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PARIS (AP) — William Klein, an American photographer whose innovative portraiture style strongly influenced fashion and street photography in the second half of the 20th century, has died at 96.
Klein died Saturday in Paris, his son, Pierre Klein, said in a statement Monday.
Born in New York City in 1926 to Hungarian Jewish parents, Klein grew up in Manhattan and studied sociology at the City College of New York. After serving in Europe with the U.S. Army during World War II, he moved to Paris to study painting under the G.I. Bill.
Klein met and married Jeanne Florin, a model and painter, soon after his arrival in Paris. The couple lived together in France until her death in 2005.
Klein, who studied briefly with French painters Andre Lhote and Fernand Leger, had his first solo exhibition of paintings in Brussels in 1951, and another in Milan a year later. In 1954, he turned his attention to photography after meeting Alexander Liberman, the artistic director at Vogue, and began a 10-year collaboration with the magazine.
During the same period, he created a ground-breaking photographic diary of his native New York, titled “Life is Good & Good For You in New York.” The book featured Klein’s unconventional use of wide angles, contrasts in composition and unusual framing, which came to define the still-nascent genre of street photography.
The book was published in Paris, London and Rome in 1956 and won the Nadar Prize the following year. He published other photo diaries of other cities, Rome in 1959, Moscow and Tokyo in 1964, and Paris in 2002.
He was also a noted filmmaker, producing several documentary and feature films throughout his career, addressing topics like the fashion industry, the war in Vietnam and famed boxer Muhammed Ali.
Klein first ventured into cinema in 1956, when Italian director Federico Fellini, impressed by Klein’s raw images of New York City street life, had asked him to work on his 1957 film “Nights of Cabiria,” about a prostitute in Rome.
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| 2022-09-21T09:23:34Z
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(NEXSTAR) – Fans of the long-running soap opera “Days of Our Lives” will be disappointed if they try to tune in to the regular mid-day broadcast Monday. The show isn’t being canceled, but it is being moved off the air and onto NBC’s streaming platform, Peacock.
The 56-year-old show will release new episodes exclusively on Peacock weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern Time.
That means you’ll need a Peacock subscription to watch the show starting Monday, Sept. 12.
Peacock has three payment tiers: free, $4.99 a month for “Premium,” and $9.99 a month for “Premium Plus.”
NBC confirmed to Nexstar that “Days of Our Lives” will only be available those paying $4.99 per month or more – Premium and Premium Plus subscribers.
To entice customers, NBC Universal is running a sale on Peacock subscriptions, offering a Premium subscription for $1.99 per month, or $19.99 for a year.
Peacock subscribers will get access to all the new episodes as they’re released, as well as a library of old episodes of the show.
“This programming shift benefits both Peacock and NBC and is reflective of our broader strategy to utilize our portfolio to maximize reach and strengthen engagement with viewers,” Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, said in the company’s announcement. “With a large percentage of the ‘Days of Our Lives’ audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers.”
“NBC News Daily,” a new hourlong newscast, will air in the former “Days of Our Lives” time slot, NBC Universal said.
Anyone with questions about the “Days of Our Lives” change can call a customer care hotline at 855-597-1827.
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| 2022-09-21T09:23:41Z
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Ancient Indian Caves Hold a Record of Historical Droughts across Asia
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The world’s wettest place holds records of its dryest spells.
In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists observed how stalagmites — towers of calcium carbonate shaped over thousands of years from sediment deposits in rainwater — in caves in the northeastern state of Meghalaya can help study the history of monsoons in the Indian subcontinent across the millennium. The study is significant: as though sealed in amber, the record of monsoons etched into the ancient rocks provides earlier unknown information about long droughts and other cataclysmic events in the region — ones that killed millions of people, and could well do so again.
The limestone caves of Meghalaya formed over millennia — and their relationship with droughts — have been in the limelight in the last few years due to their geological and historical significance. In June 2018, the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the governing body on stratigraphic and geological matters, marked the current geological period as the “Meghalayan Age.” The Commission declared that the Meghalayan Age began 4200 years ago with a 200-year-long drought that impacted several human civilizations, including the Indus Valley Civilization in South Asia and the Yangtze River Civilization in China. The evidence of this long drought is recorded in the stalagmitic formations — in Meghalayan caves, hence the name.
In the current study, researchers considered similar stalagmitic formations in the Mawmluh cave near Cherrapunji in Meghalaya to go back in time: investigating monsoons in the subcontinent over the last thousand years.
On drawing up the data of monsoons over the millennium based on these parameters, scientists found some worrying records that policy researchers and weather scientists have overlooked. In a press release, they explained that since the 1870s, India has seen only one prolonged nationwide drought. This sounds like good news, but it isn’t so simple. Studying the limited period of 150 years of Indian monsoon suggests that it is stable and sure to occur every year, and that frequent and long-lasting droughts in the subcontinent are, at best, an anomaly. This reliance on the presumed stability of the Indian monsoon dictates how governments plan present-day management of water resources — without accounting for any possibility of drought or scarcity. “However, the stalagmite evidence of prolonged, severe droughts over the past 1,000 years paints a different picture.” In other words, we might be complacent in our resource planning, and might be sitting on a ticking time bomb we were never prepared for.
Related on The Swaddle:
In Meghalaya, the Umngot River Keeps Tribal Livelihoods Afloat. A Dam Project Threatens That Balance
The scientists considered two ratios to determine how the quality and character of monsoons changed over the years. One value they considered was the ratio of uranium — a primary element that is collected in stalagmite deposits in Meghalaya — to thorium — the element that uranium decays into over a period of time. The other value they considered was the ratio of different oxygen isotopes carried by the rainwater that varies according to prevailing climatic conditions.
Differences in uranium-thorium ratios in every layer of the stalagmites helped scientists calculate the time period of that layer’s formation, while oxygen isotope ratios in those layers helped them estimate the quality and character of the monsoon during the said period.
There’s another link between droughts and civilizations that the mystical rocks reveal. The researchers further note that their estimates for drought periods were remarkably congruent with historical documentation of famines, mass mortality events, and geopolitical changes in the region. For instance, they mention, “the decline of the Mughal Empire and India’s textile industries in the 1780s and 1790s coincided with the most severe 30-year period of drought over the millennium.” Similarly, “another long drought encompasses the 1630-1632 Deccan famine, one of the most devastating droughts n India’s history. Millions of people died as crops failed. Around the same time, the elaborate Mughal capital of Fatehpur Sikri was abandoned and the Guge Kingdom collapsed in western Tibet.”
These findings indicate that the researchers’ calculation of drought periods based on studying layers in stalagmites can be a reliable method to analyze monsoon profiles systematically and scientifically over long periods of time, including for periods when documentation was not common or did not cover as much territory as today’s nation-states.
This is significant as looking at the monsoon profile over a longer period, and understanding how climatic events played a role in them — such as influencing the source of moisture for monsoon winds — can help guide better planning and policies vis-a-vis allocating water and other resources to people. As the above incidents indicate, events like droughts and floods can influence geopolitical change and affect stability, hence awareness of the possibility of such events and stable policies to mitigate their effects can also help save lives and livelihoods. As the world finds itself in the middle of an ongoing climate crisis, it is vital that policies are designed to address every contingency.
Stalagmites, like tree rings and Himalayan ice cores, can serve an important purpose in decoding the earth’s conditions over huge swathes of time. An earlier study of Meghalayan stalagmite formations over a relatively smaller timeframe — 50 years — had shown how there were connections between winter rainfall patterns in the Northeast and the climatic conditions in the Pacific. They thus can be a vital source for studying the climate, and perhaps also determining how it may change in the future.
There’s one limitation to the study’s current approach of looking at stalagmites and other natural structures for climate records. They note that “paleoclimate records can usually tell what, where and when something happened. But often, they alone cannot answer why or how something happened. Our new study shows that protracted droughts frequently occurred during the past millennia, but we do not have a good understanding of why the monsoon failed in those years.” They mention that following their findings on stalagmitic records, they intend to team up with climate modelers to examine what climatic triggers led to situations of droughts and famines in the first place.
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| 2022-09-21T09:23:45Z
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Some of the biggest names in television dazzled and sparkled on the red carpet of the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Some of the biggest names in television dazzled and sparkled on the red carpet of the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards.
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| 2022-09-21T09:23:48Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS)-The Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club is the world’s largest African American motorcycle club. Our NBC 6 crew caught up with the Shreveport chapter at Waller Elementary School.
The club regularly supports charitable causes, such as providing scholarships to graduating seniors, holding toy drives, and helping local schools.
They presented a check for $1,500 dollars to Waller Elementary School in Shreveport to use however they chose. The principal, staff, and students were very appreciative of this thoughtful donation.
Charitable donations are just one aspect of the club, fellowship with one another and the community is also a huge part of it. They take their journeys on the road with both short and long distances and are made up of men and women.
The Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, take its name from the pages of history, during the civil war Indians called them buffalo soldiers because the black solider were fierce fighters and buffalos were fierce.
These days there is no more fighting for these soldiers, but they do make plenty of friends when out riding and are always looking for new members. If you are interested in joining them head visit them online.
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| 2022-09-21T09:23:57Z
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The HBO drama “Succession” and comedy “Ted Lasso” took top honors at the Emmy Awards in a ceremony that spread its awards between repeat winners and also honored several first-timers.
Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart collected back-to-back acting trophies, while Zendaya picked up her second drama actress prize for “Euphoria.”
Several new Emmy winners were minted, with Lizzo, Lee Jung-jae of “Squid Game” and Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary” collecting trophies.
“Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show,” said Zendaya, a two-time winner for “Euphoria,” the drama series about teens and their tough coming-of-age.
“My greatest wish for “Euphoria’ was that it could help heal people. Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me, and I carry them with” her character, Rue, as well, Zendaya said.
Sudeikis won his second consecutive trophy for the soccer comedy “Ted Lasso,” with Smart matching that haul for the standup-centered comedy “Hacks.” Sudeikis gave a rare awards show shoutout to TV consumers.
“Thanks to the people who watch this show and dig it as much as we dig making it,” he said.
Ralph stopped the Emmy Awards show by accepting the best supporting actress comedy award for “Abbott Elementary” with a brief but rousing song of affirmation.
“I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim song. I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs,” she belted out. She then encouraged anyone doubting their dream “I am here to tell you this is what believing looks like.”
The audience, including Lizzo and many of television’s biggest stars, lept to their feet to cheer on Ralph.
When Lizzo herself accepted the award for best competition series trophy for “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” she offered another emotional pep talk.
“When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media. Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me,” the music artist said.
“Ted Lasso” co-star Brett Goldstein, won comedy supporting actors, while Matthew Macfadyen of “Succession” and Julia Garner of “Ozark” earned drama series supporting actor honors.
“It’s such a pleasure and privilege for me to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show,” Macfadyen said in accepting the trophy for his role as a scheming member of a media empire family.
Garner was among the winners who took advantage of covering all bases by thanking her husband and others in an on-screen message.
“The White Lotus” collected several honors, including best limited or anthology series.
Host Kenan Thompson kicked off the Emmys with a tribute to TV, dismissing Tik-Tok as “tiny vertical television,” and a musical number saluting series’ theme songs from “Friends” to “The Brady Bunch” to “Game of Thrones.”
Once the music stopped, Thompson provided a mic drop moment — announcing Oprah Winfrey as the first presenter. Winfrey strutted onto the stage holding an Emmy statuette, declaring the night “a party!” The night’s first award went to Michael Keaton for his role in “Dopesick.” Winfrey and Keaton hugged before she handed him his trophy.
“It means something,” Keaton said of the award for playing a caring doctor ensnared with his patients by addiction. He went on to recall the “magic” of being introduced to TV when his dad won a set at a raffle and thanked his parents for not mocking his youthful attempts at acting.
Amanda Seyfried earned the limited-series lead actress trophy for “The Dropout,” in which she played ill-fated Silicon Valley whiz kid Elizabeth Holmes. She thanked a list of family and colleagues and even her dog, Finn.
Murray Bartlett won the best supporting actor award for the limited series “The White Lotus,” a tragicomedy set in a Hawaii resort. Jennifer Coolidge, who won best supporting actress honors for the show, delighted the audience by shimmying to the music intended to cut off her acceptance speech.
The award for best variety talk show went to “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” with stand-up special “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel” winning for best writing for a comedy special.
“Good night, everybody. I’ma go home. I’m not like a sore winner, but I’m going to go home because I can’t top this right now,” an overcome Carmichael told the audience.
The vibrant start to Monday’s show was very different from the best drama contenders including the violently dystopian “Squid Game,” bleak workplace satire “Severance” and “Succession,” about a powerful and cutthroat family. Even comedy nominee “Ted Lasso,” the defending champ, took a storytelling dark turn.
The Emmys aired live on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
Early arrivals on the show’s gold carpet struck a fun, upbeat tone despite temperatures being in the 80s with unseasonable humidity in downtown Los Angeles. Glamour was back with some metallic sparkle and lots of bright color as an otherworldly Britt Lower, Old Hollywood Elle Fanning and their fellow stars posed for photographers.
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:04Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What’s also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a report released Tuesday by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates points, in particular, to a breakthrough he calls “magic seeds,” crops engineered to adapt to climate change and resist agricultural pests. The Gates Foundation on Tuesday also released a map that models how climate change will likely affect growing conditions for crops in various countries to highlight the urgent need for action.
In assigning technology a pre-eminent role in addressing the world’s food crisis, Gates puts himself at odds with critics who say his ideas conflict with worldwide efforts to protect the environment. They note that such seeds generally need pesticides and fossil fuel-based fertilizers to grow.
Critics also contend that Gates’ approach doesn’t address the urgency of the crisis. Developing “magic seeds” takes years and won’t immediately deliver relief to countries currently enduring widespread suffering because they rely on food imports or are experiencing historic droughts.
It’s a debate that could intensify international pressure to meet the shared goals for global prosperity and peace, known as the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, ahead of a 2030 deadline. The 17 goals include ending poverty and hunger, battling climate change, providing access to clean water, working toward gender equality and reducing economic inequality.
“It’s pretty bleak relative to our hopes for 2030,” Gates, 66, said in an interview with The Associated Press. He added, though, “I’m optimistic that we can get back on track.”
Gates pointed to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic as the main causes for the worsening hunger crisis. But his message to other donors and world leaders convening for the U.N. General Assembly this September is that food aid won’t be enough.
“It’s good that people want to prevent their fellow human beings from starving when conflicts like Ukraine interrupt the food supply,” Gates writes in the new report. But the real problem, he says, is that many food insecure countries don’t produce enough of their own food — a problem sure to be exacerbated by the consequences of climate change.
“Temperature keeps going up,” Gates said. “There is no way, without innovation, to come even close to feeding Africa. I mean, it just doesn’t work.”
As he has for more than 15 years, Gates called for investment in agricultural research, highlighting corn seeds that thrive at higher temperatures and in drier conditions than other varieties. Those seeds were developed under a program of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to which the foundation has given $131 million since 2008.
Since then, the Gates Foundation has spent $1.5 billion on grants focused on agriculture in Africa, according to Candid, a nonprofit that researches philanthropic giving. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is by some measures the largest private foundation in the world and is best known for its work on global health, including vaccines. It began in its current form in 2000, after Gates left his CEO position at Microsoft, the tech giant he co-founded. Forbes estimates his net worth to be around $129 billion.
The foundation’s spending on agricultural development is why Gates’ view on how countries should respond to food insecurity has taken on heightened importance in a year when a record 345 million people around the world are acutely hungry. The World Food Program said in July that tally represents an increase of 25% from before Russia invaded Ukraine in February and a 150% jump from before the pandemic struck in the spring of 2020.
In Ghana, field trials for four varieties of modified seeds began in 2013. But only this past summer has one been approved for commercialization, said Joeva Rock of the University of Cambridge. Activists there, she said, have asked whether those resources could have been better spent elsewhere.
“What would happen if those went into increasing funds to the national research centers in Ghana, to building roads, to building storage, to building silos or helping to build markets?” said Rock, who has written a book about food sovereignty in the country.
When asked, Gates acknowledged the importance of infrastructure like roads and other transportation systems.
“If you want your inputs like fertilizer to come in, if you want your output to go out, it’s just too expensive in Africa without that infrastructure,” he said, adding that building and maintaining roads is highly expensive.
Some researchers question the wisdom of pursuing the fundamental premise that Gates has embraced: Increasing agricultural production through the use of modified seeds along with fertilizers and pesticides. They point to the environmental footprint of industrial agriculture, including the use of fossil fuel-based fertilizers, the degradation of soil quality and the diminishing of biodiversity.
Alternatives could include agroecological interventions, like developing locally managed seed banks, composting systems to promote soil health and pesticide interventions that don’t rely on chemicals, experts said. Over time, those approaches can reduce the need for food aid and build more resilient farming systems, according to Rachel Bezner Kerr, a professor of global development at Cornell University.
Kerr, a lead author of the food chapter of the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change, said that while the panel doesn’t make recommendations, “overall, the kind of focus on a few technologies and reliance on fossil fuel-based inputs isn’t in line with ecosystem-based adaptation” or a biodiverse future.
Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, defends its approach warning that limiting access to fertilizers means farmers cannot increase their yields.
“Fertilizer is necessary. You simply cannot meet the overall productivity gains without it,” Suzman said, speaking on a call with reporters.
In his interview with the AP, Gates himself dismissed criticisms of the foundation’s emphasis on modified seeds.
“If there’s some non-innovation solution, you know, like singing ‘Kumbaya,’ I’ll put money behind it,” Gates said. “But if you don’t have those seeds, the numbers just don’t work.” He added, “If somebody says we’re ignoring some solution, I don’t think they’re looking at what we’re doing.”
Another project the foundation has funded is the development of computer models that try to measure crop loss caused by disease or pests. The idea is to direct research and responses to where they are needed most.
“It’s not just, how do we get through this crisis and get back to normal? It’s, what does the future normal look like?” said Cambria Finegold, the director of digital development for CABI, an intergovernmental nonprofit that is developing the models.
Melinda French Gates, the other co-chair of the Gates Foundation, highlighted in a separate letter the halting progress toward gender equity worldwide. Since January, the foundation has expanded its board, adding six new members to help direct its work, a move that followed the announcement of the Gateses’ divorce last summer.
French Gates has agreed to step down after two years if the two decided they could not continue to work together. French Gates, who also founded an investment organization called Pivotal Ventures, was not available for an interview.
Gates said he is lucky that his former wife has continued to put her time and energy into the foundation. In July, Gates said he would contribute $20 billion to the foundation in response to the significant setbacks caused by the pandemic, raising its endowment to approximately $70 billion.
Through his giving, investments and public speaking, Gates has held the spotlight in recent years, especially on the topics of vaccines and climate change. But he has also been the subject of conspiracy theories that play off his role as a developer of new technologies and his place among the highest echelons of the wealthy and powerful.
Gates said he does not spend time thinking about conspiracies and that his foundation’s work has nothing to do with his personal reputation.
“If you go into these countries, they’ve never heard of me or the foundation,” Gates said. “Maybe in the rich world somebody is reading some internet thing, but the people we care about have never, will never, and it’s not important that they ever know who I am.”
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:11Z
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand removed most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions Monday as the government signaled a return to normalcy for the first time since the pandemic began.
People will no longer be required to wear masks in supermarkets, stores, busses or planes. The last remaining vaccine mandates — on health care workers — will end. And tourists will no longer need to be vaccinated in order to visit the country.
The government announced it was ditching its so-called COVID traffic light framework altogether and leaving in place just two main restrictions — that those who test positive for the virus isolate for seven days, and that people wear masks when visiting health care facilities like hospitals and aged-care homes.
The changes come as an omicron variant outbreak wanes and the Southern Hemisphere winter ends. Case numbers in New Zealand are at the lowest point since February.
“The changes we’ve made today are significant. They mark a milestone in our response,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. “This is a time when finally — rather than feeling COVID dictates what happens to us, our lives, and our futures — we take control back.”
She said the changes will help drive business activity, which is vital to the nation’s economic recovery.
“This will be the first summer in three years when there won’t be the question of: What if?” Ardern said.
The end to government restrictions won’t stop individual workplaces or stores imposing their own rules, although most people expect mask use to plummet as soon as the government restrictions end just before midnight Monday.
The moves were welcomed by business leaders.
BusinessNZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope said it was encouraging to see the government trusting individual businesses again.
“No two sites are the same and each business can decide what works for their own environment when it comes to minimizing the spread of COVID-19,” he said.
New Zealand enjoyed initial success in fighting the pandemic, managing to eliminate the virus entirely after closing its borders and carefully contact-tracing cases. But its approach changed as more transmissible variants proved impossible to stamp out.
As late as March, the country of 5 million had reported only 65 virus deaths. Since an omicron wave took hold, that number has risen to nearly 2,000. But that still remains low when compared with the death rates in many other countries.
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:26Z
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Republican lawmakers will keep trying to enact new abortion restrictions later this month.
Speaker Murrell Smith announced Monday that the House will meet on Sept. 27, more than two weeks after the Senate sent back a markedly different proposal from the one passed earlier by the lower chamber. Contentious debates among Republicans over exceptions have emerged in a special session on abortion that convened after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
It is unclear if the House will take up the Senate’s bill. Smith told reporters earlier Monday that “all options are on the table.” While Smith was disappointed with the outcome last week, he said this is how legislation gets made.
“I understand that each body has a different makeup and each body has the ability to put their imprint on a bill,” Smith said to reporters. “I respect the Senate as a body and their votes. Obviously, the House is vastly different from their position.”
The House passed a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy in late August with exceptions for the mother’s life and rape or incest up to 12 weeks. The Senate passed a six-week ban, based on when cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, with exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, to save the life of the mother and, when approved by two doctors, in cases of fatal fetal anomaly.
The upper chamber’s bill varies slightly from a 2021 South Carolina law that’s on hold while the state Supreme Court considers a new legal challenge from abortion providers. One change included cutting the period when pregnancies resulting from rape or incest may be aborted from 20 weeks to about 12 weeks. The proposal also requires that police receive the fetus’ DNA.
The state currently bans abortions 20 weeks after conception.
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James Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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For more of AP’s coverage on abortion: https://apnews.com/hub/abortion
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:34Z
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MADRID (AP) — Protesters including brothel owners and sex workers demonstrated Monday in front of the Spanish Parliament over a bill that would penalize prostitution customers and sex club owners or pimps with sentences up to 4 years in prison.
The bill backed by the ruling left-wing PSOE party proposes broadening the definition of pimping, not making the exploitation of a prostitute necessary but a mere trade relation. For the first time in Spain, it would also penalize customers.
Demonstrators wore face masks and used bright red umbrellas to conceal their identities.
“We ask the socialist party to withdraw the bill, that implies an actual abolition of prostitution and condemns us to work underground,” said Susana Pastor, the president of the Platform against Abolition. She owns an apartment in Valencia where women rent rooms to offer sexual services.
“I came here today to protect my job,” said one demonstrator, Sandra, a single mother who has done sex work for 12 years.
But the new sex worker union Otras didn’t back Monday’s protest because sex club owners arranged it.
“They don’t look after sex workers’ rights at all,” Otras secretary general Concha Borrell told The Associated Press.
Borrell demands legal contracts for sex workers and estimates there are around 200,000 in Spain.
Other groups, including some feminists, oppose normalizing prostitution as a regulated trade.
Charo Carracedo, lawyer and president of PAP, which advocates for the full abolition of prostitution, told the AP that the new bill is a huge step for the country but should come with provisions to give vulnerable women better access to jobs or subsidies.
“It’s essential to offer alternatives to prostitution survivors,”Carracedo said.
Both Otras and the sex business owners deny the government’s data that says 90% of the sex work in Spain is forced. Police say 491 victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation were rescued in Spain in 2021.
On a European level, the European Parliament estimates there are up to 180,000 trafficking victims exploited in prostitution and the industry generates 10.8 billion euros ($10.9 billion) a year in the bloc.
Spain is considered to have one of the laxest legal frameworks for prostitution in Europe, only punishing when exploitation or abuse can be proven. The proposed bill would punish both clients and enablers. It still needs to pass through parliament.
Spain has also recently forbidden ads for prostitution.
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:41Z
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(NBC) – A second possible death from monkeypox in the U.S. is under investigation in Los Angeles County, officials said.
Chief Medical Director Rita Singhal of the county’s Public Health Department said details were unavailable at this early stage of the investigation.
“This is one of two deaths in the United States that are under investigation to determine whether monkeypox was a contributing cause,” she said at a public briefing Thursday.
In late August, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported that a person diagnosed with monkeypox in the Houston area had died. The patient was described in a statement as “severely immunocompromised.”
The role of monkeypox in the patient’s death was under investigation, Texas officials said at the time.
In California, 4,140 cases were reported last week; 1,694 were in Los Angeles County, health officials said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday in a weekly report on monkeypox that a case analysis found that 61% of people in the U.S. who have developed the viral disease also had HIV or another sexually transmitted infection or disease.
People who had HIV and monkeypox were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized, the centers said, although the exact reason for treatment wasn’t known.
According to the World Health Organization, 98% of monkeypox cases outside Africa have involved men who have sex with men, or MSM.
The CDC recommends that local public health officials “ensure equitable access to monkeypox screening, prevention, and treatment, particularly among MSM.”
Monkeypox is often revealed through skin rashes, flu symptoms, aches, and fatigue. It is transmitted through direct contact with patients, including sex, and through touching objects that have been used by those with monkeypox.
Deaths are rare — none are officially confirmed in the U.S. despite the reports from Texas and California — and the disease resolves in most patients within four weeks.
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:48Z
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President Biden traveled to the Pentagon on Sunday to mark the 21-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, remembering the attack’s victims while vowing to stand up for democracy in their honor.
“Here at the Pentagon, which was both the scene of the horrific terrorist attack and the command center for our response to defend and protect the American people, so many heroes were made here,” Biden said.
“So many of your loved ones were those heroes,” he said, noting civilians and service members who immediately leapt into action.
Biden, who served as a senator at the time of the attacks, said he remembers seeing the smoke from the Pentagon that day as he returned to his office.
The president during the speech also honored veterans who served in wars following the attacks in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We owe you,” Biden said. “We owe you an incredible, an incredible debt. A debt that can never be repaid, but we’ll never fail to meet the sacred obligation to you.”
He also referenced the killings of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011 and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, at the end of July, saying the United States “will not rest.”
Al-Zawahiri’s killing came almost a year after the United States withdrew its military presence in Afghanistan as the Taliban retook control of the country.
Biden has touted the operation as proof the United States can still fight terrorism in Afghanistan without troops on the ground, a sentiment he echoed on Sunday.
“We’ll continue to monitor and disrupt those terrorist activities wherever we find them, wherever they exist, and we will never hesitate to do what’s necessary to defend the American people,” he said.
The president also leveraged the anniversary to speak about democracy, a topic he has increasingly referenced as the midterm elections approach.
“We have an obligation, a duty, a responsibility to defend, preserve and protect our democracy,” Biden said. “The very democracy that guarantees the rights of freedom that those terrorists on 9/11 sought to bury in the burning fire, smoke and ash.”
Biden has cast former President Trump and “MAGA Republicans” as threats to the republic in recent speeches. But on Sunday, he vowed to maintain America’s democratic system while not directly attacking Trump.
“It’s not enough to stand up for democracy once a year or every now and then,” Biden said. “It’s something we have to do every single day. So this is a day not only to remember, but a day of renewal and resolve for each and every American.”
–Updated at 11:11 a.m.
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| 2022-09-21T09:24:54Z
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President Biden on Sunday touted the killings of two al Qaeda leaders following the 9/11 attacks as he marked the 21-year anniversary of the attacks during a ceremony at the Pentagon.
“The enduring resolve of the American people to defend ourselves against those who seek us harm and deliver justice to those responsible for the attacks against our people has never once faltered,” Biden said.
“It took 10 years to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden, but we did, and this summer I authorized a successful strike on [Ayman] al-Zawahiri,” he continued.
Al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s deputy, took control of al Qaeda after bin Laden’s killing in 2011 and died in a U.S. drone strike in late July.
Biden completed the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, ending a roughly 20-year presence that began in 2001 shortly after the attacks.
The withdrawal came as the Taliban quickly regained control of the country, leading to troubling scenes at the Kabul airport where thousands attempted to flee the country.
Thousands hoping to escape still remain trapped in Afghanistan or in other countries as they attempt to reach the United States.
Now more than one year following the withdrawal, Biden is leveraging the killing of al-Zawahiri as proof that the U.S. retains an ability to fight al Qaeda and other terrorist groups without any ground forces in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is over, but our commitment to preventing another attack [against] the United States is without end,” Biden said at the Pentagon.
“Our intelligence, defense and counterterrorism professionals in the building behind me and across the government continue their vigilance against terrorist threats that [have] evolved and spread to new regions of the world,” he added.
Others have noted that al-Zawahiri lived in Afghanistan’s capital when he was killed, casting doubt on the Taliban’s commitment to not allow al Qaeda to operate in areas the Taliban controls under the Doha Agreement.
Biden on Sunday vowed to not hesitate and to disrupt terrorist activities “wherever they exist.”
“What was destroyed, we have repaired,” Biden said. “What was threatened, we fortified. What was attacked, an indomitable spirit has never, ever wavered.”
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| 2022-09-21T09:25:02Z
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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) on Saturday called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) busing of migrants to the city “un-American.”
“You don’t treat people with this lack of respect, lack of dignity, putting them on buses to an unknown destination with very little food, very little water,” Lightfoot said during an appearance on “CNN Newsroom with Pamela Brown.”
“They have very little that they need when they’re on these multiple-hour, cross-country bus trips,” she said.
Abbott’s office said on Friday the state has bused more than 10,400 migrants since April to Democratic-run cities in protest of President Biden’s immigration policies.
About three-quarters have been sent to Washington, D.C., while more than 2,200 arrived in New York City since last month. The first bus sent to Chicago arrived on Wednesday, and Abbott said more than 300 migrants have arrived in the city so far.
“What I don’t like to see is people taking these cross-country trips, getting off the bus and being immediately taken to the hospital because they were put on the buses with delicate medical conditions that no one in Texas seemed to care anything about,” Lightfoot said on CNN. “That is simply not right, and it’s un-American.”
When asked if she would be OK with Abbott’s initiative if the migrants were better taken care of, Lightfoot still indicated opposition, calling it a “unilateral political stunt.”
“What he’s trying to do is play to the lowest common denominator in his party, to burnish his credentials as a candidate for president in 2024,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot said she had not spoken with Abbott but had connected with New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), both of whom have similarly condemned the busing.
Renae Eze, Abbott’s press secretary, who responded to a request for comment in a Tuesday email, called Lightfoot’s comments a “pathetic political ploy.”
