Mortgage Demand Rises For The First Time In Six Weeks Despite Sharply Higher Interest Rates
Mortgage Demand Rises For The First Time In Six Weeks, Despite Sharply Higher Interest Rates https://digitalalabamanews.com/mortgage-demand-rises-for-the-first-time-in-six-weeks-despite-sharply-higher-interest-rates/
Real estate listings
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Mortgage application volume increased last week for the first time in six weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, despite a rise in interest rates.
Abrupt swings in rates and uncertainty on the overall direction of the housing market are likely at play.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 6.25% from 6.01%, with points decreasing to 0.71 from 0.76 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.
“Treasury yields continued to climb higher last week in anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, where it is expected that they will announce – in their efforts to slow inflation – another sizable short-term rate hike,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist, in a release.
Applications to refinance a home loan, which are usually very sensitive to big rate swings, actually rose 10% for the week, although they were still 83% lower than the same week one year ago. Part of that may have been due to the holiday adjustment the previous week. It also may have been that the very few borrowers remaining who could benefit from a refinance finally got off the fence, seeing that rates could climb even higher for the foreseeable future.
“The weekly gain in applications, despite higher rates, underscores the overall volatility right now as well as Labor Day-adjusted results the prior week,” Kan said.
Mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 1% for the week, but were 30% lower than the same week one year ago. Buyers are now seeing less competition in today’s pricey market, so some may be jumping in when they have the chance. Homes are sitting on the market longer and sellers are far more willing to negotiate than they were even three months ago.
Still, prices have not really eased much yet, and with rates as high as they are now, affordability is historically weak. The small weekly gain in mortgage demand really doesn’t represent the sharp correction going on in homebuying.
Mortgage rates shot even higher this week, according to a separate survey by Mortgage News Daily. It showed the average rate on the 30-year fixed just below 6.5% on Tuesday, ahead of the much anticipated Federal Reserve meeting Wednesday. Investors will be watching specifically for commentary not on a current rate hike but on what may be ahead.
“The forecasts will amplify whatever volatility we already may have seen with the rate hike decision. Additionally, [Fed Chairman Jerome] Powell’s press conference always has the potential to add additional volatility,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.
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With Support From Allied Militia Somalia Hunts Al-Shabab
With Support From Allied Militia, Somalia Hunts Al-Shabab https://digitalalabamanews.com/with-support-from-allied-militia-somalia-hunts-al-shabab/
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Militia members in central Somalia have helped kill scores of al-Shabab militants in an ongoing operation against the Islamic extremist rebels that is receiving air support from the United States, Somali authorities said.
Suspected Al-Shabab fighters are being hunted in the Hiran region areas of Yasoman and Aborey, and more than 100 had died as of Sunday, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Ali Abdulle, a community leader in the town of Beledweyne, told The Associated Press by phone that al-Shabab had made life for residents so miserable they had to fight back.
“Al-Shabab has burned our villages, blown up our wells and boreholes, destroyed telecommunication towers, planted IEDs and murdered civilians indiscriminately,” he said. “So there is no option left except to face them.”
After taking office in May, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud vowed an offensive against al-Shabab to dislodge the group from large parts of Somalia it has controlled for years. Mohamud then declared “total war” against the al-Qaida-linked rebels following a deadly attack on a hotel in Mogadishu last month.
Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage acknowledged the government’s uncompromising stance in his comments during a ceremony to graduate militants that was filmed and released Saturday. But he insisted al-Shabab was undeterred.
“Stick to your oath and know that we will not back down. Stand by your words ,and we will stand by ours, and we shall see which one of us is left standing,” he said. “We ask Allah by his grace and mercy to grant us swift victory over the disbelievers and their allies.”
The government appears to be seeking, and receiving, help from one notable militia. The clan-based group known as Macawisley has for years clashed with al-Shabab. Its latest uprising was sparked by alleged al-Shabab brutality that includes the looting of livestock, said Samira Gaid, executive director of Hiraal Institute, a Mogadishu-based security think tank.
“It is always the people who bear the brunt of the excesses of rule under al-Shabab and they don’t enjoy popular support,” she said. “Some populations who aren’t as armed are not able sometimes to take up arms against the group. But others are better equipped and are stronger politically to stand up against (al-Shabab) rule.”
Gaid warned that for an uprising by locals to be effective, “government support logistically is critical.”
Omar Abdi Jimale, a Mogadishu-based political analyst, said the government supporting militias to fight al-Shabab could be decisive after the authorities’ previous reluctance.
“Clans were unable to carry on protracted fighting because of the absence of official government support. As a result, their uprisings ultimately were ending up in signing a peace deal with al-Shabab,” he said. “The previous administration had the chance of providing direct support to the revolting clan militias without directly equipping them, but by not doing so gave al-Shabab a chance to consolidate their control over revolting clans’ territories.”
Forced to retreat from Mogadishu in 2011, al-Shabab has slowly made a comeback from the rural areas to which it retreated, defying the presence of African Union peacekeepers as well as U.S. drone strikes targeting its fighters.
Al-Shabab, which opposes the federal government and the presence of peacekeepers and other foreigners on Somali territory, has seized more territory in recent years, taking advantage of rifts within the Somali security service and disagreements between federal authorities and regional leaders.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Why Florida Is Paradise For Space Nerds https://digitalalabamanews.com/why-florida-is-paradise-for-space-nerds/
TITUSVILLE — The space nerds poured into town by the thousands in NASA T-shirts, booking every last hotel room but leaving them empty. Instead they double-parked on roadsides and bridges, pitched prohibited tents in parks and slept in running cars. Diehards staked spots along the banks of the Indian River a full day early.
Lit up, across the dark water, stood what would be the most powerful rocket ever to fly, waiting to propel NASA’s Artemis I mission to the moon.
The vibe on this late August night at Rotary Riverfront Park was like a tailgate before a big game, with charged-up fans in team gear spouting surprisingly technical armchair analysis. Midnight fell, and they kept vigil in camp chairs under a sliver of crescent moon, discussing the sound of liftoff, the clouds of Venus, the nighttime lows on Mars.
Joselyn Guerrero, 22, Alex Guerrero, 54 and Margo Castro, 51, of Costa Rica, await the launch of the Artemis rocket with others from Rotary Riverfront Park in Titusville on Monday, August 29, 2022. NASA scrubbed the launch following an engine issue. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Joey Vars, an earnest 29-year-old with long hair shaved on the sides, waited in his favorite spot where the launchpad peeked between the palms. He had driven from St. Petersburg playing his usual soundtrack, the Public Service Broadcasting album “The Race For Space.” His best friend, Michael Strittmatter, rode shotgun, his boyfriend, Paul Scribner, in back. Now they drank Artemis Pale Ale and watched space news on YouTube.
Morning, Vars hoped, would bring his 42nd launch, according to a list in his journal, with entries starting October 1997: John Glenn’s space shuttle ride at age 77. Vars had been making this pilgrimage since he was 5.
“Before it was trendy,” he said. “I can’t go too long without a launch.”
The Artemis missions, aiming to return humans to the moon and set the table for Mars, are a big deal in an already booming new era for the space industry in Florida. And like previous moonshots, the Space Coast is ground zero for liftoff and the nation’s attention. For hardcore space fans, it’s the place to be.
Joey Vars, left, and Paul Scribner of St. Petersburg listen to a NASA broadcast as they wait for the Artemis I launch along US Highway 1 in Titusville. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
“It’s just this incredible technical power you’re witnessing, this feat of engineering,” Vars said. But it’s also a tradition, a “history of people gathering together on this river to watch these rockets, going back to Apollo.”
Space and history are an apex of his interests. As the historian at the Belleview Inn in Belleair, Vars leads tours of the 19th-century hotel. He’s also curator of the Gulfport Historical Society, with a beach apartment filled with hundreds of books, four out of five about space.
Visitors camp overnight at Rotary Riverfront Park to watch the Artemis I launch in Titusville on Monday, August 29, 2022. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
What is it about launches? The glory of human achievement? The catharsis of liftoff, of escape? Maybe it’s something more mystical. “It can get emotional,” Vars managed.
To illustrate, a beaming Scribner pulled out his phone to play a favorite video. Vars stares at the sky after SpaceX’s first crewed launch in 2020, the one the internet dubbed the “Bob and Doug” launch. He’s speechless, and when he looks toward the camera, his eyes are full of tears.
Lots of people cry at launches, it turns out. As morning broke, the space nerds crowded the park waiting for that feeling.
• • •
•••
Huntsville, Alabama, may be the “Rocket City” where scientists built America’s first spacecrafts. Houston, aka “Space City,” owns NASA Mission Control. But Florida is where the candle gets lit.
Years ago, Neil deGrasse Tyson playfully shamed me during an interview after learning I’d never visited the Space Coast. He argued that Kennedy Space Center should be Florida’s biggest attraction, not the theme parks. Asked recently, former astronaut Bruce Melnick agreed.
“It’s real simple,” Melnick said. “Disney is all make-believe, and at Kennedy Space Center, you’re walking into reality.”
Melnick, who with Nicole Stott is one of two astronauts to graduate from Clearwater High School, has witnessed 70 launches up close. “And I’ve had a tear in my eye for every one of them except the ones I was in.”
Space nerds feel the Space Coast’s pull.
The eve of Artemis I’s planned launch, a bar in Cocoa hosted a gathering of the Planetary Society. Founded by Carl Sagan and now led by Bill Nye, it is to space nerds what the Audubon Society is to birders.
Members of The Planetary Society pose for a picture during their gathering at Rec 225 in Cocoa on Sunday, August 28, 2022. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Mary Bowling, 67, mingled with members in town from Baltimore and Thailand. Bowling had worked at Kennedy Space Center in the 1980s as a computer operator, but she left when the job was eliminated following the Challenger disaster. Decades later, after retirement and a divorce, she was wistful.
“I remembered how I used to see the astronauts, like Sally Ride, running around, and I kept thinking about how Kennedy was the best job I ever had,” she said. “I decided to come back here, just to be near all this again.”
Strangers wearing the same “Get Your Ass to Mars” T-shirt bonded over IPAs.
“Space people really are my favorite people,” said Sarah Al-Ahmed, seated at the bar.
Some told me they love how space is not politicized, or caught in the culture wars, or tainted by “bad news.” That is, of course, not exactly true. There are questions about Congress’ funding of Artemis to please special interests when the project is billions over budget, with 1970s tech soon to be surpassed by cheaper SpaceX options. Then there’s the legacy of the space race as patriotic propaganda. There have always been people who ask, reasonably, why we spend so much on space when so much is wrong on Earth.
Kristy Weick, 41, of Orlando, who is a member of The Planetary Society, wears leggings with the moon phases during a gathering for at Rec 225 in Cocoa on Sunday, August 28, 2022. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
St. Petersburg’s Emily Carney, founder of the group Space Hipsters and blogger for a company that sends human ashes to space, doesn’t disagree. She was uneasy herself with how the focus on the “Bob and Doug” SpaceX flight was “America’s return to space,” because “space is for everyone.” But she went to see that launch, and went back hoping to see Artemis.
“It’s about exploring places we’ve never seen,” she said of Artemis, an entrée to deeper space. “It’s like the spirit of Apollo again, except Apollo was all white guys. I love the Apollo astronauts, but Artemis is going to lead to the first woman on the moon, and the first people of color, and actually be representative of humanity.”
Every Floridian should experience a launch, she said. After all, “space is interwoven in Florida’s history.”
Visitors share a moment at Rotary Riverfront Park while waiting to see the Artemis I launch in Titusville on Monday, August 29, 2022. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
After a brilliant orange and purple sunrise on Aug. 29, the two-hour window for the Artemis launch approached. The crowd at the riverfront park streamed NASA updates and scrolled space Twitter.
In the crowd was a Virginia dad who had pulled his kids from school, retirees from California trying to catch a launch after a long-ago miss, a local construction worker who had ridden out his first launch decades ago atop a suddenly vibrating roof in Titusville.
Atop the nearby Marriott, the Space Bar was packed with employees of NASA contractor Lockheed Martin. In a Merritt Island backyard, “booster brats,” as some offspring of Apollo and shuttle workers call themselves, gathered to party. Off the Atlantic coast, a St. Petersburg resident captained a boat for fans who’d paid $99 for an unobstructed view.
“The vice president’s plane just landed,” someone in the park announced.
Then word spread from Twitter to the crowd. An engine wasn’t getting cold enough during the hydrogen chilling process. NASA paused the countdown. A few minutes later, yelling erupted: “It’s a scrub!”
People packed up their cars and their kids as fast as they could. Then they sat in a traffic jam, as unmoving as the rocket.
Vars was unbothered.
The scrub just meant another day to geek out with his people. His best friend, whom he’d first spotted at the University of South Florida wearing a NASA shirt, was at his side, and so was his boyfriend, who once wasn’t a space person, but now was on his seventh launch.
Best of all, because NASA would try again in five days, he had an excuse to come back.
Nathaniel Lopez, 3, holds hands with his uncle, Ryan Lopez, 43, and his mother Angela Lopez, 43, outside Rotary Riverfront Park in Titusville. NASA scrubbed the launch of Artemis I following an engine issue. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
• • •
America’s earliest space launches caught Floridians by surprise, if they noticed at all. Brevard County was a sparse region of sandy coastal scrub and citrus groves. Missiles took flight from desolate Cape Canaveral unannounced, as secret military operations.
Things were far different by 1961, when NASA launched Alan Shepard into space with live coverage and thousands of spectators camped on Cocoa Beach with beer and sandwiches.
By 1968, when Apollo 8 launched three men on a mission to orbit the moon, hundreds of thousands of people were causing traffic the Brevard sheriff described as eight hours of hell. Florida Today wrote of homes burning down during launches with firefighters stuck in gridlock.
A 1961 clip from the Miami News showing the long tradition of camping out for launches on the Space Coast. [ Newspapers.com ]
Neighborhoods rose to accommodate Apollo workers, making Brevard America’s f...
KMAland Volleyball (9/20): Kuemper Wins Twice Underwood Survives AL Gets Rare Win Over SBL
KMAland Volleyball (9/20): Kuemper Wins Twice, Underwood Survives, AL Gets Rare Win Over SBL https://digitalalabamanews.com/kmaland-volleyball-9-20-kuemper-wins-twice-underwood-survives-al-gets-rare-win-over-sbl/
(KMAland) — Kuemper showed dominant in the H10 again, Underwood got a big pair of individual performances in a win over Audubon, AL got a rare win over SBL, Rock Port won in four and more from KMAland volleyball on Tuesday.
HAWKEYE TEN CONFERENCE
Kuemper Catholic 25-25-25 Shenandoah 13-7-22
Ashlyn Badding had 20 assists while Sophie Badding added eight kills and five blocks. Kaylie Simons pitched in 15 digs, and Macy Simons had 12 assists.
Kuemper Catholic 25-25-25 Atlantic 17-22-17
Kuemper’s Kaylie Simons had a big defensive match with 20 digs while Sophie Badding had 13 kills and three blocks. Ashlyn Badding had 24 assist, Macy Simons posted 17 dimes and Aubrey Heuton finished with nine kills.
St. Albert 25-25-25 Denison-Schleswig 9-8-9
Addison Inman had three kills, Kaylie Baker posted four assists and Anna Wiges added 14 digs to lead the way for Denison-Schleswig.
Other Hawkeye Ten Conference Scores
Atlantic 3 Shenandoah 2
Red Oak 25-25-25 Harlan 21-19-15
CORNER CONFERENCE
Griswold 25-25-25 Essex 7-12-14
Linsey Keiser had eight aces and Whitney Pennock (6), Carolina Arcia (5) and Marissa Askeland (3) combined for 14 aces in the Griswold win. Arcia also had 24 assists and six digs, and Makenna Askeland posted 13 kills and 11 digs. Pennock pitched in 15 digs.
Brooke Burns had five assists, and Chloe had three digs for Essex. Alex posted three solo blocks for the Trojanettes.
