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MOSCOW (AP) — A representative of one the the organizations sharing this year’s Nobel Peace Prize said Friday that she thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin must face an international tribunal for the fighting in Ukraine.
Oleksandra Matviichuk of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties said during a news conference in Oslo, Norway, that “We must establish an international tribunal to hold Putin, (Belarusian President Alexander) Lukashenko and other war criminals accountable.”
In October, the Ukrainian group was named a co-winner of the 2022 peace price along with Russian human rights group Memorial and Ales Bialatski, head of the Belarusian human rights group Viasna.
Bialatski is jailed in Belarus and was unable to travel to receive the prize, which is due to be formally presented on Saturday.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://wtmj.com/national/2022/12/09/ukrainian-nobel-prize-winner-says-putin-must-face-tribunal/
| 2022-12-09T14:27:29
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en
| 0.940013
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China says its official COVID-19 vaccination rate is around 90%, but it's not hard to find people who have been avoiding the jab.
Take Faye Fei, for example. She's a 32-year-old lifestyle blogger who lives in the city of Hangzhou, about an hour from Shanghai by high-speed train.
"I have an advantage in that I don't go to an office to work. I don't have a job at a company or in a government agency and don't really come into contact with a lot of people," she says. "Also I think I protect myself pretty well."
On top of that, she says she's young, she's not afraid of COVID-19 anymore, she doesn't feel the need to get a shot until China re-opens to the world and she believes the virus is changing too quickly for the vaccines available in China — all of them made in China — to have decent efficacy.
People like Fei signal a potential problem for the government in the days ahead.
A weekend of angry street protests last month against Beijing's hardline pandemic control policy, known as "dynamic zero COVID", seems to have nudged the authorities to take more risks. The authorities on Wednesday announced fresh steps to roll back some of the policy's strict elements.
Health experts say increasing vaccinations is a key part of the way forward if the government hopes to minimize the impact as the virus inevitably spreads.
The least vaccinated are the elderly
The problem of under-vaccination is most acute among the elderly. The government announced a little over a week ago that around 30% of people aged 60 and up — or roughly 80 million people — were not vaccinated and boosted as of Nov. 11. Among those 80 or older, the ratio was closer to 60%.
Experts on Chinese health care say several factors have contributed to the low vaccination rates among older adults. COVID vaccination campaigns focused initially on essential workers, and efficacy data did not include was not focused on the elderly. The government has almost exclusively enforced "zero COVID" policies to keep the virus out and douse flareups rather than moving to ramp up vaccinations when outbreaks were limited.
Plus, there's deep-seated vaccine hesitancy.
For many, it has its roots in product quality issues that have for years plagued manufacturing in China — including its production of pharmaceuticals. Cases like Tan Hua's resonate.
In 2014, Tan, then 34 years old, was bitten by a dog. She saw a doctor and was given a shot of what her mother, Hua Xiuzhen, says they were told was the best rabies vaccine on the market. But it didn't go well.
"That very night she got a headache and dizziness. Her memory declined sharply. She had convulsions. She couldn't see; everything was dark for her. She couldn't walk straight," Hua told NPR by phone.
They got emergency help. But Tan never fully recovered.
"She's disabled. She can't work. She spends the whole day lying in a bed," Hua says.
They blame the vaccine, and Hua has been on a crusade for justice ever since. She also now avoids all vaccines — including those for COVID-19, of which China has approved 12.
"I'm scared to think about it. And none of my neighbors have been vaccinated either as far as I know," she says.
It wasn't always like this, according to Mary Brazelton, an expert in the history of science and medicine in China at the University of Cambridge. In the months after the Communist takeover in 1949, the Chinese government launched several successful vaccination campaigns, taking on smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria and other diseases.
"If you look at earlier periods in the People's Republic of China's history ... what you see is in some ways almost the opposite in terms of really strong vaccination programs that work quite hard to convince people, particularly elderly people, to receive vaccines against infectious diseases," Brazelton says.
But lax oversight and corruption during recent decades of breakneck economic growth has led to a string of product quality scandals in China — from baby formula cut with industrial chemicals to contaminated blood thinner and tainted vaccines.
"To me, that kind of helps explain the degrees of hesitancy," Brazelton says.
China experts say there's also been weak messaging around Chinese COVID vaccines.
China has not imported any foreign-made vaccines, which are widely seen inside the country to be more effective than China's homegrown jabs. And data on the Chinese vaccines has been conflicting. In March, scientists in Hong Kong reported that made-in-China Sinovac boosters can effectively prevent serious illness in old people. This month, though, Singapore-based scientists concluded that three or four doses of mRNA vaccines offered better protection for people over 60 than China's inactivated virus vaccines for COVID-19.
Yanzhong Huang, a China health care expert at Seton Hall University, says the government has done a bad job of messaging around the virus and debunking myths — despite near total control of the media environment in the country.
"Many of those, the vaccine skeptics, are liberal-minded people. They just don't trust the Chinese vaccines and the government narrative on the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccines," he says.
Jerry, a real estate executive in Shanghai, is 33 years old — and a good example of that. He did not want his full name used because of the sensitivity of the topic.
Jerry reckons COVID-19 is "kind of a flu thing" these days; nothing too serious. He hasn't gotten the vaccine and he believes – despite science to the contrary – there's no point.
"I just think the virus is changing so fast. So not a single vaccine can help," he says, focusing on vaccines' ability to prevent transmission rather than stave off serious illness and death.
Jerry estimates that the vaccination rate among his friends — educated, 30-somethings in China's most cosmopolitan city — may be as low as 60%. He says couples trying to get pregnant are particularly fearful of possible side-effects.
The government is now redoubling efforts to get more people vaccinated, especially the elderly. The stakes are high.
Only about half of people aged 60 and up in Hong Kong were vaccinated when the omicron variant hit in the spring. Hospitals were quickly swamped and the rate of deaths-per-100,000 people spiked to the highest in the world. Nearly all of those who died were over 60 and not fully vaccinated.
To be sure, China has the state capacity to force the population to get vaccinated. After all, it has put entire cities with tens of millions of people into strict lockdowns.
But Huang, of Seton Hall, says the government may be better off bolstering the incentives for people to get the vaccine, and offering assurances of support in case something goes wrong.
They're just not quite there yet.
"They still they have not sent a clear message ... convincing the elderly that you need to get a vaccine, it's good for you," he says.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/2022-12-09/why-vaccine-hesitancy-persists-in-china-and-what-theyre-doing-about-it
| 2022-12-09T14:27:31
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| 0.981375
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NPR News Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party By Deirdre Walsh Published December 9, 2022 at 6:30 AM MST Facebook Twitter Email Listen • 3:48 Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is leaving her party to register as an independent. The decision shakes up the power dynamic in the closely divided U.S. Senate. Copyright 2022 NPR
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https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-12-09/sen-kyrsten-sinema-is-leaving-the-democratic-party
| 2022-12-09T14:27:32
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en
| 0.908832
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BERLIN (AP) — The U.N.’s top human rights official on Friday said Iran’s first execution of a prisoner convicted for a crime allegedly committed during the country’s ongoing nationwide protests is “very troubling” and an attempt by Tehran to stifle further anti-government demonstrations.
The Iranian government’s decision to carry out the death penalty was “clearly designed to send a chilling effect to the rest of the protesters,” Volker Türk told reporters at a news conference in Geneva.
“We will follow up with the authorities as well about this,” he said.
“I can only … call on the authorities to immediately institute a moratorium on the death penalty, to release the ones who were arrested in connection with the protests and to work towards the abolition of the death penalty,” he added.
The execution of Mohsen Shekari was widely condemned abroad and comes as other detainees also face the possibility of the death penalty for their involvement in the protests, which began in mid-September.
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday praised the protesters in Iran, and called on authorities in Tehran to end what he called their “inhumane” crackdown against their own population.
Steinmeier, who as Germany’s head of state holds a largely ceremonial role, cited reports that more than 500 people, including children, have been killed by government forces in recent months.
Speaking after a 90-minute meeting Friday with Iranians living in Germany, Steinmeier accused Iran’s government of bringing “fear and terror” on its people and paid respect to the protesters in Iran.
“I admire your bravery,” he said. “We see your suffering. We see the crimes being done to you.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has also slammed Iran’s first execution linked to the anti-government protests, saying the death penalty was being used “as an instrument of terror.”
Baerbock said late Thursday at a news conference in Dublin that the European Union would react with further “hard measures” against Iran.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday that the Iranian ambassador in Berlin was summoned for talks following the execution of Shekari.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://wtmj.com/national/2022/12/09/un-rights-chief-iran-seeks-chilling-effect-with-execution/
| 2022-12-09T14:27:37
|
en
| 0.970095
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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States rose 7.4% in November from a year earlier, a fifth straight slowdown and a hopeful sign that inflation pressures across the economy are continuing to cool.
The latest year-over-year figure was down from 8% in October and from a recent peak of 11.7% in March. On a monthly basis, the government said Friday that its producer price index, which measures costs before they reach consumers, rose 0.3% from October to November for the third straight month.
Rising prices are still straining Americans’ finances, particularly for food, rent and services such as haircuts, medical care and restaurant meals. Yet several emerging trends have combined to slow inflation from the four-decade peak it reached during the summer. Gas prices have tumbled after topping out at $5 a gallon in June. Nationally, they averaged $3.33 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA, just below their average a year ago.
And the supply chain snarls that caused chronic transportation delays and shortages of many goods, from patio furniture to curtains, are unraveling. U.S. ports have cleared the backlog of ships that earlier this year took weeks to unload. And the cost of shipping a cargo container from Asia has fallen sharply back to pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, the prices of long-lasting goods, from used cars and furniture to appliances and certain electronics, are easing.
Friday’s producer price data captures inflation at an early stage of production and can often signal where consumer prices are headed. Next week, the government will report its highest-profile inflation figure, the consumer price index. The most recent CPI report, for October, showed a moderation in inflation, with prices up 7.7% from a year earlier. Though still high, that was lowest year-over-year figure since January.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://wtmj.com/national/2022/12/09/wholesale-inflation-in-us-further-slowed-in-november-to-7-4-2/
| 2022-12-09T14:27:51
|
en
| 0.969431
|
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States rose 7.4% in November from a year earlier, a fifth straight slowdown and a hopeful sign that inflation pressures across the economy are continuing to cool.
The latest year-over-year figure was down from 8% in October and from a recent peak of 11.7% in March. On a monthly basis, the government said Friday that its producer price index, which measures costs before they reach consumers, rose 0.3% from October to November for the third straight month.
Rising prices are still straining Americans’ finances, particularly for food, rent and services such as haircuts, medical care and restaurant meals. Yet several emerging trends have combined to slow inflation from the four-decade peak it reached during the summer. Gas prices have tumbled after topping out at $5 a gallon in June. Nationally, they averaged $3.33 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA, just below their average a year ago.
And the supply chain snarls that caused chronic transportation delays and shortages of many goods, from patio furniture to curtains, are unraveling. U.S. ports have cleared the backlog of ships that earlier this year took weeks to unload. And the cost of shipping a cargo container from Asia has fallen sharply back to pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, the prices of long-lasting goods, from used cars and furniture to appliances and certain electronics, are easing.
Friday’s producer price data captures inflation at an early stage of production and can often signal where consumer prices are headed. Next week, the government will report its highest-profile inflation figure, the consumer price index. The most recent CPI report, for October, showed a moderation in inflation, with prices up 7.7% from a year earlier. Though still high, that was lowest year-over-year figure since January.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, in a speech last week, pointed to the decline in goods prices as an encouraging sign. Powell suggested that housing costs, including rent, which have been a major driver of inflation, should also start to slow next year.
The Fed chair also signaled that the central bank will likely raise its benchmark interest rate by a smaller increment when it meets next week. Investors foresee a half-point Fed hike, after four straight three-quarter-point increases.
Yet Powell noted that services prices, which reflect the largest sector of the U.S. economy, are still increasing at a historically fast pace. Rapidly rising wages are a key driver of services inflation, he noted. That’s because as wages rise, many businesses pass on their higher labor costs to their customers through higher prices, which drives up inflation.
Pay is still rising quickly and could continue to fuel higher inflation through most of next year. In last week’s jobs report for November, the government reported that average hourly pay jumped 5.1% from a year earlier, far above the pre-pandemic pace. Powell said wage gains closer to 3.5% would be needed to bring inflation down toward the Fed’s 2% annual target.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://wtmj.com/national/2022/12/09/wholesale-inflation-in-us-further-slowed-in-november-to-7-4/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:02
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en
| 0.972664
|
The move by House Democratic leaders to fast-track a defense policy bill without tackling voting rights has ruffled some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who saw the must-pass Pentagon package as their last best chance to address election protections for several years to come.
The critics are grumbling that party leaders simply haven’t been aggressive enough in efforts to force the Senate to adopt the various voting rights bills passed by the House this Congress. Some are also suggesting that leadership has taken their support for granted.
“It seems like the Black caucus has always supported leadership in what it’s tried to do, but leadership of this caucus hasn’t returned the favor, always,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a member of both the Black caucus and the liberal “squad.” He added, “And so now we’re in a precarious position where voting rights will continue to be under attack — state to state — will continue to be gutted.”
At issue was the fate of legislation — named after the civil rights icon and late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) — to restore those parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act nullified by the Supreme Court in 2013. House Democrats had passed the bill this Congress, but it was blocked in the Senate, where GOP support is needed to overcome the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold.
In an effort to break through that resistance, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), the head of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), had pressed Democratic leaders this week to pair the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — an annual, must-pass bill governing Pentagon spending — with the John Lewis bill. And as leverage, members of the CBC had threatened to vote against the rule underlying the NDAA unless the election reforms were somehow attached.
Because House Republicans, as a rule, vote against Democratic rules even if they support the bills themselves, the CBC opposition would have likely stopped the popular, bipartisan defense bill in its tracks.
“OK, you want the NDAA to pass? You need our support on that,” said Bowman, describing the strategy. “We need your support on voting rights in the Senate. Give us your support.’”
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), another member of the Black caucus, acknowledged the gambit was a long shot, but argued the high stakes justified the effort. The House will revert to Republican control in January, likely putting any voting rights push on ice for at least two years.
“This is our last opportunity to do something. So the thinking is that we’ll take it as far as we can to try to get it passed,” Johnson said.
“The fundamental right to vote transcends our yearly NDAA authorization. Both are important, but to Black people on the precipice of possibly being denied the full and fair opportunity to vote by a right-right, extremist, MAGA Supreme Court — I mean, we’re looking at that,” he continued. “That hurts us more than Congress’s inability to pass an NDAA.”
The CBC’s pressure campaign put Democratic leaders in a bind: The House couldn’t pass the NDAA rule without the voting rights provision, but the Senate would reject the NDAA unless the election reforms were gone.
In response, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team used a procedural gambit, known as the suspension calendar, allowing the NDAA to get a vote on the floor without a rule. Because an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in both parties supported the NDAA, they bet it could win the two-thirds majority required of suspension votes.
They were right.
The measure passed easily Thursday afternoon, by a tally of 350 to 80. Most CBC members supported the bill, including Beatty, who took a victory lap for highlighting the voting rights issue as a final act of her tenure at the top of the CBC.
“Our efforts were never about stopping the NDAA but standing up for voting rights that have been under attack by Republicans,” Beatty said in a statement.
Still, the effort delayed the vote on the NDAA, which was initially scheduled to hit the floor Wednesday night, and irked a number of Democratic lawmakers — leaders and rank-and-file members alike — who were hoping for a smooth vote on a popular defense bill.
“Everybody wants to see if they can change things at the last minute,” a frustrated Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), chair of the Rules Committee, said Wednesday night amid the impasse.
Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) was even more blunt.
“My sense is a lot of people are hitting their heads against the wall on this one,” he said.
Still, many CBC members defended Beatty’s efforts, noting that the very same day she forced the NDAA delay, the Supreme Court was weighing yet another high-profile election case that could grant state legislators broad powers to set voting rules — and have outsized consequences for minority voters. Most trained their criticisms on Senate Republicans for blocking the John Lewis bill and other voter protections.
“The Senate of this time will be known to have stood in the way of righteous legislation that would assure less voter suppression in our great country,” said Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), another CBC member. “Until we pass it, we have a duty to use all lawful and procedural methodologies available to us to get it done.”
In the eyes of liberals like Bowman, however, much of the blame falls on Democratic leaders, who have leaned heavily on the CBC to pass major parts of President Biden’s agenda — notably, Beatty helped break the impasse over a massive infrastructure bill last year — while top CBC priorities like voting rights and police reform have languished in the Senate. He’s hoping the group plays hardball in the next Congress.
“This has been a consistent back-and-forth with leadership throughout this Congress, right? It’s been asking the CBC to get its back,” Bowman said. “So we just, as a caucus, have to flex our muscles a bit and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to support bill X, Y or Z if we don’t get concessions on things that are most important to our community and to the country.”
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https://www.krqe.com/hill-politics/fizzling-voting-rights-push-angers-black-lawmakers/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:16
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en
| 0.971902
|
Democrats lost control of the House but expanded their Senate majority, giving them greater power to issue subpoenas that party senators say they plan to use to investigate price gouging and other inequities in corporate America.
Democratic committee and subcommittee chairs say they plan to call on corporations to provide more information about how they price prescription drugs, health insurance plans and other goods and services that have soared in cost in recent years.
They also plan to grill corporate executives over their private discussions about how respond to climate change and over how they use customers’ personal information.
And they will demand answers on corporate efforts to crack down on misinformation and inappropriate content targeted toward minors across social media platforms.
“It’s going to mean that our committees will have greater oversight ability, subpoena power,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) told reporters this week of expanding the Democratic majority to 51 seats.
“Subpoena power can deal with corporate corruption and inequities and other problems throughout the country,” he said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is expected to become the next chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says he plans to launch investigations into several industries, with a special focus on what he says is price gouging in the pharmaceutical drug industry.
“We are working on our priorities right now but it goes without saying that the committee has broad jurisdiction over health, labor, education and we are and will be prepared to take on very powerful special interests who are ripping off the American people,” he told The Hill.
Sanders said he’ll have more power to dig up information about corporate pricing practices and argued that Congress has not done enough on the issue.
“We pay twice as much per capita as other countries for health care, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. The oil companies are making record-breaking profits, ripping us off. So I think there’s a lot to be looked at in those areas,” he said.
Fellow leading liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that she’s “still working on the list” of industries to investigate, adding she has a “wide range.”
“We now have more tools for oversight,” she said. “We have less room to pass legislation because of the loss of the House, but sharper oversight tools in the Senate.”
Warren predicted that corporate CEOs will be more willing to comply with Senate Democratic requests for information knowing they may otherwise face a subpoena and a day in court.
“Even when we ask politely for the CEOs and billionaires to show up, everyone now knows it’s backed up with the possibility of getting a subpoena,” she said.
The serious consequences of failing to comply with a congressional subpoena were underscored this summer when Trump adviser Stephen Bannon was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to appear for a deposition and refusing to produce documents, despite a subpoena.
He was sentenced to four months in prison.
On most Senate committees, the chairs and ranking minority members have standing authority to issue subpoenas but they must use it jointly.
If a ranking member refuses to go along with a chair’s subpoena request, it requires a majority vote of the committee to issue a demand for testimony or documents.
Under the current organization of the Senate, where the number of seats on each committee are evenly divided, it has been very difficult for any Democratic chairs to muster enough votes to override a Republican ranking member who balks at a subpoena.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees, said that members of his party were “straight-jacketed” over the past two years because of the limits posed by the evenly divided Senate.
“We couldn’t even think seriously about using investigative tools,” he said.
That will change in January.
“We’re not just going to issue subpoenas willy-nilly without good cause because we want to maintain the credibility of the power and the process, and there may be challenges in court,” Blumenthal.
“I would anticipate it will be focused and strategic,” he said.
Blumenthal, who is in line to become chairman of the Commerce panel’s Consumer Production and Product Safety Subcommittee, said he has conducted hearings on Big Tech companies driving “toxic content” to kids, but didn’t have teeth to back up his queries.
“There was some cooperation from Big Tech companies but we had no access to documents or even perhaps key witnesses that we might have had through subpoena power,” he said.
Blumenthal says he wants to look more closely into what he called the “fiasco” of Ticketmaster’s sale of Taylor Swift tour tickets, when fans were locked out of the opportunity to buy tickets, suffered a variety of glitches or had to wait for hours without getting anything. Some floor seats wound up being offered for more than $10,000 and even $20,000 dollars.
