The woman who was riding with Daunte Wright when he was pulled over by police tearfully testified on Thursday about the chaos right after an officer shot him, saying she screamed at Wright trying to get a response but that he “wasn’t answering me and he was just gasping.”

Alayna Albrecht-Payton, who was Wright’s girlfriend, answered Wright’s cellphone as his mother tried frantically to reestablish contact after a call with him was cut off right before he was shot.

Kim Potter, 49, is charged with first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in Wright’s April 11th death in Brooklyn Center. The white former officer — who resigned two days after the shooting — has said she meant to use her taser on the 20-year-old Wright, who was black, but that she grabbed her handgun instead.

Jussie Smollett’s conviction for lying to police about a racist, homophobic attack came nearly three years after his report of a horrifying hate crime quickly became part of a polarized political landscape, with people — including the president of the United States — weighing in from all over.

A prosecutor said Thursday’s verdict was “a resounding message by the jury that Mr. Smollett did exactly what we said he did” — recruit two brothers to fake an attack so it could be recorded by a surveillance camera and posted on social media for publicity.

More U.S. drivers could find themselves stuck on snowy highways or have their travel delayed this winter due to a shortage of snowplow drivers.

The labor shortage and lingering concerns about the pandemic have left employers scrambling to find enough school bus drivers, waiters, cooks and even teachers.

The shortage comes as the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in 52 years and some are seeking a better work-life balance.

Noelle Gahnz can be reached at noelle.gahnz@stthomas.edu.