promoearn: LeBron jerseys are lit. Literally.

Tuesday, October 15

Demonstrators watch as a Lebron James jersey burns during a rally at the Southorn Playground in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. Protesters in Hong Kong have thrown basketballs at a photo of LeBron James and chanted their anger about comments the Los Angeles Lakers star made about free speech during a rally in support of the NBA and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, whose tweet in support of the Hong Kong protests touched off a firestorm of controversy in China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Hong Kong protesters burn LeBron James jerseys. Cuba Gooding Jr. has new sexual misconduct accusers. It's Tuesday's news.

Ashley Shaffer writes The Short List newsletter for USA TODAY. To subscribe to this snappy news roundup, click here.

LeBron James is under fire. Felicity Huffman is behind bars. And Taco Tuesday is ruined. Here's the news everyone's talking about today.

But first, taco-bout issues: Taco Bell recalled about 2.3 million pounds of seasoned beef.

Hong Kong protesters are legit burning LeBron James jerseys

NBA superstar LeBron James (some of you may know him) spoke publicly Monday for the first time since the league's dispute with China began over Rockets GM Daryl Morey's pro-Hong Kong protest tweet. And he made a lot of people very angry. LeBron said Morey was "misinformed" about how China would react to the tweet and "a lot of negative things" can come from freedom of speech. Yikes. Our sports columnist Dan Wolken dubbed Lebron's comments the "most disgraceful moment" of his career. Hong Kong protesters are angry, too, and some even burned his jerseys. Stay tuned for more, because it doesn't seem like this saga will slow down anytime soon.

LeBron James said of the tweet from Rockets GM Daryl Morey: "We do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative things that come with that too."

Mark J. Terrill, AP

Cuba Gooding Jr. has a total of 14 sexual misconduct accusers

Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an indictment alleging two instances of sexual touching. Prosecutors announced they want to call 12 other women who allege groping misconduct as witnesses against Gooding. But we may not hear from them: The judge could allow all of them to testify, none of them or some of them. The indictment adds another charge to the original "forcible touching" charge stemming from an encounter with a woman in a Manhattan bar in June. The second charge is sexual abuse, involving an accuser who said Gooding pinched her buttocks at a Manhattan nightclub in 2018.

Cuba Gooding Jr. departs his arraignment in New York on Oct. 15, 2019, on a second charge of sexual misconduct. He pleaded not guilty.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images

What everyone's talking about

•	America has its first marijuana smoking cafe. Are more coming?
•	Get a first look at the ~ new ~ Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL.
•	Walmart can deliver items right to your refrigerator, if that's something you're into.
•	A magnitude 4.5 earthquake has the San Francisco Bay area shook.
•	Gina Rodriguez apologized following backlash for saying the N-word.

Maybe they can play 'Desperate Housewives' reruns in prison?

Actress Felicity Huffman officially reported to prison Tuesday, becoming the first parent sentenced in the nation's college admissions scandal to begin serving time. Huffman, 56, is incarcerated at a low-security federal correctional institution for female inmates in Dublin, California, USA TODAY confirmed. She'll do time for 14 days for paying $15,000 to Rick Singer, the mastermind of the admissions scheme, to have someone correct answers on her daughter's SAT test.

Felicity Huffman and her husband, actor William H Macy, leave the federal courthouse in Boston following her sentencing in the college admission scandal, Sept. 13, 2019. She was sentenced to 14 days in prison, $30,000 fine and 250 hours of community service.

CJ GUNTHER/ EPA-EFE

Hundreds of police have been labeled liars, but testimony still helps send people to prison

Thousands of police officers are on what are called Brady lists – lists of cops with credibility problems who make untrustworthy witnesses. The rules are meant to protect people's right to a fair trial. But USA TODAY found that hundreds of cops with credibility issues keep working and testifying, and their dishonesty has wrongfully put people in jail. Read our investigation.

Real quick

•	A California man was arrested on suspicion of killing four people. Why? He showed up at a police station with a body in his car.
•	The FBI has been investigating Rudy Giuliani's business dealings in Ukraine since early 2019, a New York lawyer says.
•	Southwest Airlines evacuated a flight after its tires blew out, reports say.
•	Hunter Biden admits he made a "mistake" amid the Ukraine controversy, but he denies doing anything "improper."
•	Russian troops took over a U.S. outpost in Syria after the withdrawal of American forces from the war-torn country.

'Catch and Kill' has made quite the entrance

Ronan Farrow's book "Catch and Kill" is finally out in the world, and it's garnered quite a buzz leading up to its release over accusations of an alleged cover-up of sexual misconduct by NBC. The Pulitzer Prize winner's new book claims that the network was aware of "Today" anchor Matt Lauer's alleged history of sexual harassment and assault years before he was fired in 2017, including the alleged rape of an ex-NBC staffer during the Sochi Olympics. Lauer denied the accusations last week, and NBC has repeatedly refuted Farrow's claims that the network "killed" his investigation of Harvey Weinstein in 2017. USA TODAY sat down with Farrow to discuss "Catch and Kill" and asked him about some of the most notable names referenced in the book.

•	Megyn Kelly lauds "forces of good" Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry in Matt Lauer scandal.

A break from the news

•	Review: Angelina Jolie's "Maleficent 2" is like a dark and magical "Meet the Fockers."
•	Help wanted: There are too many jobs and not enough workers in most states.
•	Where you die can affect your chance of being an organ donor.

Look at this photograph

This bird's name is Sunny, and it's a super-rare yellow northern cardinal with a genetic color mutation that was photographed in Florida. Only three yellow cardinal sightings are reported a year, making the bird's appearance a "one in a million" finding.

A yellow cardinal was spotted in Port St. Lucie Saturday morning. Tracy Workman said the bird, who she named Sunny, was seen in the area of Prima Vista Boulevard and Floresta Drive.

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY TRACY WORKMAN

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