California population keeps falling, led by coastal losses
LOS ANGELES — California's population continued to decline after falling for the first time on record during the pandemic — but that loss is showing signs of slowing, new demographic data indicate.
The state's population declined by 117,552 between Jan. 1, 2021, and Jan. 1, 2022, bringing the estimated total population to 39,185,605, according to estimates released Monday by the state Department of Finance. The 0.3% decline represents a slowing compared to the 0.59% drop over the nine-month period between the April 2020 census date and that year's end, demographers said.
The continued dip underscores shifting immigration patterns, declining birth rates and the large number of deaths due to the pandemic.
Population growth remained strong in the interior counties of the Central Valley and the Inland Empire region in Southern California, but the majority of counties saw declines, data show, including every coastal county except San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. That limited coastal growth is due in part to college students returning to campus, demographers said.
—Los Angeles Times
250 arrested in Armenia after protests against leader
YEREVAN, Armenia — In the South Caucasus republic of Armenia, 250 people were arrested in the capital of Yerevan during new protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The police are acting with extreme harshness against the demonstrators, among them members of parliament, said the deputy head of parliament Ishkhan Sagatelyan, who belongs to the opposition, to Armenian media on Monday. Those arrested are accused of resisting state authority.
For days now, there have been demonstrations against the government in the impoverished ex-Soviet republic.
On Sunday, the opposition set up a permanent camp on a central square in front of Yerevan's opera and ballet theater, which will only be dissolved after Prime Minister Pashinyan resigns. The demonstrators have blocked numerous streets in the capital. Further protests have been announced for Monday evening.
The protests are directed against Pashinyan's policy in regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Much of the territory previously controlled by Yerevan fell to Baku after a war between the two countries in the autumn of 2020, triggering a severe political crisis in Armenia. Although Pashinyan won new elections last year, many Armenians still accuse him of losing the war.
Armenia is now seeking a peace agreement with its hostile neighbor Azerbaijan under international mediation, which includes Russia.
—dpa
Gov. Kemp raised $2.7 million in April for reelection bid
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp added $2.7 million to his campaign account in the 26 days following the close of the legislative session, ending the latest reporting period with $10.7 million in cash on hand.
The governor raised roughly $100,000 a day between April 5 and April 30, his campaign said Monday. State law bans the governor, along with other statewide officials and legislative incumbents, from collecting campaign cash during the legislative session, which ended April 4.
The fundraising limits combined with a competitive GOP primary against former U.S. Sen. David Perdue forced Kemp to deplete some of his financial cushion. The governor started the year with more than $12 million in the bank.
In that January report, Kemp had far out-raised Perdue, a wealthy former Fortune 500 executive who has yet to disclose his latest figures. Perdue collected about $1.1 million in the first two months of his campaign and hadn't yet pumped his own money into his bid.
That fundraising report showed that many of the same donors who helped finance Perdue's two U.S. Senate campaigns were either staying neutral in his underdog bid to oust the governor or backing Kemp.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump suggested shooting DC protesters in legs, book says
Former President Donald Trump suggested shooting racial justice protesters when the demonstrations neared the White House, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper writes in a new memoir.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked the newly appointed Esper in a tense Oval Office meeting on June 1, 2020, the Cabinet member wrote.
Esper, who was abruptly fired by Trump after Election Day, recalled the “surreal” experience of hearing the commander-in-chief discuss opening fire on American protesters.
“(I was) sitting in front of the Resolute desk, inside the Oval Office, with this idea weighing heavily in the air, and the president red-faced and complaining loudly about the protests underway in Washington, D.C.,” Esper wrote.
Excerpts of Esper’s forthcoming book, “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times,” were revealed Monday by Axios.
The former secretary of the Army said he explained to Trump that he could not invoke the centuries-old Insurrection Act to justify a violent crackdown on demonstrators even if they were close to the White House.
“The good news — this wasn’t a difficult decision,” Esper continued, “The bad news — I had to figure out a way to walk Trump back without creating the mess I was trying to avoid.”
—New York Daily News