East Mills 25-25-25 Fremont-Mills 6-20-17
Emily Williams had 12 kills and 18 digs, and Ryleigh Brodigan pitched in seven winners for East Mills. Miah Urban passed out 29 assists, and Evy Stoakes chipped in six winners.
Teagan Ewalt had five kills and two blocks, and Bella Gute posted 16 digs for Fremont-Mills in the defeat.
WESTERN IOWA CONFERENCE
Treynor 25-25-25 IKM-Manning 17-14-10
Ella Richards led IKM-Manning with 10 assists, and Laura McCarville and Kylie Powers both had three kills for the Wolves.
Missouri Valley 25-25-25 AHSTW 23-7-8
Both Ella Myler (17 kills, 11 digs) and Maya Contreraz (18 assists, 10 digs, 4 aces) had double-doubles for Missouri Valley. Henley Arbaugh added 13 assists, and Ava Hilts tallied six aces for the Big Reds.
Halle Goodman topped AHSTW with 10 assists, Grace Porter tallied 13 digs and Delaney Goshorn finished with four kills and two blocks.
Underwood 24-25-25-25 Audubon 26-21-19-21
Alizabeth Jacobsen slammed in 26 kills, Delaney Ambrose added 42 assists, 16 digs and four blocks and Leah Hall tallied 31 digs for Underwood in the win. Aliyah Humphrey pitched in 16 digs nd eight kills.
Mattie Nielsen had a monster performance for Audubon with 24 kills and 13 digs while Addie Hocker passed out 36 assists and tallied seven digs. Audrey Jensen pitched in 24 digs, and Kylee Hartl had 14 digs. Madi Steckler pitched in eight kills, and Hocker, Kali Irlmeier and Harlow Miller all had two blocks each.
PRIDE OF IOWA CONFERENCE
Southwest Valley 25-25-22-30 Lenox 20-8-25-28
Find the complete recap from Southwest Valley’s four-set win at KMA’s Local Sports News Page linked here.
Other Pride of Iowa Conference
Nodaway Valley 25-27-25 Bedford 19-25-10
Central Decatur at Southeast Warren (MISSING)
ROLLING VALLEY CONFERENCE
Boyer Valley 25-25-25 Woodbine 17-21-13
Jess O’Day led the Boyer Valley attack with 13 kills while Lauren Malone had 22 assists and Ava TenEyck led with 11 digs. Maria Puck served four aces for the Bulldogs.
Glidden-Ralston 25-25-25 Coon Rapids-Bayard 13-10-13
Gracy Johnson posted 10 digs and seven assists, and LaCie Davis pitched in eight digs and two assist for Coon Rapids-Bayard. Aubrey Hofbauer finished with four digs and three kills for the Crusaders.
Other Rolling Valley Conference
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton at Ar-We-Va (MISSING)
CAM 25-25-25 Paton-Churdan 5-11-18
MISSOURI RIVER CONFERENCE
Abraham Lincoln 25-30-25 Sergeant Bluff-Luton 21-28-18
Abraham Lincoln beat Sergeant Bluff-Luton for the first since 2014 behind 11 kills each from Molly Romano and Hutson Rau. Romano also had 30 assists and eight digs, and Aubrey Sandbothe and Kelsi Fichter both had 11 digs each. Jeena Carle pitched in eight kills, seven digs and five blocks, and Azaria Green tallied seven kills and four blocks for the Lynx.
Other Missouri River Conference
Sioux City East 25-25-25 Thomas Jefferson 11-8-10
Sioux City West 25-25-25 LeMars 19-20-21
Sioux City North 25-25-16-25 Bishop Heelan Catholic 18-21-25-15
BLUEGRASS CONFERENCE
Lamoni 25-25 Twin Cedars 17-20
Katra Sterner had five kills and three digs, Sophie Lyle posted five kills and two digs and Rylee Dunkin had 13 assists and 11 digs for Twin Cedars in the loss. Kenzyn Roberts also had 15 digs for the Sabers.
Twin Cedars 25-25 Orient-Macksburg 10-5
Kenzyn Roberts had 11 digs and five aces, and Jillian French finished with six digs, five kills and five aces for Twin Cedars in the win. Kisha Reed also slammed in six kills.
Murray 10-26-15 Melcher-Dallas 25-24-9
Saydi Benz led Melcher-Dallas with nine kills, Brooklyn Metz added 13 digs and Summer Karpan was a perfect 15-for-15 at the service line with two aces.
Other Bluegrass Conference
Seymour, Mormon Trail at Diagonal (MISSING)
Lamoni 25-25 Orient-Macksburg 15-15
Moravia 25-25 Melcher-Dallas 6-10
Murray Moravia (MISSING)
NON-CONFERENCE
Clarinda 25-25-25 Mount Ayr 20-17-16
Find the complete recap from Clarinda’s sweep linked here.
Ankeny Christian 25-25 Collins-Maxwell 5-3
Anna Weathers had six kills, Katie Quick posted 10 assists and Macey Nehring, Morgan Fincham and Adra Monahan all had five aces for Ankeny Christian.
Ankeny Christian 25-25 Waterloo Christian 15-23
Katie Quick had 22 assists, three kills and three aces, and Carley Craighead posted 10 kills. Anna Weathers also had a strong offensive performance with eight kills.
Ankeny Christian 25-25 Grand View Christian 22-19
Ankeny Christian’s Katie Quick finished with 18 assists, nine digs, three aces and three kills, Carley Craighead had a team-best six kills and Riese Gjerde posted five aces.
AREA MISSOURI
Rock Port 25-22-25-25 South Holt 20-25-23-20
Tanea Whaley led South Holt with 11 kills while Mylee Prussman finished with 17 digs for the Knights. Brianna Biondo and Prussman also served five aces each, and Hadley Coleman had 15 assists.
Nodaway Valley 25-25-25 North Nodaway 7-20-15
Paige Hanson had eight assists and seven aces, and Anastyn Nielson posted five kills for Nodaway Valley in the win. Alexis Maurer chipped in six kills and two aces, and Savanna and Sydney Marriott led the defense with nine digs each. Savanna also had nine assists and four kills.
Other Area Missouri
East Atchison 3 Mound City 0
Maryville 25-25-25 Plattsburg 11-15-9
AREA NEBRASKA
Diller-Odell 25-23-25 Lourdes Central Catholic 20-25-22
Aspen Meyer had 12 kills and three aces while Sofia Fulton posted 10 digs and 23 assists for Lourdes Central Catholic.
Lincoln Christian 25-25 Lourdes Central Catholic 18-20
Aspen Meyer had another big match for Lourdes Central Catholic with 13 kills while Sofia Fulton pitched in 15 assists and eights digs.
Other Area Nebraska
York 25-25 Plattsmouth 17-15
Malcolm 25-25 Plattsmouth 7-23
Wahoo 25-25-25 Ashland-Greenwood 19-20-11
Falls City 23-25-25 Weeping Water 25-22-16
Freeman 25-25 Weeping Water 12-10
Freeman 26-25 Falls City 24-15
Humboldt-TRS at Auburn (MISSING)
Elmwood-Murdock 25-25-25 Cedar Bluffs 8-14-13
Louisville 25-20-25-25 Arlington 7-25-9-18
Falls City Sacred Heart 25-25 Pawnee City 21-11
Falls City Sacred Heart Southern (MISSING)
Thank you for reading kmaland.com
At KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.
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Using Implementation Science Frameworks To Translate And Adapt A Pregnancy App For An Emerging Latino Community BMC Women
Using Implementation Science Frameworks To Translate And Adapt A Pregnancy App For An Emerging Latino Community – BMC Women https://digitalalabamanews.com/using-implementation-science-frameworks-to-translate-and-adapt-a-pregnancy-app-for-an-emerging-latino-community-bmc-women/
BMC Women’s Health volume 22, Article number: 386 (2022) Cite this article
Abstract
Background
Digital mobile health (mHealth) applications are a popular form of prenatal education and care delivery in the U.S.; yet there are few Spanish language options for native speakers. Furthermore, existing applications do not consider cultural differences and disparities in healthcare access, including those specific to emerging Latino communities.
Objective
To adapt and translate an English-language pregnancy mobile health app to meet the language and cultural needs of Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants living in the United States.
Methods
We use a multi-step process, grounded in implementation science frameworks, to adapt and translate the contents of an existing pregnancy app. Interviews with stakeholders (n = 12) who advocate for the needs of pregnant individuals in an emerging Latino community were used to identify domains of possible disparities in access to prenatal care. We then conducted semi-structured interviews with peripartum Spanish-speaking Latino users (n = 14) to understand their perspectives within those domains. We identified a list of topics to create educational material for the modified app and implemented a systematic translation approach to ensure that the new version was acceptable for immigrants from different countries in Latin America.
Results
The interviews with stakeholders revealed seven critical domains that need to be addressed in an adapted prenatal app: language and communication, financial concerns, social support, immigration status, cultural differences, healthcare navigation, and connection to population-specific community resources that offer Spanish language services. The interviews with peripartum Spanish-speaking Latino women informed how the existing content in the app could be adjusted or built upon to address these issues, including providing information on accessing care offered in their native language and community support. Finally, we used a systematic approach to translate the existing application and create new content.
Conclusion
This work illustrates a process to adapt an mHealth pregnancy app to the needs of an emerging Latino community, by incorporating culturally sensitive Spanish language content while focusing on addressing existing health disparities.
Peer Review reports
Background
Of annual U.S. births, 23% are to immigrants [1]. As a result, access and delivery of high-quality healthcare for immigrant maternal populations, particularly non-English speakers or those with limited fluency, is an essential public health issue [2]. Specifically, the American College of Physicians calls for measures, such as supporting safety-net healthcare facilities and eliminating restrictions based on immigration status, to address potential disparities in care for immigrant populations proactively. This call necessitates that healthcare delivery through technology, including mobile health (mHealth) apps, also addresses the needs of diverse people [3] by considering the existing disparities associated with migration status and financial instability.
The prenatal period is particularly vulnerable for non-English speaking immigrants due to disparities in care and experience, ranging from stressors related to immigration (including lack of stable immigrant status), language difficulties, distance to care, systemic marginalization, and stigma [4, 5]. This is even more pronounced in immigrant communities that are rapidly growing with proportionally smaller Latino populations, often referred to as emerging Latino communities [6]. Immigrants in emerging Latino communities face further challenges due to a lack of local services in their native language and social support [7]. Latino immigrants settling in nontraditional destinations usually do not have the strong social support networks that other large, well-established Latino communities offer [8].
Half of the total births to U.S. immigrants are of Hispanic or Latino origin. However, Spanish-speaking Latino individuals are often at a disadvantage when using mHealth pregnancy apps due to the lack of culturally sensitive and language-specific design [9,10,11,12]. In general, even with the widespread use of smartphones, mHealth usage patterns vary widely by race, ethnicity, and English proficiency [13, 14]. mHealth pregnancy apps have the potential to offer personalized communication directly to pregnant people and identify pregnancy-related health issues earlier than may be possible with routine prenatal care [15, 16]. Nevertheless, the benefit of existing prenatal apps may be limited for immigrant populations if they fail to address users’ needs in the context of existing health and cultural disparities [17]. A one-size-fits-all approach to app design may benefit the health outcomes of majority populations while sustaining, or perhaps even creating, new health disparities among non-white individuals, particularly those from Black and Hispanic communities [18]. Previous studies of mHealth pregnancy apps usually exclude non-English speakers [11], as very few pregnancy apps are multilingual. Moreover, usability and feasibility studies of mHealth pregnancy apps have generally excluded the perspective of Spanish-speaking Latino pregnant individuals in the U.S. [19].
MyHealthyPregnancy (MHP) was developed as a provider-prescribed app to aid risk assessment and communication between pregnant individuals and their providers. This patient-facing mobile health app and accompanying provider-facing information portal was developed with a user-centered design approach to serve the needs of individuals with high-risk pregnancies [20]. In a proof-of-concept study, Krishnamurti et al. found high app engagement levels among recruited patients, with the most consistent use among individuals from historically under-resourced communities and those with pregnancy risk factors. This app has subsequently been shown to be effective at identifying those experiencing both psychosocial and clinical risks associated with maternal mortality [16, 21].
MHP was designed to be used within a health care system. A provider recommends the MHP app to adult pregnant patients at their first prenatal appointment. Data entered into the app then tailors the user experience, including the educational content offered. The app also offers relevant resources (e.g., connection to local health services) or actions (e.g., prompts to call the prenatal care practitioner). Additionally, with patient consent, select data on specific risk factors identified through the app (e.g., depression or reports of decreased fetal movement) are securely transferred to the portal that practitioners can access. All content found in the app was developed with and reviewed by a clinical education team.
Here, we apply methods grounded in established implementation science frameworks, to translate and modify the content of the MyHealthyPregnancy app to address pregnant Spanish-speaking Latino individuals’ cultural context and linguistic needs. Herein, we use the term ‘Spanish-speaking Latino’ individuals as a shorthand to refer to Latino pregnant people who speak only Spanish or have limited fluency in English.
Methods
To adequately modify our existing pregnancy app to address domains of disparity common to Spanish-speaking Latino people in a specific emerging Latino community (Pittsburgh, PA, USA), we drew from the Transcreation Framework developed by Nápoles et al. [22]. Transcreation outlines the steps for a community-engaged process of planning, delivering, and evaluating interventions to reduce health disparities in specific underserved communities. The goal of this framework is to create health interventions that can improve health outcomes and are acceptable to the specific communities they aim to serve.
There are seven steps described by the Transcreation Framework [22]: 1) identify community infrastructure and engage partners, 2) specify theory, 3) identify multiple inputs for the new program, 4) design intervention prototype, 5) design study, methods, and measures for community setting, 6) build community capacity for delivery, and 7) deliver the intervention. In the scope of this paper, we outline the specific steps taken to design a prototype that addresses current disparities in healthcare access for an emerging Latino community. To do this, we focus on the first four steps of the Transcreation Framework. The first three allow us to identify and understand disparities in healthcare access. In the fourth step, we use the knowledge acquired from the first three steps to create a list of requirements for re-designing our app.
For the first step, we identified existing stakeholders in the community and discussed local disparities in care access for pregnant Spanish-speaking Latino individuals. For the second step, we identified a theory by mapping out literature about existing prenatal care and general health disparities that exist in Spanish-speaking Latino communities, using a methodology based on the models created by Woodward et al. [24] Our third step used input from qualitative interviews with community members to identify how to modify existing app content to address their needs. Finally, in step four we outlined the requirements for the app prototype, including a systematic translation approach to address language limitations that may manifest when using conventional translation methods.
Step 1: Identify community infrastructure and engage partners
Our initial step was to identify current infrastructure and partners with relevant experience to understand the context in which the app w...
DeSantis Abbott Have Long Personal Histories With Immigration
DeSantis, Abbott Have Long, Personal Histories With Immigration https://digitalalabamanews.com/desantis-abbott-have-long-personal-histories-with-immigration/
A dozen migrants sat on folding chairs on the first floor of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The men were dressed in T-shirts and jeans, the women in patterned shirts with collars and skirts to their ankles. Each held a small backpack, containing all the possessions they brought to this country. Each looked exhausted. They spoke quietly in Spanish, surrounded by a yellow police barrier and the gloom and quiet of the bus terminal in late morning.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent these tired, poor, yearning people to New York City as political pawns. New York City can play that game, too. The city placed the gathering area for migrants beneath a mural of the Manhattan skyline. In the center of the mural stands the Statue of Liberty. She is tall. She is backlit, and glowing green.
DeSantis’ ancestors risked death to reach that statue. Abbott staked his early political career on the promises inscribed at the base of that statue. In their grim maneuvers to become the next president of the United States, both governors seem to have forgotten the promises on which that statue, and this nation, were built.
New York City hopes to remind them.
