Today is Sunday, June 7, the 158th day of 2026. There are 207 days left in the year. Today in history: On June 7, 1998, in a crime that shocked the nation and led to stronger state and federal hate crime laws, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old Black man, was hooked by a chain to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas.

Troy Jackson, a former state legislator, moved into a strong position to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine after several of his opponents dropped out Sunday.

ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – A white police officer in Connecticut who repeatedly shot a Black man suffering a mental health crisis while his colleagues tried to defuse the situation made his first court appearance Friday on a manslaughter charge, a brief hearing that attracted dozens of fellow officers who support him.

The tight timeline to replace former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner has left Democratic hopefuls scrambling to woo his progressive base while trying to turn the focus from the disgraced oysterman to defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press.

On a leafy Connecticut road in the summer of 2024, would-be kidnappers pulled a couple from their Lamborghini SUV, beat them in broad daylight and threw them into a van, only to be arrested shortly thereafter as multiple witnesses, including a passing off-duty FBI agent, called police.

Memorial site grows for Maine motorist fatally shot by ICE