“That merger is under investigation or Ticketmaster is by the Department of Justice but we have a responsibility to oversee the potential misuse of monopolistic power and abuses like holding back tickets and selling to scalpers,” Blumenthal said, referring to the merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who is in line to become chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he’s interested in investigating what energy company companies are saying about climate change behind closed doors and how their private strategy deliberations may diverge radically from their company’s public message about trying to stem global warming.
“I think the House has already done some good work on the oil and gas industry and has obtained a lot of documents showing the discrepancy between the external voices of the industry and what they say when they’re talking to each other internally. I think we can continue to work on that for sure,” Whitehouse said.
“They talk green and when they think nobody is listening, the real industry position emerges,” he said.
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https://www.krqe.com/hill-politics/senate-democrats-gear-up-for-battle-with-corporate-america/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:23
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en
| 0.970896
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WASHINGTON -- Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Friday made a bombshell announcement that she is leaving the Democratic Party and will be registering as a political independent.
Democrats had held a 51-49 majority in the Senate following Raphael Warnock's victory over Herschel Walker in Georgia earlier this week. However, Sinema's move, while a blow to the Democrats, will be unlikely to change the power balance in the next Congress beginning in January as the Democrats' Senate majority already includes two independents: Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine.
"Everyday Americans are increasingly left behind by national parties' rigid partisanship, which has hardened in recent years. Pressures in both parties pull leaders to the edges, allowing the loudest, most extreme voices to determine their respective parties' priorities and expecting the rest of us to fall in line," Sinema wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic on Friday morning. "In catering to the fringes, neither party has demonstrated much tolerance for diversity of thought. Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress. Payback against the opposition party has replaced thoughtful legislating."
ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott reports she was told Sinema informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Thursday night. Schumer had defended her as recently as Wednesday.
"Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are great members of our caucus. They are very valuable. They don't always agree with us on certain issues but they are tremendous contributors to our caucus, and we will continue to work with them," Schumer said.
She is up for reelection in Arizona in 2024.
In addition to her op-ed, Sinema released a statement Friday morning.
"When I ran for the U.S. Senate, I pledged to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. Over the past four years, I've worked proudly with other Senators in both parties and forged consensus on successful laws rebuilding our country's critical infrastructure, protecting our economic competitiveness, addressing historic drought to help secure our water future, expanding veterans' benefits, boosting innovation and small businesses, protecting marriage access for LGBTQ Americans, strengthening mental health care, and making our communities safer, more vibrant places in which to live and raise families," she said.
"In a natural extension of my service since I was first elected to Congress, I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington and formally registering as an Arizona Independent," she said.
The media rollout included an interview with CNN in which she said she intends to remain in her committee positions. "So when I come to work each day, it'll be the same, I'm going to still come to work and hopefully serve on the same committees I've been serving on and continue to work well with my colleagues of both political parties. And I'm not really spending much time worrying about what the mechanics look like for Washington, D.C.," she told CNN's Jake Tapper.
In a highly produced video released Friday morning, an opening slide introduces Sinema as an "Independent Voice for Arizona".
"We make decisions about what's best for ourselves and our families and communities. And so we don't spend a lot of time thinking about is this a Republican idea or is this a Democratic idea. Is this liberal or is this conservative? That's not how Arizonan's think. What we think about is what's right for my family, what's right for my community, what's right for my future," Sinema says in the video.
The video shows Sinema talking directly to camera in a purple dress, spliced with clips of Arizona landscape and footage of her town halls.
"Registering as an independent and showing up to work as an independence is a reflection of who I have always been and who Arizona is," Sinema says in the clip.
"I'm going to be the same person I've always been. That's who I am. I am going to show up to work I'm going to do my best for Arizona I'm going to continue to deliver results for everyday people. Nothing is going to change for me and I don't think anything is going to change for Arizona," she said.
ABC News' Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
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https://6abc.com/kyrsten-sinema-arizona-independent-senators-senator/12549481/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:26
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en
| 0.975699
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Lawmakers are digging in their heels in a high-stakes, end-of-the-year spending tug-of-war, with only a week now left before a government shutdown deadline.
While leading negotiators say they’ve been exchanging topline figures for a potential omnibus funding bill that many are still optimistic could pass this month, members say it’s becoming clearer that negotiations will likely need to extend beyond the current Dec. 16 deadline.
Negotiators have speculated leaders will try to bring up a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), potentially extending funding at fiscal 2022 funding levels through Dec. 23 to keep the government running amid ongoing talks.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, are openly calling for a CR into next year, seeking to punt the action until their party control the House.
But some are shooting for an earlier cutoff date to apply pressure as leaders race to put a bow on fiscal 2023 funding before Christmas.
“When I’m talking about very short-term CR, I never see the value in one week,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on Thursday. “I always think you should go in three-day increments just to keep the pressure up.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters on Thursday that he thinks leaders will decide on a CR that will at least fund the government through sometime in the current session. But whether they will stack the date against the weekend of Christmas Eve or even closer to Dec. 30 remains unclear.
“I think there’s gonna be more of a sense of urgency as the clock ticks,” Shelby said.
Democrats have been unified in pressing for an omnibus before the end of the year, rather than passing a CR through sometime in the next Congress, when they’ll have to tangle with a Republican-controlled lower chamber.
Democratic negotiators also say they’re set to release new funding plans as early as next week that they claim are designed to attract GOP support to get the ball rolling.
“We’ve been busy at work writing a bill designed to get Republican votes,” Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security Chair Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters on Wednesday.
But House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) wouldn’t say much on Thursday as to whether leaders plan to bring the legislation up for a vote next week.
“We’ll see where we go with that,” she told, though she reiterated that Democrats “crafted the omnibus considering what the Republican priorities are.”
However, negotiators on both sides say the legislation has largely been crafted without GOP input, as they say Republican negotiators have been instructed not to engage in the process in lieu of a larger topline agreement.
And the plans are already fueling skepticism among Republicans ahead of their expected release.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), an appropriator, poured cold water on the effort on Thursday, telling The Hill: “I think anytime that you craft a bill or series of bills that don’t have bipartisan support to begin with, I think it’s a waste of exercise.”
“It’s going nowhere. It might come out of the House, but it’s going nowhere in the Senate,” Shelby told reporters, writing off such bills as “absolutely” a waste of time.
But Democrats drafting the funding pitch are hopeful Republicans will be receptive to them.
“This is not designed to be some sort of gotcha. We think we’re getting closer and closer and so it shouldn’t be viewed through the lens of this being some sort of setup,” said Schatz, who heads the appropriations subpanel for transportation and housing.
“This is not going to end up being some wish list of Democratic priorities. This is a balanced proposal,” he argued.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is among the Republicans calling for a delay until they have House control. Cruz said last week that Congress should pass a CR that runs “until early next year” – a move he said would allow the newly elected Congress to “enact the priorities that the voters elected them to enact.”
A stopgap measure freezing funding levels past Jan. 3 would allow Republicans significantly more influence in shaping government funding, but Democrats say it would also raise the risk of shutdown in a further divided Congress.
But other Republicans haven’t given up on an omnibus, citing concerns for defense and national security. GOP appropriators pushing for an omnibus also say it would allow the next Congress a fresh start to hash out fiscal 2024 appropriations, while pointing to the coming retirements Shelby and Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
Boozman said of the biggest hold-ups negotiators say is preventing an agreement is a roughly $25 billion gap between what Democrats and Republicans say they want for discretionary spending.
“First thing we’ve got to do is agree on the number. So, we’ve agreed on defense,” Boozman said. But when it comes to discretionary spending, he said Democrats are “going to have to come down or I don’t see us getting a deal.”
At the same time, Democrats say they’re preparing for a full-year CR — an option neither side wants — as conservatives turn up the heat on GOP leadership to gun for a short-term one to next Congress.
“Our preference is an omnibus. That’s what the country needs,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), another appropriator, told The Hill. But if lawmakers fail to strike a larger funding deal before the next Congress begins, Hollen said Democrats would push for a CR “that goes through the remainder of the fiscal year.”
“Rather than something that ends up in January, where House Republicans decide to play games to shut down the government,” he added.
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https://www.krqe.com/hill-politics/the-clock-ticks-congress-races-to-resolve-high-stakes-spending-tug-of-war/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:31
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| 0.958236
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(The Hill) — The nation’s animal shelters are overcrowded and understaffed. Thousands of pets face possible euthanasia if no one steps forward to adopt them.
Here are six ways to help.
Adopt a pet.
The national pet adoption network depends on a steady supply of humans to adopt cats and dogs other humans have given up. Surveys suggest only 25 to 30 percent of American households acquire pets from shelters. If that figure rose by even a few percentage points, animal advocates say, the current crisis would ease.
Shelter pets ran in short supply in the early months of the pandemic, which led many families to look elsewhere. That shortage seeded a misguided notion that rescue animals are hard to find: They’re not.
“We’re actually seeing that from millennials, which is concerning,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society.
Or, don’t adopt a pet.
Many pets sitting in shelters today belonged to families whose lifestyles changed dramatically when the COVID-19 pandemic receded, forcing millions of Americans out of their homes and back into offices.
Adopting a pet is akin to becoming a parent. Before you adopt, “take an honest stock of your own life,” said Dr. Rebecca Greenstein, a veterinarian near Toronto who serves as medical adviser to Rover.com, the pet-sitting and pet-walking service.
Adopting a pet and then surrendering it to a shelter is “worse than not adopting them,” she said.
Donate money or time to a shelter.
The nation’s animal shelters have suffered chronic staffing shortages since the start of the pandemic, owing to COVID-19 outbreaks and economic forces. Nonprofit shelters also tend to run short of funds.
Volunteering time or donating funds can help a shelter weather the overcrowding crisis.
“There are many jobs beyond helping strictly within a shelter,” said Hannah Stember of Best Friends. Crucial tasks include posting information on animals ready for adoption and arranging transport from overcrowded shelters to facilities with available space.
Foster pets.
Overcrowded shelters rely on a network of foster parents to provide crucial extra space for animals awaiting adoption.
Pet fostering is a relatively easy way to support a local shelter. Foster arrangements are generally short-term, and the shelter typically supplies food and medication.
“Most people have a spare bathroom or spare room in their house,” said Castle, of Best Friends. “Just two weeks where you can have those kittens in your bathroom, caring for them and feeding them, I can’t tell you how much that helps the organization. If every American did that, it would solve the issue tomorrow.”
Neuter and spay.
Not all pet owners choose to neuter and spay, but the procedure prevents overpopulation in the dog and cat kingdoms.
There is a downside: The American Kennel Club reports that spaying and neutering can increase the risk of certain medical conditions, especially among very large male dogs.
But other research points to longer lives for spayed or neutered pets. And overpopulation can mean a death sentence for pets that cannot find homes.
Consider dog-walkers and pet-sitters.
In the peak pandemic years, pet owners “inadvertently raised a generation of puppies and kittens who know nothing other than 24-7 togetherness,” Greenstein said.
Now, humans are being prodded back to the office, a shift that can be disastrous for a pet. Despairing owners may feel they have no choice but to surrender the pet to a shelter.
There are other options, especially with the rise of Rover and other pet-sitting and dog-walking services.
“It really makes pet ownership much more realistic for people who are going back to work,” Greenstein said. “And these options didn’t exist many years ago.”
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/fixing-the-pet-adoption-crisis-6-ways-to-help/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:38
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| 0.948942
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BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia’s war in Ukraine, chaos in Haiti and rising violence by criminal groups in Mexico contributed to a 30% spike in the number of journalists killed doing their work in 2022 over the previous year, according to a new report released Friday.
The International Federation of Journalists says that 67 journalists and media staff have been killed around the world so far this year, up from 47 last year.
The Brussels-based group also tallied 375 journalists currently imprisoned for their work, with the most in China, Myanmar and Turkey. Last year’s report listed 365 journalists behind bars.
With the number of media workers killed on the rise, the group called on governments to take more concrete action to protect journalists and free journalism.
“The failure to act will only embolden those who seek to suppress the free flow of information and undermine the ability of people to hold their leaders to account, including in ensuring that those with power and influence do not stand in the way of open and inclusive societies,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said in a statement.
More media workers were killed covering the war in Ukraine – 12 in total — than in any other country this year, according to the IFJ. Most were Ukrainian but also included those of other nationalities such as American documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud. Many deaths occurred in the first chaotic weeks of the war, though threats to journalists continue as the fighting drags on.
The IFJ said “the rule by terror of criminal organizations in Mexico, and the breakdown of law and order in Haiti, have also contributed to the surge in killings.” 2022 has been one of the deadliest ever for journalists in Mexico, which is now considered the most dangerous country for reporters outside a war zone.
The group recorded five deaths of journalists amid this year’s political crisis in Pakistan, and warned of new threats to journalists in Colombia and continued danger for journalists in the Philippines despite new leadership there.
It also called out the shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as she was reporting from a Palestinian refugee camp. The Arab network this week formally asked the International Criminal Court to investigate her death.
The Brussels-based IFJ represents 600,000 media professionals from trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries. The report was released on the eve of the United Nations’ Human Rights Day.
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/number-of-journalists-killed-on-the-job-in-2022-rose-30/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:44
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| 0.970214
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(NewsNation) — Each morning, the U.S. national anthem echoes from the walls of detained American citizen Paul Whelan’s Russian prison cell.
“He gets up every morning and sings the national anthem, I think as much to irritate the guards as to keep his own morale up,” Whalen’s brother, David Whelan, said. “And I think he is determined to survive, but I think you have to wonder how long he can continue to do that.”
Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, has lost about 20% of his body weight since he was detained four years ago on suspicion of being a spy. His family says he was in Moscow attending a wedding.
Though they can speak to him on the phone, 2020 Associated Press photos of Paul Whelan inside a Russian courtroom are the most recent references his family has for what he might look like today.
On Wednesday, the family learned that another American, WNBA star Brittney Griner, would return home in a prisoner swap; the Russian government, however, is not budging on his case.
Griner had been serving a sentence in a Russian penal colony since February. Customs agents said they found cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s airport at the time, leading to her incarceration.
Her release Thursday was part of a prisoner swap for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called Merchant of Death.
Now, Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, said the Griners will advocate from the U.S. for the release of other Americans held as prisoners in Russia.
“BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate BG being home,” Cherelle Griner said. “We do understand that there are still people out here who are enduring what I endured the last nine months of missing tremendously their loved ones. So, thank you, everybody, for your support.”
David Whelan suspects Brittney Griner will have an outsize influence to draw attention to other U.S. citizens detained abroad.
At the end of the day, however, media influence and public sentiment aren’t likely to have the same impact in Paul Whelan’s case, his brother said.
“That’s unfortunate for Paul and for the wrongful detainees, but I think it’s great news if Miss Griner can bring her name and her energy to making sure the U.S. government is proactive and being more assertive to resolve these cases quickly, like they did in her case,” David Whelan said.
As the Whelan family continues to wait, it’s his brother’s kindness David Whelan said his family misses the most.
“I hope that when it comes out the other side, that these rituals … the singing and other things that he does to keep his mind squared away, the survival training to us from the Marine Corps will help him to still be the person that we knew before he got there,” David Whelan said.
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/paul-whelans-family-speaks-after-griner-prisoner-swap/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:50
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| 0.982945
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(The Hill) — Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has announced that she will leave the Democratic Party and officially register as an independent.
“I’ve registered as an Arizona independent. I know some people might be a little bit surprised by this, but actually, I think it makes a lot of sense,” Sinema said in an interview Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper in her Senate office.
“I’ve never fit neatly into any party box. I’ve never really tried. I don’t want to,” she added. “Removing myself from the partisan structure — not only is it true to who I am and how I operate, I also think it’ll provide a place of belonging for many folks across the state and the country, who also are tired of the partisanship.”
The announcement from Sinema comes just days after Democrats solidified a 51-49 majority in the upper chamber with Sen. Raphael Warnock’s win in Georgia.
Sinema declined to say whether she will caucus with Democrats like independent Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Angus King (Maine), but the Arizona senator said she plans to continue in her committee assignments.
“When I come to work each day, it’ll be the same,” Sinema said. “I’m going to still come to work and hopefully serve on the same committees I’ve been serving on and continue to work well with my colleagues at both political parties.”
Sinema, who began her political career in the Green Party, published an op-ed in The Arizona Republic on Friday explaining her decision to become an Independent.
“When politicians are more focused on denying the opposition party a victory than they are on improving Americans’ lives, the people who lose are everyday Americans,” she wrote.
“That’s why I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.”
The senator, elected in 2018 after a six-year stint in the House, added that her change in partisan affiliation “won’t change my work in the Senate.”
“If anyone previously supported me because they believed, contrary to my promise, that I would be a blindly loyal vote for a partisan agenda … then there are sure to be others vying for your support,” wrote Sinema.
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/sinema-leaving-democratic-party-will-register-as-independent/
| 2022-12-09T14:28:56
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| 0.967192
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41810618
| 2022-12-09T14:28:58
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| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41810820
| 2022-12-09T14:28:59
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| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41810870
| 2022-12-09T14:28:59
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| 0.738227
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(The Hill) — The House has sent the Respect for Marriage Act to President Joe Biden’s desk after all Democrats and 39 Republicans in the body voted to support the bill.
The legislation, which passed in a 258-169-1 vote, would officially repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and require states to recognize interracial and same-sex marriages lawfully performed in other states.
The House initially passed the bill in July before the Senate approved it last week along with amendments to add protections for religious exemptions and to clarify that it does not recognize polygamy. The House then needed to approve the bill as amended, which it did on Thursday.
The bill received some measure of bipartisan support in both houses of Congress, but several Republicans in the lower chamber voted in favor of the bill in July before opposing it on the second vote, while a couple originally opposed it before voting in favor of it.
Here are the 10 House Republicans who flipped their votes on the same-sex marriage bill:
“Yes” to “no”
Cliff Bentz
Rep. Cliff Bentz (Ore.) originally voted for the bill in July before switching to a “no” vote on Thursday. He has not publicly explained his reasoning for switching his vote.
Mario Diaz-Balart
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.) also switched from voting in favor of the bill to voting against it. He said in a statement on Monday that he planned to oppose the legislation because it lacked “legitimate safeguards” for faith-based organizations that object to the law based on their religious beliefs.
“The concept of all states respecting other states’ decisions on marriage laws is deeply rooted in American jurisprudence and tradition,” he said. “Similarly, our Founders understood that religious liberties are sacred and vulnerable, and must always be vigorously protected.”
Brian Mast
Rep. Brian Mast (Fla.) also took issue with the most recent version of the bill over concerns about protections for religious freedom. He said on the House floor before the vote that changes should be made to the text to protect the “free exercise thereof,” referring to a clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution protecting freedom of religion.
He also criticized comments from Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), who said that amending the bill further would “unsettle the Senate’s carefully crafted compromise.”
Dan Meuser
Rep. Dan Meuser (Pa.) said in a statement on Twitter that the bill “goes beyond marriage” and weakens religious freedoms “fundamental to our nation,” and that he voted against it Thursday for that reason. He said the Senate’s version of the bill includes language that puts religious freedom in jeopardy and opens organizations up to civil lawsuits, unlike the House’s version.
“Therefore, I cannot support the Senate Amendment to the Respect for Marriage Act because it jeopardizes the basic religious liberties of every American,” he said.
Scott Perry
Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.) indicated that his initial vote in favor of the bill was a mistake based on a lack of time he had to review it. Axios reported that Perry said the bill was rushed to the floor and he had just gotten to the floor as the vote was happening.
“I knew I had a choice between voting against traditional marriage or voting against interracial marriage,” he said.
“I just made the wrong choice,” he added.
Maria Salazar
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.) said in a statement after the vote that she was disappointed the final version of the bill did not include “full protections” for churches and Americans with “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
She said Senate Republicans were prevented from including “vital protections” for religious Americans in the bill. She said she voted for the first version because she believes in “human dignity” and respect for all, but laws that advance one interest and ignore legal protections for others should not be passed.
Jeff Van Drew
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) initially voted for the bill but also cited concerns about religious freedom protections. He told Axios that he “absolutely” heard from many constituents who were upset with the bill and he found them persuasive.
“No” to “yes”
Mike Gallagher
Rep. Mike Gallagher (Wis.) was one of the two Republicans who initially voted against the bill before later backing it.
