TEXAS
Police seek witnesses in transgender attack
DALLAS — Police canvassed a Dallas neighborhood during the weekend in search of anyone who may have witnessed the brutal beating of a transgender woman in an attack that happened in broad daylight in front of a crowd of people and that was caught on cellphone video.
Detectives were seeking clues in hopes of identifying the woman’s assailant or assailants, police said in a statement.
They said the woman reported the assault while receiving hospital treatment Friday night. She told officers the attack happened earlier Friday after she was involved in a minor traffic accident near an apartment complex in the southern part of Dallas, according to the police statement .
A video of the attack posted on Facebook shows a man in a white shirt viciously beating the woman, apparently into unconsciousness, while the crowd looks on and homophobic slurs are shouted.
LOUISIANA
Coast Guard: 23 adrift in gulf are rescued
NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Coast Guard said it worked with a cruise ship to rescue 23 people adrift for days in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Coast Guard news statement issued Sunday said 22 Cubans started traveling in a wooden boat from Cuba to Mexico before losing power and drifting for three days.
A Cuban-Mexican man took them aboard his sports fishing boat, but then its engines malfunctioned and the group drifted for three more days.
The Coast Guard said it was contacted early Sunday by a brother of one of the Cubans. In addition to launching its own effort to find the disabled fishing boat, the Coast Guard alerted the Carnival Fantasy.
The statement said two of the people rescued had minor medical issues and were treated on the cruise ship. It added that the 23 people would be transferred Tuesday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard Investigative Services in Mobile, Alabama.
NEW YORK
‘Shazam!’ still on top at box office ratings
NEW YORK — A rush of newcomers couldn’t shake “Shazam!” from the top spot, as the superhero comedy led the box office for the second straight weekend with $25.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Lionsgate’s “Hellboy” reboot, the animated Laika Studios release “Missing Link,” the college romance “After” and even the long-delayed “Mary Magdalene,” originally to be released by the Weinstein Co., all opened in theaters. But the strongest new release of them all was, predictably, the Will Packer-produced one: “Little.”
The body-swap comedy “Little” came in second with $15.5 million for Universal Pictures.
Mayor ponders run for president in 2020
NEW YORK — At 6 feet, 5 inches tall, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stands out in a crowd. But does he have any shot of standing out in the packed field of potential Democratic candidates for president?
A would-be progressive standard-bearer, de Blasio has spent the past few months exploring a run, traveling to events in early primary states including New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, and appearing on “The Simpsons” and “The View.”
A recent Quinnipiac University poll found 76% of New York City voters believe their mayor should not run.
MARYLAND
Harris latest Democrat to release tax returns
BALTIMORE — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has released 15 years of tax returns, including her returns for 2018, and the California senator reports that she and her husband had a federal tax bill of about $700,000 on an adjusted gross joint income of about $1.9 million last year.
The documents released Sunday provide the fullest picture of her finances as she pursues a White House bid.
Harris reported an income of about $157,000 in 2018 from her job as a senator, as well as about $320,000 in net income as a writer; a book she wrote was published earlier this year. Her husband, Doug Emhoff, earned about $1.5 million working as an attorney.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Family, friends recall life of Sen. Hollings
CHARLESTON — Family, friends and former colleagues have paid their respects at a visitation for Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to six terms in the U.S. Senate.
The Post and Courier newspaper reports the family of the longtime politician received visitors Sunday at a Charleston funeral home.
Hollings died April 6 at his home on Isle of Palms. He was 97.
Hollings served 38 years and two months in Washington, from November 1966 to January 2005.
