Obituaries In Burlington, IA | The Hawk Eye https://digitalalabamanews.com/obituaries-in-burlington-ia-the-hawk-eye/
Donald Lee Reeder, 90, of Burlington, died Monday, September 26, 2022, at the Northcrest Community retirement center in Ames.
Born March 21, 1932, in Keokuk, IA, he was the son of Leslie R. and Evangeline Youngmeyer Reeder. On December 30, 1951, he married Lerita Pence in Lomax, IL, who passed away on May 12, 2000.
In 1950, he graduated from La Harpe High School, then attended Monmouth College.
Donald worked for Northwestern Bell telephone companies for over 40 years, with long service as President of Local #7181 of the Communications Workers of America. After his retirement, he worked as a transportation officer for the Des Moines County Sheriff Department. He was a member of the Burlington Police Reserves and the Eagles club.
He enjoyed restoring the family’s 1954 Ford ¾ ton pickup and two early Case tractors, proudly driving them in shows in Southeast Iowa and West Central Illinois. He was a lifelong fan of the Illinois State Fair. Donald and Lerita together served for many years as scout boat pilots for MADRAC’s annual Dubuque to Burlington canoe trip. A special passion was decades of taking his children and grandchildren to Goodrich Lake in Minnesota. His children, grandchildren, and great-grand-children were the delights of his life.
Survivors include two daughters, Lori J. (Monte) Asbury of Washington, IA and Shari J. Albee of Ames, IA; son, Philip L. Reeder of Burlington; six grandchildren, Hannah J. (Jimmie) Horton, Benjamin P. Asbury, Lucas L. Asbury, Michael J. Albee, Matthew D. (Lindsay) Albee and Megan J. (Zachary) Miles; six great-grandchildren, Colten, Ellie, Sam, Jasper, Clara, Zorion, and one great-grandson on the way; three half great-grandchildren, Tucker, Nikole, and Kayden; brother, Carl Reeder of Ankeny, IA; and two sisters, Judy (Doug) Mabry of Huntsville, AL and Linda Sadler of Burlington.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife of 48 years.
The Graveside Committal Service for Mr. Reeder will be 4:00 PM Sunday, October 2, 2022 at Crane Cemetery near Lomax, IL.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established for Hope Haven.
Prugh Funeral Service is in care of the arrangements.
Condolences can be sent to the family by visiting Donald’s obituary at www.prughfuneral.com.
Posted online on September 28, 2022
Published in The Hawk Eye
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GMS Racing NCWTS Race Preview: Talladega Superspeedway
GMS Racing NCWTS Race Preview: Talladega Superspeedway https://digitalalabamanews.com/gms-racing-ncwts-race-preview-talladega-superspeedway/
Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST
Talladega Superspeedway Stats
NCWTS Starts: 8, Wins: 1 (2016), Best start: 2nd, Top 5s: 2, Top 10s: 3, Laps led: 96
ARCA Starts: 6, Poles: 1 (2014), Best finish: 3rd (2009), Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 3, Laps led: 89
2022 NCWTS Season Stats
Starts: 20, Wins: 1 (IRP), Best start: 3rd, Top 5s: 7, Top 10s: 11, Laps led: 44, Current points position: 7th
— About Champion Power Equipment: Since 2003 Champion Power Equipment has earned a reputation for designing and producing the market’s finest power equipment. From our original headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California, Champion has expanded its North American footprint to include facilities in Jackson, Tennessee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Toronto Canada. Today, Champion’s product line has expanded to include portable generators, home standby generators, inverter generators, engines, winches and log splitters. With over 2.5 million generators sold in North America, Champion is a market leader in the power equipment field. Visit ChampionPowerEquipment.com for more information.
Chassis History/Info: Enfinger and the No. 23 team will compete with chassis no. 141 at Talladega Superspeedway. This Chevrolet made its on-track debut in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, where Grant ran inside the Top-10 for the majority of the event before getting swept up in a crash coming to the white flag. Saturday’s race will mark the first time that this chassis has raced at ‘Dega.
Sweet Home Alabama: Every time the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rolls into Talladega, hometown fans have Grant Enfinger on pinned high on their list to cheer for. Enfinger, who grew up in nearby Fairhope, AL, has had plenty of memorable moments at his home track. In 2010, Enfinger made his first career NCWTS start at the 2.66-mile super speedway, and in 2016, he earned his first career victory in the series driving for GMS Racing. You’d better believe that this track is one of his favorite stops of the season!
Trackside Appearances: Fans attending Saturday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 will have a chance to meet the hometown hero on race day at the NASCAR Trackside Live stage where he will be participating in a Q&A session from 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM local time.
Breast Cancer Awareness: As part of a team tradition, Grant Enfinger will be honoring several women who have been affected by breast cancer with pink ribbons lining his No. 23 Chevrolet at Talladega. The women highlighted are family members of GMS Racing employees directly associated with his team.
FearTheFinger Playoffs Profile: One race down, two left to go in the Round of 8 for the NCWTS playoffs. Grant and the No. 23 team have been on a hot streak since the start of the postseason, posting four Top-5 finishes in four races including a win in the opening round at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Entering Talladega, the veteran is seeded in seventh position in the points standings, currently 15 points below the cutline. - GE Quote: Enfinger ‘s thoughts on racing at his home track during the Round of 8:
“Talladega is always a special place for me, so I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a while. Jeff Hensley and the guys have our Champion Power Equipment Chevy as prepared as we can possibly be. Speedway racing is always chaotic, but hopefully we have the speed and make the right decisions to get some valuable stage points and contend for a win. Roll Tide!”
Jack Wood, No. 24 Logitech G Chevrolet Silverado RST
Talladega Superspeedway Stats
NCWTS Starts: 1, Best start: 24th, Best finish: 40th (2021)
ARCA Starts: 1, Best start: 12th, Best finish: 11th (2021)
2022 NCWTS Season Stats
Starts: 20, Best start: 10th, Best finish: 13th (Atlanta), Current points position: 23rd
Game On: Earlier this week, GMS Racing officials announced a two-race primary sponsorship with Logitech G on Jack Wood’s No. 24 Chevrolet. One of the most iconic brands in the esports industry will be promoted by Wood at the next two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Talladega Superspeedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
About Logitech G: Logitech G, a brand of Logitech International, is the global leader in PC and console gaming gear. Logitech G provides gamers of all levels with industry-leading keyboards, mice, headsets, mousepads, and simulation products such as wheels and flight sticks – made possible through innovative design, advanced technologies, and a deep passion for gaming. Founded in 1981, and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI). Find Logitech G at logitechG.com, the company blog or @LogitechG.
Logitech and other Logitech marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Logitech Europe S.A and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries.
Chassis History/Info: Wood and the No. 24 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 127 on Saturday afternoon. Having raced at the plate tracks since 2016, this Silverado RST has always shown speed on the high banks. In nine previous races, this chassis has finished in the Top-10 four times, including a pair of second place finishes at Talladega with Spencer Gallagher and at Daytona with Justin Haley.
Breast Cancer Awareness: As part of a team tradition, Jack Wood will be honoring several women who have been affected by breast cancer with pink ribbons lining his No. 24 Chevrolet at Talladega. The women highlighted are family members of GMS Racing employees directly associated with his team. - JW Quote: Wood’s thoughts on super speedway racing in the Truck Series:
“There are a lot of unknown variables that come along with super speedway racing, but I think Talladega provides us with a great opportunity to capitalize. I wasn’t able to get much experience racing in the pack there last season as we had a mechanical failure, but I learned a lot earlier this year at Daytona and Atlanta that I look forward to using this weekend. Our main goal has to be all about surviving, so if we can avoid ‘the big one’ and put ourselves in a good spot to be there when it counts, that is going to pay huge dividends. I’m looking forward to taking on this challenge with my No. 24 Logitech Silverado RST.”
ABOUT GMS RACING:
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series operating the No. 23 and the No. 24 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs, as well as the ARCA Menards Series with the No. 43 Chevrolet SS. Since the team was formed in 2012, GMS Racing has won five titles across multiple series, including the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, the 2015 ARCA Menards Series championship, as well as the 2019 & 2020 ARCA Menards Series East championships. GMS has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. including operations for GMS Fabrication. The GMS Racing campus also houses operations for Petty GMS, a two car full-time NASCAR Cup Series team formed in 2021.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow GMS Racing on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall In Southwest Florida As Category 4 Storm
Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall In Southwest Florida As Category 4 Storm https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-ian-makes-landfall-in-southwest-florida-as-category-4-storm/
Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday in southwest Florida as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the U.S.Here’s the latest on Hurricane Ian: Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa around 3:05 p.m. ET as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.As of 5 p.m. ET, Ian has maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and is moving north northeast at 8 mph. Ian was located 5 miles east of Punta Gorda, Florida, and 120 miles south-southwest of Orlando as of 5 p.m. ET. More than 1 million homes and businesses were without electricity, and Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without powerThe NHC said Ian is battering the Florida peninsula with catastrophic storm surge, winds and flooding The center of Ian is forecast to move across central Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning and emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday.Hurricane Ian knocked out Cuba’s power grid and work is underway to restore service to the country’s 11 million people.Watch live video coverage above from sister station WESH in Orlando.Live storm coverage is also available for free on your connected TV from Very Local. Download the app hereTracking Ian: The latest cone, models and satellite imagesLATEST CONELATEST MODELSLATEST SATELLITEIan makes landfall in Florida The hurricane’s center struck Wednesday afternoon near Cayo Costa, a protected barrier island just west of heavily populated Fort Myers. The massive storm was expected to trigger flooding across a wide area of Florida as it crawls northeastward across the peninsula.The Category 4 storm slammed the coast with 150 mph winds and pushed a wall of storm surge accumulated during its slow march over the Gulf of Mexico. Ian’s windspeed at landfall tied it for the fifth-strongest hurricane to strike the U.S., along with several other storms. Among them was Hurricane Charley, which hit almost the same spot on Florida’s coast in August 2004, killing 10 people and inflicting $14 billion in damage.Ian made landfall more than 100 miles south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing the densely populated Tampa Bay area from its first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921. Officials warned residents that Tampa could still experience powerful winds and up to 20 inches of rain.Isolated tornadoes spun off the storm well ahead of landfall. One tornado damaged small planes and a hangar at the North Perry Airport, west of Hollywood along the Atlantic coast. Impacts in Florida More than 1 million homes and businesses were without electricity, and Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without power.In Naples, the first floor of a fire station was inundated with about 3 feet of water and firefighters worked to salvage gear from a firetruck stuck outside the garage in even deeper water, a video posted by the Naples Fire Department showed. Naples is in Collier County, where the sheriff’s department reported on Facebook that it was getting “a significant number of calls of people trapped by water in their homes” and that it would prioritize reaching people “reporting life threatening medical emergencies in deep water.” Details about IanThough expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it marched inland at about 9 mph, Hurricane Ian’s hurricane-force winds were likely to be felt well into central Florida.Before making its way through the Gulf of Mexico to Florida, Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane Tuesday, killing two people and bringing down the country’s electrical grid.The center of the massive Category 4 storm lingered offshore for hours, which was likely to mean more rain and damage from a hurricane that was trudging on a track that would have it making landfall north of the heavily populated Fort Myers area. Catastrophic storm surges could push 12 to 18 feet of water across more than 250 miles of coastline, from Bonita Beach to Englewood, forecasters warned.Fueled by warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Ian grew to a Category 4 hurricane overnight with top winds of 155 mph, on the threshold of the most dangerous Category 5 status, according to the National Hurricane Center.Florida braces for catastrophic damageAbout 2.5 million people were ordered to evacuate southwest Florida before the storm hit. Off the coast on Sanibel Island, just south of where Ian made landfall, traffic cameras hours earlier showed swirling water that flooded streets and was halfway up mailbox posts. Seawater rushed out of Tampa Bay as the storm approached, leaving parts of the muddy bottom exposed, and waves crashed over the end of a wooden pier at Naples.Ian had strengthened rapidly overnight, prompting Fort Myers handyman Tom Hawver to abandon his plan to weather the hurricane at home and head across the state to Fort Lauderdale.”We were going to stay and then just decided when we got up, and they said 155 mph winds,” Hawver said. “We don’t have a generator. I just don’t see the advantage of sitting there in the dark, in a hot house, watching water come in your house.” Video below: Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida, tracks into North Carolina this weekendFlorida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore.Some chose to stay and ride out the storm. Jared Lewis, a Tampa delivery driver, said his home has withstood hurricanes in the past, though not as powerful as Ian.”It is kind of scary, makes you a bit anxious,” Lewis said. “After the last year of not having any, now you go to a Category 4 or 5. We are more used to the 2s and 3s.”Video below: Key West rain Tuesday morning from Hurricane Ian Emergency response at the readyBarely an hour after the massive storm trudged ashore, a coastal sheriff’s office reported that it was already getting a significant number of calls from people trapped in homes. Flash floods were possible across all of Florida. Hazards include the polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons of slightly radioactive waste contained in enormous ponds that could overflow in heavy rains.Isolated tornadoes spun off the storm well ahead of landfall. One tornado damaged small planes and a hangar at the North Perry Airport, west of Hollywood along the Atlantic coast.More than 450,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, and Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without power.The federal government sent 300 ambulances with medical teams and was ready to truck in 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water once the storm passes.Gov. DeSantis issues warning Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams, and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.Catastrophic storm surges could push as much as 12 to 18 feet of water over a nearly 100-mile stretch of coastline, from Bonita Beach north through Fort Myers and Charlotte Harbor to Englewood, the hurricane center warned. Rainfall near the area of landfall could top 18 inches.”It’s time to hunker down and prepare for the storm,” DeSantis said. “Do what you need to do to stay safe. If you are where that storm is approaching, you’re already in hazardous conditions. It’s going to get a lot worse very quickly.”Ongoing closuresAirports in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Key West were closed Wednesday.Walt Disney World announced on Tuesday evening that the parks would be closing due to Hurricane Ian. The parks will be closed Wednesday and Thursday.Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay also announced they will close on Wednesday and Thursday.NASA rolled its moon rocket from the launch pad to its Kennedy Space Center hangar, adding weeks of delay to the test flight.Video below: Space station flies over Hurricane IanPresident Biden declares emergencyAt the White House, President Joe Biden said his administration was sending hundreds of Federal Emergency Management Agency employees to Florida and sought to assure mayors in the storm’s path that Washington will meet their needs. He urged residents to heed to local officials’ orders. The federal government sent 300 ambulances with medical teams and was ready to truck in 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water once the storm passes.“We’ll be there to help you clean up and rebuild, to help Florida get moving again,” Biden said Wednesday. “And we’ll be there every step of the way. That’s my absolute commitment to the people of the state of Florida.”Video below: Hurricane Ian FEMA announcement at White House press briefingBiden previously declared an emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance to protect lives and property. FEMA has strategically positioned generators, millions of meals and millions of liters of water, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.Georgia, South Carolina watch Ian’s pathParts of Georgia and South Carolina also could see flooding rains and some coastal surge into Saturday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp preemptively declared an emergency, ordering 500 National Guard troops on standby to respond as needed.Cuba without electricity after storm hits power gridHurricane Ian knocked out power across all of Cuba and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms when it slammed into the island’s western tip as a major hurricane.Cuba’s Electric Union said work is being done to gradually restore service to the country’s 11 million people between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.Ian made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane early Tuesday. It devastated Pinar del Río provin...
Pa. Election 2022: Shapiro Sets Spending Record Outraises Mastriano In Final Weeks Of Governors Race
Pa. Election 2022: Shapiro Sets Spending Record, Outraises Mastriano In Final Weeks Of Governor’s Race https://digitalalabamanews.com/pa-election-2022-shapiro-sets-spending-record-outraises-mastriano-in-final-weeks-of-governors-race/
State Sen. Doug Mastriano (left) and Attorney General Josh Shapiro (right). Photos by Thomas Hengge and Steven M. Falk | Philadelphia Inquirer
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HARRISBURG — Democrat Josh Shapiro’s campaign spent a staggering $28 million on his bid for Pennsylvania governor over the past three months, eclipsing spending by Republican nominee Doug Mastriano, who has struggled to amass support from high-profile donors despite national attention on the race.
Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, raised $25.4 million between early June and late September, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Much of that total came from state and national groups that work to elect Democrats, as well as private and public unions.
His campaign spent $27.9 million during that same time period, primarily on television ads, printed campaign materials, and other media-related expenses, leaving it with just shy of $11 million in the bank as the race kicks into high gear in the final stretch before the Nov. 8 election.
And with six weeks left until voters go to the polls, Shapiro has already set a state record for a single governor’s race, with $42.7 million in campaign spending. The sum breaks the more than $40 million figure set by former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in the 2002 gubernatorial election.
Mastriano, a far-right state senator from Franklin County, raised $3.1 million, mostly from small donors giving $250 or less. His campaign spent less than $1 million and had $2.5 million left at mid-month.
For the first time, his campaign attracted a smattering of support from donors outside Pennsylvania, including $1 million from the billionaire owners of a Wisconsin shipping supply company and supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The large-scale donations to both candidates underscore the importance of this year’s gubernatorial election, which is being watched nationally as a referendum on nearly every major issue in American politics. The outcome will determine the future of abortion rights, ballot access, and public school funding in the state.
The geyser of money, including multiple six-figure contributions, also puts Pennsylvania’s weak campaign finance law on full display. The state places no limits on the amount of money donors can contribute to campaign committees, and candidates have great latitude when it comes to spending that cash.
Here is a closer look at the candidates’ fundraising and spending between June and September, which became publicly available this week.
Donations big and small
Shapiro’s largest single donor was the Democratic Governors Association, which helps elect Democratic governors and contributed $5.1 million between early June and mid-September. Earlier this year, the group gave Shapiro another $547,500, the money showcasing the national emphasis on keeping Pennsylvania’s top job in Democratic hands when Gov. Tom Wolf leaves office in January.
Shapiro also received millions in donations from the political action committees associated with public and private unions, including $500,000 each from the two parent unions that represent state workers; $156,566 from the union representing Pennsylvania’s public school teachers and another $250,000 from the National Education Association; and $500,000 from the Laborers’ International Union of North America, based in Washington, D.C.
