NYC-funded law firm involved in anti-police video

January 30, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

A Bronx law firm that receives city funding has been linked to a controversial music video that called for police officers to be killed, according to findings made public Thursday.

According to a report released by the New York City Department of Investigation, at least two attorneys with the Bronx Defenders appear in the video, titled “Hands Up,” which contains images of two singers pointing handguns at the head of a man dressed up as a police officer.

One of the artists raps early in the video “for Mike Brown and Sean Bell, a cop gotta get killed,” referring two police killings involving the Ferguson, Mo., and New York City police departments.

The video was released by rappers Uncle Murda & Maino in conjunction with the website WorldStar Hip Hop in December.

Muslims receive hostile reception during Texas rally

AUSTIN, Texas

Texas Muslims rallying at the Capitol on Thursday were greeted by insults from a small group of protesters and demands from one lawmaker that they take a loyalty pledge to the U.S.

More than 200 people came to the rally, hosted by the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, to learn about government and political engagement and discuss issues with lawmakers. About two dozen self-identified Christians protested nearby, shouting “We don’t want you here!” and “Go home!” as children in the crowd grew visibly upset. At one point, a protester grabbed a rally-goer’s microphone to declare Muhammad a “false prophet.”

Earlier, Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, said she had left an Israeli flag on her reception desk and instructed her staff to ask Muslims who visited her office to renounce Islamic terrorists and pledge allegiance to the U.S.

“We will see how long they stay in my office,” White posted on Facebook.

Some doctors won’t see patients with anti-vaccine views

LOS ANGELES

With California gripped by a measles outbreak, Dr. Charles Goodman posted a clear notice in his waiting room and on Facebook: His practice will no longer see children whose parents won’t get them vaccinated.

“Parents who choose not to give measles shots, they’re not just putting their kids at risk, but they’re also putting other kids at risk — especially kids in my waiting room,” the Los Angeles pediatrician said.

It’s a sentiment echoed by a small number of doctors who in recent years have “fired” patients who continue to believe debunked research linking vaccines to autism. They hope the strategy will lead parents to change their minds; if that fails, they hope it will at least reduce the risk to other children in the office.

Scare in Netherlands

HILVERSUM, Netherlands

A 19-year-old brandishing a fake weapon threatened a security guard to gain access to the headquarters of Dutch national broadcaster NOS and demand airtime Thursday night before police stormed a TV studio to arrest him.

Nobody was injured in the incident, but it forced the NOS off air for about an hour and set the nation on edge, coming just weeks after the deadly attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that left 12 people dead.

When NOS came back on air, it showed recorded footage of the young man, wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and carrying a pistol with what looked like a silencer attached.

Police said later the gun was a fake.

Combined dispatches