“Instead of lowly personal attacks on the Governor and complaining about a few dozen migrants being bused into her sanctuary city, Mayor Lightfoot should call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border — something the President continues failing to do,” Eze said.
Both Adams and Bowser have asked the federal government for assistance. The Defense Department has denied Bowser’s request to activate the D.C. National Guard twice.
“This is a manufactured crisis on the part of Governor Abbott,” Lightfoot said on CNN. “We can all do our part. And I believe that we all must do our part. But we’ve got to do it with collaboration, with cooperation.”
This story was updated at 1:14 p.m.
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| 2022-09-21T09:25:09Z
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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday said the Department of Justice (DOJ) has “a pretty good chance” in its appeal of an order for a special master to look over the documents seized by the FBI at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
“I think the Justice Department’s chances are pretty good,” Christie said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The Trump team had argued for the special master, alleging some seized documents were protected by executive privilege, and the Trump-appointee judge overseeing the case granted the request, preventing the DOJ from moving forward with its own review of the materials.
“There’s only one executive who can assert the privilege, and that’s the one who is the current executive, Joe Biden. A previous executive can’t assert executive privilege. They’re not the executive any longer,” Christie said Sunday.
“Biden will not assert executive privilege over these documents. And I think the idea that some of these documents are somehow attorney-client privilege is going to be a bit of a reach … So I think, for one, I think the DOJ probably has a pretty good chance on appeal.”
Christie on Sunday also defended the DOJ’s much-critiqued move to search Mar-a-Lago and seize the materials, saying the department “had no choice.”
“It’s not only the nature of the documents. We now have a good idea of the timeline. This has been 16 months that the Department of Justice has been saying please, asking nicely, negotiating with his attorneys, taking up partial production, seeing a non-response to a subpoena. They had no choice, in my view, but to go in and take them, because of the nature of the documents.”
Newly unsealed records show FBI agents found more than 100 classified documents at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort — as well as dozens of empty folders marked as classified in Trump’s personal office.
Christie recalled working with highly sensitive information, the likes of which were found at Mar-a-Lago, during his tenure as a U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
“When I had to review that in the post-9/11 era, I had to go into a special room called the SCIF to review it. I couldn’t take pictures. I couldn’t take anything with me. [Trump] had that in the top drawer at Mar-a-Lago in his desk. That’s a problem. I don’t think he’ll be prosecuted for it, but we ought to get those documents back.”
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| 2022-09-21T09:25:16Z
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When Vice President Harris has appeared before audiences around the country in recent days, she has posed a question asked by would-be voters: “Why should I vote?”
Harris has told the crowds publicly — and has reiterated to aides privately — that Democrats have to give them a good answer that will lure them to the polls.
During addresses in Texas and Massachusetts this week, she ticked off a string of reasons, from democracy being at stake to abortion rights. And in some speeches this summer, she has also directly taken on policies by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
“There are, as there have always been, forces that stand in our way. Forces that oppose … even the most commonsense gun safety proposals,” Harris said during a July speech at the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority convention in Orlando. “Forces that include extremist, so-called leaders, who instead of expanding rights work to restrict rights.”
President Biden and Harris have both struggled with low approval ratings, raising real questions about how much help they can provide to Democratic candidates in the House and Senate. So far, the two have not appeared alongside candidates in key races in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Republicans, for their part, have gone on the attack against the president and the vice president.
Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker this week used Harris to go after Democrats on the issue of race, saying in a new ad that she and others were seeking to use “race to divide us.” Harris and Biden were featured prominently in the ad.
But other Democrats say they believe Harris can be an effective voice in getting Democrats to the polls by touring the country and giving the grassroots a sense of the stakes at play.
One source who has advised Harris questioned her effectiveness in certain states.
“I doubt she’ll be the messenger deployed to win over swing states,” the source said.
But the source and others in her orbit said Harris can be very effective in broader get-out-the-vote events and in helping to keep abortion rights front and center — as well as in fundraising efforts.
Harris has been crisscrossing the country and appearing at events to appeal to various voting blocs.
She traveled to Houston on Thursday to deliver remarks at the National Baptist Convention. In August, she traveled to Boston for a conversation on reproductive rights with Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and to Las Vegas for remarks at a steelworkers union convention.
On Saturday, Harris will speak at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Maryland, and on Sunday, she’ll appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview she recorded on Friday.
A source close to Harris said her appearances are about “rallying not just the base, but about bringing other people in.”
Her appearances, the source said, are “not just the big speeches” — like the one she delivered to steelworkers in Nevada last month — but the more personal “touches,” the source added, pointing to the vice president’s meetings with Hispanic lawmakers on the heels of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Harris has consistently tied in meetings about reproductive rights in her political travels.
In Las Vegas, she tacked on a meeting with state legislators on abortion issues while visiting the city for the steelworkers union speech.
Harris has been a leading voice from the administration on reproductive rights following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and she’s met with local leaders and advocates to discuss the issue in Florida, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana and Massachusetts, among other states.
Democrats this cycle are hopeful that abortion is an issue that will bring voters out in November and maybe attract additional votes from independents or moderate Republicans, especially in states where leaders are passing restrictive abortion laws.
Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, sees Harris as the right person to lean into that strategy on the trail.
“She is really giving a real voice to some of the issues that women are facing in this country, whether they supported the ticket or not,” he said. “I think her voice is so magnetic that it’s going to attract a wide range of followers, amplifiers and supporters.”
Since the start of her tenure as vice president, some Democrats said they had been underwhelmed by Harris’s lack of a policy portfolio and her presence on the national stage overall. Her approval ratings have hovered below 40 percent, and she has been plagued by a constant revolving door of staffers.
There continue to be questions about whether she could successfully run for president should Biden choose against a second term. Biden has insisted he intends to run for office again, and Harris has said she will work for his reelection.
An August poll from her home state of California found voters would prefer their governor, Gavin Newsom (D), in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary over Harris. In another poll last month, Harris trailed former President Trump by 7 percentage points in a hypothetical 2024 presidential match-up.
Still, Democratic strategists argue that she is an asset on the campaign trail for this midterm cycle, and she is focused on helping Democrats hold onto Congress and expand their majority.
Democratic strategist Eddie Vale said Harris can serve as a “closer” of sorts who will appeal to women.
“I think that there’s not an issue that she cannot take on or talk about. What she is doing now, I think, is very intentional. She is out updating and educating people on one, the things we have done and two, how high the stakes are,” Seawright said.
He added that she’s a team player and said she is doing what makes sense for Democrats this cycle, “and is not necessarily playing a selfish role in terms of what she can do to be helpful.”
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| 2022-09-21T09:25:30Z
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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday said the threats facing the U.S. in the 21 years since the Sept. 11 attacks have shifted from worries about foreign terrorists to growing concerns about domestic extremism.
“The threat landscape has evolved considerably over the last 20 years,” Mayorkas said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart.”
“Back when 9/11 occurred, in those years we were very focused on the foreign terrorist, the individual who sought to do a severe harm to enter the United States and and do us harm,” Mayorkas continued, speaking at the site of the World Trade Center.
But now, Mayorkas said officials are becoming “more and more” concerned about U.S. residents radicalized by foreign terrorist ideologies.
“We are seeing an emerging threat, of course, over the last several years of the domestic violent extremist,” Mayorkas said. “The individual here in the United States radicalized to violence by a foreign terrorist ideology, but also an ideology of hate, anti-government sentiment, false narratives propagated on online platforms, even personal grievances.”
Mayorkas has previously called domestic extremism the country’s greatest terror-related threat, comments that came less than three months after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Mayorkas is one of many Democrats who have sounded alarm bells about domestic extremist threats.
Vice President Harris in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” which also aired on Sunday, called domestic terrorism “very dangerous,” saying it makes the country “weaker.”
Asked if domestic threats are equal or greater than those the U.S. faced after 9/11 from foreign terrorists, Harris said “we don’t compare the two in the oath” to protect the country.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, said on Sunday that he worries about domestic threats while the threat of terror in his view had “diminished.”
“The stunning thing to me is here we are 20 years later, and the attack on the symbol of our democracy was not coming from terrorists, but it came from literally insurgents attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
The House in May passed a bill nearly along party lines that would create domestic terrorism offices throughout the federal government. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) was the sole House Republican to vote in favor of the legislation, while others in his conference argued the bill would unfairly target Americans.
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| 2022-09-21T09:25:37Z
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Former President Trump’s promise to grant pardons to the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is running into strong opposition from Senate Republicans.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s closest allies, told The Hill that granting pardons to Jan. 6 protesters is “a bad idea.”
“Pardons are given to people who admit misconduct, rehabilitate themselves. They’re not supposed to be used for other purposes,” he said.
Other Republican senators are joining Graham in criticizing Trump’s promise to pardon the Jan. 6 protesters as inappropriate.
“I don’t think potential candidates should hold pardons out as a promise,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who is usually a reliable Trump ally. “It’s somewhat problematic for me on a moral level and an ethical level — sort of like promising other giveaways to particular individuals.
“I prefer avoiding those kinds of things,” he said.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said he wouldn’t support granting pardons to people convicted of crimes because of their actions on Jan. 6.
“If he were elected, he would have a constitutional ability to do it,” he said of Trump’s promise of pardons. “I would disagree with it. I think there was insurrection and I think these folks need to be punished.
“I was there. This was truly violent. People were injured, people were killed. I have very little mercy for the individuals that were involved in that activity that day,” Rounds added.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said people who committed crimes on Jan. 6 must face the consequences of their actions.
“The only people that get pardoned are people who are charged with crimes. If they were charged with crimes, they ought to be prosecuted like everybody else,” he said. “The rule of law applies. If people broke laws, they need to be held accountable.”
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted last year to impeach Trump on the charge of inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, said pardoning people who invaded the Capitol to stop Biden’s election would be wrong.
“The Jan. 6 riot was an attack on the temple of democracy, and the people who violated the law, attacked our law enforcement and besmirched our nation’s Capitol should be prosecuted according to the law, and certainly should not be pardoned,” he said. “It’s a grossly inappropriate comment to make.”
Not every Republican is quick to dismiss the idea of a pardon.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) who raised a fist to protestors outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, before he and other members of Congress were evacuated during the insurrection, is more open to the idea of granting leniency to pro-Trump protesters.
“Let’s see which ones he would choose to do,” Hawley said of the prospect of Trump pardoning Jan. 6 protesters if he wins another term in the White House. “There’s no question it has been a massive prosecutorial effort.“
He and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who both led objections to the Electoral College tally in January 2021, argue the Department of Justice (DOJ) is punishing Trump supporters who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 much more aggressively than the rioters who destroyed property at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020.
“I think that the folks who committed crimes, particularly violent crimes, on that day ought to be prosecuted,” Hawley said of the Jan. 6 protesters who have been sentenced to prison. “I think the question becomes, are there people who’ve been caught up in this drag net who, for instance, didn’t know that they were trespassing?“
“There’s a lot of concern about, frankly, the double standard at [the Department of Justice] going after people who may have at most trespassed on federal property and not even known they did it versus folks who have in [Black Lives Matter] riots committed violent crimes and not been prosecuted,” he added, referring to the failure to prosecute people who destroyed property at riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police.
“There absolutely is undeniably a double standard,” he said.
Hawley said the Department of Justice has filed briefs asking for leniency for Black Lives Matter protesters who destroyed property or caused injuries because their actions were motivated by a desire for social justice, while federal prosecutors have sought maximum penalties for Trump supporters who entered the Capitol last year.
Federal prosecutors, for example, asked for an 18-month prison sentence for Richard Michetti, who was arrested after his ex-girlfriend turned him in to law enforcement.
Michetti was charged with aiding and abetting obstruction of an official proceeding after entering and remaining in the Capitol for 45 minutes on Jan. 6, where he yelled obscenities at police officers. He was sentenced last week to 24 months of supervised release and ordered to pay a $2,000 penalty.
A study published by Time magazine in June found that 840 people had been charged with storming the Capitol on that day and that about a quarter of them have received criminal sentences, with a median prison sentence of 45 days.
Trump told conservative radio host Wendy Bell on Sept. 1 that he would issue full pardons and apologize to many of his supporters who were prosecuted for their actions on Jan. 6.
“I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he said earlier this month.
Cruz said there’s a big difference between protesters who attacked Capitol police officers and smashed the Capitol’s windows and doorways and Trump supporters who showed up at the Capitol to voice their opposition to certifying Biden as president.
“I think there is a stark difference between acts of violence and peaceful protest. Acts of violence are unacceptable from any political perspective. Peaceful protest is protected by the first amendment of the Constitution,” Cruz said when asked about Trump’s promise to pardon many Jan. 6 protesters.
“The Biden Justice Department has used Jan. 6 and the violent acts of a few to justify persecuting the peaceful protest and political speech of the many,” he said. “It is wildly inconsistent.
“The Department of Justice turns a blind eye to violent rioters who looted, destroyed and firebombed American cities across the country but is eager to target anyone who dares speak on the other side of the aisle,” he said, citing Biden’s recent speech in Philadelphia, where he accused Trump and his allies of pushing a form of political extremism that “threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
“This past week it got so bad that Joe Biden, bathed in red light, decreed that half the nation are fascists because they dare to disagree with his socialist policies,” Cruz said. “What DOJ is doing, targeting the political enemies of the White House, is corrupt and incredibly harmful.”
Asked if people who illegally entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 should receive pardons if they didn’t assault officers or destroy property, Cruz would only say “acts of violence are qualitatively different.”
A study of court records by The Associated Press have found that federal prosecutors have filed more than 300 cases related to the protests that swept America after Floyd’s death.
It also found that more than 120 defendants have pleaded guilty to crimes such as rioting and arson and that more than 70 have received sentences, with the average penalty being 27 months in prison.
Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the Senate, said granting pardons to people who tried to intimidate and stop lawmakers from doing their jobs would set a bad precedent.
“It reinforces violence. The people who defiled the Capitol and took the law in their own hands deserve to be brought to justice,” he said.
–Updated at 10:16 a.m.
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Company director fined more than £9000 for damaging a badger sett
The director of a construction company has been fined £9,350 after allowing a worker to damage a badger sett at a housing development in Aberdeen.
Bruce Allan, from Kintore and director of Malcolm Allan Housebuilders, was sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to a breach of the Protection of Badgers Act in Milltimber in June 2020.
The court heard Malcolm Allan Housebuilders bought the Contlaw Road site in December 2019.
With the sale came an information pack containing reports on the site including a Badger Protection Plan.
The reports showed that the site had an active social clan of badgers residing in the area with a variety of badger sett types including a main sett, annex sett and a variety of outlier setts, foraging activity and well-worn badger paths.
The protection plan stated that a 30-metre exclusion zone had been created to protect the badger setts from all construction works.
Allan was aware of this when on 26 June 2020 he instructed a digger driver to dig and clear land to construct a road.
None of the measures outlined in the Badger Protection Plan were put into practice.
Various members of the public made repeated calls to the company prior to the work starting to voice their concerns about setts being near where work was beginning. One resident even advised Allan and the digger driver of the presence of badgers immediately before the work commenced that day.
An ecologist concluded that two thirds of the main set and the annex sett have been excavated and removed.
The main sett is where young are reared with the annex setts for last year’s young. A litter will be between one and 12 young and at the time of year this offence occurred two litters of young would be present.
Speaking after the sentencing, Karon Rollo, Head of the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit of COPFS said: “The law protects badgers from harm.
“Bruce Allan’s actions were carried out deliberately, with disregard for the consequences they would have for a protected species and the upset and outrage to the local community.
“Hopefully this prosecution will remind other builders and developers that they will be held to account for their failure to fulfil their obligation."
The impact of disturbing badgers in this scenario is the dispersal of a family group. They are then put under pressure to find new territory and put into territorial conflict with other badger clans along with the immediate danger should any be present when the sett is damaged. This is because there is a social clan in this area of the NE of Scotland approximately every 750m.
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| 2022-09-21T09:25:58Z
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Vice President Harris expressed concern over threats to voting rights and democracy in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” aired on Sunday, during which she emphasized the importance of getting out the vote for the midterm elections.
“Everything is on the line in these elections in just less than two months,” she said while discussing voting rights.
Harris stressed that the issue is high on the Biden administration’s agenda and that the president will “not let the filibuster get in the way” of signing bills into law that make it easier to vote.
“Because what is happening in our country … they are passing laws making it more difficult for people to vote,” said Harris.
Harris specified President Biden’s support for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Both bills have been approved by the House but blocked in the Senate by Republican filibusters.
The vice president said that after Biden was elected in 2020 “you almost saw, almost immediately, so-called extremist leaders around the country starting to pass laws making it more difficult for people to vote.”
“I think that scared some people that the American people were voting in such large numbers,” she said, referencing the record voter turnout that year.
Harris also addressed election deniers running for secretary of state around the country and some lawmakers’ refusal to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, voicing concern over how the country is handling “attacks from within.”
Asked by anchor Chuck Todd whether current internal threats to American democracy are “equal or greater than what we faced after 9/11,” Harris said that the two are “different.”
“Each are dangerous and extremely harmful, but they’re different,” said Harris.
She continued: “When I think about what we have been seeing in terms of the attacks from within, I wish that we would approach it … as Americans, instead of through some partisan lens.”
Harris claimed that threats to democracy from within the U.S. affect relations with other nations by indicating that America is not “valuing what they talk about.”
“I’m very concerned about it. Because there are so many issues going on in the world that I think require, at least how we as Americans have traditionally thought about what is right, what is good, what should be fought for, what should be human ideals, and certainly the ideals of democracies,” said Harris.
“And I think that through the process of what we’ve been through, we’re starting to allow people to call into question our commitment to those principles.”
Todd also asked the vice president how she might deal with disputes about the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, saying, “Have you thought about how you might handle a certification that did not reflect the outcome of the popular vote in the state?”
“I haven’t gotten to that point yet,” Harris told him.
“I have to believe that the United States Congress and all the people who have taken an oath to defend our democracy will ensure and will stand up against anyone who tries to destroy or circumvent the rules and the practices and procedures that we’ve had in place that have allowed a peaceful transfer of power since the inception of our nation and the founding of our nation,” she said.
Todd also broached the topic of a potential prosecution of former President Trump, who is currently facing multiple investigations, to which Harris responded that she “wouldn’t dare tell the Department of Justice what to do.”
Harris appeared to push back against the argument, raised by Todd, that it would be “too divisive for the country to prosecute a former president,” however.
She said that “the unthinkable has happened” before in U.S. history in situations “where there has been a call for justice, and justice has been served.”
“And I think that’s potentially going to always be the case in our country that people are going to demand justice and they rightly do,” she said.
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:00Z
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Vice President Harris said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that she would again run on President Biden’s ticket in 2024 if he decides to seek reelection.
“The president has been very clear that he intends to run again,” Harris told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“And if he does, I will be running with him proudly,” Harris added.
Biden and his aides have insisted the president plans to run for reelection if his health allows.
But some Democrats have dodged questions about whether they would support another White House bid by Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, who also faces low approval ratings.
His approval rating, however, has made gains in recent days following a string of recent legislative victories for Democrats and easing inflation, although it still remains underwater.
Harris also told Todd she was “very proud” to serve as Biden’s vice president.
“We talk about family a lot,” she said. “We talk about our hopes, we talk about our dreams, we talk about the things that concern us, that worry us, the things that keep us excited about everything we are doing.”
“It’s a real friendship. We have a real friendship, and I cherish that,” Harris added.
If Biden decides to run for a second term, his candidacy could lead to a rematch of the 2020 contest against former President Trump.
The former president has remained active in Republican politics since departing the White House, in particular focusing on endorsing candidates in the midterm elections who support his unfounded claims of mass election fraud.
Trump has said he already made a decision on whether he would mount a third White House bid, but he has not yet made a formal announcement.
A Yahoo-News-YouGov poll released last week found that Biden had a 6-point lead in a hypothetical rematch between the two presidents.
Forty-eight percent of registered voters said they’d vote for Biden, compared to 42 percent who said they’d vote for Trump.
The poll also found that an increasing percentage of Democrats want Biden to run in 2024, now outpacing those who say he shouldn’t run. The pollster last month found a plurality of Democrats did not want Biden to seek reelection.
A separate USA Today-Ipsos poll last month found that more than half of Democratic voters — 56 percent — indicated they did not want Biden to run for a second term.
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:07Z
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More than 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Biden has shifted the way America fights the war on terror by launching fewer drone strikes, embracing an over-the-horizon approach to killing terrorists in Afghanistan and leveraging alliances.
Following last year’s pullout of U.S. forces from Afghanistan — ending a war that the 9/11 attacks tipped off — Biden has placed more emphasis on working with and through allies to target both new and long-standing foreign terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, Biden is also prioritizing keeping a light footprint abroad, including by using drones and special forces. This marks a major shift from the large numbers of American service members sent overseas to fight the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as to far-flung locations including Syria and Somalia.
But as the Biden administration pushes forward with its counterterrorism strategy, it will have to balance its efforts to combat foreign terrorists with addressing the threat of domestic extremism, experts say.
“I think this is the challenge that the Biden administration is juggling — I’d say generally [it] is doing well,” said Bruce Hoffman, a senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Certainly, I think [he’s] taking this range of threats quite seriously. But part of it I think is not being lulled into a sense of complacency that very resilient and determined long-standing adversaries like al Qaeda have disappeared, even ISIS have disappeared and no longer pose a threat,” he continued.
In keeping its footprint small in the Middle East, the U.S. maintains about 900 troops in Syria to counter ISIS in the country and has re-deployed troops to Somalia to counter al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab — a reversal of former President Trump’s decision to withdraw the 700 troops that were there.
The administration sought to prove that it could still fight terrorists from afar while maintaining that small footprint in early August, when it conducted an over-the-horizon drone strike — which didn’t involve troops directly on the ground — that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. But whether the over-the-horizon approach works is still up for debate.
“Al-Zawahiri was tracked to Kabul, but he was hiding in plain sight. I’m not sure that it’s proof of the over-the-horizon strategy working. That’s disrupting major terrorist plots and taking out the mid-level commanders, and the operations personnel,” Hoffman said.
Some terrorism experts see Biden shifting toward a broader, longer-term strategy to approaching counterterrorism that isn’t very reliant on boots on the ground, but rather one that focuses on zeroing in on how terrorist groups grow.
Audrey Kurth Cronin, a professor in the School of International Service at American University, said a big part of this is the Department of Defense’s recent efforts to mitigate civilian harm resulting from U.S. military activities. The Pentagon unveiled the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan on Aug. 25, which directs sweeping changes in military planning, training, doctrine and policy for future conflicts.
Not only would a plan like this protect local civilians — who are always impacted by terrorism — but it helps when dealing with terrorist groups that rely on mobilizing grassroots support.
“The only way that you can end groups that rely on mobilization — groups like al Qaeda and also ISIS — is to reduce the number of people that are likely to either actively or passively support them,” she said. “One way to do that … is to absolutely minimize the impact on civilians and to be very transparent with how you do that.”
Others see the move as a direct reaction to the political fallout of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which included surging troops to the countries by the thousands with no clear ending in sight.
“My strong sense is that the lesson in every subsequent administration has been to try and keep military action off the front pages as absolutely as much as possible,” said Ret. Army Col. Gregory Daddis, a professor of U.S. military history at the San Diego State University who served in Iraq.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the administration has looked to combat domestic terrorism, which the FBI defines as violent, criminal acts committed by people or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences.
The White House released a strategy in June 2021 to combat domestic terrorism, centered around federal agencies enhancing and improving how they share domestic terrorism-related information, preventing domestic terrorists from mobilizing Americans, disrupting their activities before they yield violence and addressing the long-term issues that contribute to domestic terrorism.
Cronin warned that domestic terrorism is difficult to address because efforts to do so can easily bleed into current domestic polarization by giving the appearance of making largely political choices.
“It’s a situation in the United States where our domestic laws are much more difficult to align with, compared to the laws that we use in order to fight international terrorism,” she said. “That’s for a good reason — we’re protecting domestic rights, we have a Constitution, [it’s] very tricky to define exactly what terrorism means domestically without becoming very political.”
Moving forward, experts say that Biden will have to be able to allocate resources wisely as he deals with multiple counterterrorism challenges — particularly as acute threats caused by Russia, China and the pandemic emerge.
“I think the American public and republics of many countries throughout the world, not just in the West, are tired of the War on Terror the same way they’re tired of the global pandemic, and they want to put both of them in the rearview mirror. I think the main challenge for the Biden administration is to be able to develop a flexible and adaptive security strategy that enables us to focus on the array of really unprecedented threats that a presidential administration faces now,” Hoffman said.
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:15Z
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Hillary Clinton on Sunday said there are “lessons still to be learned” from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, noting the country’s unity following the terrorist attacks.
“We have also, I think, been reminded about how important it is to try to deal with extremism of any kind, especially when it uses violence to try to achieve political and ideological goals,” Clinton said during an interview with co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” on the 21st anniversary of the attacks.
“So I’m one who thinks that there are lessons still to be learned from what happened to us on 9/11 that we should be very aware of, during this time in our country and the world’s history.”
President Biden, Vice President Harris and other senior officials traveled to remembrance ceremonies at the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sunday morning.
Clinton at the time of the attacks served as a U.S. senator from New York and years later served as secretary of State during the Obama administration, managing the country’s foreign policy during U.S. interventions in the Middle East spurred by the attacks.
The ex-first lady reflected on the country’s response to the attacks on CNN, lauding former President George W. Bush’s commitment to helping rebuild New York after the collapse of the Twin Towers.
“I feel grateful that we were able to come together as a country at that really terrible time,” Clinton said. “We put aside differences. I wish we could find ways of doing that again.”
She added that she hopes the country could unite again, touting Biden’s legislative record on issues like climate change, health care and gun violence.
“We are in a funny position, Dana, because there’s a small but very vocal, very powerful, very determined minority who wants to impose their views on all the rest of us,” Clinton told Bash.
“And it’s time for everybody regardless of party to say, no, that’s not who we are as America,” Clinton added.
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:22Z
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The mayor of Jackson, Miss., Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D), said on Sunday that federal infrastructure funding is “insufficient” to address “30 years of deferred maintenance and accumulated challenges” associated with the city’s water system.
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan noted that Jackson received $42 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) last year, adding that President Biden stressed during the signing of the bill the importance of preventing a reoccurrence of water crises in cities such as Jackson and Flint, Mich.
“We have committed the grand majority of our ARPA funds towards our infrastructure, not only at the water treatment facility, but distribution lines,” Lumumba told Brennan. “We’ve spent $8 million on one pipe alone to South Jackson, which is disproportionately affected. It is also critical for people to know that the city of Jackson didn’t get $42 million at one time, merely a little over a month ago, we got our second tranche of the funds.”
Lumumba told Brennan that his administration is committing the “overwhelming majority” of the city’s funding to address the current water crisis.
“However, it is insufficient to meet the great need of 30 years of deferred maintenance and accumulated challenges,” he added. “And so it will take a coordinated effort on not only the local state, but federal levels as well.”
Lumumba’s remarks come after Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) declared a state of emergency last month for areas, including Jackson, that were hit by major flooding. The city’s 150,000 residents were left without potable water to drink.
During a press conference last week, Reeves said that he is open to numerous long-term options in an effort to restore Jackson’s water system, noting that transferring the system to a private company is “on the table.”
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:30Z
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Vice President Harris said during an interview broadcast on Sunday that she believes that the threat within the U.S. makes the nation “weaker.”
“I think that it is a threat. I think it is very dangerous. I think it is very harmful and it makes us weaker,” Harris told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” during a discussion on domestic threats.
The vice president noted that the U.S. historically has had the “honor and privilege” of exemplifying a “great democracy,” which has given the country the grounding to champion democratic principles throughout the world and act as a “role model” for democracy.
However, Harris warned that recent events, such as some elected officials denying the results of the 2020 presidential election and other refusing to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, cause countries around the world to question the United States’ “commitment” toward democracy, and said that she is “very concerned.”
Todd, noting the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Sunday, asked if domestic threats are “equal of greater than what we faced after 9/11.”
Harris replied that she has taken many oaths of office, vowing to defend and uphold the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, adding that “we don’t compare the two in the oath, but we know they both can exist and we must defend against it.”
“The fact is having served under the Senate Intelligence Committee and now as vice president, I can tell you the nature of domestic threat versus a foreign threat— they’re very different,” Harris said. “Note, both are harmful and extremely dangerous, but they’re very different.”
“When I think about what we have been seeing from the attacks from within, I wish that we would approach it the same way as Americans instead of through some partisan lens,” she added.
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:38Z
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Top House Democrats requested an investigation into airline companies use of pandemic funds on Thursday, following weeks of thousands of flights across the getting canceled and delayed.
In a letter to Deputy Inspector General of the Treasury Richard Delmar, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said that they were “concerned” that federal funds may have been used to pay for buyouts and early retirement packages for pilots.
“We are concerned that some airlines have used federal funds obtained during the pandemic to provide buyouts and early retirement packages for pilots, which may be exacerbating a shortage of commercial pilots,” the pair wrote.
The airline industry received more than $60 billion in pandemic-related funds from the CARES Act signed into law by former President Trump in 2020, according to the lawmakers. The funding was meant to keep workers on the payroll while COVID-19 mitigation efforts, such as lockdowns, curfews and travel bans remained in place.
But several airlines cut a large portion of their workforce and urged employees to retire early, they said. “At the same time, the airlines “benefitted from record high revenues,” they continued.
“American taxpayers supported the airline industry during its darkest days at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Americans deserve transparency into how airlines have used the federal funds they have received.”
Maloney and Clyburn contended that these reported buyouts and early retirements have contributed to a pilot shortage, thus exacerbating flight issues for travelers.
“These early retirement programs exacerbated an existing pilot shortage within the airline industry, since by law pilots must retire at age 65,” they said.
“Millions of travelers have been impacted by widespread flight delays and cancellations, with the pilot shortage being a major contributing factor”
Maloney and Clyburn also pointed to earlier reports from the Treasury’s Office of the Inspector General which found issues with the airlines’ payroll calculations used to determine how much pandemic-related funding they received.
“Under the Trump Administration, Treasury allowed aviation contractors to layoff thousands of workers while still receiving full payroll support based on pre-pandemic workforce numbers,” the Democratic lawmakers noted.
Struggling with staffing shortages, particularly among pilots, airlines have canceled and delayed thousands of flights on major travel weekends, frustrating passengers and leading to a rise in complaints.
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:46Z
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Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said on Sunday that she believes the Democratic Party has an age problem as November’s midterm elections loom.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” McCaskill, who is now a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, told moderator Chuck Todd that she believes her party is struggling with the issue of age among its leaders.
McCaskill noted people she considers “ancient” are running the party.