He also received another $500,000 from the political action committee representing trial lawyers in Pennsylvania.
Other notable donations include $500,000 each from New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, and California doctor Jennifer Duda. With her latest check, Duda has given Shapiro a total of $2 million since the start of the campaign.
Shapiro’s campaign also received $120,000 from relatives of Democratic megadonor George Soros.
A number of corporations based in Pennsylvania also donated to Shapiro through their political action committees, including telecom giant Comcast, convenience chain Wawa, and western Pennsylvania insurer Highmark. Executives from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, trucking company Pitt Ohio Express, and Pittsburgh-based language app Duolingo also donated to Shapiro.
On top of all the big money, Shapiro received almost $4.2 million in donations from individuals who donated less than $250 — $1 million more than Mastriano raised all cycle.
The bulk of the Democrat’s nearly $29 million in spending over the past three months was on advertising and digital consulting. The spending underscores the ways Shapiro’s more traditional campaign strategy — which has included holding frequent public events and flooding the airwaves with ads — contrasts Mastriano’s decision to campaign largely to his base. The Republican has run without television ads, and blocked mainstream media from covering campaign events.
Shapiro tapped Grassroots Media LLC, the Bala Cynwyd firm founded by Mike D’Ettorre, who began his political career working on Rendell’s 2002 primary race for governor; RWT Production LLC, which has worked with the Democratic National Committee; and GPS Impact, a Democratic firm that has worked in other swing states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio.
The campaign also spent a considerable amount of cash on salaries and benefits for a big campaign staff, which has more than doubled in size since the primary election. The campaign reported paying salaries to 34 different people — including one of Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s daughters — and stipends to several interns. Most are based in Philadelphia, though the campaign also has staff in Pittsburgh, the Philadelphia suburbs, the Harrisburg area, and a few who live in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Kentucky.
Many people on the payroll have worked on Democratic campaigns before, for politicians like Bloomberg, Casey, now-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania U.S. Rep Conor Lamb, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and President Joe Biden.
Mastriano’s megadonors
Up until this point, Mastirano’s biggest donor had given him only a little more than $100,000 — small change in a statewide campaign — and his reports showed little institutional support from Republican powerbrokers or aligned special interest groups.
His latest filing showed a continuation of that trend.
Mastriano’s single biggest donors were Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, supporters of former President Donald Trump and conservative megadonors from Illinois. The couple made headlines last year for their financial support of one of the groups that participated in the rally that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Mastriano, who also attended the rally and marched on the Capitol, was subpoenaed by Congress’s January 6th committee.
The Uihleins gave Mastriano’s campaign a combined $1 million, roughly a third of his total fundraising in the cycle.
Among the other notable absences were support from the Republican Governors Association, the partisan opposite of Shapiro’s largest donor that also can tap big money support, and a constellation of groups linked to suburban Philadelphia billionaire Jeff Yass.
Yass-backed groups spent millions during the primary against Mastriano, including the Commonwealth Leaders Fund. That PAC reported spending $4.6 million on TV and digital ads between June and September, but none of the spending appeared as an in-kind contribution to Mastriano, according to his campaign finance report.
In the primary, the fund spent millions on ads playing up chosen candidate Bill McSwain’s law enforcement credentials. But in lieu of pro-Mastriano ads, Matt Brouillette, chief executive of the fund, said its recent spending either attacked Shapiro or was spent on state legislative races.
Mastriano referenced the dearth of backing, without naming names, in a Facebook video Wednesday morning, noting that “nationwide Republican organizations … have not been forthcoming in supporting this campaign.” (By Wednesday afternoon, the video was no longer online.)
“Pennsylvanians, if you’re giving money to these national organizations, just know the money is not coming to Pennsylvania,” he said.
Overall, he raised a little less than $175,000 from political action committees — mostly ones run by fellow lawmakers, such as state Sen. Mike Regan (R., Cumberland) and political players like GOP national committeeman Andy Reilly. His lieutenant governor running mate, state Rep. Carrie DelRosso (R., Allegheny), donated $50,000.
Most of Mastriano’s larger contributions came from business owners and executives around the state, including the general manager of an RV company in Mastriano’s home county and the owner and founder of a Cumberland County home improvement company. Each gave Mastriano $50,000.
As previous reports showed, Mastriano’s campaign is propped up by smaller donations. Nearly $420,000 of the $3.1 million he raised in the past three months were from contributions of $250 or less.
Mastriano’s campaign didn’t purchase any TV ads during the reporting period that ran from June 7 to Sept. 19, and paid no formal staff salaries. It spent some of its limited funds on signs and other physical advertising, but most of the money went to an array of conservative consultants, some from Trump’s campaign orbit and others who are political unknowns.
One of those relative unknowns is Mastriano’s campaign manager, Vishal Jetnarayan. He lives in Chambersburg, where Mastriano also lives. In a self-published book, in speaking engage...
Report: Donald Trump An Even More Horrible Bigot Than Previously Thought
Report: Donald Trump An Even More Horrible Bigot Than Previously Thought https://digitalalabamanews.com/report-donald-trump-an-even-more-horrible-bigot-than-previously-thought/
Confidence Man also reveals this charming incident, via Rolling Stone:
It was January of 2017, and a newly inaugurated president Donald Trump held a reception at the White House to meet with top congressional leaders. Hors d’oeuvres were on the menu. And the new president turned to a row of racially diverse Democratic staffers and asked them to retrieve the canapés, according to [the] book.
“Why don’t you get” the food, Trump told staffers for Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Nancy Pelosi, and others…. Then White House chief of staff Reince Priebus rushed to correct Trump’s remark, telling the then president that he’d just addressed top congressional aides before going to find the actual White House waitstaff.
At other times, according to Haberman, Trump would boast to people visiting the White House that he’d had his private White House bathroom redone, which one guest “interpreted…to mean Trump did not want to use the same bathroom as his Black predecessor.”
Of course, Black people were far from the only ones on the receiving end of Trump’s not-at-all-disguised prejudice. According to CNN, the book describes an episode in which Trump was preparing for a 2016 debate, when Priebus, playing the part of a transgender student, asked the then candidate if a trans woman could use a girls’ bathroom.
“I have a question,” Trump said to a room full of people, Haberman recounts. “Cocked or decocked?” After the group responded with blank stares, Haberman writes, Trump made a chopping gesture. “With cock or without cock?” he asked.
Cisgender women were apparently similarly afforded the same level of respect. Per The Daily Beast:
It was…in the ’80s, while he was at a black-tie dinner with his first wife, Ivana Trump, when the topic of Brazilian women came up. “They have so much pussy hair,” Trump said. According to Haberman, New York City socialite Tony Gliedman’s wife, Ginny, stared at Trump as he dove into how Brazilian women have to wax frequently.
Elsewhere in the tome, Haberman reportedly writes that Trump would frequently show photos of women he’d slept with to his employees and, while serving as president, referred to German chancellor Angela Merkel as “that bitch.” Of Nikki Haley, his ambassador to the United Nations, the then president would complain: “Can’t we do better lighting or give her better makeup?” Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, he would reportedly joke about her worsening health, putting his hands in mock-prayer and saying, “Please, God. Please watch over her. Every life is precious.”
Naturally, Trump had many thoughts about gay men too. Former Trump employees, Haberman writes, “recalled Trump mocking gay men, or men who were seen as weak, with the words ‘queer’ or ‘faggot.” According to the author, he would bully these men behind closed doors; former Trump Organization executive Alan Marcus told Haberman that Trump would “belittle” another executive who Trump believed was gay and “bragged that he paid the executive less.”
In a statement to CNN, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich suggested no one cares that the ex-president is an even more horrible person than previously thought, telling the outlet: “While coastal elites obsess over boring books chock-full of anonymously sourced mistruths, America is a nation in decline. President Trump is focused on saving America, and there’s nothing the fake news can do about it.”
Read More…
Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall In Southwest Florida As Category 4 Storm With 150-Mph Winds | CNN
Hurricane Ian Makes Landfall In Southwest Florida As Category 4 Storm With 150-Mph Winds | CNN https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-ian-makes-landfall-in-southwest-florida-as-category-4-storm-with-150-mph-winds-cnn/
Editor’s Note: Affected by the storm? Use CNN’s lite site for low bandwidth. You also can text or WhatsApp your Ian stories to CNN +1 332-261-0775.
CNN —
[Breaking news update, published at 3:15 p.m. ET]
Hurricane Ian made landfall along the southwestern coast of Florida near Cayo Costa around 3:05 p.m. ET with winds near 150 mph, making it a high-end Category 4 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
[Original story, published at 2:16 p.m. ET]
Hurricane Ian is poised to make landfall in southwest Florida on Wednesday and is already bringing a catastrophic trifecta of high winds, heavy rain and historic storm surge to the state.
Ian is a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 155 mph, and its center was located about 35 miles west-southwest of Fort Myers as of 1 p.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm is moving at about 9 mph and is expected to make landfall, perhaps north of Fort Myers near the Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda areas, this afternoon, the center said.
Much of west-central Florida and places inland face disaster: “Historic” storm surge up to 18 feet is possible and could swallow coastal homes; rain could cause flooding across much of the state; and crushing winds could flatten homes and stop electricity service for days or weeks.
“This is a wind storm and a surge storm and a flood storm, all in one,” CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. “And this is going to spread itself out across the entire state. Everybody is going to see something from this.”
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
NOAA/AP
A satellite image shows the eye of Hurricane Ian approaching the southwest coast of Florida on Wednesday, September 28.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS/Abaca/Reuters
Sailboats anchored in Roberts Bay are blown around in Venice, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Crystal Vander Weit/TCPalm/USA Today Network
Melvin Phillips stands in the flooded basement of his mobile home in Stuart, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
A man walks where water was receding from Tampa Bay due to a negative storm surge on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/AP
Utility trucks are staged in a rural lot Wednesday in The Villages, a Florida retirement community.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Marco Bello/Reuters
Traffic lights are blown by strong gusts of wind in Fort Myers, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network
Damage is seen at the Kings Point condos in Delray Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Officials believe it was caused by a tornado fueled by Hurricane Ian.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Marco Bello/Reuters
A TV crew broadcasts from the beach in Fort Myers on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Highways in Tampa, Florida, are empty Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Ian making landfall. Several coastal counties in western Florida were under mandatory evacuations.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Wilfredo Lee/AP
An airplane is overturned in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP
Zuram Rodriguez surveys the damage around her home in Davie, Florida, early on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Ramon Espinosa/AP
People play dominoes by flashlight during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, on Wednesday. Crews in Cuba have been working to restore power for millions after the storm battered the western region with high winds and dangerous storm surge, causing an islandwide blackout.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Chris O’Meara/AP
Workers board up windows on the University of Tampa campus on Tuesday, September 27.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
People walk through a flooded street in Batabano, Cuba, on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Chris O’Meara/AP
Southwest Airlines passengers check in near a sign that shows canceled flights at the Tampa International Airport on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Ramon Espinosa/AP
Maria Llonch retrieves belongings from her home in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel via AP
Traffic builds along Interstate 4 in Tampa on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
A man carries his children through rain and debris in Pinar del Rio on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
People drive through debris in Pinar del Rio on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Frederic and Mary Herodet board up their Gulf Bistro restaurant in St. Pete Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
People stand outside a flooded warehouse in Batabano on Tuesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
NASA’s Artemis I rocket rolls back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday. The launch of the rocket was postponed due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Ian.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
NASA via AP
Hurricane Ian is seen from the International Space Station on Monday, September 26.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images
A Cuban family transports personal belongings to a safe place in the Fanguito neighborhood of Havana on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Local residents fill sandbags in Tampa on Monday to help protect their homes from flooding.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images
A family carries a dog to a safe place in Batabano on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
People wait in lines to fuel their vehicles at a Costco store in Orlando on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Mike Lang/USA Today Network
Ryan Copenhaver, manager of Siesta T’s in Sarasota, Florida, installs hurricane panels over the store’s windows on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Kevin Morales/AP
A woman takes photos while waves crash against a seawall in George Town, Grand Cayman, on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Imagaes
A man helps pull small boats out of Cuba’s Havana Bay on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images
Shelves are empty in a supermarket’s water aisle in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Martha Asencio-Rhine/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire
Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, Florida, references a map on Monday that indicates where storm surges would impact the county. During a news conference, she urged anyone living in those areas to evacuate.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
NOAA/NASA
This satellite image, taken Monday at 1 p.m. ET, shows Hurricane Ian near Cuba.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Andrew West/USA Today Network
Sarah Peterson fills sandbags in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, on Saturday, September 24.
Photos: Hurricane Ian barrels into Florida
Andrew West/USA Today Network
Besnik Bushati fills gas containers at a gas station in Naples, Florida, on Saturday. The station had only premium gas that morning.
Fort Myers Beach was already feeling the brunt of the storm’s powerful eyewall just after noon Wednesday. Frank Loni, an architect from California staying in the community, posted video from a building’s balcony of some of the flooding on the streets below.
“The storm surge is very significant. We’re seeing cars and boats float down the street. We’re seeing trees nearly bent in half,” Loni said. “There’s quite a bit of chaos on the streets.”
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Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for flood-prone areas on the coast, and the National Weather Service warned those who stayed behind to move to upper floors in case of rising water levels.
“This is a powerful storm that should be treated like you would treat” a tornado approaching your home, Gov. Ron DeSantis said around 8 a.m.
Images showed extensive flooding in coastal neighborhoods in Naples, where officials asked residents to shelter in place until further notice.
In some areas, such as Charlotte County, Florida, 911 response teams have stopped emergency service due to the high winds and dangerous conditions. Sarasota Mayor Eric Arroyo said on CNN’s “At This Hour” that police officers were being taken off the streets due to the wind speeds and hazardous conditions.
“It is too late to evacuate at this point,” Arroyo said.
About 480,000 Florida utility customers already were without power as of 2 p.m., according to PowerOutage.us.
Ian poses several major dangers:
• Storm surge: Some 12 to 18 feet of seawater pushed onto land is forecast Wednesday for the coastal Fort Myers area, from Englewood to Bonita Beach, forecasters said. Only slightly less is forecast for a stretch from Bonita Beach down to near the Everglades (8 to 12 feet), and from near Bradenton to Englewood (6 to 10 feet), forecasters said.
Lower – but still life-threatening – surge is possible elsewhere, including north of Tampa and along Florida’s northea...
Ford To Spend $700 Million On Kentucky Truck Plant Add 500 Jobs
Ford To Spend $700 Million On Kentucky Truck Plant, Add 500 Jobs https://digitalalabamanews.com/ford-to-spend-700-million-on-kentucky-truck-plant-add-500-jobs/
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Even as it invests billions in electric vehicles, Ford Motor Co. is also ensuring its gas-guzzling cash cows keep rolling off the line at Louisville’s Kentucky Truck Plant for many years to come.
The Detroit automaker on Tuesday said it would spend $700 million on equipment upgrades and add 500 full-time jobs at the plant, which makes Ford’s F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks as well as the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. The announcement coincides with the build of the 2023 Super Duty, the vehicle’s first wholesale redesign since 2017.
Kentucky Truck, the bigger of Ford’s two Louisville plants, currently employs about 8,500 hourly workers and about 250 salaried corporate employees, according to a Ford spokeswoman.
A 2022 Ford Super Duty truck on display at Kentucky Truck Plant on Sept. 27, 2022.
John Savona, vice president of Americas manufacturing and labor affairs in Ford’s gas-powered car division, said the $700 million consists of “updating or adding new equipment throughout the facility to make sure we are ready for the content of the new truck.”
He said the upgrades are “primarily machinery,” as the plant’s eastern Jefferson County footprint is maxed out. Savona wouldn’t discuss the details of the 2023 Super Duty ahead of an unveiling event scheduled for Tuesday night at Churchill Downs.
The announcement comes one year after Ford and Korean partner SK Innovation revealed a $5 billion plan to build a pair of electric vehicle battery production plants in Hardin County, Kentucky. The automaker plans to grow EV sales to half of its portfolio by 2030.
Tuesday’s move underscores how, despite its electric vehicle ambitions, Ford has no plan to curtail investments in bread-and-butter internal combustion products like the Super Duty. The trucks, F-250 through F-550, range from $40,000 to $97,000 in price depending on model and options and are among the company’s most profitable products.
Ford this year began selling an electric version of its popular F-150 consumer pickup, the F-150 Lightning. But it’s unclear if or when the company would pursue an EV version of the larger Super Duty trucks, which are often used for heavy-duty work like construction.
Asked about the future of the big trucks as Ford transitions to EVs, Savona said: “What we’re producing here with the Super Duty and the capability it provides for our customers, we just don’t have — nobody has — the technology today to do what our customers expect (in electric form), so we think we have a long and strong future here.”
Ford’s Super Duty output at KTP was down about 12% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, according to WDRB’s analysis of company figures. The plant produced 135,428 Super Duty trucks in the first half of the year.
Ford’s F-Series franchise, which includes the F-150 not made in Louisville, has suffered declining sales since 2018. Ford doesn’t release sales figures specific to the Super Duty models.
But the sales and production declines are related to supply issues such as the worldwide microchip shortage, rather than a lack of demand for the big trucks.
“These trucks are sold before we build them. There’s a wait,” said Todd Dunn, president of UAW Local 862, the union representing hourly KTP workers. “Our main goal is to focus on, how can we get the products out of here?”
“We have teams working hard to maximize production at all of our plants, including Kentucky Truck Plant,” Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said.
Plant hiring now
Kentucky Truck is currently hiring for “temporary” production workers, who work a full-time schedule but do not have the same benefits and job protections as regular, full-time employees. Those jobs can be found at this link by searching “Louisville” in the location field.
Felker said the temporary jobs are the only route for new hires into Kentucky Truck Plant currently, but employees are often converted from temporary to permanent status within a few months. According to its 2019 contract with the UAW, Ford must convert temporary workers within two years.
The starting hourly wage at the plant ranges from $16.67 to $19.59 depending on the crew and shift, Felker said.
New jobs come at cost to taxpayers
Ford’s latest spending on the massive plant it has owned since 1969 comes at a cost to Kentucky and Louisville Metro taxpayers: $150,000 per new job, according to WDRB’s analysis.