Pregnant and desperate
“Patria” is Latin for “homeland.” When Luigia Colucci left Italy aboard a steamship called the Patria, in February 1917, her homeland was a place of starvation and death. The battles of World War I had destroyed most of Italy’s farmland. Armies had claimed its men.
German U-boats patrolled the Atlantic, looking to sink passenger ships like the Patria. German mines ringed many ports. People in Europe knew the risks. More than 150,000 people emigrated from Italy in 1914. Six years later, in 1920, more than 200,000 came to America.
It was dangerous to stay; it was even more dangerous to go.
The year that Luigia — Ron DeSantis’ great-great-grandmother — boarded the Patria with her two daughters, only 18,000 Italians dared to make the trip.
Two factors may have compelled her to leave.
First, Luigia was eight months pregnant.
Second, demagogues like U.S. Sen. Benjamin “Pitchfork” Tillman, a Democrat, had been whipping up fears of immigrants from Asia and southern Europe. On Feb. 5, as Luigia sailed for New York, Tillman joined his colleagues in passing the Immigration Act of 1917, which imposed an English literacy test on all immigrants, among other provisions.
Luigia landed on Ellis Island on Feb. 21. She gave birth 17 days later to a boy who would become Ron DeSantis’ great-uncle, said Megan Smolenyak, formerly the lead genealogist for Ancestry.com.
Being illiterate in both Italian and English, Luigia would have failed any test imposed by the new immigration law. But the provisions didn’t take effect until May 1, 10 weeks after her arrival.
Despite the incredible luck of their timely arrival, it appears DeSantis’ ancestors weren’t so sure they wanted to become Americans at all.
Luigia waited until the last possible moment to emigrate. Her husband, Salvadore, first left Italy for the United States in 1902. Then he sailed back to Italy. In 1904, he returned to America. Twelve years later, in 1916, he was back in Italy. We know this because Luigia became pregnant that year with his son, Smolenyak said.
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This kind of nation-swapping is rare, said Smolenyak, who has worked as a consultant for the U.S. Army. Most immigrants to the United States stay put.
But in the family trees of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and other politicians who stake their careers on stoking fears of immigrants, a different pattern arises. For many, their ancestors appear to have had no national loyalty whatsoever, Smolenyak said.
Instead, they spent years moving from country to country.
“You find they gamed the system,” said Smolenyak, who said she found no evidence that DeSantis’ great-great-grandfather’s moves between Italy and America were so strategic. “A very distinct pattern is many come from families that never had distinct national loyalties. You find them country shopping.”
Many people who voted for DeSantis, who did not return calls or emails seeking comment, say they support immigration that’s legal. Luigia’s story demonstrates a problem with that logic, Smolenyak said.
“You hear people say all the time, ‘My ancestors came here legally,’” said Smolenyak, who has performed genealogical research for “Who Do You Think You Are?” and other TV shows. “Well, if somebody says that, they’re either disingenuous or ignorant. Over 40% of Americans have at least one Ellis Island immigrant in their family. They didn’t have any paperwork. They just showed up.”
Abbott reverses course
The history of Greg Abbott’s family’s immigration to the United States is clouded by time. Given his name and fair complexion, it seems likely that Abbott has little or no connection to Native Americans or African Americans. That means his family probably sailed to the United States before any barriers to immigration existed.
Saying anything more definitive is currently impossible, Smolenyak said.
“They have the Abbott line going back to 1460? Oh, come on,” Smolenyak said as she searched Abbott’s family tree on Ancestry.com. “That could be accurate. But when you get that far back [in time], very few people know how to research those names reliably.”
Abbott’s time in politics demonstrates that early in his career, he understood the Statue of Liberty’s promise for a life of opportunity for immigrants.
George W. Bush, Abbott’s predecessor, actively courted Latino voters, both as governor of Texas and later as president. This strategy was driven by Karl Rove, viewed early in his career as Bush’s wunderkind strategist. Like many of his Republican peers, Rove understood that white people — the voting stalwarts of the Republican Party — would become a minority in the United States by around 2045. To remain viable, the party should diversify, Rove argued, expanding its tent to include Latino immigrants, many of whom share the party’s conservative views on abortion, religion and taxes.
It worked. In 2004 Bush won 44% of the Hispanic vote, a 10% increase over his performance four years before. Bush became the first president since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 whose party gained seats in the Senate in a midterm election.
As a young politician, Abbott followed Rove’s strategy to power. He fought to keep the DREAM Act, the 2001 law that allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition to public universities. He used his power as Texas attorney general to crack down on scammers selling fake drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants, and blocked passage of anti-immigrant legislation.
“Governor Abbott used to say when he was attorney general that I don’t care about the status of someone, whether or not they are a citizen or a permanent resident or have documents,” John Owens, who worked in the attorney general’s office for Abbott, told NPR.
Then came Donald Trump’s campaign for president, which he started with a press conference at Trump Tower in which he said of immigrants from Mexico, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
Trump’s win in 2016 caused a sea change in Republican politics. Up-and-comers like Abbott realized they needed to switch tactics by appropriating the president’s racist language or risk losing power. By 2019, Abbott issued fundraising letters invoking the white supremacist “replacement theory,” warning donors: “Unless you and I want liberals to succeed in their plan to transform Texas — and our entire country — through illegal immigration, this is a message we MUST send.”
By the summer of 2022, Abbott’s transformation was complete. Announcing plans to ship migrants in buses to northern cities, his press release trolled New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Abbott’s office did not return calls or emails seeking comment.
“In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott said.
At the bus terminal on Tuesday, no crisis was apparent. Police officers protected the migrants from nosy passersby. Volunteers and city workers stood behind folding tables, interviewing migrants to learn their needs for housing, food and medical care. Soon the migrants would be bused to homeless shelters, hospitals or other social services.
In the quiet shadows of an ugly bus station, New York City was busy keeping its promises.
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The Performative Sadism Of Ron DeSantis https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-performative-sadism-of-ron-desantis/
The GOP—under Donald Trump and perhaps soon under his would-be successor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—is rapidly becoming a party centered upon tormenting and humiliating the vulnerable.
In the sway of sadists, the Republicans are testing whether the celebration of cruelty can be the motivating force for a U.S. political party. But this experiment in grounding the GOP’s identity on the veneration of deliberate harm, while obviously immoral, may also be a political error.
As social science teaches, many people have a disturbing level of tolerance for the suffering of others, but also don’t like to admit it; and prefer to see themselves as victims, forced to tolerate (or perhaps even cause) harm to others.
By contrast, sadists openly relish punishing the vulnerable. It therefore remains questionable whether most Republicans—let alone a majority of voters—are willing to overtly identify themselves as people who enjoy causing torment.
Ron’s Way
DeSantis has shown himself to be a supremely non-creative politician. He has systematically copied whatever happens to be the extreme right-wing trolling strategy of the moment, and then amped it up. And at every point during his tenure, the governor has anxiously looked backwards to see if any rival (including Trump) had out-extremed him.
“
…DeSantis expected that the Vineyard’s residents would recoil from the desperate asylum seekers, allowing Fox News’ viewers to savor both the suffering of the migrants and seeing the ‘libs’ exposed as hypocrites…
”
What has differentiated DeSantis from others in the GOP has not been so much his policy positions, but, rather, the extent to which cruelty and humiliation have been central to his governance and political activities.
Florida’s surgeon general ostentatiously refused to wear a mask while in the office of a state legislator who had cancer, with the backing of his boss, while DeSantis himself publicly scolded high school students for having the temerity to wear masks in his presence. And he’s thumbed his nose at doctors and nurses in hospitals overwhelmed with COVID patients and asking for help. But the Martha’s Vineyard stunt was DeSantis’ national coming-out party as a political sadist, and gained him unexpected attention, far beyond his usual orbit of Fox News viewers and donors.
Last December, DeSantis publicly chuckled over what he called a “tongue in cheek” idea: put some asylum seekers on planes and leave them in “Delaware” (President Joe Biden’s home state) or “Martha’s Vineyard” (a Massachusetts vacation spot known for being favored by well-to-do African Americans, including former President Barack Obama). Last week, after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began dumping migrants, reportedly including at least one infant, on the doorstep of Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence, DeSantis rushed to make his “joke” a reality.
Students from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School AP Spanish class help deliver food to St. Andrews Episcopal Church.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty
DeSantis engaged a shadowy group of contractors to find asylum seekers in Texas that he could rapidly ship to Martha’s Vineyard. Reports indicate that at least some of the migrants were duped into “voluntarily” getting on planes with false promises of jobs, housing, or a ride to a place near their next court appearance. While DeSantis chose not to inform authorities in Massachusetts of his gambit, he provided Fox News with an “exclusive” and reportedly sent his own film crew on at least one of the flights.
Apparently, DeSantis expected that the Vineyard’s residents would recoil from the desperate asylum seekers, allowing Fox News’ viewers to savor both the suffering of the migrants and seeing the “libs” exposed as hypocrites, expecting them to be just as cruel as DeSantis encourages his own followers to be.
It didn’t work out that way. The Vineyard’s residents responded to the unexpected presence of viciously victimized asylum seekers with compassion and assistance. And then government officials relocated the migrants a short distance to the Cape Cod mainland, which had facilities and resources available to help them.
The sadistic stunt has left DeSantis, at least momentarily, politically unbalanced.
While he initially promised to gratuitously victimize more vulnerable migrants, after at least one law enforcement investigation of the scheme became public, DeSantis tried to distance himself from a reported flight to Delaware. The famously thin-skinned governor has also retreated to the confines of right-wing media, even as many in the wider public are being—accurately—introduced to him as a person consumed with working maximum harm on the most vulnerable.
This is unsurprising, given that, apart from taking pleasure from causing pain, DeSantis knows only one way to respond to a mistake: to double down upon it. He seems determined to do that, despite the fact that he is about to face a general election in which performative cruelty might not prove to be a winning hand. Indeed, DeSantis is already receiving blow back from the Venezuelan community in Florida, given that many of the of the migrants he tried to victimize had traveled thousands of miles to escape that country, which has been victimized by a failed socialist regime.
But it is also notable that many other GOP “leaders” have refused to criticize DeSantis’ and Abbott’s performative sadism, apparently believing that, in the GOP’s ongoing Trump era, forthrightly taking joy in the suffering of the weak is actually a winning political strategy.
For example, Marc Short, political consigliere for the ostentatiously “pro-life” former Vice President Mike Pence, refused to criticize Abbott for dumping a 1-month-old baby on the streets of the nation’s Capitol to “highlight the hypocrisy” (never mind that he had a devil of a time explaining what the hypocrisy was). And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell—a sometime critic of Trump’s—said he thought dumping migrants in Martha’s Vineyard “was a good idea.”
A mother and child outside St. Andrew’s parish house, where migrants were being fed lunch with donated food from the community on Martha’s Vineyard.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty
GOP weathervanes like these guys apparently believe that the lesson of the Trump era is that sadism wins elections.
There is evidence, however, to the contrary. When it came to light that Trump—in a palpably lustful celebration of cruelty—had young children ripped away from their mothers and then caged en masse, it was a critical moment in his political decline. Similarly, Trump’s open calls for police violence during the summer of 2020 failed to win the election for him. And the revelations of his personal involvement in the events leading up the Jan. 6 Capitol riot finally left some Republicans openly wishing he does not run again.
Too Much Cruelty Isn’t Always a Winning Hand
History likewise demonstrates that open appeals to sadism are far from politically astute. The Abu Ghraib revelations of prisoner abuse were a signal moment in the cratering of the George W. Bush administration. The images of civil rights advocates being clubbed and ravaged by dogs during the 1964 civil rights campaign known as Freedom Summer demonstrated the aesthetic of violence that underlay Jim Crow, and thereby led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which segregationists had long bottled up in Congress.
Given this historical background, it may seem puzzling that an open and notorious sadist like DeSantis has become the clear Trump replacement choice for many GOP kingmakers (who have provided him with a stupefying war chest), and that Republican insiders fear even criticizing DeSantis’ performative cruelty.
But if there is one thing that the last several years has demonstrated, it is that the “leadership” of the GOP is not only strikingly amoral, but also frequently politically unwise.
After all, this is a party that has long tied itself to the worst kind of loser—one who can’t admit he lost and will burn the house down to prove it. Republicans have yet to find a way to detach themselves from Trump, even as he is appealing to an ever-smaller cadre of openly neo-fascist followers.
Indeed, the one lesson GOP leaders seem to have drawn from the last several years appears to have been a profoundly incorrect one: that most voters are like participants in Trump rallies, and take the same unalloyed pleasure from harming others as Trump and DeSantis do.
Now, many in the GOP seek to “move beyond Trump” by replacing him with a supremely non-charismatic and thoroughly disagreeable figure, who seems only to come alive while coming up with new ways to performatively humiliate and harm the vulnerable. The GOP, therefore, appears to be on the verge of a political science experiment with very high stakes: Testing whether sadism can become the foundation for political success.
If they are wrong, the Republican Party may be heading into a political abyss. If they are right, the country is going there.
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E. Jean Carroll To File Civil Lawsuit Against Donald Trump With Help Of New Law
E. Jean Carroll To File Civil Lawsuit Against Donald Trump With Help Of New Law https://digitalalabamanews.com/e-jean-carroll-to-file-civil-lawsuit-against-donald-trump-with-help-of-new-law/
Writer, who accused the former president of sexual assault in 2019, will take advantage of recently-signed Adult Survivors Act
Writer E. Jean Carroll will file a new lawsuit against former president Donald Trump, according to a letter made public on Tuesday. Carroll, who previously sued Trump for defamation in 2019, plans to take advantage of a new law passed in New York that gives adult sexual assault victims a one-time opportunity to file civil lawsuits even if the statutes of limitations have expired.
Carroll will sue Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under the Adult Survivors Act, a law recently signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, noted they plan to officially launch the claim on Nov. 24, the start of a one-year window in which the law allows such suits to be filed.
Kaplan also confirmed she plans to request that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York try both of Carroll’s cases on Feb. 6, 2023, when the previously-filed defamation lawsuit is scheduled for trial.
Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, responded that the former president “adamantly” objected to combining both cases. “To permit plaintiff to drastically alter the scope and subject matter of this case at such time would severely prejudice defendant’s rights,” Habba wrote in a separate letter. “Plaintiff’s request must be disregarded in its entirety.”
The letters from Kaplan and Habba are dated from August, although both were only made public on Tuesday. Kaplan has requested a deposition from Trump after previously saying one would not be necessary.
In 2019, Carroll accused Trump of raping her around 1995 or 1996 in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. She claimed Trump threw her against a wall, pulled down her tights, opened his pants, and forced himself on her. Carroll made the allegation in her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal. A portion of What Do We Need Men For, detailing Trump’s alleged attack, was excerpted in New York Magazine shortly before the book’s publication, causing an uproar.
Trump has denied the allegations, calling Carroll a liar and commenting on her appearance. “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type,” Trump told The Hill shortly after the New York Mag excerpt came out. “Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?”
Carroll filed suit against Trump that November, saying his statements were false and defamatory. Previously, Trump argued that he was shielded from the lawsuit by a federal law that provides immunity to government employees from defamation claims. Judge Kaplan ruled against the justice department, then led by Attorney General William P. Barr, finding that Trump had not been working in an official capacity when he denied the allegations.
“His comments concerned an alleged sexual assault that took place several decades before he took office, and the allegations have no relationship to the official business of the United States,” Judge Kaplan wrote in response.
The Justice Department appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Carroll and Trump are currently waiting for a decision to see if the case can proceed.
Following a hearing in February, Carroll told reporters, “I’ll never settle. We’re in this fight, not really for me, but for all women who have been grabbed and groped, and assaulted and raped, who were silenced.”
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Putin Announces Partial Mobilization Of Russian Military
Putin Announces Partial Mobilization Of Russian Military https://digitalalabamanews.com/putin-announces-partial-mobilization-of-russian-military/
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilization of his country’s military Wednesday, calling up reservists in a significant escalation of his war in Ukraine after battlefield setbacks left the Kremlin facing growing pressure to act.
