A legacy of decency

October 22, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

Vice President Biden is known for compromise and bonhomie across the political spectrum. That is an achievement in itself.

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Vice President Joe Biden declared Wednesday he won't run for president in 2016, ending a months-long flirtation with a third White House campaign. Biden's decision bolsters Hillary Rodham Clinton's standing as the front-runner by sparing her a challenge from the popular vice president. In an extraordinary appearance in the White House Rose Garden, Biden said he always knew that the window for a viable campaign might close before he could determine whether his family was emotionally prepared for another campaign so soon after the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in May. Biden said his family was prepared to back him, but that he nonetheless would not be a candidate.

A third-generation police officer was fatally shot during a foot-chase through a pedestrian overpass leading to New York's East River, police said. New York Police Officer Randolph Holder is the fourth NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in the past 11 months, Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a solemn press conference at Harlem Hospital early Wednesday morning. One hundred police officers have died nationwide so far in 2015 while in the line of duty, up 15 percent from this time last year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit law enforcement information clearinghouse. Of those 100, 31 were gun-related fatalities.

The pilot of a U.S. fighter jet was killed on Wednesday when it crashed on farmland after taking off from a U.S. Air Force base in eastern England, officials said. The U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet came down in Redmere near Ely, a rural area about 70 miles north of London. Lakenheath, home to Europe's only F-15 fighter wing, is the largest USAF-operated base in England with 4,500 active-duty military personnel and 2,000 British and U.S. civilians, according to its website.

Not even the threat of being sold into slavery could stop Samuel Burris, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, from helping slaves to freedom in the 19th century. A free black man, Burris was caught helping a slave try to escape from Delaware in 1847. After Burris was tried and found guilty of enticing slaves to escape, part of his sentence was that he be sold into slavery for seven years. Instead, a Pennsylvania anti-slavery society raised the money to purchase him and set him free. And Burris went right back to helping slaves escape. Now, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell has decided to posthumously pardon Burris for that long ago conviction, according to two people who have sought that step.

Apple Inc. says it has 15 million users on its streaming-music service, including 6.5 million paying subscribers. Speaking at WSJDLive, The Wall Street Journal's global technology conference, AppleCEO Tim Cook said the company has 6.5 million paying customers for Apple Music and 8.5 million customers on three-month trials. The Journal reports that after the trial period, users pay $9.99 a month for individual subscriptions or $14.99 for families. The first batch of customers came off the trial period at the end of September.

Amazon plans to hire 100,000 people for the holidays, a 25 percent jump from last year that reveals a shift in the way we shop. The online retailer said that it will be hiring across the country for jobs in its fulfillment and sorting facilities. The Seattle company recently hired more than 25,000 people for regular, full-time positions. It hired 80,000 workers last year for the holidays.

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