On Tuesday, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority expanded a special incentive the state adopted for Ford in 2007. The incentive program arose from an effort to convince the automaker not to close its other plant across town, Louisville Assembly Plant, at the onset of the Great Recession.
Over the last 15 years, state officials have expanded and sweetened the 2007 deal six times as Ford brought forward plans to spend money upgrading its plants and sometimes adding jobs. Tuesday’s expansion is the latest.
Kentucky increased the total incentive available to Ford by $75 million, to $430 million, from 2007-26. Ford had already claimed $315 million and will have another $115 million available through 2026.
“This is a special partnership. Ford is an important part of Team Kentucky, and together, we’re going to be building the automobiles and trucks of the future for many years to come,” Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters at the announcement on Tuesday, before the details of the incentive package were made public.
Brandon Mattingly, a spokesman for Beshear’s Cabinet for Economic Development, said in an email that the incentive agreement “takes into consideration several key factors, which include job creation/retention and the significance of the investment.” He did not challenge the $150,000-per-new-job analysis.
“In addition to the creation of 500 jobs and $700 million investment in equipment, new technology and a new product platform, the agreement considers job retention of Ford’s existing employee base of more than 12,000 employees,” Mattingly said. “…The incentives also reflect the four added years of economic activity tied to the scale of the investment for a new product platform, which extends the benefits to the commonwealth and employees of the facility. As always, the incentives must be earned.”
Ford will be able to claim $20 million to $25 million a year from Kentucky in 2022 through 2026 if it hits the 12,500-employee target between its two Louisville plants, or a prorated amount so long as the total jobs is at least 11,000. The state said Ford’s current employment between the two plants is 12,200.
The new jobs will have an “anticipated average total hourly compensation” of $29, which includes the value of benefits like health insurance in addition to cash wages, according to documents from the Finance Authority. That’s $60,320 a year.
“We should be doing the math on these projects, not just what’s politically advantageous,” said Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a free-market think tank that has long criticized Kentucky’s “corporate welfare” programs for big companies.
“If you’re talking about the economic benefits of creating jobs, if taxpayers are out more or even similar amount as the job pays, where is the benefit for the taxpayer and where is the benefit for our economy?”
Reach reporter Chris Otts at 502-585-0822, cotts@wdrb.com, on Twitter or on Facebook. Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
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Mayhem At Russian Border As Thousands Flee Putins Draft
Mayhem At Russian Border As Thousands Flee Putin’s Draft https://digitalalabamanews.com/mayhem-at-russian-border-as-thousands-flee-putins-draft/
CHISINAU, Moldova—It took three days for two 24-year-old friends, photographer Mikhail and tech worker Dmitry, to make the grueling journey across a 16-kilometer-long traffic lineup between Russia and Georgia.
The two men, who only wanted to be identified by their first names for fear of retribution, are among the 261,000 who fled the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a “partial” war mobilization last week—a decree that is set to send hundreds of thousands of young Russian men to fight in Ukraine.
Mikhail and Dmitry bought plane tickets from Moscow to the city of Mineral Waters in Russia’s Caucasus region on Thursday, just hours after the mobilization announcement. They then drove to the city of Vladikavkaz, where they said they were forced to leave their car behind after being stopped by a police officer. From there, they walked and hitchhiked their way across the Russian border to Georgia.
Their exodus was the “most horrific time of life,” Mikhail told The Daily Beast. He said it involved multiple interrogations by Russian police, as well as threats of imprisonment and extortion. But the two friends were determined to make their getaway—because they knew exactly what would happen to them if they stayed.
It felt like they were fleeing “the most hostile” country in the world, Mikhail told The Daily Beast. “During one of the interrogations by traffic police, I had to show my unusual birthmark and lie to them that I had cancer. They believed me and let us go but only to the next checkpoint, where we were once again interrogated.”
People arriving from Russia wait at the Mongolian border checkpoint of Altanbulag on September 25, 2022, after the Kremlin announced a partial mobilisation for the war in Ukraine.
BYAMBASUREN BYAMBA-OCHIR/AFP via Getty
Rumors that the FSB is set to close Russian borders as thousands continue to flee the country has only fueled the panic among citizens desperate to evade conscription. The traffic lineups at Russia’s border with Georgia and Kazakhstan now stretches dozens of miles, with fleeing citizens often leaving behind their suitcases and vehicles in the midst of the chaos.
“We were treated as enemies in our own country,” Mikhail said. “I cannot blame them, they are enemies to us, we could not even think of killing people in Ukraine!”
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Telegram users on the Russian “Border Control” group chat have been documenting their experiences trying to flee Russia.
“It looks like [border authorities] now have lists of names banned from leaving, they asked me about the purpose of my travel and checked with some data base,” wrote one user from the Domodedovo airport on Tuesday, who was leaving Moscow for Yerevan in Armenia. The price of that plane ticket had skyrocketed from $300 on Thursday to almost $1,000 on Monday.
Those who’ve fled Russia are leaving behind some terrifying scenes in their own cities. Russian law enforcement has been accused of beating and detaining thousands of anti-war demonstrators who have taken to the streets to protest the mobilization. Police have been accused of raping one activists, poet Artem Kamardin, with a dumbbell. Videos of inexperienced men being sent to combat zones in Ukraine have flooded Russian social media channels.
“My defense lawyer told me that if Putin decides to accuse us of a crime for running away from his mobilization, then Kazakhstan might extradite me back to Russia,” 38-year-old business manager Alexander, who fled to Kazakhstan this week, told The Daily Beast. “There were people crying and arguing and screaming in line on the border. I crossed the border last night on foot with just my backpack. I have no future plans but I am still panicking that Kazakhs might kick me out.”
People carrying luggage walk past vehicles with Russian license plates on the Russian side of the border towards the Nizhniy Lars customs checkpoint between Georgia and Russia some 25 km outside the town of Vladikavkaz, on September 25, 2022.
AFP/Getty
Photographer Mikhail had four heavy cameras in his backpack and a laptop. His friend Dmitry was also carrying a heavy luggage. After hiking for several miles across the border lineup, the two were lucky to find somebody they knew traveling by car.
“There was no space for us but at least some space for our luggage, so we walked on and our friends continued to wait in that line,” Mikhail said. “But after waiting for three days, people began to fight over a spot in line and eventually our friends turned around and went back to Moscow with our luggage.”
Another Russian escapee, 38-year-old Konstantin, did not bring any luggage with him, just a scooter. Before the war, he was a tour guide who would lead expiditions in some of Russia’s most remote regions. But even for Konstantin, the journey was “nerve wracking,” he told The Daily Beast.
Photographer Oksana Yushko also hiked 18 kilometers across the Georgian border on Monday. She had water with her, but no food. “They are not letting Caucasus nationals out, or at least they are interrogating them for a long time in some separate room,” she told The Daily Beast.
For 31-year-old event planner Alexey Lesin, the trip from his hometown of Kazan to the Georgian border took almost four days. “I spent 15 hours in the traffic jam on the border, with no movement, so I decided to walk under heavy rain all the way to the border,” Lesin told The Daily Beast. “The entire trip cost me $1,500. This is a lot of money for me but it was worth it—though I have absolutely no plan for my future life in Georgia.”
In his final comments to The Daily Beast, Mikhail said he “100 percent” believes he would have died had he been sent to Ukraine. “Now I feel like I am completely naked without any of my belongings, he said. “But I am already breathing freely here in Georgia.”
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New Book: Trump Nearly Fired Jared And Ivanka Via Tweet | CNN Politics
New Book: Trump Nearly Fired Jared And Ivanka Via Tweet | CNN Politics https://digitalalabamanews.com/new-book-trump-nearly-fired-jared-and-ivanka-via-tweet-cnn-politics/
Washington CNN —
Then-President Donald Trump nearly fired his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner from the White House via tweet, according to a new book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.
Trump raised the prospect of firing Ivanka Trump and Kushner, who were both senior White House aides, during meetings with then-chief of staff John Kelly and then-White House counsel Don McGahn, Haberman writes. At one point, he was about to tweet that his daughter and son-in-law were leaving the White House – but he was stopped by Kelly, who told Trump he had to speak with them directly first.
Trump never had such a conversation – one of numerous instances where he avoided interpersonal conflict – and Ivanka Trump and Kushner remained at the White House throughout Trump’s presidency. Still, Trump often diminished Kushner, mocking him as effete, Haberman writes.
“He sounds like a child,” Trump said after Kushner spoke publicly in 2017 following his congressional testimony, according to the book.
In “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America,” Haberman chronicles the chaos of the Trump White House, with new details about how Trump resisted denouncing White supremacists and made light of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s declining health before her death in 2020 gave him a third justice on the Supreme Court.
But Haberman’s book, which was obtained by CNN ahead of its release on Tuesday, goes beyond the trials and tribulations of the Trump administration to document how Trump’s initial rise in the New York real estate and political world of the 1970s and ’80s permanently shaped his worldview – and by extension, his presidency.
“To fully reckon with Donald Trump, his presidency and political future, people need to know where he comes from,” writes Haberman, a CNN political analyst.
The book is littered with examples dating back decades that document Trump’s obsession with looks, his fixation on racial issues, his gravitation toward strongmen and his willingness to shift his beliefs to fit the moment. Trump tried to recreate the country to mimic New York’s five boroughs, Haberman writes, imagining a presidency that functioned like he was one of the city’s powerful Democratic Party bosses in control of everything.
03:02 – Source: CNN
Trump admits fame drove his desire to be president in new book
The aides and advisers who spoke to Haberman for the book – she writes that she interviewed more than 250 people – offer a damning portrait of a commander in chief who was uninterested in learning the details of the job, who expected complete loyalty from those around him and who was most concerned with dominance, power and himself.
Haberman reports campaign aides once called Trump a “sophisticated parrot.” Trump lashed out at his top generals during an infamous meeting in the “tank,” the Pentagon’s secure conference room, because he was being told something he didn’t comprehend. “Instead of acknowledging that, he shouted down the teachers,” Haberman writes.
Kelly, his former chief of staff, is said to have described Trump as a “fascist” – uniquely unfit for the job of leading a constitutional democracy, according to Haberman, citing several who spoke to the retired Marine general.
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said of the book: “While coastal elites obsess over boring books chock-full of anonymously-sourced mistruths, America is a nation in decline. President Trump is focused on saving America, and there’s nothing the fake news can do about it.”
Earlier this year, Haberman’s reporting for her book revealed that Trump’s staff found documents flushed down the toilet, on top of numerous reports that Trump had a habit of ripping up presidential papers in violation of the Presidential Records Act.
03:23 – Source: CNN
Haberman confirms Trump habit that was bad for plumbing and his presidency
The former President’s handling of documents has taken on new significance following the FBI’s search of his Florida residence and the revelation he took highly classified documents there upon leaving the White House.
Haberman interviewed Trump three times after he left the White House for the book in 2021, including in one instance in which he lied about sending his correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the National Archives, saying he had taken “nothing of great urgency” from the White House. (The Kim letters were among the items the Archives realized were missing in 2021.)
Trump’s cavalier handling of classified material led to distrust between the then-President and the intelligence community, Haberman writes, such as when Trump tweeted out a sensitive picture of damage at an Iranian facility in 2019.
He protested after officials tried to make changes to the image. “If you take out the classification that’s the sexy part,” Trump said, according to Haberman, who wrote that some saw nefarious ends in Trump’s behavior, while others “believed he was operating with the emotional development of a 12-year-old, using the intelligence data to get attention for himself.”
Haberman depicts all the organizations Trump has run – his businesses, his campaign and the White House – as dysfunctional and staffed by people who often disdained one another. His company executives referred to Trump’s company as the “Trump Disorganization,” according to the book, which includes examples of several unusual and eyebrow-raising business practices.
That dysfunction spilled into Trump’s campaign and ultimately the White House, where Trump churned through aides and Cabinet secretaries alike, dismissing the advice offered by his own staff.
When then-candidate Trump was under pressure in 2016 to denounce White supremacists like David Duke who were supporting his campaign, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was dispatched to urge Trump to be more forceful distancing himself. Trump was heard responding to Christie on the phone that he would get to it – but it didn’t have to happen too quickly, Haberman writes.
03:24 – Source: CNN
New book reveals Trump’s unusual business practices
“A lot of these people vote,” Trump told Christie, before ending the call.
Following the 2017 White supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, when Trump claimed there were good people on “both sides,” Trump’s then-chief economic adviser Gary Cohn prepared a letter of resignation. Trump appealed for Cohn to stay. “If you leave, you’re committing treason,” Trump said, according to Haberman.
Cohn agreed to stay through the administration’s efforts to pass its signature tax overhaul later that year. As Cohn left the Oval Office, Kelly whispered to him: “If I were you I’d have shoved that paper up his f**king ass,” Haberman writes.
According to the book, several Cabinet officials believed Trump had issues with female leaders. He disliked former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and described her in a meeting as “that bitch,” Haberman writes.
Trump’s former Defense Secretary Mark Esper believed Trump’s push to withdraw US troops from Germany was purely out of personal spite, according to the author.
The book shows Trump’s failure to grasp basic policy concepts, such as Trump suggesting in an interview with Haberman that the Senate’s minority party could block legislation by skipping votes. “The vice president’s vote doesn’t count. It doesn’t count. You might want to check this,” Trump said.
When the House introduced articles of impeachment against Trump for the first time in 2019, Trump reacted with a familiar refrain, according to the book: “I’ll just sue Congress. They can’t do this to me.”
In the final year of his presidency, Trump tried to wish away the topic of coronavirus, Haberman writes, minimizing it publicly out of an apparent belief that things only existed if they were discussed openly.
Before Ginsburg’s death in 2020 created a last-minute Supreme Court vacancy that Trump filled just ahead of the presidential election, Haberman writes that Trump would make light of the justice’s deteriorating health.
Trump would clasp his hands and look skyward, Haberman writes. “Please God. Please watch over her. Every life is precious,” Trump said, before almost winking and looking at his aides. “How’s she doing?”
When another visitor came to the Oval Office, Trump asked, “She gonna make it? How much longer you think she has?”
“Confidence Man” chronicles how Trump’s fixation on race, gender and religion dates back decades, shaped by a tumultuous period in New York City’s history.
“Racial is more severe in New York than it is anywhere else that I can think of,” Trump said in a post-presidency interview with Haberman, who writes that Trump “often seemed frozen in time” in 1980s New York and viewed tribal conflict as inevitable.
During the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, Trump’s fear of germs and illness led him to announce publicly he would require dates to take an AIDS test, and Haberman writes he called reporters to inquire if people he had met with might be gay – concerned because they had exchanged a handshake.
In the late 1990s, after Trump divorced Marla Maples, he had a relationship with a model, Kara Young, who was the daughter of a Black mother and White father. Haberman writes that after meeting Young’s parents, Trump told her she had gotten her beauty from her mother and intelligence “from her dad, the white side.”
Trump laughed as he said it, Haberman writes. Young told him it wasn’t something to joke about.
Reflecting his view of life as a show he was casting, Trump focused on “the look” – telling others that his wife Melania Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and his first Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch were all out of “central casting,” Haberman writes.
The former President remained focus on how those who repr...
The Crypto World Is On Edge After A String Of Hacks
The Crypto World Is On Edge After A String Of Hacks https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-crypto-world-is-on-edge-after-a-string-of-hacks/
Not long after dropping out of college to pursue a career in cryptocurrencies, Ben Weintraub woke up to some bad news.
Mr. Weintraub and two classmates from the University of Chicago had spent the past few months working on a software platform called Beanstalk, which offered a stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency with a fixed value of $1. To their surprise, Beanstalk became an overnight sensation, attracting crypto speculators who viewed it as an exciting contribution to the experimental field of decentralized finance, or DeFi.
Then it collapsed. In April, a hacker exploited a flaw in Beanstalk’s design to steal more than $180 million from users, one of a series of thefts this year targeting DeFi ventures. The morning of the hack, Mr. Weintraub, 24, was home for Passover in Montclair, N.J. He walked into his parents’ bedroom.
“Wake up,” he said. “Beanstalk is dead.”
Hackers have terrorized the crypto industry for years, stealing Bitcoin from online wallets and raiding the exchanges where investors buy and sell digital currencies. But the rapid proliferation of DeFi start-ups like Beanstalk has given rise to a new type of threat.
These loosely regulated ventures allow people to borrow, lend and conduct other transactions without banks or brokers, relying instead on a system governed by code. Using DeFi software, investors can take out loans without revealing their identities or even undergoing a credit check. As the market surged last year, the emerging sector was hailed as the future of finance, a democratic alternative to Wall Street that would give amateur traders access to more capital. Crypto users entrusted roughly $100 billion in virtual currency to hundreds of DeFi projects.
But some of the software was built on faulty code. This year, $2.2 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen from DeFi projects, according to the crypto tracking firm Chainalysis, putting the overall industry on pace for its worst year of hacking losses.
Many of the thefts have stemmed from flaws in the computer programs — known as “smart contracts” — that power DeFi. The programs are often built hastily. And because smart contracts use open-source code, which provides a publicly viewable map of the software, hackers have been able to orchestrate attacks on the digital infrastructure itself, rather than simply infiltrating someone’s account. It’s the difference between robbing an individual and emptying an entire bank vault.
“DeFi has introduced a whole other level for hackers to be able to access a platform,” said Erin Plante, vice president of investigations at Chainalysis. “It’s putting a lot of pressure on the space and restricting the innovation that’s possible.”
The breaches have shaken faith in DeFi during a grim period for the crypto industry. An epic crash this spring erased nearly $1 trillion and forced several high-profile companies into bankruptcy. In August, thieves exploited a coding issue to drain $190 million from a company called Nomad. Last week, the crypto firm Wintermute said its DeFi division had been hacked, leading to losses of $160 million.
Tracking the movement of stolen crypto is fairly straightforward. Transactions are recorded on public ledgers called blockchains, which anyone can analyze to find patterns. But it’s significantly harder to regain access to lost funds.
The hacks have prompted many DeFi start-ups to explore preventive measures, recruiting auditors to examine their code for vulnerabilities. Even as other types of crypto firms cut costs during the downturn, security and auditing companies have seen a huge surge in business.