“But I will tell you I do think the Democratic Party is struggling with an issue that is real and that is all of our leadership,” McCaskill said during the roundtable discussion. “And I’m saying this as somebody who’s ancient, you know, a lot of us are running the Democratic Party now in every part of the Democratic Party.”
McCaskill, who was defeated in her reelection bid by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in 2018, also said that her party needs to establish an initiative to have more younger people in the forefront, citing the importance of the 2024 election.
“I think the Democratic Party will benefit from really doing some navel-gazing about how can we get more young people to the forefront because young people are going to be really important to us in 2024,” McCaskill added.
McCaskill’s remarks come after Vice President Harris told Todd in a separate interview that aired Sunday that she will run again with Biden if he intends to run for reelection.
“Listen, the president has been very clear that he intends to run again. And if he does, I will be running with him proudly,” Harris told Todd. “Proudly. I’m very proud to be his vice president.”
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| 2022-09-21T09:26:53Z
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The U.S. Navy has ordered an independent investigation into the Navy SEAL selection course following the death of a sailor during the program, according to a report from The New York Times.
Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William K. Lescher called for the investigation in a letter obtained by the paper.
The investigation will focus on the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALS (BUD/S) course, probing its safety measures and drug testing protocol as well as the qualifications of medical personnel assigned to the program.
Many sailors have been found to use performance-enhancing drugs to get through BUD/S, particularly during what is known as “Hell Week,” the most intense part of the selection course where sailors experience dire physical conditions, according to the Times.
The Aug. 31 letter also ordered investigators to look into changes made since the passing of Kyle Mullen in February. Mullen was a Navy sailor who died after being sent to the hospital in San Diego shortly following Hell Week.
An anonymous Navy official told the Times that the Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC), which houses the SEALs, had also been investigating Mullen’s death before their probe was brought to a halt.
Leaders found that the NSWC report placed too much responsibility on Mullen rather than highlighting the flaws of the SEAL training program, according to the official.
The letter indicates that the Special Warfare Command will refocus its investigation into whether Mullen died in the line of duty, but will leave other questions to the independent investigators.
“The Navy remains committed to transparency and ensuring the final reports are thorough, accurate, impartial, and that confidence and credibility are maintained throughout the entire process,” it told the Times.
The Hill has reached out to the Navy for further comment on the investigation.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:01Z
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One of the last Republican House primaries of the midterm cycle has emerged as a proxy battle between House GOP leaders and factions of the Republican party.
Candidates vying to face vulnerable Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District are jockeying over how Trumpy and conservative they are, as millions of outside dollars are being poured into the race and attacks have gotten personal in the run-up to the Tuesday primary.
Matt Mowers, a former Trump appointee in the State Department, has the endorsement of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), as well as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
His closest competition is Karoline Leavitt, a 25-year-old former press aide in the Trump White House and in House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) congressional office, has endorsements from Stefanik, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), as well as from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).
And she’s proven to be a strong fundraiser, bringing in more than $1.5 million during the primary cycle.
In response, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with McCarthy, has poured more than $1.5 million into the race to support Mowers with digital and television ads, direct mail, phone calls and text messages. Mowers himself has raised $1.7 million, slightly more than Leavitt.
Leavitt has argued that her youth is a party-expanding asset. But well-funded forces are arguing that she is too young and inexperienced to flip the seat.
The Defending Main Street super PAC, part of a network of groups that supports more centrist Republican candidates, has pumped nearly $1.3 million into campaigning against Leavitt.
A television ad released by the super PAC just before Labor Day billed her as “immature and irresponsible,” featuring an old video of Leavitt saying, “Listen up, hoe bags,” before bursting into laughter.
The Republican Main Street Partnership PAC, another organization in the group’s network, endorsed Mowers.
Leavitt says the ad is a sign that the establishment is afraid of her.
“Voters are smart. The negative, desperate, disgusting smears that the establishment and these dirty money super PACs are waging against not only me, but my family, are completely backfiring,” Leavitt told The Hill in an interview. “Voters understand, thanks to President Trump, that when they are attacking you, it means you’re over the target and you’re winning.”
Mowers has also faced consistent attacks from his opponents, including in an ad from Leavitt focusing on the fact that he voted in both New Hampshire and New Jersey presidential primaries in 2016. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office said that he did not violate the state’s law.
Mowers faced Pappas as the Republican nominee for the seat in 2020, losing by 5 points. This year, after redistricting, the nonpartisan election handicappers at the Cook Political Report say the seat is more of a toss-up.
Some internal and independent polls conducted last month showed Mowers with double-digit leads over Leavitt. But other surveys show a much more competitive race, with a late August poll from the University of New Hampshire finding Mowers leading at 26 percent and Leavitt at 24 percent support.
Other candidates in the crowded race are also pumping their conservative credentials.
Retired broadcast journalist Gail Huff Brown, wife of former Massachusetts U.S. Senator and New Zealand Ambassador under Trump Scott Brown, scored an endorsement from Fox News host Sean Hannity.
State Rep. Tim Baxter, another 25-year-old who is endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), slightly defended Leavitt from the Main Street ad while also knocking her for arguing that her youth is an asset.
“I just don’t think that people should be campaigning on identity politics. I think you’re never too young or too old,” Baxter told The Hill, also knocking the outside spending. “People are sick of these politicians that are bought and paid for. The people of New Hampshire don’t want a pawn for the swamp as the representative in D.C.”
While different factions of the MAGA movement war with each other in the race, former President Trump himself has stayed silent. He endorsed Mowers in 2020.
But that has not kept candidates from making him central to the race. Trump’s name repeatedly came up at a recent primary debate.
Leavitt leaned into Trump’s unproven claims about the 2020 election, saying in the debate that she believes it was stolen from Trump and that President Biden did not win 81 million votes.
“That’s a preposterous claim,” she said.
The Mowers campaign went as far as to send out a mailer this week that pictured him alongside Trump, and featured the first part of Trump’s 2020 tweet in which he praised and endorsed Mowers — but cutting off the line about endorsements.
“Matt worked tirelessly with President Trump to secure the border, restore America’s energy independence and advance the America First agenda,” John Corbett, a spokesman for Matt Mowers, told The Hill in a statement. “In the days leading up to the primary, Matt is crisscrossing the district offering his solutions to fix the problems, like inflation and high gas prices, created by Joe Biden.”
Though Leavitt had previously said she would vote for McCarthy for House Speaker if she gets to Congress and Republicans would take back the House, she appears to have soured on him after his PAC’s mass spending.
“Kevin McCarthy and the establishment are spending millions and millions of dollars to buy the seat. So I won’t be very inclined to help the establishment when I get down there,” Leavitt told The Hill.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:09Z
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Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on Sunday that a congressional briefing to get a damage assessment of the classified documents potentially mishandled by former President Trump is on hold since a judge allowed a special master to review what was seized.
“My understanding is there is some question because of the special master appointment by the judge in Florida whether they can brief at this point,” Warner told CBS “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan. “We need clarification on that from that judge as quickly as possible because it is essential that the intelligence community, leadership at least, get a briefing of the damage assessment.”
Warner, along with the committee’s vice chairman, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), have requested more information on the classified documents obtained during an FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in August, seeking both the documents seized and an assessment of any national security threats posed by potential mishandling of the information.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon granted Trump’s request last week to appoint an independent special master to review materials seized by the FBI after he raised concerns that some of the information obtained as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into the former president was protected under attorney-client and executive privileges.
Warner said the congressional request in no way sought to hinder the DOJ’s ongoing investigation and sidestepped questions by Brennan about information shared with Congress being more likely to leak to the public.
“I believe that it’s our congressional duty to have that oversight,” Warner said. “Remember what’s at stake here is the fact that if some of these documents involved human intelligence and that information got out, people will die,” noting that years of work could be “destroyed.”
Warner said the Senate Intelligence Committee, which he called the “last functioning bipartisan committee, I believe, in the whole Congress” had an obligation to review any potential security dangers to the country and its intelligence gathering capabilities.
“I do want the damage assessment of what would happen to our ability to protect the nation,” Warner said, adding that the request by the intelligence leaders sought to “assess whether there’s been damage done to our intelligence collection and maintenance of secrets capacity.”
Updated 11:32 a.m.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:16Z
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Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) on Sunday marked the 21-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by warning of domestic threats the U.S. is currently facing.
“I remember, as most Americans do, where they were on 9/11. I was in the middle of a political campaign and suddenly, the differences with my opponent seem very small in comparison and our country came together,” Warner said on CBS “Face the Nation” with host Margaret Brennan.
“The stunning thing to me is here we are 20 years later, and the attack on the symbol of our democracy was not coming from terrorists, but it came from literally insurgents attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6.”
Warner lauded the nation’s unity and progress in the face of international terror threats, and said he hopes the country can similarly rally in the face of domestic challenges.
“I believe our intelligence community has performed remarkably. I think the threat of terror has diminished … But I do worry about some of the activity in this country where the election deniers, the insurgency that took place on Jan. 6, that is something I hope we could see that same kind of unity of spirit.”
Warner leads what he called “the last functioning bipartisan committee,” the Intelligence Committee, along with vice chairman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The panel is now looking into the classified documents found when the FBI executed a search warrant at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last month.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:24Z
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Voters will be heading to the polls in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware next Tuesday to weigh in on some of the last primaries this year before turning their attention to November.
While the spotlight will be on New Hampshire’s Republican Senate primary, which will determine who takes on Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) in November, next week’s primaries will prove consequential in several gubernatorial and House races as well.
Those primaries will determine whether Govs. Dan McKee (D) of Rhode Island and Chris Sununu (R) of New Hampshire prevail in their reelection bids, while several races in New Hampshire will determine who will take on two vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the House.
Here’s a look at the races we’re watching next week.
New Hampshire GOP Senate primary
Next week’s primary will be closely watched as Republicans determine which candidate they want to see go head to head with Hassan, who is vying for a second term in one of the year’s most competitive Senate races. She won her first term in 2016 by about a tenth of a percentage point, and Republicans are eager to see the seat flip.
While the field has attracted close to a dozen GOP candidates, retired Army Gen. Don Bolduc and state Senate President Chuck Morse are seen as the leading candidates.
Bolduc has garnered controversy for previously supporting former President Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 election — claims from which Bolduc has recently backtracked — and for calling Sununu a “communist sympathizer.” He ran for Senate in 2020, losing the GOP nomination to Republican candidate Corky Messner. Messner later lost to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D) by a 15-percentage point margin.
Morse, considered the more establishment Republican, has focused on school choice, completing the wall at the southern border and reforming supply chain regulations. In a last-minute boost, Sununu announced on Thursday that he would be endorsing Morse.
Both Republicans and Democrats have poured money into the race. Republicans have spent money airing ads criticizing Bolduc, whom some in the GOP worry would be a weak candidate against Hassan, while Democrats have aired ads targeting Morse.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat as “lean Democrat.”
New Hampshire GOP gubernatorial primary
Sununu is seeking his fourth run for office after dashing hopes held among some Republicans that he would run for Senate. While he’s competing against a handful of candidates in the GOP primary, recent polling shows he’s likely to prevail.
Among some of the candidates vying for the chance to take on Sununu include U.S. Marine Corps veteran Julian Acciard, “biker” candidate Jay Lewis, professional logger Richard McMenamon II, small business owner Thad Riley and Karen Testerman, who served in Franklin, N.H., as a former city councilor.
Despite Republican candidates targeting him over his criticism of Trump and how he’s dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, a University of New Hampshire Survey Center Granite State Poll released earlier this month shows Sununu on a likely easy reelection path.
The poll found that Sununu received 72 percent support among likely Republican primary voters compared to Riley, who placed second at 7 percent.
New Hampshire 1st Congressional District GOP primary
The GOP primary to take on Rep. Chris Pappas (D.), who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, has attracted a crowded field of candidates in a race that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates as a “toss up.”
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center Granite State Poll released late last month showed two former Trump administration officials — former State Department official Matt Mowers (26 percent) and former White House assistant press secretary Karoline Leavitt (24 percent) — as the leading contenders among likely GOP primary voters.
Other candidates running in the race include journalist Gail Huff Brown — the wife of former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — former state Sen. Russell Prescott and state Rep. Tim Baxter, among others. If Mowers wins reelection, it would set up a rematch with Pappas. The two went head to head in 2020, with Pappas prevailing by a 5-percentage point margin.
If Leavitt notches the GOP primary and wins the seat in November, she could be among the first Gen Z candidates to win office.
New Hampshire 2nd Congressional District GOP primary
Voters will weigh in on seven Republican candidates next Tuesday eager to take on Rep. Ann Kuster (D) in November for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Among those vying for the Republican nomination include bar manager and bartender Scott Black; Bob Burns, a former deputy state director for Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign; stone craft artist Michael Callis; Keene, N.H., Mayor George Hansel; Jay Mercer, a department head at New Hampshire Technical Institute and Rivier University; Army veteran Dean Poirier and Lily Tang Williams, who serves as supervisor of the checklist in Weare, N.H.
A University of New Hampshire Survey Center Granite State Poll released late last month showed Burns leading his Republican contenders with 32 percent among likely Republican primary voters, followed by Hansel with 18 percent. Williams placed third at 10 percent.
The Cook Political Report rates the seat a “toss up.”
Rhode Island Democratic gubernatorial primary
Gov. Dan McKee (D) is looking to win his first full term as governor after he was elevated to the post in 2021 after then-Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) left office to serve as Commerce secretary under the Biden administration.
McKee, who prior to his governorship served as the state’s lieutenant governor between 2015 and 2021, is facing four other challengers for the state’s top post: state Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, former state Secretary of State Matt Brown, former CVS executive Helena Foulkes and physician Luis Daniel Muñoz.
A 12 News-Roger Williams University Poll released in August showed McKee leading his Democratic contenders with 28 percent of support among Democratic primary voters in the state. Gorbea followed in second with 25 percent while Foulkes received 14 percent. Brown and Muñoz both received less than 10 percent.
The Cook Political Report rates the seat as “solid Democrat,” meaning whoever wins on Tuesday will be the heavy favorite in November.
Rhode Island 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary
Rep. Jim Langevin (D) announced earlier this year that he would not be seeking reelection after serving for two decades in Congress, leaving the seat open in a race that Cook Political Reports rates as a “toss up.”
While only one Republican is running on the GOP side, five candidates are looking to secure the Democratic nomination. Those include state General Treasurer Seth Magaziner; former state lawmaker David Segal; former Commerce Department official Sarah Morgenthau; small business owner Joy Fox; and Refugee Dream Center founder Omar Bah.
Another Democratic candidate, Spencer Dickinson, suspended “the active part of his campaign,” The Providence Journal reported.
A 12 News-Roger Williams University Poll released in August shows Magaziner leading the pack by double digits with 37 percent support among Democratic primary voters in the state, followed by Segal and Morgenthau both with 8 percent. Fox, Bah and Dickinson both received less than 5 percent.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:31Z
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Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) presented a flag from the U.S. Capitol on Friday to Simone Gold, who was sentenced to 60 days in prison for her actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Gold, who founded the anti-COVID-19 restriction group America’s Frontline Doctors and promoted the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19, pleaded guilty in March to entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds during the storming of the Capitol. She was sentenced to 60 days imprisonment and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine.
Gohmert said in a release that Gold is a “patriot” and “American hero.”
“After having her name and reputation shamefully dragged through the mud, the Biden administration’s DOJ threw her in prison for peacefully walking into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and delivering a speech,” Gohmert said. “Dr. Gold is the definition of what a political prisoner looks like—something I never thought I’d see here in the United States of America.”
He said Gold gave the world “life-saving” early treatment options to COVID-19 that “undoubtedly” saved many lives.
Multiple studies and fact checks throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have concluded that hydroxychloroquine does not make a difference in protecting people from the virus.
“History will not look kindly upon those who persecuted—and prosecuted—doctors who spoke out against the COVID lockdown, mask and vaccine mandates,” Gohmert said.
Gohmert said in July 2020 after contracting COVID-19 that he would take hydroxychloroquine as a treatment.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:39Z
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Former President Trump and the Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday night submitted their candidates to serve as special master in the department’s investigation into documents recovered during a search of Mar-a-Lago.
The former president’s legal team proposed Raymond J. Dearie, a former district court judge in New York, and Paul Huck Jr., who previously served as general counsel to the governor of Florida and deputy attorney general for the state, to fill the position, according to court documents. The DOJ suggested Barbara S. Jones, a former district court judge in New York, and Thomas B. Griffith, a former appeals court judge in Washington, D.C.
According to the filing, the DOJ and Trump’s lawyers disagreed on how the special master should function in the case.
The former president’s lawyers want the special master to review all the materials taken in the Mar-a-Lago search, including those with classified markings, and evaluate potential executive privilege claims.
The DOJ, meanwhile, argued the special master should not review the documents with classified markings or consider executive privilege claims.
Trump’s lawyers also suggested that the two parties split the cost of the special master evenly, while the DOJ said the former president should pay for it given that he requested the special master.
The FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Aug. 8, saying it recovering more than 100 classified documents. A judge granted Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review the removed documents earlier this week, a ruling which the DOJ has since appealed.
— Updated at 11:05 p.m.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:46Z
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A new book by former Trump aide Peter Navarro claims that the former president was supportive of an attempt to remove his son-in-law Jared Kushner from having control over his 2020 campaign and replace him with Stephen Bannon.
Navarro in the book, obtained by The Guardian, describes the plan as a “coup d’état,” but the change never occurred because Kushner refused.
“And that was that. And the rest is a catastrophic strategic failure history,” Navarro wrote, according to The Guardian.
Navarro, a critic of Kushner, will later this month release the book, titled “Taking Back Trump’s America: Why We Lost the White House and How We’ll Win It Back.”
Trump, while supportive of the move, feared “family troubles if [he] himself had to deliver the bad news to … the father of his grandchildren,” so he did not bring up the subject with Kushner.
Instead, the president asked Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, a prominent GOP donor, to tell Kushner.
Kushner at first skipped a call from Marcus and then later told him, “things were fine with the campaign, there was no way he was stepping down and, in effect, Bernie Marcus and his big moneybags could go pound sand,” according to Navarro’s account.
The Hill has reached out to a Trump spokesperson for comment.
Navarro has lashed out at Kushner in the past. After Kushner revealed in his book that he was treated for thyroid cancer while serving in the White House, Navarro said during a Newsmax interview that the revelation “came out of nowhere” and accused Kushner of trying to get “sympathy to try to sell his book.”
Navarro has also come under scrutiny in recent months over his defiance of subpoenas issued by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
A federal grand jury indicted Navarro this summer on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress. In court following his arrest, Navarro lashed out at Congress and federal law enforcement.
Earlier that week, the former Trump trade adviser filed a civil complaint challenging the House panel’s authority, also revealing he received a grand jury subpoena as part of the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation.
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| 2022-09-21T09:27:53Z
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Former President Trump and the Justice Department (DOJ) have submitted a total of four candidates to be potentially appointed as special master in charge of reviewing the documents the FBI took at Mar-a-Lago last month.
The submissions came after a federal judge on Monday granted Trump’s request to have a special master review the materials that the FBI obtained to see if any are protected by attorney-client or executive privilege.
The DOJ also filed an appeal on Thursday to request that the special master not review the more than 100 classified documents that the FBI took, arguing that a pause in its review of those materials could cause “irreparable harm” to the government and the public in delaying the investigation.
The Trump legal team and the DOJ each proposed two candidates to conduct the review.
Here are the four people that Trump and the DOJ have proposed to serve as special master:
Raymond J. Dearie
Trump chose Raymond J. Dearie, a retired U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of New York, as one of his picks. Dearie was nominated to the seat and confirmed by the Senate in 1986 by then-President Reagan.
He served as chief judge of the court from 2007 to 2011, according to his profile page on the court’s website. Dearie assumed senior status on the court in 2011, moving to a form of semi-retirement that allows judges older than 65 to take a lighter caseload.
Dearie also served as a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1982 to 1986. He also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews requests for surveillance warrants against suspected foreign spies in the U.S., according to Trump and the DOJ’s court filing announcing their choices.
Paul Huck Jr.
Paul Huck Jr., who is Trump’s other pick, has spent his legal career working in both the public and private sectors. Huck served as deputy attorney general in Florida for four years and then served as general counsel to then-Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican at the time who has since joined the Democratic Party, from 2007 to 2008.
While serving as general counsel, he was the top legal adviser to Crist on constitutional, legislative and statutory matters involving the executive branch, according to his profile page on the site for conservative legal organization The Federalist Society, where he is a contributor.
The Federalist Society defines a contributor as speaking or participating in its events, publications or multimedia presentations, and the title does not necessarily imply any other endorsement or relationship with the organization.
Huck also founded his own law firm, the Huck Law Firm, and is a former partner at the multinational law firm Jones Day, according to the court filing.
Barbara S. Jones
One of the DOJ’s picks is Barbara S. Jones, who served as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York for more than a decade and a half. She was nominated to the seat in 1995 by then-President Clinton.
She presided over cases on a wide range of topics, including accounting and securities fraud, antitrust, corruption, labor racketeering and terrorism while serving, according to her profile page for Bracewell LLP, where she is a partner.
Before she began serving as a district judge, she served as chief assistant to Robert Morgenthau, the district attorney of New York County at the time.
Jones also served as the chair of the Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crimes Panel, which Congress created to analyze investigations of sexual assault in the military.
She served as a special master in 2018 to review documents from Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, to examine if any were privileged.
Thomas B. Griffith
Thomas B. Griffith, the DOJ’s other candidate, served as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2005 to 2020. He serves as special counsel for the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP.
Griffith served as the Senate legal counsel, the body’s nonpartisan top legal officer, from 1995 to 1999, according to his profile page on his law firm’s website. He advised Senate leadership and committees on investigations in the role.
Griffith was also the general counsel to Brigham Young University in Utah for five years. He is a lecturer of law at Harvard University and has served in that role in the past for Stanford University and Brigham Young.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:01Z
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The unequal toll of climate disasters
Five years after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is reeling from Hurricane Fiona, which unleashed heavy rains, winds and mudslides on the island and left most households without electricity or access to running water.
The big picture: Black and Latino communities in the U.S. have long been burdened by the disproportionate impacts of climate change. Fiona is no exception.
Driving the news: Puerto Rico still hasn’t fully recovered from 2017's Hurricane Maria, which resulted in thousands of deaths and the longest power outage in U.S. history, an Associated Press investigation found.
- Now, the island is grappling with what Gov. Pedro Pierluisi calls Fiona’s "catastrophic" damage to its vulnerable infrastructure. Depending on the federal response, the next steps could mitigate existing racial and socioeconomic disparities — or exacerbate them.
The backstory: Federal disaster relief has long fallen short in measures of equity. Research demonstrates that unequal recovery efforts following extreme disaster events have contributed to lasting racial and social divides.
- For starters, communities of color are less likely to receive disaster relief aid, especially when compared to white, affluent households, and the communities they live in, according to FEMA's 2020 National Advisory Council report.
- And a 2018 study published in a journal for the American Sociological Association found that race-based wealth inequality increases with the cost of damages from natural hazards.
- The study found that the way FEMA funding was being administered to counties experiencing hazards led to white residents increasing wealth, while Black, Latino and Asian populations lost it.
- Plus, it's most likely to be wealthy white residents — not residents of color — who relocate to less hazard-prone areas after a hurricane, according to a 2016 study examining the impacts of hurricanes on population change in the Gulf Coast between 1970 and 2005.
Hurricanes leave lasting scars by disrupting public health and health care delivery, according to Carlos Rodríguez-Díaz, a public health scientist and associate professor at George Washington University.
- Hospitals shut down, and patients’ care is halted by power outages — a key issue in Puerto Rico following Maria.
- There are also dire shortages of medical supplies like saline solution, as well as damage to infrastructure like water and sewage systems — all of which deepens pre-existing health care inequities.
- These compound with existing threats, like air pollution, which communities of color are most exposed to due to historic discriminatory practices like redlining and exclusionary housing policies.
Between the lines: Having led on-the-ground research on the aftermath of Maria and its predecessor Irma, and being Puerto Rican himself, Rodríguez-Díaz sees the heavily criticized Trump administration’s response — and the ensuing health care crisis — as a product of systemic racism and the island’s colonization.
- He compares Maria with a nearly simultaneous disaster response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas, which a Politico investigation revealed led to a "faster, and initially, greater" response effort, despite the significantly larger demand and scale of damage in Puerto Rico.
- “How are we going to... [provide] the resources to communities that are living in disaster-prone areas to have options, to live elsewhere without displacement?” Rodríguez-Díaz asked in an interview with Axios.
Flashback: In 2015, 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, 90% of New Orleans residents had returned — but only 37% of residents from the Lower 9th Ward, a predominantly Black neighborhood, had come back, the liberal Center for American Progress noted in a report.
- Following the storm, Black survivors of Katrina more frequently reported problems with finances, physical and mental health than white survivors, according to the Journal of Black Studies.
What they’re saying: “People of color and people from low-wealth households don't get the ability to recover, especially if they're in spaces that are constantly faced with disasters,” Cassandra Davis of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tells Axios.
- Davis is currently working with FEMA — through funding from the Department of Homeland Security — on a project examining inequitable distribution of disaster aid. “As we think about recovery, short and long term, they're more likely to be left behind.”
What we’re watching: By continuing to acknowledge social injustice and focusing on who is being left out of relief — which FEMA addressed in a report earlier this year — pressing gaps in disaster recovery can be filled, according to Davis.
- As a first step, Davis hopes that begins with the U.S. emergency response to Fiona.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:03Z
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address U.S. defense contractors later this month when he headlines the annual Future Force Capabilities Conference and Exhibition hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
Zelensky is scheduled to speak at the event Sept. 21, according to the program for the event available on the NDIA’s website. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s minister of defense, is also scheduled to speak that day.
News of the appearances was first reported by Reuters, which noted that the officials will speak via video link. Zelensky is expected to appeal for more weapons for his country during his speech, the outlet added.
News of the Ukrainian president’s speech to the NDIA — whose membership includes defense industry giants like Raytheon Technologies, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics — comes as Kyiv looks to fend off Russia’s invasion as it drags through its sixth month.
Eight defense contractors — including Raytheon, Lockheed and General Dynamics — attended a meeting at the Pentagon in April to discuss how the U.S. could speed up production to help Ukraine fend off Moscow’s war.
The U.S. has committed $15.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including $14.5 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
On Thursday, the U.S. unveiled a $675 million weapons package to Ukraine, including additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, additional high-speed anti-radiation missiles and more than 5,000 anti-armor systems, among other equipment.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:08Z
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(Loving Living Local)- VH Barber and Styling Academy offers opportunities to students and clients.
Owner and instructor of VH Barber and Styling Academy, Vanette Harris joined host, Susan Kirton on location to discuss all of the opportunities available to not only the students but also the benefits to clients of the academy. Harris and her husband, Derrick Harris, saw a need to educate students to be better trained for real-world barber and beauty shop work. Harris aspires to raise the standard of education and professionalism within the hair industry.
VH Barber is the first and currently only barber school in Bossier Parish. Founded in 2012, the school is accredited and offers financial aid assistance to students who qualify. Students must have a high school diploma or GED to enroll. The Harris’ pride themselves in preparing students to pass the certification exam for the Louisiana Board of Barber Examiners and being able to fully enter the workforce upon completion.
Students gain hands-on training with live clients. In addition to helping students learn a trade, clients have the opportunity to receive services such as haircuts, razor services, color, perms, relaxers, starter locs, and re-twists at below market rate. All services are supervised by licensed instructors. “We don’t want to do just fast and cheap. We want to give you a good haircut”, says Harris.
VH Barber and Styling Academy is located at 1707 Old Minden Road, Suite 19, Bossier City, Louisiana. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram, or check out their website.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:16Z
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HARRISON COUNTY, Texas (KTAL/KSHV) – Six organizations serving veterans across East Texas received $655,000 in grants Thursday.
Texas Veterans Commission Fund for Veterans’ Assistance Chair and Air Force veteran Kimberlee Shaneyfelt presented the grants to organizations serving approximately 740 East Texas veterans and their families. The VCF East Texas Region covers from Lamar to Bowie County, along the Louisiana border to Jefferson County.
Funds from these grants support many veterans and military families in the ArkLaTex, including:
The Sabine Valley Regional MHMR Center received $50,000 to provide supportive services for veterans, veteran dependents, and surviving spouses across 12 counties. This includes Bowie, Cass, Marion, Harrison, Panola, and Titus Counties in the Ark-La-Tex. Community Healthcore offers preventative, short-term services for youth and their families, including skill-based training, community resource links, crisis intervention, and more.
One hundred thousand dollars went to the East Texas Council of Governments for transportation programs and services in 14 counties across the region. The services support veterans, surviving spouses, and veteran dependents in East Texas, including Marion, Harrison, and Panola Counties.
Northeast Texas Habitat for Humanity accepted a $200,000 grant for the Housing for Texas Heroes program. This provides veterans and surviving spouses in Harrison, Gregg, and Upshur Counties with home modification services.
Other East Texas organizations receiving funds include:
The Salvation Army of Lufkin, serving Angelina and Nacogdoches Counties, accepted $100,000 to provide financial assistance services to veterans, veteran dependents, and surviving spouses.
TVC awarded $200,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Smith County to provide home modification services to veterans and surviving spouses.
Ark-Tex COG accepted $5,000 to provide veterans in Lamar County with transportation programs and services.
These grants are part of an overall program totaling $31 million in grants awarded to over 120 organizations across Texas. The funds are estimated to assist more than 22,000 veterans.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:24Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Lower gas costs slowed U.S. inflation for a second straight month in August, but most other prices across the economy kept rising — evidence that inflation remains a heavy burden for American households.
Consumer prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier and 0.1% from July. But the jump in “core” prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, was especially worrisome. It outpaced expectations and ignited fear that the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates more aggressively and raise the risk of a recession.
Fueled by high rents, medical care and new cars, core prices leaped 6.3% for the year ending in August and 0.6% from July to August, the government said Tuesday. Furniture and sports gear, among many other items, also got costlier, suggesting that businesses are still raising prices in response to robust consumer demand.
The breadth of the price increases dashed hopes, at least for now, that core inflation would moderate. Economists tend to track core prices for a clearer read on where inflation is headed.
Stock prices plunged, with the S&P 500 index suffering its worst day June 2020 — a loss of more than 4% — and bond yields jumped on the worse-than-expected core figures. Many investors are now fearful that the Fed will tighten credit even more vigorously in its drive to curb inflation. Chair Jerome Powell is expected to announce another big increase in the Fed’s key rate next week, which will lead to higher costs for consumer and business loans.
Further aggressive Fed rate hikes could weaken growth so much as to push the economy into a downturn. Some economists now expect the Fed to raise its benchmark short-term rate, currently in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, to 4.5% or higher by early next year. That would make it even harder for the central bank to meet its goal of achieving a “soft landing,” whereby it would tame inflation without causing a recession.
