The nation in brief

U.S.: Guard killed at protest terrorism

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The killing of a federal contract security officer who was watching over a protest in Oakland was an act of domestic terrorism, U.S. authorities said Saturday.

A vehicle pulled up outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building about 9:45 p.m. Friday and someone opened fire at two contract security officers who worked for the Federal Protective Service of the Department of Homeland Security, killing one and critically wounding the other, authorities said.

The identities of the officers were not released.

The officers protect federal courthouses as part of their regular duties. Homeland Security officials said they were monitoring the protest over the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.

"When someone targets a police officer or a police station with an intention to do harm and intimidate -- that is an act of domestic terrorism," Homeland Security acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said.

A suspect hasn't been named, and it wasn't immediately known whether authorities have determined if the shooter had anything to do with the protest.

Police said the protest began peacefully but spiraled into chaos late into the night. Some demonstrators smashed windows, vandalized stores, stopped traffic on a freeway and set fires. Police said several officers were struck by objects and responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

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Visitors hearten Tennessee attractions

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Attractions in Gatlinburg are optimistic for an increase in visitors as summer approaches and businesses reopen.

Marcus Watson, marketing manager for SkyLift Gatlinburg, said the area had a busy weekend after many attractions in Sevier County opened May 22.

"We expect to see growing numbers in the weekends to come and as we move closer to summer," Watson told The Knoxville News Sentinel.

The amusement park Ober Gatlinburg's visitation was down about 30% from May 22-27 compared with last year, marketing manager Tom Royther said.

"We understand that the current situation will decrease visitation, but if weather had been better I am sure we would have been a lot closer to last year's numbers," Royther said in an email to the newspaper.

Dollywood has not yet announced its reopening date or plans.

Royther said visitors would be quicker to return to a driving destination like Gatlinburg than other markets that see more air travel.

Watson anticipates attraction attendance moving back to normal in the summer and fall, based on occupancy reports from hotels.

"If everyone continues to work together to create a safe place in these mountains, I believe we will begin to see normal visitation soon," he said.

Mississippi to resume inmate transfers

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Department of Corrections says it will soon restart the transfer of inmates from county jails into state prisons and from one prison to another -- a practice that has been on hold for about two months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The department said in a news release Friday that transfers will be done in a "limited, controlled and safe manner," beginning in mid-June.

Mississippi has about 18,000 prisoners in custody. As of Friday, 28 inmates and 17 employees had tested positive for covid-19, the department said. Advocates for inmate safety have questioned whether Mississippi is doing enough testing for the highly contagious virus.

Inmates will be quarantined at least 14 days before being moved out of the South Mississippi Correctional Institution, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility or the privately run Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility. The release did not mention the transfer of inmates out of the other large state-run prison, the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.

Because of the pandemic, the only visitors allowed in the prisons have been attorneys. That policy remains in place.

The changes were announced about 10 days after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves announced that he is nominating Burl Cain, a former warden of Louisiana's Angola prison, to become the new Mississippi corrections commissioner.

Alabama prison assault kills one inmate

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Alabama prison system reported that an inmate died after being assaulted by another inmate.

A spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Corrections said Jamaal King, a 34-year-old inmate at Elmore Correctional Facility, died Wednesday from injuries suffered in an apparent inmate-on-inmate assault.

The prison system said in a statement that it condemns all violence in its facilities, and the fatal actions taken against King by another inmate are being investigated.

King's exact cause of death is pending a full autopsy.

The U.S. Department of Justice last year said violent conditions in Alabama prisons violate the Constitution and threatened to sue the state unless conditions improve.

King was serving a 22-year sentence out of Jefferson County for murder.

A Section on 05/31/2020

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