“This year was a good year for attackers,” said Goncalo Sa, a founder of ConsenSys Diligence, which conducts code audits. “That has definitely ingrained in the minds of people that security is something that they should take seriously.”
From crypto’s inception, companies have struggled with security. In 2014, the first major Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, was breached in a damaging attack that eventually led to the company’s bankruptcy and the loss of billions of dollars in digital currency.
Image
The main stage at Bitcoin 2021 in Miami. Bitcoin exchanges have been hacked in the past.Credit…Alfonso Duran for The New York Times
At the time, the industry was relatively small and uncomplicated. Now hackers can attack a wider ecosystem, including an experimental economy of crypto-based video games, decentralized lending projects and newfangled coins. Last year, a hacker stole $600 million from the DeFi platform Poly Network; the thief eventually returned the money after negotiations with the project’s leaders.
This year’s hacks have caused far more damage. In March, a group sponsored by the North Korean government stole $620 million in digital currency from the Ronin Network, a DeFi platform that powers the video game Axie Infinity. Around the same time, a hacker exploited a software flaw in a DeFi project called Wormhole to abscond with $320 million.
“Many people are putting up platforms with a known vulnerability,” said Chris Tarbell, a former F.B.I. agent who now runs the cybersecurity firm NAXO. “In a target-rich environment, criminals are going to be opportunistic.”
The Wormhole hack exploited vulnerabilities in a novel element of crypto technology known as a cross-chain bridge, which allows investors to switch back and forth between digital currencies built on separate blockchains. Some DeFi platforms facilitate these conversions to help people capitalize on trading opportunities; a trader who owns lots of Ether, for example, might want to use an application on another currency’s blockchain without having to sell the Ether and buy the other currency.
The sheer amount of crypto flowing across these cross-chain bridges makes them valuable targets. A total of 10 hacks this year have involved bridges, leading to losses of $1.3 billion, according to Chainalysis.
The technology is “highly complicated, and complexity is the enemy of security,” said Steve Walbroehl, a founder of the crypto security firm Halborn.
Beanstalk wasn’t built as a cross-chain bridge. But it had other vulnerabilities baked into its code.
The project’s inner workings were almost comically obscure. A white paper outlining its mechanics consists of 61 pages of graphs, charts and mathematical equations (as well as a quote from Alexander Hamilton’s letters).
“The number of Pods that grow from 1 Sown Bean is determined by the Temperature — the Beanstalk-native interest rate — at the time of Sowing,” reads one passage from a guide to the platform called the Farmers’ Almanac.
In essence, Beanstalk allowed people to deposit tens of millions of dollars in virtual currency into a software system, which generated interest and helped maintain the value of a stablecoin called a bean.
The project didn’t operate as a traditional start-up. Like many crypto founders, Mr. Weintraub and his collaborators — Brendan Sanderson, 25, and Michael Montoya, 24 — kept their identities secret, calling themselves Publius, an homage to the authors of the Federalist Papers. When the software was released in August 2021, users who deposited their crypto got votes in an investor collective called a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, which had to agree to make changes to the software.
Beanstalk’s collective governance was ultimately its undoing. In April, a hacker borrowed $1 billion of cryptocurrency from another DeFi project, Aave. The transaction was a so-called flash loan — a lightning-fast process in which a crypto user borrows funds without posting any collateral, makes a trade and then immediately pays back the loan, keeping any profits generated from the series of near-simultaneous exchanges.
The code that Mr. Weintraub and his partners had designed did not have a mechanism to stop someone from using a flash loan to take over the platform. So the hacker used the $1 billion to claim a huge stake in the Beanstalk DAO, taking total control of the software’s governance. Then the hacker transferred everyone’s funds — a total of nearly $200 million — out of the Beanstalk system.
Panic ensued. “I lost $1 million today,” one Beanstalk user declared on YouTube. “It happened through beans.”
Some users suspected that Mr. Weintraub and the other founders were behind the attack — a classic “rug pull” in which a team of developers flees with investors’ funds.
“The pitchforks were out,” Mr. Weintraub said. “It felt like death.”
Ultimately, he and the other founders decided to continue the project. They reported the theft to the F.B.I. and held calls with Beanstalk enthusiasts to find a path forward. In an April post on the chat forum Discord, they also revealed their identities for the first time. It was a risky move: Even though the project wasn’t a traditional business, they could be vulnerable to lawsuits from users or regulatory scrutiny.
Over the last few months, the Beanstalk DAO has worked to restart the project, recruiting blockchain analysis firms to help track down the lost crypto. The group also hired Halborn, the security firm, which is reviewing the code to eliminate any vulnerabilities. Beanstalk officially reopened last month.
Such comeback efforts are increasingly common in crypto. “We’ve always been so transparent with the community that this is an experiment,” Mr. Weintraub said. “We’re all figuring this out together.”
The stolen funds remain missing.
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
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U.S. Embassy In Moscow Tells Citizens To Leave The Country Immediately; Russia Denies Nord Stream Sabotage Allegations
U.S. Embassy In Moscow Tells Citizens To Leave The Country Immediately; Russia Denies Nord Stream Sabotage Allegations https://digitalalabamanews.com/u-s-embassy-in-moscow-tells-citizens-to-leave-the-country-immediately-russia-denies-nord-stream-sabotage-allegations/
One-way economy flights from Moscow to Dubai are nearly $5,000 as Russians flee mobilization
Dubai-owned Emirates is one of few major airlines to continue its direct flight service to Russia as other carriers cease operations over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Nurphoto | Getty Images
One-way economy flights from Moscow to Dubai are going for as much as $5,000 and many have completely sold out in the days following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of a “partial” mobilization of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine.
The roughly five-hour flight cost around $350 one week before the announcement delivered on Sept. 21.
Current prices on UAE airlines Emirates and FlyDubai for the month between Sept. 28 and Oct. 26 are going for between $2,577 and $4,773 for a one-way economy ticket, according to those airlines’ websites. The cheaper of those prices is more than 2½ times the average monthly Russian salary of $965, according to Statista.com.
“Everyone is leaving. So many people I know,” one Russian national living in Dubai, who spoke anonymously due to concerns for her safety, told CNBC.
Read the full story here.
— Natasha Turak
NATO chief galvanizes allies to offer more support to Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on August 17 August 2022.
Francois Walschaerts | AFP | Getty Images
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg galvanized allies to allocate more money for defense as Ukraine fights back Russia’s invasion.
“Wars are unpredictable, so no one can tell how long this will last,” Stoltenberg said in his opening remarks before the European Parliament.
“This could continue for the long haul and we need to be prepared to provide support,” he said, adding “the reality is that we don’t have any choice.”
Stoltenberg also said that Ukraine’s counteroffensive would not have been possible, in part, if not for the substantial support from NATO, the European Union and the United States.
— Amanda Macias
U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send to Ukraine
Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a M777 Howitzer near a frontline, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk Region, Ukraine June 6, 2022.
Stringer | Reuters
Western officials and military analysts are increasingly concerned about diminishing weapons stocks curbing their ability to supply Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
“I’m greatly concerned. Unless we have new production, which takes months to ramp up, we’re not going to have the ability to supply the Ukrainians,” Dave Des Roches, a senior military fellow at the U.S. National Defense University, told CNBC.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg held a special meeting of the alliance’s arms directors on Tuesday to discuss ways to refill member nations’ weapons stockpiles.
Weapons Ukraine relies on that are now classified as “limited” in the U.S. inventory include 155 mm howitzers, HIMARS launchers, Javelin missiles, Stinger missiles, the M777 Howitzer and 155 mm ammunition.
Read the full story here.
— Natasha Turak
Satellite imagery spots Nord Stream pipeline leak in the Baltic Sea
Satellite imagery from U.S. company Planet captured the disturbed surface of the Baltic Sea following Tuesday’s leak in the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
A satellite image of the Nord Stream leak in the Baltic Sea, captured on Sept. 26, 2022.
Planet
The pipeline rupture is about 13 nautical miles away from Bornholm Island, Denmark, the company noted.
– Michael Sheetz
Ukraine’s foreign minister calls on countries who have remained neutral during Russia’s war to ‘take a stand’
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba attends a joint media briefing amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine 14 September 2022.
Nurphoto | Getty Images
Ukrainian Foreign Minster Dmytro Kuleba called on countries who have taken a neutral stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine to “take a stand.”
“Neutral countries will not be able to sit back: they need to take a stand. The stand of justice, the stand of international law and the protection of security and peace in the whole world,” Kuleba said during a press conference.
“I want to appeal to all the countries that recently insisted on the need for negotiations and offered their mediation services: Russia does not want any negotiations, stop playing this game,” Kuleba, Ukraine’s top diplomat, added.
He called on countries to continue supporting Ukraine with military and humanitarian aid
— Amanda Macias
U.S. embassy in Russia tells U.S. citizens to leave the country as soon as possible
The U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia.
Invizbk | Istock Unreleased | Getty Images
The U.S. embassy in Russia has issued a security alert for American citizens in the country, telling them to leave immediately if they can.
The embassy issued a statement Wednesday in which it said “U.S. citizens should not travel to Russia and those residing or travelling in Russia should depart Russia immediately while limited commercial travel options remain.”
The warning comes after the Russian government began a military mobilization of its citizens last week, with several hundred thousand men being called-up and sent to Ukraine to fight.
A traveller reacts after crossing the border with Russia at the frontier checkpoint Verkhny Lars – Zemo Larsi, Georgia September 28, 2022.
Irakli Gedenidze | Reuters
The U.S. embassy warned today that “Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service” and that anyone wishing to leave Russia should do so as soon as possible.
“Commercial flight options are extremely limited at present and are often unavailable on short notice. Overland routes by car and bus are still open. If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible.”
It added that the U.S. embassy “has severe limitations on its ability to assist U.S. citizens, and conditions, including transportation options, may suddenly become even more limited.”
It also warned U.S. citizens that the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not guaranteed in Russia and that they should “avoid all political or social protests and do not photograph security personnel at these events. Russian authorities have arrested U.S. citizens who have participated in demonstrations.”
The embassy provided a link with more information on travel out of Russia here.
— Holly Ellyatt
EU pledges robust response to suspected sabotage of Nord Stream gas pipelines
BORNHOLM, DENMARK – SEPTEMBER 27: Danish Defense shows the gas leaking at Nord Stream 2 seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark on September 27, 2022.
Danish Defence/ | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The European Union pledged to deliver a “robust and united response” to a suspected act of sabotage after mystery gas leaks hit two underwater Russian gas pipelines.
“All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
“We will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security. Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response,” he added.
Here’s the full story.
— Sam Meredith
Kremlin says claims it was behind Nord Stream leaks are ‘stupid’
The Kremlin has responded to allegations that it was responsible for damage and leaks to both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the last few days by rebuffing the accusations and calling them “stupid.”
European authorities are investigating possible sabotage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines, a bone of contention between Europe and Russia as the war in Ukraine continues, after they started to leak gas in the Baltic Sea earlier this week.
(L to R) Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist hold a press conference on the gas leak in the Baltic Sea from Nord Stream in Stockholm, on Sept. 27, 2022.
Fredrik Persson | Afp | Getty Images
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily conference call with reporters that the incident needed to be investigated and the timings for repair of the damaged pipelines were not clear, Reuters reported.
Then, when asked about claims Russia might be behind the possible attack, Peskov said: “That’s quite predictable and also predictably stupid.”
“This is a big problem for us because, firstly, both lines of Nord Stream 2 are filled with gas – the entire system is ready to pump gas and the gas is very expensive … Now the gas is flying off into the air.”
“Are we interested in that? No, we are not, we have lost a route for gas supplies to Europe,” Peskov said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov at an event during Russia’s Victory Day commemorations in Moscow on May 9, 2022.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appeared to suggest on Telegram that the U.S. could have been behind the sabotage, a claim that Peskov appeared to allude to when speaking to reporters Wednesday.
“We see the huge profits of the U.S. suppliers of liquefied natural gas, who increased their supplies many-fold to the European continent,” Peskov said. “They are very, very interested in further receiving their super, super profits.”
— Holly Ellyatt
Newly mobilized Russian soldiers start to arrive in Ukraine, a...
Women Give Blumenthal The Edge Over Levy | CT News Junkie
Women Give Blumenthal The Edge Over Levy | CT News Junkie https://digitalalabamanews.com/women-give-blumenthal-the-edge-over-levy-ct-news-junkie/
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Republican candidate Leora Levy
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal held a 13 point lead over Republican Leora Levy in a poll released Wednesday morning by CT Insider and Channel 3 Eyewitness News, which found the incumbent Democrat with a 30 point advantage among women.
The poll of 750 likely voters was conducted by Western New England University between Sept. 15 and Sept. 21 and reported a marginally smaller lead than the 17 point advantage found by a Quinnipiac University poll that was performed around the same time.
Wednesday’s poll found Blumenthal leading 53% to 40% among general voters who were asked to choose if the election were held today, according to CT Insider. Blumenthal’s lead comes in part from strong support from women and college-educated voters. Both groups favored two-term Democrat 62% to 32%. The results mirror last week’s Quinnipiac poll which found women preferring Blumenthal 64% to 33%.
Surveyed voters gave Blumenthal a 46% favorability rating and Levy an 18% favorability rating, according to CT Insider.
While the poll found Blumenthal leading among most age groups, Levy did receive support from 50% of those between 55 and 64 years old, versus Blumental’s 43% support. Levy also led among male voters 47% to 44% as well as voters who did not attend college, 49% to 44%.
Despite back-to-back polls suggesting Blumenthal held double-digit leads, his campaign spokesman Ty McEachern issued a statement saying the candidate would “continue to work like he’s 10 points behind.”
“Senator Blumenthal is working to be Connecticut’s choice for the Senate while his opponent is Donald Trump’s choice,” McEachern said, referring to Trump’s endorsement of Levy in August. “As always, [Blumenthal is] focused on his job, delivering results for the people of Connecticut.”
The Levy campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story.
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Opinion: Be Wary Of Political Polling. It Is Often Wrong.
Opinion: Be Wary Of Political Polling. It Is Often Wrong. https://digitalalabamanews.com/opinion-be-wary-of-political-polling-it-is-often-wrong/
Gov. Janet Mills and former Gov. Paul LePage
The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
For most of the past year in casual conversations among Maine politicos, the consensus has been that the impending gubernatorial contest between Janet Mills and Paul LePage would be very close. Whether you thought Mills would win, or you thought LePage would, generally speaking you thought it was going to be a barnburner.
And for most of the last year, that has proven true. I’ve been privy to a lot of non-public polling for the last year or so, and for nearly all of that time the race between the two was more or less tied. All signs were that conventional wisdom was playing out.
This summer, though, some evidence began to emerge to the contrary. Several things began to converge at the same time, from the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, to a deadlocked Congress passing part of the president’s domestic agenda, to Joe Biden’s announcement of some student loan cancellation. Most importantly, though, was the summer Mills ad barrage attacking LePage, while LePage has remained mostly quiet on the air.
Those things seemed, at least on the surface, to have had an impact on the race. Some of those same polls I was looking at earlier this year have shown movement in Mills’ direction, and in the last couple weeks we have seen some public polls that have shown Mills with a comfortable lead over LePage.
Last Friday, Emerson College released a poll which claimed that Mills was up by 12 points, and the University of New Hampshire released one Tuesday putting Mills’ lead at 14.
But to what degree should we be putting our faith in public polling in this race?
You have to admit that it is a fair question to ask given the recent history of polling in Maine. In 2020 for instance, polling showed that Sara Gideon was beating Susan Collins in every single public poll conducted in that race — including one by Quinnipiac University in September that showed Gideon with a 12-point lead — and yet Collins ended up winning by an 8.6 percent margin. That same year, out of 12 public polls of the 2nd Congressional District, 10 showed Joe Biden beating Donald Trump there, often comfortably, and yet Trump ended up winning the district by a 7.5 percent margin.
Similarly, in 2016 there was limited polling done in the 2nd District race for president, but Emerson College did publish a poll in late October showing Hillary Clinton beating Trump there, only to see Trump win by more than 10 percentage points. Similarly, UNH published a poll around the same time on the congressional race, suggesting Emily Cain had a 2-point lead on Bruce Poliquin. In the end, Poliquin won by 9.6 percent.
Even as far back as 2014, the last four public polls in that year’s gubernatorial contest showed that it was tied, or that Mike Michaud had a small lead, but LePage ended up winning by roughly 5 percent.
There is only one time in recent memory where polling appeared to be reasonably accurate, and that was in the 2018 gubernatorial contest, when the polling matched the end result almost exactly.
So what gives?
This is a question that many in politics have been grappling with, particularly in the wake of the recent “surge” of support for Democrats nationally. The New York Times ran two pieces on this very subject recently, wondering aloud “are the polls wrong again?” Their conclusion: it looks likely, as Democrats are apparently polling well in exactly the places where surveys missed most in 2020. Politico also ran a story on Monday highlighting the fear among pollsters that they may be once again blowing it in 2022.
A closer look at the two most recent polls from Emerson and UNH suggests those doubts may be accurate. Emerson’s poll showed that the economy was the most important issue to 39 percent of voters, and of those voters, 69 percent said they were voting for LePage, yet he somehow is losing by 12 points. In the UNH poll, 46 percent of those sampled were Democrats, and only 14 percent were unenrolled, while the actual alignment in Maine is closer to 35 percent and 32 percent, respectively.
The reality is, the fundamentals of political polling have changed, and though pollsters are trying mightily to adjust, they are failing miserably. It may no longer be possible to trust most horse race surveys like we once did.
Maybe they’re right this year, but they probably aren’t. Either way, you shouldn’t put your trust in them and as the old adage goes, the only poll that will ultimately matter is the one held on election day. Ignore the noise.
Matthew Gagnon of Yarmouth is the chief executive officer of the Maine Policy Institute, a free market policy think tank based in Portland. A Hampden native, he previously served as a senior strategist… More by Matthew Gagnon, Opinion columnist
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You Dont Have To Read Our Book. Just Buy Six Copies Of It!