“This was a disappointing report,” said Laura Rosner-Warburton, senior economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives. “It raises the risk of higher interest rates and a hard landing for the economy.”
Inflation is higher than many Americans have ever experienced, escalating families’ grocery bills, rents and utility costs, among other expenses. It has deepened gloom about the economy despite strong job growth and low unemployment.
Republicans have sought to make inflation a central issue in the midterm congressional elections. They blame President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed last year for much of the increase. Many economists generally agree, though they say that snarled supply chains, sharp pay increases and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have also been key factors in the inflation surge.
At the same time, the drop in gas prices — for consumers, perhaps the most visible barometer of inflation — could bolster Democrats’ prospects in the midterm elections. It may already have contributed to slightly higher public approval ratings for Biden.
In a statement Tuesday, the president said, “Overall, prices have been essentially flat in our country these last two months. That is welcome news for American families, with more work still to do.”
In his speeches, Biden has generally stopped referring to the impact of inflation on family budgets. He has instead highlighted his administration’s recent legislative accomplishments, including a law enacted last month that’s intended to reduce pharmaceutical prices and fight climate change.
Nationally, the average cost of a gallon of gas has dropped to $3.71, down from just above $5 in mid-June. But grocery prices have continued to rise rapidly, jumping 0.7% from July to August. In the past year, they have soared 13.5% — the biggest 12-month increase since 1979.
Chicken prices have risen nearly 17% in the past year. And egg prices surged 2.9% just in August from July and are up nearly 40% from a year ago.
Worsening food inflation is a particular strain on lower-income families, more of whom have had to turn to food banks and other aid as inflation has worsened. Mary Jane Crouch, executive director of America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, which works with a network of food banks, said 38% more food was distributed in August compared with July.
Though much of the food is donated, Crouch said her organization buys some of it and has faced sharp increases in meat and dairy prices in the past few months.
And the prices of many other goods are still rising even as supply chain snarls unravel, said Rosner-Warburton, the MacroPolicy economist.
“Companies are still putting through large price increases for those goods, and that’s problematic,” she said. It means the Fed will likely have to work harder to slow consumer spending through higher rates.
Elaine Buckberg, chief economist at General Motors, said Friday that the pandemic disruptions to overseas production of semiconductors, which have slowed auto output, have significantly dissipated and that overall supply chain disruptions have improved about 80% from the worst days of the pandemic.
Yet Americans are still desperate for cars, Buckberg said, which has allowed dealers to keep their markups much higher than pre-pandemic levels. New car prices, which rose 0.8% in August, have climbed nearly 11% in the past year.
“Virtually every vehicle that gets to a dealer has already been sold to someone,” she said.
Ongoing price increases for raw materials — and labor — have left many small businesses struggling. Some are raising their own prices to keep up, only to then lose customers, according to a survey by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Voices.
Meaghan Thomas, co-owner of Pinch Spice Market in Louisville, Kentucky, an online seller, has avoided raising prices for the past two years but worries that that can’t last if inflation worsens.
The price to ship spices from overseas have quadrupled, she said, and she’s seen little relief so far despite reports that such costs are declining. The cost of spices, which Thomas and her partner grind and blend in a small factory, have jumped by as much as 25% in the past year.
The company’s profit margin has been cut by half, Thomas said, but she and her partner think it’s important to keep their products affordable. She says larger companies have made inflation worse by raising prices unnecessarily.
“We can hang on for a little bit if all these other companies can stop raising their prices,” she said.
Wages are still rising at a strong pace — before adjusting for inflation — which has elevated demand for apartments as more people move out on their own. A shortage of available houses has also forced more people to keep renting, thereby intensifying competition for apartments.
As a result, rental costs jumped 6.7% in August from a year earlier, the most since 1986. Rents change much more slowly than commodity prices like gas. That could mean that apartment prices will keep inflation elevated well into 2023.
Other data from companies like Apartment List, which tracks prices of new apartments and leases, suggests that rental price inflation is starting to decline. But that data takes time to filter into the government’s measure, which tracks all rents.
Rosner-Warburton said it’s not clear if those declines, when they do start to affect the government’s measure, will slow inflation enough for the Fed.
“At this point, we need to see it to believe it,” she said.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:31Z
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MILAN (AP) — Three Americans were among the winners of this year’s Balzan Prize, announced Monday, for their work in the fields of moral philosophy, musicology and biotechnology.
Martha Nussbaum, a philosopher and scholar at the University of Chicago, won for “her transformative reconception of the goals of social justice, both globally and locally,” the Balzan Foundation said in its citation.
Nussbaum, author of more than 20 books, frequently examines emotions and the role they play in moral and political judgments. Her latest book, “Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility,” is scheduled for publication in December.
Another University of Chicago faculty member, ethnomusicologist Philip Bohlman, was recognized for his work focusing primarily on European and Jewish music. He was cited by the foundation for his exploration of “the interstices between music and religion (and) Jewish music in modernity” as well as for his performance of Jewish urban music.
Bohlman performs both as artistic director of the New Budapest Orpheum Society, and with his wife Christine Wilkie Bohlman presenting works for piano and dramatic speaker written during the Holocaust.
Robert Langer, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won the biotechnology prize for what the Milan-based Balzan Foundation called pioneering research and advances in mRNA vaccines and tissue engineering, paving the way “for breakthroughs in the controlled release of macromolecules with many medical applications.”
The final prize was shared by Danish palaeoclimatology professor Dorthe Dahl-Jensen of the University of Copenhagen and Dutch climatologist Johannes Oerlemans of the University of Utrecht for glaciation and ice-sheet dynamics. The Balzan citation noted their joint and complementary work on the dynamics of glaciation and ice sheets which has helped to create “more reliable projections of ice sheet behavior related to changes in sea level.”
The Balzan Foundation awards two prizes in the sciences and two in the humanities each year, rotating specialties to highlight new or emerging areas of research and sustain fields that might be overlooked elsewhere. Recipients receive 750,000 Swiss francs ($785,000), half of which must be used for research, preferably by young scholars or scientists.
The prizes will be awarded by Italian President Sergio Mattarella in November in Rome.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:38Z
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A rocket crashed back to Earth shortly after liftoff Monday in the first launch accident for Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, but the capsule carrying experiments managed to parachute to safety.
No one was aboard the Blue Origin flight, which used the same kind of rocket as the one that sends paying customers to the edge of space. The rockets are now grounded pending the outcome of an investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The New Shepard rocket was barely a minute into its flight from West Texas when bright yellow flames shot out from around the single engine at the bottom. The capsule’s emergency launch abort system immediately kicked in, lifting the craft off the top. Several minutes later, the capsule parachuted onto the remote desert floor.
The rocket came crashing down, with no injuries or damage reported, said the FAA, which is in charge of public safety during commercial space launches and landings.
Blue Origin’s launch commentary went silent when the capsule catapulted off the rocket Monday morning, eventually announcing: “It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned.”
“Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed,” the Kent, Washington-based company tweeted close to an hour later.
The company later said the rocket crashed.
The mishap occurred as the rocket was traveling nearly 700 mph (1,126 kph) at an altitude of about 28,000 feet (8,500 meters). There was no video shown of the rocket — only the capsule — after the failure. It happened around the point the rocket is under the maximum amount of pressure, called max-q.
The rocket usually lands upright on the desert floor and then is recycled for future flights.
The webcast showed the capsule reaching a maximum altitude of more than 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). Thirty-six experiments were on board to be exposed to a few minutes of weightlessness. Half were sponsored by NASA, mostly from students.
It was the 23rd flight for the New Shepard program, named after the first American in space, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the ninth flight for this particular rocket-capsule pair, which was dedicated to flying experiments.
Blue Origin’s most recent flight with paying customers was just last month; the ticket price hasn’t been released. Bezos was on the first New Shepard crew last year. Altogether, Blue Origin has carried 31 people on 10-minute flights, including actor William Shatner.
The rocket should have launched nearly two weeks ago, but was grounded until Monday by bad weather.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:45Z
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Record high temperatures in urban Europe as heat waves bake the planet more often. Devastating floods, some in poorer unprepared areas. Increasing destruction from hurricanes. Drought and famine in poorer parts of Africa as dry spells worsen across the globe. Wild weather worldwide getting stronger and more frequent, resulting “in unprecedented extremes.”
Sound like the last few summers?
It is. But it was also the warning and forecast for the future issued by top United Nations climate scientists more than 10 years ago.
In a report that changed the way the world thinks about the harms of global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on extreme events, disasters and climate change warned in 2012: “A changing climate leads to changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration, and timing of extreme weather and climate events, and can result in unprecedented extreme weather and climate events.” It said there would be more heat waves, worsening droughts, increasing downpours causing floods and stronger and wetter tropical cyclones and simply nastier disasters for people.
“The report was clairvoyant,” said report co-author Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University climate scientist. “The report was exactly what a climate report should do: Warn us about the future in time for us to adapt before the worst stuff happens. And the world proceeded to do what it usually does. Some people and governments listened, others didn’t. I think the sad lesson is the damage has to occur very close to home or else nobody pays attention now.”
In just the United States alone, the number of weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion in damage — adjusted for inflation — went from an average of 8.4 a year in the decade before the report was issued to 14.3 a year after the report came out, with more than a trillion dollars in U.S. weather damage since in just the billion-dollar extremes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Unprecedented record heat hit Northern California in September and 104 degrees in England (40 degrees Celsius) earlier this summer.
The 594-page report’s 20-page summary highlighted five case studies of climate risks from worsening extreme weather that scientists said will be more of a problem and how governments could deal with them. In each case scientists were able to give a recent example:
— Flash floods in “informal settlements.” Look at flooding in poor sections of Durban, South Africa, this year, said report co-author and climate scientist Maarten van Aalst, director of the International Red Cross and Crescent Climate Centre in the Netherlands. Or Eastern Kentucky or the Pakistan this year or Germany and Belgium last year, report authors said.
— Heat waves in urban Europe. “We’ve got that one in spades. That’s been consistent,” said Susan Cutter, a University of South Carolina disaster scientist. “I think every year there have been longer periods of heat in Europe.”
— Increasing property losses from hurricanes in the United States and the Caribbean as storms get wetter and stronger, but not more frequent. Oppenheimer pointed to the last few years when Louisiana has been smacked repeatedly by hurricanes, last year when Hurricane Ida killed people in New York because of heavy rainfall flooding basement apartments and 2017 when record rain from Hurricane Harvey paralyzed Houston and Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico with Hurricane Irma in between.
— Droughts causing famine in Africa. That’s happening again in the Horn of Africa and last year in Madagascar, van Aalst said.
— Small islands being inundated by a combination of sea level rise, saltwater intrusion and storms. That’s tougher, but co-author Kris Ebi, a University of Washington climate and health scientist, pointed to record strong Tropical cyclone Winston striking Vanuatu and Fiji in 2016.
“Right now people are feeling it,” van Aalst said. “It’s no longer the science telling them. All those warnings came true.”
In fact, reality has likely been worse, with more and stronger extremes than the authors would have predicted when they finished writing it in 2011 and published it a year later, said co-authors Ebi and Cutter.
That’s partly because when real life played out, disasters compounded and cascaded with sometimes unforeseen side effects, like heat waves and droughts causing hydroelectric power plants to dry up, nuclear power plants unable to get cooling water and even coal power plants not getting fuel deliveries because of dried rivers in Europe, scientists said.
“Imagining something scientifically or saying this exists in a scientific assessment is a radically different thing compared to living it,” said co-author Katharine Mach, a climate risk scientist at the University of Miami. She said it was similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. Health officials had long warned of viral pandemics but when it came true, the lockdowns, school closures, economic consequences, supply chain problems were sometimes beyond what dry scientific reports could envision.
Before this report, the overwhelming majority of climate studies, official reports and debate talked about long-term consequences, the slow but steady rise in average temperatures and sea level rise. Extreme events were considered too rare to study to get good statistics and science and wasn’t seen as a big issue. Now much of the focus in science, international negotiations and media coverage is about climate change extremes.
Weather disaster deaths both in the United States and globally are generally trending lower, but scientists say that’s because of better forecasts, warning, preparedness and response. From 2002 to 2011, before the report, the United States averaged 641 weather deaths a year and now the 10-year average is down to 520 on average but 2021 was the deadliest year in a decade with 797 weather fatalities. At the same time the 10-year U.S. average for heat deaths crept up a bit, from 118 to 135 a year.
“We are adapting fast enough to reduce the impacts,” Cutter said. “We are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions to actually go after the cause of the warming.”
Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field, who led the report project a decade ago, said the scientists got the warnings right, but “we may have been too conservative” in the language used. In addition to the dry facts and figures presented he wishes he had used wording that would be “grabbing people by the shoulders and shaking them a little bit more and saying these are real risks.”
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Follow AP’s climate and environment coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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| 2022-09-21T09:28:53Z
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HONOLULU (AP) — Gov. David Ige on Monday appointed several people, including some prominent Native Hawaiian activists, to a new board charged with managing Mauna Kea summit lands underneath some of the world’s most advanced astronomical observatories.
Two of the eight appointees — Lanakila Mangauil and Noe Noe Wong-Wilson — were leaders of 2019 protests that brought a halt to the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope, the latest observatory proposed for the mountain on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Many Native Hawaiians consider the summit sacred, and protesters objected to building yet another telescope there. The summit currently hosts about a dozen telescopes built since the late 1960s.
Responding to the protests, the state created the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority this year with a new law that says Mauna Kea must be protected for future generations and that science must be balanced with culture and the environment. Native Hawaiian cultural experts will have voting seats on the governing body, instead of merely advising the summit’s managers as they do now.
The eight nominations must be confirmed by the state Senate.
The authority will have 11 voting members. The other three are representatives of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents and Hawaii County’s mayor.
Ige thanked the nominees for being willing to serve on the authority.
“Through this new stewardship model, I believe we can find a way for science and culture to coexist on Mauna Kea in a mutually beneficial way,” Ige said in a statement.
Also appointed is Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a University of Hawaii professor and former commissioner of the Hawaii State Water Resource Management Commission. He was named for his expertise in Hawaii Island land resource management.
Current Kamehameha Schools general counsel and former Hawaiian Telcom president was appointed for his business and finance experience.
The governor selected Rich Matsuda, an engineer who leads community relations for W.M. Keck Observatory, from three names submitted by Maunakea Observatories.
Matsuda, Wong-Wilson and Mangauil all served on a working group formed by the House of Representatives to develop recommendations for managing the mountain. The working group’s report created the foundation for the new law.
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| 2022-09-21T09:29:00Z
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RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists are seeking Endangered Species Act protection for a tiny snail half the size of a pea that is known to exist only in high-desert springs near a huge lithium mine planned in Nevada along the Oregon state line.
The Western Watersheds Project filed the listing petition last week with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Kings River pyrg, a springsnail found in 13 isolated springs around Thacker Pass 200 miles (321 kilometers) northeast of Reno.
It says the biggest threat to the snail’s survival is disruption of groundwater flows as a result of the 370-foot-deep (113-meter), open-pit mine that the Bureau of Land Management approved last year and is currently being challenged in U.S. District Court in Reno.
Other threats to the snail’s survival include livestock grazing, road construction and climate change, the petition said.
“Federal land managers put this aquatic snail in the crosshairs of extinction by hastily approving large-scale lithium mining at Thacker Pass,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of the Idaho-based group.
Ramped-up domestic production of lithium is key to President Joe Biden’s blueprint for a greener future, a critical element for electric vehicle batteries. Worldwide demand for lithium is projected to increase six-fold by 2030 compared with 2020.
Molvar, a wildlife biologist, agrees the nation must “transition from the dirty fossil fuels that are responsible for climate change” but not by mining in sensitive habitats.
“We have a responsibility as a society to avoid wreaking ecological havoc as we shift to renewable technologies.” he said.
The snail’s shell is less than 2-millimeters (.08-inch) tall, according to the petition, which notes by comparison a U.S. nickel coin is 1.95 mm thick.
They have survived in isolated springs, which are remnants of extensive waterways that have covered what is now dry land only to recede many times over the last 2 million years, the petition said.
Groundwater pumping associated with the mine will reduce or eliminate flows to the springs that support the snails, it says.
The lawsuit challenging Lithium Americas’ project was filed by a Nevada rancher Feb. 11, 2021 and later joined by area tribes and conservation groups, including Western Watersheds Project. It alleged the mining would violate federal protections of numerous species, including threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout and imperiled sage grouse.
It also maintains the project would destroy lands sacred to tribal members who say dozens of their ancestors were slaughtered there by the U.S. Calvary in 1865, although a judge has ruled twice preliminarily that they have failed to prove it’s the same location.
Lithium Americas and the Bureau of Land Management maintain none of the springs would suffer impacts affecting the snails — and that claims to the contrary were based on a misapplication of groundwater models, submitted after the government’s environmental review was completed.
“Lithium Nevada has done extensive work to design a project that avoids impacts to the springs, which are more than a mile away from the facility site,” said Tim Crowley, a Reno spokesman for the Canada-based Lithium Americas.
“Our project is purposely located to not effect local springs and is based on years of data collection, rigorous environmental impact studies, regulatory and public review, engagement with stakeholders, and final approval by the federal authorities,” he said in an email Monday.
BLM said in August court filings that the final environmental impact statement noted the snail was detected during baseline surveys of some of 56 sites surrounding the project but none was “detected within the direct footprint of the project or any area likely to be adversely affected by the project.”
Molvar said Monday three springs are within a 1-mile-buffer zone (1.6 km) the bureau established in its review of potential impacts of a 10-foot (3-meter) drawdown of the groundwater table and the rest are less than 4 miles (4.8 km) away. He said that drawdown is an arbitrary metric and that a drop as little as a foot could adversely impact snails several, or even dozens of miles away.
He said the snails were imperiled even before any new mining was contemplated.
“We’re down to a very few, tiny little habitats in only 13 springs so we can’t afford to lose a single population,” Molvar said.
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| 2022-09-21T09:29:23Z
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LONDON (AP) — The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of a tweaked booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that includes protection against two of the latest versions of omicron, as countries look to bolster their immunization programs ahead of winter.
The EU regulator said Monday that laboratory studies suggest the combination vaccine — which targets both the original COVID-19 virus as well as the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 — should trigger an effective immune response. The vaccine is expected to be as safe as the original version, but the agency will continue to track its rollout globally since the data is limited.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the modified vaccine shot the green light last month.
According to the World Health Organization, the BA.5 version of omicron is responsible for most of the COVID-19 spreading globally; it made up about 87% of all virus sequences shared with the biggest public database.
Earlier this month, the European Medicines Agency also cleared two combination vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Inc. which aimed at protecting against the earlier omicron subvariant BA.1.
It’s unclear how well the updated boosters will work since experts are still gathering data. But there’s evidence that they are safe, so waiting for more study on their effectiveness would risk another mutation appearing before people are immunized.
Scientists warn that the coronavirus will linger far into the future, partly because it is getting better and better at getting around immunity from vaccination and past infection.
Globally, coronavirus cases and deaths have been dropping for weeks, but experts expect a surge of hospitalizations and deaths with the coming winter in the northern hemisphere. So far the virus has killed over 6.5 million people worldwide.
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Follow all AP stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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| 2022-09-21T09:29:30Z
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BERLIN (AP) — The German government said Monday that it can’t stop a shipment of Russian uranium destined for French nuclear plants from being processed at a site in Germany because atomic fuel isn’t covered by European Union sanctions on Russia.
Environmentalists have called on Germany and the Netherlands to block a shipment of uranium aboard the Russian ship Mikhail Dudin — currently docked in the French port of Dunkirk — from being transported to a processing plant in Lingen, close to the German-Dutch border.
“We have no legal grounds to prevent the transport of uranium from Russia, because the sanctions imposed by the EU due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine exempt the import of nuclear fuel … to the EU from import bans,” said a spokesman for Germany’s Environment Ministry, Andreas Kuebler.
Safety requirements for the shipment had been examined and found to meet requirements, meaning German authorities had to approve it, he added.
“You can imagine that we view such uranium shipments very critically due to the Russian invasion, but also because of Germany’s exit from nuclear in general,” Kuebler told reporters in Berlin, noting that the government has worked to close the processing plant in Lingen and a second in nearby Gronau.
The plant in Lingen is operated by Framatome, which is majority-owned by French utility giant EDF.
Environmental groups including the Russian organization Ecodefense urged European countries to end all uranium procurement from Russia, and cited the British government’s recent decision to block the Mikhail Dudin from offloading nuclear waste near Liverpool for processing there.
A handful of anti-nuclear activists staged a protest near the processing plants Monday, with placards carrying slogans such as “No money for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war.”
Government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said Germany continually reviews whether sanctions need to be expanded, but declined to say whether there were concrete plans to get the EU to block nuclear fuel imports.
Environment Ministry spokesman Kuebler noted that Russia is not the only supplier of uranium.
“Canada would be another possibility, for example,” he said.
EDF, which manages all of France’s nuclear power plants, didn’t directly respond to questions about the latest shipment. But in a statement the company said its uranium supplies were “guaranteed by long-term contracts for periods of up to 20 years, with a policy of diversification in terms of sources and suppliers.”
The French government, which has a majority stake in EDF, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
France is heavily dependent on nuclear power for its electricity needs, while Germany is planning to shut down its last three reactors this year and until recently relied strongly on imports of Russian gas.
___
Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
___
Follow all AP stories on the impact of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
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| 2022-09-21T09:29:38Z
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BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made clear Monday that he doesn’t expect an agreement with Iran in the immediate future to restore Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers, though he said there’s no reason for Iran not to sign up and European countries would remain “patient.”
Scholz spoke after meeting in Berlin with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who insisted that restoring the 2015 agreement would be “a critical mistake.” Germany, along with France, Britain, Russia and China, is still a party to the deal and involved in talks on its revival that have dragged on for over a year.
The European countries “have made proposals, and there is no reason now for Iran not to agree to these proposals, but we have to take note of the fact that this isn’t the case, so it certainly won’t happen soon, although it looked for a while like it would,” Scholz said. “We remain patient, but we also remain clear: Iran must be prevented from being able to deploy nuclear weapons.”
The German leader said that “a functioning international agreement to limit and monitor the Iranian nuclear program is the right way” to do that.
But Lapid said that “it is time to move past the failed negotiations with Iran,” which he said can’t and won’t achieve the goal of stopping Iran getting a nuclear weapon. His office said he also shared intelligence with the German government.
“Removing sanctions and pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into Iran will bring waves of terrorism, not only to the Middle East, but also across Europe,” Lapid said.
Israel, which encouraged the U.S. to withdraw from the nuclear deal in 2018, has opposed a renewed agreement between Iran and the world powers. It says lifting sanctions will allow Iran to funnel billions of dollars to hostile militant groups and says an improved deal must also address Iran’s regional military activities and support for hostile groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and other militias in Syria.
Speaking Monday at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Iran has built at least 10 facilities “for mid- and long-range, precise missiles and weapons” in neighboring Syria, including one reportedly targeted by Israel in a recent airstrike.
Gantz said that Iran has produced “more and more advanced centrifuges – including at underground facilities where activities are prohibited” and called for Iran to be held accountable. His remarks couldn’t be independently verified.
The United States unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear accord in 2018 under then President Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to start backing away from the deal’s terms.
Iran earlier this month responded to a final draft of a roadmap for parties to return to the tattered nuclear deal and bring the U.S. back on board.
A probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency into man-made uranium particles found at three undeclared sites in the country has become a key sticking point in the talks for renewing the agreement.
Iran’s hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, has said that the IAEA investigation into the issue must be halted in order for the 2015 deal to be renewed.
The IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, has for years sought answers from Iran to its questions about the particles. U.S. intelligence agencies, Western nations and the IAEA have said Iran ran an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran long has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.
Germany, France and Britain said in a statement at the weekend that “Iran must fully and, without delay, cooperate in good faith with the IAEA.”
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said at the agency’s Vienna headquarters that he hopes Iran will start cooperating “as soon as possible.”
“We are ready; we want this to happen,” he said. “We are not in the business of aggravating or creating situations. We just want this issue to be clarified, so I really hope that they will start looking into this issue in a different way.”
Asked whether he expects to face political pressure from various sides on the issue, Grossi replied that “political pressure is always there; the thing is what I do with that pressure.” He added that Iran appears to be “pushing their national interest in the way they see it.”
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| 2022-09-21T09:29:45Z
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TANAGRA, Greece (AP) — Greece’s air force on Monday took delivery of a first pair of upgraded F-16 military jets under a $1.5 billion program to modernize its fighter fleet amid increasing tensions with neighboring Turkey.
The two F-16s presented at the Tanagra airbase northwest of Athens are the first of 83 to be refitted with advanced electronics, radar and weapons capabilities by late 2027 by Greece’s Hellenic Aerospace Industry, in coordination with U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
The head of Greece’s joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Constantinos Floros, said the program’s successful and timely completion “is an issue of the highest national importance.”
“Any potential aggressor will have to think twice or thrice before trying their luck,” once the upgrade is completed, he said at Monday’s presentation.
Relations with historic regional rival Turkey have hit a new low following repeated, thinly-veiled threats from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that his country might invade Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea islands.
Turkey claims the islands have been illegally militarized. Greece says it needs to defend them against potential attack. The two NATO allies are also at odds over offshore gas and oil rights, and their fighter jets routinely intercept each other or engage in simulated dogfights over the Aegean.
Asked Sunday by The Associated Press whether the recent escalation in rhetoric from Turkey could be the prelude to an armed conflict, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis replied negatively.
“I don’t believe this will ever happen,” he said. “And if, God forbid, it happened, Turkey would receive an absolutely devastating response.”
On Monday, Mitsotakis said Athens “always keeps a window open to dialogue and discussion” with Turkey. He spoke in Paris ahead of talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Following years of forced savings during the 2010-2018 financial crisis, Greece has embarked on a multibillion-dollar spending spree to boost its armed forces. It has bought or ordered French Rafale fighter jets and FDI frigates, and plans to purchase F-35 fighters from the U.S.
The F-16s, developed in the 1970s, are the workhorse of Greece’s air force. It acquired a first batch of 40 in 1989, and another 130 over the years. The latest upgrade will bring the 83 planes to the Block 72 variant that’s the most advanced F-16 version in service in Europe.
Another four F-16s will be upgraded by the end of this year.
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Hard Rock International, the global gambling, entertainment and hospitality company, said Monday it is spending over $100 million to give significant raises to 10,000 non-tipped workers, most of them in the U.S.
The raises, which include an immediate increase to a minimum starting salary of $18 to $21 an hour, are designed to help employees deal with persistent inflation, and to help the company attract and retain top talent, lessening employee turnover.
Some salaried workers will receive increased merit raises as well.
In some cases, workers will be getting an immediate raise of 60%. The raises apply to 95 job classifications, including cooks, housekeepers, front desk clerks, security workers and cage cashiers.
“We looked at all the starting salaries of all our (front) line employees, certainly recognizing the economic conditions that have been going on,” said Jim Allen, the company’s chairman and CEO. “We just wanted to do something to really help out and show appreciation to our employees. We’re trying to find the highest quality employees, thanking them for their efforts and recognizing that with compensation.”
Hard Rock said the raises will go to half its U.S. workforce.
“It will give Hard Rock a competitive advantage at a time when labor is relatively tight,” said David Schwartz, a gambling historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “The service industry may be at a crossroads, and raising pay is one way to attract excellent employees.”
It comes as wages in the casino industry, as in many others, are increasing due to several factors including a shortage of workers and rising salaries in other fields that are luring casino workers.
In July, the main casino workers union in Atlantic City reached what it termed an “historic” contract with the city’s nine casinos, providing for the largest salary increases ever granted in a casino pact in New Jersey. It provides for an $18 hourly starting rate, and classifications such as housekeeping will earn $22 an hour in the fourth year of the deal.
Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union that negotiated the Atlantic City contract, said Hard Rock’s setting of a national salary scale “is a great move.”
“It’s going to have a big impact everywhere they operate,” he said.
Representatives of several other national casino companies did not respond to inquiries Monday about their pay rates.
The $18 hourly starting salary announced Monday by Hard Rock is 2 1/2 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and exceeds the local minimum wage in every state in which the company operates, Allen said.
An entry-level worker in Florida, for example, will receive an immediate pay increase of $8 to $11 an hour above the state’s $10 an hour minimum wage. The hourly rate increase equates to more than $16,000 per year.
In Atlantic City, an entry-level hire will receive up to $6 an hour above the state’s $13 an hour minimum wage. That equates to an annual raise of more than $10,000, going from $27,040 to $37,440, the company said.
Hard Rock is owned by the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida. It has 265 locations in 70 countries.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s green chile season is in full swing as the aroma of fresh roasted peppers permeates the air, but growers and exporters in Mexico are just as busy and that’s causing a crunch at the international border.
Authorities said Monday that agricultural inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been processing dozens of chile imports daily at the port of entry in Columbus, New Mexico. They’re looking for any pests in the shipments that could affect domestic production in New Mexico, where green chile is a signature crop and a cultural icon.
“Chile is a huge crop for farmers in New Mexico so it is important that CBP agriculture specialists identify and stop any dangerous pests from making it into the state and potentially spreading,” acting Columbus Port Director Sam Jimenez said in a statement.
As part of “Operation Hot Chile,” Jimenez said agricultural inspectors are being assigned to Columbus from other locations to help with the increased traffic.
The inspectors will process around 100 chile shipments a day during the busiest part of the season. The Mexican import season is busiest between September and October, but can stretch as late as mid-December. Last year, they handled just under 11,000 shipments of red and green peppers from Mexico.
Imports have grown significantly each season, with inspectors seeing a nearly 25% jump since 2016. Officials are expecting continued growth this year.
Despite more imports, New Mexico farmers are seeing higher yields from their crops and the state’s reputation for growing what many have anointed as “the best green chile in the world” is expanding, said Travis Day, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association.
The state’s chile harvest starts in late July, but gets cranking in August. Day spent Monday taste testing green chile cheeseburgers at the New Mexico State Fair while still recovering from the annual chile festival in Hatch, New Mexico, just a week ago where he talked to people from New York, Kansas and even Hawaii who flew in to get their fix.
“As an industry, we’re in a unique place where demand is the highest it’s ever been and it’s continuing to go up every year,” he said.
Yet, fewer acres of chile are being grown in New Mexico today due to labor pressures and dwindling irrigation supplies. While most commercial acreage is started from seed, some farmers have shifted back to transplanting seedlings to give their crops a jumpstart. Farmers are also working with engineers to develop a mechanical harvester.
So far this season, officials said New Mexico’s green chile harvest is more than 10 days ahead of schedule and experts are expecting between 55,000 and 60,000 tons of peppers to be harvested.