In a rare national address, the Russian leader also backed plans for Russia to annex occupied areas of southern and eastern Ukraine, appearing to threaten nuclear retaliation if Kyiv continues its efforts to reclaim that land.
The speech came just a day after after four Russian-controlled areas announced they would stage votes this week on breaking away from Ukraine and joining Russia, in a plan Kyiv and its Western allies dismissed as a desperate “sham” aimed at deterring a successful counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops.
Vowing that Russia would use all the means at its disposal to protect what it considers its territory, Putin accused the West of nuclear blackmail and warned: “I am not bluffing.”
The Russian leader’s words came hours after he was widely expected to speak Tuesday night. It wasn’t clear why his speech was delayed.
Speaking after Putin, defense minister Sergei Shoigu said an initial 300,000 reservists would be called up.
Only Russian citizens who are currently in reserve and have previous military experience will be subject to mobilization, Putin said. Those called up will also undergo additional training, he added, with the mobilization starting immediately.
Servicemen watch Vladimir Putin addressing the nation, in Donetsk People’s Republic on Sept. 21, 2022. Sputnik via AP
Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, said in response: “Sham referenda and mobilization are signs of weakness, of Russian failure.”
“The United States will never recognize Russia’s claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” she said.
Putin has resisted calls from nationalist supporters and pro-military bloggers for a general mobilization since launching his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
On Wednesday, the Russian leader stopped short of that step — which could have significantly boosted his ailing forces, but would likely take time and could also have proven unpopular with a public the Kremlin has sought to insulate from the effects of the war.
It remains to be seen how the announcement of partial mobilization will be received by regular Russians.
‘Sham’ votes
The sudden flurry of activity signaled that the Kremlin intends to not just dig in but to ramp up its efforts in a conflict that has dragged on for nearly seven months and recently tilted away from its forces. Its public backers have delighted in the prospect of an “all-out war” and a new confrontation with the West.
Luhansk People’s Republic councillors holding a referendum on the republic’s accession to Russia on Sept. 20, 2022.Alexander Reka / Zuma Press
Russian-backed separatist officials in the eastern areas of Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as the southern Kherson region and the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia, announced Tuesday that they would hold votes on formally joining Russia over four days starting Friday. It wasn’t clear if the proposed annexation would cover the entire territory of the provinces or only the areas currently occupied by Russian forces.
Russia’s parliament also approved a bill to toughen punishments for a host of crimes, including desertion and surrender, if they are committed during periods of mobilization or martial law.
The swift developments came just a week after Ukraine successfully reclaimed swaths of territory in its northeast, in what many observers said could be a decisive shift in the conflict.
Kyiv’s military has been pressing to make further gains in Luhansk and Donetsk, which together form the industrial Donbas region that Moscow has made its primary goal since failing to seize the capital, Kyiv. And it has also been waging a simultaneous second counteroffensive in the south in an effort to wear down gathered Russian forces around the strategically important city of Kherson and the Black Sea coast.
The Kremlin has insisted that what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine is going according to plan, but military observers have said Russian forces are depleted and increasingly dispirited.
Under growing pressure, Putin has now acted — though it was unclear how the moves will have an immediate impact on the ground.
Kyiv has been boosted by Western-supplied weapons, including long-range rocket systems supplied by the U.S., leading voices on Russian state media to argue that the country is fighting not just Ukraine but NATO as well.
Washington and its allies vowed to stand by Kyiv on Tuesday and condemned the planned votes as a “sham” they would never recognize.
Russia held a vote to annex the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, with most of the international community rejecting the results.
But this time, the referendums come amid a full-scale invasion with which Putin seems determined to press ahead.
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Trump To Face Sexual Battery Suit Under New Survivors Law
Trump To Face Sexual Battery Suit Under New ‘Survivors’ Law https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-to-face-sexual-battery-suit-under-new-survivors-law/
E. Jean Carroll, the journalist who claims she was raped by Donald Trump decades ago in a New York department store, is planning to sue him for sexual battery under the state’s new “survivors” law later this year—and her attorneys now want to question Trump under oath.
In an August letter to a New York federal judge that was just made public Tuesday, Carroll’s lawyer notified the court that severe legal action was on the horizon.
The issue was brought up in court filings related to Carroll’s current lawsuit against the former president. She sued Trump while he was still at the White House, claiming she was defamed when Trump said the journalist’s revelations in her memoir were lies, adding a piggish line about how “she’s not my type.”
Although the underlying accusations deal with sexual assault claims against the real estate billionaire, the nature of the legal dispute wasn’t primed to go after Trump for the actual alleged assault.
That’s changed.
Roberta A. Kaplan, the journalist’s lawyer, explained in her letter to the judge that Carroll is now preparing to file a separate lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act “on the earliest possible date,” which is Nov. 24.
Kaplan also explained that Trump—as he has done in nearly every court case of late—is refusing to turn over court-mandated evidence.
Trump “remains unwilling to produce any documents in discovery,” not “a single document,” Kaplan wrote.
That’s why, she said, Trump should be dragged into a room for a deposition that will question him under oath—an embarrassing exercise that could elicit damning information from the former president. And given that it’s a civil case, any question Trump refuses to answer can be interpreted in the worst light possible—even as an admission.
Kaplan’s letter was written to another Kaplan: U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is overseeing the defamation case and had previously instructed both parties to share information with each other. (There is no known relation between the two.)
In a pithy response on Aug. 11, Trump lawyer Alina Habba accused Carroll’s lawyer of misleading the judge in the way she “repeatedly mischaracterizes the discovery efforts that have been undertaken by the parties to date.”
“Indeed, the letter contains numerous misstatements which are seemingly intended to make it appear as if [Trump] is not complying with his discovery obligations,” Habba wrote. “This is simply not the case.”
However, Habba’s letter revealed that—once again—Trump is hiding behind the presidential seal and waiving around expired credentials to keep evidence out of the public’s hands. Habba defended Trump’s use of “executive privilege” to prevent Carroll from obtaining some documents related to the way he verbally attacked her character while he was at the White House.
Carroll’s next lawsuit could have a dramatically different—and more serious—result than the current defamation case.
In the current legal fight, Trump managed to employ the Department of Justice to defend him, leaving taxpayers on the hook for what was clearly a personal battle. However, any lawsuit under New York’s rape survivor law would target him directly while he’s no longer in office.
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Trump Rape Accuser Plans Suit Under New NY survivors Law
Trump Rape Accuser Plans Suit Under New NY ‘survivors’ Law https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-rape-accuser-plans-suit-under-new-ny-survivors-law-2/
By Larry NeumeisterThe Associated Press
Tue., Sept. 20, 2022timer2 min. read
NEW YORK (AP) — A writer who accused former President Donald Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room intends to file another lawsuit against him under a new New York law letting sexual assault victims sue over attacks that happened decades ago.
A lawyer for the columnist, E. Jean Carroll, notified a federal judge of her intent to sue in an August letter entered in the public record Tuesday. The suit would allege sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the letter, the lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, also said she plans to depose Trump in the defamation case that Carroll already had pending against the former president. The deposition would have to occur by Oct. 19, when discovery in the case must be completed for a planned February trial.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an Aug. 11 letter to the court that was also posted in the public file Tuesday, she objected to the new lawsuit.
Habba wrote that letting Carroll file the new claim now “would be extraordinarily prejudicial” to Trump, given the looming trial deadlines in the defamation case.
“To permit Plaintiff to drastically alter the scope and subject matter of this case at such time would severely prejudice Defendant’s rights. Therefore, Plaintiff’s request must be disregarded in its entirety,” Habba said.
Kaplan declined to comment.
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, wrote in a 2019 book that Trump raped her during a chance encounter at a Bergdorf Goodman store in the mid-1990s. Trump denied it and questioned Carroll’s credibility and motivations.
Because the alleged attack happened so long ago, Carroll would ordinarily have missed legal deadlines to sue Trump. So she initially sued him instead for defamation, saying he smeared her reputation while denying the rape allegation.
Last spring, however, New York lawmakers passed the Adult Survivor’s Act, which provides a one-year “look back” that enables adult survivors of sexual attacks to bring civil claims when they otherwise would be barred.
The law, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in May, was modeled after the Child Victims Act, which provided a similar window to bring lawsuits for people who had been sexually assaulted when they were children. That law expired a year ago.
A deposition would require Trump to answer questions from Carroll’s lawyers under oath about her allegations. Carroll’s legal team in February had said they were willing to skip a deposition in order to get the lawsuit to trial more quickly. Kaplan, in her letter to the court, said she now needed to question Trump because his lawyers had turned over so few documents relevant to the case.
In her letter to the court, Habba made no mention of the plans to depose Trump, but she did complain that Kaplan’s letter was “filled with misrepresentations and inflammatory statements.”
Read More…
Wednesday Morning News: September 21, 2022 https://digitalalabamanews.com/wednesday-morning-news-september-21-2022/
WORLD Radio – Wednesday morning news: September 21, 2022
Hurricane Fiona slammed Turks and Caicos, lawyers for migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard have filed a lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a record number of migrants have crossed the U.S. southern border, officials in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine will vote to become part of Russia, the UN General Assembly is meeting in person this week, the special master tasked with reviewing FBI files seized from Mar-a-Lago met with lawyers from both sides yesterday
Neighbors work to recover their belongings after the flooding caused by Hurricane Fiona in the Los Sotos neighborhood of Higüey, Dominican Republic, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022 Associated Press Photo/Ricardo Hernandez
For WORLD Radio, I’m Kent Covington.
Fiona latest » AUDIO: [Rain]
Relentless rain and winds well over 100 miles per hour blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands Tuesday.
Hurricane Fiona slammed the British territory as a Category 3 storm after it devastated Puerto Rico.
Ernesto Morales with the National Weather Service:
MORALES: There’s a lot of lost houses. Roads are blocked because of the trees.
AUDIO: [River]
Fiona brought catastrophic flooding to Puerto Rico. One resident recorded the moment a swollen river swallowed a bridge and carried it downstream.
Most people are still without power.
The storm is expected to be a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday.
Migrant transportation to sanctuary cities » Lawyers for migrants recently flown from Florida to the Massachusetts resort island of Martha’s Vineyard filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his transportation secretary.
DeSantis says the migrants signed up voluntarily for the flight. But the suit claims they were misled about their destination.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre complained Tuesday about more reported flights that may be taking migrants from Florida to President Biden’s home state of Delaware.
PIERRE: Our heads up did not come from Gov. DeSantis because his only goal, as he’s made it really clear, is to create chaos.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the chaos stems from Biden’s immigration policies.
DESANTIS: He’s giving a false promise, the border’s open, luring these people to come here for political purposes, and then basically cutting these people loose and leaving them high and dry.
Republicans also accuse the White House of hypocrisy, pointing to the Biden administration’s release of migrants in small towns last year.
Immigration record » Meantime, the number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border just set a new record. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.
KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: U.S. migrant encounters have now officially topped 2 million so far in the fiscal year for the first time.
That after border officials released new numbers for the month of August reporting more than 200,000 migrant encounters last month.
A record number of Venezuelans crossed the southern border in August, more than 25,000.
That makes Venezuelans the second-largest nationality after Mexicans among migrants attempting to enter the United States without authorization.
Department of Homeland Security data show that border officials have stopped nearly 80 people on the terrorist watch list at the southern border in the past year.
Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.
Russia Ukraine referendum » Moscow’s handpicked officials in Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine are planning to vote this week to become part of Russia.
Kyiv and Western allies consider the votes to be a farce. U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken:
BLINKEN: None of this, the sham referenda, the potential mobilization of additional forces, is a show of strength. On the contrary, it’s a sign of weakness.
The Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war by claiming it’s actually defending Russian territory.
United Nations » The UN General Assembly is meeting in person this week for the first time since the start of the pandemic. President Biden will address the assembly today. He’s expected to, among other things, declare continued, steadfast support for Ukraine.
Leaders will also hear a recorded address as soon as today from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Russia failed last week to stop the UN from giving Zeleneskyy permission to speak by video from Kyiv.
Zelenskyy had been slated to speak in person today.
Trump-special master conference » The independent legal expert tasked with reviewing documents the FBI seized from Donald Trump’s home met with lawyers from both sides for the first time yesterday. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.
ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The purpose of Tuesday’s meeting was to sort out the next steps in the review process.
Special master Raymond Dearie signaled that he plans to work quickly.
Trump’s lawyers are resisting Dearie’s inquiries about whether the seized records were declassified. They said that issue could be part of their defense in the event of an indictment.
But Dearie appeared unsatisfied with that answer.
He said if Trump’s lawyers will not assert that the records have been declassified, and the Justice Department makes an acceptable case that they are still classified, then, he said, “as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it.”
Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.
I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.
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AP News Summary At 3:30 A.m. EDT https://digitalalabamanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-330-a-m-edt/
Putin sets partial mobilization in Russia, threatens enemies
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a partial mobilization in Russia as the fighting reaches nearly seven months. Putin’s address to the nation on Wednesday comes a day after Russian-controlled regions in eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to hold votes on becoming integral parts of Russia. The Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes on the battlefield. The referendums, which have been expected to take since the first months of the war, will start Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.
Biden at UN to call Russian war an affront to body’s charter
NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden is ready to make the case at the U.N. General Assembly that Russia’s “naked aggression” in Ukraine is an affront to the heart of what the international body stands. In his address Wednesday morning, the American president is looking to rally allies to continue to back the Ukrainian resistance. Biden also plans to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly with new British Prime Minister Liz Truss and announce a global food security initiative. But White House officials say the crux of Biden’s visit to the U.N. this year will be a full-throated condemnation of Russia as its brutal war nears the seven-month mark.
US, Iran to speak at UN; Zelenskyy to appear from Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Iran President Ebrahim Raisi are among those taking the spotlight on the second day of the world body’s first fully in-person meeting since the coronavirus pandemic began. But perhaps one of the biggest draws on Wednesday will be Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskky, who will be heard but not seen in the flesh. The 193-member assembly voted last week to allow Zelenskky to deliver a pre-recorded address because of his need to deal with Russia’s invasion, making an exception to its requirement that all leaders speak in person. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine has been the center of attention at the U.N. assembly, with world leader after world leader condemning Russia for attacking a sovereign nation.
Man sets himself on fire in apparent protest of Abe funeral
TOKYO (AP) — A man has set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo in apparent protest of the state funeral for former leader Shinzo Abe. Kyodo News agency reported the man sustained burns but told police he set himself on fire with oil and a note found with him proclaimed his opposition to the Abe state funeral. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. The planned state funeral for Abe has become increasingly unpopular among Japanese as more details emerge about the ruling party’s and Abe’s links to the Unification Church, which built close ties with ruling party lawmakers over their shared interests in conservative causes.
EXPLAINER: What kept Iran protests going after first spark?
Protests have erupted across Iran in recent days after a 22-year-old woman died while being held by the morality police for violating the country’s strictly enforced Islamic dress code. The young woman had been picked up by Iran’s morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. Many Iranians, particularly the young, have come to see her death as part of the Islamic Republic’s heavy-handed policing of dissent and the morality police’s increasingly violent treatment of young women. This has led to daring displays of defiance, in the face of beatings and possible arrest. In street protests, some women tore off their mandatory headscarves, demonstratively twirling them in the air, or burned them.
Fiona threatens to become Category 4 storm headed to Bermuda
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is threatening to strengthen into a Category 4 storm as it lashes the Turks and Caicos Islands and was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week. The storm was blamed for causing at least four direct deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where it unleashed torrential rain in Puerto Rico, leaving a majority without power or water as hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of their homes following what authorities described as “historic” flooding. Power company officials initially said it would take a couple of days for electricity to be fully restored but then appeared to backtrack late Tuesday night.
