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A28 u.s. news
Diahuebs 11 augustus 2022

Lower prices offer Americans slight

reprieve from inflation

Grand jury declines to

indict woman in Emmett

Till killing

(AP) — A Mississippi grand jury has declined to in-
dict the white woman whose accusation set off the
lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till nearly 70
years ago, most likely closing the case that shocked a
nation and galvanized the modern civil rights move-
ment.
(AP) — Falling prices for level — Pugliese suggested core inflation amounted to
After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from gas, airline tickets and that the Federal Reserve 5.9% in July, the same year-
investigators and witnesses, a Leflore County grand jury clothes gave Americans would need to keep raising over-year increase as in June.
last week determined there was insufficient evidence to a little bit of relief last interest rates or at least keep
indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping month, though overall in- them high. All told, the July figures raised
and manslaughter, Leflore County District Attorney De- flation is still running at hope that inflation may have
wayne Richardson said in a news release Tuesday. close to its highest level in Much of the relief last month peaked after more than a year
four decades. was felt by travelers: Hotel of relentless increases that
The decision comes despite recent revelations about an room costs fell 2.7% from have strained household fi-
unserved arrest warrant and the 87-year-old Donham’s Consumer prices jumped June to July, airfares nearly nances, soured Americans on
unpublished memoir. 8.5% in July compared with 8% and rental car prices a the economy, led the Federal
a year earlier, the government whopping 9.5%. Those price Reserve to raise borrowing
The Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr., Emmett Till’s cousin and said Wednesday, down from a drops followed steep increas- rates aggressively and dimin-
the last living witness to Till’s Aug. 28, 1955, abduction, 9.1% year-over-year increase es in the past year after COV- ished President Joe Biden’s
said Tuesday’s announcement is “unfortunate, but predict- in June. On a monthly basis, ID-19 cases eased and travel public approval ratings.
able.” prices were unchanged from rebounded. Airfares are still
June to July, the first time nearly 30% higher than they Biden highlighted the flat
“The prosecutor tried his best, and we appreciate his ef- that has happened after 25 were a year ago. monthly inflation figure.
forts, but he alone cannot undo hundreds of years of anti- months of increases.
Black systems that guaranteed those who killed Emmett Gas prices dropped from $5 “I just want to say a num-
Till would go unpunished, to this day,” Parker said in a But the reprieve offered no a gallon, on average, in mid- ber: zero,” he told reporters
statement. certainty that prices would June to $4.20 by the end of Wednesday. “Today we re-
stay on the decline. Inflation last month, and were just ceived news that our econo-
“The fact remains that the people who abducted, tor- has slowed in the recent past $4.01 on Wednesday, ac- my had zero percent inflation
tured, and murdered Emmett did so in plain sight, and our only to re-accelerate in sub- cording to AAA. Oil prices in the month of July.”
American justice system was and continues to be set up in sequent months. And even have also fallen, and cheaper
such a way that they could not be brought to justice for if price increases continue to gas will likely pull down in- Americans are still absorb-
their heinous crimes.” weaken, they are a long way flation this month as well, ing bigger price increases
from the Fed’s 2% annual economists said. than they have in decades.
Ollie Gordon, another one of Till’s cousins, told The As- target. Grocery prices jumped 1.1%
sociated Press that some justice had been served in the Till Last month’s declines in trav- in July and are 13% higher
case, despite the grand jury’s decision. “There’s good reason to el-related prices helped lower than a year ago, the largest
think inflation will continue core inflation, a measure that year-over-year increase since
“Justice is not always locking somebody up and throwing to slow,” said Michael Pug- excludes the volatile food and 1979. Bread prices leaped
the keys away,” Gordon said. “Ms. Donham has not gone liese, an economist at Wells energy categories and pro- 2.8% last month, the most in
to jail. But in many ways, I don’t think she’s had a pleas- Fargo. “What I think gets lost vides a clearer picture of un- more than two years. Rental
ant life. I think each day she wakes up, she has to face the in that discussion is, slow by derlying price trends. Core and medical care costs rose,
atrocities that have come because of her actions.” how much?” prices rose just 0.3% from though slightly less than in
June, the smallest month-to- previous months.
A third cousin, Deborah Watts, who leads the Emmett Till Even if it were to fall to 4% month increase since March.
Legacy Foundation, said the case is an example of the free- — less than half its current Compared with a year ago,
dom afforded to white women to escape accountability for
making false accusations against Black men.

“She has still escaped any accountability in this case,” Watts
said. “So the grand jury’s decision is disappointing, but
we’re still going to be calling for justice for Emmett Till.
It’s not over.”

An email and voicemail seeking comment from Donham’s
son Tom Bryant weren’t immediately returned Tuesday.