Stephanie Walker, a vegetable specialist at New Mexico State University, said growers in New Mexico have become adept at minimizing losses from disease issues spurred by heavy summer rains and that the yield from newer green chile varieties is increasing.
At the port of entry, all Mexican chile imports are subject to an X-ray scan. Then comes a physical inspection by a Customs and Border Protection specialist who searches for pests, diseases and any contaminated soil or noxious seeds.
If anything is found, digital images are sent to officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who determine whether the shipment can be released or returned.
In 2021, the inspections resulted in 25 cases where shipments had to be returned to Mexico.
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| 2022-09-21T09:30:07Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Trevor Milton, the founder of the automaker Nikola Corp., went on trial Monday on charges that he whipped up an investor frenzy for the startup company with false claims about its ability to produce trucks that run on electricity or hydrogen fuel cells.
Nikola’s stock price crashed and many investors suffered heavy losses in 2020 after reports emerged questioning Milton’s rosy claims about the company’s ability to produce cutting-edge vehicles.
In one example, the company put out a video that appeared to show a prototype truck driving down a desert highway. Prosecutors said that in reality, the truck wasn’t operational and had been rolled down a hill for the commercial.
The company’s promotional campaign won over many smaller investors. Nikola shares reached a price of close to $66 in June of 2020, briefly giving the company a market valuation that exceeded some major, established automakers. The stock now trades at under $5.50 per share.
Milton, who lives in Oakley, Utah, was indicted last year on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud. Jury selection began Monday at a federal court in New York.
He pleaded not guilty, and has been free on $100 million bail.
Milton’s lawyers have said they intend to argue at trial that he had no intention of deceiving anyone about the company’s products or technology.
Milton started Nikola in 2015 and announced that its stock would be publicly listed in 2020. He resigned in September of that year after the company had signed a $2 billion agreement with General Motors but following a report making allegations of fraud.
At that time, Nikola said the report was filled with misleading statements and accusations.
The company paid $125 million last year to settle a civil case against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nikola didn’t admit to any wrongdoing in making that agreement.
The company continues to operate from a headquarters in Arizona. It has begun delivering some vehicles to customers and says it has been ramping up toward a capacity of making thousands of trucks per year.
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BERLIN (AP) — Nine nations bordering the North Sea announced plans Monday to massively increase offshore wind power in the coming decades as part of an effort to combat climate change and become independent of fossil fuel imports, particularly from Russia.
German officials said members of the North Seas Energy Cooperation aim to expand wind power generation in the region to 76 gigawatts by 2030.
Subsequent targets are for 193 gigawatts of wind power in the North Sea by 2040 and 260 gigawatts by mid-century. Germany’s Economy and Energy Ministry said current generation capacity in the region is less than 20 gigawatts.
The countries that agreed to those goals include Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The United Kingdom, whose territory is surrounded by the North Sea and which has significant offshore wind plans of its own, is not a member of the group since leaving the European Union in January 2020.
Last month, seven European countries bordering the neighboring Baltic Sea committed themselves to a seven-fold increase of offshore wind power production there by 2030.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Freight railroads and their unions are facing increasing pressure from business groups and the White House to settle their contract dispute before Friday’s looming strike deadline.
The pressure stems from concerns that halting railroad deliveries of raw materials and finished products that so many companies rely on would be, in the words of the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an “economic disaster.”
A White House official said President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet were in touch with the unions and railroads Monday as part of their efforts to avert a strike. And for the second time in the past week, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh sat down at the negotiating table Sunday to urge the parties to reach a deal. Walsh postponed a planned to trip to Ireland this week to remain close to the talks.
A Labor Department spokesperson said Monday that it’s crucial that the parties remain at the negotiating table and come to an agreement because “a shutdown of our freight rail system is an unacceptable outcome for our economy and the American people.”
Suzanne Clark, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Monday that “a national rail strike would be an economic disaster — freezing the flow of goods, emptying shelves, shuttering workplaces and raising prices for families and businesses alike.”
The chamber joined a number of other business groups, including a coalition of 31 agricultural shipping trade groups, in sending letters to Congress urging lawmakers to be prepared to step in and block a strike if the two sides can’t reach an agreement by the end of the week. The chamber said if it comes to that, Congress should impose the terms recommended by a Presidential Emergency Board that Biden appointed this summer.
The Association of American Railroads trade group put out a report last week estimating that shutting down the railroads would cost the economy $2 billion a day.
The coalition negotiating on behalf of the nation’s biggest freight railroads — including Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF and Kansas City Southern — has announced eight of the 13 tentative agreements needed to avert a strike by some 115,000 rail workers.
The deals that have been announced so far have closely followed the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendations that called for 24% raises over five years, $5,000 in bonuses and one additional paid leave day a year. But the two biggest unions representing conductors and engineers have been holding out because they want the railroads to go beyond those recommendations and address some of their concerns about strict attendance policies and working conditions.
The railroads have said they would begin curtailing shipments of hazardous materials and some other goods Monday in advance of a possible work stoppage at the end of the week. That would ensure that containers of those dangerous goods aren’t left stranded along the tracks.
The heads of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division union that represents conductors, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union that represents engineers, criticized that decision as a move to increase pressure on shippers and Congress to intervene.
The federal law governing railroad contract talks won’t allow a strike or lockout before Friday.
___
Associated Press reporter Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
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United Auto Workers union members who went on strike Saturday at a Stellantis casting plant in Indiana are returning to work after ratifying a deal with the company.
Stellantis said that operations at the plant in Kokomo will resume late Monday after UAW Local 1166 workers voted to ratify the agreement. The two sides had announced a tentative agreement earlier in the day pending the ratification vote.
The strike was related to health and safety issues, including the company’s alleged refusal to repair and replace the plant’s air conditioning and heating systems.
The 35-acre plant in Kokomo makes parts used in the power trains of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM vehicles. The 1,200-worker plant, Kokomo Casting, is the world’s largest die cast facility, according to Stellantis.
In May, Stellantis announced a $2.5 billion joint venture with Samsung to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Kokomo that is to employ 1,400 workers.
Stellantis, created last year through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Peugeot, had said it would build two electric vehicle battery factories in North America. The other is slated for Windsor, Ontario.
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| 2022-09-21T09:30:38Z
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico and the United States plan to take advantage of the Biden administration’s massive investment in semiconductor production to push the integration of their supply chains and cooperate on expanding the production of electric vehicles through Mexico’s nationalized lithium industry, officials from both countries said Monday
Both efforts seek to eat into Asia’s advantage in semiconductors and batteries needed for electric vehicles and promote North American production.
They were among the main topics discussed within and on the sidelines of the two countries’ High-Level Economic Dialogue in Mexico’s capital.
“Major elements of the semiconductor supply chains are already well established in Mexico, with U.S. based companies like Intel and Skyworks conducting research and development, design, assembly and test manufacturing in parts of Mexico,” U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken said.
Blinken and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimundo had spoken earlier in the day with Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about the opportunities for Mexico to take advantage of recently passed U.S. legislation that would provide $28 billion in incentives for semiconductor production, $10 billion for new manufacturing of chips and $11 billion for research and development.
López Obrador, for his part, explained his plan to make the northern border state of Sonora a leader in lithium, electric vehicle and solar energy production, Mexico Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said. Lithium is a key component of batteries for electric vehicles. The president said last month he had already discussed the idea with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Blinken said another piece of new U.S. legislation aims to incentivize the shift to electric vehicles and the production of the batteries they need in North America.
Ebrard said it was a big opening for Mexico’s economy.
“This means more jobs for Mexico, more integration,” Ebrard said. “We think Mexico could grow twice as much with what was proposed to Mexico today and this means we can reduce poverty even faster in our country and that the infrastructure of Mexico can grow faster.”
The dialogue, which was launched by then-Vice President Biden in 2013, resumed last year in Washington after stopping during the Trump administration.
The global shortage of semiconductors has slashed into production of autos, household appliances and other goods, fueling high inflation. Biden appeared at the future site of a massive Intel plant in Ohio on Friday.
Last month, López Obrador said the government had created the state-run lithium company that would be in charge of the exploration and extraction of the mineral. Mexico nationalized lithium production in May.
Asked about ongoing trade disputes between the U.S. and Mexico in the energy sector, officials from both countries downplayed the disputes and emphasized that there was a separate process for resolving those disagreements under their trade accord and that it was not an agenda item for these meetings.
Ahead of the talks, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols, who is also attending, said one of the priorities for the talks was promoting development in southern Mexico and Central America.
U.S. border agents’ encounters with migrants from the Northern Triangle countries — El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala — have been running lower this year than last, despite overall encounters at the border being up this year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Encounters with Mexican migrants have also been higher for most of the past year.
Mexico has more recently avoided direct clashes with migrants moving across its territory, instead regularly offering them temporary documents to relieve pressure at its southern border.
López Obrador has come under fire from some international and domestic organizations for transferring the recently created National Guard to the Defense Ministry. In many ways, the military already ran the force — and filled its ranks — but it had been created as a civilian force. López Obrador criticized the U.N. and the Organization of American States for expressing their concern over the move.
Mexico continues to struggle with high rates of violence. On Friday, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons said at that violence related to Mexico’s drug cartels was the main force causing internal displacements. She called on the government to create an official registry of the displaced, but said data collected from non-governmental organizations suggested there are some 400,000.
The talks come just days before Mexico celebrates its independence day, to which López Obrador has invited figures such as the daughter of revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara and the father of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
At López Obrador’s daily news conference Monday, the president said he planned to submit a proposal to the U.N. aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. López Obrador, who did not join other countries by imposing economic sanctions on Russia, proposed creating a mediation commission made up by Pope Francis, the U.N. secretary general and India’s prime minister that would open talks between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine.
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WTAJ — The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall on about 8,200 Murphy Beds due to serious impact and crushing hazards.
The Murphy Beds, manufactured by Cyme Tech, can break or detach from the wall and fall onto those nearby, which poses serious impact and crushing hazards. There have been 146 reports of the beds falling or breaking including 62 injuries including broken bones, bruising, lacerations, concussions and more.
Those who have the recalled beds should immediately stop and contact Cyme Tech to schedule a free inspection and repair of the bed. Additionally, Cyme Tech is contacting all known purchasers directly.
Ivy Bronx, Orren Ellis, Home Furniture and Wade Logan are among the recalled Murphy Beds brands. The recall affects full and queen-size beds that were sold online through Wayfair, AllModern, Amazon, Cymax, Overstock and Walmart between Feb. 2014 through May 2022. This includes all five of their color options.
Below are the following model numbers included in the recall:
Model numbers along with the brand name of the bed can be found on the original online receipt or by contacting Murphy Beds.
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CONEY ISLAND, Brooklyn (WPIX) — Three young children died from apparent drowning early Monday in Brooklyn, and a woman believed to be their mother was being questioned, according to the New York Police Department.
A girl, 4, and two boys, one 7 and the other as young as 3 months old, were rushed to the hospital after they were found laid out on a beach in Coney Island around 4:40 a.m. with signs of apparent drowning, officials said. They were initially listed in critical condition, but all ultimately died from their injuries.
Officials later identified them as Zachary Merdy, 7; Lilana Merdy, 4 and 3-month-old Oliver Bondarev. They all lived at the same address on Neptune Avenue.
A 30-year-old woman presumed by police to be the children’s mother had previously been found “soaking wet” and barefoot on the Riegelmann Boardwalk in Brighton Beach, some two miles away from the children, NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said in a Monday morning press briefing. The woman, whose identity was not immediately released and who had not been charged with a crime, was being questioned by police early Monday, authorities said.
Concern began around 1:40 a.m. when a family member called 911 and said that she worried that the woman may have harmed the three children, sending police rushing to the woman’s apartment, authorities said in the briefing.
Officers found the apartment empty but unlocked. Though no one was in the apartment, police encountered a man in the building who identified himself as the father of one of the children and voiced similar fears that the woman might hurt them, police said.
Over the next 90 minutes, police scoured the area until they received another 911 call directing them to the boardwalk near Brighton 6th Street. There, they found the woman in the company of other family members, but not the children, officials said. The woman was described as barefoot and “soaking wet,” though it was noted that it was not immediately clear whether she had been in the water or was wet from rain that passed through the area overnight.
NYPD aviation and harbor units joined the search, ultimately finding the three children on the beach. First responders tried to revive the children and rushed them to an area hospital, but all succumbed to their injuries.
Police noted during the briefing that there was no immediate indication of prior abuse or neglect alleged against the woman. She was taken to an area police station for questioning but was not immediately forthcoming, police said. She had not been charged with a crime as of Monday morning.
The NYPD asked anyone with information on the incident to contact investigators.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:01Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A Shreveport teen was sentenced to 85 years in prison Monday for shooting three people at a west Shreveport motel, killing one.
Derion Deshun Jamison was found guilty of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and aggravated assault in Aug. 2020.
His sentence for attempted murder is 50 years, and another 10 for the assault charge. The judge sentenced Jamison to life in prison for murder, but because he was under 18 at the time of the murder, he may be eligible for parole after 25 years. The sentences are to be served consecutively.
Officials said that two victims from Rayville were visiting Splash Kingdom in Shreveport with family members on July 19, 2020. Afterward, they returned to their room at the Country In Suites on Hollywood Ave. A girl in the hotel asked one victim about his tattoos, and Jamison argued with him.
Twenty-two-year-old Ha’Shoun Ka’Keem Collins returned to the hotel later to speak with Jamison about the argument. They shook hands and separated after a brief conversation. Then Jamison reportedly told Collins he felt disrespected and shot Collins in the chest with a 9-mm handgun, killing him. Then he shot the victim he argued with in the chest and Collin’s brother.
The two men survived, and they, along with other witnesses, picked Jamison out of lineups. Ballistic evidence later confirmed a gun found in the car Jamison used to run from police fired the bullets in the shootings.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:09Z
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Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
CADDO PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A Caddo Parish substitute teacher was arrested after encouraging students to bully a classmate.
Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office received a report by the Caddo Youth Services Division stating a 24-year-old substitute teacher, Aadrina Smith, encouraged students to commit battery and bully a classmate at North Caddo Elementary Middle School on August 23.
Det. Dennis Williams said Smith offered to pay five different students $5 each to tackle their classmate during the P.E. class.
CPSO says video of the incident shows Smith verbally communicating with five students and appeared to congratulate three who participated in the battery. Smith sat on the bleachers while the victim lay on the gym floor and later got up. She did not help the victim or report the incident.
Smith was arrested Monday and is booked into Caddo Correctional Center on five counts of contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and malfeasance in office.
The sheriff’s office says the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are pending.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:16Z
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Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) — On Sunday, September 12, 2022, Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call on the corner of Colonial Drive and West Elmwood Drive in Monroe, La. According to deputies, the caller advised authorities that a toddler was walking in the road unattended.
Once deputies arrived at the scene, they spoke with witnesses who mentioned they saw someone in a red car pick the child up on West Elmwood Drive and then dropped the child off at the Family Dollar located at the intersection of Colonial Drive and West Elmwood Drive.
According to the witnesses, they talked to the child in an attempt to locate the minor’s parents. Shortly after talking to the minor, the child’s mother arrived.
Deputies made contact with the mother and identified her as 22-year-old Aloria Denese Dickson. Dickson advised authorities that she just walked to a friend’s house for a little while but had someone watching her children. Deputies then learned that Dickson also allegedly left her one-year-old son at home alone.
Deputies then went with Dickson to her residence to check on her son who was inside the home asleep. As authorities questioned Dickson, she attempted to go back inside the home and disobeyed deputies’ commands. According to Dickson, she was gone from her children for approximately 20 minutes.
She was placed under arrest and transported to the Ouachita Correctional Center. Dickson was charged with two counts of Criminal Abandonment and Interfering with a Law Enforcement Investigation. Her bond was set at $2,500.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:24Z
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(KTLA) — PnB Rock, a 30-year-old rapper from Philadelphia best known for his hit singles “Fleek” and “Selfish,” was fatally shot during a robbery in South Los Angeles Monday, according to reports.
The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Hasheem Allen, was dining with his girlfriend at Roscoe’s Chicken on Manchester Avenue around 1 p.m. when the shooting occurred, TMZ first reported.
Graphic video shared with TMZ appeared to show the victim laying on the ground at the restaurant.
In a video shared on social media, a witness claims the robbery was related to jewelry. Authorities confirmed the theory to The Los Angeles Times.
The 30-year-old rapper was pronounced dead shortly after the incident, The LA Times and TMZ have reported. However, while speaking with local media Monday evening, LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz would not confirm the identity of the victim.
Details about the suspect have not yet been released. No one else in the restaurant was injured.
Rock, who was named to the XXL Freshman Class of 2017, is best known for 2015’s “Fleek” and 2016’s “Selfish,” which reached number 51 on the Billboard chart.
He also recorded the hits, “Gang Up” with Young Thug, 2 Chainz and Wiz Khalifa, and “Horses” with Kodak Black and A Boogie wit da Hoodie.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:32Z
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ORLANDO, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida man was arrested on a federal child pornography charge Monday after raping a child on video, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A DOJ release said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children got a tip about an online storage account called “Satans Child” that had child pornography on it.
Investigators traced the “Satans child” account to Miguel Diaz Gonzalez, 40, of Orlando, which allowed them to search his home for evidence.
The DOJ said after confirming that Diaz Gonzalez used the account, investigators executed a search warrant on the account itself, discovering a video in which Diaz Gonzalez is seen raping an 8-year-old that was in his care at the time.
Diaz Gonzalez was charged with production of child sex abuse material. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in federal prison for the crime.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:40Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A warrant has been issued in the Shreveport shooting that left one woman dead.
The Shreveport Police Department says a warrant has been issued for 22-year-old Michael Rachall in connection to the fatal shooting in Cedar Grove. Investigators say he is wanted for one count of second-degree murder.
Officers were called to the 800 block of Wyngate Circle on Wednesday to investigate reports of gunfire and arrived to find 21-year-old Makaree Rayson suffering three gunshot wounds to the neck. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say the investigation is ongoing.
Police are asking anyone with information on Rachall’s location to please contact Shreveport Police at 318-673-7300 ext 3. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Caddo Crime Stoppers at 318-673-7373.
The homicide is the 38th in Caddo Parish in 2022, according to the coroner’s office.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:47Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A long, sad day of testimony detailed the last moments in the lives of the good Samaritan couple who offered a man a ride and paid with their lives.
DeWayne Watkins, 37, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Nov. 8, 2018, shooting deaths of 32-year-old Heather Jose and her husband, 43-year-old Kelly Jose. The couple offered him a ride home from Mall St. Vincent, where they had been shopping with Kelly’s 13-year-old son, 18-year-old daughter, and her boyfriend.
The case’s lead homicide detective, Sgt. Angie Willhite spent most of the day testifying about her investigation. That testimony was peppered with video of the Jose family’s evening before they made the ill-fated offer to a stranger who said he needed a ride.
Before Willhite took the stand, however, Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Capt. Shannon Mack, a forensic cellphone and data expert who testified last week, returned to the stand. She gave additional testimony mapping the locations of Heather Jose’s cellphone as she drove from Mall St. Vincent into the Queensborough neighborhood where she died.
The Joses’ bodies were found inside a burning car under a metal carport in the 3400 block of Penick Street. Both had been shot once in the back of the head.
Tyler Sheets, cyber investigator for the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office, followed Mack’s testimony. Sheets showed photos from surveillance video at Clark’s Gas Station at 4000 Jewella Ave., where Watkins allegedly rode a borrowed bicycle carrying a backpack with an empty fruit punch bottle.
The photos showed a clear picture of Watkins’s face, as well as one of his profile, and showed him with a gas pump in his hand.
Willhite took the stand around 11:15 a.m. and described surveillance video obtained from a jewelry kiosk at Mall St. Vincent on the evening of the Joses’ death.
As the couple’s families tried to hold back tears, they watched as Heather and Kelly went from store to store with Kelly’s young son Reagan, daughter Abby, and her boyfriend. They were enjoying each other’s company in what appeared to be just an evening out with the kids.
But as the family happily went into stores carrying packages, Watkins’s figure was captured moving about and standing at the kiosk, engaging with an employee. At one point, it looked as though he was giving directions.
There was no video of Watkins asking to use Heather Jose’s phone to call a cab, nor Heather calling a cab and offering to give him a ride when she couldn’t reach one. But it didn’t matter. On the first day of testimony on Sept. 2, both the Jose children testified to what happened, and young Reagan identified Watkins as the man who got into the car with his father and stepmother.
The Jose children went to the Joses’ apartment in Abby Joses’ boyfriend’s truck to wait for their parents. While they were there, Abby’s phone pinged, alerting her that $800 had been taken out of her school account, and the kids realized something had gone very wrong.
The most difficult part of the afternoon’s testimony was when prosecutors showed surveillance video at Chase Bank’s ATM at 3700 Greenwood Rd.
It would have echoed if a pin had dropped in the darkened courtroom. The silence was thick as a video of Heather Jose was shown withdrawing money from the Chase account in the final moments of her life.
Kelly, who was in the passenger seat, was slumped over the console as Heather put in her debit card and punched in the PIN. She turned a couple of times to speak with a dark figure in the backseat.
The car then left the ATM and was not seen again until around midnight, when a neighbor across the street and her daughter called 911 to report a car on fire in the 3400 block of Penick Street.
The state rested around 3:30 p.m. and began questioning Willhite about her investigation. Defense attorneys admit the Joses gave Watkins a ride to Shawanna Hughes’ house in the 3600 block of Penick, about an hour-and-a-half from where the Joses’ charred bodies were found. However, they deny he killed the couple.
Watkins claims a man named Tyron Bates was at Hughes’ home when the Joses’ dropped him off, went to their car, and then got in the backseat. Several other people were at Hughes’ house that night, but Willhite said Watkins was the only one who made that claim.
Defense attorney Sean Collins spent the first hour of cross-examination of Willhite pointing to the various witnesses she interviewed throughout the investigation and pointing out inconsistencies in their statements.
After the late-afternoon break, Collins again asked Willhite about various statements he credited her with saying to witnesses. Every time, it turned out to be something another officer had said.
It is believed the prosecution will rest on Tuesday, and the defense will begin its case.
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| 2022-09-21T09:31:54Z
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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The Louisiana Department of Education says the state has ranked in the top 10 for educational freedom.
The Heritage Foundation’s Education Freedom Report Card placed Louisiana ninth overall based on categories of school choice, regulatory freedom, academic transparency, and return on investment for education spending.
“I’m pleased that we’ve been recognized for our efforts to ensure educational freedom in Louisiana,” said State Superintendent Dr. Cade Brumley. “We should continue to pursue efforts that remove unnecessary bureaucracy, increase transparency, and empower families to choose the school that fits their needs.”
To see a breakdown of Louisiana’s ranking, click here.
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:09Z
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(The Hill) — A new book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reportedly reveals former President Trump told aides following the 2020 presidential election that he would remain in the White House after President Biden’s inauguration.
Haberman wrote that Trump seemed to recognize he had lost to Biden immediately following the election, but his mood later changed, according to CNN.
“I’m just not going to leave,” Haberman writes Trump told one aide, the network reported.
“We’re never leaving. How can you leave when you won an election?” Trump reportedly told another.
Haberman’s book, titled “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” will be released early next month.
The New York Times reporter, who previously worked for Politico, the New York Post and New York Daily News, gained a reputation during the Trump presidency for repeatedly breaking scoops on the administration.
Haberman writes in her new book that Trump in the immediate aftermath of the election asked advisers to tell him what went wrong, telling one adviser “we did our best,” CNN reported, adding that he also told junior press aides, “I thought we had it.”
But later, Trump reportedly began expressing his intention to not leave the White House in January 2021 upon the start of Biden’s term as Trump’s team began attempts to overturn the election.
“Why should I leave if they stole it from me?” Trump asked during a conversation with Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, CNN reported.
The Hill has reached out to a Trump spokesperson for comment.
Trump and his allies’ actions following the 2020 election have come under scrutiny through multiple investigations.
A House select committee is investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack and is expected to hold an additional public hearing later this month. A separate Justice Department probe is also examining the attack.
In Georgia, an Atlanta-area district attorney is investigating whether Trump and his allies unlawfully attempted to overturn the election in the state. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney who helped lead the post-election efforts, said he is a target of the probe.
Trump has indicated he is also mulling a third bid for the White House in 2024. He has said he has made up his mind if he will run, but Trump has yet to make a formal campaign announcement.
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:24Z
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In the same same way I thought about Christmas as a kid, I wish Gatebil happened every weekend.
It’s a nice dream I know, but at least I’m lucky to have thousands of photos from the two big Gatebil events this summer – Mantorp Park, Sweden in June and Rudskogen, Norway in July – to reminisce over until the 2023 season rolls around.
Earlier this month, I showed you some of my favorite engine bays from the Mantorp event, in which I also promised some final images from Norway. I still have a spotlight or two to come, but as far as my main coverage goes, let’s wrap things up ‘Under The Hood At Gatebil’, starting with a Norwegian powerhouse.
Buldre Racing TeamIf you’ve experienced Gatebil Rudskogen for yourself, I definitely won’t need to introduce you to the Buldre Racing Team. These guys can always be counted on for unique – and totally wild – drift car builds.
Before we dive into some of the Buldre cars, I want you to appreciate their pit setup, which had everything from tire-changing machines, to a full kitchen and large dining area where friends and family could party all event long.
One thing lacking in the Buldre team pit, though, is natural aspiration. These guys love boost.
One of the team cars that instantly caught my attention in the pit was Anders Johansen’s 1991 Audi S2 Quattro. The 2.5L 5-cylinder engine delivers 900hp and 1073Nm at 2.7bar boost thanks in part to a jumbo BorgWarner S300SX-E 8776 turbo. As you’d expect, it’s a fully-built motor with JE 81.5mm forged pistons and RFS/Pluto Performance Special rods among many other things.
Another Buldre Racing Team build that stood out to me was Steffen Rudsengen’s supercharged Mercedes E-Class, complete with a 650whp LS V8 swap. I wasn’t expecting this at all, but it’s Gatebil, so I probably should have.
Here’s a blast from the past, an E34 BMW that was first featured on Speedhunters nearly a decade ago! The current owner, Jarko Andersson, competes in Gatebil’s Xtreme time attack series, and with 957hp under his right foot you can bet he’s fast. It’s always nice to see past feature car still going strong after many years, and in this case, further evolved too.
Buldre really are masters of engine swaps with huge turbos being a common theme.
Engine Bay ParadiseEngine swaps are fascinating to me, and I spent a good portion of my time in the Gatebil Rudskogen paddock soaking up as much as I was able to. Truth be told, I could’ve easily skipped the on track action, but the driving here is too insane to be missed. Gatebil problems…
With so many hoods raised and engines on show in the paddock, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed, but taking your time exposes you to some truly cool stuff. Like this Volvo S70 with a turbocharged 6-cylinder 3.8L BMW S38B38, reputedly good for 908whp on 1.8bar of boost.
I was surprised to see this 1983 Ford Granada rocking a 920whp 3.0L 2JZ-GTE VVTi engine.
Sometimes though, you just can’t beat builds that keep things in the family.
Take this Audi Quattro for example. Personally, I couldn’t imagine seeing anything other than an Audi 5-cylinder engine in the bay, and this one packs a 2.5L 20V turbo mill with 650hp that sounded menacing on track.
Kevin Brunberg’s 1986 Volvo 745 drift wagon runs a fully-built 2.8L T6 motor that puts out 750whp and 950Nm. These cars were never meant to go fast, so to see his turbo brick tearing up the track was something special.
I often feel like Subarus don’t get the love they deserve, but there was a lot to love about this track-focused build.
Carbon DelightsThis post is all about engine bays, but I can’t not mention some of the standout exterior modifications I came across in the Gatebil Rudskogen paddock.
The guys at HGK have produced one of the most aggressive body kits for the BMW E92, and the best part is, it’s made out of Kevlar.
Although the BMW’s exterior was what first caught me eye, just check out the engine bay! The high-compression naturally aspirated 7.6L LS V8 spits out 750hp all day long, with another 170hp available when the nitrous oxide flows.
Here’s something as bonkers as it sounds – a drift-spec Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo with a carbon-Kevlar bodykit and featuring a NASCAR-spec Dodge V8.
You’d think that extensive work would be required to fit this engine, but the car’s owner, Joakim Johnsen, told me that no chassis modifications were needed, just a set of custom engine mounts. This insane drift monster produces 850hp and can rev out to 10,500rpm, and if Joakim needs additional power he too can flick the nitrous switch for some extra grunt – 300hp in this case. Testing and fine tuning should be completed this winter, in which case Joakim will hopefully have the Lambo on track next year. He’s promised me a ride-along, so I’ll definitely be taking up that offer and shooting a full feature too.
Gatebil, there really is nothing else like it!
Alen Haseta
Instagram: hazetaa
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:28Z
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EDINBURGH, Scotland — King Charles III and his siblings have stood in silent vigil around their mother Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward lowered their heads as they stood at four sides of the oak coffin. They stood for about 10 minutes alongside four members of the Royal Company of Archers, who stood guard armed with arrows and quivers.
As they performed the traditional vigil, a procession of members of the public lined up to view the queen’s coffin and filed past. Some bowed as they passed the king, while others walked solemnly by with their heads lowered.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
— Queen hailed in Scotland “as a constant in our lives”
— Loss of unifying queen could fray the bonds of fractious UK
— People wanting to pay final respects to queen face long wait, strict rules
— For Queen Elizabeth II, Balmoral estate was place to ‘be normal’
— Queen Elizabeth II loved corgis breed from childhood
— Former British colonies are conflicted over Queen Elizabeth II’s legacy
— What’s next for the UK as Queen Elizabeth II laid to rest
— What will happen to all the currencies that feature the queen?
— The queen, as imagined — from punk rock to mystery novels
— Find more AP coverage here: https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LONDON — Officials in charge of the park outside Buckingham Palace have told people to stop leaving marmalade sandwiches as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II because of the “negative impact on the park’s wildlife.”
Some mourners have left the snacks alongside floral tributes at Buckingham Palace and neighboring Green Park. The sandwiches are a reference to a comedy sketch featuring the queen and an animated Paddington Bear filmed for the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee earlier this year.
In the video, the queen said that like Paddington Bear she also favors marmalade sandwiches and hides them in her purse “for later.”
The Royal Parks organization said Monday people should not leave the snacks but could leave teddy bears and other items if they wished.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland — St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh has opened to members of the public who wish to pay their last respects to Queen Elizabeth II, whose coffin is lying at rest inside.
The Scottish government is warning that the line, and waiting times, are expected to be long, with perhaps hours of standing. Visitors can leave the line to use toilet facilities.