House to vote on election law overhaul in response to Jan. 6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is preparing to vote on an overhaul of a centuries-old election law in an effort to prevent future presidential candidates from trying to subvert the popular will. The legislation under consideration Wednesday is a direct response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to find a way around the Electoral Count Act. That arcane 19th century law governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. Trump and a group of his aides and lawyers tried to exploit loopholes in the law to overturn his defeat.
At UN, hope peeks through the gloom despite a global morass
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Hope can be hard to find anywhere these days. That goes double for the people who walk the floors of the United Nations, where shouldering the weight of the world is a core part of the job description. And when world leaders are trying to solve some of humanity’s thorniest problems, it’s easy to lose sight of hope. And yet at the U.N. General Assembly this year, while there is lots of misery and pessimism, there are also signs of brightness poking through like clovers in the sidewalk cracks. The U.N. secretary-general says hope is an increasingly rare commodity, but he also says it persists.
Some 230 whales beached in Tasmania; rescue efforts underway
HOBART, Australia (AP) — About 230 whales are stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just two days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island nearby. The pod stranded on Ocean Beach appears to be pilot whales. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said Wednesday that at least half of them are presumed to still be alive. The department says a team was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area. Two years ago, about 470 long-finned pilot whales were found beached on Tasmania’s west coast in the largest mass-stranding on record in Australia. The pilot whale is notorious for stranding in mass numbers, for reasons that are not entirely understood.
The Muscogee get their say in national park plan for Georgia
MACON, Ga. (AP) — Hundreds of Native Americans returned to their historic capital in Macon, Georgia, this weekend for the 30th annual Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration. Nearly 200 years after the last Creek Indians were forcibly removed to Oklahoma to make way for slave labor in the Deep South, citizens of the Muscogee Creek Nation are celebrating their survival. They’re also supporting an initiative to put the National Park Service in charge of protecting the heart of the Creek Confederacy. A federal review is nearly complete, meaning Interior Secretary Deb Haaland could soon ask Congress to create the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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2023 Auburn Football Schedule Released https://digitalalabamanews.com/2023-auburn-football-schedule-released/
Auburn Football
Published: Sep. 20, 2022, 6:25 p.m.
Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Flyover before the game between Auburn and Penn State at Jordan-Hare Stadium . Austin Perryman / AU Athletics Austin Perryman / AU Athletics
Auburn’s 2023 slate is now complete.
With Auburn’s SEC opener just days away, the SEC on Tuesday evening unveiled its full conference schedule for next season. Auburn already knew which teams would be on its 2023 schedule, but now it knows the dates.
The Tigers will open SEC play on Sept. 23 at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas. The SEC opener comes after three straight nonconference games to start the year: UMass at home in Week 1, a trip out west to face Cal in Berkeley, Calif., in Week 2 and then a home game against Samford in Week 3. The matchup with FCS Samford was previously unreported; it will be the 30th all-time matchup between the two in-state schools, with the most recent coming in 2019.
Read more Auburn football: Sources: T.J. Finley to miss Missouri game due to injury
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In Week 5, Auburn will host rival Georgia for the 128th rendition of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. That will be followed by Auburn’s bye week on Oct. 7 and then a trip to Baton Rouge, La., to take on LSU. Auburn will eye back-to-back wins in Tiger Stadium for the first time since the 1997 and 1999 seasons.
Auburn will close out October with back-to-back home games against the two Mississippi schools: Ole Miss on Oct. 21 and Mississippi State on Oct. 28.
November will begin with two straight road games for Auburn, which will travel to Vanderbilt on Nov. 4 and then to Arkansas on Nov. 11. It will be Auburn’s first game against Vanderbilt since 2016 and the Tigers’ first trip to Nashville, Tenn., since the 2012 season.
Auburn will host New Mexico State in its penultimate game of the regular season before closing out its 2023 slate with its traditional finale against Alabama in the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Thanksgiving weekend.
Here’s a look at Auburn’s full 2023 schedule:
Date
Opponent
Location
Sept. 2, 2023
UMass
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Sept. 9, 2023
at Cal
Cal Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, Calif.
Sept. 16, 2023
Samford
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Sept. 23, 2023
at Texas A&M
Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
Sept. 30, 2023
Georgia
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Oct. 7, 2023
OFF
Oct. 14, 2023
at LSU
Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, La.
Oct. 21, 2023
Ole Miss
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Oct. 28, 2023
Mississippi State
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Nov. 4, 2023
at Vanderbilt
FirstBank Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.
Nov. 11, 2023
at Arkansas
Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, Ark.
Nov. 18, 2023
New Mexico State
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Nov. 25, 2023
Alabama
Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.
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The Drop Box Problem: Election Truthers Fictional Claim Gains Traction WhoWhatWhy
The Drop Box “Problem”: Election Truthers’ Fictional Claim Gains Traction – WhoWhatWhy https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-drop-box-problem-election-truthers-fictional-claim-gains-traction-whowhatwhy/
Listen To This Story
In a recent campaign video, Kim Crockett, the Republican nominee for Minnesota secretary of state, focuses on a ballot drop box to cast doubt on their security — and question the need for them in the first place.
Crockett is one of dozens of 2020 election deniers nationwide currently running for statewide offices where they would be responsible for overseeing elections. With a handful of exceptions, they are Republicans closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was stolen.
Crockett faces incumbent Democrat Steve Simon in what is shaping up to be a surprisingly competitive race. She trailed Simon by only 4 points in a recent poll.
The “drop box” video opens with Crockett standing in front of the Law Enforcement Center in Two Harbors in Lake County, located between the northern shore of Lake Superior and the Canadian border. “I have some good news, and some bad news,” she says.
She applauds Lake County for “bringing election judges together, Democrats and Republicans to work together on the ballot board.” Then, placing her arm over a ballot drop box in front of the center, she drops the bad news.
“Lake County has kept its ballot box, its drop box for absentee ballots,” she says. “I just don’t know why they would have them here or why Minnesota has them at all.”
Crockett reads a sign instructing voters to use the box to return only their own ballot and call a number if they’re dropping off someone else’s. She questions whether people can be trusted to follow the rules — and, noting that a security camera monitors the box, asks whether anyone is even watching.
She ends the video after again asking why ballot drop boxes exist in Minnesota.
Ballot drop boxes are a bad idea. Video surveillance means nothing if the law doesn’t require live monitoring of them 24/7.https://t.co/33jwaZDIxN pic.twitter.com/AoumhtlsHj
— Kim Crockett (@KimCrockettSOS) August 10, 2022
Long Track Record and Many Advantages
Ballot drop boxes have been used in the US for many years. They have been shown to modestly increase voter turnout and they have other advantages.
A voter does not have to risk the chance that a mail-in ballot will not be received by the required date, an especially important consideration for voters concerned by the Postal Service’s spotty performance in 2020.
In rural areas where voters must travel long distances from their homes to the nearest polling place — such as Lake County — drop boxes can be used by the voter at their convenience.
And as was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when cases spiked in areas with in-person voting, drop boxes allow citizens to vote in a medically safe and secure manner.
Drop boxes are also more secure than postal boxes because they are generally built more solidly and they are usually, as Crockett acknowledges, under video surveillance to thwart stuffing or tampering.
Yet, perhaps because they increase turnout, drop boxes have become a frequent target of Crockett and other 2020 election deniers.
Tamping Down Turnout
Minnesota’s 80 percent turnout of eligible voters in 2020 was the highest in the country. Whether that is cause for celebration, however, is in the eye of the beholder.
As higher turnout is perceived to advantage Democratic candidates, it predictably inspires — in lawmakers and candidates like Crockett — proposals to restrict if not outright ban, as in neighboring Wisconsin, such enfranchising conveniences as drop boxes.
The unsupported allegation that drop boxes facilitate massive “voter fraud” has been most notoriously promoted in the widely viewed — and thoroughly debunked — 2022 Dinesh D’Souza documentary 2000 Mules, which seems to have given impetus to Crockett’s attack.
Crockett’s complaint about drop boxes is consistent with some of her other stances regarding election integrity. On her campaign website, she also advocates for mandatory photo ID for all voters, a proof-of-citizenship requirement to vote, reducing the number of mail-in balloting precincts, and a reduction in the 46-day early-voting period in Minnesota.
All of these policies would likely result in lower voter turnout.
With Crockett and in nine other states with election deniers running to oversee state elections — including key swing states like Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada — voters will have the option of voting for officeholders whose principal agenda appears to be to make it more difficult for many of them to vote.
A Biblical Worldview
Election Denier organization includes early voting, 25 percent new voters, and #1 turnout among grounds for suspecting election results. Photo credit: Facebook
A political neophyte who worked as an attorney and as a policy analyst at right-wing think tanks that advocate for pet conservative issues like “school choice” and banning critical race theory, Crockett is no stranger to controversy. She describes the 2020 election as “rigged” and “illegitimate” and “our 9/11.”
She has also called on voters to exercise “biblical citizenship,” a theory that suggests the Constitution and the Bible are intertwined and that America was founded on Christian values.
Critics call this idea part of the bedrock for the far-right “Christian nationalism” that inspired the January 6, 2021, storming of the US Capitol.
Crockett also opposes the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would have restored the power of the federal government to prevent discrimination against voters of color.
In a statement to CNN, the Crockett campaign defended calling the election rigged but declined to address any of her other assertions.
“There are so many important policy issues we should be discussing right now so that Minnesotans can make an informed choice when they vote,” she complained. “Instead, most of the media is intent on character assassination.”
A Breakdown in Trust
Crockett’s allegations persist in the face of numerous recounts and audits in multiple states that failed to provide a dram of evidentiary support that the 2020 election was suspect.
The Department of Homeland Security declared the 2020 election “the most secure” in American history, saying there was no evidence votes were compromised.
Challenges asserting otherwise have been greeted by near-universal rejection by courts at every level, including in cases presided over by Trump-appointed judges.
However, given legitimate security threats posed by barcode voting machines, touch screens, and wireless modems, politicians like Crockett will continue to have fertile ground to question the security of US elections.
And Americans’ faith in the integrity of elections has plummeted since January 2021, with a majority now questioning the process — a fact Crockett has seized upon.
If this many people lacked confidence in the security of our banking system, there would be a run on the banks!
Star Tribune poll this morning on the SOS race shows FAR TOO MANY MINNESOTANS ARE NOT CONFIDENT IN OUR ELECTIONS. pic.twitter.com/LQ4R1yOexj
— Kim Crockett (@KimCrockettSOS) September 19, 2022
In response to the breakdown in trust, lawmakers and election officials might move to fortify the voting and counting processes with transparency measures, such as rigorous precertification audits. Others, like Crockett, instead seem intent on stoking fears of voter fraud and making it harder and harder to vote.
Crockett’s Trump-echoing remarks about election integrity raise many questions among potential voters. Whether they are gaining traction is a question voters will have the chance to answer in November.
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Trial Opens For QAnon Follower Who Chased Officer At Capitol
Trial Opens For QAnon Follower Who Chased Officer At Capitol https://digitalalabamanews.com/trial-opens-for-qanon-follower-who-chased-officer-at-capitol/
AP PHOTO Trump supporters, including Doug Jensen, center, confront U.S. Capitol Police in the hallway outside of the Senate chamber, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. A trial is set to open for Jensen, who ran after a police officer retreating up a flight of stairs during a mobâs attack on the U.S. Capitol, a harrowing encounter captured on video.
WASHINGTON — An Iowa man who was part of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol believed a conspiracy theory that law enforcement officers would be arresting “all the corrupt politicians,” starting that day with then-Vice President Mike Pence, a defense attorney told jurors Tuesday.
Doug Jensen wore a shirt bearing the letter “Q” to express his adherence to the QAnon conspiracy theory when he joined the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. A viral video recorded by a reporter’s cellphone showed Jensen running after a Capitol Police officer who was retreating from a crowd of rioters up a flight of stairs.
A federal prosecutor showed jurors the video at the start of Jensen’s trial. They also saw a photograph of Jensen with his arms extended as he confronted a line of police officers near the Senate chambers, one of the most memorable images from the riot.
“This is not a whodunit case,” defense attorney Christopher Davis said during the trial’s opening statements. “Literally, the whole case is on video.”
But he stressed that none of the video shows Jensen engaging in any violence or property damage.
“You will not see this man lay a hand on anyone,” Davis said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Allen told jurors they will hear testimony by Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. Jensen was at the front of a group of rioters who followed Goodman as the officer ran up the stairs.
Goodman “approached them with his hand on his gun because he had no way of knowing what they were capable of doing,” Allen said. “And he knew that he was desperately outnumbered and alone.”
Davis said Jensen, a construction worker, was motivated by his “100%” belief in QAnon, a conspiracy theory that spread beyond the dark fringes of the internet to penetrate mainstream Republican politics.
QAnon has centered on the baseless notion that former President Donald Trump was secretly fighting a Satan-worshipping cabal of “deep state” enemies, prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites during his time in the White House. Another core tenet of QAnon is the apocalyptic prophesy that “The Storm” was coming and would usher in mass arrests and executions of Trump’s foes.
Before the riot, Trump and his allies spread the false narrative that Pence somehow could have overturned the results of the 2020 election. Davis told jurors they will hear Jensen implore police officers to “do their job” and arrest Pence, who was presiding over the Senate on Jan. 6.
“He believed they were obligated to do it,” Davis said. “He believed that martial law was going to be instituted.”
After scaling the outer walls of the Capitol, Jensen climbed through a broken window to enter the building. He was one of the first 10 rioters to enter the building, according to prosecutors.
Allen said Jensen learned from a friend’s text message that Pence was about to certify the election results.
“That’s all about to change,” Jensen replied.
Jensen is charged with seven counts, including charges that he obstructed the joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory, that he interfered with police and that he engaged in disorderly conduct inside the Capitol while carrying a knife in his pocket.
Allen said Jensen “got what he came for” in Washington on Jan. 6.
“The proceedings in Congress stopped,” she said. “That’s why he was there.”
Jenson drove back home to Des Moines, Iowa, a day after the riot. The following day, he walked six miles to a police station and showed up unannounced, saying he was probably a wanted man. But there weren’t any warrants for his arrest when two FBI agents questioned him at the station.
Jensen told the agents he considered himself a “digital soldier” who was “religiously” following QAnon. He said he worked his way to the front of the crowd because he “wanted Q to get the attention.”
“I basically intended on being the poster boy, and it really worked out,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview on Jan. 8, 2021.
Jensen told the FBI agents his belief in QAnon cost him friends and family members who think he is “insane.” One of the agents asked him if he had any regrets about his actions on Jan. 6.
“I don’t know. It depends on if the outcome I wanted happens, then it would have been worth it. But if nothing happens except for negativity from this, and I’m a rioter, then, yeah, I completely regret it,” he said.
Jensen asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to suppress statements he made to the FBI and the evidence seized from his cellphone. The judge denied his request earlier this month.
The first government witness for Jensen’s trial is scheduled to testify Wednesday. Kelly said the trial could conclude later this week.
More than 870 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. Approximately 400 of them have pleaded guilty. Juries have convicted eight Capitol riot defendants after trials. None of the defendants who had jury trials was acquitted of any charges.
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AP News Summary At 1:49 A.m. EDT https://digitalalabamanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-149-a-m-edt/
US, Iran to speak at UN; Zelenskyy to appear from Ukraine
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Iran President Ebrahim Raisi are among those taking the spotlight on the second day of the world body’s first fully in-person meeting since the coronavirus pandemic began. But perhaps one of the biggest draws on Wednesday will be Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskky, who will be heard but not seen in the flesh. The 193-member assembly voted last week to allow Zelenskky to deliver a pre-recorded address because of his need to deal with Russia’s invasion, making an exception to its requirement that all leaders speak in person. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine has been the center of attention at the U.N. assembly, with world leader after world leader condemning Russia for attacking a sovereign nation.