You Don’t Have To Read Our Book. Just Buy Six Copies Of It! https://digitalalabamanews.com/you-dont-have-to-read-our-book-just-buy-six-copies-of-it/
Sharaf Maksumov; Shutterstock; Lauren Justice / Bloomberg / Getty; Leigh Vogel / Getty; The Atlantic
September 28, 2022, 10:42 AM ET
The men who summarized the news at the bullet-point-loving startup Axios—Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz, and Jim VandeHei—may now be driving it. They may have tried to tamper with their books’ position on The New York Times best-seller list, Defector reports.
The three men recently published Smart Brevity, a book that champions the direct, abrupt style of the Virginia-based centrist tabloid. But the men have now adopted a new and innovative practice that has media insiders raising their eyebrows.
The intrigue: An internal Axios memo encouraged each employee to buy six copies of the trio’s new book. They could then get those purchases expensed by the company—a practice that could cost Axios more than $70,000, according to Defector.
If employees followed through, such a practice could send Smart Brevity soaring up The New York Times’ best-seller list. But it’s not entirely fair play, publishing insiders say.
Why it matters: Becoming a New York Times best-seller can bring fame and notoriety—not to mention five-figure speaking gigs at big companies and conferences. It’s no wonder that Axios’s cofounders are chasing that kind of clout.
But: The Times is wise to these kinds of ploys. The paper has long attached a typographical mark called a dagger (†) to titles that may have been bought in bulk by authors hoping to worm their way onto the list.
The paper also reserves the right to kick anyone off its list—for any reason.
“Institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases, if and when they are included, are at the discretion of The New York Times Best-Seller List Desk editors,” says the paper’s website.
But, but: A few bestselling-book insiders told me that they thought Axios’s method was deliberately designed to evade these controls. “It sounds to me like they’re trying to dodge the dagger,” one deeply connected columnist said.
Axios has more than 500 employees. If each employee buys six copies of the book, that may not show up as a single bulk purchase, evading the Times’ filters, algorithm experts told me.
The numbers: Every Axios employee could buy six books.
Count it up: One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. That’s six books.
No matter how you look at it, that’s more than five—but less than seven.
Driving the news: This is a weighty time for Allen, Schwartz, and VandeHei.
Axios was recently acquired by Cox Enterprises for $525 million, one of the largest media acquisitions of the past few years. Only the Times’s own acquisition of sports-news giant The Athletic was bigger.
But online-media insiders say that the company’s most promising product remains the software that it uses to send its emails—and the distinctive style that it uses to write them. Axios hoped to license that product—and its trademark approach—to companies communicating with their own employees.
But, but, but, but—but: That core technology wasn’t actually included in the sale to Cox. It was spun off as a separate B2B company, dubbed Axios HQ.
Axios HQ plans to raise its Series A next year. Axios’s board—where Allen, Schwartz, and VandeHei all have seats—controls the board of Axios HQ, according to the company.
Corporate-governance and bullet-point insiders told me that Axios HQ’s success is riding on HR departments wanting to use the company’s distinctive style. If Smart Brevity looks like a best-seller, that may make Axios HQ’s sales pitch easier.
Go deeper: Even if Allen, Schwartz, and VandeHei did try to shortcut their way on the list, they wouldn’t be the first. They may have learned from one of Washington’s most famous recent residents: President Donald Trump.
President Trump’s 1987 The Art of the Deal only climbed the list because his company bought “tens of thousands of copies,” according to a later tell-all.
That didn’t stop the future president. The cover of every subsequent edition of the book has said “No. 1 Best-Seller” at the top.
Go deeper-er: “Smart brevity” is a literary tradition of its own. William Strunk and E.B. White’s classic book about writing, The Elements of Style, commands writers to “Omit needless words.”
Maybe that’s just what Allen, Schwartz, and VandeHei are doing. After all, Strunk and White didn’t say anything about skipping needless book orders.
Be smart: Six may seem like a lot—it’s more fingers than most people have on one hand—but it’s not the biggest number, according to numerological insiders.
Eighty-four, 3 bajillion, and seven are all bigger numbers than six, The Atlantic has confirmed.
But be careful. If a number has a negative sign in front of it, then it’s not bigger than six. “-9” is smaller than six, insiders cautioned. Let’s hope Axios employees kept that in mind.
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Sterling Slides After BoE Buys Bonds Dollar Hits 20-Year High
Sterling Slides After BoE Buys Bonds, Dollar Hits 20-Year High https://digitalalabamanews.com/sterling-slides-after-boe-buys-bonds-dollar-hits-20-year-high/
Pound and U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
NEW YORK/LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Sterling tumbled against the dollar on Wednesday before paring some losses after the Bank of England (BOE) said it would step in to prop up the gilt market, and the dollar index touched a fresh 20-year high trading was volatile.
The BOE said it would buy as many long-dated government bonds as needed between now and Oct. 14 to stabilise financial markets, and added that it would postpone next week’s start of its gilt sale programme. read more
As markets tried to digest what this meant for the pound, the currency whipsawed, jumping as high as $1.084 and falling as low as $1.0539. It was last down 0.4% at $1.0695.
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“They’re really trying to help the structure of the gilt market, more than anything else… The fact that they’re effectively doing (quantitative easing) again, while also hiking rates confuses the monetary policy outlook,” said Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies in New York.
“It also forces the pound to be the outlet valve for the additional expenditures proposed by the government.”
Investors were also eyeing the safety of the dollar against a backdrop of political uncertainty after leaks on Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Europe spewed gas into the Baltic Sea. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attributed the leaks to acts of sabotage. read more
“Some of it is safety related, given what we saw yesterday with the NordStream and the Russia Ukraine situation,” said Bechtel, also referring to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hiking cycle aimed at taming inflation
“It is the Fed, outperforming in terms of being aggressive and continuing to hike aggressively. The world is realizing that the U.S. is in a better position to handle higher rates whereas other economies are more vulnerable.”
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a group of major currencies, after earlier hitting a fresh 20-year high of 114.78 was last at 114.100.
While initially the dollar’s gains were broad-based, the greenback eased in the U.S. trading morning with the euro last up 0.02% at $0.9595 after falling as low as $0.95355.
The dollar was last down 0.22% against Japan’s yen at 144.510 after touching a high of 144.860 .
The Australian dollar , which is particularly sensitive to swings in investors sentiment was last up 0.420%.
Elsewhere in Asia, the offshore yuan hit a record low, pressured by expectations of further U.S. rate hikes. read more
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Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Rae Wee in Singapore and Alun John in London ; editing by Richard Pullin, Kim Coghill, Shri Navaratnam, Gareth Jones and Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Hurricane-Force Winds Felt Near Fort Myers As Ian Approaches Gulf Coast Near Category 5 Strength
Hurricane-Force Winds Felt Near Fort Myers As Ian Approaches Gulf Coast Near Category 5 Strength https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-force-winds-felt-near-fort-myers-as-ian-approaches-gulf-coast-near-category-5-strength/
Hurricane-force winds approached Sanibel Island near Fort Myers at 10 a.m. Wednesday, as Hurricane Ian closed in on the Gulf coast.
The storm, with top winds of 155 mph, just short of the 157-mph threshold for Category 5 strength, is expected to make landfall late Wednesday morning or early in the afternoon in an area running from just south of Fort Myers to just north of Sarasota, according to a 10 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center.
“This is going to be a storm we talk about for years to come,” said Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, at a news conference Wednesday morning.
The hurricane threatens to produce a storm surge of up to 18 feet on Florida’s southwestern Gulf coast, generating devastating flooding that would submerge coastal neighborhoods, the National Hurricane Center said in a 9 a.m. Wednesday bulletin.
The hurricane center raised storm surge estimates after the hurricane unexpectedly intensified to near Category 5 strength that morning, with top winds of 155 mph.
The new estimates call for a storm surge of 12-18 feet from Englewood and Charlotte Harbor to south of Fort Myers. A broader area, running from north of Englewood to north of Sarasota, could experience a storm surge of eight to 12 feet.
As of 10 a.m. the storm lay about 60 miles west of Naples, moving north-northeast at 10 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
[ When and where will Hurricane Ian hit Florida? Here’s the updated forecast track ]
The National Weather Service update of its 5-day tracking map for Hurricane Ian at 8 a.m. Wednesday Sept. 28, 2022.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles. The storm is expected to bring up to 18 inches of rain to some areas.
Earlier forecasts predicted the storm would weaken before hitting the coast, but the newer track predicts it will make landfall Wednesday at the peak of its power.
Winds exceeding tropical-storm strength of 39 mph reached Florida by 3 a.m. and hurricane-force winds were expected well in advance of the eyewall moving inland, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A National Hurricane Center forecaster wrote an advisory late Tuesday that whether Ian arrives at Category 3 or 4 strength, “avoiding a large and destructive hurricane for Florida seems very unlikely, and residents should heed the advice of local emergency management officials.”
The center of Ian is forecast to move over central Florida Wednesday night and Thursday morning and emerge over the western Atlantic by late Thursday.
“Life-threatening storm surge is increasingly likely along the Florida west coast where a storm surge warning is in effect, with the highest risk from Naples to the Sarasota region,” the hurricane center wrote late Tuesday. ”Residents in these areas should listen to advice given by local officials and follow any evacuation orders for your area.”
[ RELATED: Kings Point Delray damaged in possible Hurricane Ian tornado; 2 tornadoes hit Broward ]
Ian spawned at least two tornadoes in Broward County on Tuesday night, the National Weather Service said. The tornadoes followed similar paths over Weston, Sunrise, Davie, Cooper City, Pembroke Pines and Hollywood, the weather service said.
A possible tornado near Kings Point Delray toppled trees, wrecked cars and displaced 35 people.
Parts of Palm Beach and Broward were under several tornado warnings throughout Tuesday night, and all of South Florida is under a tornado watch.
President Joe Biden announced the prepositioning of 3.5 million liters of water, 3.7 million meals and hundreds of generators and said he spoke with the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.
“I told them, I mean this sincerely, whatever they need, contact me directly,” Biden said Tuesday afternoon.
The National Weather Service update of its tropical storm force winds forecast for Hurricane Ian at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Expecting life-threatening flooding and facing uncertainty about the storm’s path, authorities ordered evacuations across a broad stretch of the coast. More than 2.5 million people are under evacuation orders in more than a dozen counties, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday night.
The storm’s forecast path moved southeast, raising the risk to the Gulf coast south of Tampa and threatening southeast Florida with more wind and rain. The region from Sarasota to Fort Myers could see a storm surge of up to 12 feet, as the storm’s winds push seawater inland, the hurricane center said.
With the shift of the storm’s forecast track, the chances increased for high winds in southeast Florida, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.
Broward and Miami-Dade counties now have a 50-70% chance of sustained tropical force winds, which means speeds of at least 39 mph. Palm Beach County has a 65-80% chance.
In a 6 p.m. report, the National Weather Service said any further shift east of Ian’s track “could bring increasingly hazardous conditions closer” to South Florida.
All of South Florida can expect tropical-storm conditions starting Wednesday morning, the weather service’s update said. Major flooding from rain is possible across the region through Thursday morning, along with the possibility of tornadoes through Wednesday.
Satellite image of Hurricane Ian as it approaches the southwest Florida coast at 8 a.m. Wednesday Sept. 28, 2022.
The high winds are most likely to last through Thursday afternoon in Palm Beach County and from Wednesday morning to before dawn Thursday in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
DeSantis and Jared Perdue, Florida Department of Transportation secretary, said the Florida Highway Patrol and local law enforcement officials will close bridges if sustained wind speeds exceed 40 mph. DeSantis urged people to take possible bridge closures as early as Wednesday into any evacuation plans.
Despite the attention given to high winds, the biggest killer in hurricanes tends to be water. The hurricane center warned that the Gulf coast faces a high risk of storm surge, the rapid increase in sea level that can flood coastal neighborhoods.
Two to four inches of rain have fallen across southeastern Florida in the last day with some areas seeing between 4 and 6 inches, according to the weather service. Forecasters are expecting another 4 to 8 inches to come through the weekend.
[ RELATED: Hurricane Ian expected to dump up to 10 inches of rain in parts of South Florida ]
A classic American car drives past utility poles tilted by Hurricane Ian in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022. (Ramon Espinosa/AP)
Ian’s outer bands continued to move over South Florida overnight and will increase in strength through Wednesday, and there could be potential significant impacts from wind across much of Palm Beach County and western Broward County, according to the weather service’s update.
Florida Power & Light deployed 16,000 crew members at nearly two dozen staging, parking and prepositioning sites throughout the state, FPL president and CEO Eric Silagy said Tueday. They have already responded to outages triggered by storm bands in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, he said.
Crews will continue to make repairs as needed until winds become unsafe, he said. During the most severe part of the storm, crews will likely remain sheltered for 12 to 20 hours.
[ RELATED: ‘It could be life-changing.’ Tampa Bay preps for Hurricane Ian’s worst, hopes for the best ]
The storm is expected to expand as it strengthens, placing a larger area at risk of high winds. These winds can rip off tree branches, knock down power line and blow objects off the ground, the weather service said.
FPL reported that 4,880 customers were without power in Broward County as of 11 p.m. In Miami-Dade County, about 11,000 customers were without power and about 7,300 in Palm Beach County.
DeSantis said Monday evening that many parts of the state are likely to lose power.
“We’ve said from the beginning people are going to lose power, and you need to be prepared for that. And it’s not going to be something that’s going to automatically just go back on very quickly because you’re going to have extensive damage, and you’re going to have to have crews be able to get in, roads are going to have to be cleared,” the governor said.
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[ STAY UPDATED with the latest forecast for tropical weather at SunSentinel.com/hurricane ]
The National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory said the Florida east and southeast Florida will see between 6 and 8 inches of rain with as much as 12 inches in some areas. Central and northeast Florida could see between 12 and 18 inches, with a maximum of 24 inches in some areas.
A new tropical depression formed Wednesday morning, but it’s far out in the Atlantic and expected to be short-lived, the hurricane center said Wednesday morning.
The next named storm to form would be Julia.
Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
Staff writers Ron Hurtibise, David Lyons, Rafael Olmeda, Lois Solomon and Scott Travis contributed to this report. Information from the Associated Press was also used.
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Hurricane Ian Nears Florida Landfall With 155 Mph Winds
Hurricane Ian Nears Florida Landfall With 155 Mph Winds https://digitalalabamanews.com/hurricane-ian-nears-florida-landfall-with-155-mph-winds/
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., (AP) — Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified as it neared landfall along Florida’s southwest coast Wednesday morning, gaining top winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status. Damaging winds and rain lashed the state, and forecasters said the heavily populated Fort Myers area could be inundated by a storm surge of up to 18 feet (5.5 meters)
Air Force hurricane hunters confirmed Ian gained strength over warm Gulf of Mexico water after battering Cuba, bringing down the country’s electricity grid and leaving the entire island without power. Ian was centered about 60 miles (95 kilometers) west-southwest of Naples at 10 a.m., swirling toward the coast at 10 mph (17 kph).
“This is going to be a nasty nasty day, two days,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said early Wednesday, stressing that people in Ian’s path along the coast should rush to the safest possible shelter and stay there.
The massive storm appeared on track to slam ashore somewhere north of Fort Myers and some 125 miles (201 kilometers) south of Tampa, sparing the bay area from a rare direct hit from a hurricane. The area is popular with retirees and tourists drawn to pristine white sandy beaches and long barrier islands, which forecasters said could be completely inundated.
Catastrophic storm surges could push as much as 12 to 18 feet (3.7 to 5.5 meters) of water over a nearly 100-mile (160-kilometer) stretch of coastline, from Bonita Beach north through Fort Myers and Charlotte Harbor to Englewood, the hurricane center warned. Rainfall near the area of landfall could top 18 inches (46 centimeters).
“It’s time to hunker down and prepare for the storm,” DeSantis said. “Do what you need to do to stay safe. If you are where that storm is approaching, you’re already in hazardous conditions. It’s going to get a lot worse very quickly.”
More than 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders, but by law no one could be forced to flee. The governor said the state has 30,000 linemen, urban search and rescue teams and 7,000 National Guard troops from Florida and elsewhere ready to help once the weather clears.
Florida residents rushed ahead of the impact to board up their homes, stash precious belongings on upper floors and join long lines of cars leaving the shore.
“You can’t do anything about natural disasters,” said Vinod Nair, who drove inland from the Tampa area Tuesday with his wife, son, dog and two kittens, seeking a hotel in Orlando, where only tropical-storm force winds were expected. “We live in a high risk zone, so we thought it best to evacuate.”
Overnight, Hurricane Ian went through a natural cycle when it lost its old eye and formed a new eye. The timing was bad for the Florida coast, because the storm got stronger and larger only hours before landfall. Ian went from 120 mph (193 kph) to 155 mph (250 kph) in three hours, the second round of rapid intensification in the storm’s life cycle.
“With the higher intensity you’re going to see more extensive wind damage. The larger wind field means that more people will experience those storm-force winds,” University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy said. And “it will really increase the amount of storm surge.”
Ian’s forward movement shifted slightly southward, likely sparing Tampa and St. Petersburg their first direct hit by a major hurricane since 1921.
Instead, the most damaging winds could hit a rapidly developing coastline where the population has jumped sevenfold since 1970, according to the U.S. Census, which shows Lee County has seen the eighth largest population growth among more than 180 Atlantic and Gulf coast counties in the past 50 years.
There were 250,000 people in the Fort Myers/Lee County mandatory evacuation zones, and authorities worried ahead of the storm that only 10% or so would leave.
Gil Gonzalez wasn’t taking any chances. He boarded the windows of his Tampa home with plywood, laid down sandbags, and with his wife, packed their car with bottled water, flashlights, battery packs for their cellphones and a camp stove before evacuating. “All the prized possessions, we’ve put them upstairs in a friend’s house,” Gonzalez said.
Airports in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Key West closed, as did Disney World theme parks and Sea World in Orlando ahead of the storm. Hotels along the coast either filled up or closed down, and with flights canceled, some tourists planned to join locals at emergency shelters.
Ash Dugney warily watched ocean water being sucked out below a Tampa Bay pier Wednesday morning, wondering how strong the surge would be on the way back in. He said he didn’t trust Tampa’s storm drainage system to keep his corner tuxedo rental business safe from flooding that he said happened in his neighborhood even during mild storms.