Authorities have introduced airport-style security, banning people from taking inside the cathedral any large bags, sharp items, or food or liquids.
Similar crowds are expected in London, where the coffin can be visited from Wednesday.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland — Four members of the Royal Company of Archers are standing vigil over Queen Elizabeth II’s flag-draped coffin in St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.
They are a striking presence, wearing hats called “Balmoral bonnets” adorned with a single eagle feather. Each of them is holding a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows.
The company, which officially functions as the British sovereign’s bodyguard in Scotland, is an archery club established in 1676, according to the royal website.
Membership to the ceremonial company is by election — members must be Scots or have “strong Scottish connection,” the site says.
Steeped in history, the company is endowed with “perpetual access” to public locations including “plains and pasturages legally allotted for shooting arrows,” in return for presenting the sovereign with three barbed arrows on request.
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LONDON — A line has already started forming to view Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin when she lies in state in London, even though that won’t start till Wednesday evening.
Security staff are preparing for millions of people to pay their respects to the late monarch, whose coffin will be in London’s Westminster Hall until her state funeral on Sept. 19.
Vanessa Nathakumaran, 56, travelled Monday from Harrow near London to Lambeth Bridge in central London, where the entrance of the line is expected to be set up.
“I really, really want to be part of it,” said Nathakumaran, who is originally from Sri Lanka — a country once called Ceylon and ruled by Britain.
The line is expected to stretch from Parliament along the bank of the River Thames.
Officials have advised commuters in the city to change their working patterns because London is expected to be extremely busy in coming days.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland — A memorial service for Queen Elizabeth II at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh has ended, and members of the public will soon be allowed inside to pay their respects.
The coffin, with the Crown of Scotland resting on a cushion on top of it, is to stay in the 12th-century cathedral through Tuesday.
Thousands of people lined the route of the procession through the Scottish capital’s Old Town to the cathedral, as the former monarch’s children — including new sovereign King Charles III — walked behind the hearse.
The memorial service featured Karen Matheson singing Psalm 118 in Gaelic, with harp accompaniment, and a reading from Ecclesiastes by the head of the Scottish government, Nicola Sturgeon.
The congregation sang The Lord’s My Shepherd, said to be one of the queen’s favorite hymns.
Members of the royal family were to hold a vigil by the coffin in the evening.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland — Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has arrived at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh for a memorial service.
A hearse containing the coffin headed a procession Monday through the Scottish capital’s Old Town. Thousands of people lined the street known as the Royal Mile, which links Edinburgh Castle with the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
St. Giles’ Cathedral, founded in the 1130s, is holding a service of thanksgiving.
Afterward, members of the public will be allowed inside to file past the coffin. Some have been waiting since around dawn.
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EDINBURGH, Scotland — The children of Queen Elizabeth II are accompanying their mother’s coffin on a procession through the Scottish capital.
A military bagpiper played mournful music as the coffin, draped in the royal standard, was carried from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and placed in a hearse Monday.
King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and his siblings Princes Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward are walking behind the hearse as the procession moves slowly toward St. Giles’ Cathedral.
The hearse is flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of The King’s Body Guard in Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers.
The coffin will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday so that members of the public can pay their respects.
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LONDON — A plane carrying King Charles has landed in Edinburgh, where the new monarch is due to accompany his late mother’s coffin in a procession through the heart of the Scottish capital.
The procession Monday will bear the former sovereign’s coffin to a cathedral, where it will remain for 24 hours to allow the public to pay their last respects.
Lines of people waiting to file past the coffin at St. Giles’ Cathedral began forming around dawn.
Charles flew to Scotland after earlier receiving condolences from both Britain’s houses of parliament.
He told lawmakers he will follow his late mother’s example of “selfless duty.”
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LONDON — Britain is to observe a nationwide minute of silence Sunday, on the eve of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
The British government says the “moment of reflection” will take place at 8 p.m. (1900GMT).
People are encouraged to mark the silence at home or at community events.
The queen’s funeral will be held next Monday at Westminster Abbey.
Britain’s monarch of the past 70 years died Thursday in Scotland at the age of 96.
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LONDON — King Charles and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, have boarded a flight to Edinburgh where the new monarch will take part in a procession bearing his late mother’s coffin to St. Giles’ Cathedral.
The plane left RAF Northolt on the outskirts of London for the flight to Edinburgh Airport on Monday.
In the Scottish capital, Charles and Camilla were due at Hollyroodhouse palace where Queen Elizabeth’s coffin stayed overnight. It arrived there after a six-hour journey in a hearse from the queen’s beloved Balmoral Castle summer retreat, where the 96-year-old sovereign died Thursday.
The royal couple are to attend a service of remembrance for the queen, visit the Scottish Parliament and meet senior officials.
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LONDON — A 100-year-old British woman says she received a congratulatory telegram from Queen Elizabeth II the day after the monarch’s death.
Gwendolyn Hoare read out the telegram in a recording shared with the BBC by her family and aired Monday.
She said it made her “feel quite tearful” and added: “I’m a royalist … old fashioned.”
Hoare’s niece, Sue Beckett, posted a message to a BBC online page which is compiling tributes to the late queen. She said the telegram arrived Friday, a day before her aunt’s 100th birthday, and a day after the 96-year-old queen had died at her Balmoral estate in Scotland.
“For decades she talked about receiving a telegram from the Queen and was devastated to hear the news … but her telegram arrived (on Friday) and she was ecstatic,” Beckett wrote.
The British monarch traditionally sends a telegram of congratulations to citizens who reach the age of 100.
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LONDON — King Charles III has addressed lawmakers in Britain’s Parliament, telling them: “I cannot but help feel the weight of history which surrounds us.”
Charles told members of the House of Commons and House of Lords that he would follow his late mother Queen Elizabeth II in upholding “the precious principles of constitutional governance” that underpin the U.K.’s political system.
He paid tribute to his mother, saying: “As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a pattern to all princes living.”
Charles is due to travel from Parliament to Edinburgh and accompany the queen’s coffin to St. Giles’ Cathedral for a service of remembrance.
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LONDON — In a first official statement since the queen’s death, her grandson Prince Harry has hailed her as a “guiding compass” and praised her “unwavering grace and dignity.
The personal statement, posted Monday on Harry and his wife Meghan’s Archwell website, said he cherished their times together “from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved greatgrandchildren.”
Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, he and Meghan joined his brother Prince William and his wife Catherine in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand has announced it will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a public holiday on Sept. 26.
The nation will also hold a state memorial service in the capital, Wellington, on the same day. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Elizabeth was an extraordinary person and many people would appreciate the opportunity to mark her death and celebrate her life.
“As New Zealand’s queen and much-loved sovereign for over 70 years, it is appropriate that we mark her life of dedicated public service with a state memorial service and a one-off public holiday,” Ardern said.
She also said she would be leaving this week for Britain to attend Elizabeth’s funeral.
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:31Z
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EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — As Queen Elizabeth II’s four children walked silently behind, a hearse carried her flag-draped coffin Monday along a crowd-lined street in the Scottish capital to a cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving hailed the late monarch as a “constant in all of our lives for over 70 years.”
Four days after the 96-year-old queen died at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, a military bagpiper played as her oak coffin, draped in the red-and-yellow Royal Standard of Scotland, was borne from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh in a solemn procession.
King Charles III, dressed in army uniform, and his siblings Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward walked behind as the hearse traveled to St. Giles’ Cathedral, flanked by a bearer party of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and a detachment of the Royal Company of Archers, the king’s ceremonial bodyguard in Scotland.
Inside the church, the coffin was placed on a wooden stand and topped with the golden Crown of Scotland, encrusted with 22 gems and 20 precious stones along with freshwater pearls from Scotland’s rivers.
“And so we gather, to bid Scotland’s farewell to our late monarch, whose life of service to the nation and the world we celebrate. And whose love for Scotland was legendary,” said the Rev. Calum MacLeod.
Because the queen died at her summer home of Balmoral, Scotland has been the focus of the world’s attention for the first part of Britain’s 10 days of national mourning. Large crowds have lined the route as her coffin journeyed from the castle to Edinburgh, underscoring the deep bond between the queen and Scotland. That bond persisted even as relations soured between the Conservative U.K. government in London and the pro-independence Scottish administration in Edinburgh.
Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields said “most of us cannot recall a time when she was not our monarch.”
“Committed to the role she assumed in 1952 upon the death of her beloved father, she has been a constant in all of our lives for over 70 years,” he said. “She was determined to see her work as a form of service to others.”
The coffin will remain at the cathedral until Tuesday so the public can pay their respects. Thousands of people lined the 0.7-mile (1 kilometer) route between palace and cathedral, some arriving hours early to catch a glimpse.
“I just wanted to be here, just to show … last respects. I cannot believe she is dead,” said Marilyn Mclear, a 70-year-old retired teacher. “I know she was 96, but I just cannot believe the queen’s dead.”
One man shouted at the passing hearse, while others called out: “God save the king!” But the procession was greeted mostly with a respectful silence under a blue sky flecked with clouds.
Charles and his siblings later stood in silent vigil at the church, lowering their heads as they stood at four sides of their mother’s oak coffin alongside members of the Royal Company of Archers. As they performed the traditional vigil, members of the public filed past.
Charles, Anne and Edward all wore military uniforms, but Andrew did not. The Royal Navy veteran was stripped of his honorary military titles and was removed as a working royal over his friendship with the notorious U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Charles later donned a kilt as he visited the Scottish parliament, where he was greeted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
“The queen, like so many generations of our family before her, found in the hills of this land and in the hearts of its people a haven and a home,” Charles told Scottish lawmakers.
Earlier, the queen’s grandson, Prince Harry, hailed her as a “guiding compass” and praised her “unwavering grace and dignity.”
The government, meanwhile, announced the nation will observe a minute of silence on Sunday, the evening before the queen’s funeral. The “moment of reflection” will take place at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT).
Before flying to Scotland, Charles received condolences at Parliament on Monday and told lawmakers he would follow his late mother’s example of “selfless duty.”
Hundreds of lawmakers crowded into the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall for the service, rich in pageantry, in which Parliament offered its condolences to the king. A trumpet fanfare greeted him and Camilla, the Queen Consort.
Charles told the House of Commons and the House of Lords that he would follow his late mother in upholding “the precious principles of constitutional governance” that underpin the U.K.’s political system.
“As I stand before you today, I cannot help but feel the weight of history, which surrounds us and which reminds us of the vital parliamentary traditions to which members of both Houses dedicate yourselves, with such personal commitment, for the betterment of us all,” Charles said.
The ceremony was held in Westminster Hall because monarchs are not allowed inside the House of Commons since King Charles I tried to enter and arrest lawmakers. That confrontation led to a civil war which ended with the king being beheaded in 1649.
In a personal tribute to his grandmother, Prince Harry said he cherished their times together “from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.”
Amid acrimony in the House of Windsor, Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, there was a possible sign of a reconciliation as Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, joined his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine, the Princess of Wales, in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.
Harry’s statement alluded to the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip, last year: “We too smile, knowing that you and grandpa are reunited now and both together in peace.”
The queen’s coffin will be flown Tuesday to London, where it will lie in state at the Houses of Parliament from Wednesday afternoon until the morning of her funeral on Sept. 19. U.S. President Joe Biden is among the world leaders and dignitaries planning to attend the service at Westminster Abbey.
Authorities already have issued rules for people wanting to pay their respects in London.
Vanessa Nathakumaran showed up more than two days early to stake out a place. “I really, really want to be part of it,” she said.
Judging by the size of the crowd in Edinburgh, the line behind Nathakumaran will be long.
Rosamund Allen, 67, came to Edinburgh from Rothbury in northern England to be part of history.
“It was very moving. It was very quiet,” she said. “I felt very sorry for the family itself to be on show. They are very brave to do that. And I really hope and pray that they get something out of today and have a chance to mourn themselves.
“They were very kind to allow us to be part of their sadness.”
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Corder and Lawless reported from London.
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Follow AP stories on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Britain’s royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:39Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — It’s that time of the year again and you thrill seekers and fair food eaters are in luck for this year’s State Fair of Louisiana.
Preparations for the State Fair of Louisiana are underway in Shreveport.
Fairgoers will not be disappointed by the variety of events and attractions this fall. From artists like Frank Foster, Uncle Kracker, and Elvis impersonators to fun events like cornhole competitions. The State Fair of Louisiana aims to host a family-friendly event. General Manager Chris Giordano says he feels very optimistic about this year’s fair since the COVID-19 pandemic.
There will be no shortage of family-focused attractions, carnival rides, shows, and food. Some attractions and events include:
- LRCA Finals Rodeo
- State Fair Zoo
- Latino Day
- National Brahman Show
- Antique Tractor and Pull Show
- Cheer and Dance Showdown
- Car Show
- 4-H Talent Contest
- Military and Veteran Appreciation Day
- Circus Hollywood
- World Stage Pros
The LRCA Rodeo finals will be held on November 4, 5, and 6. Admission to the rodeo is $15 which includes gate admission to the fair.
Local restaurants and food trucks will bring out all the stops for the State Fair of Louisiana, with corndogs being the number one selling food item. Some other big selling items include turkey legs and funnel cakes.
Attendees can get more value for their dollar on opening day, October 27. Dollar day, where everything is only $1, is set to bring a large turnout to the fair. Giordano says it is the biggest value day for all fairgoers because they can come to the fair on a low budget during times of high inflation.
“We wanna offer the community a really really good value day,” Chris Giordano, General Manager said
As excitement grows for the fair, Giordano explains concern around safety at the fair.
“I see a lot on social media and in conversation; The misconceptions about safety at the fair,” Giordano said “We don’t have many problems.”
Security at the State Fair of Louisiana does come at a cost and The Shreveport Police Department is contracted as security for the state fair.
“We pay for the security, we are a private not-for-profit and pay over $300,000 for security.”
Giordano says there was only ever one shooting that happened inside the fair in 2021 when a teenager fired a single round at another teenager.
“It was very unfortunate, but the police reacted.”
The State Fair of Louisiana does not allow any concealed carriers or illegal contraband within the gates.
Fairgoers can purchase advance tickets from Sept. 19 through Oct. 26 at a discounted rate online and at participating Brookshire’s and Super 1 Foods stores. General ticket sales begin Oct. 27 and run through the duration of the fair. Advance admission is $8 and up and general admission is $12 and up.
On weekdays, from opening until 3 p.m., gate admission and parking will be free for all fairgoers. The fair will be closed on Monday, Oct. 31, Tuesday, Nov. 1, and Monday, Nov. 7.
Check out the State Fair of Louisiana website to see all the events and attractions this fall.
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:46Z
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NEW YORK (WPIX) – Port Authority Police Officer Anthony Varvaro, a former baseball player, died in a crash Sunday as he headed to the World Trade Center for a 9/11 commemoration event, according to the Atlanta Braves.
Varvaro spent four seasons in Atlanta, according to the team. He left in 2016 to become a police officer.
“The entire Port Authority family is heartbroken to learn of the tragic passing of Officer Anthony Varvaro,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole and Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said in a joint statement. “Officer Varvaro represented the very best of this agency, and will be remembered for his courage and commitment to service.”
He leaves behind a wife and four children, O’Toole and Cotton said.
Varvaro played baseball at St. John’s University before a six-year career in the majors as a relief pitcher with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox.
St. John’s head baseball coach Mike Hampton said he was “at a loss for words” over Varvaro’s death.
“Not only was he everything you could want out of a ball player, he was everything you could want in a person,” said Hampton, who was an assistant coach at St. John’s during all three of Varvaro’s seasons there. “My heart goes out to his family, friends, teammates and fellow officers.”
Raised in Staten Island in New York City, Varvaro was drafted by Seattle in the 12th round in 2005. He played for the Mariners in 2010 and Atlanta from 2011 to 2014.
Varvaro was traded to the Red Sox in late 2014 and pitched 11 innings for Boston early in the 2015 season. In May 2015, the Chicago Cubs claimed him off waivers from Boston, but returned him to the Red Sox after testing showed he had a elbow injury in his right pitching arm, which resulted in season-ending surgery.
For his major league career, he pitched 183 innings in 166 games, compiling a 3.23 earned run average, 150 strikeouts and one save.
In 2016, he appeared in 18 games for Boston’s top minor league affiliate before retiring in June and beginning his police training.
Varvaro, who studied criminal justice at St. John’s and graduated in 2005, told the student newspaper, The Torch, in December 2016 that he inquired about police jobs at the Port Authority while pitching in the majors.
“I figured that I had a pretty successful career in baseball, I had played a number of seasons, and I was fine moving on to the next step of my life,” he told the newspaper.
Port Authority officials said Varvaro became a police officer in December 2016 and was assigned to patrol for nearly five years before transferring to the Port Authority Police Academy to become an instructor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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| 2022-09-21T09:32:53Z
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ORLANDO, Fla. (BRPROUD) — It’s that time again!
The Powerball jackpot is approaching $200 million with the next drawing taking place at 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, September 12.
The estimated jackpot sits at $193 million and a single winner could take home a lump-sum payment of $105.3 million.
If someone from Louisiana were to win the jackpot on Monday night, their winnings would set the record for the largest jackpot ever won in the history of the state.
The current record amount belongs to the 292 Family Partnership who took home $191.1 million after the drawing on Oct. 25, 2017, according to the Louisiana Lottery.
If you are looking for a location in and around Shreveport to purchase a Powerball jackpot ticket, click here.
48 states including Louisiana take part in Powerball.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:01Z
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UPDATE (09/12/2022; 10 PM) (KTVE/KARD) — According to authorities, Timaya Wilson was found safe by deputies.
MOREHOUSE PARISH, La. (KTVE/KARD) — The Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office is searching for 15-year-old Timaya Wilson who was last seen on September 5, 2022. Timaya is described as a Black female, standing four foot and six inches, and weighing 160 pounds.
She was last seen wearing long black/red braided hair. According to deputies, she is believed to be in Monroe, La.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Timaya, contact the Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office at 318-281-4141.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:11Z
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A rocket crashed back to Earth shortly after liftoff Monday in the first launch accident for Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, but the capsule carrying experiments managed to parachute to safety.
No one was aboard the Blue Origin flight, which used the same kind of rocket as the one that sends paying customers to the edge of space. The rockets are now grounded pending the outcome of an investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The New Shepard rocket was barely a minute into its flight from West Texas when bright yellow flames shot out from around the single engine at the bottom. The capsule’s emergency launch abort system immediately kicked in, lifting the craft off the top. Several minutes later, the capsule parachuted onto the remote desert floor.
The rocket came crashing down with no injuries or damage reported, said the FAA, which is in charge of public safety during commercial space launches and landings.
Blue Origin’s launch commentary went silent when the capsule catapulted off the rocket Monday morning, eventually announcing: “It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned.”
“Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed,” the Kent, Washington-based company tweeted close to an hour later.
The company later said the rocket crashed.
The mishap occurred as the rocket was traveling nearly 700 mph (1,126 kph) at an altitude of about 28,000 feet (8,500 meters). There was no video shown of the rocket — only the capsule — after the failure. It happened around the point the rocket is under the maximum amount of pressure, called max-q.
The rocket usually lands upright on the desert floor and then is recycled for future flights.
The webcast showed the capsule reaching a maximum altitude of more than 37,000 feet (11,300 meters). Thirty-six experiments were on board to be exposed to a few minutes of weightlessness. Half were sponsored by NASA, mostly by students.
It was the 23rd flight for the New Shepard program, named after the first American in space, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the ninth flight for this particular rocket-capsule pair, which was dedicated to flying experiments.
Blue Origin’s most recent flight with paying customers was just last month; the ticket price hasn’t been released. Bezos was on the first New Shepard crew last year. Altogether, Blue Origin has carried 31 people on 10-minute flights, including actor William Shatner.
The rocket should have launched nearly two weeks ago, but was grounded until Monday by bad weather.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:19Z
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Our investigation into medical debt lawsuits began when an email landed in our inbox last year. The tip referenced a civil court in Williamson County with a large number of lawsuits aiming to collect unpaid medical bills.
The tip offered a good starting point, leading us to discover a Central Texas hospital – and a law firm working on its behalf – behind hundreds of those suits. We wanted to know: how were people in Central Texas being affected by these cases?
Using online court databases, we discovered almost all the hospital’s cases were filed in one court – Williamson County Justice of the Peace Precinct 2. In 2020, the hospital’s cases accounted for over 70% of all small claims lawsuits in that court, according to records provided by court administration.
We didn’t find the hospital engaged in any illegal practice or process. Under current Texas law, the hospital is within its right to sue former patients for medical debt.
Find out how we connected with people who were sued, and what’s being done in the future.
Explore the ‘Medical Debt Lawsuits’ project
- Read the story: Hear from people facing lawsuits and lawmakers and explore interactive charts and multmedia
- Listen to the podcast: A special episode about medical debt challenges across Texas and the U.S.
- Explore behind the scenes: Watch a timeline of lawsuits in Central Texas and learn how this story came together
- Get help: Learn what you should do if you’re sued over medical debt
Catalyst is a specialty unit within the KXAN investigative team focused on “digital-first” storytelling that aims to make a positive change in society. The unit takes a multi-platform, innovative approach to each project and rotates among various investigators.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:27Z
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(The Hill) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Monday that she will end the state’s COVID-19 state of emergency amid falling case numbers and rising criticism.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has faded as a major concern for much of the American public, there are still 10 states across the U.S. with emergency orders in place.
States first declared public emergencies in March 2020, and governors kept renewing them until around the spring of 2022, when the pandemic eased after a brutal winter surge driven by the omicron variant.
Unless renewed, nearly all of the emergency declarations in the remaining 10 states will expire by the beginning of 2023.
Here are the 10 states with orders still in effect as of Sept. 12.
California
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) extended the COVID-19 state of emergency in June. But he has also been “responsibly winding down” pandemic executive orders, leaving 5 percent of COVID-related provisions in place, according to a June 17 statement from Newsom’s office.
“As California navigates the evolving pandemic, the state remains laser-focused on keeping Californians safe while advancing our ongoing recovery,” Newsom said. “We’re continuing to deploy proven strategies and programs that allow us to swiftly and effectively respond to changing pandemic conditions, take on equity gaps, and keep us moving forward.”
Connecticut
The state has an emergency declaration in place for COVID-19 until Dec. 28, 2022, or until the federal government’s public health emergency ends, whichever comes first.
Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said in a letter to the state legislature that it was beneficial for the state to keep the emergency, primarily to assist with food insecurity.
During the emergency, the federal government is authorized to distribute more assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Delaware
Gov. John Carney (D) last renewed the public health emergency for COVID-19 on Aug. 19. It will expire on Sept. 18 unless renewed.
Washington
With the state experiencing declining COVID-19 death rates, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) announced he would end the public health emergency on Oct. 31.
“We’ve come a long way the past two years in developing the tools that allow us to adapt and live with COVID-19,” Inslee said in a statement.
“Ending this order does not mean we take it less seriously or will lose focus on how this virus has changed the way we live. We will continue our commitments to the public’s well-being, but simply through different tools that are now more appropriate for the era we’ve entered.”
New Mexico
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) extended the state’s public health emergency for a month starting on Aug. 17. It will expire on Sept. 15 unless renewed.
Upon renewing the order, she wrote: “Due to the continued spread of COVID-19, it is necessary for all branches of State government to continue taking actions to minimize transmission of COVID-19 and reduce its attendant physical and economic harms.”
Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last renewed the state’s public health emergency in August and will have to decide whether to renew it again later this month.
Abbott said the COVID-19 pandemic still presents an “imminent threat of disaster for all counties in the State of Texas.”
Illinois
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) extended the public health emergency in August, and it will remain in effect until at least Sept. 17.
Pritzker said more than 34,500 Illinoisans have died in the pandemic and added that “predicting what will happen in the future in this pandemic continues to be a difficult task.”
Kansas
The Kansas legislature passed a law this year extending emergency powers through January 2023, primarily to assist overburdened healthcare workers.
West Virginia
Gov. Jim Justice (R) first declared a public health emergency in March 2020 and has yet to lift the order. He continues to give regular updates to the public about the state’s pandemic response.
Rhode Island
Gov. Daniel McKee (D) extended the public health emergency earlier this month, citing “the dangers to health and life posed by SARS-CoV-2.” It will expire after Sept. 30 unless renewed.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:35Z
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — General Motors’ self-driving car company on Monday announced plans to expand a robotaxi service that recently launched in California into new markets in Arizona and Texas before the end of this year.
Cruise, a San Francisco startup that General Motors bought six years ago, told an audience at an investor conference that an autonomous ride-hailing service that began charging San Francisco passengers in June will make its debut in Phoenix and Austin, Texas, within the next 90 days.
As it already has been doing in parts of San Francisco during night-time hours, Cruise’s ride-hailing service will transport passengers in vehicles that won’t have a safety driver in them to take control if the robotic technology malfunctions. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt didn’t provide additional details about the ride-hailing services in Phoenix and Austin.
When its ride-hailing service enters Phoenix, Cruise will be competing with another robotaxi service run by Waymo, a Google spin-off, that already has been charging passengers there. Waymo is also testing a robotaxi service in San Francisco that hasn’t yet been cleared to charge passengers.
Although Vogt told investors that the driverless ride-hailing service in San Francisco is winning over many loyal customers, Cruise ran into problems the day after receiving its permit from California regulators to begin collecting fares.
In a regulatory disclosure made earlier this month, Cruise revealed that it recalled 80 of its driverless vehicles for a software update after one of the cars was involved in an accident that resulted in minor injuries.
Cruise told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, that one of its vehicles was making an unprotected left turn at an intersection when it was hit by an oncoming vehicle. The Cruise vehicle had to be towed away from the scene, according to the regulatory filing.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:41Z
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PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — At the government headquarters in NATO-member Montenegro, the computers are unplugged, the internet is switched off and the state’s main websites are down. The blackout comes amid a massive cyberattack against the small Balkan state which officials say bears the hallmark of pro-Russian hackers and its security services.
The coordinated attack that started around Aug. 20 crippled online government information platforms and put Montenegro’s essential infrastructure, including banking, water and electricity power systems, at high risk.
The attack, described by experts as unprecedented in its intensity and the longest in the tiny nation’s recent history, capped a string of cyberattacks since Russia invaded Ukraine in which hackers targeted Montenegro and other European nations, most of them NATO members.
Sitting at his desk in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, in front of a blackened PC screen, Defense Minister Rasko Konjevic said government officials were advised by cyber experts, including a team of FBI investigators that was dispatched to the Balkan state, to go offline for security reasons.
“We have been faced with serious challenges related to the cyberattack for about 20 days, and the entire state system, the system of state administration, and the system of services to citizens are functioning at a rather restrictive level,” Konjevic told The Associated Press.
He said experts from several countries are trying to help restore the Montenegro government’s computer system and find proof of who is behind the attack.
Montenegro officials said the attack that crippled the government’s digital infrastructure was likely carried out by a Russian-speaking ransomware gang that generally operates without Kremlin interference as long as it doesn’t target Russian allies. The gang, called Cuba ransomware, claimed responsibility for at least part of the Montenegro cyberattack, in which it created a special virus for the attack called Zerodate.
Montenegro’s Agency for National Security blamed the attack squarely on Russia.
Russia has a strong motive for such an attack because Montenegro, which it once considered a strong ally, joined NATO in 2017 despite the Kremlin’s opposition. It has also joined Western sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine invasion, which led Moscow to brand Montenegro an “enemy state” along with several other countries that joined the embargo.
“In such attacks, there are usually organizations that are a mask for state intelligence services,” Konjevic said, adding that the defense ministry’s NATO-related data is protected “in a special way” while the other possible leaks “are being investigated.”
The cyberattack comes amid an apparent attempt by Moscow to destabilize the Balkan region that was at war in the 1990s through the Kremlin’s Balkan ally Serbia, and thus at least partly shift the world’s attention from the war in Ukraine.
Montenegro, which split from much larger Serbia in 2006, is currently run by an interim government that has lost parliamentary support because of Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic ’s shady deals with the influential Serbian Orthodox Church without the consent of the whole coalition that supported the government.
Montengro’s roughly 620,000 people are deeply split between those who want the country to restore its close ties to Serbia and Russia and those who want it to continue on its path of the European Union membership.
“A real war is being waged in Ukraine, with bombs, a war of conquest by Russia,” political analyst Zlatko Vujovic said. “Something similar is happening in Montenegro. There are no bombs, but there is a huge tension, a huge hybrid conflict in which the interests of Russia and its and Serbian intelligence services are interconnected.”
Other Eastern European states deemed enemies of Russia have also faced cyberattacks, mostly nuisance-level denial-of-service campaigns that render websites unreachable by flooding them with junk data but don’t damage them. Targets have included networks in Moldova, Slovenia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania.
Last week, Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran and kicked out its diplomats after a cyberattack in July that it blamed on the Islamic Republic.
“Montenegro remains a target within both the public and private sector, as well as many other countries in that region,” said Patrick Flynn, head of the advanced programs group at Trellix, a U.S.-based cybersecurity company. “We have observed a blend of historically based nation state actors and well-known ransomware groups.”
“This recent focus on NATO member countries reinforces the need for hyper vigilance within key businesses as well as government (and) critical infrastructure cyber security environments,” he said in an email to the AP.
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AP writer Predrag Milic contributed.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:47Z
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Chipmaker Micron’s planned $15 billion investment in a new factory in the company’s hometown of Boise will help protect the United States from the vulnerabilities of a globalized semiconductor market, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday.
“It is time to get America making things again, with American parts and American labor,” Granholm told a crowd of about 250 guests and Micron workers invited to a tent-covered dirt field for a ceremonial groundbreaking. The event included setting off a ground-clearing explosion far from the crowd that emitted red, white and blue smoke.
The U.S. and Europe are pushing aggressively to build chipmaking capacity and reduce reliance on producers that are now mostly based in Asia. Semiconductor businesses have also been trying to diversify their operations to avoid bottlenecks caused by problems — such as a natural disaster or pandemic lockdown — in a specific region.
Micron officials said that the high desert, sagebrush steppe area east of Boise is expected to have the largest chipmaking cleanroom, or fab, in the U.S. by the end of the decade, covering 600,000 square feet (55,000 square meters) and creating 17,000 jobs. Construction is expected to start in 2023, with some cleanroom working space ready by 2025 and expanding in phases.
Micron is among the nation’s largest chipmakers, with product development sites in five other states and eight countries. Research and development is centered in Boise.
Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s president and chief executive officer, said the company is committed to investing in the Idaho community — with an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education in both K-12 and higher education. He said the company would focus on reaching underrepresented and rural school populations.
Micron “will inspire young minds to build the STEM skills they need to succeed in our technology-based world,” he said.
In recent years, state Republican lawmakers have caused dismay among Idaho’s business community by launching attacks on public education spending, which succeeded in 2021 with a $2.5 million cut to universities despite a budget surplus.
