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Weekly news review: Saturday, May 13, 2023
What does the news landscape look like?
Yesterday’s top story was the expiration of Title 42, followed by Donal Trump and the 2024 presidential race.
This is how the top stories were covered on each side of the media yesterday:
• US-Mexico Border / Title 42 (206% more on the right)
• Trump / DeSantis / 2024 (76% more on the left)
• NYC subway chokehold (38% more on the left)
Media bias ratings are from AllSides.
This is how articles from liberal and conservative outlets were distributed over the past five days among the top stories.
Liberal outlets used these words more than conservative outlets:
• putin (8.1x)
• ukrainian (4.1x)
• santos (3.8x)
Conservative outlets used these words more than liberal outlets:
• illegal (13.6x)
• mayorkas (8.1x)
• border (3.1x)
What is happening in the top stories?
Now for a deep dive into our top three stories generated by GPT-4, starting with…
US-Mexico Border / Title 42
Key people: Joe Biden, Greg Abbott, Pedro Sánchez, Brandon Judd, Enrique Lucero
Background:
Title 42 is a public health measure that was enforced during the Trump administration in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold to limit the spread of the virus.
Due to the high volume of arrivals, agents were releasing some migrants without a notice to appear in immigration court where they can make an asylum claim, and are telling them to report to an immigration office later.
Long lines of migrants amassed earlier this week in the Mexican border city of Tijuana waiting for the policy to expire.
Latest developments:
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent hundreds of members of his state’s National Guard to “border hotspots” to help repel “illegal crossings.”
President Joe Biden commended Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for his country’s collaboration with the United States and Canada to establish migration hubs in Latin America where asylum seekers fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries can apply for protection.
Videos shared by Abbott on Wednesday showed Texas personnel putting up razor wire along the border.
The new efforts are designed to crack down on illegal border crossings while opening legal pathways to give migrants incentives to apply for asylum online where they are, instead of making the dangerous journey to the border.
Trump / DeSantis / 2024
Key people: Donald Trump, Kaitlan Collins, E. Jean Carroll, Ron DeSantis, Steve Daines
Background:
Former President Donald Trump participated in a CNN town hall event in New Hampshire, a day after a civil jury found him liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll nearly three decades ago.
Trump has a longstanding tense relationship with CNN, but the network offered him a prime-time platform for the town hall event.
Trump is facing multiple investigations, including in New York, Georgia, and Washington, over his alleged interference in the 2020 election, hush money payments, and handling of classified documents.
Senate Republicans say Trump is consolidating his support in the Republican Party and is viewed as the favorite to win the party’s presidential nomination in 2024.
Latest developments:
Trump repeated falsehoods about the 2020 election during the CNN town hall event and received laughter and applause from the audience.
A viral claim spread on Twitter that CNN would no longer have live audiences as part of its town hall broadcasts after Trump’s performance, but this claim is false.
Trump’s chances of winning the GOP primary for the 2024 presidential election have improved in the wake of his arrest and sexual-battery civil trial loss, according to polls.
Trump is increasing his lead over his rumored biggest challenger, Ron DeSantis, in hypothetical GOP primary races.
DeSantis has downplayed his struggling poll numbers and has not confirmed whether he will run for president.
NYC subway chokehold
Key people: Jordan Neely, Eric Adams, Daniel Penny, Mary Weisgerber, Matt Gaetz
Background:
Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man suffering from severe mental illness, was killed on May 1, 2023, by Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who put him in a chokehold aboard a New York City subway train in Manhattan.
Neely had a history of mental illness and drug abuse and had been arrested more than 40 times, including at least three for assault.
Neely had been sentenced to spend 15 months in a public mental health facility, take prescribed medication, and avoid the use of narcotics after pleading guilty to assaulting a 67-year-old woman in November 2021.
Neely fled the mental health facility just 13 days after being sentenced, and outreach officials and police officers encountered him three times but did not return him to any form of custody.
Neely’s death sparked outrage and debates about the response to mental illness in the nation’s largest transit system.
Latest developments:
Daniel Penny has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in relation to Neely’s death, which could carry a jail term of up to 15 years.
Penny is set to be arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, and his attorneys have not yet responded to a request for comment.
The autopsy performed on Neely found that he died by homicide from compression of the neck, and Penny’s attorney expects the autopsy to be revealing for the situation.
Republican Representative Matt Gaetz has dubbed Penny a “subway Superman” and praised him as a hero who put himself in harm’s way to protect himself and other subway passengers from the supposed threat by Neely.
Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday, citing his response to Neely’s death as a reason for their protest.