“I don’t care about the wind and the rain and the stuff like that, I just care about the flooding,” Dugney said, adding that he moved essentials out of the shop and lifted other items up to above waist-high level.
The precise location of landfall was still uncertain, but with Ian’s tropical storm-force winds extending 175 miles (280 kilometers) from its center, flash floods were possible across the whole state. Hazards include the polluted leftovers of Florida’s phosphate fertilizer mining industry, more than 1 billion tons of slightly radioactive waste contained in enormous ponds that could overflow in heavy rains.
Parts of Florida’s east coast faced a storm surge threat as well, and isolated tornadoes were spinning off the storm well ahead of landfall. One tornado damaged small planes and a hangar at the North Perry Airport, west of Hollywood along the Atlantic coast.
Florida Power and Light warned those in Ian’s path to brace for days without electricity. As a precaution, hundreds of residents were being evacuated from several nursing homes in the Tampa area, where hospitals also were moving some patients.
Parts of Georgia and South Carolina also could see flooding rains and some coastal surge into Saturday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp preemptively declared an emergency, ordering 500 National Guard troops onto standby to respond as needed.
Before turning toward Florida, Ian struck Cuba’s Pinar del Rio province with sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) and causing destruction in the island nation’s world-famous tobacco belt. No deaths were reported.
Local government station TelePinar reported heavy damage at the main hospital in Pinar del Rio city, tweeting photos of collapsed ceilings, widely flung debris and toppled trees. Some people left the stricken area on foot, carrying their children, while buses tried to evacuated others through waterlogged streets. Others opted to stay at their damaged houses.
“It was horrible,” said Yusimi Palacios, a resident of Pinar del Rio inside her damaged house. “But here we are alive, and I only ask the Cuban revolution to help me with the roof and the mattress.”
___
Associated Press contributors include Christina Mesquita in Havana, Cuba; Cody Jackson in Tampa, Florida; Freida Frisaro in Miami; Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Florida; Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida; Seth Borenstein in Washington and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York.
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12 All-Time Great SEC Players Who Never Faced Auburn
12 All-Time Great SEC Players Who Never Faced Auburn https://digitalalabamanews.com/12-all-time-great-sec-players-who-never-faced-auburn/
The SEC’s schedule rotation has gotten better in recent decades, but it’s still largely a debacle.
Consequently, it’s possible for some all-time greats to get through their entire careers without facing one conference team or another. Auburn is no exception.
Through the years, some of the SEC’s best players have never suited up against the Tigers, at home, at Jordan-Hare Stadium or even in the SEC championship game. Here are 12 of note (listed in alphabetical order):
LSU’s Charles Alexander (4) finished his career as the SEC’s all-time leading rusher. (Photo by David Madison/Getty Images)Getty Images
1. Charles Alexander, RB, LSU (1975-78)
“Alexander the Great” finished his LSU career as the SEC’s all-time leader with 4,035 rushing yards (though he was surpassed by Georgia’s Herschel Walker a few years later), and remains No. 9 in league history. However, the Tigers and Tigers did not play between 1973 and 1980, meaning he never suited up vs. Auburn.
Doug Atkins was an All-American at Tennessee and is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. (Sporting News Archive via Getty Images)Sporting News via Getty Images
2. Doug Atkins, DE, Tennessee (1950-52)
The gigantic (especially for his time) 6-foot-8 Atkins led the Volunteers to a national championship in 1951 and was an All-American in 1952 before going onto an NFL career that landed him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But he never faced Auburn, which didn’t play Tennessee between 1939 and 1956. The two teams would play every year from 1956-91.
Johnny Mack Brown starred at Alabama in the 1926 Rose Bowl and later became a famed western movie star. (Photo by Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images) Sporting News via Getty Images
3. Johnny Mack Brown, HB, Alabama (1925-26)
Auburn and Alabama famously didn’t play between 1907 and 1948, which means the “Dothan Antelope” never got to run vs. the Tigers. Brown was Most Valuable Player of the 1926 Rose Bowl, scoring two touchdowns in a 20-19 victory over Washington. He later became a famed movie cowboy, star of more than 160 film in a 40-year screen career.
Billy Cannon was LSU’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1959, the year after he led the Tigers to the national championship. (AP Photo/File)AP
4. Billy Cannon, HB, LSU (1957-59)
A two-time All-American and a national champion as junior in 1958, Cannon won LSU’s first Heisman Trophy as a senior when he starred on offense, defense and special teams. Auburn and LSU stopped playing after World War II broke out, and wouldn’t resume their series until 1969.
Known as “Chuckin’ Charlie,” Charlie Conerly starred at quarterback for Ole Miss and the NFL’s New York Giants. (Photo by Robert Riger/Getty Images)Getty Images
5. Charlie Conerly, QB, Ole Miss (1942, 1946-47)
Conerly was one of the first great passing quarterbacks in SEC history before becoming a star with the NFL’s New York Giants, and also served as a Marine during World War II. Auburn and Ole Miss didn’t play between 1932 and 1949, meaning “Chuckin’ Charlie” never faced the Tigers.
Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch was SEC Player of the Year in 1998 and was the No. 1 overall pick the following year by the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)ASSOCIATED PRESS
6. Tim Couch, QB, Kentucky (1996-98)
Couch rewrote the SEC passing record book in Hal Mumme’s “Air Raid” offense, earning All-America honors and the league’s Player of the Year award as a junior at Kentucky in 1998. He just missed playing Auburn on the front end of his career, as the Tigers didn’t face the Wildcats between 1995 and 2004.
Jake Gibbs (12) quarterbacked Ole Miss to a national championship in 1959, and later played catcher with the New York Yankees. (AP Photo/Perry Aycock)AP
7. Jake Gibbs, QB, Ole Miss (1958-60)
Gibbs helped Ole Miss to a national championship as a junior and was SEC Player of the Year as a senior, when the Rebels went 10-0-1 and won the Sugar Bowl. A multi-sport star who later played catcher for the New York Yankees, Gibbs never faced Auburn, which didn’t play Ole Miss between 1953 and 1965.
Harry Gilmer (52) led coach Frank Thomas’ Alabama team to an undefeated season in 1945. (Birmingham News file photo)
8. Harry Gilmer, HB, Alabama (1944-47)
One of the great all-around players in Crimson Tide history, Gilmer started four seasons on both offense and defense and also excelled as a punter and kick-returner. He was SEC Player of the Year and an All-American for Alabama’s undefeated 1945 team. But because the Tigers and Crimson Tide didn’t play between 1907 and 1948, he never faced Auburn.
Don Hutson, an All-America end at Alabama in 1934, was a charter member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. (AP photo by Robert Walsh).AP Photo/Robert Walsh
9. Don Hutson, E, Alabama (1932-34)
Arguably the greatest Crimson Tide player prior to 1950 (and perhaps the best NFL player of that era as well during his days with the Green Bay Packers), Hutson was an All-American on Alabama’s 1934 SEC championship team that went undefeated and won the Rose Bowl. The Arkansas native never got to experience an Iron Bowl, however.
Millard “Dixie” Howell was a star of Alabama’s 1934 national championship team before playing Major League Baseball. (AP Photo)AP
10. Dixie Howell, HB, Alabama (1932-34)
Hutson’s exact contemporary, Howell was also an All-American for Alabama’s 1934 championship team, the man who threw all those long passes to Hutson and fellow end Paul “Bear” Bryant. Howell went on to play in both the NFL and in Major League Baseball and later spent many years as a coach, but he never faced Auburn.
Kentucky quarterback Vito “Babe” Parilli was an All-American in 1950. (AP Photo)AP
11. Babe Parilli, QB, Kentucky (1949-51)
A modern-style passing quarterback in a run-first (and second and third) era, Parilli led Kentucky to the SEC championship in 1951 and a milestone victory over Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl at season’s end. He later spent more than a decade in the NFL (including a stint as Joe Namath’s backup), but never faced Auburn, which didn’t play Kentucky between 1935 and 1954.
Later known as “Mr. Birmingham,” Alabama’s Fred Sington was an All-America guard in 1930. (Birmingham News file photo)
12. Fred Sington, G, Alabama (1928-30)
“Football Freddie” was an All-American guard for the Crimson Tide’s Rose Bowl championship team in 1930, played Major League Baseball for a time and became one of Birmingham’s great civic leaders in the mid-20th century. He was also a victim of the “freeze” in the Iron Bowl rivalry, which didn’t resume until he was in his late 30s.
Creg Stephenson is a sports writer for AL.com. He has covered college football for a variety of publications since 1994. Contact him at cstephenson@al.com or follow him on Twitter at @CregStephenson.
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Bidens $15 Contractor Minimum Wage To Get Appeals Court Debate
Biden’s $15 Contractor Minimum Wage To Get Appeals Court Debate https://digitalalabamanews.com/bidens-15-contractor-minimum-wage-to-get-appeals-court-debate/
President Joe Biden’s initiative boosting the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 an hour will face its biggest legal test during oral argument at a federal appeals court in Denver.
The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Wednesday is set to consider a recreational company’s challenge to Biden’s April 2021 order lifting the pay floor for federal contractors by about $4.
A court order blocking the wage hike would throw one of Biden’s most significant pro-worker policies—issued after Democrat-backed legislation to raise federal minimum pay failed in the Senate—into legal uncertainty.
A federal district court in Colorado rejected the recreational company’s request for a temporary injunction in January, holding that it was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its claims. But the Tenth Circuit agreed a month later to pause, while the appeal is pending, enforcement of the policy against recreational businesses that have a permit to operate on federal property.
The US Labor Department, which finalized a rule to implement the order in November 2021, estimated it would affect more than 500,000 companies, including 40,000 firms that provide concessions or recreational services pursuant to government permits.
Litigation is also ongoing in federal district court in two separate lawsuits brought by Republican-led states contesting the contractor pay bump.
The various legal challenges all allege that the Biden administration overstepped its authority under the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, also known as the Procurement Act.
About a dozen GOP-led states, including most of those that sued to block the rule, filed an amicus brief backing the challenge brought by a whitewater rafting company, its owner, and a trade association that’s before the Tenth Circuit. A lawyer from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office is scheduled to appear at oral argument.
The Tenth Circuit panel that will hear the case is composed of Judges Jerome Holmes, a George H.W. Bush appointee, David Ebel, a Reagan appointee, and Allison Eid, a Trump appointee.
Trio of Orders
Biden’s executive order is the third presidential directive since 2014 that’s relevant to the case, starting with former President Barack Obama’s order establishing a $10.10 minimum wage for federal contractors.
Former President Donald Trump used an executive order in 2018 to create an exemption to the Obama directive for contracts to provide seasonal recreational services or equipment rentals on federal land.
Biden’s 2021 order raising the minimum wage also rescinded Trump’s seasonal recreation exemption.
Arkansas Valley Adventure LLC, Duke Bradford, and the Colorado River Outfitters Association argue that the Biden Labor Department “distorted the Procurement Act beyond any rational limits” when it raised the minimum wage for contractors that don’t provide services directly to the government.
“If the statute can be bent to such an illogical extreme, then it has no limits,” the recreational businesses said in a brief to the Tenth Circuit.
They said they only hold permits allowing them the use of federal lands—neither supplying the federal government with services nor receiving services from the government—which should put them outside of the proper bounds of the law.
The Labor Department’s invocation of the Procurement Act is also unjustified because Biden’s order doesn’t promote economy and efficiency, they said.
“The net result will be more costs to the public, to non-procurement firms, and to the government—the opposite of a permitted action under the Act,” the businesses said.
In addition, the DOL failed to explain why it scrapped the 2018 exception for recreational companies, making the new rule arbitrary under the Administrative Procedure Act, they said.
The entire rule should be set aside because it’s unclear whether the department would have issued it without withdrawing that exception, the businesses said.
President’s Power
The Biden administration characterized the contractor pay increase as a simple and direct exercise of the president’s authority to craft federal contracting policies that favor economy and efficiency.
The wage bump met that standard because raising pay enhances worker output, reduces absenteeism and turnover, and lowers supervisory and training costs, the administration said in its brief. The Procurement Act only requires that the president consider the policy to be necessary, it added.
The law empowers the president to set policy for efficient procurement and supply of goods or services, and the federal government has contracted with recreational companies to supply services to the public, the administration said. The Trump administration embraced this reading of the law when it created the recreational exemption in 2018, it said.
The DOL’s withdrawal of that exception wasn’t arbitrary because it was compelled by Biden’s executive order, and he isn’t covered by the APA, the administration said.
Even if the Tenth Circuit should decide a preliminary injunction is warranted, the order should only apply to Arkansas Valley Adventure and the company’s owner, the administration said. They were the only ones that the district court found to have shown they could be injured by the wage increase, it said.
The US Justice Department and the recreational businesses’ lawyer, Caleb Kruckenberg of the Pacific Legal Foundation, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The case is Bradford v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor, 10th Cir., No. 22-01023, oral argument 9/28/22.
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McConnell Says He Supports Senate's Electoral Count Reform Bill
McConnell Says He Supports Senate's Electoral Count Reform Bill https://digitalalabamanews.com/mcconnell-says-he-supports-senates-electoral-count-reform-bill/
Wednesday, September 28th 2022, 7:46 am
By: CBS News
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday announced he’ll “proudly” support bipartisan legislation in the Senate to reform the Electoral Count Act, a move intended to prevent a recurrence of the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
A similar effort passed in the House last week. Eleven Senate Republicans have already announced they are co-sponsoring the measure, more than enough for passage. The Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday voted to advance the bill, with GOP Sen. Ted Cruz being the only committee member to object.
“I strongly support the modest changes that our colleagues in the working group have fleshed out after literally months of detailed discussions,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon. I’ll proudly support the legislation, provided that nothing more than technical changes are made to its current form.”
Last week, GOP Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats are co-sponsoring the legislation, in addition to Collins and Manchin. McConnell’s public support could encourage other GOP senators to support the measure.
“Our bipartisan bill is backed by election law experts and organizations across the ideological spectrum and a broad cross section of Senators from both parties,” Collins and Manchin said in a statement Tuesday. “We will keep working to increase support for our legislation that would correct the flaws in this archaic and ambiguous law.”
The legislation would reform and modernize the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to make sure electoral votes counted by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote for president, something the House bill also does. It also provides clearer guidelines for when eligible candidates for president and vice president can receive federal resources to support their transition to governance.
The General Services Administration was in the spotlight during the last presidential transition, as the Trump-picked GSA administrator was responsible for allowing President-elect Biden access to office space, key funding and classified intelligence briefings.
Last week, the House passed the Presidential Election Reform Act, which makes sure Congress receives an electoral certificate from each state that accurately reflects the will of the voters and reaffirms that the vice president’s role in approving electoral votes is merely ministerial.
A January 2022 CBS News poll found that 75% of respondents believe Congress must accept the results after states certify their election results, while 25% believe Congress can accept or reject those results.
Related Story: McConnell Announces Support For Bipartisan Gun Reform Framework
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Post Politics Now: Biden Convening First White House Conference On Hunger Since Nixon
Post Politics Now: Biden Convening First White House Conference On Hunger Since Nixon https://digitalalabamanews.com/post-politics-now-biden-convening-first-white-house-conference-on-hunger-since-nixon/
Today, President Biden will deliver an address at the first White House conference on hunger since 1969, when President Richard M. Nixon pulled together a similar gathering. Administration officials say they have secured $8 billion in public- and private-sector commitments toward helping provide more food and better nutrition by 2030. The speaking program includes administration officials and members of Congress, as well as José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen.
On Capitol Hill, the Senate moved a step closer Tuesday to avoiding a partial government shutdown after removing a controversial energy project permitting provision pushed by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Lawmakers are scrambling to pass a stopgap funding measure by Friday before leaving town.
Your daily dashboard
10 a.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Watch live here.
11 a.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks at the White House to celebrate the Americans With Disabilities Act. Watch live here.
12:30 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. Watch live here.
7 p.m. Eastern: Biden participates in a Democratic Governors Association reception in Washington.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Noted: House GOP leaders urge ‘NO’ vote on bill to keep government open
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If the House votes this week to avert a partial government shutdown, it won’t be at the urging of the chamber’s Republican leadership.
“Leadership recommends a NO vote,” reads a memo from the GOP whip office that is circulating among members as they return to Washington on Wednesday.
Part of the reasoning: The stopgap measure under consideration was crafted without sufficient negotiation with leading Republicans “on pressing issues relating to our government funding priorities, including runaway inflation, the supply chain crisis, the border crisis, or the opioid deaths associated with drugs like fentanyl coming across our open southern border,” the memo says.
Analysis: Biden didn’t share the real reason Medicare premiums are lower
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With the midterm elections just six weeks away, President Biden vowed Tuesday to lower seniors’ health costs in a Rose Garden speech. He pledged to protect Medicare against perceived Republican threats and pointed to Democrats’ new law allowing the federal health program to negotiate drug prices for the first time.
“And this morning, we got even more good news,” Biden said, pointing to a decrease in Medicare premiums for doctor visits. “For years, that fee has gone up. Now, for the first time in more than a decade, it’s going to go down.”
Analysis: What is the Electoral Count Act, and why does Congress want to change it?
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A year and a half after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Congress has passed no legislation to prevent it from happening again. But it could be close.
The Post’s Amber Phillips and Adrian Blanco note that a group of Democrats and Republicans is recommending new limits to Congress’s and the vice president’s roles in declaring the presidential winner. Per our colleagues:
They want to change a very old law known as the Electoral Count Act that they think President Donald Trump exploited to try to stay in power in 2020.
The House of Representatives passed its bill recently, with only nine Republicans voting for it. And efforts to reform this law just got a big boost from the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who endorsed the Senate’s version of the bill.
You can read a full analysis from Amber and Adrian about the larger push here.
Our colleague Amy B Wang has more on the latest related activity in the Senate here.
On our radar: Stock trading bill unveiled, faces uncertain future
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Rep. Zoe Lofgren (R-Calif.) late Tuesday unveiled a bill to prevent insider trading by members of Congress and eliminate conflicts of interest.