He told The Hill in a statement that a religious liberty amendment and a clarification that the bill does not permit polygamy that the Senate added led him to vote in favor of the bill the second time.
“The Respect for Marriage Act fixes the polygamy loophole in Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi’s hastily written version and creates strong religious liberty protections for religious organizations, including schools, churches, and adoption agencies,” he said.
Jaime Herrera Beutler
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.) also flipped from opposing the bill in July to supporting it Thursday but has not publicly shared her reasoning. She will be leaving Congress at the end of the term next month.
“Yes” to “present”
Burgess Owens
Rep. Burgess Owens (Utah) initially voted in favor of the bill but was the only House member to vote “present” on Thursday.
“While today is undoubtedly a giant step toward religious liberty, my lone ‘present’ vote signals a warning beacon that the war is far from won,” he tweeted.
He said religious freedom cannot prevail unless individuals and small business owners have explicit protection under the law. He added that protecting churches and religious organizations is only “scratching the surface” of the scope of First Amendment rights.
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/these-10-house-republicans-flipped-their-votes-on-the-same-sex-marriage-bill/
| 2022-12-09T14:29:02
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| 0.978433
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(NEXSTAR) – While La Niña has decided to stick around for a rare, triple-dip winter, we may soon be saying goodbye to the climate pattern that’s been with us, on and off, since 2020.
An updated outlook released by the Climate Prediction Center Thursday confirms La Niña is expected to continue through winter, as has been expected for several months. That tends to bring a dryer winter to the southern half of the U.S. and a wetter winter to the northern half.
But as we transition from winter to spring, climate models are starting to indicate La Niña may fade away. That doesn’t mean we’ll switch into El Niño right away. Meteorologists say we’ll likely end up in an “ENSO-neutral” setup, which means neither La Niña nor El Niño conditions are present.
When the change will happen isn’t yet clear. Models give La Niña about a 50-50 chance of lasting from January to March 2023, according to the Climate Prediction Center. Deeper into spring, chances for an ENSO-neutral situation increase.
The latest outlook gives ENSO-neutral a 71% chance of winning out between February and April 2023.
Whether we’re in a La Niña year, an El Niño year, or neither depends on the temperatures of the Pacific Ocean’s surface and the atmosphere above it. Those variations end up impacting our weather here on land.
La Niña years are typically characterized by stronger hurricane seasons in the Atlantic, drought conditions in the Southern U.S., and cold, rainy winters in the Pacific Northwest.
El Niño is usually associated with the opposite: warm and dry weather in the northern U.S., and extra rain to the south.
ENSO-neutral patterns are neither. They are characterized by a return to the long-term average.
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/will-la-nina-continue-in-2023/
| 2022-12-09T14:29:08
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| 0.945062
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You need to enable JavaScript to run this app.
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41811065
| 2022-12-09T14:29:14
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| 0.738227
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the United States early Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange following nearly 10 months in detention in Russia.
The deal, which saw her swapped for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, secured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad and achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden. But the U.S. failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years.
Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Baylor University All-American and Phoenix Mercury pro basketball star. Her status as an openly gay Black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, injected racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees.
Biden’s authorization to release Bout, the Russian felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” underscored the heightened urgency that his administration faced to get Griner home, particularly after the recent resolution of her criminal case on drug charges and her subsequent transfer to a penal colony.
Griner was seen getting off a plane that landed Friday at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas.
The athlete, who also played pro basketball in Russia, was arrested at an airport there in February after Russian authorities said she was carrying vape canisters with cannabis oil. Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday’s swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and Bout had been flown home.
Biden spoke by phone with Griner. U.S. officials said she would be offered specialized medical services and counseling.
In releasing Bout, the U.S. freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. He was arrested in Thailand in 2008 and extradited to the U.S. in 2010.
Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.
Following Griner’s arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February, she pleaded guilty in July but still faced trial because admitting guilt in Russia’s judicial system does not automatically end a case.
She acknowledged in court that she possessed canisters with cannabis oil but said she had no criminal intent and she accidentally packed them. Her defense team presented written statements that she had been prescribed cannabis to treat pain.
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https://www.krqe.com/news/national/wnba-star-brittney-griner-back-home-after-russian-prisoner-swap/
| 2022-12-09T14:29:16
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| 0.978055
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/brooklyn-nets/articles/41811073
| 2022-12-09T14:29:20
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| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds/articles/41810156
| 2022-12-09T14:29:26
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| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds/articles/41810171
| 2022-12-09T14:29:32
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds/articles/41810696
| 2022-12-09T14:29:38
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds/articles/41811197
| 2022-12-09T14:29:44
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| 0.738227
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WASATCH COUNTY, Utah — An experienced snowmobiler died Tuesday after crashing into a boulder in the Lake Creek area near Tower Mountain in Wasatch County.
The man was identified as 51-year-old Bruce Cook from Highland.
Cook was riding with a "well-equipped" group, officials said, when his snowmobile hit a boulder that was hidden under fresh snowfall.
He was pronounced dead at the scene from injuries sustained in the accident.
Crews from Wasatch County Fire, Search and Rescue, State Parks and the Sheriff's deputies responded to the call for help at about 12:30 p.m. on December 6.
Officials extended their heartfelt condolences to the Cook family and friends that were impacted by the death.
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https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/experienced-snowmobiler-dies-after-crash-with-boulder-in-wasatch-county
| 2022-12-09T14:31:59
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| 0.983918
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MOAB, Utah — No major injuries were reported after a helicopter crash involving a wildlife capture crew that was GPS-collaring mountain goats in the La Sal mountains Thursday.
The crash happened at about 11:15 a.m. on Thursday on Mount Tukuhnikivatz in the La Sal mountains, officials with the Utah Department of Natural Resources said.
A witness told San Juan County officials that they saw a metallic blue helicopter go down in steep terrain on the mountain peak but did not see any smoke or fire.
A wildlife capture crew of three, contracted by the DWR were on board the helicopter and were GPS-collaring mountain goats in the area for an ongoing study.
No DWR employees were on board the helicopter and all three crew members were uninjured in the crash, DNR officials said.
The San Juan County Sheriff's Office said there were only minor bruises and soreness reported by the three individuals.
On the other hand, the helicopter was "significantly damaged and is estimated to be a total loss," Utah DNR officials said.
Due to the terrain and area where the crash happened, it was extremely difficult for crews to navigate to the scene right away, San Juan County officials explained. They were, however, able to make contact with the crew and get them airlifted to a staging area to be checked out by medical crews.
The crew's mission of capturing wildlife from a helicopter is a dangerous occupation, officials explained, but the company that was contracted by the DWR, "Helicopter Wildlife Services" is highly trained and responsible professionals.
Safety is the top priority for helicopter capture missions and there are plans in place for emergency procedures and notification protocols if the unthinkable happens, DNR officials told FOX 13 News.
The crash will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
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https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/no-injuries-in-helicopter-crash-involving-wildlife-crew-collaring-mountain-goats
| 2022-12-09T14:32:05
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| 0.978252
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You’re probably familiar with typical table grapes like Concord, Thompson or the trendy cotton candy grapes, but did you know there are between 8,000 and 10,000 other varieties of the fruit around the world? One type botanically classified as Vitis vinifera is more commonly known as moon drop grapes, and you might want to try them if you get the opportunity.
Moon Drop Grapes Appearance and Flavor
Moon drop grapes are unique due to their shape and color. The medium-to-large grapes are about 1 1/2 inches long and have an elongated cylinder shape. The grapes’ skin is dark purple, sometimes appearing black, with a blue-gray bloom covering them and a distinctive dimple on one end.
The flesh of Moon Drop grapes is translucent purple-green. It is crisp and seedless with a firm consistency that allows the fruit to be snapped open using only your fingers.
As for taste, moon drop grapes are sweeter than standard black grape varieties with a more intense grape flavor. In addition, the grapes contain tannins that provide a balanced sweet-tart flavor, and their consistent texture makes them more palatable for people with sensory issues.
Origin of Moon Drop Grapes
Jack Pandol, a third-generation table grape grower in Kern County, California, is the founder of The Grapery in Bakersfield, California. The grower experimented with different agricultural methods, hoping to produce better-tasting, hardier fruits for shipping and stocking. In 2004, Pandol hand-pollinated the offspring of an unnamed variety with Beitamouni grapes, a wild Middle Eastern variety that is naturally elongated, and moon drop grapes were born.
However, moon drop grapes are not genetically modified. Instead, the Grapery uses innovative breeding techniques for a unique but 100% natural result with no additives or infusions.
Health Benefits of Moon Drop Grapes
Like other common grapes, moon drop grapes are a good source of dietary fiber and nitrogenous compounds such as proteins and amino acids. In addition, they contain beneficial minerals like iron, potassium, zinc, calcium and manganese and numerous vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B6 (pyridoxine) and B9 (folate).
Moon drop grapes are also an excellent source of phytonutrients such as phenols, polyphenols, anthocyanins, resveratrol and flavonoids. These plant-based nutrients can help protect against chronic diseases, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Finding and Enjoying Moon Drop Grapes
Unlike other familiar grape varieties, Moon Drop grapes are unavailable all year or in every store. In addition, because of their limited growing season, they are only available from mid-August to late October.
Moon Drop grapes are only grown in the San Joaquin Valley in California and are only sold at select retailers in the U.S. and Canada under The Grapery brand. Since the Grapery holds a patent on the variety until at least June 2031, home gardens and other grape growers are currently unable to cultivate them.
If you’re lucky enough to spot them, look for grapes that are firm in bunches without many loose grapes, as this can signify that they have started to turn. Then, you can add them to a fruit salad, freeze them, roast them or snack on them straight out of your hand.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
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https://www.fox13now.com/what-are-moon-drop-grapes
| 2022-12-09T14:32:05
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/boston-celtics/articles/41810481
| 2022-12-09T14:33:15
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/boston-celtics/articles/41810507
| 2022-12-09T14:33:19
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/boston-celtics/articles/41810763
| 2022-12-09T14:33:22
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/boston-celtics/articles/41811003
| 2022-12-09T14:33:23
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https://sportspyder.com/nba/boston-celtics/articles/41811297
| 2022-12-09T14:33:27
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The headmaster of a school reportedly cut the national flag and used it to clean the chair, desk, and blackboard in a class in the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. He was taken into custody after an agitation by the locals.
The accused, Shafaq Iqbal worked at Board Middle School located in Ghatshila.
A large number of people lay siege to the school on Thursday after information about the incident surfaced.
The Education Department initiated action against the headmaster for disrespecting the Tricolour and removed him from his post.
According to sources, the incident took place during an ongoing class. A crowd gathered at the school to protest after the students present in the class apprised their parents of the headmaster's act.
On receiving information about the furor, Block Education Extension Officer Subodh Rai and Executive Magistrate Keshav Bharti reached the spot along with the police.
Initially, the accused alleged that the flag had been nibbled by a rat, which is why he committed the act while being unaware of his action being a crime.
Later, the police recovered the damaged Tricolour, cut with scissors from his cupboard.
The villagers alleged that complaints had been received against the headmaster earlier also saying he imposed restrictions on children performing Saraswati puja in the school together. (KB/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/crime/2022/12/09/jharkhand-school-headmaster-cleans-blackboard-with-the-national-flag-arrested
| 2022-12-09T14:33:28
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| 0.985594
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An Indian-origin man was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday for starting a fire outside his ex-girlfriend's fiance's flat in Singapore on their wedding day.
Surenthiran Sugumaran, 30, was convicted in October after he pleaded guilty to one charge of committing mischief by fire, The Straits Times reported. Sugumaran found out via an Instagram post that his former girlfriend was getting married to Mohammad Azli Mohammad Salleh.
Following this, Sugumaran, seething with rage and jealousy, locked the front gate of the victim's flat located on the 12th floor and started a fire outside the unit on March 12. After starting the fire, Sugumaran who was clad in a black hoodie walked down to the 12th storey and took the lift to the ground floor. He threw the lighter into the bushes before returning home.
When Salleh opened his unit door and found his front gate locked and several shoes burnt, he called the police, the paper reported. The fire-damaged property, including two pairs of Nike shoes, valued around 410 Singapore dollars in total.
"While the damage caused was not extensive, there was clear endangerment to lives as the fire was right outside the victim's unit and within a residential block. The use of an accelerant in the form of petrol also aggravates the potential harm that could have been caused," Deputy Public Prosecutor Bharat S. Punjabi told The Straits Times.
While sentencing Sugumaran, District Judge Eugene Teo said that "such offenses are very dangerous for the occupants in the flat".
"I have to take into account the circumstances in which you planned out these offenses, including the fact that you also locked up the premises and the purpose for which you committed these series of acts," the daily quoted Teo as saying.
Court documents, however, did not say how Sugumaran was caught. (KB/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/crime/2022/12/09/singapore-indian-origin-psycho-lover-gets-jailed-for-starting-a-fire
| 2022-12-09T14:33:34
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| 0.986496
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/los-angeles-chargers/articles/41810004
| 2022-12-09T14:33:35
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| 0.738227
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Breathtaking! Kate Winslet breaks Tom Cruise's record for 'Avatar'
Actress Kate Winslet has beaten Hollywood star Tom Cruise's record after she held her breath for a staggering seven minutes and 15 seconds while filming 'Avatar: The Way Of Water'.
The average person can hold their breath for roughly one or two minutes.
The actress, 47, who plays Ronal in the highly anticipated sequel stayed underwater for seven minutes and 15 seconds.
Cruise famously held his breath for six minutes on the set of 'Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation'.
Winslet was so chuffed with her aquatics skills that she got her husband to video the scene after she sneaked him on set during production.
Speaking at a global press conference ahead of the film's launch she said: "I actually have a video of when I surface from that breath-hold. And the only reason I have it is because my husband snuck in.
"I said, 'Please don't come because I just don't want you videoing. I'll just feel pressure, just please don't do that' and he snuck in."
She continued: "I have the video of me surfacing saying, 'Am I dead? Have I died?' And then going 'what was it?' - straightaway I wanted to know my time. I couldn't believe that it was 7.15 but having been told it's 7.15 - you want to know what the next thing I say is? We need to the radio set.
"I wanted James to know right way, that's the first thing I wanted to do - it definitely wasn't a competition."
The Avatar sequel has reunited Kate and director James Cameron on set for the first time since the 1997 blockbuster Titanic.
'Avatar: The Way Of Water' is due for release in cinemas on December 16. (KB/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/entertainment/2022/12/09/breathtaking-kate-winslet-breaks-tom-cruises-record-for-avatar
| 2022-12-09T14:33:41
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en
| 0.981198
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/los-angeles-chargers/articles/41810348
| 2022-12-09T14:33:41
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| 0.738227
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A video of filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, known for giving blockbusters like 'Rangeela', 'Satya' and 'Sarkar', in which he is licking and kissing actress Ashu Reddy's feet, has gone viral on social media.
He recently posted a picture of himself sitting on the ground near Ashu's feet and kissing it.
He captioned the picture: "The DANGEROUS me with the DOUBLE DANGEROUS ASHU REDDY." This was followed by a couple of more pictures and video posts, which featured RGV touching and kissing Ashu's feet.
In the clip, he mentioned that he is sitting on the floor to remind everyone how women should be treated.
'Dangerous' is directed by Ram Gopal Varma and features Apsara Rani and Naina Ganguly as leads in the roles of lesbians. The movie is based on homosexuality and will showcase how the lesbian couple fights society to lead a happy married life. The movie is all set to go on floors on December 9.
Ashu Reddy gained popularity after she participated in the third season of 'Bigg Boss Telugu'. (KB/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/entertainment/2022/12/09/rgv-ki-aag-ram-gopal-varmas-unsettling-theatrics-go-viral
| 2022-12-09T14:33:47
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| 0.978287
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/los-angeles-chargers/articles/41810851
| 2022-12-09T14:33:47
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en
| 0.738227
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By Pratap Chakravarty
Embattled residents of Noida's upscale Emerald Court complex must endure the deafening noise from machines drilling through the rubble of the razed twin towers well into the New Year, experts warn.
Mountains of earth, metal and concrete fly in the face of claims that workers had already carted away 60 per cent of 80,000 tonnes of debris of the skyscrapers demolished after the Supreme Court deemed them illegal and ruled that the remains of the 104-metre structures must be cleared by November 28.
Mayur Mehta of Edifice Engineering, which carried out the demolition and is overseeing the disposal of the rubble, said that the company had expected to be able to finish the work "in a month", but then came the ban on construction activities because of poor air quality and work was stopped for 25 days last month.
"We are now going at full speed," Mehta told IANS.
He denied allegations of violating noise pollution rules at the site where Apex and Cayenne stood till the demolition of the two towers comprising 914 apartments in all on August 28.
"The ambience-level sound was 64 decibels (dBA), near the machines it was 78 dbA and at Aster-2, which is closest to the site, the level was 58 decibels," he said, adding the Central Building Research Institute was part of the survey and that all stakeholders accepted the findings and deemed the levels safe for residents.
Normal conversation is 60 dBA and some Emerald Court residents using measuring devices or mobile apps said they had recorded up to 62 decibels from inside their frontline Aster-2 homes on December 6.
"My submission is, Edifice should not crush reinforced concrete, which is not necessary for removing rubble, till the ground level," said Anish Bansal, a World Bank executive who lives in Aster-2.
"They can leave structures in basements alone, even if that means making an amendment to their contract with Supertech," Bansal told IANS.
Acoustics levels of running excavators range between 75-78 dBA, while crawler-mounted rock drillers are even louder. At any given time, until 8 p.m. six to seven such machines work at the site, sandwiched between Emerald Court and ATS Village.
Others said the pace of work has slowed because of the quest for high-value iron.
"The contractor is nothing but a scavenger as his supervisors are told only to remove scrap material from the site for recycling," said Ajay Mehra, another resident.
At least three residents were showing visible signs of the impact from pollution, which has impeded their speech and other functions.
Divya Kush, a former president of Indian Institute of Architects, said residents of Emerald Court were trapped.
"From the day the twin towers came up, Emerald Court residents were trapped," Kush told IANS and added that the rubble cannot be removed without first extracting the metal, which would mean noise.
"It is a tricky situation and a problem for the residents, but at the same time the contractor also has very little choice as there is no other established way of doing it," the architect said.
Health experts warned that the residents of the housing society were literally caught between a rock and a hard place.
"Noise pollution is a big factor especially for cardiac patients and people with sensitive ears," commented Shimoni Sinha, a general medical practitioner. "Also, pollution has a cumulative effect that does not show the same day you are exposed," Sinha said.
"Prolonged exposure to sound is indeed harmful," added Malay Nandi, a prominent oncologist. (SJ/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/environment/2022/12/09/demolition-derby-no-peace-for-families-living-near-shell-of-noida-twin-towers
| 2022-12-09T14:33:53
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| 0.977507
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/articles/41810691
| 2022-12-09T14:33:54
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en
| 0.738227
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With the onset of winter, the King George's Medical University (KGMU) and Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) have recorded a 50 per cent rise in cases of stroke since November while the Balrampur Hospital, which rarely receives stroke patients, is also reporting cases.
According to officials, KGMU has been reporting an average of six cases of stroke daily since November which has now increased to around 10 to 12.
The number has gone up to 5 to 6 at RMLIMS. Balrampur Hospital is recording at least one case on a weekly basis.
An increase of 20 per cent has also been registered in the number of heart patients.
According to experts, a dip in temperature has triggered respiratory infections and constriction of blood vessels leading to rise in blood pressure which is making people prone to brain haemorrhage, ischemic (clot) stroke or heart attack, and artery blockage.
Doctors said that people suffering from heart disease and hypertension should visit the doctor and get the dosage of their medicines revised.
Prof Ravi Uniyal, a faculty member at KGMU's neurology department, said, "If someone is already suffering from high blood pressure and is over 40 years of age, especially those with headache, must visit a doctor in winter. They should get their blood pressure checked and take medicines to control it."
Prof Pravesh Verma, a faculty at cardiology department, KGMU, said "Patients with respiratory infection have six times more possibility to suffer a heart attack than a normal person. Low temperature causes blood vessels to constrict, so the heart has to pump harder to push blood through our constricted veins and arteries to organs. This makes those patients vulnerable who have a clot or plaque or have undergone heart surgery."
