Ferguson city manager out after Justice Department report

The Ferguson City Council on March 10 evening unanimously approved a resolution to part ways with the City Manager John Shaw following a scathing Justice Department report that alleged racial bias in the city police department and court system.
     
The St. Louis suburb has been beleaguered by unrest since a white police officer fatally shot unarmed, black 18-year-old Michael Brown last summer.
     
Brown's shooting prompted protests in the St. Louis area and across the U.S., including after a St. Louis County grand jury declined to bring charges against Officer Darren Wilson, who resigned from the department.
     
The Justice Department also cleared Wilson in the shooting.
     
But the Justice Department also said last week that Ferguson's police and court systems functioned as a money-making enterprise that heightened tensions among residents. The report repeatedly cited Shaw's role, as the city's chief executive, in encouraging the police force to aggressively ticket motorists as a means to generate revenue.
     
The findings also cited cases of racial profiling and bigotry by the predominantly white police force in the mostly black St. Louis suburb.
     
The report already has led to a Missouri appeals court judge being tapped to overhaul the local court system, and racist emails uncovered in the investigation led to the firing of the city clerk and resignation of two police officers last week.
     
A news release from the city said the City Council had reached a "mutual separation agreement" with Shaw, effective immediately. The statement also said a nationwide search for Shaw's replacement would begin right away.
     
"I believe that the city of Ferguson has the resolve to overcome...