Biden at UN to call Russian war an affront to body’s charter
NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden is ready to make the case at the U.N. General Assembly that Russia’s “naked aggression” in Ukraine is an affront to the heart of what the international body stands. In his address Wednesday morning, the American president is looking to rally allies to continue to back the Ukrainian resistance. Biden also plans to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly with new British Prime Minister Liz Truss and announce a global food security initiative. But White House officials say the crux of Biden’s visit to the U.N. this year will be a full-throated condemnation of Russia as its brutal war nears the seven-month mark.
4 Ukrainian regions schedule votes this week to join Russia
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The separatist leaders of four Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine say they are planning to hold referendums this week for the territories to become part of Russia as Moscow loses ground in the war it launched. The votes will be held in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. The announcement of the balloting starting Friday came after a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that they were needed. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also said that folding Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine into Russia itself would make their redrawn frontiers “irreversible” and enable Moscow to use “any means” to defend them.
Man sets himself on fire in apparent protest of Abe funeral
TOKYO (AP) — A man has set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo in apparent protest of the state funeral for former leader Shinzo Abe. Kyodo News agency reported the man sustained burns but told police he set himself on fire with oil and a note found with him proclaimed his opposition to the Abe state funeral. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. The planned state funeral for Abe has become increasingly unpopular among Japanese as more details emerge about the ruling party’s and Abe’s links to the Unification Church, which built close ties with ruling party lawmakers over their shared interests in conservative causes.
Fiona threatens to become Category 4 storm headed to Bermuda
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is threatening to strengthen into a Category 4 storm as it lashes the Turks and Caicos Islands and was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week. The storm was blamed for causing at least four direct deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where it unleashed torrential rain in Puerto Rico, leaving a majority without power or water as hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of their homes following what authorities described as “historic” flooding. Power company officials initially said it would take a couple of days for electricity to be fully restored but then appeared to backtrack late Tuesday night.
House to vote on election law overhaul in response to Jan. 6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is preparing to vote on an overhaul of a centuries-old election law in an effort to prevent future presidential candidates from trying to subvert the popular will. The legislation under consideration Wednesday is a direct response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to find a way around the Electoral Count Act. That arcane 19th century law governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. Trump and a group of his aides and lawyers tried to exploit loopholes in the law to overturn his defeat.
At UN, hope peeks through the gloom despite a global morass
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Hope can be hard to find anywhere these days. That goes double for the people who walk the floors of the United Nations, where shouldering the weight of the world is a core part of the job description. And when world leaders are trying to solve some of humanity’s thorniest problems, it’s easy to lose sight of hope. And yet at the U.N. General Assembly this year, while there is lots of misery and pessimism, there are also signs of brightness poking through like clovers in the sidewalk cracks. The U.N. secretary-general says hope is an increasingly rare commodity, but he also says it persists.
High inflation in sight, Fed to signal more rate hikes ahead
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last month, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he issued a blunt warning: The Fed’s drive to curb inflation by aggressively raising interest rates, he said, would “bring some pain” for Americans. When the Fed ends its latest meeting Wednesday and Powell holds a news conference, Americans will likely get a better idea of how much pain could be in store. The central bank is expected to raise its key short-term rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for the third consecutive time. Many Fed watchers, though, will be paying particular attention to Powell’s remarks at a news conference afterward.
Some 230 whales beached in Tasmania; rescue efforts underway
HOBART, Australia (AP) — About 230 whales are stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just two days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island nearby. The pod stranded on Ocean Beach appear to be pilot whales. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said Wednesday that at least half of them are presumed to still be alive. The department says a team was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area. Two years ago, about 470 long-finned pilot whales were found beached on Tasmania’s west coast in the largest mass-stranding on record in Australia. After a weeklong effort, 111 of those whales were rescued but the rest died.
The Muscogee get their say in national park plan for Georgia
MACON, Ga. (AP) — Hundreds of Native Americans returned to their historic capital in Macon, Georgia, this weekend for the 30th annual Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration. Nearly 200 years after the last Creek Indians were forcibly removed to Oklahoma to make way for slave labor in the Deep South, citizens of the Muscogee Creek Nation are celebrating their survival. They’re also supporting an initiative to put the National Park Service in charge of protecting the heart of the Creek Confederacy. A federal review is nearly complete, meaning Interior Secretary Deb Haaland could soon ask Congress to create the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Asia Markets Trade Lower Ahead Of Federal Reserves Expected Rate Hike
Asia Markets Trade Lower Ahead Of Federal Reserve’s Expected Rate Hike https://digitalalabamanews.com/asia-markets-trade-lower-ahead-of-federal-reserves-expected-rate-hike/
Opportunities in Chinese equities as Fed prepares to hike rates, analyst says
With markets expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points this week, Bank of Singapore’s head of investment strategy Eli Lee said that aside from investing in U.S. bonds and the dollar, there may be value in other areas such as Chinese equities.
“We think that the Chinese equity space continues to look very interesting, and it is a valuation game there right now,” Lee told CNBC’s “Capital Connection.”
“We haven’t reached the lows that we’ve seen in March earlier this year,” he said. “The economic pain that we’re seeing in China right now are pretty much self imposed. The zero-Covid policy is a straitjacket but we are seeing some signs and we are optimistic that post the [Chinese Communist] Party Congress, we could see the authorities start to reconsider that policy.”
“So we’re slightly optimistic on that front.”
— Su-Lin Tan
Oil prices rise as investors brace for more Fed rate hikes
Oil prices rose slightly after shedding in earlier trade on Wednesday ahead of an expected aggressive rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Brent crude futures rose 0.23% to stand at $90.83 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate also gained 0.17% to $84.10 per barrel.
“The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects oil output in the seven major U.S. oil and gas basins to lift modestly in September,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Vivek Dhar wrote in a note.
— Lee Ying Shan
CNBC Pro: FedEx warned of a bleak outlook — should investors be worried?
FedEx’s bleak preliminary earnings and revised outlook sent stocks tumbling last week, but is it as bad as it looks?
CNBC Pro asked investment experts who weighed in on what the announcement means for the global economy and for investors.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Zavier Ong
European businesses are rethinking their China plans
European businesses in China increasingly face an environment in which “ideology trumps the economy,” the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in its annual position paper released Wednesday.
Joerg Wuttke, president of the business group, said this year’s Covid controls have turned China into a “closed” and “distinctively different” country that might prompt companies to leave.
Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country has “continued to respond to Covid-19 and promote economic and social development in a well-coordinated way,” according to a paraphrase of his remarks shared by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
— Evelyn Cheng
Tencent Music Entertainment shares rise on Hong Kong debut
Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent Music Entertainment ticked higher in early trade after its debut in the city.
It was last at 18.12 Hong Kong dollars ($2.31), up from its issue price of 17.98 Hong Kong dollars.
The company’s New York-listed shares closed 0.44% lower at $4.56 on Tuesday.
Tencent Music chose to list by way of introduction, a shorter way to trade on a new exchange without raising more funds.
The company joins the number of U.S.-listed Chinese companies that have debuted in Hong Kong as delisting risks rise due to tensions between Washington and Beijing.
— Abigail Ng
Asia shows signs of recovery but is slowed by China, Asian Development Bank says
The Asian Development Bank now sees growth of 4.3% in 2022 and 4.9% in 2023 for emerging Asian economies, according to the latest updates in its report.
The Manila-based lender slashed its forecasts for China to 3.3% in 2022 from its previous prediction of 4% revised in July, dragging down the wider region’s growth prospects.
Taiwan and South Korea, in particular, are likely to see a decline in export demand, Asian Development Bank Chief Albert Park told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
Read the full story here.
—Jihye Lee
CNBC Pro: Want to play the EV sector? Analysts say this lithium stock could soar 70%
As interest in battery stocks picks up after a tough year so far, CNBC Pro analyzed a number of stocks in the sector that analysts say have serious potential.
CNBC Pro screened the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF on FactSet for stocks that could outperform. One stock that made the list has jumped over 40% this year so far, and analysts say it has further upside of more than 70%.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Fed should prioritize soft landing, says Lazard’s Temple
Even though the Federal Reserve is set to deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike this week – tripling the pace of tightening – they should be careful not to throw the economy into a recession, said Ron Temple, head of U.S. Equity at Lazard Asset Management.
“Inflation is unacceptably high, and investors, politicians, and consumers are anxious, but patience is a virtue,” said Temple. “Monetary policy works with long and variable lags.”
He added that key drivers of inflation are already falling.
“The Fed should avoid the temptation to overreact to recent data and keep their eyes on the goal of achieving the softest landing possible,” he said.
—Carmen Reinicke
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Reproductive Rights Winston Farm Woodstock Library And More Letters From Readers Hudson Valley One
Reproductive Rights, Winston Farm, Woodstock Library And More Letters From Readers – Hudson Valley One https://digitalalabamanews.com/reproductive-rights-winston-farm-woodstock-library-and-more-letters-from-readers-hudson-valley-one/
The views and opinions expressed in our letters section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hudson Valley One. You can submit a letter to the editor here.
Think & learn
The Town Board of Saugerties is considering the proposed Winston Farm development. The development affects over 800 acres of agricultural land and a very significant aquifer. I consider it a travesty on many levels, but primarily the two mentioned above.
The threat to the aquifer is well represented by many in Saugerties, but I feel the agricultural question is not given the attention it needs. Taking that land out of agricultural use is potentially a real error affecting the future. Agriculture is changing in the USA. Climate change, growing populations and all the economic changes harnessed to these are going to require more agriculture, more innovative agriculture, better and shorter distribution methods. New York is capable of making these changes, but not if good land is covered with asphalt and houses. Ulster County has only the land paralleling the Hudson River and the Rondout Valley of viable agricultural land. Why lose what’s left?
Enough misused and inadequately used land is available for housing, but what is left of undeveloped agricultural land should be put in a special status. That special status might be used for some innovations like a training center for people wanting to learn farming of many kinds, wind farms et cetera.
We need to think and learn; the old ways are killing us.
Mary Ann Mays
Saugerties
Any thoughts from abortionists?
There have been many letters written to Hudson Valley One about abortion, especially in the past several months following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. And, most of them are from people who have no problem, whatsoever, with what abortion actually and literally represents, most recently evidenced in last week’s edition, in letters from Jane Schanberg and Rebecca B. Wilk. Even though past letters from pro-life writers have detailed the brutality of abortion and what is specifically done in the methodical killing of the innocent unborn baby, not one pro-abortionist has ever acknowledged and commented upon what this brutality means to them, assuming they even have the compassion, morality or courage to speak honestly on what they think about this egregious practice.
Their only concern is fallaciously and hopelessly trying to tie the “need” for an abortion to the politically manufactured and erroneously used terms of “women’s healthcare” and “women’s reproductive ‘rights’.” As mentioned in previous letters, more than once, “healthcare” applies to both women and men which involves their seeking medical attention to treat illnesses, sicknesses and other maladies of the body. “Reproductive rights”, again, are equally exercised by both women and men when they voluntarily decide to have vasectomies and hysterectomies or need treatment to their reproductive systems due to invasive diseases, tumors, etc. All these circumstances requiring medical treatment have absolutely nothing to do with the killing of an unborn baby. Not one abortionist has ever explained how the killing of an innocent, unborn baby is, in any way, connected to any of the previously mentioned health conditions requiring real medical treatment.
Roughly, 1% of all pregnancies are the result of rape. And, only one half of 1% are the result of incest. So, that leaves 98.5% of all pregnancies as fair game for abortionists. Putting aside another 2% of abortions for saving the life of the mother, we still have open season on 96.5% of all remaining pregnancies. The vast majority of abortions in this category are due to purely selfish and self-centered reasons. Instead of focusing on the causes and prevention of unwanted pregnancies, the abortionists ignore and don’t care about these realities as they blindly parade around with their illogical signs and posters citing “women’s healthcare,” “women’s reproductive ‘rights’” and “my body, my choice” as they pretend abortion is their “Constitutional right.”
I’m sure a healthy number of readers would like to see abortionists go below the surface of their self-serving signs and posters and clearly explain to our readers what they think about the brutality of baby killing and what needs to be done to address the causes of unwanted pregnancies. They never bothered giving any of this a second thought because they always had their birth control solution in Roe v. Wade. It seems like they are left with two choices, now: Face the music and deal with the reality of baby killing or move to a state that will continue to allow the slaughter of innocent, unborn babies.
John N. Butz
Modena
Commentary on life
Peek Freans, jelly bellies, ghee for thee.
My very best beef has always been Wellington!
If Jane Fonda is 84, then I am a spring chicken.
How many conspiracies are floating about? It’s stupid soup.
Nasty Hurricane Fiona hitting PR and DR so hard-given Fiona means “white” then, even storms are discriminatory.
Myrna S. Hilton
Ulster Park
Help!
With vitriol towards Trump and his supporters reaching new heights (or lows), I was reminded of this passage from Hamlet in which the Prince, watching a play with his mother, turns to her and asks: “Madam, how like you this play?” to which she replies with a sense of irony, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Of course, Hamlet’s mother means that the Player Queen’s protestations of love and fidelity are too excessive to be believed.
With this in view, the following parody of the Beatles song “Help!” presents the view that the “too much” vitriolic protestations, against Trump and MAGA Republicans, by the anti-Trumpers comes from a genuine belief that “Something is rotten in the state of” America. However, unlike their anti-Trump protestations, they are really convinced that the “rot” comes from the policies of the (81 million-vote) man they chose and the party he represents. Note to reader: I like to imagine Neil Jarmel (representing all TDS sufferers) singing this song about (and to) his archenemy, Donald J. Trump, with a poignant sense of distressed urgency.
(Stanza)
Help! I need somebody
Help! Not just anybody
Help! You know I need Donald’s help!
(Stanza)
When he was young he built big buildings every day
Many people liked his style and praised him in every way
But when he won his race everything went strange
Those who praised him changed their minds, their
Thoughts became deranged
(Chorus)
Help me if you can, Joe’s brought me down
And I don’t appreciate him being ‘round
America is quickly losing ground
Donald, ple-ease help me
(Stanza)
And now the world has changed in ways that are so bad
Biden’s rule made inflation high, America is sad
And more than now and then I feel bereft and poor
I know that if Donald was back I’d feel much more secure
(Chorus)
Donald help me now, China’s so strong
‘Cos Joe’s policy towards them has been so wrong
Putin’s war with Ukraine will be long
Won’t you ple-ease help me?
(Stanza)
And now Joe’s speaking ways are causing me distress
Some say his last speech sounded like a dictator’s address
He said he’d bring the country unity for sure
But since he’s been in charge, unity flew out the door!
(Chorus)
Help us please there’s trouble in the land
And we need to know you’ll lend a helping hand
The country now is pleading as one man
“Donald ple-ease help me!”
(Stanza)
When he was young he built big buildings every day
People liked his style, raved about him in every way
Though people still defend Joe and his running mate
In their hearts just like Trump, they want America great
(Chorus)
Al Qaeda’s back in Afghanistan
And Joe, he left behind more than one man
Our border’s overrun, help if you can
Donald, ple-ease help me!
(Stanza)
When I was young, I thought leftists’ views were always right
I worked hard to support their truths with all my youthful might
But now I’m older I can see that I was wrong
And so “Please help me Donald” is now my earnest song
(Chorus)
Donald help me now, I feel ashamed
The media made my Trump hatred inflamed
My sorry worldview needs to be reframed
Won’t you please help me, help me, help me-e-e? ooooh
George Civile
Gardiner
Now’s our chance in Gardiner!
Here in Gardiner, we have a precious opportunity coming up in the November 8 election to support preservation of our open space, farmland and water resources. On the back of the ballot will be a referendum to create a Community Preservation Fund (CPF). Money for the fund will come from a proposed Real Estate Transfer Tax of 1.25 percent, paid by the buyer, on the dollar amount of real estate transaction that exceeds the previous year’s countywide median sale price. For 2022, that is $320,000. There is no tax burden for current property owners.