Prof Bhuvan Tiwari, head of cardiology department, RMLIMS, said, "Those above 40-45 years should avoid sudden dip in body temperatures. They must wear layered clothing and socks to prevent sudden contraction of blood vessels which might cause heart attack or stroke."
At least 50 per cent of patients, who suffer heart attack and stroke cases do not know they are hypertensive. High blood pressure is the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes.
"People, especially those over 40, must get their BP checked from time to time. If it is deranged twice in the gap of a few hours, start taking medication," the doctors said.
Since hypertension does not cause any symptoms, people tend to often quit medication thinking that they are fine," the doctors said. (SJ/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/health/2022/12/09/stroke-cases-increase-with-onset-of-winters
| 2022-12-09T14:33:59
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en
| 0.963023
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/articles/41811130
| 2022-12-09T14:34:00
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en
| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/mlb/los-angeles-dodgers/articles/41811140
| 2022-12-09T14:34:06
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en
| 0.738227
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Elon Musk on Friday released the "Twitter Files" season 2, revealing that the micro-blogging platform had a secret group that included former legal and public policy head Vijaya Gadde, then CTO Parag Agrawal, and Yoel Roth, former global head of trust and safety, that made controversial decisions including "shadow banning" high-profile users without informing then CEO Jack Dorsey.
This time, the "Twitter Files Two" was released by Bari Weiss, Founder, and Editor of The Free Press, on the micro-blogging platform and endorsed by Musk.
"Controversial decisions were often made without getting Jack's approval and he was unaware of systemic bias. The inmates were running the asylum. Jack has a pure heart imo (in my opinion)," tweeted Musk.
Weiss said that the "investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavoured tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics -- all in secret, without informing users".
"This secret group included the Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust (Vijaya Gadde), the Global Head of Trust & Safety (Yoel Roth), subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, and others," she mentioned in a tweet thread.
Twitter always denied that it did such things.
In 2018, Gadde and Kayvon Beykpour, Head of Product, said: "We do not shadow ban. And we certainly don't shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology."
Weiss said that what many people call "shadow banning", Twitter executives and employees call "Visibility Filtering" or "VF".
"VF refers to Twitter's control over user visibility. It used VF to block searches of individual users; to limit the scope of a particular tweet's discoverability; to block select users' posts from ever appearing on the atrending' page; and from inclusion in hashtag searches," she claimed.
The secret group is where the biggest, most politically sensitive decisions got made.
"Think high follower accounts, controversial," another Twitter employee told us. For these "there would be no ticket or anything".
Weiss further tweeted that Twitter once had a mission "to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers".
"Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected. All without users' knowledge," she added.
The "Twitter Files Two" came after Dorsey challenged Musk to stop creating a sensation around the 'Twitter Files' and make everything public instead "without filter".
Musk last week released the first episode of 'The Twitter Files' into the controversial decision to suppress Hunter Biden's laptop story on the platform.
Dorsey challenged Musk on Twitter that "if the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without a filter and let people judge for themselves? Including all discussions around current and future actions? Make everything public now".
Musk replied on Thursday: "Most important data was hidden (from you too) and some may have been deleted, but everything we find will be released."
Episode 1 of the 'Twitter Files' mainly implicated Gadde in suppressing US President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden's laptop story on the platform.
Without revealing how he obtained them, independent journalist and author Matt Taibbi shared the 'Twitter Files' on the platform, with an endorsement by Musk. (KB/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/miscellaneous/2022/12/09/twitter-files-vijaya-and-parag-operated-a-shadow-group-under-dorseys-nose
| 2022-12-09T14:34:08
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| 0.95266
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Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that the party has begun preparations to "welcome" former premier Nawaz Sharif, as his return would tip the results in the party's favor if an election were to be held in Punjab, a media report said.
"We have begun preparations to welcome Nawaz from today," the minister - who is also the PML-N's provincial president - said at a press conference in Lahore alongside Punjab Information Secretary Azma Bokhari, Dawn reported.
Nawaz has been living in London since November 2019 after he was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment.
Earlier this week, however, Nawaz - in an apparent effort to dispel the impression that the PML-N is "running away" from elections in Punjab and seemingly out of legal options to forestall a possible dissolution of the provincial assembly - directed Sanaullah to begin homework for shortlisting suitable candidates for polls, the media outlet reported.
In November, PTI chief Imran Khan announced that his party would disassociate itself from the "current corrupt political system" by quitting the assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
Addressing Friday's press conference, Sanaullah challenged the PTI chief to dissolve the Punjab Assembly, saying: "We have decided to fight and prepare for the elections."
He said the "PML-N has taken decisions" and would meet later on the day to implement them.
Sanaullah further said that the PML-N supremo's return would decide the results of the election in Punjab and predicted that the PTI would face defeat. "We are democratic people and are in favor of letting assemblies complete their tenure. But we are not afraid of PTI's harmless threats." (KB/IANS)
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https://www.newsgram.com/pakistan/2022/12/09/lion-of-punjab-nawaz-sharif-to-receive-a-grand-welcome-after-exile
| 2022-12-09T14:34:15
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en
| 0.974187
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Vote counting for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election, which started on Decmber 8, indicated BJP's Puran Chand leading after the EC trends came. Puran Chand of BJP secured victory from Darang seat with the margin of 618 votes. 55.74 lakh registered voters participated in voting for 68 seats in the Assembly election of 2022 on November 12, with a turnout of over 75%. Vote tallyinghas started at 8 am, and results will be officially announced by 5:30 pm.
Congress party has made a number of commitments, including providing all women with Rs. 1,500 per month as part of the "Har Ghar Lakshmi" scheme, 300 free power units, and five lakh jobs over the following five years. Additionally, a Rs 680 crore StartUp fund has been announced.
The BJP has pledged to adopt the Uniform Civil Code, create eight lakh jobs in the state, provide scooters to college-bound girls, and give bicycles to under-privileged schoolgirls. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a newcomer to Himachal and a candidate in 67 of 68 seats, has been relatively passive as the election has taken the form of a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress in keeping with historical trends.
Darang Himachal Assembly Election Result 2022: Candidates
The Darang seat in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly election of 2022 saw a total of 3 candidates running. Puran Chand will be competing against Ramesh Kumar of the BSP and Kaul Singh of the Congress. In contrast, there were 6 candidates vying for this seat in 2017 and 6 in the Assembly elections of 2012. Darang is made up of the following tehsils in the Himachal Pradeshi district of Mandi: Padhar Tehsil; Aut Sub-Tehsil & KC Rehardhar of Sadar mandi Tehsil.
Darang Himachal Assembly Election Result 2022: Past elections
Darang was one of the 44 seats won by the BJP in the 2017 assembly elections. Jawahar Thakur of the BJP defeated Kaul Singh of the INC in this seat in the 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections by a margin of 6,541, or 10.02% of the entire votes cast for the seat. In this seat, the BJP received 47.22% of the vote in 2017.
By a margin of 2,232 votes, or 3.92% of the total votes cast in the constituency, Kaul Singh of the INC defeated Jawahar Lal of the BJP to win this seat in 2012. INC received 49.7% of the vote in the seat.
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https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-darang-himachal-assembly-election-2022-result-live-updates-vidhan-sabha-chunav-bjp-congress-aap-puran-kaul-3008980
| 2022-12-09T14:35:53
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en
| 0.964866
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/tennessee-titans/articles/41810328
| 2022-12-09T14:37:37
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en
| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/tennessee-titans/articles/41810477
| 2022-12-09T14:37:39
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en
| 0.738227
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Another key inflation measure shows price pressures cooled off but remained stubbornly high in November, despite the Federal Reserve’s monthslong efforts to fight inflation through higher interest rates.
The Producer Price Index, which measures prices paid for goods and services by businesses before they reach consumers, rose 7.4% in November compared to a year earlier, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That’s down from the revised 8.1% gain reported for October.
US stock futures fell immediately after the report, as economists surveyed by Refinitiv had expected wholesales prices to have risen just 7.2%, annually. The higher-than-expected inflation readings raised concerns about whether the Fed will be able to slow the pace of rate hikes.
But futures for the Fed funds rate still show a strong likelihood of a half-point increase at the central bank’s policymaking meeting next week, rather than the three-quarter point hike instituted at the last four meetings.
The PPI report generally gets less attention that the corresponding Consumer Price Index, which measures prices paid by US consumers for goods and services. But this is a rare month in which the PPI report came out before the CPI report, which is due out Tuesday.
That and the Fed meeting scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week is making this inflation report of particular importance to investors.
“Next Tuesday’s CPI release will be more important than today’s data, but with traders on edge, any indication that prices remain elevated and that inflation is more sticky than currently believed is a negative for markets,” said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
Overall prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% compared to October — the same monthly increase as was reported in both September and October — but were slightly higher than the 0.2% rise forecast by economists.
Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, core PPI rose 6.2% for the year ending in November, down from the revised 6.8% increase the previous month. Economists had forecast only a 5.9% increase.
Core PPI posted a 0.4% increase from October, a far bigger rise than the revised 0.1% month-over-month rise in that previous month, and twice as big as the 0.2% rise forecast by economists.
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/economy/ppi-inflation-report-november/index.html
| 2022-12-09T14:37:44
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| 0.966169
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ROME (AP) — Two aid groups were seeking a port in Italy on Friday to disembark more than 500 people they rescued in the Mediterranean, posing a new challenge to the government which has vowed to crack down on migrant smuggling operations in north Africa.
The new rescues come a month after Italy and France got into a diplomatic standoff over the fate of the Ocean Viking and its 234 migrants. Italy refused the rescue ship port for weeks, forcing France to take it in. Paris retaliated by suspending its participation in a European Union solidarity pact to accept 3,000 relocated migrants this year from Italy and reinforced its southern border crossings.
Now again European-flagged rescue ships chartered by European aid groups are awaiting permission to dock. Early Friday, the German-flagged Louise Michel, which is funded and decorated by the street artist Banksy, disembarked its 33 passengers on the small island of Lampedusa, Sicily amid bad weather.
But two other larger ships are waiting off Sicily.
The Geo Berents, chartered by Doctors Without Borders, rescued 248 people in recent days — a passenger list that grew by one when a woman gave birth on Wednesday. Mother and son needed medical attention, so they and three other siblings were evacuated to Lampedusa and later transferred to Sicily, the group said.
Doctors Without Borders said in a statement it is looking to disembark the rest of its passengers and the vessel is heading closer to Italy after requests to Malta went unheeded.
The German aid group SOS Humanity, meanwhile, said it too was looking for a safe port for 261 people picked up in three separate rescues by its Humanity 1 ship.
“No place of safety has yet been allocated despite multiple requests. Meanwhile, the weather is worsening,” a group statement said.
Italy's new government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has said that the flag countries of the rescue ships are responsible for taking in the migrants and that Italy will no longer be the de facto port of automatic entry. The aid groups say that position contradicts international law and maritime conventions, which require rescued people to be disembarked as quickly as possible at the nearest port of safety.
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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/2-aid-groups-seek-Italy-port-as-Banksy-s-migrant-17642483.php
| 2022-12-09T14:37:44
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en
| 0.964854
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/tennessee-titans/articles/41810630
| 2022-12-09T14:37:44
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en
| 0.738227
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Any discussion of “Emancipation” will inevitably be clouded by the Will Smith of it all, and Apple’s decision to release the movie into the teeth of awards season. The focus will thus skew toward Smith and lingering fallout from “the slap” during last year’s Oscars, and away from an earnest, handsome film that’s generally solid but unspectacular enough to render that conversation largely moot.
Director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) has teamed with writer William N. Collage to craft an elaborate plot around the real-life 1863 photo known as “Whipped Peter,” starkly illustrating the ravages slavery inflicted on the back of a man who escaped bondage after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Peter’s story thus becomes the spine of a grueling escape adventure, shot in striking black and white that only seems to heighten the harrowing nature of his flight, the dankness of the Louisiana swamps and the brutality that it entails.
Taken to work laying railroad track, Peter overhears word of Lincoln’s pronouncement and realizes his best chance at freedom involves reaching the Union Army in Baton Rouge. Because he spends much of the movie breathlessly on the run, Smith actually goes long stretches without speaking, as he flees from a ruthless slave hunter (Ben Foster) and his men, pursuing on horseback and with dogs keen to his scent.
The only respite from that involves Peter’s wife, Dodienne (“The Good Fight’s” Charmaine Bingwa), from whom he has been separated, as she tries to keep the family together and he dreams of returning to her.
Effectively adopting a Haitian accent, Smith captures the physicality of the role, and Peter’s defiance toward his captors without uttering a word. The character derives strength from his devout faith, prompting a fellow prisoner to pointedly ask if he truly believes God is with them, “Where is He?”
Other characters, however, are thinly drawn, perhaps an inevitability given the hunter-and-hunted scenario, but nevertheless an impediment to becoming wholly drawn into the story. Fuqua fares best with his swooping camera illustrating the scope and horrors of the war, in sequences perhaps most reminiscent of “1917” among recent films in terms of their visceral power.
While the haunting aspect of the photograph grounds “Emancipation” in reality, there’s a pronounced Hollywood-ized feel to the finished product, one that doesn’t compare favorably with other projects that have covered similar territory, among recent examples the biographical “Harriet” and Amazon’s fictionalized miniseries “The Underground Railroad.”
Having produced the film, Apple had to release it at some point, and in what appears to be a wide-open Oscar race, now is likely as good a time as any. But the inevitable debate over whether Smith’s indiscretion at last year’s Academy Awards ceremony, and the subsequent ban imposed on his attendance, might have cost him the chance to give his “King Richard” statuette a golden bookend would have been more fully tested by a movie that’s better than this one.
“Emancipation” premieres December 2 in US theaters and December 9 on Apple TV+. It’s rated R. (Disclosure: The writer’s spouse works for a unit of Apple.)
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/entertainment/emancipation-review/index.html
| 2022-12-09T14:37:44
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/tennessee-titans/articles/41810863
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The mere title “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” announces that this stop-motion animated movie reflects the keen eye and visual style of the directing auteur, with a healthy dose of revisionism and reimagining baked into that. Yet despite its beauty, several of those narrative touches don’t fully work, leaving behind a movie that’s aesthetically lovely but narratively uneven.
Seeking deeper emotional resonance and adopting a darker maybe-not-for-kids tone, this “Pinocchio” opens with a prologue about Geppetto (voiced by “The Strain’s” David Bradley) having lost his young son, leaving him not merely lonely but grief-stricken. His story is still narrated by an anthropomorphic cricket (Ewan McGregor), although here, the bug is a traveling novelist before being tapped as the wooden boy’s conscience.
Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) turns out to be another interesting visual choice, resembling a creature carved out of wood more than the puppet from the Disney classic, whose shadow lingers over this production in a number of ways. Perhaps foremost, del Toro makes the ill-advised decision to incorporate songs into the story, although he keeps interrupting them, which might speak to a certain lack of conviction about that particular aspect.
There is, again, a fairy (Tilda Swinton) who seeks to ease Geppetto’s suffering – referring to him as a “poor, heartbroken man” – by giving the wooden boy life. Here, the old man is initially resistant, announcing, “You’re not my son!,” gradually coming around as the cheerful lad embarks on a series of harrowing adventures, including his involvement with a puppet show whose proprietor, Count Volpe (Christoph Waltz), makes the fearsome Stromboli seem cuddly by comparison.
It’s around that point where del Toro (who shares directing credit with animator Mark Gustafson) appears determined to connect this “Pinocchio” to larger and more ambitious themes. Setting the tale in Italy during the rise of Mussolini, he shows other young boys being drafted to serve the fascist state. It’s an intriguing but ultimately muddled departure, grounding a story associated with fantasy in grim historical reality.
Not surprisingly given his track record, del Toro fares better in creating a rich visual template, with the fairy and the sea monster bringing to mind the inventiveness of his landmark film “Pan’s Labyrinth” through an animated filter.
As it happens, this version of the story follows Disney+’s live-action rendition featuring Tom Hanks, which inadvertently gave the word “wooden” a workout. While del Toro’s take is much more interesting, nor can it be viewed as an unqualified success, making one wonder whether everyone might have been better off simply leaving the 1942 classic alone.
Obviously, the intent was to make a movie that isn’t your granddad’s “Pinocchio,” and del Toro – who also put his possessory brand on the recent Netflix anthology “Cabinet of Curiosities” – has accomplished that mission.
“Pinocchio” surely has its moments. But beyond answering the streaming giant’s wish for another marquee attraction carved from a beloved property, any praise comes with a few strings attached, depriving it of the consistent sense of wonder that would qualify as a dream come true.
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” premieres December 9 on Netflix. It’s rated PG.
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/entertainment/guillermo-del-toro-pinocchio-review/index.html
| 2022-12-09T14:37:45
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/articles/41809702
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Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema leaving Democratic Party, registers as independent
WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced Friday that she has registered as an independent, but she does not plan to caucus with Republicans, ensuring Democrats will retain their narrow majority in the Senate.
Sinema, who has modeled her political approach on the renegade style of the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and has frustrated Democratic colleagues at times with her overtures to Republicans and opposition to Democratic priorities, said she was "declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington."
In a video explaining her decision, she said: "Registering as an independent and showing up to work with the title of independent is a reflection of who I’ve always been. ... Nothing’s going to change for me."
The first-term senator wrote in the Arizona Republic that she came into office pledging "to be independent and work with anyone to achieve lasting results. I committed I would not demonize people I disagreed with, engage in name-calling, or get distracted by political drama. I promised I would never bend to party pressure."
She wrote that her approach is "rare in Washington and has upset partisans in both parties" but "has delivered lasting results for Arizona." Sinema also said that she has "never fit perfectly in either national party."
Before Sinema’s announcement, Democrats were set to hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate come January after the victory Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia’s runoff election. The Senate is now split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote for Democrats.
Sinema told Politico in an interview that she will not caucus with Republicans and that she plans to keep voting as she has since winning election to the Senate in 2018 after three House terms.
She is expected to maintain her committee assignments through the Democratic majority, according to a Senate Democratic aide. Two current independents, Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine, caucus with Democrats and gain their committee seniority through the Democrats.
She is facing reelection in 2024 and is likely to be matched up with a well-funded primary challenger after angering much of the Democratic base by blocking or watering down progressive priorities such as a minimum wage increase or President Joe Biden’s big social spending initiatives. She has not said whether she plans to seek another term.
Sinema’s most prominent potential primary challenger is Rep. Ruben Gallego, who has a long history of feuding with Sinema.
The senator wrote that she was joining "the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington."
Sinema bemoaned "the national parties’ rigid partisanship" and said "pressures in both parties pull leaders to the edges — allowing the loudest, most extreme voices to determine their respective parties’ priorities, and expecting the rest of us to fall in line."
"In catering to the fringes, neither party has demonstrated much tolerance for diversity of thought. Bipartisan compromise is seen as a rarely acceptable last resort, rather than the best way to achieve lasting progress," she wrote.
She added: "My approach is rare in Washington, and has upset partisans in both parties."
RELATED: Arizona Sen. Sinema defends bipartisanship at McConnell Center
Along with West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, she has been one of two moderate Democrats in the 50-50 Senate, and her willingness to buck the rest of her party has at times limited the ambitions of Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Sinema is a staunch defender of the filibuster, a Senate rule effectively requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation in the 100-member Senate. Many Democrats, including Biden, say the filibuster leads to gridlock by giving a minority of lawmakers the ability to veto.
MORE: Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema faces mounting criticism from Democrats over filibuster stance
Last January, leaders of the Arizona Democratic Party voted to censure Sinema, citing "her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy″ — namely her refusal to go along with fellow Democrats to alter the Senate rule so they could overcome Republican opposition to a voting rights bill.
While that rebuke was symbolic, it came only a few years since Sinema was heralded for bringing the Arizona Senate seat back into the Democratic fold for the first time in a generation. The move also previewed the persistent opposition that Sinema was likely face within her own party in 2024.
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 29: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) speaks during a press conference after the Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on November 29, 2022. (Photo by Elizabeth Frantz for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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https://www.fox5dc.com/news/arizona-sen-kyrsten-sinema-leaving-democratic-party-registers-as-independent
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The prison staff didn’t know much about the new acting warden. Then, they say, he made a bizarre and startling confession: Years ago, he beat inmates — and got away with it.
Thomas Ray Hinkle, a high-ranking federal Bureau of Prisons official, was sent to restore order and trust at a women’s prison wracked by a deplorable scandal. Instead, workers say, he left the federal lockup in Dublin, California, even more broken.
Staff saw Hinkle as a bully and regarded his presence there — just after allegations that the previous warden and other employees sexually assaulted inmates — as hypocrisy from an agency that was publicly pledging to end its abusive, corrupt culture.
So at a staff meeting in March, they confronted the then-director of the Bureau of Prisons and asked: Why, instead of firing Hinkle years ago, was the agency keen to keep promoting him?
“That’s something we’ve got to look into,” Michael Carvajal responded, according to people in the room.
Three months later, the Bureau of Prisons promoted Hinkle again, putting him in charge of 20 federal prisons and 21,000 inmates from Utah to Hawaii as acting western regional director. Among them: Dublin.
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MULTIPLE ALLEGATIONS
An Associated Press investigation has found that the Bureau of Prisons has repeatedly promoted Hinkle despite numerous red flags, rewarding him again and again over a three-decade career while others who assaulted inmates lost their jobs and went to prison.
The agency’s new leader defends Hinkle, saying he’s a changed man and a model employee — standing by him even as she promises to work with the Justice Department and Congress to root out staff misconduct. And Hinkle, responding to questions from the AP, acknowledged that he assaulted inmates in the 1990s but said he regrets that behavior and now speaks openly about it “to teach others how to avoid making the same mistakes.”
Among the AP’s findings:
— At least three inmates, all Black, have accused Hinkle of beating them while he was a correctional officer at a Florence, Colorado federal penitentiary in 1995 and 1996. The allegations were documented in court documents and formal complaints to prison officials. In recent years, colleagues say, Hinkle has talked about beating inmates while a member of a violent, racist gang of guards called “The Cowboys.”
— One inmate said he felt terrified as Hinkle and another guard dragged him up a stairway and slammed him into walls. Another said Hinkle was among guards who threw him to a concrete floor, spat on him and used racist language toward him. A third said Hinkle slapped him and held him down while another guard sexually assaulted him.
— The Bureau of Prisons and Justice Department knew about allegations against Hinkle in 1996 but promoted him anyway. The agency promoted Hinkle least nine times after the alleged beatings, culminating in June with his promotion to acting regional director.
— At least 11 guards connected to “The Cowboys” were charged with federal crimes, but not Hinkle. Three were convicted and imprisoned. Four were acquitted; four pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Hinkle was promoted twice before the criminal investigation was over.
— In 2007, while a lieutenant at a Houston federal jail, Hinkle was arrested for public intoxication at a music festival after police say he got drunk, flashed his Bureau of Prisons ID card and refused orders to leave. After the case was dropped, the agency promoted Hinkle.
— Hinkle has also come under fire as a senior agency leader. The Justice Department rebuked him in March after he was accused of attempting to silence a whistleblower, and the Bureau of Prisons said it was taking corrective action after he impeded a member of Congress’ investigation and sent all-staff emails criticizing her and the agency. Three months later, he was promoted to acting regional director.
— The Bureau of Prisons, already under intense scrutiny from Congress for myriad crises and dysfunction, did not publicize Hinkle’s promotion. Instead, the agency left his predecessor’s name and bio on its website and refused requests for basic information about him.
The AP has spent months investigating Hinkle, obtaining more than 1,600 pages of court records and agency reports from the National Archives and Records Administration, reviewing thousands of pages of documents from related criminal cases and appeals, and interviewing dozens of people. Many spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation or because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Together, they show that while the Bureau of Prisons has vowed to change its toxic culture in the wake of Dublin and other scandals — a promise recently reiterated by the agency’s new director, Colette Peters — it has continued to elevate a man involved in one of the darkest, most abusive periods in its history.
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`WE ARE ALL HUMAN'
The extent of Hinkle’s alleged misconduct and his subsequent rise to the upper ranks of the Bureau of Prisons has never been revealed. The AP’s findings raise serious questions about the agency’s standards, its selection and vetting of candidates for top-tier positions, and its explicit commitment to rooting out abuse.
“As a minimum, the music festival incident, handling of the whistleblower, and the congressional investigation exhibit his extremely poor judgment,” said Allan Turner, a former federal prison warden who reviewed the AP’s findings.
“This should have been a red flag for any promotion board and is certainly not the appropriate level of judgment expected of someone serving in a leadership role in a correctional institution or in a region,” said Turner, a research professor emeritus in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
This story is part of an ongoing AP investigation that has uncovered deep, previously unreported flaws within the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s largest law enforcement agency with more than 30,000 employees, 158,000 inmates and an annual budget of about $8 billion.
AP reporting has revealed rampant sexual abuse and other criminal conduct by staff, dozens of escapes, deaths and severe staffing shortages that have hampered responses to emergencies.
In response to detailed questions from the AP, Hinkle conceded that he beat inmates as a correctional officer but said he has made significant changes to his life since then, including seeking professional treatment and quitting alcohol. He said he was disciplined — a two-week suspension for failing to report abuse of an inmate — and that he cooperated fully with investigators.
“With the support of my friends, family, and colleagues, and through professional help, I have made the most of my opportunity for a second chance to serve the Bureau of Prisons honorably over the past twelve years," Hinkle said.
“I cannot speak to why some are dredging up history from so many years ago, but my distant past does not reflect who I am today," Hinkle added. He “vehemently and categorically” denied using racial slurs, targeting whistleblowers and any recent allegations of misconduct.
“My story I share with my fellow staff has more to do with hope and change after getting help and not self-medicating with alcohol,” Hinkle said. “We are all human and make mistakes. There is no shame in admitting our problems and seeking help.”
The Bureau of Prisons responded to detailed questions about Hinkle with a statement from Peters defending him and the agency's decisions to promote him.
“Mr. Hinkle has openly acknowledged his past mistakes, gone through the employee discipline program, sought professional help and reframed his experiences as learning opportunities for others," Peters said. "Today, I am confident he has grown into an effective supervisor for our agency.”
At the same time, Peters said she remains committed to working within the agency and the Justice Department and with Congress “to root out staff misconduct and other concerns.”
The AP also filed requests with the Bureau of Prisons under the Freedom of Information Act for background information on Hinkle, including his job history, work assignments and official photograph. The agency claimed it had “no public records responsive” to AP’s request.
The agency also denied a request for Hinkle’s disciplinary records, saying that “even to acknowledge the existence of such records … would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."
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‘ONE OF THE ORIGINAL COWBOYS’
Hinkle showed no privacy concerns when he stood up in front of his boss, wardens and union brass and told them what he had done.
It was 2020. The new regional director, Melissa Rios, was holding court at regional headquarters in Stockton, California. Suddenly here was Hinkle, her deputy, talking at length about how he brutalized inmates long ago.
“I am one of the original Cowboys from Florence,” Hinkle said, according to people who were there. He also said, according to them: “We were abusing inmates" and "we were assaulting them.”
Around the room, people looked at each other, puzzled. Was it intended as a cautionary tale? Or was he bragging?
Fresh from the Marine Corps, Hinkle was among the first wave of correctional officers hired to staff the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colorado. The prison, opened in 1993, was part of a cluster built in the high desert 110 miles (175 kilometers) south of Denver to relieve overcrowding elsewhere. Next door, an even higher-security prison was springing up: the super-max “Alcatraz of the Rockies” for terrorists, mob bosses, drug lords and other dangerous felons.
The federal inmate population had tripled since 1980, fueled by a surge in violent crime and mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses. Within the Florence penitentiary’s freshly poured walls, “The Cowboys” were taking over.
One guard told a grand jury that the prison’s captain had given a “green light” for “The Cowboys” to attack inmates. In particular, “The Cowboys” ran roughshod over the special housing unit or SHU (pronounced “shoe”) — a prison within the prison for inmates with disciplinary problems.
They’d walk around wearing “Cowboys” baseball caps and leave a “Cowboys” medallion as a calling card. They’d throw a ball painted with “Cowboy Love” into a cell, wait until an inmate picked it up and then rush in and jump him.
They’d meet during off hours to talk about beatings. They’d stress secrecy, bribe inmates with cigarettes to stay quiet, and repeat slogans like “you lie ’till you die.”
In all, prosecutors said, “The Cowboys” beat more than two dozen prisoners — many of them Black — in less than three years.
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BEATINGS, NO CONSEQUENCES
Hinkle was accused of assaulting at least three inmates. The allegations were detailed in court actions and formal complaints to agency officials. Two said Hinkle beat them as he and other guards brought them to the penitentiary’s special housing unit on Oct. 29, 1995, after a violent uprising at Florence’s neighboring medium-security prison.
Both men said they were in full restraints — handcuffs, chains, and shackles — and unable to protect themselves from guards wearing helmets, elbow pads and knee pads.
Marion Bryant Jr. alleged in a lawsuit, later settled by the Bureau of Prisons for $7,500, that Hinkle and other guards dragged him up a flight of stairs and slammed him into walls in a dark hallway. He said guards held his arms, tripped him, kicked his groin and taunted him with racial slurs.
“We’ll kill you if you f--- with staff,” they said, according to Bryant.
Bryant said Hinkle and another officer then carried him down some stairs, dragged him down a hall and threw him on a cell floor, where Hinkle removed his restraints and his clothing.
“I’m terrified. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me,” Bryant testified in a 2000 deposition.
Bryant, a former University of Utah linebacker, said in court documents that he sustained bruised ribs, a busted lip and injuries to his left shoulder but wasn’t seen by prison medical staff for more than a week.
Norman McCrary accused Hinkle and three other guards of slamming him to a concrete floor, spitting on him, and calling him a “f------ n---—."
Bryant and McCrary, both in for drug offenses, were among two dozen inmates taken to the SHU in the wake of the uprising.
Bryant was accused of breaking off a table leg in the melee and swinging it at a prison worker “in a threatening manner.” He denied the allegation but later pleaded guilty to assaulting a correctional officer, adding two years to his sentence. Bryant said he was held in the special housing unit for six months after his alleged beating.
Hinkle was accused by a colleague in court proceedings of assaulting a third inmate, Reginald McCoy, around the same time. McCoy, 52, told the AP that Hinkle was among four guards who slapped him and held him down while a guard fondled his genitals.
McCoy, who also goes by the name Kojovi Muhammad and is serving a life sentence for cocaine distribution, said another guard punched him in the jaw, causing him to spit up blood and knocking his teeth out of place. He pretended to be unconscious until they left.
One guard told a grand jury investigating “The Cowboys” in 2000 that McCoy was sent to the SHU for allegedly following a female employee around, and that once he was in a holding cell, Hinkle and other guards assaulted him.
Prosecutors listed McCoy's assault among dozens of acts in the indictment of seven members of the “The Cowboys." They did not mention Hinkle, who wasn't charged.
Bureau of Prisons policy bars workers from using “brutality, physical violence, or intimidation toward inmates, or use any force beyond what is reasonably necessary to subdue an inmate,” with punishment ranging from reprimand to firing.
Bryant tried to fight back through the legal system. Within weeks of his alleged beating, he filed a staff assault complaint through the prison’s administrative remedy process and later added a tort claim seeking $2 million. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division closed its investigation in February 1997, saying there was “insufficient medical evidence” and “insufficient eyewitness corroboration.”
The Bureau of Prisons also denied Bryant’s tort claim, writing that its investigation “does not reveal evidence to show that you suffered any actual personal injury as a result of negligence, omission, wrongful acts, or improper conduct on the part of Bureau of Prisons staff.”
Bryant filed a prisoner's civil rights lawsuit against Hinkle and other officers in April 1997. The Bureau of Prisons settled with Bryant in 2003, the same year he was released from prison, but fought until after his death in 2015 to keep the terms secret.
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A SECOND CHANCE AND MORE TROUBLE
Within a year of the Justice Department closing its investigation into Bryant and McCrary's allegations, the Bureau of Prisons promoted Hinkle out of Florence.
By February 1998, he was a senior officer specialist at a low-security prison at the federal prison complex in Beaumont, Texas, northeast of Houston. The position, which was to be awarded through a competitive selection process, put Hinkle one rung below management.
Bryant had just filed his lawsuit, and the FBI investigation into “The Cowboys” was ongoing. Two years later, though, the Bureau of Prisons promoted Hinkle into management as a lieutenant at its Houston jail.
But in October 2007, Hinkle was arrested for public intoxication after authorities say he refused to leave an all-day music festival when security ejected him for not having a ticket.
“Some punk inside made me f------ leave,” Hinkle told a sheriff’s deputy, according to an arrest report obtained by the AP through an open records request from the Montgomery County, Texas sheriff’s office.
It was around 9 p.m. at the annual Buzzfest festival, featuring The Smashing Pumpkins and other alt-rock favorites, in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands. Hinkle, then 41, flashed his Bureau of Prisons ID and told the sheriff's deputy that “he was an officer just like” him.
In that moment, though, the deputy saw Hinkle — his breath smelling of booze, defying orders to leave — as a “danger to himself and others” and told him he was under arrest for public intoxication. As the sheriff's deputy turned him around to handcuff him, Hinkle stiffened his body and resisted, according to the arrest report. Several other officers had to help.
After 16 months, prosecutors dropped the case just before trial, sparing Hinkle the maximum penalty — a $500 fine — and, more importantly, the prospect of a criminal record.
Hinkle's lawyer in the case, Earl Musick, said Hinkle had misplaced his ticket after entering. Musick said he found several witnesses who would've testified that Hinkle wasn't intoxicated. Prosecutors decided to withdraw the case after they had trouble finding witnesses to support the allegations, Musick said.
“He was completely innocent of that,” Musick said. “They got pissed off at him for some reason and hung that charge on him.”
Hinkle stayed in Houston, where he’d bought a house and remarried, until 2012 — nearly 12 years after he’d arrived. It was his longest gap between promotions.
Then, the Bureau of Prisons promoted him again and again in rapid succession.
— In 2013, Hinkle was made deputy captain of the federal prison complex in Forrest City, Arkansas. A year later, he was the captain of the federal prison complex in Beaumont, Texas.
— In 2016, the agency promoted Hinkle to assistant administrator of the correctional programs division at its Washington, D.C. headquarters, giving him a hand in setting policies and overseeing operations at all 122 federal prison facilities.
— In 2018, the Bureau of Prisons sent Hinkle to help run its newest and one of its most dangerous facilities, making him associate warden — second-in-command — at the federal penitentiary in Thomson, Illinois. Among his duties: Overseeing staff sexual abuse training and compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Then, in January 2020, the agency sent Hinkle west as deputy regional director.
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‘MESS UP, MOVE UP’?
Hinkle’s rise is a stark example of what Bureau of Prisons employees call the agency’s “mess up, move up” policy — its tendency to promote and transfer troubled workers instead of firing them.
Hinkle had never worked in the western region before and had never been a warden, often a prerequisite for a top regional post. And yet there he was, appointed to help run one-fifth of the nation’s federal lockups and given a $40,000 raise. This year, Hinkle is on pace to make $176,300, according to government data.
Employees say Hinkle has been a foul-mouthed bully who leads through fear and intimidation. Inmates allege in court filings that, on his watch, they’ve been subjected to “Cowboys”-style violence from correctional officer “goon squads” roughing them up after a hunger strike at an Oregon federal prison.
Hinkle has been accused of targeting employee whistleblowers; questioning the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic as it raged in federal prisons; defending the ex-Dublin warden charged with sexually abusing inmates; and, in an ad hoc security policy, female workers say he ordered them to take off their bras when they arrived for work.
“I’ve never heard one positive thing about the guy,” said Aaron McGlothin, president of the union at the federal prison in Mendota, California. “Everybody says the same thing,” he says — that Hinkle is “narcissistic” and “arrogant.”
McGlothin said Hinkle sent a lieutenant to videotape union members protesting understaffing last year outside the Mendota prison. Union leaders at another federal prison, in Herlong, California, said Hinkle threatened to discipline them for insubordination after they spoke up about staffing shortages.
Union representatives have complained repeatedly to the Bureau of Prisons and Justice Department about Hinkle. They’ve written to Attorney General Merrick Garland and his top deputy, Lisa Monaco, pleading for his removal, and they’ve sought help from members of Congress.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., had her own hostile encounter with Hinkle when she visited Dublin in February. Her assessment: “He’s a thug.”
Speier said Hinkle was dismissive of Dublin’s sexual-abuse crisis — worrying more about the prison’s reputation than the inmates — and tried to block her from speaking one-on-one with women who reported abuse.
“The lens through which he looked at the issue wasn’t that this was some horrible cultural rot — it was that it was an embarrassment,” Speier said. “I think he’s risen through the ranks by being part of the team… He came off as arrogant. He just really didn’t get it.”
The Bureau of Prisons made Hinkle acting warden at Dublin in January after former warden Ray Garcia and several other workers were arrested for sexually abusing inmates. Garcia was convicted Thursday after a week-long trial.
Hinkle told Dublin staff that he was there to help the prison “regain its reputation,” but employees say his two months in charge left the facility even more tattered. They say Hinkle attempted to silence an employee whistleblower and even threatened to close the prison if workers kept speaking up about misconduct.
Employees say Hinkle met alone with a female worker who filed a harassment complaint against a prison manager, a violation of established protocols that gave the appearance he was trying to keep her quiet. Afterward, the woman said she felt blindsided and was reluctant to proceed.
The episode led to rare public condemnation from the Justice Department, which said in a March statement: “These allegations, if true, are abhorrent.”
Employees say Hinkle also showed little sense of the crisis that brought him to Dublin, wrongly claiming to workers that what Garcia was accused of was consensual sex — even though the law, which he oversaw training on at Thomson, is clear that no such thing exists between inmates and prison workers.
Hinkle left Dublin at the end of February, returning to his deputy regional director duties while a new, permanent warden took over. A week later, Carvajal was at the prison, pledging to look into employees’ concerns about how Hinkle kept getting promoted instead of fired.
Nevertheless, on June 10, Carvajal sent a memo to Bureau of Prisons staff announcing that he was promoting Hinkle to acting western regional director indefinitely. Rios, the regional director, was on leave for a family emergency and not expected back, but the agency said she returned in late September, bumping Hinkle back to deputy regional director.
And that’s where he remains, at least for now. Under Justice Department policy, Hinkle must retire next May when he turns 57. That, said Hinkle, is precisely what he plans to do.
___
On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at http:// twitter.com/mikesisak and Michael Balsamo at http:// twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1 and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/
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Coast-to-coast storm: Severe weather outbreak eyes South as blizzard could bury Plains, Midwest
A coast-to-coast storm looms from this weekend into next week, and the impacts are expected to be significant along its journey across the country. That includes the potential for a dangerous severe weather outbreak in the South and a significant winter storm in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest that could bring heavy snow and blizzard conditions.
The powerful storm will get underway this weekend when a large upper-level low-pressure system is forecast to bury many western mountains in feet of snow. It will then punch eastward early next week into the central U.S., where it will receive an injection of moisture streaming north from the Gulf of Mexico.
A coast-to-coast storm will bring a variety of impactful weather as it tracks across the country next week.(FOX Weather)
"All of the ingredients are slowly but surely coming into place for what could be a potential severe weather outbreak across parts of the southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley," FOX Weather meteorologist Michael Estime said. "That, of course, going to be impacting places like Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; our friends in the capital of Louisiana – by the way, that's going to be Baton Rouge – Shreveport (Louisiana) and Texarkana (Texas)."
Some of the specific details still need to get ironed out over the coming days, but here's a general overview of what to expect from both the severe side and the wintry side.
Potential severe weather outbreak in South
On Tuesday and Wednesday, a strong cold front associated with the area of low pressure will sweep east from the southern Plains into the lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf Coast, providing the trigger for thunderstorm development as it pushes through a warm, humid air mass engulfing the region.
Tuesday-Tuesday night
The threat of severe weather will begin Tuesday from East Texas and southeastern Oklahoma into far southern Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, western Mississippi and extreme southwestern Tennessee. That includes Little Rock in Arkansas, Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport in Louisiana, Greenville and Jackson in Mississippi and Memphis in Tennessee.
Within that region, there could be an even higher potential for severe weather in the area shaded in the darkest red on the map below, which includes southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail will all be possible, with the threat of dangerous storms continuing through the overnight hours and into early Wednesday morning.
HOW YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR A TORNADO
Severe weather threat on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. (FOX Weather)
Nighttime tornadoes are more than twice as likely to result in deaths than those that happen during the day because many people are asleep and caught unaware when a dangerous twister might be headed in their direction.
