One year later, Ferguson has changed

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A year ago, Ferguson, Missouri, was a quiet workingclass suburban town. The uneasy relationship between its growing black population and its mostly white police force barely registered in local headlines.

Everything changed on Aug. 9, 2014, when a white police officer named Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, a black 18- year-old who was unarmed. The shooting launched the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

Now the city government, and the streets themselves, look much different.

The city has a new police chief, a new city manager and a new municipal judge — all blacks who replaced white leaders. All Ferguson officers wear body cameras. The city council has new members, too, several of whom are black. And the business district at the center of last year’s protests is slowly rebuilding.

Thousands attend funeral for slain officer

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Wearing starched uniforms and their badges marked with black tape to honor one of their own, police from as far as New York have said their goodbyes to Memphis Officer Sean Bolton.

The Commercial Appeal reports that the 33-year-old officer was buried Friday after a service attended by thousands at Bellevue Baptist Church. Police Director Toney Armstrong, Mayor A C Wharton and fellow officers who spoke at the service remembered his dedication, energy and compassion.

The Rev. Don Riley, a friend of the Bolton family, delivered the eulogy wearing pink socks in Bolton’s memory because the officer, a practical joker, often wore the socks to church.

Police say Bolton was shot Saturday after interrupting a drug deal. A 29-year-old man is being held on a firstdegree murder charge.

Buzz Aldrin to become aeronautics professor

MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin will soon be teaching classes at the Florida Institute of Technology.

University President Anthony Catanese announced Thursday that Aldrin will be a research professor of aeronautics and that the school is planning to establish the Buzz Aldrin Institute. Florida Today reports that Aldrin and the school are in the final stages of negotiations.

Aldrin was the second person to walk on the moon. The Florida Institute of Technology is about 40 miles south of the Kennedy Space Center, where the Apollo 11 mission blasted off from in July 1969.

Aldrin has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and a doctorate of science degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu