Digital Alabama News

Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa Produce Rare NFL Games https://digitalalabamanews.com/jalen-hurts-tua-tagovailoa-produce-rare-nfl-games/ During Week 2 of the NFL’s 2022 season, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts started fast and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa finished fast. Both the former Alabama teammates produced games rarely seen. On Monday night in the Eagles’ 24-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Hurts completed 26-of-31 passes for 333 yards with one touchdown and one interception and had 57 yards and two touchdowns on 11 rushing attempts. On Sunday afternoon in the Dolphins’ 42-38 victory over the Baltimore Ravens, Tagovailoa completed 36-of-50 passes for 469 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions. MORE NFL: · STATE ROUNDUP: TYREEK HILL EXPLODES IN MIAMI RALLY · ALABAMA ROUNDUP: JAYLEN WADDLE CAPS BIG DAY WITH GAME-WINNING CATCH · AUBURN ROUNDUP: JAMEL DEAN POSTS 2 FOURTH-QUARTER PICKS IN BUCS’ VICTORY As Philadelphia did all its scoring in the first half, Hurts completed 17-of-20 passes for 251 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for 50 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. With Miami trailing 35-14 entering the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa completed 13-of-17 passes for 196 yards with four touchdowns in the final period as the Dolphins broke a losing streak of 771 games for NFL teams that trailed by 21 points in the closing 15 minutes. The Week 2 games marked the 22nd NFL start for Hurts (including a playoff contest) and the 23rd for Tagovailoa. Only 10 times since 1950 has an NFL player over the course of an entire game matched Hurts’ first-half totals for passing yards, touchdown passes, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is the most recent on Sept. 20, 2020, and the list includes former Auburn All-American Cam Newton for the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 26, 2012. Three of those players also matched Hurts’ game stats for passing yards, TD passes, rushing yards and TD runs in a single contest — the Detroit Lions’ Bobby Layne in 1950, San Francisco 49ers’ Steve Young in 1991 and the Eagles’ Michael Vick in 2010. But Hurts went beyond those players as he became the first player in NFL history to have at least 300 passing yards and two touchdown runs while completing at least 80 percent of his passes in a game. Hurts completed 83.9 percent of his passes on Monday night. “It doesn’t surprise me in the sense of that’s how practice has looked,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said after the game. “He’s went to the right place with the football versus different looks, and so a great indicator of how we’re going to play in games is how we practice. And not just this week, not just last week, but also throughout training camp and OTAs. And so I wouldn’t say I’m surprised. … “We talk about this so much with Jalen. Why is Jalen going to continue to reach his ceiling? Because he’s tough, he’s got high football character and he loves football, and so he’s going to reach his ceiling, and it’s fun watching him grow.” Tagovailoa became the fifth player in NFL history to throw four touchdown passes in the fourth quarter of one game. The first was also an Alabama alumnus. Ken Stabler threw four TD passes in the Houston Oilers’ 31-28 overtime loss to the New York Jets on Nov. 23, 1980. The San Francisco 49ers’ Joe Montana in 1989, the New York Jets’ Vinny Testaverde in 2000 and the Houston Texans’ Sage Rosenfels in 2007 also passed for four touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a game. The strong showing in the final period allowed Tagovailoa to become the eighth player with at least 469 passing yards and six touchdown passes in one game. The second player to do so was former Alabama QB Joe Namath, who had 496 passing yards and six TD tosses in the Jets’ 44-34 victory over the Baltimore Colts on Sept. 24, 1972. Only one of the previous seven players could match Tagovailoa’s 36 completions on Sunday. The New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees had 39 completions to go with 505 passing yards and seven touchdown passes in a 52-49 victory over the New York Giants on Nov. 1, 2015. “He knows that he did some really, really good things,” Miami coach Mike McDaniel said on Monday. “I think deep down — he wouldn’t ever say it — but I think you’d have to be kind of delusional not to be like, ‘Hey, six touchdowns was pretty good, right?’ “But I think there’s also something to the fact that none of his teammates were surprised, which is much more impactful than words. You can feel that when guys, they’re not like, ‘Whoa, dude, where’d that come from?’ I think that’s great for him. He deserves it. None of it was given at all. He earned every ounce of that, which I know players respect a great deal, so I think that benefits everybody — players and coaches included.” Hurts and Tagovailoa take undefeated teams into Week 3 of the NFL’s 103rd season. The Eagles open their NFC East schedule by visiting the Washington Commanders at noon CDT Sunday. The Dolphins have an early season showdown in the AFC East when the Buffalo Bills visit at noon Sunday. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa passes during an NFL game against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.(AP Photo/Nick Wass) FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Read More…

Large Aftershocks After 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake In Mexico – Follow Live https://digitalalabamanews.com/large-aftershocks-after-7-6-magnitude-earthquake-in-mexico-follow-live/ 7.5 magnitude earthquake hits Mexico’s pacific coast An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 struck the Michoacán region in Mexico on Tuesday, a day after two people were killed in another powerful quake. Monday’s earthquake, measured at a magnitude of 7.6, struck on the anniversary of two previous earthquakes that caused enormous damage and killed hundreds or thousands of people in 1985 and 2017. One of the victims died after being crushed by the facade of a department store in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, while another was found dead at a mall. The tremor passed without that level of tragedy, despite heightened nerves from a nationwide annual earthquake drill that occurred less than an hour before. The tsunami alert, which was issued immediately after the quake, was revised later in the day. Authorities said the tsunami threat has “largely passed”, with minor sea fluctuations of up to 0.3 metres above and below the normal tide to continue for the next few hours. Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists Email Please enter a valid email Please enter a valid email Password Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number First name Please enter your first name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters Last name Please enter your last name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters You must be over 18 years old to register You must be over 18 years old to register Year of birth I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.  Read our Privacy notice You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe. Already have an account? sign in Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists Email Please enter a valid email Please enter a valid email Password Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number First name Please enter your first name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters Last name Please enter your last name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters You must be over 18 years old to register You must be over 18 years old to register Year of birth I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.  Read our Privacy notice You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe. Already have an account? sign in Read More…

Former White House Lawyer Warned Trump Last Year About Legal Risk Of Mar-A-Lago Documents: Report https://digitalalabamanews.com/former-white-house-lawyer-warned-trump-last-year-about-legal-risk-of-mar-a-lago-documents-report/ A former White House lawyer for former President Trump warned him last year that he could face legal consequences for holding onto presidential records, The New York Times reported on Monday. Eric Herschmann told the former president in a late 2021 meeting that he could face investigations and legal repercussions if he did not return government materials, particularly classified documents, according to The New York Times. Herschmann was not working for or with Trump at the time, the Times noted. More than 40 boxes of records, including a reported 300 classified documents, have been recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence since he left office. The National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes from the Florida resort in January, not long after Trump’s meeting with Herschmann, per the Times. Upon discovering classified documents among the recovered records, the National Archives referred the issue to the Justice Department for an investigation. Trump’s lawyers returned several more classified documents to the DOJ in June. Suspecting there were still more documents at Mar-a-Lago, the FBI conducted a search of Trump’s home in August, recovering 33 more boxes with over 100 classified documents. Trump and the DOJ are currently locked in a legal battle over the status of the recovered documents. The recently appointed special master in the case, Judge Raymond Dearie, is set to meet with lawyers from the DOJ and Trump’s team for their first conference on Tuesday. Herschmann previously testified about his time in the Trump White House to the Jan. 6 Committee. The former White House lawyer called the plans of several Trump allies to challenge 2020 election results “nuts,” according to testimony played at one of the committee’s public hearings in July. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Read More…

Chester County Residents, Former Trump Administration Officials Sue Over Ballot Drop Box Monitoring | WITF https://digitalalabamanews.com/chester-county-residents-former-trump-administration-officials-sue-over-ballot-drop-box-monitoring-witf/ September 20, 2022 | 9:41 AM Matt Slocum / AP Photo A woman drops off her ballot for the 2020 General Election in the United States outside the Chester County Government Services Center, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in West Chester, Pa. No one has cast a vote in the 2022 general election, but lawsuits are already coming in. Four Chester County residents — James Romine, Daryl Campbell, Sandra Bowman, and William Borton — have asked the Chester County Court of Common Pleas to prohibit the county from using drop boxes to receive mail and absentee ballots unless the boxes are physically monitored to ensure that people deliver only their own ballot. The group of residents also wants the court to prohibit the county from accepting and counting any ballots delivered by someone other than the voter. Included in the legal complaint are screenshots from surveillance footage of an unmanned ballot drop box in West Chester purporting to show more than 300 people delivering more than just one ballot for the 2022 primary election in May. In Pennsylvania, a voter who qualifies for an emergency absentee ballot may allow a representative to submit their ballot on their behalf; for everyone else, delivering more than one ballot is against the law. “Plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm in that the void or invalid ballots will dilute their validly cast ballots — and the validly cast ballots of other voters — thereby impinging on their fundamental right to vote under the United States Constitution and their right to a free and fair election under the Pennsylvania Constitution,” the legal complaint said. The residents filed the complaint with the help of Wayne-based conservative firm Zimolong Law and Washington D.C.-based America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by Stephen Miller, former President Donald Trump’s senior adviser. Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff serves on its board of directors. In a written statement announcing the lawsuit, Miller describes the organization’s interest in the case as a “civil rights crusade.” “This is our second lawsuit in 15 days in Pennsylvania, suing election officials for their lawless conduct and egregious violation of Americans’ sacred right to ensure their vote is not canceled out by fraud and criminal activity,” Miller said. America First Legal Foundation recently engaged in a similar action against Lehigh County on Sept. 1. In a written statement to WHYY News, a Chester County spokesperson said that they couldn’t comment directly on the litigation. However, the spokesperson provided an update on how the county has been in the process of reviewing and refining the ways in which mail ballots are cast. “The County has produced, posted, and publicized informational videos on many aspects of the election process, including voting by the legislature’s newly authorized mail-in ballot. Prior to the May 2022 Primary, the County also held an in-person information session on the full voting process,” the statement read. “We also posted clear signage on every mail-in ballot drop box throughout the county which noted the rules for returning a mail-in ballot.” Last Monday, Chester County Voter Services also finalized details to implement additional efforts for the November 2022 election that will further educate voters on the rules for returning mail ballots. This includes using “brightly colored notices inserted with all mail-in ballots” to explain the rules for returning a mail ballot as well as staffing all drop boxes. Neighboring Delaware County is also still fighting a baseless election lawsuit from 2020. The Pennsylvania Department of State is already preparing to defend the state from the next wave of election-related lawsuits. The constant litigation — a lot of which is based on unfounded claims — has cost taxpayers millions. Read More…

A Virginia County Maneuvers To Protect A Confederate Statue At Its Courthouse https://digitalalabamanews.com/a-virginia-county-maneuvers-to-protect-a-confederate-statue-at-its-courthouse/ MATHEWS, Va. — A referendum last fall on whether to preserve the Confederate statue outside this county’s historic 1830 courthouse was resounding, with more than 80 percent of voters in favor. But some worried that the monument’s prominent public location still wasn’t safe. So the Mathews County Board of Supervisors is considering a more permanent solution: Deed the municipal ground under the statue to a private group, such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to protect it from future changes in public sentiment. Of all the reckonings with icons of the Lost Cause that have gripped Virginia for the past two years — from Charlottesville deciding to melt down Robert E. Lee to Richmond loaning other bronze generals to a museum in California — this is a new twist, a sign of the enduring power of the Civil War’s legacy. Officials at the state’s Department of Historic Resources said they are not aware of any other locality in Virginia exploring such a step. Opponents say giving control over a public site to a private heritage group sets an alarming precedent. “The long-term implications are really far-reaching, because this group could do whatever it wanted with that piece of land,” said Kaitlin Banner, deputy legal director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs. “The government would lose all control despite the fact that it’s right in the middle of the historic courthouse square.” The lawyers group signed onto a letter to the county last week warning of possible legal action on behalf of the local chapter of the NAACP. Transferring the land to a pro-Confederate group sends “unquestionable messages that the Mathews County Board of Supervisors endorses white supremacy and supports the second-class status of Black people,” the lawyers wrote. The letter has turned up the heat on an idea that has been kicking around in Mathews for months. Turnout is expected to be heavy for a public hearing Wednesday night on the general topic of transferring public property to private groups. The hearing originally had been scheduled to take up the statue specifically, but board members last month — in the face of fiery public discussion — decided to slow the process. “Let me tell you something, the NAACP jumped the gun on this thing,” county supervisor Dave Jones said last week in an interview. There will be no vote Wednesday on what to do about the statue, he said. But not everyone is convinced. “We don’t know what action they could take,” said NAACP chapter president Edith Turner. Confusion has built since last fall’s referendum, in a county of some 8,600 residents that’s roughly 8 percent Black. Even though the voters’ message was clear, and despite the fact that the statue has not been targeted by graffiti or other protest damage, some residents and county supervisors have been on a crusade to save it from any possible future calamity. One day last week, Jones stood outside the old courthouse and said he “would never vote to move the monument from its place,” though that has not been an issue. He denied that Wednesday’s hearing is even related to the statue, and said the flap over giving the site to preservationists is overblown. He pledged that he “will not vote to transfer that monument to the SCV” or the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the two groups that erected it in 1912 and have offered to take it over this year. But minutes later, Jones and Mathews County Board of Supervisors chair Paul Hudgins — who had joined him in the shade under a willow oak tree — were a bit more vague. Would they transfer ownership to some other group who might protect it where it stands? “We can give ownership to anything, it isn’t no law against it,” Jones said. “That’s a conversation to be had at a later date,” Hudgins said. “That’s right,” Jones said. Turner, the NAACP president, is Black and a teacher who was born and raised in Mathews County. She gives her age as “over 60,” and said she was in about fourth grade when the local schools were integrated. She attended Lee-Jackson Elementary, named for the Confederate generals. Two years ago, Turner was proud when her daughter spearheaded an effort to rename the school. It’s now known as Mathews Elementary. In response, someone placed a giant Confederate flag on private property across the street. Confederate battle flags wave by the roadway along several entrances to Mathews County, a fact that Turner said discourages friends and family who might want to visit. “But I feel comfortable here because I’m from here,” she said. Renaming the school, though, was an unwelcome taste of change for some residents of Mathews who have looked with horror at statues coming down in other parts of the state. Ben Richardson, 61, grew up in Mathews on property that’s been in his family since the 1700s. Like many in this countryside of marshes and creeks along the Chesapeake Bay, he spent most of his life on the water, on tugboats and oil tankers. He had ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, he said, and for the Confederacy. The statue is not racism, it’s just history, he said. And the groups that erected it should own it and protect it. “People just want to open up a can of worms,” Richardson said, sitting outside his Pudding Creek Carvings art shop in a “Good Vibes” T-shirt. “I think the statue ought to stay where it is … and the land, that should be deeded to them.” The statue itself is the figure of a generic Civil War soldier atop a column. The base reads “Our Confederate soldiers” on one side, and “In memory of the soldiers and sailors of Mathews County Va.” on another. It stands about 15 feet from the corner of the old courthouse, which anchors a square featuring historic buildings including a jail and a clerk’s office. Several local residents said they had seldom paid much attention to the statue until 2017, after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, when people supporting Confederate heritage began showing up around the statue to show support for it. After 2020, when the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police provoked a national movement for racial justice, Confederate supporters would festoon the ground around the statue’s base with small Confederate battle flags. Some in the county objected, and the board of supervisors warned that the flags couldn’t be placed in the ground because that was public property. For a time, though, the statue itself was thought to belong to the SCV and UDC. Many of the Confederate statues around the state were placed about a century ago by those heritage groups, and a handful continue to be owned by them despite being located on public property. In Alexandria, for instance, a Confederate statue was taken down at the request of the UDC and returned to the group for safekeeping. According to research compiled by staffers at the Mathews Public Library, the county’s memorial was spearheaded by a group called the Mathews County Monument Association made up of seven members from the UDC and seven from the SCV, who raised money from the public to finance it. But both of those local chapters died out or disbanded long ago, the research showed. Today’s groups were reconstituted in recent years, and the research found no evidence that the statue was ever passed on to them. At last month’s board of supervisors meeting, a representative of the UDC submitted a letter that seemed to acknowledge the county’s ownership. Neither the UDC nor members of the SCV could be reached for comment for this story. But two supporters spoke out strongly at the August meeting. Bobby Dobson, who is a member of the county school board, blamed former governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, for stirring up trouble about monuments and said the fact that a statue of Confederate president Jefferson Davis is displayed vandalized and prone in Richmond’s Valentine museum is “a disgrace.” “Now everybody seems like you want to remove” statues, Dobson said. Noting that the county’s referendum in support of the monument was nonbinding, he said the Mathews statue needs permanent protection. “God bless the fallen Southerners,” he concluded, “and God bless Robert E. Lee.” Joey Taylor, president of the local chapter of the SCV, said his group wants to take ownership of the monument because “we believe that if this is not done then these people on the left will do their very best to destroy this because that’s what they want.” Neither Dobson nor Taylor could be reached for comment. Mathews County Administrator Ramona Wilson, who took office in April when the controversy was already in full swing, said in an interview that she remains uncertain about the status of the statue itself. “We don’t know who owns it at this point,” she said. The next step hinges on Wednesday night’s public hearing. If residents fully support transferring public property to private interests, she said, the board will schedule a hearing on deeding the land under the statue. If the public opposes the concept, she said, “I think then it’ll just go away.” But Jones and Hudgins, the board members, made clear that the statue itself isn’t going anywhere. The county is going to install video surveillance, Hudgins said. “If they want to come try to tear it down, they got to go through us, and we’ll take all measures,” Jones said. “This is not Richmond,” Hudgins said, “I can tell you that.” Jones agreed. “This is not Richmond.” Read More…

Trump Spends Morning Taunting Several Cable News Hosts As He Faces Multiple Potential Indictments https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-spends-morning-taunting-several-cable-news-hosts-as-he-faces-multiple-potential-indictments/ Donald Trump (Photo via AFP) With the House Jan 6 committee set to begin holding more televised hearings, a Georgia grand jury reportedly ready to hand down criminal indictments for election tampering, and the Department of Justice ramping up its investigation of stolen government documents confiscated back from Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump was up at 3 AM attacking CNN’s Don Lemon and then continuing on later in the morning. Reacting to news from days ago that CNN will be revamping their “New Day” hosting line-up and moving Lemon from his prime time show to be the new co-host of the early morning breaking news program, the former president — once again ensconced at his Florida resort — took potshots at the CNN host on his struggling Truth Social platform. Very early in the morning he wrote, “A small step for television, a giant step for mankind. Don Lemon, often called ‘the dumbest man on television’ having made even Lebron James look smart during their interview two years ago, has been FIRED from his prime time evening spot on CNN – extremely low ratings – and will be thrown into their ‘Death Valley’ morning show. I assume this means a BIG salary cut prior to his Complete & Total future firing from Ratings Challenged (to put it mildly!) CNN. Good luck Don, you’ll need it! MAGA!!!” Not content with that, the former president three hours later boasted he views himself as a “ratings machine” and launched another broadside at Lemon again and then brought up the newly reassigned anchors morning competitors, “Joe Scarborough and his lovely, soothing bride.” RELATED: ‘He knew nothing about so many things’: Trump White House staffers were ‘startled’ by his ignorance In full, he wrote, “They call me a ‘ratings machine.‘ Don Lemon was also a ratings machine – in reverse. He killed ratings, ate them alive, and always will. If he interviewed Elvis, back from the dead, nobody would watch. Add him to the list of Joe Scarborough and his lovely, soothing bride. They are in the “can” also, but now can compete against ‘the dumbest man on television.’ Should help them a lot!!!” Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com. Stories Chosen For You Read More…

5 Huntsville Area High School Football Games To Watch In Week 6 https://digitalalabamanews.com/5-huntsville-area-high-school-football-games-to-watch-in-week-6/ Here are five games to watch in the Huntsville area this week with the complete schedule following. HARTSELLE (5-0) AT OXFORD (3-2) Time/location: 7 p.m., Friday, Lamar Field Last week: Class 6A, No. 6-ranked Hartselle won 16-9 at Gadsden City. Oxford lost 44-20 to visiting Pinson Valley. The skinny: Hartselle has held opponents to nine or fewer points the past four weeks. The Tigers have the No. 3 scoring defense in 6A at 8.2 points per game. … Hartselle is playing the second of four consecutive road games. … The Tigers have won 18 straight regular season games. … Hartselle quarterback Jack Smith had a touchdown pass and run against Gadsden City. … Oxford yielded two defensive touchdowns to Pinson Valley. The Yellow Jackets got a defensive score of their own via E’mari Carroll’s Pick 6. … Both previous meetings between these two teams came in the playoffs: Oxford won 14-6 in the Class 6A first round in 1996, and the Yellow Jackets prevailed 27-14 in the 1982 3A semifinals. FORT PAYNE (3-1) AT ARAB (5-0) Time/location: 7 p.m., Friday, Arab City Schools Sports Complex Last week: Class 5A, No. 10-ranked Arab beat visiting Scottsboro 28-7. Class 6A Fort Payne had an open week. The skinny: Arab is 5-0 for the first time since opening with six straight wins in 1949, according to AHSFHS.org. … The Knights boast the No. 3 scoring defense (5.4 ppg) and the No. 5 scoring offense (38.4 ppg) in 5A. … Arab’s Drake Franklin ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns against Scottsboro. He has 857 yards rushing and 13 TDs on the season. … Fort Payne lost 18-0 to Gadsden City on Sept. 9. It was the Wildcats’ first time being shut out since the 2014 season. … Fort Payne’s last points came in a 49-8 win at Mae Jemison on Sept. 2. Wildcat quarterbacks Jake Barnes and Dax Varnadore both threw two touchdown passes. … Arab beat Fort Payne 20-7 last season to snap a 13-game losing streak in the series. Franklin had a TD run in the victory. The Wildcats lead the series 21-8-2. PRICEVILLE (5-0) AT SCOTTSBORO (2-2) Time/location: 7 p.m., Friday, Pat Trammell Stadium Last week: Class 4A, No. 10-ranked Priceville won 40-0 at New Hope. Class 5A Scottsboro lost 28-7 at Arab. The skinny: Priceville is off to its best start since opening 8-0 in 2015. … The Bulldogs have shut out their last three opponents. … Priceville’s Mason Cartee ran for 120 yards and two touchdowns against New Hope. He has 665 yards rushing and nine TDs on the season. … Scottsboro’s Keelan Alexnader ran for 80 yards and a touchdown against Arab. … This is the Wildcats’ first home game since the season opener Aug. 19. … Priceville and Scottsboro are meeting for the first time. SYLVANIA (3-1) AT PISGAH (4-0) Time/location: 7 p.m., Friday, Sam Kenimer Stadium Last week: Class 2A, No. 4-ranked Pisgah won 42-10 at Ider. Class 3A Sylvania won 41-24 at Geraldine. The skinny: Pisgah is off to its best start since an undefeated regular season in 2003. … The Eagles have scored 40 or more points the past three weeks. … Pisgah ran for 368 of its 522 yards of offense against Ider. Four ball carriers scored a touchdown, while quarterback Mason Holcombe threw two TD passes. … Sylvania’s Braiden Thomas and Aiden Parham each had a pair of touchdown runs against Geraldine. … The Rams’ lone loss this season was to 3A top-ranked Piedmont. … Sylvania and Pisgah last met in 2019. The Rams have won four straight in the series and are 29-21 all-time against the Eagles. GARDENDALE (2-1) AT AUSTIN (3-2) Time/location: 7 p.m., Friday, Austin Stadium, Decatur Last week: Class 6A, No. 7-ranked Gardendale had an open week. Class 7A Austin won 47-10 at Albertville. The skinny: Austin has won three straight games after opening the season with losses to currently undefeated opponents Hartselle and Decatur. … Black Bears quarterback De’Air Young threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score against Albertville. … Gardendale has the top scoring offense in 6A at 44.7 points per game. … Rockets four-star defensive lineman Kelby Collins is committed to Florida, while three-star defensive back Dallas Young is committed to Arkansas. … Austin and Gardendale last met in the 2015 6A quarterfinals, a 53-38 Black Bears victory. The Rockets won regular-season matchups in 1989 and 1988. Complete Week 6 Huntsville area schedule Friday Fort Payne at Arab Elkmont at Ardmore Weaver at Asbury Gardendale at Austin Southside-Gadsden at Boaz Sardis at Brewer Brindlee Mountain at Woodville Guntersville at Buckhorn Tanner at Columbus, Louis Crews Stadium, Huntsville Clements at DAR Douglas at West Point West Limestone at East Limestone Hartselle at Oxford Mae Jemison vs. Huntsville, Milton Frank Stadium James Clemens at Muscle Shoals Madison Academy at Madison County North Jackson at South Pittsburg (Tenn.) Priceville at Scottsboro Westbrook Christian at Section Westminster Christian at Central-Florence New Hope at Decatur Heritage, West Morgan High, Trinity Pisgah at Sylvania Open: Albertville, Athens, Bob Jones, Danville, Decatur, Falkville, Grissom, Hazel Green, Lee-Huntsville, North Sand Mountain, Randolph, Sparkman, St. John Paul II, West Morgan, Whitesburg Christian Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Read More…

Mississippi Lime Acquires Valley Minerals, Dolomitic Quicklime Producer https://digitalalabamanews.com/mississippi-lime-acquires-valley-minerals-dolomitic-quicklime-producer/ Mississippi Lime Company HBM Holdings , /PRNewswire/ — Mississippi Lime Company, an HBM company headquartered in St. Louis, and a leading global supplier of high-calcium lime products, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Valley Minerals, a single-site dolomitic quicklime producer based in Bonne Terre, Missouri. The acquisition will enable Mississippi Lime to expand on its commitment to better serve the growing next-generation steel production base market in the Central U.S. “We have been working on plans for a modern dolomitic production facility to support our steel market business for several years. Valley Minerals has products, production processes and applications we’re familiar with, which should make its transition to Mississippi Lime smooth and seamless,” Paul Hogan, President and CEO of Mississippi Lime, said. Mississippi Lime also announced it plans to significantly invest in the new facility and replace the plant’s existing rotary kiln with a new, energy efficient and sustainable vertical kiln. With the announcement, Mississippi Lime has reinforced its mission to provide world-class lime products and solutions and its long-term strategy of growth, innovation, and sustainability. For more than 115 years, the company has focused on proactively addressing the evolving needs and priorities of the markets and customers it serves. About Mississippi Lime Company  Mississippi Lime Company (“MLC”), headquartered in St. Louis, MO, is a leading global supplier of high-calcium lime products and technical solutions. With over a century in business, the company has built a reputation on the purity of its products, commitment to research and development, and tradition of customer satisfaction. Mississippi Lime operates the largest lime facility in the Americas and mines some of the purest limestone reserves in the world. The company supplies high-calcium quicklime, hydrated lime, calcium carbonate products, trucking services, and technical solutions from a diversified, reliable network of facilities in North Lincolnshire, United Kingdom; Ste. Genevieve, MO; Bonne Terre, MO; Calera, AL; Verona, KY; Vicksburg, MS; Weirton, WV; Chester, SC; Mobile, AL; Prairie du Rocher, IL; Kansas City, KS, as well as several distribution sites throughout the country. For more information, visit MLC.com. About HBM Holdings  HBM Holdings is an investment and management company comprised of a diversified portfolio of middle-market businesses. HBM invests in and builds high-performing companies in minerals, specialty chemicals, flow control devices, and precision machined components. The firm’s portfolio of companies includes Mississippi Lime Company, HarperLove, Control Devices, and Schafer Industries. For more information, visit https://hbmholdings.com. For Further Information: Bailie Moore                                      Bill Raack [email protected]                      [email protected] 217-714-9429                                    314-602-0696 SOURCE Mississippi Lime Company (MLC) Read More…

Peloton Adds $3,195 Rowing Machine To Fitness Machine Lineup https://digitalalabamanews.com/peloton-adds-3195-rowing-machine-to-fitness-machine-lineup/ Peloton Rowing Machine Courtesy: Peloton Peloton is adding a line of rowing machines to its lineup as the company works through a restructuring to expand its customer base and return to a profit. The fitness machine maker said on Tuesday it’s launching Peloton Row, which starts at $3,195 and is now available for pre-order on its website. Deliveries are expected to begin in December. The rowing machine, which also requires a $44-a-month membership to Peloton’s exercise classes and programs, joins the lineup of Peloton Bike, Peloton Bike+, Peloton Guide and Peloton Tread. Peloton Row, which had reportedly been in the works for some time, comes as the company has been working through a restructuring in recent months. Last month, the company reported widening losses and declining sales for its fiscal fourth quarter, marking its sixth consecutive quarter of losses. Peloton had said it aims to reach break-even cash flow on a quarterly basis in the second half of fiscal 2023. The company had also announced it partnered up with Amazon to begin selling its products on the behemoth ecommerce retailer, a move that could help Peloton broaden its customer base. The partnership is Peloton’s first foray outside of its core direct-to-consumer business. Peloton has also been shaking up its leadership. A week ago, the company announced co-founder and former CEO John Foley, co-founder and Chief Legal Officer Hisao Kushi, and Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils, would be leaving the company as part of its transformation. Foley had served as Peloton’s CEO for about 10 years before he stepped down in February. Read More…

New Hamilton County Marriage Licenses https://digitalalabamanews.com/new-hamilton-county-marriage-licenses/ ADAM SAMUEL DEAN                                  ELIZABETH ANN FOWLER 1135 DARTMOUTH ST                                 1135 DARTMOUTH ST CHATTANOOGA, TN 374053009                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374053009 ANNA MACLANE BANTHER                              JOSEPH WALLACE BARTLETT 7432 IGOU FERRY RD                                7432 IGOU FERRY RD HARRISON, TN 373417955                            HARRISON, TN 373417955 MATTHEW THOMAS KNOWLES                            AMBER GAYLE BOWERS 8435 DUNNHILL LN                                  8435 DUNNHILL LN  HIXSON, Tennessee 37343                           HIXSON, Tennessee 37343 DANNY RAY GADDIS                                  TAMMY RENEE BUREAU 89 CALLIE CIRCLE                                  89 CALLIE CIRCLE TUNNEL hILL, Georgia 30755                        TUNNEL hILL, Georgia 30755 ROMAN ZAVALA RODRIGUEZ                            DESTINY CHARIS HODGES 4411 PAULA LANE                                   4411 PAULA LANE CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37415                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37415 ROBERT BRITT BLALOCK                              AMANDA LEIGH DAVIDSON 3528 PINELLAS LN                                  610 NORTHRIDGE DR CHATTANOOGA, TN 374121730                         DEMOREST, Georgia 305355140 MARVIN CEASE BROWN                                JACQUELINE ROSE DELASSUS 800 WALKER AVE APT 8208                           800 WALKER AVE APT 8208 ROSSVILLE, Georgia 30741                          ROSSVILLE, Georgia 30741 KARIN ALICIA BOOHER                               LISA MARIE KEEBLE 231 SCHOOL STREET                                 231 SCHOOL STREET SODDY DAISY, Tennessee 37379                      SODDY DAISY, Tennessee 37379 CRAIG THOMAS HOLTZ                                DEBBIE ROBIN FRIEL 5225 N COUNTY RD 100 W                            5225 N COUNTY RD 100 W SHELBYVILLE, Indiana 46176                        SHELBYVILLE, Indiana 46176 JOHN MICHAEL CABE                                 MELISSA JAN WILLEMIN 1515 WINER DR                                     1515 WINER DR SODDY DAISY, Tennessee 37379                      SODDY DAISY, Tennessee 37379 MICHAEL DALTON KNOTTS                             KATHERINE HOPE CARROLL 8802 HURRICANE RIDGE RD                           1259 ASCOT LN CHATTANOOGA, TN 374214578                         FRANKLIN, TN 370646733 TIMOTHY ALLEN SWAFFORD                            ALISE ELAINE STEPHENS 1664 GREENDALE WAY #132                           1664 GREENDALE WAY #132 HIXSON, Tennessee 37343                           HIXSON, Tennessee 37343 CHARLES ARTHUR WISE                               HOBE DENISE FRIX 5218 CHERYL LN, APT B                             5218 CHERYL LN, APT B CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37415                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37415 ROBERT MICHAEL DEMARZO                            GLENDA TUMBOKON WHITE 5317 MISTY VALLEY DR.                             5317 MISTY VALLEY DR. OOLTEWAH, Tennessee 37363                         OOLTEWAH, Tennessee 37363 MATTHEW SHANE GORDON                              CATHERINE MARGARET KITCEY 7710 E BRAINERD RD #703                           7710 E BRAINERD RD #703 CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37421                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37421 CALEB MICHAEL WATERS                              MAGGIE NICOLE MAYNOR 2222 BAILEY WATERS RD                             626 FALLS VIEW DR DAwsonville, Georgia 30534                        HIXSON, Tennessee 37343 BRITTANY MICHELLE EARP                            ROBERT DILLON MUNGER 1200 KING ARTHUR RD                               1200 KING ARTHUR RD CHATTANOOGA, TN 374214020                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374214020 SEBASTIAN GUILLERMO CLAVIJO PINZON                MABEL CRISTINA GALINDO MANJARRES 1914 GUNBARREL RD STE 234                         1914 GUNBARREL RD STE 234 CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37421                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37421 AMBER LACE SWANGER                                DANIEL RAY WHITE 7310 E VALLEY RD                                  7310 E VALLEY RD DUNLAP, Tennessee 373275824                       DUNLAP, Tennessee 373275824 JACOB CARL MARINAC                                LEAH GENE TATMAN 223 N GERMANTOWN RD                               223 N GERMANTOWN RD  CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37411                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37411 PETER SCOTT LUEDTKE                               SUSANNE MARIA WHITE 5600 LAKE RESORT TER STE 200                      5600 LAKE RESORT TER STE 200 CHATTANOOGA, TN 374152501                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374152501 CALEB LEE HORNE                                   SHALA TAMAR LAMB 11287 HALLETT ST                                  1623 WENDY CIR SODDY DAISY, TN 373796729                         SODDY DAISY, TN 373793836 GEORGE EUGENE CARR                                TEP PAO KOLYAN 29285 AUBERRY RD, BOX 512                         29285 AUBERRY RD, BOX 512 PRather, California 93651                         PRather, California 93651 JEFFREY D WICKER                                  JADE GRIFFIN 4505 WELLINGTON CIR                               706 E WALNUT ST CARmel, Indiana 46033                             GREENcastle, Indiana 46135 KALLEN MCKENZIE BLANKENBURG                       JUSTIN PAUL SLAVENS 104 ALDEN AVE                                     104 ALDEN AVE CHATTANOOGA, TN 374051302                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374051302 KARI NICOLE ORMSBY                                JOSHUA AARON MAYS 1121 GREENWOOD RD                                 1121 GREENWOOD RD CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37411                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37411 MARK EDWARD HARMON                                LOURDES DIANELIX RIVERA 5657 WILLOW POINT LN                              6914 SANDY COVE DR HARRISON, Tennessee 37341                         HARRISON, Tennessee 37341 JASON STUART DUNN                                 STACY SHANNON PRESSNELL 107 COKE OVEN RD                                  107 COKE OVEN RD SODDY DAISY, TN 373795009                         SODDY DAISY, TN 373795009 MICHELL LEI KELLY                                 BRIAN LADELLE HAMMONDS 1108 S KELLEY ST                                  1108 S KELLEY ST CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37404                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37404 GREGORY LEE HOPKINS                               HILARY MARIE JONES 335 CAMP JORDAN RD APT B                          641 STONECREST CIR CHATTANOOGA, TN 374124380                         RINGGOLD, GA 307362913 DREA LUV BEACHBOARD                               NOAH ADAM SARAGOZA 1860 GREENWOOD RD                                 1860 GREENWOOD RD CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 374062655                  CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 374062655 DALE ANTHONY BARTON                               KIMBERLY BICE SMITH 152 JENKINS RD                                    2203 LYONS LN ROSSVILLE, Georgia 30741                          SODDY DAISY, Tennessee 37379 STEPHEN SPENCER CLANCY                            KATHERINE ANN PARKER 11200 HUBBARD CREEK DR                            11200 HUBBARD CREEK DR  FRIsco, Texas 375036                              FRIsco, Texas 375036 JESSICA FAITH MCINTYRE                            AUSTIN BLAIN BINGHAM 8390 LEXIE LN                                     8390 LEXIE LN OOLTEWAH, Tennessee 37363                         OOLTEWAH, Tennessee 37363 HALEY MORGAN KOKOSZKA                             CODY ALAN PAUL RIND 3924 S MISSION OAKS DR                            3924 S MISSION OAKS DR CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37412                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37412 TRAVIS LLOYD MOTHS                                ASHLYNN BRIANNA JACKSON 9301 BIRCHWOOD PK                                 9301 BIRCHWOOD PK HARRISON, Tennessee 37341                         HARRISON, Tennessee 37341 ELISABETH MARIE COCHRANE                          BRYAN JEFFREY CUERVO 1018 CANYON RIM DR                                1018 CANYON RIM DR SODDY DAISY, TN 373794516                         SODDY DAISY, TN 373794516 ALEC BRANDON MULLEN                               CAROLINE MORGAN SHIMKUS 7510 HEWITT LANE                                  7510 HEWITT LANE CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37421                      CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee 37421 MICHAEL LEE GRAHAM                                SAMANTHA ALLISON SCHNEIDER 2506 WOODTHRUSH DR                                2506 WOODTHRUSH DR CHATTANOOGA, TN 374211338                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374211338 RACHAEL CAMPBELL HOLLIS                           CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL COLLIS 1350 FERGUSON RD                                  221 FISHER DR DECATUR, TN 373225687                             MONTGOMERY, AL 361153019 STEPHANIE ANN MOORE                               WESTLEY ALAN MINOR 1881 COUNTY ROAD 32                               1881 COUNTY ROAD 32 CLANTON, AL 35046                                 CLANTON, AL 35046 BONNIE LYNN SCHENKENBERGER                        ROBERT CEAMON MAYNARD 307 SHERI PLACE LN APT B                          307 SHERI PLACE LN APT B SODDY DAISY, TN 373795657                         SODDY DAISY, TN 373795657 YANN MATHIEU KAUFMAN                              ERIN ELIZABETH BARDONER 1923 CHEROKEE DR                                  1923 CHEROKEE DR JACKSON, MS 392116509                             JACKSON, MS 392116509 DEBORAH JANE POTTS                                ANDREW CAMERON LAING 302 MARLBORO AVE                                  302 MARLBORO AVE CHATTANOOGA, TN 374115221                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374115221 ANTHONY WAYNE SIMS                                KATY ELIZABETH BLACKWELL 512 BITSY LN                                      4402 CRESTVIEW DR CHATTANOOGA, TN 374152901                         CHATTANOOGA, TN 374152806 ...

Post Politics Now: Biden To Plug Campaign Finance Bill, Head To New York For Fundraiser https://digitalalabamanews.com/post-politics-now-biden-to-plug-campaign-finance-bill-head-to-new-york-for-fundraiser/ Today, President Biden plans to plug a Senate bill that would require super PACs and so-called “dark money” groups to disclose donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle. After the event at the White House, the president is scheduled to head to New York ahead of his address Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly. Biden’s schedule Tuesday night includes an appearance in New York at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. In the House, the Rules Committee is expected to advance legislation that aims to prevent future presidents from trying to overturn election results through Congress. The full House could vote on the bill later this week. The Senate is expected to consider its own version of the legislation, inspired by President Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. Your daily dashboard Noon Eastern time: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and national security adviser Jake Sullivan brief reporters. Watch live here. 1:45 p.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks on the Disclose Act. Watch live here. 1:55 p.m. Eastern: Vice President Harris delivers remarks at South Carolina State University’s Fall Convocation in Orangeburg, S.C. 7:30 p.m. Eastern: Biden participates in a DNC fundraiser in New York. Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers. Noted: Trump wants you to know he was not ‘dissed’ by Gov. DeWine Return to menu To be seen or not be seen with Donald Trump has become an issue for Republicans in the final stretch before the November midterms. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who has been endorsed by the former president, was a no-show at Trump’s rally Saturday in Youngstown, Ohio, where Trump touted the candidacy of GOP Senate nominee J.D. Vance. DeWine said days earlier that he would not make it because he planned to be cheering on his granddaughters at a cross-country meet. He wound up meeting Trump at the airport ahead of the rally before heading back to his hometown of Cedarville for the race. Analysis: GOP balks at covid funding after Biden declares pandemic over Return to menu President Biden’s impromptu remarks that the “pandemic is over” are complicating an already arduous path for more coronavirus aid on Capitol Hill. Writing in The Health 202, The Post’s Rachel Roubein notes that congressional Republicans are seizing on the comments as they continue to question the necessity of funding the administration’s $22.4 billion request for more testing, treatments and next-generation vaccines. Per Rachel: This comes as congressional negotiators are hashing out the details of a stopgap spending bill to keep the government’s lights on past Sept. 30 — and top White House officials have pushed lawmakers to attach more money for covid-19 to the must-pass vehicle. “The president said the pandemic is over,” said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, adding that covid funding wasn’t the highest priority. One Senate GOP aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, went as far as to say it’s off the table, while Democrats said negotiations on a short-term spending bill are ongoing. The administration’s ask earlier this month for more dollars was already a long shot. You can read the full analysis here. Analysis: House to move quickly on Electoral Count Act bill. When will Trump weigh in? Return to menu The House is moving quickly on a bill to overhaul the Electoral Count Act, the 19th-century law governing the certification of presidential elections. Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer say that Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) unveiled their bill Monday, and the House is expected to vote on it on Wednesday, where it is expected to pass with the support of Democrats and at least a few Republicans. Our colleagues write: The Senate released its version in June, but the earliest it would be brought up for a vote is after the midterm elections during the “lame duck” session. The speed at which it is being ushered through the House is, in part, to put Republicans on the record ahead of the midterms. Then-President Trump tried to exploit the law’s ambiguities in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results by pressuring Vice President Pence to reject electors from certain states. Pence declined, but Trump’s effort culminated on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters backing his false claims of widespread election fraud attacked police and ransacked the Capitol. You can read the full analysis here. On our radar: Biden to tout bill requiring disclosure of super PAC donors Return to menu President Biden on Tuesday is seeking to give a boost to legislation that would require super PACs and s0-called “dark money” groups to disclose donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Monday that his chamber would vote on the legislation, branded as the Disclose Act, later this week, saying it is needed to address a “cancer” in the nation’s campaign finance rules. Citizens United and subsequent Supreme Court rulings permit super PACs and certain types of tax-exempt groups, such as 501(c)(4) nonprofits, to spend unlimited sums in elections. Under current law, many of those groups are not required to disclose their donors. The latest: Biden’s claim that ‘pandemic is over’ complicates matters on Capitol Hill, elsewhere Return to menu President Biden’s surprise declaration that the coronavirus pandemic is “over” has thrown a wrench into the White House’s efforts to secure additional funding to fight the virus and persuade Americans to get a new booster shot, while fueling more Republican criticism about why the administration continues to extend a covid “emergency.” The Post’s Dan Diamond reports that Biden’s comments, which aired Sunday on “60 Minutes,” reflect growing public sentiment that the threat of the virus has receded even as hundreds of Americans continue to die of covid each day. Dan writes: On our radar: A landmark Supreme Court fight over social media now looks likely Return to menu Conflicting lower court rulings about removing controversial material from social media platforms point toward a landmark Supreme Court decision on whether the First Amendment protects Big Tech’s editorial discretion or forbids its censorship of unpopular views. The Post’s Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow write that the stakes are high, not just for government and the companies, but because of the increasingly dominant role that platforms such as Twitter and Facebook play in American democracy and elections. Per our colleagues: Take a look: In Nevada, Democrats seek to link Laxalt to ‘Big Oil’ Return to menu The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee is out with a new 30-second ad Tuesday linking the Republican Senate candidate in Nevada, Adam Laxalt, to deep-pocketed oil companies. A man in a T-shirt sitting inside a garage says Laxalt “tried to block a fraud investigation into a Big Oil company” and that “oil executives” spent “millions on his campaign.” The man also says Laxalt “made millions” at a “fancy” lobbying firm “that works for Big Oil.” The ad broadly echoes attacks made earlier by the Democratic senator Laxalt is trying to unseat, Catherine Cortez Masto. When Laxalt was Nevada’s attorney general, he joined Republican attorneys general in opposing a probe by New York’s attorney general, who, according to PolitiFact, looked into “whether oil companies had made fraudulent disclosures about climate change.” Noted: Video appears to undercut Trump elector’s account of alleged voting-data breach in Georgia Return to menu On Jan. 7, 2021, a group of forensics experts working for lawyers allied with President Donald Trump spent eight hours at a county elections office in southern Georgia, copying sensitive software and data from its voting machines. The Post’s Jon Swaine and Emma Brown report that under questioning last month for a lawsuit, a former Georgia Republican Party official named Cathy Latham said in sworn testimony that she briefly stopped by the office in Coffee County that afternoon. She said she stayed in the foyer and spoke with a junior official about an unrelated matter at the front desk. The latest: Trump lawyers acknowledge Mar-a-Lago probe could lead to indictment Return to menu The Justice Department and lawyers for Donald Trump filed separate proposals Monday for conducting an outside review of documents seized at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, with key disagreements over how the process should work and Trump’s team acknowledging that the criminal probe could lead to an indictment. The Post’s Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett report that both sides referenced a “draft plan” given to them by Judge Raymond J. Dearie, the newly appointed special master. Per our colleagues: Read More…

Did Trump Really Hide Classified Documents In His Former Wife’s Grave? Or Is The Left Now As Bonkers As The Right? | Arwa Mahdawi https://digitalalabamanews.com/did-trump-really-hide-classified-documents-in-his-former-wifes-grave-or-is-the-left-now-as-bonkers-as-the-right-arwa-mahdawi/ Poor Ivana Trump: even in death she hasn’t been able to escape her ex-husband’s drama. After being found dead at the bottom of her stairs in July, Donald Trump’s first wife suffered the ignominy of being laid to rest near the first hole of Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey. Burying someone on a golf course is weird – even for a Trump – and theories immediately began to swirl. New Jersey exempts cemetery land from taxes, so was this a creepy form of tax avoidance? (Short answer: possibly, but it doesn’t make much business sense and seems unlikely.) The Ivana conspiracy theories did not go gentle into that good night. Instead, they grew stranger and stranger, stoked by the feverish imaginations of #ResistanceTwitter: a collection of liberal activists who have built large social media followings by tweeting obsessively about Donald Trump. When the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home to recover classified documents, #ResistanceTwitter went into overdrive trying to find connections between Ivana’s death and Trump’s legal troubles. There is zero evidence that Ivana was cremated, but many high-profile #ResistanceTwitter accounts suddenly decided she definitely had been and, from there, concluded that Ivana’s casket must have been stuffed with classified documents. Jon Cooper, a Joe Biden superfan who has 1.1 million Twitter followers and whom Politico once described as “prone to outlandish statements that rack up retweets”, bears much responsibility for spreading this theory. “Seriously, is else anyone [sic) wondering – just a bit – what other stuff may be buried inside Ivana’s casket …?” Cooper tweeted on 9 August. Nancy Lee Grahn, an actor with 184,000 Twitter followers, had similar suspicions. “Dear @FBI,” she tweeted on 10 August. “I know u don’t need advice from a soap star, but having been in 10 or 10k implausible storylines in my 37 yrs, may I recommend digging up Ivana. Clearly it didn’t take 10 pall bearers to carry a liposuctioned 73 yr old who methinks was in her weight in classified docs [sic].” Rude, Nancy, rude. That was more than a month ago. Have the Ivana conspiracy theories now been laid to rest? No, they have not. Some #Resistance accounts are still demanding that the FBI dig up Ivana’s grave to check whether Trump hid documents in her casket. A few of those demands, I should note, may have started off as jokes. The problem with the internet, however, is that a gag can quickly take on a life of its own. In 2017, for example, the Guardian’s Marina Hyde joked on Twitter that Melania Trump had a body double: the impersonator did all the tedious work of being married to Donald while the real Melania flitted around having fun. This theory then got aired on Sky News and Good Morning Britain. Jokes are more likely to take on lives of their own when they are somewhat plausible. Perhaps the wildest thing about the bonkers theory that a former US president hid classified documents in a coffin supposedly containing his first wife whom he buried on his golf course, is that you can see how people could believe it. Trump, after all, had unorthodox ways of getting rid of documents. According to the New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, he sometimes blocked the White House drains by flushing documents down the toilet. (Photographic evidence of this was recently published). “It was an extension of Trump’s term-long habit of ripping up documents that were supposed to be preserved under the Presidential Records Act,” Haberman wrote. A commode one day, a coffin the next? You can see how people might believe that is what happened. Let me be clear, though, that is obviously not what happened. #Casketgate should serve as a reminder that it’s not just the right that is responsible for spreading online misinformation; liberals are also to blame. I am as fond as the next person of speculating about the dysfunctional Trump family, but when you start demanding that graves be dug up, it’s a sign that things may have gone a little too far. Read More…

Trump Mocks US President Joe Biden For Sitting 14 Rows Back At Queen’s Funeral https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-mocks-us-president-joe-biden-for-sitting-14-rows-back-at-queens-funeral/ Donald Trump posted a photograph of the assembled world leaders, with a red arrow pointing to Mr Biden, on his social media platform Truth Social and wrote: “This is what’s happened to America in just two short years. No respect!” The President of the United States, Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at the State Funeral ( Image: PA) Donald Trump mocked Joe Biden for sitting 14 rows back at Queen Elizabeth II ’s funeral, saying he would have been closer to the front if he were still president. US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden were seated in the 14th row, only seven from the back, in Westminster Abbey’s south transept for the late monarch’s funeral on Monday. Former US President Donald Trump was soon to jump on the seating plan and launched a tirade against his successor. Mr Trump posted a photograph of the assembled world leaders, with a red arrow pointing to Mr Biden, on his social media platform Truth Social. US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II ( Image: Getty Images) “This is what’s happened to America in just two short years. No respect!” he wrote. The former president said that had he still been in office, he would have been seated further forward. He continued: “However, a good time for our President to get to know the leaders of certain Third World countries. “If I were president, they wouldn’t have sat me back there—and our Country would be much different than it is right now! In Real Estate, like in Politics and in Life, LOCATION IS EVERYTHING!!!” Former President Donald Trump ( Image: Getty Images) However, the former Republican President failed to realise that due to protocol Commonwealth leaders were placed in front of those from other countries. So it may have looked odd that Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, was nine rows in front of the US President and that Mr and Mrs Biden were seated next to Ignazio Cassis, the president of Switzerland. But this is because Commonwealth countries, which have The Queen (or now, the King) as their Monarch took priority. Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, was in front of Biden and immediately behind them was Petr Fiala, the Czech prime minister. Many social media users attacked Trump for his outburst. One wrote: “Even in death, Trump tries to make it all about him. “If any other President were told to sit on the steps for the Queen’s funeral, they would have. “Trump would have walked out if he wasn’t front row.” US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden were seated in the 14th row ( Image: Getty Images) Over 2,000 guests were seated in Westminster Abbey for the state funeral and just under a quarter of those invited were overseas heads of state or foreign dignitaries. The Bidens arrived at the abbey 10 minutes after the cut-off and were forced to wait while a procession of George and Victoria Cross-holders went ahead of them. While all other world leaders arrived together on coaches, the Bidens took their own limousine and convoy of security. Video footage showed the cars stuck in traffic outside the sandwich chain Pret a Manger near Oxford Street in central London. On the day of her death, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Queen Elizabeth’s historic and remarkable reign left a tremendous legacy of peace and prosperity for Great Britain.” Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More Read More…

What If Other Networks Paired College/NFL Broadcasters Like Thursday Night Football? https://digitalalabamanews.com/what-if-other-networks-paired-college-nfl-broadcasters-like-thursday-night-football-2/ My usual Saturday routine is to turn on the TV as soon as I get home from my son’s basketball game and then spend the rest of the day flipping between games. This past Saturday, it was hard not to notice the crowd surrounding the Big Noon Kickoff set and the way they openly campaigned for Urban Meyer to be the next head coach at Nebraska. Meyer has been the subject of speculation all week after Nebraska fired head coach Scott Frost. It makes sense. While Meyer is the worst coach in the history of the NFL, he remains the most eligible coaching bachelor in the college game. I get that most former coaches that are now on a TV set have a competitive itch that needs to be scratched, and I appreciate that. Scratching that itch in the past is what gives the great ones the perspective they need to be so good on television. But this time, it is in Urban’s best interest to keep itching. There is no mistaking the way I feel about Urban Meyer. I’ll own it. I think he has lost a lot of credibility as a football coach. The Jacksonville tenure started off with arrogance and ended with incompetence. But I think he is really good on FOX. Everything you want a coach-turned-analyst to do on TV, he does well. What win is there for him in going to Lincoln to coach the Cornhuskers? Did you watch them on Saturday? Clearly, Scott Frost was not that team’s only problem. There is absolutely no talent on that roster. Urban Meyer has more influence in college football on FOX’s pregame show than he would as the head coach of Nebraska. On top of that, FOX’s top analyst and his family are not under a microscope the way the coach of Nebraska or any other top college football program is. He isn’t scrutinized by fans week in and week out. He doesn’t have to worry about keeping boosters and their money happy. On top of that, broadcasting isn’t a job that has ever made him unwell! How is Meyer’s current lifestyle not preferable to the one where any spare moment you have is supposed to be spent on the phone with high school students trying to trick them into wanting to move to Lincoln, Nebraska? To be completely fair, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported on Saturday that Meyer expects to stay at FOX. I’m sure Thamel is well-sourced and that is the coach’s intention, but I would bet it was his intention to stay at ESPN before Ohio State came calling and his intention to stay at FOX before the Jaguars came calling. How many former coaches have to go back? How many guys have to leave the studio, return to the sideline and fall flat on their faces before Urban Meyer and others like him get it? Broadcasting is a pretty good gig. It may be a better gig than coaching. Some guys were just born to compete. I get that. To quote Nigel the Pelican from Finding Nemo, “fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat,” and I will add to that coaches gotta coach. But there are so many cautionary tales. Look at Gene Chizik. He won a national championship in 2010 as the head coach at Auburn. Now, I don’t think you will find anyone that will tell you Chiz was an awesome head coach. He had the good fortune of a quarterback named Cam Newton that he rode to a title. He was fired two years later. Chizik landed at the SEC Network. He was really good on TV. Just like Meyer, he was good at explaining what was going on in a coach’s head in specific situations. He could explain scheme as clearly as he could motivation. It was a pleasure to watch. For whatever reason, he decided to leave TV at the end of the last college football season to become Mack Brown’s defensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina. The Tar Heels are currently 3-0, but the defense has received some pretty dreadful reviews. This isn’t just a college problem either. Look at Jon Gruden. Now, let me be totally honest with you. I am a Buccaneers fan. I appreciate that Gruden was willing to come in and give the Super Bowl XXXVII ring that rightfully belongs to Tony Dungy a good home, but I have zero delusions that he was actually a good coach. I also did not think much of him as an analyst on Monday Night Football, but it was clear that ESPN did. It wasn’t just the huge paycheck that showed how much he was valued by the network. ESPN also created spots for him on TV and radio where he was a much more dynamic presence than in the booth. There was no reason he had to go back to the sidelines, but in 2018 he did. That put him in a position to respond to emails from Bruce Allen and now both his coaching and broadcasting careers are over. Those are two specifically bad situations. I think Urban Meyer and any other former coach on TV are smart enough to resist going back to be a coordinator and I think Gruden serves as enough of a cautionary tale that any of them would be more disciplined on email. But maybe the message to take away is bigger than worst-case scenarios. Mark Jackson’s name was mentioned in connection to a few open jobs after the last NBA season. At the time, Andy Masur wrote a great piece for the site arguing that none of the jobs Jackson had been connected to were better than being part of the league’s top play-by-play team on TV. Ego can ruin a good thing. Success in sports demands sacrifice. Success in broadcasting after you have had success in sports? Not so much. Urban Meyer still has a seven-figure paycheck. I am sure he has plenty saved from his previous coaching gigs too. He and his wife are not “scraping by” by any means. Life should be pretty good for him on the Big Noon Kickoff set. He should be done with sacrificing and ready to take advantage of the free time needed to actually enjoy life. I appreciate the competitive spirit, but I don’t understand how taking Nebraska to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl is better than what Urban Meyer has right now. Read More…

World Bids A Final Farewell To The Queen https://digitalalabamanews.com/world-bids-a-final-farewell-to-the-queen/ The United Kingdom and the world bid one final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II in London. Also in the news: Puerto Rico begins its recovery after Hurricane Fiona thrashed the island, and the special master in the Mar-a-Lago case will get to work. Good morning! I’m Steve Coogan, filling in one more time for Nicole Fallert. Before we dive into the news. Here is Tuesday’s news: Up first: Adnan Syed was released from prison after 22 years Monday. Would his murder conviction have been overturned without the ‘Serial’ podcast? Read more Britain, world bid a final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II The United Kingdom and much of the world spent Monday mourning Queen Elizabeth II, who was celebrated at a funeral at Westminster Abbey and brought to her final place of rest, St. George’s Chapel. With the funeral and a private burial service Monday evening concluded, a period of Royal Mourning is set to last for the next seven days, according to the new king’s wishes. The queen was laid to rest in an intimate ceremony in Windsor, where she was reunited with her husband, Prince Philip, and her parents. In contrast to the pageantry of her state funeral, officials said the queen’s internment was a “deeply personal family occasion.” Read more “We liked Lizzy”: London was transformed into a pageant of both mourning and celebration Poignant moments: They ranged from emotional royals to the funeral wreath The royals in attendance: See King Charles III, Prince Harry and others present Viral moment: A man dropped piece of paper on ground near coffin during queen’s funeral Princess Kate, daughter Charlotte honor the queen with sweet details: How funeral guests dressed for the solemn affair Westminster Abbey in London: See Queen Elizabeth II at the iconic church where she was married, crowned, laid to rest Royal news right in your inbox: Subscribe to Keep Calm and Carry On, a newsletter answering all of your questions about the royal family following Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Puerto Rico recovers from Hurricane Fiona as storm moves on Hurricane Fiona smashed Puerto Rico Monday with rain and winds that triggered mudslides, “catastrophic” flooding and a power outage affecting the entire island. Over 1,000 water rescues were performed, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said. Even as the storm reached the Dominican Republic, it continued to slam Puerto Rico with rain – more than 30 inches in some parts. Read more Where is Fiona now? By early Tuesday, Fiona was drifting away from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and heading toward the Turks and Caicos Islands where a hurricane warning is in effect, the National Hurricane Center said. Fiona packed maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, making it a Category 3 storm. See the people and places impacted: Hurricane Fiona floods homes and streets in Puerto Rico Video: Fiona leaves floods, power outages Previous coverage: Hurricane Fiona makes landfall on Puerto Rico’s southwest coast More news to know now: A strange coincidence: A major earthquake strikes Mexico on Sept. 19 for the third time since 1985, this time a magnitude 7.6 “Nothing more … than a photo op.”: Texas authorities said they are opening an investigation into how 48 Venezuelan migrants were “lured” to board flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard under a plan orchestrated by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  Moving on: Countries consider breaking away from the British crown now that Queen Elizabeth II’s reign is over What we know: Alaskan officials rush to provide aid in flooded, remote villages Another “SNL” departure: Chris Redd becomes the latest cast member of the NBC comedy sketch series to exit ahead of Season 48  On today’s 5 Things podcast, hear a recap of yesterday’s funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. Special Master in Mar-a-Lago case to hold first session with Trump lawyers, DOJ Senior U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, the special master assigned to review material the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, is scheduled to hold his first court conference Tuesday with lawyers for Trump and the Department of Justice. Both sides said in filings Monday night that Dearie had distributed a draft case management plan for the review. Pending the outcome of a separate DOJ appeal, Dearie is expected to determine whether federal prosecutors will remain barred from reviewing some of the seized material in a criminal investigation of Trump. Read more about Judge Dearie Meet Raymond Dearie: He’s the special master in the DOJ’s probe into Trump’s handling of documents “The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay”: US asks appeals court to lift judge’s order in probe of classified documents President not briefed: Biden says he doesn’t know what national secrets are contained in Mar-a-Lago documents Official jailed in killing of Las Vegas journalist Jeff German due in court Robert Richard Telles, the Clark County, Nevada, public administrator, is due to face a judge on a murder charge Tuesday in the stabbing death of Jeff German, a Las Vegas investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of Telles and his managerial conduct. Telles has remained jailed without bail since his Sept. 7 arrest in the Sept. 2 slaying of German, a veteran Las Vegas Review-Journal staff writer. A criminal complaint accuses Telles, 45, of “lying in wait” for German, who prosecutors say was stabbed seven times. Read more on the case Jeff German confronted the power players of Sin City: It may have gotten him killed. Additional case details: A DNA match led to elected official’s arrest in death of reporter I left Las Vegas. Jeff German stayed, and paid with his life: More from Detroit Free Press columnist Neal Rubin Just for subscribers: Democracy ‘in jeopardy’: Experts discuss the state of U.S. politics, what could happen and what to do It’s everywhere: Sea-level rise’s surprising reach damaging more than East Coast shoreline Propaganda of the digital age: How memes are weaponized to spread disinformation Biden says the COVID pandemic “over”: Could that put some emergency aid programs at risk? These articles are for USA TODAY subscribers. You can sign up here. Already a subscriber and want premium content texted to you every day? We can do that! Sign up for our subscriber-only texting campaign. MLB: Judge, Pujols get back to pursuits of home run history After an off day Monday, the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols will resume their chases at home run history Tuesday. Judge, who hit his 58th and 59th home runs Sunday, can become the first American League player since Roger Maris in 1961 to hit 60 home runs in a season. He can break the AL record with three more homers. The Yankees face the Pittsburgh Pirates at home. The 42-year-old Pujols, who is retiring at the end of the season, is trying to become the fourth major leaguer to reach 700 home runs. The Cardinals will play on the road against the San Diego Padres. Read more on Judge’s chase Aaron Judge home run tracker: The Yankees slugger chases league history Following Albert Pujols: Can he hit the 700-home run milestone? MLB power rankings: Dodgers are baseball’s first to 100 wins. Who’s going to join them? A little something different An apparent fashion faux pas: First lady Jill Biden is being criticized for wearing a fascinator instead of a hat to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral Is Trump embracing QAnon more openly? A salute from the crowd and the music played at an Ohio rally suggest closer ties ‘The Voice’ is back! Camila Cabello makes her coaching debut on the NBC series and snags the first four-chair turn singer Long recovery begins: Actor Eugenio Derbez opens up about his recent accident and says doctors “needed to reconstruct my arm” “Monday Night Football” doubleheader: Allen, Bills demolish Titans in their home opener | Hurts, defense shine in Eagles’ dominating win over the Vikings Photo of the day: All eyes on London for the queen’s funeral Endless rows of Union Jacks. Acres of red Beefeater uniforms. Forests of raised arms with cellphones snapping and filming. Flowers everywhere, whether laid in neat piles or pelting the black Jaguar hearse as it glided through town. London was transformed Monday. All to celebrate the final moments in the storied life of Queen Elizabeth II. A woman who made history. Read more Click here to see dozens of more photos of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and the scene in London. Steve Coogan is an audience editor at USA TODAY. Sign up for the email here.  Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here. Contributing: The Associated Press Read More…

'Donald Trump Is More Dangerous Than Ever': Conservative Waves Red Flag After Latest Appearance https://digitalalabamanews.com/donald-trump-is-more-dangerous-than-ever-conservative-waves-red-flag-after-latest-appearance/ Read More…

Cryptoverse: After Merge, Ether Heads For A $20 Billion Shanghai Splurge https://digitalalabamanews.com/cryptoverse-after-merge-ether-heads-for-a-20-billion-shanghai-splurge/ Souvenir tokens representing cryptocurrency networks Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and Ripple plunge into water in this illustration taken May 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Sept 20 (Reuters) – The Merge came, saw and conquered. Not that you’d guess from crypto prices. The Ethereum blockchain’s mega-upgrade finally went live on Sept. 15, moving it to a less energy-intensive “proof of stake” (PoS) system with hardly a hiccup. read more Even though anticipation of the event had seen ether rise about 85% from its June doldrums, it has since sunk 19%, hit along with bitcoin and other risky assets by investor angst over inflation and central-bank policy. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Nonetheless, many market players are bullish about the long-term prospects of Ethereum and its native cryptocurrency. “Previously, we have talked to sovereign wealth funds and central banks to help build their digital asset allocations… but direct investment has been voted down due to energy concerns,” said Markus Thielen, chief investment officer at asset manager IDEG Limited. “With Ethereum moving to PoS, this clearly solves this last pillar of concern.” Some crypto investors are now turning their attention to the next event that could shake up prices. The next significant upgrade for Ethereum is the “Shanghai”, expected by market participants in around six months’ time, which is aimed at reducing its high transaction costs. It would allow validators, who have deposited ether tokens on the blockchain in exchange for a yield, to withdraw their staked coins, to hold or sell. There’s a lot at stake: over $20 billion of ether deposits are currently locked up, according to data provider Glassnode. The staked ether crypto coin – viewed as a bet on Ethereum’s long-term success as it cannot be redeemed until Shanghai happens – is trading at nearly parity with ether at 0.989 ether, according to CoinMarketCap data, indicating confidence in future upgrades. The coin had dropped as low as 0.92 in June. PURGE AND SPLURGE Beyond Shanghai, a slew of other upgrades are planned for Ethereum, which co-founder Vitalik Buterin has nicknamed “the surge”, “verge”, “purge” and “splurge”. The primary focus of future upgrades is likely to be on the blockchain’s ability to process more transactions. “Because the Merge was delayed for several years, investors, traders, and end-users have a great deal of trepidation around when Ethereum will meaningfully scale,” said Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at blockchain-focused bank Galaxy Digital. Paul Brody, global blockchain leader at EY, said: “Ethereum’s future needs to, and will, scale to hundreds of millions of transactions a day.” Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics ETHEREUM KILLERS The Merge’s primary goal was to reduce Ethereum’s energy usage as cryptocurrencies come under fire for their massive carbon footprint. The blockchain’s energy consumption was cut by an estimated 99.95%, the developers claim, which could tempt powerful institutional investors, formerly constrained by environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns. The Merge and future upgrades also dent the investment appeal of so-called “Ethereum killer” blockchains like Solana and Polkadot, said Adam Struck, CEO of venture capital firm Struck Crypto. However, institutional investors aren’t jumping in just yet, as a fearsome macro environment chills the waters of risk appetite. Longer-term, though, the switch to PoS is expected to decrease the rate at which ether tokens are issued – potentially by up to 90% – which should drive up prices. Additionally, annual yields of 4.1% for staking ether tokens to validate transactions could prove tempting for investors. However, while the proof-of-stake method allows for these lucrative yields, many crypto purists point out that it moves Ethereum away from a purely decentralized model as the biggest validators could exercise greater influence over the blockchain. For the time being, however, the Ethereum world might be advised to enjoy the Merge moment. “There may be volatility in the days to come,” said analysts at Kaiko Research. “But for now the community can take a well-earned victory lap.” Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pravin Char Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias. Read More…