The long-awaited legislation had a rough birth and has an uncertain future, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer write in The Early 202. Per our colleagues:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was reluctant at first to back a bill to ban stock trades by members of Congress after Business Insider reported that dozens of members of Congress violated a 2012 law meant to eliminate insider trading.
She eventually came around, and Lofgren was tasked with consolidating the various proposals and drafting the central bill.
It was supposed to be released last week but was delayed as Lofgren continued to work through the details with members.
A vote this week is possible, two House Democratic aides say, but it could also be punted until after the midterm elections. It could also never come up for a vote.
You can read The Early 202 in full here.
Analysis: Senate GOP, liberal Dems find common cause in sinking Manchin’s bill
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Congress is on a glide path to avoid a partial government shutdown — and there are still three days to spare before the deadline.
But the relatively drama-free funding debate did claim one casualty: the energy project permitting bill of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer write.
Per our colleagues:
Manchin announced Tuesday afternoon he was pulling his proposal from the stopgap funding bill, or continuing resolution (CR), as he faced down the reality it didn’t have the 60 votes needed to pass. With that done, the spending bill cleared a key procedural vote and could pass as early as Wednesday, but more likely Thursday.
Manchin shrugged off the defeat, telling reporters he’s confident he can find the needed support when Congress returns for its post-election “lame duck” session.
He could look to attach it to the annual defense policy bill or the next government funding bill that will be needed in December.
You can read the full analysis here.
On our radar: White House hosts conference on hunger with $8 billion in commitments
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President Biden on Wednesday is hosting the first White House summit in nearly a half-century dedicated to combating hunger, with administration officials saying they have secured $8 billion in public- and private-sector commitments toward helping provide more food and better nutrition by 2030.
The Post’s Matt Viser reports that Biden is planning to speak at the conference, which will also feature several members of Congress — including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Reps. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) — and several Cabinet officials. It will also include José Andrés, the chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, and New York Mayor Eric Adams (D).
Noted: Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico, according to new book
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As president, Donald Trump weighed bombing drug labs in Mexico after one of his leading public health officials came into the Oval Office, wearing a dress uniform, and said such facilities should be handled by putting “lead to target” to stop the flow of illicit substances across the border into the United States.
The Post’s Josh Dawsey has details:
“He raised it several times, eventually asking a stunned Defense Secretary Mark Esper whether the United States could indeed bomb the labs,” according to a new book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. White House officials said the official, Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, often wore his dress uniform for meetings with Trump, which confused the former president.
“The response from White House aides was not to try to change Trump’s view, but to consider asking Giroir not to wear his uniform to the Oval Office anymore,” Haberman writes in “Confidence Man,” an extensive book about Trump’s time in New York and as president.
The 607-page book, which has long been awaited by many of Trump’s aides, is set to be published Tuesday. A copy was obtained by The Washington Post. The book details unusual and erratic interactions between Trump and world leaders, members of Congress, as well as his aides, along with behind-the-scenes accounts of his time as a businessman.
On our radar: Solomon Islands rejects Biden’s Pacific outreach ahead of White House summit
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American efforts to rally Pacific island leaders at a White House summit this week were dealt a blow when the Solomon Islands said it would not endorse a joint declaration that the Biden administration plans to unveil.
The Post’s Michael E. Miller writes that as President Biden prepared to host the leaders of a dozen Pacific countries on Wednesday and Thursday in a first-of-its-kind gathering, the Solomon Islands sent a diplomatic note to other nations in the region saying there was no consensus on the issues and that it needed “time to reflect” on the declaration.
The latest: White House says it’s pushing to allow Puerto Rico fuel shipment
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White House officials are pushing federal agencies to quickly approve a legal waiver allowing Puerto Rico to receive a shipment of diesel fuel that is being held off the island’s coast, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Post’s Jeff Stein and Toluse Olorunnipa report that as Puerto Rico reels from Hurricane Fiona and the administration faces continued blowback over the issue, President Biden is personally tracking the matter and supports granting the waiver, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private discussions.
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Rubicon Achieves AWS Smart City Competency https://digitalalabamanews.com/rubicon-achieves-aws-smart-city-competency/
LEXINGTON, Kentucky–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (“Rubicon”) (NYSE: RBT), a leading digital marketplace for waste and recycling and provider of innovative software-based products for businesses and governments worldwide, today announced that it has achieved Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) Smart City Competency. This designation recognizes Rubicon as an AWS Partner that helps customers and the partner community build and deploy innovative smart city solutions.
AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, AWS established the AWS Competency Program to help customers identify AWS Partner Network (APN) members with deep industry experience and expertise.
Achieving the AWS Smart City Competency distinction differentiates Rubicon as an APN member that has demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success supporting city governments and city developers who are witnessing an unprecedented rate of urban growth. Rubicon is equipped to help handle the challenges that come with building smarter municipalities and more environmentally sustainable cities. As cities grow, they will require technology solutions that improve solid waste management, urban spatial planning, infrastructure, and city governance.
An example of this is Rubicon’s work with the City of Harrisonburg, Virginia. Prior to partnering with Rubicon, the City of Harrisonburg (“the City”) did not have any established solid waste or recycling routes. Drivers serviced customers through a flock approach, which resulted in longer routes with higher mileage and inefficient crossover. Solid waste operations were also paper-based, and the City was interested in digitizing their code enforcement and citizen education process. Rubicon’s team digitized all of the City’s routes. Route duration is now on average one hour shorter in residential operations, from an average of 351 minutes per route, down to 290 minutes. These reduced route durations translate to more than $100,000 in annual savings. Similarly, Rubicon helped the city cut the length of routes almost in half, from an average of 63 miles per route down to 33 miles. This reduced mileage accounts for more than $90,000 in annual savings, and approximately 230,000 pounds of CO2 emissions avoided.
“Rubicon is extremely proud of our long-standing relationship with AWS, and we are thrilled to achieve the AWS Smart City Competency,” said Conor Riffle, Senior Vice President of Smart Cities at Rubicon. “Rubicon’s mission is to end waste, which refers to waste in the physical sense, as well as wasted time and, in the case of Rubicon’s smart city technology products, wasted government resources. Rubicon’s work with AWS is enabling cities around the United States to deliver safer, more efficient public services to their residents while continuing to save tax-payer dollars year after year.”
RUBICONSmartCity is a proprietary, cloud-based technology suite that helps municipal governments run faster, smarter, and more effective waste, recycling, and heavy-duty municipal fleet operations. It runs on AWS, specifically Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).
“Speaking on behalf of historic Harrisonburg, Virginia, I am thrilled by the partnership between Rubicon and our great city,” said Harsit Patel, Support Services Manager for the City of Harrisonburg. “The annual taxpayer savings generated from utilizing Rubicon’s products allows us to put these dollars to work in other areas of the city and provide more efficient and effective government for all.”
In 2021, RUBICONSmartCity was listed in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards in the “AI & Data” and “Spaces, Places, and Cities” categories, and it was featured in the Climate Next documentary series by AWS, now available via streaming.
RUBICONSmartCity has been rolled out in more than 80 cities across the United States, including Asheville, NC; Baltimore, MD; Columbus, OH; Durham, NC; Fort Collins, CO; Fort Smith, AR; Glendale, AZ; Greenville, NC; Hartford, CT; Houston, TX; Kansas City, MO; Memphis, TN; Montgomery, AL; Santa Fe, NM; San Antonio, TX; Savannah, GA; Scranton, PA; Spokane, WA; and Roseville, CA. The solution is available for purchase on Sourcewell, the AWS Marketplace, the HGACBuy consortium, and Marketplace.city.
About Rubicon
Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: RBT) is a digital marketplace for waste and recycling, and provider of innovative software-based products for businesses and governments worldwide. Striving to create a new industry standard by using technology to drive environmental innovation, the company helps turn businesses into more sustainable enterprises, and neighborhoods into greener and smarter places to live and work. Rubicon’s mission is to end waste. It helps its partners find economic value in their waste streams and confidently execute on their sustainability goals. To learn more, visit www.Rubicon.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words “could,” “should,” “will,” “may,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Rubicon Technologies, Inc. (“Rubicon”) and its management, are inherently uncertain; factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: 1) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Rubicon or others following the closing of Rubicon’s business combination with Founder SPAC (the “business combination”); 2) Rubicon’s ability to meet the New York Stock Exchange’s listing standards following the consummation of the business combination; 3) the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations of Rubicon as a result of consummation of the business combination; 4) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with customers and suppliers and retain its management and key employees; 5) costs related to the business combination; 6) changes in applicable laws or regulations; 7) the possibility that Rubicon may be adversely affected by other economic, business and/or competitive factors; and 8) other risks and uncertainties set forth in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in Rubicon’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and other documents of Rubicon filed or to be filed with the SEC. Although Rubicon believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, nothing in this press release should be regarded as a representation by any person that the forward-looking statements set forth herein will be achieved or that any of the contemplated results of such forward looking statements will be achieved. There may be additional risks that Rubicon presently does not know of or that Rubicon currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Rubicon does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty to update these forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by applicable law.
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U.S. Ski-Climber Hilaree Nelson Found Dead After Fall On Himalayan Peak
U.S. Ski-Climber Hilaree Nelson Found Dead After Fall On Himalayan Peak https://digitalalabamanews.com/u-s-ski-climber-hilaree-nelson-found-dead-after-fall-on-himalayan-peak/
Nepalese rescuers discovered the body of a well-known American ski-climber on Wednesday, two days after she went missing while skiing down the world’s eighth-highest peak in Nepal.
Hilaree Nelson, 49, was making her way down from the 26,781-foot summit of Mount Manaslu with her partner, Jim Morrison, when she fell.
The helicopter search, which had been hampered by bad weather, found her body about 6,200 feet from the summit, according to Capt. Surendra Poudel of Simrik Air, who recovered the body.
“The body has been badly damaged,” he said. “It took an hour and a half to retrieve the body that was buried half in the snow.”
Bigyan Koirala, an official at the Department of Tourism, the government agency that issues climbing permits, said the helicopter dropped two high-altitude sherpa guides and Morrison to search for the body on Wednesday morning.
“The body was around 50 meters down to our landing point,” Poudel said. A post-mortem was conducted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.
Based on the details shared by Morrison, Nelson slipped on the knife-edge mountain near the summit and fell down the southern side of the peak. Locals have named Manaslu a “killer mountain” because more than six dozen mountaineers have perished on its slopes.
Nelson, who has undertaken about 40 expeditions in the past two decades, is billed as the “most prolific ski mountaineer of her generation” by one of her sponsors, North Face.
A resident of Telluride, Colo., Nelson grew up in Seattle and spent weekends at Stevens Pass in Washington’s Cascades. North Face says she became hooked on ski-mountaineering after visiting Chamonix, a French town at the foot of the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc, after college.
In 2012, she became the first woman to climb two of the world’s tallest mountains, Mount Everest and neighboring Mount Lhotse, in a 24-hour period. In 2018, she and Morrison returned to the area and became the first to ski down from the 27,940-foot summit of Lhotse — the fourth-tallest mountain in the world, exploits she detailed on her website.
“It’s hard to summit a 28,000-foot mountain, let alone get your skis up there, have the right conditions and be able to make the ascent,” she said in a 2019 video about that feat.
Nelson is also credited with inspiring young female climbers. A parent of two boys — born two years apart — she wrote in 2019 about the difficulties of balancing her mountaineering career with motherhood. Nelson said that she went on one expedition while six months pregnant and that she took pay cuts because for an elite climber, “being pregnant was treated like an injury.”
Just days before the fall, Nelson wrote on Instagram about the challenges of her latest expedition.
“I haven’t felt as sure-footed on Manaslu as I have on past adventure into the thin atmosphere of the high Himalaya. These past weeks have tested my resilience in new ways,” she wrote. “The constant monsoon with its incessant rain and humidity has made me hopelessly homesick.”
Nelson and her partner abandoned one attempt to reach the summit when it became too dangerous to move between two camps. “We went up high and tried hard but the mountain said no,” Morrison wrote on Instagram. “Tails between our legs we bailed from camp 3 and headed down.”
Climbers in the area regularly grapple with changing weather and avalanches. On Monday, an avalanche farther down the mountain killed a Nepalese guide and injured several other climbers, the Associated Press reported.
Sherpas and climbers described the tough conditions on social media, as climbers braved bad weather to beat the crowds vying to make it to the summit during the peak fall climbing season.
The Nepalese government issued 504 permits to foreigners wanting to climb in the Himalayan mountains this season, most of them for Manaslu, the AP reported. The tourism board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pannett reported from Sydney, Sangam from Kathmandu, Nepal.
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EU Vows To Protect Energy Systems After 'sabotage' On Russian Gas Pipelines
EU Vows To Protect Energy Systems After 'sabotage' On Russian Gas Pipelines https://digitalalabamanews.com/eu-vows-to-protect-energy-systems-after-sabotage-on-russian-gas-pipelines/
EU diplomat believes sabotage probably caused leaks
Danish defence minister worried over Baltic Sea security
Danish defence minister met with NATO chief in Brussels
BERLIN/COPENHAGEN, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Any intentional disruption to EU energy networks would meet a “robust and united response”, its top diplomat said, after several states said two Russian pipelines to Europe had been attacked, causing gas to spew into the Baltic Sea.
It remained far from clear who might be behind the leaks or any foul play, if proven, on the Nord Stream pipelines that Russia and European partners spent billions of dollars building.
Russia, which slashed gas deliveries to Europe after the West imposed sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, has also said sabotage was a possibility.
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The European Union believes sabotage probably caused the leaks detected on Monday, Josep Borrell said, echoing views aired by Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
The EU has not named a potential perpetrator or suggested a reason for the suspected sabotage.
“Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response,” Borrell said.
A statement issued by Russia’s embassy in Denmark said that any sabotage on Nord Stream’s pipelines was an attack on both Russia’s and Europe’s energy security.
“The unsubstantiated accusations and assumptions that are now being made everywhere are intended to create information noise and prevent an objective and impartial investigation,” the Russian statement said.
The Nord Stream pipelines have been flashpoints in an escalating energy war between capitals in Europe and Moscow that has damaged major Western economies, sent gas prices soaring and sparked a hunt for alternative supplies.
SECURITY ALERT
Denmark’s defence minister said after a meeting with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg that there was reason to be concerned about the security situation in the region.
“Russia has a significant military presence in the Baltic Sea region and we expect them to continue their sabre-rattling,” Morten Bodskov said in a statement.
Norwegian police said on Wednesday they have reinforced security around the country’s oil and gas installations, while Danish authorities have asked that the level of preparedness in the country’s power and gas sector be raised.
In the Baltic Sea, the volume of gas bubbling from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was unchanged on Wednesday from the previous day, the Swedish Coast Guard said in an email to Reuters.
Denmark’s Bodskov said it might take a week or two before the areas around the leaks were calm enough to be investigated, while there were differing views over potential repairs.
“There are good teams in place to handle pipeline accidents, there are emergency pipe inventories and experts for onshore and offshore,” Jens Schumann, managing director of gas pipeline grid company Gasunie Deutschland, said.
Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reaching surface of the Baltic Sea in the area shows disturbance of well over one kilometre diameter near Bornholm, Denmark, September 27, 2022. Danish Defence Command/Handout via REUTERS
“That makes me relatively optimistic that even a ruction like the one we saw there can be repaired,” he added.
But German security agencies fear that Nord Stream 1 will become unusable if large volumes of salt water flow into the pipes and cause corrosion, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported, citing government sources.
The Danish armed forces said the largest gas leak caused a surface disturbance of more than 1 kilometre (0.6 mile) in diameter, as agencies issued warnings to shipping.
Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said it will review material from a police investigation and decide on further action, after Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Tuesday that two blasts had been detected.
Although this did not represent an attack on Sweden, Stockholm was in close contact with partners such as NATO and neighbours such as Denmark and Germany, Andersson said.
Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden said they had registered two powerful blasts on Monday in the vicinity of the leaks and the explosions were in the water, not under the seabed.
European leaders and Moscow say they can not rule out sabotage. Map of Nord Stream pipelines and locations of reported leaks
GAS FLOWS
Operator Nord Stream has called the damage “unprecedented”, while Gazprom (GAZP.MM), the Russian-controlled company with a monopoly on its gas exports by pipeline, declined to comment.
Neither pipeline was pumping gas at the time the leaks were found, but the incidents scupper any remaining expectations that Europe could receive fuel via Nord Stream 1 before winter, while there are also concerns about gas piped via Ukraine.
“A development that could have a more immediate impact on gas supplies to Europe was a warning from Gazprom that Russia could impose sanctions on Ukraine’s Naftogaz due to ongoing arbitration,” analysts at ING Research said.
Naftogaz’s CEO said on Wednesday the Ukrainian energy firm will continue with arbitration proceedings against Gazprom over Russian natural gas which transits the country.
Gazprom said earlier in the week that while rejecting all Naftogaz’s claims in arbitration, it may introduce sanctions against the company in case it presses ahead with the case.
“The risk is that these flows come to a complete halt, which will only tighten up the European market further as we move towards the heating season,” the ING analysts added.
European gas prices rose following news of the leaks. The benchmark October Dutch price was up by 11% at 204.50 euros/megawatt hour on Wednesday. Although prices are still below this year’s peaks, they remain more than 200% higher than in early September 2021.
Russia reduced gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream 1 before suspending flows altogether in August, blaming Western sanctions for causing technical difficulties. European politicians say that was a pretext to stop supplying gas.
The new Nord Stream 2 pipeline had yet to enter commercial operations. The plan to use it to supply gas was scrapped by Germany days before Russia began what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine in late February.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Alexander Smith; Editing by Louise Heavens
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Joseph Goodman: ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ Had A Good Run https://digitalalabamanews.com/joseph-goodman-sweet-home-alabama-had-a-good-run/
There was an unexpected moment of Crimson Tide cultural appreciation on Monday night in Birmingham during a phenomenal concert by the soulful rock band War on Drugs.
The outdoor show was at Avondale Brewery and the place was packed for a group whose hazy sound is unique and soothing like an old memory faded at the edges. I’m not a music writer, but War on Drugs is the kind of band everyone’s favorite aunt or uncle probably listens to on a Sunday night while studying for a continuing education course on indigenous woodcraft or comparative literature.
