California crime victims oppose death sentence commutations

To its 554, there were new rallies against the governor's decision to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on California's death row. Family members of murder victims rallied in Santa Ana, condemning the governor's decision that would instead sentence death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Governor Newsom argues that state-sanctioned killing is not in line with California's values. But the victims' families say they're being denied justice and that the decision sidesteps the courts and the people of California. In one fell swoop, he overruled thousands of jurors, hundreds of judges, the California appellate courts. The California State Supreme Court, and most importantly, most importantly, he overruled the people's will of California. Now, Steve Hare lost his son, Private First Class Samuel Hare, when he was only 26 years old. He and a friend were both shot and killed by a neighbor back in 2010. Supporters of the governor's decision say there are some serious flaws with the legal system that make the death penalty unjust. Our time is 5.55. The federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is facing significant delays in the court. Proceedings were originally expected to conclude before Thanksgiving, but long testimony has pushed the schedule back. Key prosecution witness Mario Juarez repeatedly padded his answers and clashed with defense lawyers on the witness stand. The judge repeatedly interrupted his testimony to stop him from unnecessarily volunteering extra details. Mario Juarez has to be careful on that witness stand. Just answer the question that was asked by either the defense or the prosecution. The jury's going to know if he tries to slide evidence in or be non-responsive to questions, jurors aren't going to like that. Now, lawyers were reprimanded in court for miscalculating their initial schedule estimates for the case. The judge also told the jury the trial will now probably stretch into the second week of December. Time now, 5.56. Some lawmakers are calling for a cap on credit card rates as U.S. credit card debt hits an all-time high of almost $1.3 trillion. The Federal Reserve report shows credit card debt jumped $22 billion in the last quarter, and the average credit card rate is right now close to 20%. Progressives have long pushed for a way to require banks to reduce those rates. President Trump also floated that idea last year. He wants the rates capped at 10%. But some experts say there could be unintended consequences. A 10% interest rate cap on credit cards would be below the cost of lending to even modestly risky borrowers, which means tens of millions of people would lose access to credit. This would leave millions of families to rely on riskier payday loans, pawn shops, even local loan sharks for emergency credit. Now, there is some good news from the Federal Reserve report that while debt is up, the Fed says delinquency rates stayed flat.