Gardiner’s Town Board will appoint and oversee a CPF Advisory Board, which can negotiate with willing landowners to purchase conservation easements or development rights from those landowners who want to protect the most environmentally valuable portions of their land from development. In the past 15 years, Warwick has used this mechanism to preserve over 4,000 acres of open space that might otherwise have been developed.
Volunteers have put in hundreds of hours of hard work on this initiative. Now we are working to inform residents and get out the vote on November 8. Please check out our evolving website at www.voteyesgardiner.org or look for our literature, and remember to vote Yes.
Neil Rindlaub
Gardiner
Have you donated?
“A fool and his money are soon parted.” Here is another “Can’t fix stupid” installment:
Post-election fundraising – D...
William “Junior” Terrell Ward, Jr. Obituary (2022) https://digitalalabamanews.com/william-junior-terrell-ward-jr-obituary-2022/
The classical author, Thucydides, penned these words. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but that which is woven into the lives of others”. Life for William “Junior” Terrell Ward, Jr. had as humble a beginning as any life could. He was born December 8, 1931, in a wide place of the back roads of Randolph County Alabama known as Napoleon. He was one of three children born to the late William Terrell Ward, Sr., and Jessie Johnson Ward. Following the death of Junior’s birth mother, when he was two years old, Mr. Ward, Sr. married Lois Wilson and together they had five children. Mr. Ward, Sr. owned a country store, and with the depression ravaging the country, Mr. Ward also took his merchandise to his customers in his rolling store, which was a unique feature of farming life at the time. Junior’s first job right out of high school was working on roads and bridges for the Alabama Highway Department. He eventually took college classes and became a licensed engineer in Birmingham. He came along during a time when your common sense carried as much weight as a diploma hanging on the wall. In 1952 he made the greatest discovery of his life when he found the lady who would become his wife. He married Jeanette Martin whom he had met while working on a road project near her home. The next 63 years would a continuing love story for this couple until Jeanette’s death in 2015. She would be the one who kept the home fires burning as Junior’s career and continuing education became a large part of his life. In 1971, Junior accepted a job as an engineer for the FAA and moved his growing family to Newnan, GA. Their five children had private tutors in the house, as their mother helped with English and their dad spent countless evenings wading through math homework. Junior was the lead engineer during the construction of Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport and was named Employee of the year in recognition of that fact. He retired in 1988 as the Certification Safety Inspector with the FAA with oversight of airports in Florida, Puerto Rico and The Virgin Islands. Junior and Jeanette filled their retirement years with traveling. He loved the beach and prodigiously saved every year to make a trip to Panama City, FL a big event for everyone. Junior spent many happy times helping Jeanette with her treasured rose gardens. It became a special token of his love for her to have fresh flowers in their home. Junior was also well known for his devilish pepper sauce. Only the neophyte would sample what he offered them! Junior wore many hats in his storied life, and he wore them all well. For all the knowledge he had acquired in his life, he still followed the Biblical admonition to use words with restraint and used this understanding to be more even tempered. In addition to his parents and his beloved wife Jeanette, he was preceded in death by his daughter Lisa Jeanine Ward. Also preceding him in death are his brothers Milton, Jack, Johnny, Wayne and Larry Ward and his sister, Lois Zumwalt. His sister, Janie (Boe) Cobb survives him. Junior’s greatest joy in his life were in his children Brian and Sharon Ward, Deanna and Hershell Davis, Carol Ward and Daniel Garland, and Melinda Ward. He was the doting grandfather to Rachel (Justin) Glover, Cari (Alexander) King, Jacob (Lily) Hipp, Taylor Logan, Graham Garland, Zachary Welchel, ad William Welchel. His great grandchildren are Jaden, Rylee and Everett Glover. He had a heart as big as all out of doors, softened by his “bonus daughter” Laura Leschke, his companion cat Turkey and innumerable friends. There is an extended family of nephews, nieces, and cousins. The life of this good man will be recalled, and many stories shared in a service to be held at Liberty United Methodist Church at 1630 Liberty Road in Goodwater, AL. It will be an event on Friday, September 23, 2022, at 2:00 PM Central Time. Visitation will be at McKoon Funeral Home 38 Jackson St. Newnan, GA on Thursday evening between 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM. Interment will be in the church cemetery beside his beloved Jeanette. Those who may wish to do so, please acknowledge his life with a gift to The Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org.
McKoon Funeral Home & Crematory (770) 253-4580.
Published by Legacy Remembers on Sep. 21, 2022.
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Richard Noble Hayles https://digitalalabamanews.com/richard-noble-hayles/
FLORENCE
Richard Noble “Dick” Hayles 84, of Florence, AL passed away on September 18, 2022 after a brief illness. Visitation will be held Friday September 23, 2022 from 1-2 p.m. at Greenview Memorial Chapel with a service to follow at 2 p.m. in the chapel. Deacon Tom Osborne will be officiating. Burial with military honors will be in Greenview Memorial Gardens.
An only child, he was born on November 26, 1937 in El Paso, TX to the late Noble O. Hayles and Ellen Dillard Hayles.
Richard was a decorated Veteran of the United States Coast Guard serving 20 years including two years in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. He retired in 1977 as BM Chief Petty Officer.
From securing the lighthouse in Biloxi, MS to tours in the northeast and Arctic circle, his favorite tours included working the Florida coast and Keys stopping drug runners and helping with catastrophes. He was a lifetime member of the VFW and the American Legion.
A very talented artist, Richard enjoyed painting, playing guitar, traveling and caring for his dog, Lola.
Richard is survived by his wife, Nancy Tilenius Hayles; sons, Terry Hayles, Gulfport, MS; John (Susan) Hayles, Sherman, TX; and daughter, Geneva Hampton (Mike), Edmund, OK. Also including Heidi Tilenius, Florence, AL, and Jeff Tilenius, Chattanooga, TN. He is also survived by six grandchildren including his best “little buddy” Summer McDonald, Roswell, GA and four great-grandchildren.
The family would like to thank Dr. Ed Moore and his office staff, 5th floor nursing staff of NAMC and Dr’s. Bartmess and Singh for their compassionate care. The nurses and staff of Shoals Hospice and Mitchell Hollingsworth Nursing and Rehab Center. We are especially thankful for care provided by Helen Norvell, retired RN and Visiting Angels Sheronda Rhodes.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Floyd E. “Tut” Fann Veterans Home in Huntsville, AL, Shoals Hospice, and Wounded Warrior Project.org or a military organization of your choice.
An online guestbook may be signed at greenviewmemorial.com.
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Mail-In Ballot Fight Persists https://digitalalabamanews.com/mail-in-ballot-fight-persists/
HARRISBURG — Former President Donald Trump and his allies seized on the drawn-out processing and counting in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election to fuel his claims that fraud cost him victory in the battleground state.
Election officials worry that a replay could be on the horizon for November’s midterm elections, with high-stakes races on the state’s ballot for governor and U.S. Senate.
And it’s not just Pennsylvania. Michigan and Wisconsin are other crucial swing states that allow no-excuse mail-in ballots but give local election offices no time before Election Day to process them.
Election workers’ inability to do that work ahead of time means many of the mailed ballots may not get counted on Election Day, delaying results in tight races and leaving a gaping hole for misinformation and lies to flood the public space.
“That time between the polls closing on election night and the last vote being counted is really being exploited by people who want to undermine confidence in the process,” said Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia election commissioner during the 2020 presidential election who is now president and CEO of the good-government group Committee of Seventy.
The first step in processing mailed ballots, or pre-canvassing, is a routine but crucial administrative task that allows election workers to verify voters’ signatures and addresses, or spot problems that could be fixed by voters. Once ballots are deemed valid, they are removed from their envelopes — another time-consuming task — so they are ready to be counted on Election Day.
Not in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, vote-count outliers. Thirty-eight other states — including Republican-controlled ones such as Florida, Georgia and Texas — allow mailed ballots to be processed before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, even brags about producing results on election night — a pointed criticism he made during a recent stop in Pennsylvania.
For the three critical battleground states, such objections fall flat. Efforts since 2020 to give local election workers more time before Election Day to process mailed ballots have died in Republican-controlled legislatures.
Instead, Republicans in those states have sought to tighten restrictions on voting by mail — provisions vetoed by Democratic governors.
“Counting the ballots should be driven by security, not speed,” Wisconsin state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Republican, said earlier this year as lawmakers were considering legislation on the issue. “Why would we want to give bad actors the chance to see ballots prior to Election Day?”
Republicans helped kill a bipartisan bill that would have allowed more time for processing mailed ballots in Wisconsin amid claims that it would give partisans more time to cheat or leak vote counts early — another unfounded conspiracy theory promoted as a way to explain Trump’s loss.
Like Pennsylvania, election workers in Michigan and Wisconsin must wait until Election Day to start the pre-canvassing of mailed ballots.
For now, in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, requests for absentee ballots are running below 2020’s rate, relieving some of the burden on local election offices.
Still, Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said it’s “a total guess” when counting will finish in Wisconsin’s most populous county. She hopes it will wrap up by 11 p.m. on election night. A late rush of dropped-off ballots — as happened in 2020 — isn’t expected this year, she said, because courts banned the use of drop boxes.
In Michigan in 2020, lawmakers agreed to give clerks in more populous cities and towns 10 hours on the day before Election Day to process mailed ballots. Clerks unsuccessfully sought a similar provision for this year. The Michigan Secretary of State’s office said it was too early to estimate how many absentee ballots might be cast or how long it will take to process them.
The Republicans who control the Pennsylvania Legislature have refused to allow early processing of mailed ballots unless it comes packaged with provisions Democrats don’t want, such as banning drop boxes and expanding voter identification requirements.
County election officials say they are grateful the state approved $45 million in election administration grants to help them buy ballot processing equipment and pay for workers to help. But they still face the work of processing well over 1 million mailed ballots just as they are running the November election. A number of them do not expect to finish processing mailed ballots until at least the day after the election — even after working through the night.
The Pennsylvania House Republicans’ lead lawmaker on election legislation said allowing counties to process ballots before Election Day must be combined with “election integrity” measures.
“Once a ballot is opened, you remove the outside envelope from the ballot, you remove any ability to question anything in that election system,” said Republican state Rep. Seth Grove. “So you have to guard the front end of it a lot better.”
Those who advocate for earlier processing say observers can watch the pre-canvassing of mailed ballots, increasing transparency, and note that it is allowed by many other states.
“If people want to observe the process,” said Lee Soltysiak, the chief operating officer of Montgomery County in Pennsylvania, “they’re more likely to do it at 3 p.m. and not 3 a.m.”
All three states flipped to support Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and are still being buffeted by conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss.
Among those is that election workers falsified ballots in the middle of the night in Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and other Democratic-leaning cities across battleground states lost by Trump, despite no such evidence emerging for nearly two years since the election.
Death threats to election officials followed the arguing, as did a flurry of litigation designed to keep Trump in office. In the middle of the counting, two men inspired by Trump’s election claims and armed with guns drove from Virginia to where ballots were being tallied in Philadelphia.
Trump continues to peddle the conspiracy theories, repeating this month during a rally in Wilkes-Barre that Pennsylvania’s vote in 2020 was “a rigged election.”
Fearing a repeat of the claims from two years ago, Democrats in the Pennsylvania Legislature continued to push Republicans to bring up a pre-canvassing bill — without any poison pills — for a vote.
“That bill will not run,” said state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Centre. “Why won’t it run? Because if it runs, it takes away the conspiracy theories. It takes away the fact that what they’re saying is nonsense and not true.”
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Video Shows Apparent Election Breach https://digitalalabamanews.com/video-shows-apparent-election-breach/
ATLANTA — A Republican Party official in Georgia told a computer forensics team to copy components of the voting system at a rural elections office two months after the 2020 election and spent nearly all day there, contradicting her sworn deposition testimony about her role in the alleged breach of the equipment, a new court filing says.
The filing late Monday is part of a broader lawsuit challenging the security of the state’s voting machines that has been drawn into a separate investigation of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia. The apparent breach happened on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to stop the certification of the election.
Interior security camera video from the Coffee County elections office shows Cathy Latham, the county Republican Party chair at the time, welcomed the computer forensics team when it arrived, introduced the team to local election officials and spent nearly all day there. She also instructed the team what to copy, which turned out to be “virtually every component of the voting system,” the filing says. The video directly refutes Latham’s testimony in a sworn deposition and her representations in filings with the court, the document states.
The filing comes in response to Latham’s attorneys’ attempt to quash subpoenas for her personal electronic devices, including any cellphones, computers and storage devices.
Robert Cheeley, an attorney for Latham, did not respond to an email seeking comment. He previously said his client doesn’t remember all the details of that day. But he said she “would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election” and “has not acted improperly or illegally.”
Latham said in a deposition last month that she moved to Texas over the summer.
In January 2021, she was chair of the Coffee County Republican Party and was the state party caucus chair for more than 125 of Georgia’s smaller counties. Latham also was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate in December 2020 stating that Trump had won the state and declaring that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
Trump lost Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes to Democrat Joe Biden. The investigation into Trump’s efforts to change the results includes a phone call he made to the Georgia secretary of state, a fellow Republican, suggesting he could “find” just enough votes to make Trump the winner.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat who’s leading that investigation, has notified Latham and the other fake electors that they could face criminal charges.
The Georgia secretary of state’s office has described the copying of data from Coffee County’s election system as an “alleged unauthorized access” and last month asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to get involved. It’s the latest of several suspected breaches of voting system data around the country tied to Trump allies since his election loss.
Attorney Sidney Powell and other Trump allies were involved in arranging for the copying of the election equipment in Coffee County — which is home to 43,000 people and voted overwhelmingly for Trump — as part of a wider effort to access voting equipment in several states, according to documents produced in response to subpoenas in the long-running lawsuit over Georgia’s voting machines.
Latham’s “data likely will reveal additional details about the work performed and information obtained in the breach, what was done with the compromised software and data, and the people involved in planning and orchestrating the breach, which puts voters and future elections at enormous risk,” the filing says.
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SEC Football By The Numbers: Top 10 From Week 3 https://digitalalabamanews.com/sec-football-by-the-numbers-top-10-from-week-3/
During the third week of the SEC’s 2022 season, Georgia defeated South Carolina 48-7 and LSU defeated Mississippi State 31-16 in league games. In non-conference contests, Alabama defeated Louisiana-Monroe 63-7, Arkansas defeated Missouri State 38-27, Auburn lost to Penn State 41-12, Florida defeated USF 31-28, Kentucky defeated Youngstown State 31-0, Missouri defeated Abilene Christian 34-17, Ole Miss defeated Georgia Tech 42-0, Tennessee defeated Akron 63-6, Texas A&M defeated Miami (Florida) 17-9 and Vanderbilt defeated Northern Illinois 38-26. Here are 10 numbers about the SEC’s Week 3 games:
0 Of LSU’s eight third-down snaps were converted into first downs in the first three quarters against Mississippi State on Saturday, before the Tigers went 6-for-7 on third down in the fourth quarter of a 31-16 victory. LSU trailed 16-10 on the scoreboard, 245-241 in total yards and 23:38-21:22 in time of possession entering the final period against the Bulldogs. In the fourth quarter, LSU snapped 35 plays to MSU’s 11, kept possession for 11:20 of the 15 minutes and outgained the Bulldogs 175-44 as the Tigers scored 21 unanswered points.
2 SEC players have had at least 150 rushing yards, one rushing TD, 70 receiving yards and one receiving TD in the same game in this century, with Arkansas RB Raheim Sanders joining Florida WR Percy Harvin. In the Razorbacks’ 38-27 victory over Missouri State on Saturday, Sanders ran for 167 yards and one TD on 22 carries and caught two passes for 75 yards and one TD. On Jan. 1, 2008, Harvin ran for 165 yards and one TD on 13 carries and caught nine passes for 77 yards and one TD in the Gators’ 41-35 loss to Michigan in the Capital One Bowl.
3 Non-conference losses for Auburn in the SEC era have featured a larger margin of defeat than the Tigers’ 41-12 setback against Penn State on Saturday. Auburn lost to visiting Clemson 41-0 on Nov. 25, 1950, then lost at Clemson 34-0 on Nov. 24, 1951. On Oct. 2, 1982, visiting Nebraska pinned a 41-7 loss on the Tigers. Auburn has lost to two other non-conference opponents by Saturday’s 29-point margin in the 90-season span – 36-7 to Houston in the Bluebonnet Bowl on Dec. 31, 1969, and 43-14 to Penn State in the Hall of Fame Bowl on Jan. 1, 1996.
3 Ole Miss players ran for two TDs apiece in a 42-0 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. The Rebels had three players with at least two rushing TDs in the same game for the first time since 1979 and became the first SEC team to do so since 2003. Against Georgia Tech, Zach Evans had 134 yards and two TDs on 18 carries, Quinshon Judkins had 98 yards and two TDs on 19 carries and Ulysses Bentley IV had 27 yards and two touchdowns on eight carries. In Auburn’s 73-7 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 1, 2003, Carnell “Cadillac” Williams had 113 yards and two TDs on seven carries, Tre Smith had 68 yards and two TDs on 14 carries and Brandon Jacobs had 61 yards and two TDs on 10 carries.
4 Punts were returned for TDs by SEC players on Saturday. Alabama’s Brian Branch scored on a 68-yard return and Malachi Moore went in from 3 yards out after a blocked punt in a 63-7 victory over Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas’ Bryce Stephens returned a punt 82 yards for a TD in a 38-27 victory over Missouri State and Missouri’s Luther Burden III scored on a 78-yard return in a 34-17 victory over Abilene Christian. Saturday was the first day this century with four punt-return TDs by SEC players. There had been nine previous days since 2000 when SEC players had three punt-return TDs on one day. The yardage of Branch and Moore figured in Alabama’s record-setting punt-return performance. The Crimson Tide piled up 262 punt-return yards against ULM on Saturday, with Kool-Aid McKinstry getting 136. Alabama had the second-most punt-return yards in one game for an SEC team, behind Florida’s 272 in a 65-0 victory over Kentucky on Sept. 28, 1996. The Alabama school record of 204 yards had stood since Nov. 22, 1947, when the Tide defeated LSU 41-12 with Harry Gilmer scoring on a 92-yard punt return, still tied for the longest in program history.
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7 Receiving TDs for Vanderbilt WR Will Sheppard in 2022 after he had 10 receptions for 171 yards and two TDs in a 38-28 victory over Northern Illinois on Saturday. Sheppard caught those passes from QB AJ Swann as the freshman threw for four TDs in his first college start. Sheppard became the fourth SEC player in this century with at least seven TD receptions four games into a season, joining LSU’s Terrace Marshall Jr. and Florida’s Kyle Pitts in 2020 and LSU’s Kayshon Boutte in 2021.
9 Games in this century have featured at least 286 rushing yards by Florida’s opponent. The Gators’ 31-28 victory over USF on Saturday is Florida’s only win in those contests. The Gators lost to Mississippi State in 2000, Miami (Florida) in 2002, Georgia Southern in 2013, Georgia in 2017, Kentucky in 2018, Oklahoma in 2020 and LSU and UCF in 2021 in the other games in this century in which they have yielded at least 286 rushing yards. USF’s rushing total includes a 14-yard loss on a bad snap with the Bulls at the Florida 19-yard line with 34 seconds to play. Two plays later, USF misfired on a 49-yard field-goal attempt when the snap was mishandled. With 150 yards on 17 carries, USF RB Brian Battie turned in the 25th individual game of at least 150 rushing yards against Florida in this century. The Gators have a 5-20 record in those games. Eight of those 25 150-plus performances came in Gainesville, and Saturday’s game was Florida’s second victory in those contests. On Oct. 19, 2002, Auburn RB Ronnie Brown had 163 yards on 22 carries, but the visiting Tigers fell to the Gators 30-23.
10 Points have been yielded by Georgia in 2022, the fewest given up by the Bulldogs three games into a season since 1937. Georgia almost got out of Saturday’s game with a shutout, but South Carolina scored with 53 seconds remaining to set the final score at 48-7. The Bulldogs also have beaten Oregon 49-3 and Samford 33-0 in 2022. Georgia started the 1937 campaign by beating Oglethorpe 60-0, South Carolina 13-7 and Clemson 14-0. Ole Miss also has been stingy with opponents while beating Troy 28-10, Central Arkansas 59-3 and Georgia Tech 42-0 this season. That’s the fewest combined points scored against the Rebels through three games since 1963, when Ole Miss opened by tying Memphis 0-0 and beating Kentucky 31-7 and Houston 20-6.
41 Years since the previous time that Tennessee had players with at least 150 receiving yards in consecutive games. The Volunteers turned that feat again on Saturday, when Jalin Hyatt had five receptions for 166 yards and two TDs in a 63-6 victory over Akron. That came after Cedric Tillman had nine receptions for 162 yards and one TD in the Volunteers’ 34-27 overtime victory against Pitt on Sept. 10. In 1981, Willie Gault had 217 receiving yards in a 38-34 victory over Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale before Anthony Hancock had 196 in a 28-21 victory over Wisconsin in the Garden State Bowl.
163 Games between shutouts for Kentucky, which ended the fourth-longest streak without blanking an opponent in SEC history by beating Youngstown State 31-0 on Saturday. The Wildcats’ previous shutout came in a 42-0 victory over Miami (Ohio) on Sept. 5, 2009. Mississippi State holds the league record for the longest stretch between shutouts at 178 games from 1999 into 2013. Ole Miss went 166 games between shutouts from 1976 through 1990. South Carolina was scored on in 164 consecutive games from 2008 through 2020. Ole Miss also posted a shutout on Saturday, beating Georgia Tech 42-0 to stop a streak of 89 games in which the Rebels had been scored on. That’s the second-longest in school history behind the 166-game streak.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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Woman On Probation Removes Ankle Monitor And Steals A Car
Woman On Probation Removes Ankle Monitor And Steals A Car https://digitalalabamanews.com/woman-on-probation-removes-ankle-monitor-and-steals-a-car/
On September 16, 2022, a Missoula County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a residence on Highway 93 after speaking with a probation officer. The probation officer was recently alerted that 29-year-old Jennifer Cassidy, a current parolee, had tampered with her GPS ankle monitor. The probation officer attempted to contact Cassidy multiple times but was not able to reach her. The probation officer asked the deputy to go to Cassidy’s residence to look for her.
When the deputy arrived at the residence, he spoke with an adult male. The male explained that Cassidy was staying in a camper behind his residence with her boyfriend. He told the deputy that he had contact information for Cassidy’s boyfriend inside his vehicle. He then led the deputy to the front of his residence and discovered that his 2008 Dodge Durango was missing from the driveway. The male wished to report the vehicle as stolen.
The deputy also located a black ankle monitor lying in the driveway where the Durango should have been parked. The deputy collected the ankle monitor and requested an “attempt to locate” for Cassidy and the Durango.
On September 19, 2022, at approximately 7:42 a.m., 911 Dispatch received a call from another probation officer who reported that Cassidy was currently enroute to the Probation and Parole office and would likely be driving the stolen Durango. The probation officer requested that Missoula Police Department officers respond to that location. Police Public Information Officer Lydia Arnold picks up the story.
“Officer assisted probation and parole after they requested help from the Missoula Police Department regarding Jennifer Cassidy,” Arnold said. “Cassidy had cut her GPS monitor and was in a stolen vehicle. Officers were able to locate the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop. Cassidy was in the driver’s seat and was taken into custody without further incident.”
An officer took Cassidy to the Missoula County Detention Facility. The officer advised Cassidy of her rights under Miranda and asked her about the stolen Durango. Cassidy denied stealing it and said she was given permission to drive it.
Cassidy is currently being charged with one count of felony theft and a probation violation.
The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.
20 Impressive Features at the New and Improved Missoula Airport
Missoula’s new airport will include large windows for loved ones to watch planes depart and arrive, and the only escalator on this side of Montana! Plus, a keggerator system for the Coldsmoke Tavern.
14 Destinations to Visit With Direct Flights From Missoula
Here’s a list of places to visit (and things to do while you’re there) with nonstop flights out of the Missoula Montana Airport.
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AP News Summary At 10:40 P.m. EDT https://digitalalabamanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-1040-p-m-edt/
‘Our world is in peril’: At UN, leaders push for solutions
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world’s problems are seizing the spotlight as the U.N. General Assembly’s yearly meeting of world leaders opens. It began Tuesday with dire assessments of a planet beset by escalating crises and conflicts that an aging international order seems increasingly ill-equipped to tackle. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the world is “gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction.” He and others pointed to conflicts ranging from Russia’s six-month-old war in Ukraine to the decades-long dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. Speakers worried about a changing climate, spiking fuel prices, food shortages, economic inequality, migration, disinformation, discrimination, hate speech, public health and more.
4 Ukrainian regions schedule votes this week to join Russia
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The separatist leaders of four Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine say they are planning to hold referendums this week for the territories to become part of Russia as Moscow loses ground in the war it launched. The votes will be held in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. The announcement of the balloting starting Friday came after a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that they were needed. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also said that folding Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine into Russia itself would make their redrawn frontiers “irreversible” and enable Moscow to use “any means” to defend them.
US: 48 exploited pandemic to steal $250M from food program
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have charged 48 people in what they’re calling the largest pandemic-related fraud scheme yet uncovered. The defendants allegedly stole $250 million from a federal program that provides meals to low-income children. But prosecutors say few meals were actually served, and the defendants used the money to buy luxury cars, property and jewelry. Documents made public Tuesday charge the defendants with counts including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. Prosecutors say the defendants created companies that claimed to be offering food to thousands of kids, then sought reimbursement. This year, the U.S. Justice Department has made prosecuting pandemic-related fraud a priority and has stepped up enforcement actions.
Fiona swipes Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico faces big cleanup
CAYEY, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is blasting the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remain without electricity or running water. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the British territory’s capital island. The government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. The storm could raise seas by 5 to 8 feet above normal. Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and was moving north-northwest at 9 mph early Tuesday. The Hurricane Center says the storm is likely to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday.
Arbiter in Trump docs probe signals intent to move quickly
WASHINGTON (AP) — The independent arbiter tasked with inspecting documents seized in an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home says he intends to push briskly through the review process. Raymond Dearie, the veteran Brooklyn-based judge, also appeared skeptical of the Trump team’s reluctance to say whether it believed the records had been declassified. The purpose of Tuesday’s meeting was to sort out next steps in a review process expected to slow by weeks, if not months, the criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.
FDA concedes delays in response to baby formula shortage
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators say their response to the ongoing infant formula shortage was slowed by delays in processing a whistleblower complaint and test samples from the nation’s largest formula factory. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday published its first formal report detailing the factors that led to the shortage, which has forced the U.S. government to import formula from overseas. The report highlights several key problems at the regulatory agency. Those include unclear procedures for vetting whistleblower complaints about company violations. The agency also says it needs more funding and authority to regulate food manufacturers.
Aaron Judge hits 60th homer, within 1 of Maris’ AL record
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run, matching Babe Ruth and moving within one of Roger Maris’ American League season record. The New York Yankees slugger drove a 3-1 sinker from Pittsburgh’s Wil Crowe 430 feet to the left field seats leading off the ninth inning. Judge’s third home run in two games and ninth in September thrilled a screaming crowd at Yankee Stadium. He answered pleas for a curtain call despite New York’s 8-5 deficit. He equaled Ruth’s total for the 1927 Yankees and has 15 games remaining to match and surpass Maris’ total for New York in 1961.
‘Serial’ host: Evidence that freed Syed was long available
The creator of a true-crime podcast that helped free a Maryland man imprisoned for murder said that she feels a mix of emotions over how long it took authorities to act on evidence that’s long been available. Podcast host Sarah Koenig released a new episode of “Serial” on Tuesday, a day after a judge vacated Adnan Syed’s conviction and allowed him to walk out of court after more than two decades. Koenig noted that all of the evidence cited in prosecutors’ motion to overturn the conviction was available since 1999. She argued that the case against Syed involved “just about every chronic problem” in the system.
Cowboys for Trump cofounder appeals ban from public office
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico politician and Trump supporter who was removed and barred from elected office for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, is attempting to appeal that decision to the state Supreme Court. Cowboys for Trump cofounder and former county commissioner Couy Griffin on Tuesday notified the high court of his intent to appeal. The ruling against Griffin this month from a Santa Fe-based state District Court was the first to remove an elected official from office in connection with the attack that disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
NTSB wants all new vehicles to check drivers for alcohol use
DETROIT (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all new vehicles in the U.S. be equipped with blood alcohol monitoring systems that can stop an intoxicated person from driving. The recommendation, if enacted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, could reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes, one of the biggest causes of highway deaths in the U.S. The new push to make roads safer was included in a report released Tuesday about a horrific crash last year in which a drunk driver’s SUV collided head-on with a pickup truck near Fresno, California, killing both adult drivers and seven children.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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GOP Lawmaker Ex-Sheriff Calls Out Biden's Border: Trump Was Right 'they're Not Sending Their Best'
GOP Lawmaker, Ex-Sheriff Calls Out Biden's Border: Trump Was Right, 'they're Not Sending Their Best' https://digitalalabamanews.com/gop-lawmaker-ex-sheriff-calls-out-bidens-border-trump-was-right-theyre-not-sending-their-best/
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Former President Donald Trump has been proven correct regarding a declaration in his 2015 candidacy announcement that countries whose citizens are flooding the U.S.-Mexico border are “not sending their best,” a GOP lawmaker and former Texas sheriff said Tuesday.
In June 2015, Trump – after his now-famous ride down the Trump Tower escalator in New York – focused on the illegal immigration crisis, saying the world is “laughing at [the U.S. and] at our stupidity” as the federal government refuses to enforce immigration laws.
“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems… When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said at the time – and was later blasted as a xenophobe and racist by Democrats and the media.
As President Biden’s turn at managing the border descends further into crisis, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, quoted Trump from that day and said his foresight is much needed at this time – as millions of people illegally ingress into the United States without proper federal prosecutorial response.
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Real estate mogul and TV personality Donald Trump arrives by escalator inside at Trump Tower to announce his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on June 16, 2015. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
“Texas is inundated,” said Nehls, the former sheriff of Fort Bend County outside Houston.
“We have estimates of 10,000 immigrants coming to our southern border each and every day. And they’re going to complain up in Martha’s Vineyard and in New York City… As a former sheriff, I’m concerned about the number of people coming through and that report on Venezuela.”
He said Trump “told the American people the truth” that day in 2015, and that his words ring very true as the few interested reporters like Fox News’ Bill Melugin capture images to that effect every day.
“He said that these individuals, these countries aren’t going to send their best. And why do we know he was right? They’re sending rapists. They’re sending murderers. And the dishonest media call Donald Trump the racist. But Donald Trump was right all along,” Nehls said.
RAND PAUL RIPS DC ESTABLISHMENT COUNTERING BIDEN ON COVID: NOT IN CHARGE OF HIS WITS OR THE WHITE HOUSE
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) speaks with reporters as he departs from a caucus meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Earlier Tuesday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson drew parallels between what Nicaragua and Venezuela are reportedly doing in response to Biden’s open border to the 1980 Mariel Boatlift – when Cuban dictator Fidel Castro released prisoners and insane asylum patients and sent them on boats bound for Miami.
Carlson reported then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton was one of the voices condemning Cuba over the boatlift – contrasting that with the widespread acceptance from today’s Democrats of the purported current version.
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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro with Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro during their meeting at Havana, Cuba (AP)
In that regard, Nehls added that contemporary Democrats are essentially lying about the state of the porous border, pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim the boundary is “secure.”
“She doesn’t want to solve the problem,” he said. “This is by design. They don’t want to solve this crisis.. This administration puts the American people last. They put the American people last. They always have. And now the American people are going to pay for it.”
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
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