It was the last place I thought I would hear a Roll Tide, in other words, but these are transcendent times for the state’s most recognizable beacon of success and pride.
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War on Drugs is from Philadelphia, but lead singer and musical virtuoso Adam Granduciel signaled a personal connection to Birmingham more than once during the concert. Good artists always play to the home crowd, but It didn’t go unnoticed when Granduciel expressed an understanding for the nuanced usage of the phrase Roll Tide in the Alabama vernacular.
“Roll Tide, I get it,” Granduciel said. “I go into the grocery store and find the right bread and say, ‘Eagles. E.A.G.L.E.S.’ Roll Tide, I get it.”
Half the crowd cheered or called back Roll Tide, and the other half seemed to either grumble or boo, but everyone in attendance understood the point Granduciel was making. The influence of Alabama’s football team now reaches far beyond the borders of Alabama The Beautiful. Auburn fans will hate to even consider this question, but is the phrase “Roll Tide” now the most identifiable piece of contemporary Alabama culture for people outside the state?
“Sweet Home Alabama” had a good run.
Consider this as more proof that Alabama football is the state’s most valuable export of modern-day cultural identity. There are but two undefeated teams remaining in the NFL after three weeks of the season, and their starting quarterbacks are former Alabama stars Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts.
Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins are 3-0 after a hard-earned victory against AFC East rival Buffalo. Meanwhile, Hurts threw three touchdown passes in the Eagles’ victory against NFC East opponent Washington. Tagovailoa is second in the NFL in passing yards (925) and Hurts is third (916) entering Week 4. This week, the Dolphins are at Cincinnati on Thursday night and Philadelphia has Jacksonville at home on Sunday.
Miami international hip-hop superstar Pitbull is coming to Oak Mountain Amphitheatre next Friday, Oct. 7. Contempt for Saban from South Floridians has thawed over the years, but if Mr. Miami himself drops a Roll Tide reference, then we’ll know for sure that the highest amount of respect possible has been reached for the state of Alabama’s standard bearer of excellence.
New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones is another brand ambassador for all things Roll Tide, and Alabama’s current quarterback, Bryce Young, isn’t far behind. “Jalen & Tua & Mac & BYoung.” Put it on a T-shirt. The lasting impact of those four quarterbacks is just now beginning to come into focus, but doesn’t 2018 feel like a decade ago?
That’s the season that Tagovailoa and Hurts were QB1-A and QB1-B on Alabama’s quarterback depth chart with Jones waiting patiently behind them. Committed to Alabama was Young, who later surpassed all of them by becoming the first quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy in Alabama history.
Hurts became Alabama’s starter as a true freshman in 2016. That season, he was named SEC offensive player of the year. Since 2016, Alabama is 81-7 overall with Hurts, Tagovailoa, Jones or Young at quarterback and 51-4 in the SEC. That’s a preposterous level of dominance and success that needs to be better respected by current fans. Alabama won national championships for the 2018 and 2020 seasons, but each quarterback played significant roles in all but one national championship since Hurts’ freshman year. The lone exception was the 2019 season after Tagovailoa lost to LSU at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Tagovailoa has a rematch with former LSU quarterback Joe Borrow when the Dolphins play Cincinnati. Don’t fumble running into the end zone, Tua.
If you could pick one of Alabama’s superlative quarterbacks to build an NFL team around, who would it be? During Saban’s reign in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has gone from being Running Back ‘U’ to the ultimate destination for elite quarterbacks. What a ride.
Young might be the only quarterback with a Heisman, but something tells me he would trade it for a national championship this season. It won’t be easy. Beginning with Arkansas on Saturday, Alabama’s next three games will be a struggle. After Arkansas, Alabama is at home against Texas A&M. Then it’s on to Knoxville for what’s shaping up to be the most significant Third Saturday in October since Lane Kiffin was at Tennessee in 2009.
Alabama’s dynasty of NFL-caliber quarterbacks have feasted on the Hogs. Since Hurts’ freshman season in 2016, Alabama’s offenses have averaged 49.5 points per game against Arkansas. Hurts, Tagovailoa, Jones and Young have combined to throw 15 touchdowns in those games, including five by Young last season. Hurts also rushed for three.
Don’t expect a blowout this time around. Not only is this Arkansas team the Razorbacks’ best in years, but Alabama has plodded through victories in four of its last five true road tests beginning with the 31-29 victory at Florida last season. This time last year, Alabama went to College Station, Texas, and was upset by unranked Texas A&M.
There is a big difference between this offense for Alabama and the one early last season, and it’s the experience of the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback.
Young has saved Alabama recently.
Alabama football might be more culturally significant now than ever before thanks to its run of NFL-bound quarterbacks, but the current passer is making a claim as the best in the clutch. In the last two true road games, Young has been the difference in winning and losing.
In the 2021 Iron Bowl, Young famously led an improbable touchdown drive to tie Auburn at the end of regulation. Alabama then won 24-22 in overtime. In its first true road game since then, Young led an equally impressive comeback at Texas.
Hurts, who finished his career at Oklahoma, no doubt appreciated that one. The Eagles’ quarterback, about as loved in Philadelphia these days as a hometown rock star or maybe even Rocky, no doubt celebrated with a Roll Tide.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
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Cost Of Living: Becoming Roommates With My Son To Pay The Bills
Cost Of Living: Becoming Roommates With My Son To Pay The Bills https://digitalalabamanews.com/cost-of-living-becoming-roommates-with-my-son-to-pay-the-bills/
This story is part of a series of portraits exploring how the cost-of-living crisis is affecting people around the world.
Alabama, United States – When Cara McClure was in elementary school, every year at Thanksgiving, the school delivered a box of food and a certificate for Buster Brown shoes to needy families in their small community of Powderly, on the west side of Birmingham, Alabama.
One year, the school delivered the box of food to her house. “I didn’t realise we were poor,” she says today at the age of 52. “But it has defined who I am,” adds the activist who would go on to form Faith & Works, a non-profit organisation dedicated to empowering marginalised communities.
After the box was delivered to her family’s small three-bedroom house that day, Cara cried in embarrassment and asked her mother why they had received the donation. Her mother explained that they were not making enough money to support the household, which included Cara, her parents, grandmother, five brothers and sisters and an aunt and cousin.
Despite her parents’ hard work – her mother was a hotel housekeeper, and her father a server at The Club, a private supper club – there were more bills than income and Cara remembers the times her family struggled.
But because both her parents were employed, she insisted her mother return the box. Even then, she felt other impoverished families without two working parents were more deserving. Her mother returned the box and figured out another way to supplement the family income.
“All of my life, I’ve had to figure it out also,” Cara says.
In recent years, in particular, she has had to tap into that resourceful spirit and resilience to find ways to pay the bills.
‘Where can I afford to live?’
For the past two years, Cara and her 28-year-old son Brandon have lived as roommates, sharing a two-bedroom apartment in a housing complex in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham.
The sprawling complex is tucked up against a wooded hillside. Scrawny plants sprout from the dirt-packed gutters, the landscape is overgrown, and the paint peels on some of the two-storey buildings. Inside the apartment, a copy of The Policies of Jesus sits on her living room ottoman and sheets of large Post-It note paper line the dining room wall. They outline her professional projects as well as her personal goals for 2022. A collage of portraits with Brandon and her Faith & Works team demonstrating at protests hangs above the fireplace. A placard with the word “love” hangs below.
A collage of portraits above the fireplace in Cara and Brandon’s living room [Elizabeth DeRamus/Al Jazeera]
As a social justice campaigner, Cara has dedicated her life to advocating for the marginalised while trying to earn a living. Her activism is both her ministry and her pay cheque, but she is only paid when she is awarded grants or launches a fundraising campaign through Faith & Works or other entrepreneurial projects she’s involved in. Both have become harder to obtain with rising gas and food prices this year, and she feels, “It’s by the grace of God that I’m doing a lot of his work.”
Cara knows what it is like to live on the edge. Many years ago, after her marriage broke apart, she was temporarily homeless. Without a college degree, she has struggled for years to establish economic stability, even though she had been a successful entrepreneur in network marketing prior to her divorce.
Although she could not afford permanent housing for several years after her marriage ended, she still managed to make sure Brandon graduated from high school. After that, she moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Birmingham, where she started an apartment location business, which also helped her afford her own place.
In 2012, she began working with the Black Lives Matter movement, which led to other similar initiatives. Before she and Brandon moved in together, Cara temporarily stayed with her mother while Brandon stayed with a cousin in a neighbourhood she says was less safe. When they both began searching for new places to live, they realised it would be cheaper and easier to find something together. Pooling their resources also provided an opportunity to save money.
“I try to normalise the apartment because my son lives here,” she says about their shared space. Both are eager to live on their own, but she questions: “Where can I afford to live where I feel safe and can sleep at night?” She already keeps a handgun by her bedside. “Where could Brandon live and be safe? Do we separate just to live pay cheque to pay cheque?”
Cutting costs
In June this year, gas prices in Alabama had skyrocketed 54 percent from last year, while average gas prices across the US rose 30.8 percent. The same month, food prices also rose 10.4 percent, according to the Consumer Price Index Report from the US government. As of September, gas prices have fallen in Alabama and across the country, but food prices and other goods and services continue to rise.
Even before the increases in costs, the working poor lived on a knife’s edge of economic insecurity.
Because gas is so expensive, the apartment Cara shares with Brandon is also her office. When she holds meetings, her colleagues gather at her place, and she also drives a car owned by Faith & Works when she needs to travel for work-related reasons. “I use that car because whenever I go anywhere, it’s for Faith & Works,” she says. Without her own car, she has been able to avoid monthly car loan and insurance payments.
Cara is the founder of a non-profit dedicated to empowering marginalised communities. Her apartment doubles as her office space [Elizabeth DeRamus/Al Jazeera]
Alabama also has a regressive sales tax which means Alabamians pay an extra tax on food products and school supplies that amounts to paying for two weeks’ worth of groceries per year – two weeks without food in the refrigerator or cabinets, two weeks without eating.
One setback, an unexpected health crisis, car trouble or an appliance breakdown and someone who is barely getting by could be facing an economic emergency.
As it stands now, Cara and Brandon split most bills in half with Cara paying the utilities, which can fluctuate dramatically. Brandon is currently a fry chef at Walk On’s Sports Bistreaux and was away on training, in order to enable him to get better pay.
Where they live costs Cara and Brandon $1,008 in rent each month but comes to $1,231 after city taxes and fees for rubbish and storage, which they split equally. The only utility included is water. Currently, a one-bedroom apartment in a safe location starts at $1,200. The two-bedroom apartment she lived in in 2015 now costs between $1,500 and $2,600.
With rent hikes, the increased cost of gas and groceries, and without medical benefits, Cara has cut back in every aspect of her life. “I do my own hair until it’s time for a cut, I only drive for work events and do everything on Zoom to save gas,” she says. In the US, health insurance is often provided by employers as part of a benefits package, since the government does not provide universal, free healthcare; however, only those companies with 50 or more employees must offer insurance to employees. Those who work for smaller companies, or who work part-time, often slip through the cracks. Today, insurance premiums are simply too expensive for the working class, with the average premium costing approximately $8,000 for an individual annually, according to the Kaiser Foundation.
Cara has stocked her freezer full of packaged meals, as it’s cheaper than buying fresh produce and meat every day [Elizabeth DeRamus/Al Jazeera]
While Brandon is in Mississippi training for his job, Cara stocked a freezer full of packaged meals from a weight loss programme, Nutri-System, which makes meal preparation cheaper while he is gone. Warming up frozen meals for one person is less expensive than buying fresh produce and meat for two.
‘Priced out’
At a young age, Cara learned from her father that sometimes a person needs a creative way to hustle extra cash during hard times. “When we didn’t have food to eat, my mom would say [to my dad], ‘Robert, we don’t have anything to cook.’ My dad would grab his pool sticks and come back later with bread and the things we needed,” she says. Cara’s father knew that he could play a game of pool and win the money he needed to buy groceries.
She understood early: “It would take more than just a job to take care of your family.”
An ambitious and determined person, throughout her life Cara has lived by the motto: “When you take your eyes off your long-term goals, you are enslaved to the immediate.” Her main financial goal, despite the economic downturn, is to create a combined income from her non-profit, her entrepreneurial enterprises, and social media, so she can create a retirement safety net.
Cara has only had a few jobs in which she has paid a portion of her income into Social Security, a universal pension programme established by the federal government during the Great Depression in 1935. As a result, she is unsure if she qualifies for any retirement income which is calculated from her previous contributions when she reaches retirement age. “All my income thoughts are about retirement,” she says. Right now, “every month I can pay myself, I can contribute to my savings because we split the rent.”
“It’s scary to think about retirement and the struggles and sacrifices of my work, but I’m on my destiny path. The other parts I will just figure out. I’m not irresponsible or not taking care of myself, but grateful for doing God’s vision of my life,” she says.
Last year when Cara was deep in the throes of a stressful work period, she experienced serious heart palpitations and went to the emergency room. Since she cannot afford healthcare, she was saddled with $5,000 o...
Cool Cloudy And Windy As Ian Moves Into The Southeast
Cool, Cloudy, And Windy As Ian Moves Into The Southeast https://digitalalabamanews.com/cool-cloudy-and-windy-as-ian-moves-into-the-southeast/
by: Andrew Clarke
Posted: Sep 28, 2022 / 06:41 AM CDT
Updated: Sep 28, 2022 / 06:41 AM CDT
DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — We can expect winds to pick up quite a bit today with the pressure gradient over us in the atmosphere tightening thanks to an area of high pressure to our northeast and Hurricane Ian moving in to the southeast. Wind speeds area-wide will increase into the 15-20 mph range, with higher gusts up to 30 mph possible. Outdoor burning is highly discouraged since not only will it be breezy, it will be dry as well, meaning it will not take much to spark a forest fire. Highs will be cool once again in the low 80s thanks to clouds moving in from the east.
Thursday will be a copy and paste forecast of today with partly cloudy skies, breezy conditions, and well below average temperatures. We’ll rise into the upper 70s for afternoon highs after starting off the morning in the upper 50s.
Friday will have a 20-30% chance for showers across mainly the eastern parts of the region (Houston, Henry, and Early counties), a little closer to where the center of Ian is anticipated to track. Winds will remain on the breezy side area-wide. Highs will top out in the upper 70s once again.
Saturday will have a 20% chance for some lingering showers as Ian pushes out of the Southeast. Expect high temperatures to make it back up to around the 80-degree mark.
Sunday should be a little warmer as daytime highs peak in the low 80s. Partly cloudy skies will prevail.
Monday and Tuesday will be beautiful across the board with mainly sunny skies! We’ll climb into the low and mid 80s both afternoons from the low 60s.
Latest Forecast
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Prominent Lawyer Gets Alarming Traction On Twitter For Accusing Maggie Haberman Of A Felony
Prominent Lawyer Gets Alarming Traction On Twitter For Accusing Maggie Haberman Of A Felony https://digitalalabamanews.com/prominent-lawyer-gets-alarming-traction-on-twitter-for-accusing-maggie-haberman-of-a-felony/
Tristan Snell is a lawyer and a former New York assistant attorney general who has appeared on MSNBC and CNN to deliver legal analysis. He has 294,600 followers on Twitter, where on Tuesday, he suggested Maggie Haberman is guilty of a felony. The tweet accusing Haberman of a crime has more than 11,500 retweets and 60,000 likes.
I’m not a journalist, so I can’t say whether Maggie Haberman is doing her job appropriately.
I am a lawyer, though, so I can say her failure to report Trump’s felonies upon discovering them — saving them for her book instead — appears to be misprision, which is itself a felony.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) September 27, 2022
The tweet comes as Haberman once again draws the wrath of liberal Twitter. This time, it’s for revealing in her upcoming book that, in an interview with Donald Trump last year, the former president said he had taken documents from the White House.
According to Haberman:
He demurred when I asked if he had taken any documents of note upon departing the White House—“nothing of great urgency, no,” he said, before mentioning the letters that Kim Jong-un had sent him, which he had showed off to so many Oval Office visitors that advisers were concerned he was being careless with sensitive material. “You were able to take those with you?” I asked. He kept talking, seeming to have registered my surprise, and said, “No, I think that’s in the archives, but … Most of it is in the archives, but the Kim Jong-un letters … We have incredible things.”
In fact, Trump did not return the letters—which were included in boxes he had brought to Mar-a-Lago—to the National Archives until months later. The Washington Post reported on it in early 2022; the Justice Department began investigating how the classified material made its way in and out of the White House residence.
Based on that information, Snell appears to be arguing Haberman knew that Trump had committed the crime of taking classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. By not reporting that crime to authorities, the theory goes, she is guilty of misprision, a felony.
Snell allowed for a few caveats in subsequent tweets. He noted he is not a First Amendment lawyer, that Haberman is not alone among reporters in saving scoops for books, and that “it’s possible Haberman DID report the crimes to authorities.”
Putting aside the absurdity of calling for the prosecution of journalists based on an ambiguous book excerpt, I wanted to talk to an actual First Amendment lawyer about whether Haberman could be guilty of a felony, as Snell seems to believe and thousands on Twitter seem to agree with.
When reached for comment by Mediaite, Ken White, a former federal prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney, first replied with a link to one particularly apt scene from My Cousin Vinny.
After some badgering, he explained the problem with Snell’s premise:
Federal misprision of a felony is not simply failing to report a felony you learn about. It requires an affirmative act to conceal the fact that a federal felony has been committed. It’s close to the crime of accessory after the fact. So Haberman, by learning of alleged crimes by Trump, did not commit federal misprision unless she took affirmative steps to conceal not just that she knew, but conceal that Trump committed a crime — like destroying evidence or preventing a witness from coming forward.
Most states have abandoned misprision of a felony as a crime, and in the relatively few where it remains, it still requires more than mere failure to report.
Other lawyers agree with White. “Misprision prosecutions require proof of affirmative acts of concealment,” said David French. “Tristan’s tweet is flat wrong.”
Fortunately, despite the bloodlust of an alarming quantity of liberals on Twitter, Maggie Haberman will not be going to prison for her reporting on Trump. The book tour can continue apace!
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
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