, you guessed it – a giant snake hybrid! The pythons' interbreeding may have resulted in what is known genetically as "hybrid vigor," offspring with the best traits of both species. Lead study author Margaret Hunter said breeding between Burmese pythons, which prefer wetlands, and Indian pythons, which favor higher ground, could result in snakes able to spread beyond the marshy terrain of South Florida. Terrifying!

This compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network was brought to you by Mary Bowerman and Ryan Miller.

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