Make sure you have multiple ways of receiving potentially life-saving weather alerts issued by the National Weather Service, including one that will wake you up during the night.
NIGHTTIME TORNADOES FAR MORE LIKELY TO TURN DEADLY THAN DAYTIME ONES
Wednesday-Wednesday night
As this system moves farther east, additional severe thunderstorms are expected to fire up Wednesday from southeastern Louisiana into southern Mississippi and southwestern Alabama during the day. The severe weather threat could then continue into the overnight hours in the Florida Panhandle.
Once again, tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail will all be possible with Wednesday's round of storms. Cities at risk of severe thunderstorms include Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana, Gulfport and Biloxi in Mississippi and Mobile in Alabama.
THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD DO IF YOU ARE DRIVING AND THERE IS A TORNADO ON THE GROUND
Severe weather threat on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022.(FOX Weather)
Major winter storm, blizzard conditions possible in northern Plains, Upper Midwest
After the storm dumps feet of snow across the western mountains this weekend, it will spread heavy snow and high winds into the northern Plains and Upper Midwest beginning late Monday or early Tuesday and may linger over parts of those regions into at least the middle of next week.
ANOTHER MAJOR WINTER STORM EYES WEST WITH 5 FEET OF SNOW IN SIERRA NEVADA OVER THE WEEKEND
According to the FOX Forecast Center, the snow will likely peak in intensity from Tuesday night into Wednesday, when snowfall rates could exceed an inch per hour.
Wind gusts between 40 and 60 mph will accompany the heaviest snow, which might result in dangerous blizzard conditions with near-zero visibility across portions of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, western Nebraska, the Dakotas and Minnesota.
"That's blowing or falling snow with winds of at least 35 mph, and the visibility will reduce to about a quarter-of-a-mile or less for three hours," FOX Weather meteorologist Craig Herrera explained. "That is a blizzard, and that could potentially happen."
WHAT MAKES A BLIZZARD DIFFERENT FROM AN ORDINARY SNOWSTORM?
Potential snowfall next week. (FOX Weather)
The winter storm should gradually weaken and wind down during the second half of next week, though a few lingering snow showers could stick around into Thursday or Friday.
Details on who sees the heaviest snow will become clearer as the storm draws closer. Be sure to check back with FOX Weather for updates.
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https://www.fox5dc.com/news/coast-to-coast-storms-severe-weather-outbreak-eyes-south-as-blizzard-could-bury-plains-midwest
| 2022-12-09T14:37:52
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Steve Aoki, T.O.P. among crew for SpaceX's privately-funded moon mission
DJ Steve Aoki, K-Pop star T.O.P., and YouTuber Tim Dodd are among the eight people joining a Japanese billionaire on an upcoming "dearMoon" mission, which aims to fly around the moon on a SpaceX spaceship as soon as next year.
Yusaku Maezawa, a 47-year-old who made his fortune in retail fashion, first launched plans for the moon mission in 2018, buying all the seats on the spaceship. It will be the first of its kind by the Elon Musk-owned company.
Maezawa began taking applications from around the world in March 2021 for what will be his second space journey after his 12-day trip to the International Space Station on the Soyuz Russian spaceship last year.
The dearMoon trip is expected to take about a week. The spaceship will not make a lunar landing but is expected to come within 120 miles of the moon's surface while circling it for three days.
The full dearMoon crew
The eight people Maezawa selected for his "dearMoon project" are T.O.P., who debuted as a lead rapper for the K-Pop group Big Bang; American DJ Steve Aoki; filmmaker Brendan Hall and YouTuber Tim Dodd, also from the United States.
The other four are British photographer Karim Illiya, Indian actor Dev Joshi, Czech artist Yemi AD and Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam.
American Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu were chosen as backups.
Maezawa made the announcement on Friday via his social media accounts and the dearMoon Project website, after he tweeted last week saying he held an online meeting with SpaceX founder Elon Musk and that his "major announcement about space" was underway.
T.O.P.’s real name is Choi Seung-hyun. The 35-year-old started out as an underground rapper before joining Big Bang, one of the world’s top boy bands, in 2006.
T.O.P. said in a video released by the dearMoon website that he has always fantasized about space and the moon since he was a child and, "I cannot wait."
"When I finally see the moon closer I look forward to my personal growth and returning to the earth as an artist with an inspiration," he said.
In a video posted after the announcement, Dodd said he "genuinely still can’t believe it."
"It still hasn’t even sunk in yet — and I’ve known for quite awhile," he added.
Last year, Maezawa, 47, and his producer Yozo Hirano became the first self-paying tourists to visit the space station since 2009. He has not disclosed the cost for that mission, though reports said he paid $80 million.
Maezawa made his fortune in retail fashion, launching Japan’s largest online fashion mall, Zozotown. In 2019, he resigned as CEO of the e-commerce company Zozo Inc. to devote his time to space travel. Forbes magazine estimates his wealth at $1.9 billion.
In a statement, Maezawa said they received applications from about 1 million people "from all around the world."
"I had deep conversations with each candidate, asking them about their childhood, why they are dreaming about going to space, what kind of challenges they would like to undertake," he said.
"There isn't a set task for each of them, but I hope each and every one crewmember will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, traveling around the Moon, and back within a week. They will gain a lot from this experience, and I hope they will use that to contribute to the planet, to humanity," Maezawa added.
dearMoon mission to launch on SpaceX’s Starship
The trip aboard SpaceX’s futuristic Starship is expected next year, though the exact schedule has not been disclosed.
Starship is a fully-reuseable spacecraft, set to carry enormous amounts of cargo and people at once and "pioneer a new era of space exploration," the project said in a press release.
NASA already has contracted for a Starship to land its astronauts on the moon in 2025 or so, in the first lunar touchdown since Apollo.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. It was reported from Cincinnati.
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https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dearmoon-crew-japanese-billionaire-yusaku-maezawa-steve-aoki-tim-dodd
| 2022-12-09T14:37:54
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Big Oil companies have engaged in a “long-running greenwashing campaign” while raking in “record profits at the expense of American consumers,” the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee has found after a year-long investigation into climate disinformation from the fossil fuel industry.
The committee found the fossil fuel industry is “posturing on climate issues while avoiding real commitments” to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers said it has sought to portray itself as part of the climate solution, even as internal industry documents reveal how companies have avoided making real commitments.
For example, they said, BP has stated it strives to “be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner,” but the committee found internal BP documents that show the company’s recent plans do not align with the company’s public comments.
In a July 2017 email between several of the company’s high-level officials about whether to invest in curbing emissions from one of its gas projects off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, BP’s vice president of engineering stated that BP had “no obligation to minimize GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions” and that the company should only “minimize GHG emissions where it makes commercial sense,” as required by code or if it fits into a regional strategy.
The committee said documents uncovered also showed the fossil fuel industry has presented natural gas as a so-called “bridge fuel” to transition to cleaner sources of energy, all while doubling down on its long-term reliance on fossil fuels with no clear plan of action to full transition to clean energy.
A strategy slide presented to the Chevron Board of Directors from CEO Mike Wirth and obtained by the committee states that while Chevron sees “traditional energy business competitors retreating” from oil and gas, “Chevron’s strategy” is to “continue to invest” in fossil fuels to take advantage of consolidation in the industry.
In a 2016 email from a BP executive to John Mingé, then-Chairman and President of BP America, and others, about climate and emissions, an employee assessed that the company often adopted an obstructionist strategy with regulators, noting, “we wait for the rules to come out, we don’t like what we see, and then try to resist and block.”
“The fossil fuel industry has of late been involved in extensive “greenwashing”—misleading claims in advertisements, particularly on social media, claiming or suggesting that they are “Paris aligned,” and that they are committed to meaningful solutions,” Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard professor who has studied the fossil fuel industry’s rebuke of climate science, told CNN. “Numerous analyses shows that these claims are untrue.”
BP, Chevron, Exxon, Shell, the American Petroleum Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were the focus of Democratic lawmakers’ investigation. The companies have denied engaging in a disinformation campaign surrounding climate change and the role the industry has played in fueling it for decades. CNN has reached out to the companies and organizations for comment on the committee’s findings.
“Today’s documents reveal that the industry has no real plans to clean up its act and is barreling ahead with plans to pump more dirty fuels for decades to come,” House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney told CNN in a statement.
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/big-oil-disinformation-record-profits-climate/index.html
| 2022-12-09T14:37:57
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/articles/41810112
| 2022-12-09T14:37:57
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Disney World raises ticket prices: How much you'll pay at each park now
ORLANDO, Fla. - Walt Disney World increased admission ticket prices at all four of its Florida theme parks on Thursday – and depending on the day and which park choose, you could pay nearly $200 to get in!
Last month, the company announced park-specific ticket price increases for guests. Depending on the date and which park you want to go to – Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, or Disney's Animal Kingdom – ticket prices will range from $109 to $189 for a single day, one-park ticket.
While Magic Kingdom will be priced at or above the theme parks, Disney's Animal Kingdom has the cheapest price range.
The new prices for each park are listed below:
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $109-$159
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $124-$179
- EPCOT: $114-$179
- Magic Kingdom Park: $124-$189
Disney said the $189 price point is specifically for 9 days around the week of Christmas to New Year’s at Magic Kingdom.
"We continue to focus on providing guests with the best, most memorable Disney experience, and we’re doing that by growing our theme parks with incredible new attractions and offerings," a Disney spokesperson said. "We are also making planning easier with new 1-day tickets that automatically include a guest’s theme park reservation and continue to provide a wide range of options to visit throughout the year, including our lowest priced ticket of $109 which has not changed in more than four years."
MORE THEME PARK NEWS:
Universal Orlando announces Minion Land and 'first-of-its-kind' attraction
Report: Disney World ticket prices have jumped nearly 4,000-percent in 50 years
In addition, Disney also raised the prices for its annual passes, which will go up between $43 to $100.
Currently, Disney offers four passes to its Walt Disney World theme parks – Pixie, Pirate, Sorcerer, and Incredi-Pass. However, new sales for its Pirate, Sorcerer, and Incredi-Pass remain paused "as we stay focused on our current Passholders," Disney said in a statement.
The Pixie Pass – which is only available to Florida residents and limited to weekday visits – remains on sale.
- Incredi-Pass: $1,399 ($100 increase)
- Sorcerer: $969 ($70 increase)
- Pirate: $749 ($50 increase)
- Pixie $399 (no change)
Depending on the date, Disney theme parks will also have different pricing for Park Hopper and Park Hopper Plus.
According to a UK-based data tracking firm, Walt Disney World tickets have jumped nearly 4,000% over the past 50 years. Meanwhile, everyday expenses like rent and gas have increased less than 1,000% in that same time frame.
Back in 1971 when the park first opened, admission tickets were $3.50. Keep in mind that because of inflation, $3.50 was worth a lot more than it is today and the parks have grown significantly over the years.
According to an online study by Koala, a company that helps connect travelers to timeshare rentals, a ticket to Disney will cost a guest $253.20 in the year 2031.
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https://www.fox5dc.com/news/disney-world-raises-ticket-prices-how-much-youll-pay-now-at-each-park
| 2022-12-09T14:38:01
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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Eytan Tepper, Indiana University and Scott Shackelford, Indiana University
(THE CONVERSATION) The International Space Station is no longer the only place where humans can live in orbit.
On Nov. 29, 2022, the Shenzhou 15 mission launched from China’s Gobi Desert carrying three taikonauts – the Chinese word for astronauts. Six hours later, they reached their destination, China’s recently completed space station, called Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace” in Mandarin. The three taikonauts replaced the existing crew that helped wrap up construction. With this successful mission, China has become just the third nation to operate a permanent space station.
China’s space station is an achievement that solidifies the country’s position alongside the U.S. and Russia as one of the world’s top three space powers. As scholars of space law and space policy who lead the Indiana University Ostrom Workshop’s Space Governance Program, we have been following the development of the Chinese space station with interest.
Unlike the collaborative, U.S.-led International Space Station, Tiangong is entirely built and run by China. The successful opening of the station is the beginning of some exciting science. But the station also highlights the country’s policy of self-reliance and is an important step for China toward achieving larger space ambitions among a changing landscape of power dynamics in space.
Capabilities of a Chinese station
The Tiangong space station is the culmination of three decades of work on the Chinese manned space program. The station is 180 feet (55 meters) long and is comprised of three modules that were launched separately and connected in space. These include one core module where a maximum of six taikonauts can live and two experiment modules for a total of 3,884 cubic feet (110 cubic meters) of space, about one-fifth the size of the International Space Station. The station also has an external robotic arm, which can support activities and experiments outside the station, and three docking ports for resupply vehicles and manned spacecraft.
Like China’s aircraft carriers and other spacecraft, Tiangong is based on a Soviet-era design – it is pretty much a copy of the Soviet Mir space station from the 1980s. But the Tiangong station has been heavily modernized and improved.
The Chinese space station is slated to stay in orbit for 15 years, with plans to send two six-month crewed missions and two cargo missions to it annually. The science experiments have already begun, with a planned study involving monkey reproduction commencing in the station’s biological test cabinets. Whether the monkeys will cooperate is an entirely different matter.
Science and a steppingstone
The main function of the Tiangong station is to perform research on life in space. There is a particular focus on learning about the growth and development of different types of plants, animals and microorganisms, and there are more than 1,000 experiments planned for the next 10 years.
Tiangong is strictly Chinese made and managed, but China has an open invitation for other nations to collaborate on experiments aboard Tiangong. So far, nine projects from 17 countries have been selected.
Although the new station is small compared to the 16 modules of the International Space Station, Tiangong and the science done aboard will help support China’s future space missions. In December 2023, China is planning to launch a new space telescope called Xuntian. This telescope will map stars and supermassive black holes among other projects with a resolution about the same as the Hubble Space Telescope but with a wider view. The telescope will periodically dock with the station for maintenance.
China also has plans to launch multiple missions to Mars and nearby comets and asteroids with the goal of bringing samples back to Earth. And perhaps most notably, China has announced plans to build a joint Moon base with Russia – though no timeline for this mission has been set.
Astropolitics
A new era in space is unfolding. The Tiangong station is beginning its life just as the International Space Station, after more than 30 years in orbit, is set to be decommissioned by 2030.
The International Space Station is the classic example of collaborative ideals in space – even at the height of the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union came together to develop and launch the beginnings of the space station in the early 1990s. By comparison, China and the U.S. have not been so jovial in their orbital dealings.
In the 1990s, when China was still launching U.S. satellites into orbit, concerns emerged that China was accidentally acquiring – or stealing – U.S. technology. These concern in part led to the Wolf Amendment, passed by Congress in 2011, which prohibits NASA from collaborating with China in any capacity. China’s space program was not mature enough to be part of the construction of the International Space Station in the 1990s and early 2000s. By the time China had the ability to contribute to the International Space Station, the Wolf Amendment prevented it from doing so.
It remains to be seen how the map of space collaboration will change in the coming years. The U.S.-led Artemis Program that aims to build a self-sustaining habitat on the Moon is open to all nations, and 19 countries have joined as partners so far. China has also recently opened its joint Moon mission with Russia to other nations. This was partly driven by cooling Chinese-Russian relations but also due to the fact that because of the war in Ukraine, Sweden, France and the European Space Agency canceled planned missions with Russia.
As tensions on Earth rise between China, Russia and the West, and some of that jockeying spills over into space, it remains to be seen how the decommissioning of the International Space Station and operation of the Tiangong station will influence the China-U.S. relationship.
An event like the famous handshake between U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts while orbiting Earth in 1975 is a long way off, but collaboration between the U.S. and China could do much to cool tensions on and above the Earth.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/chinas-new-space-station-opens-for-business-in-an-increasingly-competitive-era-of-space-activity-195882.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/China-s-new-space-station-opens-for-business-in-17642463.php
| 2022-12-09T14:38:02
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The Biden administration believes the Russian government will continue to engage on detainee issues, including the status of American Paul Whelan, following the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner because “they have things they want in this world” a senior administration official tells CNN.
Moscow knows that ultimately the two sides will reach “a mutually acceptable arrangement if they keep talking to us,” the official continued.
“We have shown an openness to talk about that which is actually available to us and gotten only in response a demand for something not available to us,” the official said, reiterating that the Russians refused what had been offered to secure the release of Whelan.
CNN previously reported that convicted Russian murderer Vadim Krasikov, who is in German custody, was one of Moscow’s requests, and the official did not rule out that his release has been a continued request.
Demands related to the war in Ukraine did not come up in the negotiations to secure Griner’s release and attempt to secure Whelan’s, the official said, adding that the US would not make concessions on that front.
“We’ve obviously thought about why that might be the case” that the Russians didn’t float it, the official said, “and I think we credit it to the fact that we’ve been so crystal clear, so consistent, that it is not for us to negotiate how that horrific situation gets resolved.”
The official added: “If it were raised, of course, it is not for bargaining. Another country’s future is not for bargaining and the defense of democracy against autocracy is not for bargaining.”
Even though US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that “every possible” offer was made to the Russians to secure Whelan’s release, the Biden administration has ideas about “new forms of offers” they are going to try with the Russians in an effort to secure Whelan’s release, the senior administration official.
Whelan told CNN on Thursday that “the President and his team are going to have to look at what they have that is valuable that these people want, and hopefully give it to them, or I’ll be here for a long time.”
Whelan’s brother David, however, has cast doubt on the possibility of identifying something that the Russians want.
“It’s clear that the US government has no concessions that the Russian government will take for Paul Whelan. And so Paul will remain a prisoner until that changes,” David Whelan said in a statement Thursday.
Russia views Whelan as a spy, the official explained, which means they treat him in a different category. The official didn’t count out the US offering a Russian spy in US custody as a potential offer to Russia.
“There is a willingness to pay even a very big price on the part of this President,” the official said. “We have made clear to the Russians that we at least are open to talking about that which is at our disposal, that which we could actually deliver. It would be somebody in our custody.”
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/paul-whelan-negotiations-biden-administration/index.html
| 2022-12-09T14:38:03
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| 0.980271
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/articles/41810141
| 2022-12-09T14:38:03
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| 0.738227
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Driver of stolen pickup truck causes fiery chain-reaction crash in Lorton: police
LORTON, Va. - Authorities say the driver of a stolen pickup truck caused a fiery chain-reaction crash that involved several other vehicles in the Lorton area Thursday afternoon.
Officers say they spotted the vehicle just before 5 p.m. driving southbound on Interstate 95 near the 164 mile marker. They say the driver sped away from them at a high rate of speed and began weaving in and out of traffic.
The driver sideswiped a car on the shoulder of the highway and collided with another before triggering the chain-reaction crash involving four other vehicles. The stolen pickup truck then caught on fire.
The driver, a 23-year-old male, was taken into custody and transported to Lorton Health Plex with minor injuries from the crash. Charges against him are pending.
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https://www.fox5dc.com/news/driver-of-stolen-pickup-truck-causes-fiery-chain-reaction-crash-in-lorton-police
| 2022-12-09T14:38:07
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| 0.963285
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This survival game pits players against an evil Thomas the Train-like monster
21-year-old Gavin Eisenbeisz created and developed the horror video game "Choo-Choo Charles" that has captured the attention of millions. Eisenbeisz shares his inspiration for creating the game, his processes in making it, and what it was like documenting the journey on Youtube.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:09
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| 0.939243
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-orleans-saints/articles/41810142
| 2022-12-09T14:38:09
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Florida lawmaker resigns after being accused of fraudulently obtaining COVID business loans
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida lawmaker who sponsored the "Parental Rights in Education" bill which – critics called "Don’t Say Gay" – resigned on Thursday, one day after authorities announced his indictment on charges of defrauding a federal coronavirus loan program for small businesses.
Rep. Joe Harding, a 35-year-old Republican, sent a resignation letter to House Speaker Paul Renner saying he needs to focus on his upcoming trial, which is scheduled to start on Jan. 11.
Photo of Joe Harding
"Now is the time to allow someone else to serve my district," said Harding, who represented a two-county area in the north-central portion of the state that includes Ocala.
Renner said in a statement that he understands and respects the decision. Republicans hold substantial majorities in both houses of the Florida Legislature. Gov. Ron DeSantis will have to call a special election to replace Harding.
Harding is accused of illegally obtaining or trying to obtain more than $150,000 from the Small Business Administration in pandemic aid loans. He is being charged with two counts of wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and two counts of making false statements.
