News in :90 – April 27th, 2023

The Minneapolis NAACP sued the city of Minneapolis Wednesday over allegations that police officers used phony social media accounts to spy on activists without a legitimate public safety purpose.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that the Minneapolis Police Department discriminated against the NAACP and violated its members’ constitutional rights when it singled out the organization for surveillance “on the basis of race.”

Ya Ya the giant panda landed Thursday in Shanghai after departing from the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, where she spent the past 20 years on loan.

The zoo held a farewell party for Ya Ya earlier in April, saying it would miss the panda. Her departure marks the end of a two-decade loan agreement with the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens.

Earlier in 2023, after the 20-year loan agreement ended without renewal, allegations of neglect and abuse circulated on Chinese social media alongside pictures of Ya Ya with her fur discolored and patchy.

U.S. cigarette smoking dropped to another all-time low last year, with 1 in 9 adults saying they were current smokers, according to government survey data released Thursday. Meanwhile, electronic cigarette use rose, to about 1 in 17 adults.

The preliminary findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are based on survey responses from more than 27,000 adults.

In the mid-1960s, 42% of U.S. adults were smokers. The rate has been gradually dropping for decades, due to cigarette taxes, tobacco product price hikes, smoking bans and changes in the social acceptability of lighting up in public.