Micron officials late last year announced plans to build a 500-worker, memory design center in Georgia, partly to take advantage of that area’s education system. That sent tremors through Idaho’s business and political landscape.
But earlier this year, lawmakers approved a record $300 million boost to education. And earlier this month, lawmakers added another $410 million from a budget surplus in a legislative special session that was called due to high inflation.
“We really needed this (semiconductor plant) in the U.S. and not overseas,” said Republican state Sen. Scott Grow, who attended Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony and has helped push through legislation beneficial to Micron. “To get a big outfit like this, and to get enough workers, we have to do all we can here in Idaho to help provide that kind of education so this can continue to grow, and they don’t have to just bring in people from out of state.”
Several chipmakers last year signaled an interest in expanding their American operations if the U.S. government is able to make it easier to build chip plants. Samsung said in November it plans to build a $17 billion factory outside of Austin, Texas, and Intel broke ground last week on a $20 billon new computer chip facility in Ohio.
Micron’s $15 billion investment was made possible by last month’s passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, a $280 billion bill aimed at bolstering U.S. competitiveness against China and avoiding another chip shortage like the one that derailed the auto and tech industries during the pandemic. The law sets aside $52 billion to bolster the semiconductor industry that, due to COVID-related supply chain constraints, has struggled to manufacture the chips.
Besides the CHIPS law, Micron also benefits from property tax breaks in Idaho. And lawmakers earlier this year passed legislation, signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little, that eliminates sales taxes on expensive equipment Micron will have to buy to produce the chips.
Of the 17,000 expected jobs, 2,000 will be employed directly by Micron, and 15,000 are expected to come from other companies working in support of the new plant.
LaMarr Barnes, chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Kurita, said this company will bid to help create the supply of ultra-pure water needed for chipmaking. If successful, he expects to hire several hundred workers for the Boise area.
“We’d love to be able to do the work for this new fab, and if we do, we’d have to hire quite a bit of engineering staff,” he said.
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| 2022-09-21T09:33:53Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, the Twitter whistleblower who is warning of security flaws, privacy threats and lax controls at the social platform, will take his case to Congress on Tuesday.
Senators who will hear Zatko’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee are alarmed by his Twitter allegations at a time of heightened concern over the safety of powerful tech platforms.
It’s Zatko’s second Capitol Hill appearance, and in some ways a 21st-century echo of his first. In 1998, he testified before a Senate panel along with fellow members of a hacker collective who warned about the security dangers of the then-emerging internet age.
Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert, was Twitter’s head of security until he was fired early this year. He has brought the stunning allegations to Congress and federal regulators, asserting that the influential social platform misled regulators about its cyber defenses and efforts to control millions of “spam” or fake accounts.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the panel, called Zatko’s allegations “serious business.”
“If it’s anywhere along the lines that (he) suggested, I think it’s a matter of grave personal-privacy concern,” Durbin told reporters Monday. “The question is whether information gathered by Twitter has been used for purposes which we’re not aware of.”
Zatko’s accusations are also playing into billionaire tycoon Elon Musk’s battle with Twitter. The Tesla CEO is trying to get out of his $44 billion bid to buy the company; Twitter has sued to force him to complete the deal. The Delaware judge overseeing that case ruled last week that Musk can include new evidence related to Zatko’s allegations in the high-stakes trial set to start Oct. 17.
The allegation that Twitter engaged in deception in its handling of automated “spam bot” accounts is at the core of Musk’s attempt to back out of the Twitter deal.
At the same time, many of Zatko’s claims are uncorroborated and appear to have little documentary support. In a statement, Twitter has called Zatko’s description of events “a false narrative.”
Also on Tuesday, Twitter’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the company’s pending buyout by Musk. The vote is something of a formality given that the deal is on hold while the court case plays out. But if the measure passes as expected, it would also pave the way for a Musk takeover should Twitter prevail in court.
Zatko also filed complaints with the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.
The SEC is questioning Twitter about how it counts fake accounts on its platform. Twitter uses counts of its presumably real users to attract advertisers, whose payments make up about 90% of its revenue. The “spam bots” have no value to advertisers because there’s no person behind them.
San Francisco-based Twitter has an estimated 238 million daily active users worldwide. The company says it removes 1 million spam accounts daily.
Zatko’s 84-page complaint alleges that he found “extreme, egregious deficiencies” on the platform, including issues with “user privacy, digital and physical security, and platform integrity/content moderation.”
It accuses CEO Parag Agrawal and other senior executives and board members of making “false and misleading statements to users and the FTC” about these issues. Twitter denies those claims and said that Zatko was fired in January for “ineffective leadership and poor performance.” Zatko’s attorneys say the performance claim is false.
Twitter also hinted that Zatko’s complaint might be designed to bolster Musk’s legal fight with the company. Twitter called Zatko’s complaint “a false narrative” that is “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies, and lacks important context.”
News of Zatko’s complaint surfaced on Aug. 23, almost two months before the Twitter-Musk trial is scheduled to begin. One of Zatko’s attorneys has said “he’s never met Elon Musk. Doesn’t know Elon Musk. They know people in common.”
The company also says it has significantly tightened security since 2020.
Among Zatko’s specific allegations:
— The company had such poor cybersecurity that it easily could have been exposed to outside attacks or attempts to siphon off its internal data.
—The company lacked effective leadership, with its top executives practicing “deliberate ignorance” of pressing problems. Zatko described former CEO Jack Dorsey as “extremely disengaged” during the last months of his tenure, to the point where he wouldn’t even speak during meetings on complex issues. Dorsey stepped down in November 2021.
—That Twitter knowingly allowed the government of India to place its agents on the company payroll, where they had “direct unsupervised access” to highly sensitive data on users. It makes a parallel but less detailed accusation that Twitter took funding from unidentified Chinese entities who may have been enabled to access the identities and sensitive data of Chinese users who secretly use Twitter, which is officially banned in China.
The 51-year-old Zatko, better known by his hacker handle “Mudge,” first gained prominence in the 1990s. He was the best-known member of the Boston-based collective L0pht, which pioneered ethical hacking, embarrassing companies including Microsoft for poor security. His work raised awareness in the computing world that forced such major companies to take security seriously. He co-founded the consultancy @Stake, which was later acquired by Symantec.
Zatko later worked in senior positions at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Google. He joined Twitter at Dorsey’s urging in late 2020, the same year the company suffered an embarrassing security breach involving hackers who broke into the Twitter accounts of world leaders, celebrities and tech moguls, including Musk, in an attempt to scam their followers out of bitcoin.
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AP technology writers Frank Bajak in Boston and Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
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Follow Marcy Gordon at https://twitter.com/mgordonap
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NEW BOSTON, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) — Testimony is underway in the capital murder trial of a Simms, Texas, woman accused of killing a New Boston mother and the baby she allegedly removed from her womb.
Taylor Rene Parker, 29, faces the death penalty if convicted in the October 2020 death of 21-year-old Reagan Hancock and the kidnapping of the unborn child, Braxlynn, who later was pronounced dead.
During opening statements, prosecutors laid out their case against Parker, telling the jury of six men and six women, and two alternates that she ordered a suit off the internet to make herself appear pregnant, that the motive was to keep her boyfriend, and that she acted alone.
In court Monday morning, she could be seen dabbing her eyes with a tissue as she sat with her attorneys.
Reagan Hancock’s family was also in the courtroom as the prosecutor laid out their case and told the jury that evidence will show Parker stabbed Reagan more than 100 times.
Up first on the witness stand was Dr. Christopher Mason, the OB/GYN who performed Parker‘s tubal ligation in 2014 after she decided she did not want any more children. She already had two at the time. While tubal ligation is intended to prevent pregnancies, he testified that it is still possible to get pregnant. However, Dr. Mason also testified on the stand about a subsequent surgery in which Parker‘s uterus and an ovary were removed due to complications with a cyst, rendering her unable to bear children.
Following Dr. Mason on the stand were two of Parker‘s former closest friends, who testified that Parker desperately wanted to have a baby girl with her new husband, Hunter Parker, but that she could no longer bear children because her uterus had become “eaten up” with cancer and had to be removed.
Both former friends also testified about her asking them to act as a surrogate for her, offering each of them at least $100,000 to carry her baby. One of those friends, McKenzie Bright, testified that Parker was “obsessive“ about her personal fertility struggle, going to all the appointments with her and being more excited about her friend’s pregnancy when she finally conceived and was expecting a girl. Her other friend, Abby Bell, testified that she, too, was approached and offered more than $100,000 to carry Parker‘s baby but did not seem to be interested in Bell’s pregnancy because she was carrying a boy.
Both also testified to the lies they say grew bigger and bigger over time, even as both former friends admitted they believed what turned out to be lies about her work at her OB/GYN‘s office in the “surgical division,“ where she claimed to know how to do C-sections. Parker came to work at the Mount Pleasant OBGYN office after she had her surgery there in 2014 but never worked with patients or did procedures, according to Dr. Mason’s testimony.
By the time Taylor Parker began posting about her pregnancy on social media in March 2020, including a gender reveal party and pictures and video of a “baby bump,” Bell and Bright were no longer friends with Parker. But they heard about the posts and testified that they knew Parker could not be pregnant because of her hysterectomy and concluded that she was lying.
Bell testified to responding to one such post in August 2020 in which Parker expressed excitement about being seven weeks away from her due date by asking how many weeks along she was in her pregnancy. The social post, shown in court, showed Parker responding “33 weeks.”
Bell said she reached out one more time in October 2020, two days before the murders, asking how the baby was doing. She said Parker never responded.
Parker’s defense team had few questions for Bell but did ask her to confirm her previous testimony for the state where she said she knew Parker wasn’t pregnant but that those messages were the extent of her efforts to call Parker out on what she knew was a lie.
Dr. Mason testified that his office also saw Parker’s social posts claiming to be pregnant, including an ultrasound scan taken from their office where she had previously worked. Because of HIPPA regulations protecting patient medical information, he said they could not tell people she was not actually pregnant. But because Parker had posted on social media that she planned to have the baby at their hospital, Dr. Mason said they did call the hospital to alert them to take precautions and make sure the babies were safe.
“There was no indication that a crime was going to be committed. We just wanted to make sure our babies were going to be safe in our hospital.”
Parker’s ex-husband also took the stand Monday, testifying that he did not learn about her inability to bear children until after they were married. Hunter Parker said Taylor claimed a variety of medical ailments and faked illness and seizures in order to manipulate him into staying in the marriage. On the stand, he recounted how he says Taylor tried to talk him into using surrogacy to have a baby after he found out she was unable to have her own.
Hunter said Taylor told him that they could get a loan and use money inherited from her grandmother to pay for the surrogacy. He recalled getting a text from a “Tim Hightower,” whom he was led to believe would be delivering the inheritance money, setting up a meeting. But Hightower never showed, and Hunter says he was told that was because Hightower had gotten into an accident and that the first responders on the scene made off with the money. At this point in the testimony, First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp asked Hunter whether any of this story seemed believable to Hunter. He said no, and went on to testify that “Hightower” had texted him a photo of a duffel bag full of cash in what appeared to be an effort to prove the story was true. Suspicious, Hunter said he went straight to the internet and googled “blue duffel bag full of money,” and the very same image was the very first result.
“Tim Hightower” never existed, Hunter said, testifying that he believes Taylor used multiple numbers as part of her efforts to deceive him and others.
Hunter went on to separate from Taylor, and they divorced in the summer of 2019. When he learned she was claiming to be pregnant the following spring, he says he reached out to her new boyfriend’s brother to try to alert him but never spoke to Taylor or her new boyfriend directly.
Testimony wrapped up Monday with a Texas DPS special investigator who obtained Taylor Parker’s Facebook data, which showed her connection to the victim on the social media site and messages they exchanged. Jurors also saw several of the Facebook posts in which Parker, who went by Taylor Morton on Facebook, claimed to be pregnant, including one brief video that appeared to show the baby kicking in her belly.
Testimony will continue Tuesday. The trial is expected to take at least a month.
Parker has remained held in the Bi-State Justice Center on $5 million bond since her arrest.
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| 2022-09-21T09:34:06Z
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NEW DELHI (AP) — Just hours before news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death spread, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a fiery speech urging India to shed its colonial ties in a ceremony to rename a boulevard that once honored King George V.
Rajpath, formerly called Kingsway, was a “symbol of slavery” under the British Raj, he said. Instead, under the newly named Kartavya Path that leads to the iconic India Gate, “a new history has been created,” Modi beamed.
His speech last Thursday was the latest in a concerted drive to purge India of its colonial relics. It was also a clear sign that the country, once the largest of Britain’s colonies that endured two centuries of imperial rule, has moved on.
The renovated avenue now boasts a black granite statue of Indian freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose, in the place where a mold of King George V, Elizabeth’s grandfather, once stood.
The queen’s death provoked sympathies to a deeply respected figure from some while for a few others, it jogged memories of a bloody history under the British crown. But among most regular Indians, the news was met with an indifferent shrug.
The British monarchy “holds precisely zero relevance to Indians today — they are of no importance,” said Kapil Komireddi, author of “Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India.”
British rule shaped the country in significant ways, but India has since overtaken the British economy in size.
“The country has come into its own … As a rising power, India can gain a lot from the U.K. but the U.K. can gain a whole lot more from India,” Komireddi added.
On Thursday, Modi penned a heartfelt note, calling the queen “a stalwart of our times,” while the government declared a day of mourning. But for most Indians born a generation after independence from the British in 1947, there is little attachment to the queen or the royal family.
Sankul Sonawane, 20, was at home when he heard the news, which had “no impact” on him. “We have no sense of emotional connection with the queen. She was a monarch and I don’t believe in the idea of a monarchy.”
Dhiren Singh, a 57-year-old entrepreneur in New Delhi, felt the same way. “I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in today’s world, because we are the world’s largest democratic country,” he said.
Elizabeth visited India three times during her reign and was the first monarch to tour the newly freed country, cementing the start of fresh ties with Britain. After her coronation in 1953, she arrived in the capital New Delhi in 1961, where she addressed a massive crowd and nearly a million people lined up along streets to catch a glimpse of her and her husband, Prince Philip.
Darshan Paul was 10 or 11 years old when she stood along a road in New Delhi and waved an Indian flag at the queen. “I remember her gloved hand waving back at me and was so impressed,” Paul, now 71, said.
There was abundant excitement and curiosity around her visit, Paul recalled, as she and her friends poured over newspaper photos of the queen and were dazzled by the gowns she wore.
But it was a different time then, Paul said, as she acknowledged that the traditional bond some Indians once held with the royal family has morphed dramatically since.
“To young Indians today, they seem like any other high-profile celebrity family – you might follow news of them because you want to know what is happening behind closed doors. But beyond the glamor and celebrity allure, they don’t hold any significance any more.”
If her son, who was formally proclaimed King Charles III over the weekend, were to make an official visit to India, “it will certainly not matter as much,” Paul added.
The queen’s last visit in 1997 was tinged with controversy when she traveled to a memorial dedicated to hundreds of unarmed Indians who were killed by British colonial forces in 1919, amid calls for an apology over the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
For many, the royal family remains a hallmark of a deeply painful history. Colonial rule is still remembered for the extraordinary violence and suffering it spawned, from numerous famines and economic exploitation to ultimately an unprecedented level of bloodshed in the partition of India and Pakistan.
Scrolling through social media after the news, 25-year-old Sumedha Chatterjee said the tweets in support of the queen felt almost like people had forgotten about all the “loot and plunder” the British monarchy oversaw. “They built their empire on the backs of the so-called third world,” she added.
Just hours after her death, Indian social media lit up with renewed calls for the return of the famous Koh-i-Noor, the 106-carat diamond discovered in India that is part of the British crown jewels.
“If the king is not going to wear (the) Koh-i-Noor, give it back,” quipped one user.
Ever since gaining independence, India has moved to shed its colonial ties, including changing back the names of a clutch of cities that were renamed during British rule. In the 1960s, officials removed figures of British officials and royalty from public view — the statue of King George V, which stood tall under the canopy of India Gate, was moved to Coronation Park, a graveyard or final resting place for imperial symbols in the capital.
And under Modi, there has been renewed vigor to reclaim India’s past, which has seen the government scrub away colonial-era street names, some laws and even flag symbols.
Such gestures “represent a new India” which has nothing to do with the monarchy, said Archana Ojha, a professor of history at Delhi University. She added, though, that the country’s imperial history can’t be hidden away.
“We may not need to cherish some of the legacies, but we need to preserve them to teach our future generations. We cannot just erase it completely,” she said.
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Associated Press journalist Rishi Lekhi contributed to this report.
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PERTH, Australia (AP) — A man who may have been keeping a wild kangaroo as a pet was killed by the animal in southwest Australia, police said Tuesday. It was reportedly the first fatal attack by a kangaroo in Australia since 1936.
A relative found the 77-year-old man with “serious injuries” on his property Sunday in semirural Redmond, 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of the Western Australia state capital Perth.
It was believed he had been attacked earlier in the day by the kangaroo, which police shot dead because it was preventing paramedics from reaching the injured man, police said.
“The kangaroo was posing an ongoing threat to emergency responders,” the statement said.
The man died at the scene. Police are preparing a report for a coroner who will record an official cause to death.
Police believe the victim had been keeping the wild kangaroo as a pet.
There are legal restrictions on keeping Australian native fauna as pets, but the police media office said Tuesday they had no information to make public regarding whether the victim had a permit.
Tanya Irwin, who cares for macropods at the Native Animal Rescue service in Perth, said authorities rarely issue permits to keep kangaroos in Western Australia.
“This looks like it was an adult male and they become quite aggressive and they don’t do well in captivity,” Irwin said.
“We don’t know what the situation was; If he was in pain or why he was being kept in captivity and unfortunately … they’re not a cute animal, they’re a wild animal,” Irwin added.
Irwin said her rescue center always rehabilitates native animals with the aim of returning them to the wild, particularly kangaroos.
“You do need a special permit to be able to do that. I don’t believe they really give them out very often unless you’re a wildlife center with trained people who know what they’re doing,” she said.
Western gray kangaroos are common in Australia’s southwest. They can weigh up to 54 kilograms (119 pounds) and stand 1.3 meters (4 feet 3 inches) tall.
The males can be aggressive and fight people with the same techniques as they use with each other. They use their short upper limbs to grapple with their opponent, use their muscular tails to take their body weight, then lash out with both their powerful clawed hind legs.
In 1936, William Cruickshank, 38, died in a hospital in Hillston in New South Wales state on the Australian east coast months after he’d been attacked by a kangaroo.
Cruickshank suffered extensive head injuries including a broken jaw as he attempted to rescue his two dogs from a large kangaroo, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported at the time.
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The state will soon be watching out for Oahu drivers breaking the law: as a pilot project, to catch red light runners, gets going.
Max Jr. Infiel rides his bike around Kalihi, back and forth between his two jobs, so has seen drivers run red lights.
"A couple, especially night time and in the morning, when they rush to work. Or else when they drive reckless, especially during the night time," said Infiel.
But along Vineyard Boulevard work is underway to change that.
At Palama Street, a camera will be installed to take pictures of drivers who run red lights.
"Here drivers are coming off the H-1 Freeway, and when we did our baseline study, we saw 10 vehicles run red lights just in this area," said Ed Sniffen with the State Department of Transportation.
Two weeks from now, when drivers do that, they will be caught on camera.
"If you pass the stop line while the light is red, the cameras will capture an image of your license plate and your vehicle," stated Maj. Ben Moszkowicz, with the Honolulu Police Department.
Palama Street intersection is the just the first of ten different locations around Honolulu that will get cameras to catch red light runners. All part of a 2 year pilot project.
Nearby, the Lililha Street intersection will be next, where the problem is even worse.
"There were 20 major crashes in the past 5 years and 5 of them were due to red light running," said Sniffen.
Along with the cameras going up, so will signage. So drivers will know they are being watched as they drive through Kalihi.
"We all know our driving behavior changes when there is a police officer at the corner. We want people to understand there will be one here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," added Sniffen.
Infiel hopes the new cameras will make the area's old safety problem better, by forcing drivers to pay more attention on Honolulu's busy streets.
"Drivers don't care but now, but they will care...because of the money," said Infiel.
After drivers run a red light, a citation will be issued to the car's registered owner for a $97 ticket.
While it is a substantial sum, that fine won't count as a moving violation or go against your driving record.
All 10 red light camera locations will up and running at the beginning of next year.
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https://www.kitv.com/news/local/honolulus-red-light-camera-project-shifts-into-high-gear----and-could-cost/article_00b5fdda-396c-11ed-8e44-ebaeb55e6499.html
| 2022-09-21T09:34:28Z
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Heavy rains Monday unleashed mudslides in a mountain area east of Los Angeles that burned two years ago, sending boulders and other debris across roads and prompting evacuation and shelter-in-place orders for thousands of residents.
Firefighters went street by street in the community of Forest Falls to make sure no residents were trapped. Eric Sherwin, spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Fire Department, said crews hadn’t found anyone who needed to be rescued and no one was reported missing.
Many structures in the area had varying levels of damage, Sherwin said, including a commercial building where the mud was so high it collapsed the roof.
The rains were the remnants of a tropical storm that brought high winds and some badly needed rainfall to drought-stricken Southern California last week, helping firefighters largely corral a wildfire that had been burning out of control about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the mudslides.
The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains where there are burn scars — areas where there’s little vegetation to hold the soil — from the 2020 wildfires.
“All of that dirt turns to mud and starts slipping down the mountain,” Sherwin said.
One of the wildfires, the El Dorado Fire, was sparked by a smoke device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender. A firefighter died and the couple was criminally charged in a pending case.
Concerns about additional mud and debris flows Monday night prompted authorities to put 2,000 homes in the San Bernardino Mountain communities of Oak Glen and Forest Falls under evacuation orders after nearly 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain fell on Yucaipa Ridge.
For some homes in Forest Falls it was too late to evacuate and residents were told to shelter in place through the night because it was safer than venturing out.
“The roads are compromised or they’re covered in debris,” Sherwin said, adding that crews planned to work all night using heavy equipment to clear routes.
The mudslides came after a week that saw California endure a record-long heatwave, where temperatures in many parts of the state rocket past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), and pushed the state’s electrical grid to the breaking point as air conditioners sucked up power. The Fairview Fire and the Mosquito Fire burning east of Sacramento broke out and raged out of control.
The tropical storm aided crews battling the Fairview Fire about 75 miles (121 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. The 44-square-mile (114-square-kilometer) blaze was 56% contained by late Monday. Two people died fleeing the fire, which destroyed at least 30 homes and other structures in Riverside County.
The Mosquito Fire has grown to 76 square miles (197 square kilometers), with 16% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. While crews were able to take advantage of cooler temperatures and higher humidity Monday to strengthen control lines, more than 5,800 structures in Placer and El Dorado counties remained under threat, and some 11,000 residents were under evacuation orders.
Smoky skies from wildfires in many areas of the West caused air quality to deteriorate Monday, with dangerous levels of particulate pollution detected by government and private monitors in portions of eastern Oregon and Washington, Northern California, central Idaho and western Montana. In some areas, people were told to avoid all outdoor activity until the pollution cleared.
In Washington, fire officials scrambled to secure resources for a blaze sparked Saturday in the remote Stevens Pass area that sent hikers fleeing and forced evacuations of mountain communities. As of Monday, the Bolt Creek Fire was 2% contained and had scorched nearly 12 square miles (31 square kilometers) of forestland about 65 miles (104 kilometers) northeast of Seattle. A larger incident management team and additional fire crews were slated to arrive Tuesday, officials said.
In Oregon, utility companies said Monday they restored power to tens of thousands of customers after shutting down service over the weekend to try to prevent wildfires during high winds, low humidity and hot temperatures.
Both Portland General Electric and Pacific Power enacted planned power shutoffs Friday as gusting winds and low humidity moved into Oregon, posing extreme fire danger. The utilities were concerned that the winds would cause power lines to break or sag, making sparks that could ignite tinder-dry vegetation.
South of Portland, evacuation levels were reduced near the 135-square-mile (349-square-kilometer) Cedar Creek Fire, which has burned for over a month across Lane and Deschutes counties. Firefighters were protecting remote homes in Oakridge, Westfir and surrounding mountain communities. Sheriff’s officials warned that people should remain ready to leave at a moment’s notice should conditions change.
Scientists say climate change has made the West warmer and drier over the last three decades and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. In the last five years, California has experienced the largest and most destructive fires in its history.
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For more AP coverage of the climate and environment: https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
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| 2022-09-21T09:34:27Z
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Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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| 2022-09-21T09:34:40Z
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The Tigray forces battling Ethiopian troops say they’re willing to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities and participate in a peace process led by the African Union, a significant shift to which Ethiopia’s government has not yet responded.
The conflict in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region has killed an estimated tens of thousands of people and left millions without basic services for well over a year after fighting erupted in late 2020.
The Tigray authorities’ statement Sunday night came after new pressure by the United States and others following the renewal of fighting last month that shattered months of relative calm. Witnesses have described heavy fighting along the region’s borders.
The Tigray authorities had criticized AU mediation efforts under special envoy Olesegun Obasanjo, and their new statement makes clear they expect “mutually acceptable mediators” along with international observers and experts to guide the process.
The Ethiopian government has said it was ready for talks anywhere at any time and without preconditions. Tigray authorities had demanded the resumption of basic services and the removal of hostile forces from neighboring Eritrea, among other things.
The recent fighting has triggered new diplomatic activity behind the scenes. The U.S. has played a leading role in mediating between the two sides, according to two diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa, who also said talks were expected in Djibouti. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The U.S., AU, United Nations and European Union welcomed the Tigray authorities’ new statement, and the U.S. called on Eritrea and unnamed “others” to stop fueling the conflict.
The AU statement notably referred to the “regional government of Tigray,” while Ethiopia’s government last year designated the Tigray authorities and their forces as a terrorist organization. The EU statement by foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also referred to the regional government and said “this opportunity should be seized by all. Now.”
The renewed fighting has again cut off deliveries to Tigray of humanitarian aid, which had revived in a limited way during the lull in fighting earlier this year. Aid deliveries also have been suspended to parts of the neighboring Amhara region affected by the fighting.
An aid worker told The Associated Press on Friday there has been heavy fighting on “seven or eight fronts” along Tigray’s borders. A second aid worker said Eritrean troops had shelled the Tigray towns of Adigrat and Sheraro and had launched attacks against Tigray forces’ positions in several places.
The second aid worker said several thousand people displaced by the fighting around Sheraro arrived in the city of Shire last week. They also said a bridge linking Shire to the Amhara region has been destroyed. The bridge was blown up last year and later repaired.
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| 2022-09-21T09:34:50Z
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The forced shutdown of Ukraine’s endangered and crippled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest — significantly reduces the risk of a radiation disaster that has haunted the world for weeks.
The last of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant’s six nuclear reactors was shut down Sunday because Russia’s military actions in Ukraine had repeatedly cut reliable external power supplies. That power is needed to prevent the reactors from overheating to the point of a meltdown that could breach the surrounding concrete and steel containment buildings and spew radiation through Ukraine, Russia and other nearby countries.
Since a Sept. 5 fire caused by shelling knocked the plant off of all external transmission lines, the sixth reactor had had to keep operating — at reduced output — to power reactor cooling and other crucial safety equipment. This “island mode” is unreliable and not designed to be more than a stopgap measure, Ukrainian officials say. On Sunday, one plant connection to Ukraine’s power grid was restored, so the sixth reactor’s power wasn’t needed for the safety systems.
Here is a look at the risks, impact and what could be done if external power is lost again.
WHY WAS THE SIXTH REACTOR SHUT DOWN?
The Zaporizhzhia plant’s Ukrainian operators apparently decided that it was too risky to operate any of the six reactors, because the fighting had endangered external power supplies for cooling and other safety systems. But when all external power was lost, they couldn’t shut down all the reactors. They needed power from at least one reactor to run the safety systems. When external power was restored using a reserve transmission line, they executed a “cold shutdown” of the sixth reactor — inserting control rods into the reactor core to stop the nuclear fission reaction and generation of heat and pressure.
HOW DOES THE SHUTDOWN REDUCE THE RISKS?
With all nuclear reactions stopped, temperatures and pressure inside reactors gradually decline, reducing the required intensity of water cooling of the radioactive fuel. This is a nuclear power plant’s safest operating mode.
“A cold shutdown enormously reduces the meltdown risk,” Steven Arndt, president of the American Nuclear Society and a scientist at the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, said in an interview Sunday.
Still, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said Sunday he remains “gravely concerned about the situation at the plant, which remains in danger as long as any shelling continues.”
WHAT HAPPENS IF EXTERNAL POWER IS LOST AGAIN?
With all reactors shut down, if fighting or other problems cause another loss of external power, plant operators would have more time to arrange a backup power source to run the cooling systems, and the cooling load would be decreased, Arndt said. This is because the heat is coming from decaying fuel, not an active fission reaction.
“Every hour that goes forward, the possibility of a meltdown of fuel becomes less and less,” he said.
Cooling systems are also needed for spent nuclear fuel — that is, fuel that has already been used in the reactors but must be kept under water until it’s cool enough to be moved outside the reactor containment buildings into dry storage.
If external power to the Zaporizhzhia plant is lost again, engineers could turn to 20 emergency backup diesel generators, as they’ve done at least once since the war began. The IAEA said only power from one diesel generator per reactor is needed to maintain safety. While Ukrainian authorities have estimated that they have enough diesel fuel in storage to operate the safety systems for at least 10 days, Petro Kotin, the head of the plant’s operator, Energoatom, said last week, “Diesel generators are actually the station’s last defense before a radiation accident can be expected.”
Commenting after the restoration of external power on Sunday, Arndt gave a more upbeat assessment: “We are cautiously optimistic that the plant is in a relatively stable place because of cooling from offsite power and the backup diesel generators.”
IS THE SHUTDOWN OF ZAPORIZHZHIA CAUSING POWER BLACKOUTS?
While power blackouts have plagued Ukraine repeatedly during the war, they appear to be largely a result of shelling of other electricity generation plants and infrastructure, rather than loss of generation from the Zaporizhzhia plant. The Zaporizhzhia regional administration’s spokesman, Volodymyr Marchuk, said villages around Enerhodar, where the plant is situated, are without electricity because of the plant’s shutdown but that alternative power plants, such as the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant, are feeding power to the electric grid.
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Katell reported from New York.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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| 2022-09-21T09:34:57Z
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Divisions over LGBTQ-related policies have flared recently at several religious colleges in the United States. On Monday, there was a dramatic new turn at one of the most rancorous battlegrounds – Seattle Pacific University.
