TV News LIES

A Tennessee school district has banned Roots, the author Alex Haley’s groundbreaking novel and one of the most renowned and influential works about the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.

Knox county schools (KCS) took that step under a state law that has disappeared hundreds of titles from school libraries and alarmed advocates of free expression.

First published in 1976, Roots: The Saga of an American Family tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who was brutally stolen from his home in the Gambia and taken to North America to be sold into the nightmare of slavery.

The novel chronicles six generations of Kinte’s descendants in the US to Haley himself; won the Pulitzer prize; and was later adapted into a mini-series.

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Murdaugh, a prominent South Carolina attorney whose case garnered national attention, was found guilty in 2023 of two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in the deaths of his wife and son.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on May 13 overturned two consecutive life prison sentences for Alex Murdaugh, saying his conviction in a 2023 murder trial was marred by the "improper" influence of a county clerk and calling the official's actions "shocking jury interference."

Murdaugh, a prominent former South Carolina lawyer whose case has garnered nationalrr attention for years, was found guilty of two counts of murder in the deaths of his wife and son, as well as weapons charges.

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Jose Espinoza, public information officer with the Laredo Police Department, told USA TODAY that just after 3 p.m. on May 10, a Union Pacific worker called the police department after finding sixindividuals in a boxcar.

Upon arrival, police requested local fire and EMS to assist with the individuals, but all six were confirmed dead on scene.

Espinoza said the investigation is ongoing pending an autopsy from the medical examiner's office, and the identities of the individuals are not going to be released until the next of kin are informed.

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A convicted participant in the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack who was pardoned at the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency has been ordered to serve seven years in prison after a jury found him guilty of committing a burglary in Virginia in May 2025.

Zachary Alam, 34, had previously drawn one of the stiffest prison sentences – eight years – for his hand in the violence carried out at the US Capitol in Washington DC by supporters of Trump after his first presidency ended in defeat to Joe Biden after the 2020 White House election.

The judge who sentenced Alam after he was declared guilty in that case mentioned how officers regarded him as “by far the loudest, the most combative and the most violent of the rioters” at the Capitol that day.

He went on to spend nearly four years in prison. But he was unconditionally pardoned along with 1,500 others of his fellow Trump supporters on the first day the Republican president retook office in January 2025, after winning the previous November’s election against his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.

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A suspected boat explosion at a Miami sandbar sent at least 11 people to the hospital on Saturday with some suffering from burns and traumatic injuries, according to Juan Arias, the Miami Dade fire rescue battalion chief.

First responders received reports roughly around 12.45pm of a possible boat explosion on the water, Arias told WPEC 12.

It is unclear what caused the blast, which occurred onboard a charter boat with about 14 people, according to NBC 6 South Florida.

The Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission is investigating the incident, according to the Associated Press.

The Haulover Sandbar beckons hundreds of spring breakers and other vacation-oriented visitors every year. Located in shallow waters, the sandbar has been a boating mecca. Kayakers also regularly descend upon the strip.

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Bobby Cox, the folksy manager of the Atlanta Braves whose teams ruled the National League during the 1990s and gave the city its first major title as well as World Series trips that fell short, died Saturday. He was 84.

Cox died in Marietta, Georgia, according to the Atlanta Braves. He had a stroke in 2019 and heart issues that complicated his recovery.

“Bobby was the best manager to ever wear a Braves uniform. He led our team to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and the unforgettable World Series title in 1995. His Braves managerial legacy will never be matched,” the Braves said in a statement.

Cox took over a last-place team in June 1990 and led the Braves to a worst-to-first finish in 1991, losing the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games. That was the start of what was to become a record 14 consecutive division titles, a feat no professional team in any sport had accomplished.

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