Harding became nationally known this year over his sponsorship of a law that forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, as well as material that is not deemed age-appropriate.
FROM MARCH 2022: Gov. DeSantis signs Parental Rights in Education Act in to law
On Wednesday, he issued a statement saying, "I want the public and my constituents to know that I fully repaid the loan and cooperated with investigators as requested."
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https://www.fox5dc.com/news/florida-lawmaker-resigns-after-being-accused-of-fraudulently-obtaining-covid-related-loans
| 2022-12-09T14:38:13
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| 0.975336
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Hate mealy apples and soggy french fries? Science can help.
Restaurants, grocers, farmers and food companies are increasingly turning to chemistry and physics to tackle the problem of food waste.
Some are testing spray-on peels or chemically-enhanced sachets that can slow the ripening process in fruit. Others are developing digital sensors that can tell — more precisely than a label — when meat is safe to consume. And packets affixed to the top of a takeout box use thermodynamics to keep fries crispy.
Experts say growing awareness of food waste and its incredible cost — both in dollars and in environmental impact — has led to an uptick in efforts to mitigate it. U.S. food waste startups raised $300 billion in 2021, double the amount raised in 2020, according to ReFed, a group that studies food waste.
“This has suddenly become a big interest,” said Elizabeth Mitchum, director of the Postharvest Technology Center at the University of California, Davis, who has worked in the field for three decades. “Even companies that have been around for a while are now talking about what they do through that lens.”
In 2019, around 35% of the 229 million tons of food available in the U.S. — worth around $418 billion — went unsold or uneaten, according to ReFed. Food waste is the largest category of material placed in municipal landfills, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which says rotting food releases methane, a problematic greenhouse gas.
ReFed estimates 500,000 pounds of food could be diverted from landfills annually with high-tech packaging.
Among the products in development are a sensor by Stockholm-based Innoscentia that can determine whether meat is safe depending on the buildup of microbes in its packaging. And Ryp Labs, based in the U.S. and Belgium, is working on a produce sticker that would release a vapor to slow ripening.
SavrPak was founded in 2020 by Bill Bergen, an aerospace engineer who was tired of the soggy food in his lunchbox. He developed a plant-based packet — made with food-safe materials approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — that can fit inside a takeout container and absorb condensation, helping keep the food inside hotter and crispier.
Nashville, Tennessee-based hot chicken chain Hattie B’s was skeptical. But after testing SavrPaks using humidity sensors, it now uses the packs when it’s catering fried foods and is working with SavrPak to integrate the packs into regular takeout containers.
Brian Morris, Hattie B’s vice president of culinary learning and development, said each SavrPak costs the company less than $1 but ensures a better meal.
“When it comes to fried chicken, we kind of lose control from the point when it leaves our place,” Morris said. “We don’t want the experience to go down the drain.”
But cost can still be a barrier for some companies and consumers. Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, ended its multi-year partnership with Goleta, California-based Apeel Sciences this year because it found consumers weren’t willing to pay more for produce brushed or sprayed with Apeel's edible coating to keep moisture in and oxygen out, thus extending the time that produce stays fresh.
Apeel says treated avocados can last a few extra days, while citrus fruit lasts for several weeks. The coating is made of purified mono- and diglycerides, emulsifiers that are common food additives.
Kroger wouldn’t say how much more Apeel products cost. Apeel also wouldn’t reveal the average price premium for produce treated with its coating since it varies by food distributor and grocer. But Apeel says its research shows customers are willing to pay more for produce that lasts longer. Apeel also says it continues to talk to Kroger about other future technology.
There is another big hurdle to coming up with innovations to preserve food: Every food product has its own biological makeup and handling requirements.
“There is no one major change that can improve the situation,” said Randy Beaudry, a professor in the horticulture department at Michigan State University’s school of agriculture.
Beaudry said the complexity has caused some projects to fail. He remembers working with one large packaging company on a container designed to prevent fungus in tomatoes. For the science to work, the tomatoes had to be screened for size and then oriented stem-up in each container. Eventually the project was scrapped.
Beaudry said it’s also hard to sort out which technology works best, since startups don’t always share data or formulations with outside researchers.
Some companies find it better to rely on proven technology — but in new ways. Chicago-based Hazel Technologies, which was founded in 2015, sells 1-methylcyclopropene, or 1-MCP, a gas that has been used for decades to delay the ripening process in fruit. The compound — considered non-toxic by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — is typically pumped into sealed storage rooms to inhibit the production of ethylene, a plant hormone.
But Hazel’s real breakthrough is a sachet the size of a sugar packet that can slowly release 1-MCP into a box of produce.
Mike Mazie, the facilities and storage manager at BelleHarvest, a large apple packing facility in Belding, Michigan, ordered around 3,000 sachets this year. He used them for surplus bins that couldn’t fit into the sealed rooms required for gas.
“If you can get another week out of a bushel of apples, why wouldn’t you?” he said. “It absolutely makes a difference.”
The science is promising but it's only part of the solution, said Yvette Cabrera, the director of food waste for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most food waste happens at the residential level, she said; lowering portion sizes, buying smaller quantities of food at a time or improving the accuracy of date labels could have even more impact than technology.
“Overall as a society, we don’t value food as it should be valued,” Cabrera said.
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AP National Writer and Visual Journalist Martha Irvine contributed from Belding, Michigan.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:14
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Volcano watch: CNN rides along with 'lava junkie'
Mauna Loa is the world's largest active volcano. It stretches 10.5 miles from base to summit and takes up half the entire surface area of Hawaii's Big Island, the US Geological Survey says. CNN's David Culver reports.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:15
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Heightened police presence at Suitland High School after student shot
DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. - Authorities say there will be a heightened police presence at Suitland High School over the next several days as the investigation into the shooting of a 14-year-old student on school grounds continues.
The shooting was reported Thursday around 10 a.m. outside the school in the 5200 block of Silver Hill Road in District Heights.
Police say a fight broke out where a group of students had gathered. A person in the group pulled out a weapon and fired, striking the student.
The student remains hospitalized in stable condition Friday. Police were able to arrest another 14-year-old student they say fired the shot.
The shooting triggered a lockdown that lasted several hours.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:20
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ALICANTE, Spain (AP) — Spain, France and Portugal agreed Friday to build by 2030 a major undersea pipeline to transport hydrogen from the Iberian Peninsula to France and eventually the rest of Europe.
The pipeline is aimed at making the European Union's energy supply more independent, a goal expedited by the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February that precipitated an energy crisis.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the pipeline, dubbed H2Med, will be able to convey some 2 million metric tons of hydrogen to France annually — 10% of the EU´s estimated hydrogen needs. The project is expected to cost 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion).
The announcement came after a meeting between Sánchez, his French and Portuguese counterparts and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the eastern Spanish city of Alicante.
“Today, the Iberian Peninsula is becoming a major European energy gateway to the world,” Von der Leyen said at a joint press briefing.
French President Emmanuel Macron said H2Med, which replaces an earlier proposal to transport gas across the Pyrenees Mountains, will “take a new path through the Mediterranean and rely on a technology of the future, which is hydrogen.”
“It will also probably allow later other European interconnections toward some other countries which will want to get that hydrogen,” he added.
Portugal, Spain and France struck a broad deal on the plan in October. They hope to present it to the European Commission by Dec. 15 so it will be eligible for EU financing, which could represent as much as 50% of the cost.
The project will first connect two plants in northern Portugal and northern Spain and then involve a pipeline under the Mediterranean Sea from the northeastern Spanish port of Barcelona to France’s Marseille.
“We are strengthening European Union’s strategic autonomy and energy security at a moment when solidarity among Europeans is essential to reduce energy dependency on countries that use energy as a blackmailing tool,” Sánchez said, in reference to Russia and the gas crisis that has emerged since the war in Ukraine.
He said that with the project, they “aspire to be a benchmark not only in Europe, but also worldwide, in the field of hydrogen.”
Spain and Portugal had initially wanted to pipe gas across land to France but Paris rejected that proposal.
“Hydrogen is a game-changer for Europe,” said Von der Leyen.
She said the EU planned to produce 10 million metric tons of renewable hydrogen by 2030 and to import another 10 million tons.
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Raquel Redondo in Madrid, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:21
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'You don't know what is going on.' Kyiv resident opens up about living with blackouts
Russian missile strikes have targeted infrastructure in Ukraine, leaving many without power as winter approaches. CNN spoke with one Kyiv resident who filmed her daily life, showing how people in the city have adapted.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:21
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The TSA plans to take facial recognition technology nationwide
The Transportation Security Administration has been testing facial recognition technology as an option for travelers at select U.S. airports for years, touting it as a way to speed up identity verification at security.
But now, the federal agency is poised to implement the system nationwide, causing alarm for privacy advocates and other critics who say the facial scanning systems bring a flurry of concerns.
Airplane passengers line up for TSA security screenings at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
The screenings, dubbed "Credit Authentication Technology with Camera," now known as CAT-2, were rolled out by the Department of Homeland Security in 2017 as part of a pilot program, and involve scanning fliers' faces at the TSA checkpoint and comparing the images to the travelers' documents such as their driver's licenses or passports.
Since then, the biometric system has expanded to 16 U.S. airports, and travelers are starting to notice.
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The Washington Post recently reported on the issue "after hearing concerns" from "readers who encountered face scans while traveling." The outlet learned from an interview with Jason Lim, who runs the TSA's facial recognition program that the agency "hopes to expand it across the United States as soon as next year."
The situation is reminiscent of the IRS's push last tax season to require facial recognition scans for Americans to access their tax returns, which was met with fierce backlash over privacy concerns and ultimately scrapped. One of the many worries over the tax collector's program was data breaches, and the TSA already had its facial data breached in 2019.
ID requirement signs at entrance to passenger TSA security area, West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The TSA has not provided data on how accurate the scans are, which is another significant concern for critics.
Business Insider noted that facial recognition technology's "use by law enforcement is even illegal in some cities, including San Francisco as, in some cases, racially-biased facial recognition scans have led to false arrests and even jail time for a Black man who was misidentified."
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Lim reiterated that the facial scans are optional and assured The Post that the TSA does not store the live photo, save for some kept on hand for two years to test the system's effectiveness or for law enforcement purposes. But the TSA – known for its watch lists – could be in for a tough sell.
Crowds of travelers waiting for Security check, LaGuardia Airport, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Americans have long been skeptical of facial recognition technology due to its broad use by the Chinese government, which notoriously surveils its citizens and punishes government critics.
In a New York Post column Thursday, James Bovard addressed just that issue.
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"The TSA scanning system could be a big step toward a Chinese-style ‘social credit’ system that could restrict travel by people the government doesn’t like," Bovard wrote. "Actually, TSA has already been caught doing that. In 2018, the New York Times exposed a secret watchlist for anyone TSA labels ‘publicly notorious.’ TSA critics to the end of the line — forever?"
FOX Business' Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.
LINK: Get updates and more on this story at foxbusiness.com.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:26
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PARIS (AP) — French energy giant TotalEnergies said Friday that it will walk away from its stake in Russian natural gas producer Novatek and take a $3.7 billion loss.
TotalEnergies, which has come under criticism for pursuing some of its projects in Russia amid the war in Ukraine, said Western sanctions prevent it from selling its 19.4% stake to the Russian company. It said it withdrawing its representatives from the Novatek board, who have been abstaining from voting because of sanctions, with “immediate effect."
As a result, TotalEnergies will no longer account for its ownership interest in Novatek, which will lead it “to record an impairment of approximately $3.7 billion in the accounts for the 4th quarter of 2022," the French company said in a statement.
In line with its “principles of conduct” published on March 22, TotalEnergies “has gradually started to withdraw from its Russian assets while ensuring that it continues to supply gas to Europe.”
It comes amid an energy crisis in Europe provoked by Russia's war in Ukraine that pushed up natural gas prices and has led governments to warn people to conserve this winter. While prices have fallen from summertime peaks and Europe has largely filled its storage for the heating season, a colder-than expected winter, a complete gas cutoff by Russia and other factors could lead to a supply crunch.
Environmental NGO Greenpeace France said the announcement comes “very late” and denounced TotalEnergies' continuing operations in Russia.
The French company has stakes in some other Russian projects meant to produce liquefied natural gas, including a 20% stake in Yamal LNG and a 10% stake in Artic LNG.
The decision “is not enough to make from TotalEnergies a responsible company as it keeps a foot in Russia and will continue to feed the climate crisis,” said Edina Ifticene, who's in charge of campaigning on fossil energy at Greenpeace France.
In October, TotalEnergies reported third-quarter net income rose to $6.6 billion despite losses from pulling out of a venture in Russia. The company posted adjusted net earnings of $9.9 billion but notably took a charge of $3.1 billion after it sold a 49% interest in a Siberian natural gas field to Novatek.
Other companies that have moved to pull out of Russia have taken big losses, ranging from Shell's $3.9 billion charge to McDonald's expected loss of between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:27
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World Cup Friday guide: Quarterfinalists bid for title
DOHA, Qatar - The World Cup quarterfinals start on Friday in Qatar with at least one surprising team still in contention to win soccer's biggest prize.
Morocco produced the latest upset in a tournament that has had its share of them, beating Spain in the round of 16 on Tuesday to become the first Arab nation to reach the World Cup quarterfinals. The Moroccans, who also became only the fourth African team to reach this stage, beat the 2010 champions in a penalty shootout.
"What they’ve done today is extraordinary," Morocco coach Walid Regragui said after the match.
FIFA VP: Qatar 2022 could be last World Cup hosted by single country
In the group stage, Saudi Arabia caused one of the biggest upsets in tournament history by beating Argentina in its opening match. Japan beat both Germany and Spain. The Germans and 2018 semifinalist Belgium both were eliminated before the knockout rounds.
Argentina, with Lionel Messi still looking to win a World Cup title, still made it through and then beat Australia to get into the last eight. Brazil, which had Neymar back in the lineup after an ankle injury, is there as well.
And so is defending champion France, with Kylian Mbappe seemingly unstoppable, England, Croatia, the Netherlands and, of course, Portugal — with or without Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting lineup.
On Friday, Croatia takes on Brazil and the Netherlands faces Argentina. On Saturday, Morocco goes head-to-head with Portugal and England will play France.
Here's a closer look at Friday's upcoming matches:
Croatia vs. Brazil: Friday, Education City Stadium
FILE - Neymar of Brasil looks on during a training session on match day -1 at Al Arabi SC Stadium on Dec. 8, 2022, in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Khalil Bashar/Jam Media/Getty Images)
Five-time champion Brazil looks ready to go deep at this year's World Cup, with Neymar recovered from an ankle injury and the country’s greatest player, Pele, an inspiration as he watches from his hospital bed.
The 82-year-old soccer great is receiving treatment in Sao Paulo as he recovers from a respiratory infection that was aggravated by COVID-19, but his presence can be felt among Brazil’s players and fans, with banners, flags and T-shirts bearing his image.
On the field, Neymar and Co. are serious contenders, beating South Korea 4-1 in the round of 16.
"They are bold, they try one-on-one moves, feints, they are aggressive. It’s impressive," Brazil coach Tite said.
Croatia is an aging team but has the knowhow at the World Cup after reaching the semifinals four years ago.
Netherlands vs. Argentina: Friday, Lusail Stadium
FILE - Lionel Messi of Argentina during a training session on match day -1 at Qatar University on Dec. 8, 2022, in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
Argentina has recovered from one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history and now faces the Netherlands for a place in the semifinals.
For Argentina to win its third World Cup, expect Messi to provide the magic.
The problem is, however, Messi is no longer at his peak — even if his country remains as reliant on him as ever and he has managed to score three goals so far in Qatar.
Argentina’s fans have also played a part in inspiring the team.
"This is a unique moral boost. I’d like (it if) everybody could experience what a player feels when he sees all these people and thinks his country is behind him," Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. "They make you want to go out and celebrate."
The Netherlands has been quietly effective in reaching the quarterfinals, winning Group A and then beating the United States 3-1 in the round of 16.
These teams have plenty of history in the World Cup, with Argentina beating the Netherlands in the final in 1978 and in the semifinals in 2014.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:32
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BERLIN (AP) — German authorities said Friday that judges have confirmed the arrest of 23 people detained earlier this week on suspicion of planning to topple the government, while the extradition of two others detained abroad is being sought.
Prosecutors said 22 German citizens and a Russian woman detained in a series of raids across Germany on Wednesday have appeared before a federal court for their arraignment and will remain in custody as the investigation into the case continues.
Extradition proceedings have been initiated in the case of two others, identified only as Maximilian E. and Frank H., who were detained in Italy and Austria respectively, prosecutors said.
German authorities described the suspects as being part of the far-right Reich Citizens movement. Its adherents deny the legitimacy of the present-day German constitution and government, claiming instead that the German empire, or Reich, of 1871 still exists.
The plotters allegedly wanted to install Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, a 71-year-old businessman, as the head of a new government. Although Germany abolished any formal role for royalty over a century ago, he continues to use the title of “prince” due to his descent from the formerly noble House of Reuss.
The case has also put a spotlight once more on the far-right Alternative for Germany party. One of its former lawmakers, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, was among those arrested. A Berlin judge, she was tapped to become justice minister if the coup succeeded, prosecutors said.
While the party, known by its German acronym AfD, has denounced the plot, rival politicians have called for its links with the Reich Citizens movement to be investigated.
Bavaria's governor Markus Soeder said Friday that Germany's domestic intelligence agency should step up its surveillance of AfD. Lars Klingbeil, the general-secretary of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party, accused AfD of being the “parliamentary interface for hatred, incitement and violence.”
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:39
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:39
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:45
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TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Justice Ministry disclosed Friday that more than 20 prison guards had repeatedly pushed, slapped and used other forms of physical violence against a group of inmates at a prison in central Japan, raising questions about the extent of prison abuse in the country.
Justice Minister Ken Saito said the assaults at Nagoya Prison were discovered in August when a prison guard spotted an inmate with an eye injury.
An internal probe found that 22 prison officials routinely slapped some inmates in the face, pushed them in the chest, sprayed alcohol in their faces, and threw dishes and other objects at them. The victims included the one with the eye injury.
When correcting the behavior of inmates, prison officials need to consider their human rights, and "actions like these are unforgivable,” Saito told reporters. He expressed “deep regret” on behalf of the ministry.
Saito said the assaults were especially problematic because fatal bullying at the same prison two decades ago had prompted prison reforms. In 2001, a prison guard used a firefighting hose to shoot water at the rear of an inmate, causing rectal rupture and an infection resulting in death. A year later, five prison guards were charged with assault over their use of a restraining device that resulted in the death of two inmates and the injury of a third.
While the internal probe continues at the prison, Saito said he ordered an investigation by outside experts, as well as a survey of prisons across the country.
The prison officials were in their 20s and 30s, and most had less than three years of experience, he said.
Japanese prisons are known for strict discipline and a lack of access to outside exercise or medical care. Japan also faces criticism over its lack of transparency in carrying out capital punishment.
Saito said the ministry will step up human rights education for prison officials.
In recent years, cases of inhumane treatment of foreigners, especially those from developing nations, at detention facilities have raised criticism from human rights groups.
The death last year of a Sri Lankan woman who was held in a detention center in Nagoya for overstaying her visa prompted her relatives to demand an investigation. Accounts by witnesses and information about her health condition suggested she was largely abandoned without adequate medical treatment.
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:51
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| 2022-12-09T14:38:57
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BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese actress with links to the country’s controversial Central Bank governor was arrested on Friday, a judicial official and the state-run new agency said.
The development is the latest in the controversy surrounding the governor, Riad Salameh, who is being investigated for corruption as an economic meltdown and financial collapse convulse the tiny Mediterranean nation.
According to the National News Agency, a judge, acting on the request by Lebanon’s top financial prosecutor, ordered that Stephanie Saliba be placed in custody after she showed up earlier in the day at the prosecutors office in Beirut for questioning. The report gave no reason for her arrest.
A judicial official said investigative Judge Iman Abdullah questioned Saliba over “illicit enrichment and money laundering.” The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, did not give further details.
Salameh is being investigated in several European nations, including Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein, for potential money laundering and embezzlement. He has repeatedly denied corruption charges.
Reports in Lebanese media say the governor gave Saliba expensive gifts.
Earlier this week, Ghada Aoun, an investigative judge at Mount Lebanon district court who has been investigating Salameh, issued a search warrant for Saliba's home as part of her investigation of the governor.