A group of students, faculty and staff at the Christian university sued leaders of the board of trustees for refusing to scrap an employment policy barring people in same-sex relationships from full-time jobs at SPU. The 16 plaintiffs say the trustees’ stance – widely opposed on campus – is a breach of their fiduciary duties that threatens to harm SPU’s reputation, worsen enrollment difficulties and possibly jeopardize its future.
The lawsuit, filed in Washington State Superior Court, requests that the defendants – including the university’s interim president, Pete Menjares – be removed from their positions. It asks that economic damages, in an amount to be determined at a jury trial, be paid to anyone harmed by the LGBTQ hiring policy.
“This case is about six men who act as if they, and the educational institution they are charged to protect, are above the law,” the lawsuit says. “While these men are powerful, they are not above the law… They must be held to account for their illegal and reckless conduct.”
In addition to Menjares, the defendants are board chair Dean Kato; trustees Matthew Whitehead, Mark Mason and Mike Quinn, and former trustee Michael McKee. Whitehead and Mason are leaders of the Free Methodist Church, a denomination whose teachings do not recognize same-sex marriage and which founded SPU in 1891.
Asked if the university had a response to the lawsuit, SPU’s director of public information, Tracy Norlen, replied via email, “Seattle Pacific University is aware of the lawsuit and will respond in due course.”
SPU’s LGBTQ-related employment policy has been a source of bitter division on the campus over the past two years. One catalyst was a lawsuit filed against SPU in January 2021 by Jeaux Rinedahl, an adjunct professor who alleged he was denied a full-time, tenured position because he was gay.
That lawsuit eventually was settled out of court, but it intensified criticism of the hiring policy. Through surveys and petitions, it’s clear that large majorities of the faculty and student body oppose the policy, yet a majority of the trustees reaffirmed it in May – triggering resignations by other trustees and protests by students that included a prolonged sit-in at the school’s administrative offices.
At SPU’s graduation on June 12, dozens of students protested by handing gay-pride flags to Menjares, rather than shake his hand, as they received diplomas.
Kato, the trustees’ chair, responded to the protests with a firm defense of the hiring policy.
“We acknowledge there is disagreement among people of faith on the topic of sexuality and identity,” Kato’s wrote to student activists. “But after careful and prayerful deliberation, we believe these longstanding employee expectations are consistent with the University’s mission and Statement of Faith that reflect a traditional view on biblical marriage and sexuality.”
In June, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson notified SPU that his office was investigating “possible discriminatory employment policies and practices” at the school. SPU was asked to provide details on hiring and firing policies related to individuals’ sexual orientation and involvement in a same-sex marriage or relationship.
On July 27, SPU filed a federal court lawsuit against Ferguson, contending that his investigation violated the university’s right to religious freedom.
“Seattle Pacific has asked a federal district court to step in and protect its freedom to choose employees on the basis of religion, free from government interference or intimidation,” the school said in a statement.
Ferguson responded two days later, declaring that his office “respects the religious views of all Washingtonians” but chiding SPU for resorting to litigation.
“The lawsuit demonstrates that the University believes it is above the law to such an extraordinary degree that it is shielded from answering basic questions from my office regarding the University’s compliance with state law,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said his office intervened after receiving numerous complaints from SPU faculty and students. Their basic concern, he said, was that the university — located in one of the country’s most liberal cities — “discriminates against faculty and staff on the basis of sexual orientation,” which is prohibited by state law.
The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit against the trustees include six SPU students and 10 members of the faculty or staff.
Among them is Chloe Guillot, who graduated from SPU earlier this year and now – despite her differences with the trustees – attends the university’s seminary.
“I’m stubborn — there’s a part of me that refuses to give up,” she said, “I love professors I’ve had.”
“One thing that’s been hard to communicate to the public is how the actions of the board are so different from the rest of the university,” Guillot said. “The lawsuit goes through the ways these board members have orchestrated a coup that contradicts everything the university stands for.”
Among the faculty plaintiffs is Lynette Bikos, a professor of clinical psychology. She described the board’s behavior as “nefarious” — jeopardizing SPU’s future and undermining its longstanding commitment to diversity.
She cited the possibility of a 25% reduction in faculty positions and said consultants had warned professors that SPU might have only a few more years of financial viability unless circumstances change.
The school’s total enrollment last fall was 3,443, down from 4,175 in 2015.
Bikos said she’s deeply committed to fighting the employment policy, yet finds the effort exhausting.
“Never in my life did I think I’d be part of a lawsuit,” she said. “That’s not who I am.”
Paul Southwick, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the university likely would seek dismissal of the lawsuit but predicted the court would allow a jury trial to proceed. He declined to predict an ultimate outcome, but said that under state law, Washington’s attorney general has the right to remove university trustees under certain circumstances.
Tensions over LGBTQ-related policies have flared recently at other religious universities in the U.S.
At Brigham Young – run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — LGBTQ students and their allies at the Provo, Utah, school have been protesting rules that forbid same-sex romantic partnerships or physical displays of affection.
Yeshiva University – based in New York City – has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a state court order mandating that the Orthodox Jewish school recognize an LGBTQ student group – the YU Pride Alliance – as an official campus club. On Friday, the Supreme Court granted Yeshiva’s request for the time being, and signaled it may consider the case more fully.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Democrats who run state government celebrated while announcing that tax-rebate checks — totaling more than $1.2 billion — on Monday began heading to 6 million taxpayers.
Rebates on income and property taxes are part of a $1.83 billion inflation-relief package built into this year’s budget.
“Everyone knows inflation is a global problem with local consequences,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a Chicago news conference. “Prices at the pump and at the supermarket have taken Illinois families on a roller-coaster ride over the past months. It’s exactly the kind of thing that responsible government should help our residents with and we have, starting today.”
With eight weeks remaining before the November election, the timing is perfect for Pritzker, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who shared Monday’s spotlight, and virtually every member of the General Assembly. Rebates will arrive by mail or direct deposit in the closing days of the campaign season, when voters make up their minds.
Individual taxpayers making less than $200,000 will receive a $50 rebate, with $100 to couples filing jointly earning less than $400,000, Revenue Director David Harris said. Taxpayers will also receive $100 for claimed dependents, up to three. Property tax rebates will be equal to the amount a homeowner claimed as a credit on income tax returns last year, up to $300, Harris said.
The rebates are the capstone to the effort begun last winter by Pritzker, and beefed up by legislative Democrats, to fight near-record inflation, which ran as high as 9% this year. Other initiatives include a six-month freeze on an increased motor fuel tax, a year-long suspension of the sales tax on groceries, and a back-to-school sales tax holiday on classroom supplies during August. At the same time, more than $1 billion is put aside for future emergency expenditures.
“We’ve done something very historic. … And if I had to, in this case, sum it up into kind of two words, I would probably say ‘Cha-ching!’” said Rep. Will Davis, a Homewood Democrat who helped negotiate the package.
Pritzker’s fourth budget is extraordinary in Illinois history, particularly given the state’s woeful economic condition during a 2015 to 2017 spending stalemate between legislative Democrats and an intransigent ex-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
But despite all the bluster about fiscal discipline and spending sanity, Pritzker and Democratic lawmakers couldn’t pull off the massive tax-savings plan without playing an old game in the Capitol — borrowing from a fund set aside for a special purpose and which has a separate funding stream.
To backfill money lost to the road fund from the freeze on motor fuel taxes, officials took $140 million from the Leaking Underground Storage Tank fund. Financed by a separate 1.1-cents-per-gallon gas tax, property owners who have cleaned up sites where leaking fuel tanks threatened the environment are already owed at least $900 million, so the diversion of money puts them further behind, advocates said.
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Rebate information: tax.illinois.gov
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Follow Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor
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| 2022-09-21T09:35:12Z
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BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group killed six U.S.-backed Syrian fighters in eastern Syria saying on Monday that the killing was in retaliation for an ongoing operation inside a sprawling camp housing tens of thousands of family members of the extremist group.
The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video showing the shooting of the six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces near the eastern village of Ruwaished where they were captured alive and later shot dead late Sunday.
Despite their defeat in Syria in 2019, when IS lost the last sliver of land its fighters once controlled, the extremists’ sleepers cells have continued to carry out deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq where they once held large parts of the two countries.
The latest attack occurred in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour bordering Iraq, and where U.S. troops are based at an oil facility known as the Omar Field.
Last week, the U.S. military said SDF fighters arrested dozens of IS militants and rescued four women who were being held chained inside tents at the massive al-Hol camp that houses IS families.
The operation that has been ongoing for three weeks is part of an effort to dissolve a major IS network at the camp, which is widely seen as a breeding ground for the next generation of IS extremists.
The al-Hol camp in Syria’s northeastern Hassakeh Province, has long been viewed as a growing problem and there have been a number of military operations and raids there to root out IS threats.
Some 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis are crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp. Nearly 20,000 of them are children; most of the rest are women, the wives and widows of IS fighters. In a separate, heavily guarded section of the camp known as the annex are an additional 2,000 women from 57 other countries — they are considered the most die-hard IS supporters — along with their children, numbering about 8,000.
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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s central bank lifted its remaining subsidies on fuel on Monday, gas station owners said, ending a year-long process of scaling back on the expensive program.
The Central Bank over a year ago announced it would gradually lift fuel subsidies, to slow down the draining of its foreign exchange reserves. Fuel subsidies once cost the cash-strapped country some $3 billion annually. Last week, it subsidized just 20% of the cost of fuel imports.
Lebanon is in the throes of a crippling economic crisis that has plunged three-quarters of its population into poverty and decimated the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar by around 90 percent. The World Bank has described the collapse as one of the worst in the world in the last 150 years.
Now, gas station owners will price fuel at the country’s “parallel market rate” — also known as the black market rate, Gas Station Owners’ Syndicate spokesperson George Brax told The Associated Press.
The local currency is still officially pegged at 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the U.S. dollar, but now trades at about 35,250 pounds at the black market rate.
A liter of 95 octane gasoline currently cost just less than a dollar, but topping up the average car costs almost the monthly minimum wage. The black market rate heavily fluctuates with little transparency, possibly risking arbitrary price hikes regardless of global fuel prices.
Under the subsidies program, the Central Bank would allow importers to exchange Lebanese pounds for US dollars to fund imports and keep prices stable. However, with Lebanon’s currency devaluation and skyrocketing inflation, gas station owners claimed the stable pricing was not sustainable, while security agencies struggled to crack down on fuel hoarding in warehouses and gas stations.
Lebanese authorities for years have also been working to replace subsidies on fuel, medicine, and wheat with a targeted cash-assistance program which would cost a small fraction annually. However, it has scrambled to properly implement the program since receiving a World Bank loan to fund it a year ago, targeting hundreds of thousands of families in need and ultimately leaving them without any safety net to soften the blow of price hikes.
Lebanon is scrambling to reform its wasteful and unproductive economy to reach a deal with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout program, and unlock billions of dollars in loans and aid from the international community. But a tug-of-war between the government, Central Bank, commercial banks, and private businesses has held the country down from making substantial progress with the IMF since negotiations began over two years ago.
The tiny Mediterranean country’s economic crisis over the past three years is the result of decades of corruption, wasteful spending, and nefarious financial planning at the hands of its ruling political parties and partners in the private sector.
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LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II has been likened to the invisible glue holding the United Kingdom together. Some think the reign of King Charles III will see those bonds come unstuck, giving new momentum to Scotland’s push for independence.
But the fact the queen died last week at her beloved Highland retreat, Balmoral Castle, has made Scotland the focus of commemorations watched around the globe in the first days after her death. That has served as a reminder of the monarchy’s deep ties to Scotland — and could provide a boost for the union.
Scottish historian Tom Devine said because by “extraordinary serendipity” the queen died in Scotland, “it was possible for the world to see the relationship between the queen and this country.”
“It was a fitting end to a life of service and a life of concern for the four nations — not simply one nation — of the U.K.,” he said.
In a touching display of respect, thousands of people on Sunday lined the 175-mile (280 kilometer) route from Balmoral to Edinburgh as the queen’s coffin was driven in a slow procession to the Scottish capital. On Monday, the coffin was carried along Edinburgh’s medieval Royal Mile to St. Giles’ Cathedral, where thousands more are expected to pay their respects over the next day.
The queen had deep ties to Scotland. Besides spending her summer months at Balmoral, her mother, the late Queen Mother, was Scottish and as a child the queen grew up playing on her grandparents’ estate of Glamis Castle in central Scotland.
So far there have been only tiny protests by anti-monarchist demonstrators. One woman was arrested in Edinburgh on Sunday for breaching the peace after brandishing a profane sign calling for the abolition of the monarchy.
King Charles III has moved quickly to stress that he will be a monarch for the whole of the U.K., undertaking a national tour during his first days on the throne. He was in Scotland on Monday accompanying his mother’s coffin, and he plans to visit Northern Ireland and Wales later in the week, attending memorial services in Belfast and Cardiff.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all part of the U.K. but have distinct histories — and complex ties with England, which dominates the U.K. in both population and politics.
Some Welsh nationalists have objected to Prince William being recently given the title of Prince of Wales — a title first given to the heir to the throne after the English conquest of Wales in the 14th century.
The status of the monarchy has always been fraught in Northern Ireland, where there are two main communities: unionists who consider themselves British and nationalists who see themselves as Irish. That split fueled decades of violence known as “The Troubles,” and remains a deep divide. But in a sign of how far Northern Ireland has come on the road to peace, representatives of the Irish Republican Army-linked party Sinn Fein are attending commemorative events for the queen in Belfast.
Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill praised “the significant contribution Queen Elizabeth made to the advancement of peace and reconciliation between the different traditions on our island, and between Ireland and Britain during the years of the peace process.”
Scotland and England have been governed under the same monarch since 1603, and formally unified in 1707. But Scotland has distinct educational and legal systems and, since 1999, its own parliament.
Relations now between the Conservative U.K. government in London and the pro-independence Scottish administration in Edinburgh are tense.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who left office last week, was unpopular in Scotland, where a majority opposed his pet project: Brexit. Johnson led the U.K. out of the European Union after a 2016 referendum in which the country as a whole backed leaving — but Scotland voted to stay in the bloc.
Devine said Johnson’s government had displayed “a reduction in respect for Scotland as an historic nation.”
“That attitude of disrespect considerably annoyed the Scottish electorate over the last few years,” he said. “But there is a still a very strong sense here that the monarchy — especially in the person of the queen — maintains that respect.”
In 2014, Scotland held a referendum on whether to remain part of the U.K. Voters rejected independence by 55% to 45% in what was billed as a once-in-a-generation choice. But the Scottish National Party government in Edinburgh is pushing for a new independence referendum, arguing that Brexit has radically changed the political and economic landscape.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to hold such a vote in October 2023. But new Prime Minister Liz Truss, like Johnson, says her government will not agree, and without its approval a referendum would not be binding.
Amid the political deadlock, Sturgeon has appealed to the courts for the power to call a referendum on her own. The U.K. Supreme Court is to start hearing the case next month.
As monarch, Charles is required to remain politically neutral. His mother caused a stir in 2014 when she remarked that Scots should “think very carefully” before voting — a remark widely seen as opposing independence.
Even after that comment, the queen remained widely respected by people on both sides of Scotland’s independence debate. Sturgeon, the pro-independence first minister, praised Elizabeth on Monday as “the Queen of Scots” and “the great constant — the anchor of our nation.”
Pauline Maclaran, an expert on royal culture at Royal Holloway University of London, said “it will remain to be seen if Charles can command the same loyalty” as his mother.
“There will be a honeymoon period for Charles, I think, where everybody — out of respect, but also their own feelings — will lay off the usual demands for independence,” she said.
But Maclaran felt that period would not last.
“I think they (demands for Scottish independence) will come back. And I think the whole question will be how much can Charles build his bonds with them? What bonds does he have? That will then be one of his tests, that’s for sure,” she said.
___
Follow all AP stories on the impact of the death of Queen Elizabeth II at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii.
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A Christian boarding school in southwestern Missouri can remain open despite the state attorney general alleging a “dark pattern of behavior,” a judge ruled Monday.
Judge David Munton’s ruling allows continued round-the-clock monitoring of Agape Boarding School in Stockton by Missouri child welfare workers. The school serves about 60 boys.
The Kansas City Star reported that the state was prepared to call two former Agape students to testify on Monday. Agape attorney John Schultz told the judge there was no proof of any immediate health or safety concern for students and allowing former students to testify was “simply for publicity,” the Star reported.
The judge didn’t allow the testimony but scheduled another hearing for Sept. 21.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office first sought to shut down Agape on Wednesday after learning that someone on the state registry for child abuse and neglect was actively working there. On Friday, the attorney general’s office filed an amended motion alleging systemic abuse.
“Agape’s operation of a residential care facility must cease because it presents an immediate health and safety concern for the children residing at Agape,” the court filing stated. It also accused Agape of providing the state with incomplete information concerning which adults have access to children.
“These new developments are sadly consistent with the dark pattern of behavior at Agape previously exposed by the Attorney General’s Office” and the Missouri Department of Social Services, the filing stated.
Agape’s website proclaims, “We’re still open and accepting students!” It calls itself a “Christian Boarding School That Turns Around Rebellious Boys.”
Munton last week considered closing the school, but Agape officials told authorities that the person on the abuse and neglect registry was fired on Wednesday. Munton allowed the school to remain open, with state supervision.
Allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Agape and nearby Christian boarding school Circle of Hope Girls’ Ranch prompted a state law last year requiring stricter oversight of such facilities. Among other things, the new law allows state or local authorities to petition the court for closure of a facility if there is believed to be an immediate health or safety threat to the children.
Last year, Agape’s longtime doctor, David Smock, was charged with child sex crimes and five employees were charged with low-level abuse counts. Schmitt’s office contended that 22 workers should have been charged, and with more serious crimes. But in Missouri, only the local prosecutor can file charges, and Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither has said no additional employees would be charged.
Meanwhile, the husband-and-wife founders of Circle of Hope, Boyd and Stephanie Householder, face a combined 99 charges that include child abuse and neglect, sex crimes and other counts. The school was ordered shut down in 2020.
Several lawsuits filed on behalf of former students also have named Agape and Circle of Hope.
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MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Extremists allied with the Islamic State group have spread their attacks further south into Mozambique’s most populous province, Nampula, including an assault on a Catholic mission in which an Italian nun was among those killed.
The extremists first struck the province earlier this month and have sustained the offensive, attacking rural centers and beheading some residents.
Their insurgency had been confined to Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province, where an estimated 4,000 people have been killed and 950,000 displaced over four years.
The violence has also disrupted big economic projects, including one by the France-based TotalEngergies to produce liquified natural gas and the development of a large mine to extract graphite to make lithium batteries for Tesla motors.
The extremists’ push into Nampula comes despite the deployment for more than a year of a military force from the 16-nation Southern Africa Development Community, along with troops from Rwanda, in support of the Mozambican military.
The Islamic State Mozambique Province group has claimed responsibility for setting fire to two churches and more than 120 homes of Christians last week in Nampula province.
In their attack on the Catholic Chipene Mission, the jihadi rebels shot and killed Sister Maria de Coppi and set fire to the church, health center and residential quarters, according to Mozambican reports.
At the Vatican on Sunday, Pope Francis said he was remembering in prayer the 83-year-old Italian nun who had “served with love for nearly 60 years” as a Comboni missionary in Mozambique.
“The population is disoriented and suffers a lot because they live in uncertainty and do not know what to do, many are fleeing but do not know where to go,” the Archbishop of Nampula, Inacio Saure, said in comments carried by Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news agency.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For 40 years, Louise Kwang thought she was an orphan baby found on the streets of the South Korean port city of Busan before her adoption by Danish parents in 1976.
She felt her entire sense of identity collapse in 2016 when her South Korean agency matter-of-factly acknowledged that her origin story was fiction aimed at ensuring her adoptability.
“(The English file) says you were transferred from Namkwang Children’s Home in Pusan (Busan) to KSS for international adoption. In fact, it was just made up for adoption procedure,” Kyeong Suk Lee, a social worker at the Korea Social Service, wrote in a letter to Kwang after she requested her original Korean-language file.
The agency turned out to know about Kwang’s biological parents, including her father whom she later met. There’s no indication Kwang was ever in Busan, which is several hours’ drive from the country’s capital, Seoul, where her father had been living in 1976.
“I was not an orphan. I have never been to Busan nor at the orphanage in Busan,” Kwang said at a news conference in Seoul on Tuesday. “This was all a lie. A lie made up for adoption procedure. I have been made non-existent in Korea, to get me out of Korea as fast as possible.”
Kwang is among nearly 300 South Korean adoptees in Europe and the United States who so far have filed applications calling for South Korea’s government to investigate the circumstances surrounding their adoptions, which they suspect were based on falsified documents that laundered their real status or identities.
Their effort underscores a deepening rift between the world’s largest diaspora of adoptees and their birth nation decades after scores of Korean children were carelessly removed from their families during a foreign adoption boom that peaked in the 1980s.
The Denmark-based group representing the adoptees also on Tuesday delivered a letter to the office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol urging him to prevent agencies from destroying records or retaliating against adoptees seeking their roots as the agencies face increasing scrutiny about their past practices.
The 283 applications submitted so far to Seoul’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission describe numerous complaints about lost or distorted biological origins.
Some adoptees say they discovered the agencies switched their identities to replace other children who died, were too sick to travel, or were retaken by their Korean families before they could be sent to Western adopters. They say such findings worsen their sense of loss and sometimes lead to false reunions with relatives who turn out to be strangers.
Peter Møller, attorney and co-founder of the Danish Korean Rights Group, said he also plans to sue two Seoul-based agencies -– Holt Children’s Services and KSS -– over their unwillingness to fully open their records to adoptees.
While agencies often cite privacy issues related to birth parents to justify the restricted access, Møller accuses them of inventing excuses to sidestep questions about their practices as adoptees increasingly express frustration about the limited details in their adoption papers that often turn out to be inaccurate or falsified.
Møller’s group last month initially filed applications from 51 Danish adoptees calling for the commission to investigate their adoptions, which were handled by Holt and KSS.
The move attracted intense attention from Korean adoptees from around the world, prompting the group to expand its campaign to Holt and KSS adoptees outside of Denmark. The 232 additional applications submitted Tuesday included 165 cases from Denmark, 36 cases from the United States and 31 cases combined from Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Germany.
The commission, which was set up in December 2020 to investigate human rights atrocities under military governments that ruled South Korea from the 1960s to 1980s, must decide in three or four months whether to open an investigation into the applications filed by the adoptees. If it does, that could trigger the most far-reaching inquiry into foreign adoptions in the country, which has never fully reconciled with the child export frenzy engineered by its past military leaders.
While the commission’s deadline for applications comes in December, Møller said his group will try to persuade the commission to keep the door open for more applications from adoptees if it decides to investigate the cases.
“There are many more adoptees that have written us, called us, been in contact with us. They are afraid to submit to this case because they fear that the adoption agencies will … burn the original documents and retaliate,” said Møller. He said such concerns are greater among adoptees who discovered that the agencies had switched their identities.
Holt didn’t respond to calls for comment. Choon Hee Kim, an adoption worker who has been with KSS since the 1970s, said the agency is willing to discuss issues surrounding its adoptions with adoptees individually but not with the media.
When asked about KSS letters admitting to the falsifying of biological origins, Kim said, “The adoptees are saying they received such letters because they did, and it’s not like they are making things up.”
About 200,000 South Koreans were adopted overseas during the past six decades, mainly to white parents in the United States and Europe and mostly during the 1970s and 1980s.
Military leaders saw adoptions as a way to reduce the number of mouths to feed, solve the “problem” of unwed mothers and deepen ties with the democratic West.
Special laws aimed at promoting foreign adoptions effectively allowed licensed private agencies to bypass proper child relinquishment practices as they exported huge numbers of children to the West year after year.
Most of the South Korean adoptees sent abroad were registered by agencies as legal orphans found abandoned on the streets, although they frequently had relatives who could be easily identified or found. That practice often make their roots difficult or impossible to trace.
It wasn’t until 2013 that South Korea’s government required foreign adoptions to go through family courts, ending the policy that allowed agencies to dictate child relinquishments, transfer of custodies and emigration for decades.
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New York is poised to strengthen its oversight of private and religious schools following years of complaints that thousands of children are graduating from ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools lacking basic academic skills, including the ability to read English.
A Board of Regents committee unanimously approved guidelines Monday to make sure instruction at the state’s private and religious schools is equivalent to that of its public schools.
The rules would apply to all of New York’s 1,800 nonpublic schools but would have the greatest impact on the ultra-Orthodox schools, called yeshivas, some of which provide rigorous religious instruction but little or no teaching in secular subjects like English, math, science and history.
Defenders of the schools say parents have the right to send their children to programs consistent with their beliefs and traditions. As the Regents met Monday, protesters assembled outside, some with signs reading: “We will sit in jail rather than change our childrens education.”
Many yeshivas in New York state are modern Orthodox schools that provide a full secular curriculum along with religious studies. But there have been complaints that some yeshivas run by strictly observant Hasidic Jews were not meeting basic academic standards.
A New York Times investigation published Sunday cited instances of English teachers speaking only Yiddish to students, teachers using corporal punishment and graduates who said they were woefully unprepared for life or employment outside of their communities.
Virtually all of the Hasidic boys who took state standardized math and reading exams in 2019 failed, the report said.
A final vote is scheduled for Tuesday on new Board of Regents rules that would give private schools multiple pathways to show they meet a longstanding legal mandate to provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to that of a public school. Among the criteria is that primary subjects be taught in English.
“We are trying to obviously adhere to the law but also create some flexibility around that as well,” state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa said.
State education officials have spent years trying to strike a balance. An initial set of guidelines released in 2018 was struck down by a state judge who said they were not implemented correctly. The department reviewed about 350,000 public comments following the release of the latest proposal and made adjustments in response, authorities said.
“The regulation respects that parents have a constitutional right to send their children to an independent school and that we respect the worldviews of the schools and their communities,” assistant commissioner Christina Coughlin said.
The group Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, which represents yeshivas, said families choose to pay for private or religious schools because they believe in their educational approach.
“A government checklist, devised by lawyers and enforced by bureaucrats, hampers rather than advances education,” the group said in an email. “Parents in New York have been choosing a yeshiva education for more than 120 years, and they are proud of the successful results, and will continue to do the same, with or without the blessing or support of state leaders in Albany.”
Under the rules, a school can demonstrate equivalency, for example, by using state-approved assessments or operating a high school registered by the Board of Regents. It also can be reviewed by the local school district.
Groups representing Roman Catholic and Christian schools said they are confident their schools meet the substantially equivalent standards.
Naftuli Moster, who founded a group to improve secular standards at yeshivas, said he worried the schools would use the issue of cultural sensitivity to exploit loopholes without clearer guidance on how the regulations will be enforced, something the state is expected to address in the next few months.
“How you teach it or what you incorporate into the teaching is not what matters,” Moster said by phone. “It’s objective whether you teach science. There’s no Jewish science. It’s objective whether you do or do not teach social studies.”
Private schools that fall short of the threshold will be given time to adjust their instruction, state education officials said.
But those that may refuse to comply could lose state funding and their standing as a school with the state. Parents who continue to send their children to such a school could find themselves in violation of the state’s compulsory education law requiring that children between the ages of six and 16 be provided with a program of instruction, either at a public school or elsewhere.
Daniel Morton Bentley, a lawyer for the state Education Department, said Friday that much of the public pushback has focused on “philosophical opposition to state regulation of nonpublic schools,” which he said is required by law and not changed by the Regents’ action.
Public school districts would be required to complete initial reviews of nonpublic schools within their boundaries by the end of the 2024-25 school year.
___
Thompson reported from Buffalo, N.Y. Associated Press reporter Michael Hill contributed from Albany, N.Y.
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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan is grappling with food shortages after deadly floods left the impoverished country’s agriculture belt underwater, the prime minister told the Turkish president by phone, as authorities scaled up efforts Monday to deliver food, tents and other items.
Shahbaz Sharif spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan overnight to thank Turkey for dispatching food, tents and medicine by 12 military aircraft, four trains and Turkish Red Crescent trucks. The International Rescue Committee estimated that the floods have damaged more than 3.6 million acres of crops in Pakistan.
A government statement said Sharif briefed Erdogan about the government’s relief activities and sought assistance from Turkey in overcoming the “food shortage.” Sharif also sought help from Turkey on reconstruction work in the flood-hit areas.
More than 660,000 people, including women and children, are living at relief camps and in makeshift homes after floods damaged their homes across the country and forced them to move to safer places. Pakistan, the country’s military, U.N. agencies and local charities are providing food to these flood victims.
Pakistan heavily relies on its agriculture and occasionally exports its surplus wheat to Afghanistan and other countries. Now it is in talks to import badly needed wheat and vegetables, including to people not directly affected by floods.
Meanwhile, the price of vegetables and other food has started increasing.
Until last week, floodwater was covering around a third of Pakistan, including the country’s agriculture belt in eastern Punjab and southern Sundh provinces which are the main food basket. Initially, Pakistan said the floods caused $10 billion in damages, but authorities say the damages are far greater than the initial estimates.
That’s forced Pakistan and the United Nations to urge the international community to send more help.
In response, U.N. agencies and various countries, including the United States, have sent more than 60 planeloads of aid. Since last week, Washington has sent three military planes to deliver food.
Three more U.S. military planes carrying aid were to land in Pakistan’s worst flood-hit southern Sindh province later Monday, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
Washington days ago set up a humanitarian air bridge to flood-ravaged Pakistan to deliver aid through 20 flights, which will arrive in Pakistan before September 16. The U.S. authorities also plan to distribute cash among needy people.
Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a visit to Pakistan traveled to flood-hit areas, where deluges from floods are still causing damage.
Guterres has called on the world to stop “sleepwalking” through the dangerous environmental crisis. He assured Sharif in a meeting with him that he will do his best to highlight the ordeal of Pakistanis facing floods.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said at a news conference Monday that Pakistani authorities and international aid agencies are assessing the flood damage that has affected 33 million people. He said the government would proceed with transparency in the distribution of aid.
Meanwhile, the IRC, a prominent international aid group, on Monday warned of mounting economic losses, likely leading to food shortages and an increase in violence against women. In a statement, the group said the floods destroyed over 3.6 million acres of crops in Pakistan.
“The acute loss of farmland and agriculture is likely to be felt in the months and years ahead. It is vital that the humanitarian response remains fully funded in order to give the people of Pakistan the best chance of rebuilding their lives,” said Shabnam Baloch, IRC’s director in Pakistan.
She said so far the IRC has reached 29,000 women and girls with aid in flood-hit areas.
Deluges from the rising Indus river and the Lake Manchar in the Sindh province were still posing threat to Dadu, a district in the south where rescuers using boats were evacuating villagers to safer places Monday. Light rain is expected in flood-hit areas this week, according to the Meteorological Department.
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