Aoun refused to comment on the case when contacted by The Associated Press on Friday, saying only: “I did not issue the arrest warrant. I know nothing.”
Since 2019, Lebanon has been in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country’s political class.
Many hold the 72-year-old Salameh responsible for the crisis, citing policies that drove up national debt and caused the Lebanese pound to lose 90% of its value against the dollar. The Central Bank governor, who has held the post for the past three decades, still enjoys the backing of top politicians.
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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for six bank robberies in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, taking more than $25,000 total.
Eric Mohan, 48, received a 57-month federal prison sentence on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to the crimes in September.
Prosecutors said in February, Mohan first robbed a Triangle Credit Union in Manchester, New Hampshire using a demand note. He robbed a Salem Five Bank in Tewksbury, Massachusetts twice, an Align Credit Union in Danvers, and then two other credit unions in New Hampshire.
He was arrested in April after the Federal Bureau of Investigation had identified his vehicle and tracked him to a credit union in New Hampshire. Prosecutors said while being arrested, Mohan dropped a bag containing more than $10,000 and a demand note.
Mohan's lawyer had asked for a four-year prison sentence, saying the robberies were motivated by “a desperate drug addiction" that Mohan has sought treatment for. He has completed spiritual and therapeutic counseling programs.
The lawyer said Mohan, a former teacher, has requested additional substance abuse rehabilitation and mental health counseling services.
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| 2022-12-09T14:39:04
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The move by House Democratic leaders to fast-track a defense policy bill without tackling voting rights has ruffled some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who saw the must-pass Pentagon package as their last best chance to address election protections for several years to come.
The critics are grumbling that party leaders simply haven’t been aggressive enough in efforts to force the Senate to adopt the various voting rights bills passed by the House this Congress. Some are also suggesting that leadership has taken their support for granted.
“It seems like the Black caucus has always supported leadership in what it’s tried to do, but leadership of this caucus hasn’t returned the favor, always,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a member of both the Black caucus and the liberal “squad.” He added, “And so now we’re in a precarious position where voting rights will continue to be under attack — state to state — will continue to be gutted.”
At issue was the fate of legislation — named after the civil rights icon and late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) — to restore those parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act nullified by the Supreme Court in 2013. House Democrats had passed the bill this Congress, but it was blocked in the Senate, where GOP support is needed to overcome the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold.
In an effort to break through that resistance, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), the head of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), had pressed Democratic leaders this week to pair the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — an annual, must-pass bill governing Pentagon spending — with the John Lewis bill. And as leverage, members of the CBC had threatened to vote against the rule underlying the NDAA unless the election reforms were somehow attached.
Because House Republicans, as a rule, vote against Democratic rules even if they support the bills themselves, the CBC opposition would have likely stopped the popular, bipartisan defense bill in its tracks.
“OK, you want the NDAA to pass? You need our support on that,” said Bowman, describing the strategy. “We need your support on voting rights in the Senate. Give us your support.’”
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), another member of the Black caucus, acknowledged the gambit was a long shot, but argued the high stakes justified the effort. The House will revert to Republican control in January, likely putting any voting rights push on ice for at least two years.
“This is our last opportunity to do something. So the thinking is that we’ll take it as far as we can to try to get it passed,” Johnson said.
“The fundamental right to vote transcends our yearly NDAA authorization. Both are important, but to Black people on the precipice of possibly being denied the full and fair opportunity to vote by a right-right, extremist, MAGA Supreme Court — I mean, we’re looking at that,” he continued. “That hurts us more than Congress’s inability to pass an NDAA.”
The CBC’s pressure campaign put Democratic leaders in a bind: The House couldn’t pass the NDAA rule without the voting rights provision, but the Senate would reject the NDAA unless the election reforms were gone.
In response, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her leadership team used a procedural gambit, known as the suspension calendar, allowing the NDAA to get a vote on the floor without a rule. Because an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in both parties supported the NDAA, they bet it could win the two-thirds majority required of suspension votes.
They were right.
The measure passed easily Thursday afternoon, by a tally of 350 to 80. Most CBC members supported the bill, including Beatty, who took a victory lap for highlighting the voting rights issue as a final act of her tenure at the top of the CBC.
“Our efforts were never about stopping the NDAA but standing up for voting rights that have been under attack by Republicans,” Beatty said in a statement.
Still, the effort delayed the vote on the NDAA, which was initially scheduled to hit the floor Wednesday night, and irked a number of Democratic lawmakers — leaders and rank-and-file members alike — who were hoping for a smooth vote on a popular defense bill.
“Everybody wants to see if they can change things at the last minute,” a frustrated Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), chair of the Rules Committee, said Wednesday night amid the impasse.
Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) was even more blunt.
“My sense is a lot of people are hitting their heads against the wall on this one,” he said.
Still, many CBC members defended Beatty’s efforts, noting that the very same day she forced the NDAA delay, the Supreme Court was weighing yet another high-profile election case that could grant state legislators broad powers to set voting rules — and have outsized consequences for minority voters. Most trained their criticisms on Senate Republicans for blocking the John Lewis bill and other voter protections.
“The Senate of this time will be known to have stood in the way of righteous legislation that would assure less voter suppression in our great country,” said Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), another CBC member. “Until we pass it, we have a duty to use all lawful and procedural methodologies available to us to get it done.”
In the eyes of liberals like Bowman, however, much of the blame falls on Democratic leaders, who have leaned heavily on the CBC to pass major parts of President Biden’s agenda — notably, Beatty helped break the impasse over a massive infrastructure bill last year — while top CBC priorities like voting rights and police reform have languished in the Senate. He’s hoping the group plays hardball in the next Congress.
“This has been a consistent back-and-forth with leadership throughout this Congress, right? It’s been asking the CBC to get its back,” Bowman said. “So we just, as a caucus, have to flex our muscles a bit and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to support bill X, Y or Z if we don’t get concessions on things that are most important to our community and to the country.”
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https://fox4kc.com/hill-politics/fizzling-voting-rights-push-angers-black-lawmakers/
| 2022-12-09T14:39:08
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| 0.971902
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-york-giants/articles/41810494
| 2022-12-09T14:39:09
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| 0.738227
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(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Abby Kiesa, Tufts University
(THE CONVERSATION) The November 2022 midterms have come and gone, but there are still some potential lasting implications that could influence the next election season.
One is that young people, aged 18 to 29, had one of the highest voter turnouts in a midterm election in recent history, according to our early analysis.
Specifically, an estimated 27% of eligible voters in that age group turned out to the polls in 2022, according to research by my team at CIRCLE – a research group at Tufts University focused on youth civic engagement. This marks only the second time in the last 30 years that more than 1 in 4 voters under 30 voted in a midterm cycle. In 2018, approximately 31% of young people voted.
It was young people’s support for Democratic candidates, specifically, that led them to have a major impact on elections in key states this year. Their votes were influential or outright decisive in several close races won by Democrats, such as Nevada’s senate election. The same was true in the Georgia senate and Arizona gubernatorial races.
Voter turnout across all age groups tends to be significantly lower in midterm elections than in presidential elections.
Young people, though, have historically voted at even lower rates than older adults in general. This trend has begun to change, with double-digit increases in youth turnout between 2014 and 2018 and between 2016 and 2020.
As a scholar of young people’s participation in democracy, I think the youth vote in 2022 underscores much of what works to increase young people’s electoral participation.
More registration, more votes
For starters, there was higher youth voter registration in 2022 than in 2018 in many states, including Michigan, Nevada and Kansas. Young political and civic leaders and voters also connected to issues that affect their lives – like abortion rights – in this election.
These trends also highlight what could help lessen ongoing challenges to get more young people to vote. There are voting laws, for example, that make it easier to register and vote.
What happened in November 2022
The overall 27% youth turnout rate is only one part of the story.
This was the 10th election cycle in a row in which 18- to 29-year-olds supported Democratic House candidates by at least a 10-point margin, according to CIRCLE’s analysis of the Edison Research data.
This year, young voters preferred Democratic House candidates by a 28-point margin. Youth of color, young women and LGBTQ youth supported Democrats by an even wider margin.
Young voters’ preference at the polls was markedly different from that of other age groups. Nationally, voters ages 30 to 44 preferred House Democrats by only 4 percentage points, and voters over the age of 65 preferred House Republicans by more than 10 points.
Why did it happen
Many reporters have asked me and my colleagues who contributed to this article – including Alberto Medina, CIRCLE’s communications team lead, and Ruby Belle Booth, CIRCLE’s elections coordinator – why youth voter turnout dropped in 2022 below the 2018 levels.
Throughout 2022, there were some signs that youth participation in the midterms would be relatively strong, including the number of young people already registered to vote. However, in that same analysis, my colleagues and I found that voter registration among 18- and 19-year-olds was lagging compared to 2018.
Supporting these young people to vote remains an enduring challenge.
Many campaigns and organizations rely on the existing voter rolls and other lists of registered voters to conduct outreach, so they often miss these potential new voters. That’s compounded by another issue: Young people are less inclined than other voters to identify or register with a political party.
Politics is personal
Instead, many young people approach politics based on the issues they care about.
In 2018, for example, the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, which killed 17 people, led more young people to vote for candidates they felt would do more to curb gun violence.
A number of high-profile climate change protests in 2020 also appeared to boost youth voter turnout that year.
In 2020, many young voters focused on racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, following the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. That spurred considerable political engagement, like participating in public protests, that connected to a major increase in youth voter turnout between 2016 and 2020.
In 2022, young people continued to push for change on issues they consider personal, like climate change, gun violence and racial justice.
And after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, abortion rose to the top of young people’s issues of concern.
While nearly 3 in 4 young people said they favor legal abortion, both young people who are for and against abortion rights said this was a top issue for them.
Our analysis of exit poll data found that young voters were the only age group to cite abortion as their top reason for voting. Other groups of voters over 30 said that inflation was their top priority.
Implications for 2024 and beyond
Millions more young people born after 1996 will reach voting age by 2024. Their political power will only grow in the years to come, while those over the age of 65 will make up a declining share of the population and the electorate.
What that shift means for election results will depend on how political parties and other political and civic groups engage young people.
In recent years, most young people have voted for Democrats. This is a shift from just 20 years ago, when voters under 30 split their vote fairly evenly between Democrat and Republican candidates.
But Republicans lag behind Democrats when it comes to directly communicating with young people. Just less than 1 in 3 people aged 18 to 29 said they heard from the Republican Party or the Donald Trump campaign in the month before Election Day in 2020. Half of young people, conversely, said they heard from the Democratic Party or Joe Biden’s campaign.
There are other actions and policies that could get more people under 30 to the polls.
Preregistration, which allows young people to register to vote at age 16 so they’re ready to cast a ballot once they turn 18, can increase youth turnout, but it’s only available in 16 states. Other policies and efforts by election administrators to get more young people to vote can vary widely across states, leading to major differences in participation. In 2020, youth turnout varied from 32% in South Dakota to 67% in New Jersey.
Young people’s estimated 27% turnout rate in 2022 marks a near-record for an age group that has historically participated at lower rates in midterm elections. Whether this is a long-term trend or not will depend on whether communities and political groups implement the changes that research suggests can lead to sustained increases in youth voter turnout.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/near-record-high-numbers-of-young-people-voted-during-the-midterms-signaling-a-possible-shift-or-exception-in-voting-trends-194957.
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https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Near-record-high-numbers-of-young-people-voted-17642464.php
| 2022-12-09T14:39:10
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| 0.965199
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Democrats lost control of the House but expanded their Senate majority, giving them greater power to issue subpoenas that party senators say they plan to use to investigate price gouging and other inequities in corporate America.
Democratic committee and subcommittee chairs say they plan to call on corporations to provide more information about how they price prescription drugs, health insurance plans and other goods and services that have soared in cost in recent years.
They also plan to grill corporate executives over their private discussions about how respond to climate change and over how they use customers’ personal information.
And they will demand answers on corporate efforts to crack down on misinformation and inappropriate content targeted toward minors across social media platforms.
“It’s going to mean that our committees will have greater oversight ability, subpoena power,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) told reporters this week of expanding the Democratic majority to 51 seats.
“Subpoena power can deal with corporate corruption and inequities and other problems throughout the country,” he said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is expected to become the next chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says he plans to launch investigations into several industries, with a special focus on what he says is price gouging in the pharmaceutical drug industry.
“We are working on our priorities right now but it goes without saying that the committee has broad jurisdiction over health, labor, education and we are and will be prepared to take on very powerful special interests who are ripping off the American people,” he told The Hill.
Sanders said he’ll have more power to dig up information about corporate pricing practices and argued that Congress has not done enough on the issue.
“We pay twice as much per capita as other countries for health care, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. The oil companies are making record-breaking profits, ripping us off. So I think there’s a lot to be looked at in those areas,” he said.
Fellow leading liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said that she’s “still working on the list” of industries to investigate, adding she has a “wide range.”
“We now have more tools for oversight,” she said. “We have less room to pass legislation because of the loss of the House, but sharper oversight tools in the Senate.”
Warren predicted that corporate CEOs will be more willing to comply with Senate Democratic requests for information knowing they may otherwise face a subpoena and a day in court.
“Even when we ask politely for the CEOs and billionaires to show up, everyone now knows it’s backed up with the possibility of getting a subpoena,” she said.
The serious consequences of failing to comply with a congressional subpoena were underscored this summer when Trump adviser Stephen Bannon was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to appear for a deposition and refusing to produce documents, despite a subpoena.
He was sentenced to four months in prison.
On most Senate committees, the chairs and ranking minority members have standing authority to issue subpoenas but they must use it jointly.
If a ranking member refuses to go along with a chair’s subpoena request, it requires a majority vote of the committee to issue a demand for testimony or documents.
Under the current organization of the Senate, where the number of seats on each committee are evenly divided, it has been very difficult for any Democratic chairs to muster enough votes to override a Republican ranking member who balks at a subpoena.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees, said that members of his party were “straight-jacketed” over the past two years because of the limits posed by the evenly divided Senate.
“We couldn’t even think seriously about using investigative tools,” he said.
That will change in January.
“We’re not just going to issue subpoenas willy-nilly without good cause because we want to maintain the credibility of the power and the process, and there may be challenges in court,” Blumenthal.
“I would anticipate it will be focused and strategic,” he said.
Blumenthal, who is in line to become chairman of the Commerce panel’s Consumer Production and Product Safety Subcommittee, said he has conducted hearings on Big Tech companies driving “toxic content” to kids, but didn’t have teeth to back up his queries.
“There was some cooperation from Big Tech companies but we had no access to documents or even perhaps key witnesses that we might have had through subpoena power,” he said.
Blumenthal says he wants to look more closely into what he called the “fiasco” of Ticketmaster’s sale of Taylor Swift tour tickets, when fans were locked out of the opportunity to buy tickets, suffered a variety of glitches or had to wait for hours without getting anything. Some floor seats wound up being offered for more than $10,000 and even $20,000 dollars.
“That merger is under investigation or Ticketmaster is by the Department of Justice but we have a responsibility to oversee the potential misuse of monopolistic power and abuses like holding back tickets and selling to scalpers,” Blumenthal said, referring to the merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who is in line to become chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he’s interested in investigating what energy company companies are saying about climate change behind closed doors and how their private strategy deliberations may diverge radically from their company’s public message about trying to stem global warming.
“I think the House has already done some good work on the oil and gas industry and has obtained a lot of documents showing the discrepancy between the external voices of the industry and what they say when they’re talking to each other internally. I think we can continue to work on that for sure,” Whitehouse said.
“They talk green and when they think nobody is listening, the real industry position emerges,” he said.
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https://fox4kc.com/hill-politics/senate-democrats-gear-up-for-battle-with-corporate-america/
| 2022-12-09T14:39:14
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| 0.970896
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-york-giants/articles/41810512
| 2022-12-09T14:39:16
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| 0.738227
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https://sportspyder.com/nfl/new-york-giants/articles/41810513
| 2022-12-09T14:39:22
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| 0.738227
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Lawmakers are digging in their heels in a high-stakes, end-of-the-year spending tug-of-war, with only a week now left before a government shutdown deadline.
While leading negotiators say they’ve been exchanging topline figures for a potential omnibus funding bill that many are still optimistic could pass this month, members say it’s becoming clearer that negotiations will likely need to extend beyond the current Dec. 16 deadline.
Negotiators have speculated leaders will try to bring up a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), potentially extending funding at fiscal 2022 funding levels through Dec. 23 to keep the government running amid ongoing talks.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, are openly calling for a CR into next year, seeking to punt the action until their party control the House.
But some are shooting for an earlier cutoff date to apply pressure as leaders race to put a bow on fiscal 2023 funding before Christmas.
“When I’m talking about very short-term CR, I never see the value in one week,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said on Thursday. “I always think you should go in three-day increments just to keep the pressure up.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), vice-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told reporters on Thursday that he thinks leaders will decide on a CR that will at least fund the government through sometime in the current session. But whether they will stack the date against the weekend of Christmas Eve or even closer to Dec. 30 remains unclear.
“I think there’s gonna be more of a sense of urgency as the clock ticks,” Shelby said.
Democrats have been unified in pressing for an omnibus before the end of the year, rather than passing a CR through sometime in the next Congress, when they’ll have to tangle with a Republican-controlled lower chamber.
Democratic negotiators also say they’re set to release new funding plans as early as next week that they claim are designed to attract GOP support to get the ball rolling.
“We’ve been busy at work writing a bill designed to get Republican votes,” Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security Chair Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters on Wednesday.
But House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) wouldn’t say much on Thursday as to whether leaders plan to bring the legislation up for a vote next week.
“We’ll see where we go with that,” she told, though she reiterated that Democrats “crafted the omnibus considering what the Republican priorities are.”
However, negotiators on both sides say the legislation has largely been crafted without GOP input, as they say Republican negotiators have been instructed not to engage in the process in lieu of a larger topline agreement.
And the plans are already fueling skepticism among Republicans ahead of their expected release.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), an appropriator, poured cold water on the effort on Thursday, telling The Hill: “I think anytime that you craft a bill or series of bills that don’t have bipartisan support to begin with, I think it’s a waste of exercise.”
“It’s going nowhere. It might come out of the House, but it’s going nowhere in the Senate,” Shelby told reporters, writing off such bills as “absolutely” a waste of time.
But Democrats drafting the funding pitch are hopeful Republicans will be receptive to them.
“This is not designed to be some sort of gotcha. We think we’re getting closer and closer and so it shouldn’t be viewed through the lens of this being some sort of setup,” said Schatz, who heads the appropriations subpanel for transportation and housing.
“This is not going to end up being some wish list of Democratic priorities. This is a balanced proposal,” he argued.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is among the Republicans calling for a delay until they have House control. Cruz said last week that Congress should pass a CR that runs “until early next year” – a move he said would allow the newly elected Congress to “enact the priorities that the voters elected them to enact.”
A stopgap measure freezing funding levels past Jan. 3 would allow Republicans significantly more influence in shaping government funding, but Democrats say it would also raise the risk of shutdown in a further divided Congress.
But other Republicans haven’t given up on an omnibus, citing concerns for defense and national security. GOP appropriators pushing for an omnibus also say it would allow the next Congress a fresh start to hash out fiscal 2024 appropriations, while pointing to the coming retirements Shelby and Senate Appropriations Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).
Boozman said of the biggest hold-ups negotiators say is preventing an agreement is a roughly $25 billion gap between what Democrats and Republicans say they want for discretionary spending.
“First thing we’ve got to do is agree on the number. So, we’ve agreed on defense,” Boozman said. But when it comes to discretionary spending, he said Democrats are “going to have to come down or I don’t see us getting a deal.”
At the same time, Democrats say they’re preparing for a full-year CR — an option neither side wants — as conservatives turn up the heat on GOP leadership to gun for a short-term one to next Congress.
“Our preference is an omnibus. That’s what the country needs,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), another appropriator, told The Hill. But if lawmakers fail to strike a larger funding deal before the next Congress begins, Hollen said Democrats would push for a CR “that goes through the remainder of the fiscal year.”
“Rather than something that ends up in January, where House Republicans decide to play games to shut down the government,” he added.
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https://fox4kc.com/hill-politics/the-clock-ticks-congress-races-to-resolve-high-stakes-spending-tug-of-war/
| 2022-12-09T14:39:21
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| 0.958236
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