Trump’s ‘big Lie’ Fueled A New Generation Of Social Media Influencers https://digitalalabamanews.com/trumps-big-lie-fueled-a-new-generation-of-social-media-influencers/ Accounts that rose to prominence spreading disinformation about the 2020 election now drive other polarizing debates, a Washington Post data analysis found September 20, 2022 at 6:32 a.m. EDT (Natalie Vineberg/Washington Post illustration/iStock) Three days after the 2020 election, Kyle Becker, a former Fox News producer with a modest 15,000 Twitter followers, began tweeting feverishly about election fraud. “BOMBSHELL,” he wrote on Nov. 6, sharing purported revelations that software glitches could have tipped millions of votes from President Donald Trump to challenger Joe Biden. Becker’s tweetstorm quickly went viral, drawing more than 5,000 additional followers to his account in just four hours. By the time a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol two months later, Becker had vaulted into influencer territory, supercharging his Twitter audience to 177,000. Since Becker, 46, left Fox in fall 2020, he has built his brand as a right-wing pundit. These days, he curates his own online news site; appears as a guest on conservative podcasts and TV shows; and writes a steady stream of viral, often misleading tweets on a range of topics including coronavirus vaccines, the war in Ukraine and the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Spreading election fraud claims helped Kyle Becker become an influencer Becker’s following skyrocketed in the six-month period before the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack. 20 tweets with the most retweets 180k Followers declined after Jan. 6 as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users. 120k All of Becker’s most popular tweets were focused on the election. 60k Becker’s “BOMBSHELL” tweet on Nov. 6. July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June Note: Follower data is unavailable for Kyle Becker before October 2020. Number of retweets may be undercounted on deleted tweets. Spreading election fraud claims helped Kyle Becker become an influencer Becker’s following skyrocketed in the six-month period before the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack. 20 tweets with the most retweets 240k followers 180k Followers declined after Jan. 6 as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users. 120k All of Becker’s most popular tweets were focused on the election. 60k Becker’s “BOMBSHELL” tweet on Nov. 6. July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June Note: Follower data is unavailable for Kyle Becker before October 2020. Number of retweets may be undercounted on deleted tweets. Spreading election fraud claims helped Kyle Becker become an influencer Becker’s following skyrocketed in the six-month period before the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack. 20 tweets with the most retweets 240k followers Followers declined after Jan. 6 as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users. 180k 120k All of Becker’s most popular tweets were focused on the election. 60k Becker’s “BOMBSHELL” tweet on Nov. 6. July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June Note: Follower data is unavailable for Kyle Becker before October 2020. Number of retweets may be undercounted on deleted tweets. Becker is not alone. The 2020 election and its turbulent aftermath fueled a powerful generation of online influencers, a Washington Post data analysis has found, producing sky-high follower counts for an array of conservatives who echoed Trump’s false claims of election fraud, known as the “big lie.” Some doubled or tripled their audiences on Twitter, while others saw even larger gains — catapulting, like Becker, from relative obscurity to online fame. These accounts amassed followers despite vows by Big Tech companies to police election disinformation, The Post found. And they have gone on to use their powerful megaphones to shape the national debate on other subjects, injecting fresh waves of distortion into such culture-war topics as transgender rights and critical race theory. “Once they’ve gained a level of influence, they can continue to leverage that influence going forward,” said Kate Starbird, a leading expert on disinformation at the University of Washington. “Manipulation becomes embedded in the network.” To conduct its analysis, The Post identified 77 of the biggest spreaders of disinformation about the 2020 election, tracked how they built large audiences online and then analyzed how they used their new power to fuel debate on other divisive topics. The list of 77 was drawn from research by disinformation experts at Stanford, Harvard and Cornell universities, as well as the University of Washington. While the details of their methodologies differed, the researchers all culled Twitter for posts that spread misperceptions about the election and then determined which accounts had racked up the most retweets, spreading the “big lie” most widely. The list includes many well-known figures, such as Trump himself, his sons Eric and Donald Jr., Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon and others close to the administration. It includes Trump allies who gained fame specifically for their false claims of voter fraud, such as attorneys L. Lin Wood and Sidney Powell, and prominent media figures such as Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit and Josh Caplan of Breitbart News. But it includes many lesser lights as well — conservative pundits, self-described citizen-journalists and others famous mainly for being online. Commentator Candace Owens, right-wing activist Jack Posobiec and YouTuber Tim Pool are on the list. So are QAnon proponent Tracy Diaz (a.k.a. “Tracy Beanz”), the anonymous @catturd2 account and an Arizona man who went by the handle @prayingmedic before Twitter suspended him following the Jan. 6 insurrection. By tracking follower counts on Twitter and Facebook, The Post found that this group rose steeply in popularity in the six months before the Jan. 6 riot, gaining a stunning 25 million followers on the two platforms. For those who already boasted massive audiences, most grew their followings by at least 50 percent by posting about election fraud. For those with more modest audiences — about 1 in 5 on the list — the payoff for sowing doubt in the election was even bigger. Some surged in status: Becker’s Twitter audience grew by more than 1,000 percent. Like him, some have turned selling outrage into a day job or lucrative side hustle, collecting ad dollars, donations and speaking fees for disseminating their views. How the ‘big lie’ created a new class of mega-influencers that outlasted Trump Follower counts stagnated after the Jan. 6 insurrection, but jumped again when Elon Musk announced his Twitter purchase. 1m more 500k more Average 500k fewer Many lost followers as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users after Jan. 6. 1m fewer 1.5m fewer July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June How the ‘big lie’ created a new class of mega-influencers that outlasted Trump Follower counts stagnated after the Jan. 6 insurrection, but jumped again when Elon Musk announced his Twitter purchase. 1m more 500k more Average 500k fewer Many lost followers as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users after Jan. 6. 1m fewer 1.5m fewer July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June How the ‘big lie’ created a new class of mega-influencers that outlasted Trump Follower counts stagnated after the Jan. 6 insurrection, but jumped again when Elon Musk announced his Twitter purchase. Stagnating followers 1m more 500k more Average 500k fewer Many lost followers as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users after Jan. 6. 1m fewer 1.5m fewer July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June How the ‘big lie’ created a new class of mega-influencers that outlasted Trump Follower counts stagnated after the Jan. 6 insurrection, but jumped again when Elon Musk announced his Twitter purchase. Rapid gain in followers Stagnating followers 1m more 500k more Average 500k fewer Many lost followers as Twitter removed QAnon adherents and other users after Jan. 6. 1m fewer 1.5m fewer July 2020 Jan. 2021 July Jan. 2022 June Most members of the 77, including Trump, either did not respond to requests for comment or declined to be interviewed. Of those who did respond, several defended their behavior online, saying they merely raised questions about complex topics worthy of public scrutiny. Some criticized the tech companies for banning users who tried to engage in public debate about controversial topics. Pool, for example, sidestepped questions about a litany of tweets pointing out instances of election fraud. In an email exchange, he noted that he has said he believes Biden won the election and that he has repeatedly stated on his podcast “that [Trump is] wrong, that the claims are unproven, and many are easily debunked.” He added: “Evidence of fraud is not proof that fraud changed the election.” Becker defended his messages online and denied knowingly spreading misinformation about the election or other topics. Via LinkedIn messages, he criticized The Post’s efforts to scrutinize influencers who discuss election fraud, saying it “furthers the persistent media bias that ‘right is bad’ while ‘left is good.’ ” “I never used the words the ‘election was stolen’ or that ‘Trump won, Biden lost’ or anything like that. I highlighted articles that appeared to be evidence of election malfeasance,” Becker wrote. “ ‘Rigging an election’ can mean many things, by the way, and that includes changing laws without the proper legal channels.” The tech companies say they took action to penalize spreaders of election misinformation, especially those who promoted the insurrection. But Twitter banned only 12 of the 77 “big lie” influencers in the period around the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot, The Post found, including Trump. (Eight others already had been banned or were banned later.) YouTube — the only major tech com...

Ukraine Live Briefing: Ukraine Pushes Into Luhansk, Condemns Nuclear Plant Shelling https://digitalalabamanews.com/ukraine-live-briefing-ukraine-pushes-into-luhansk-condemns-nuclear-plant-shelling/ Ukrainian authorities condemned what they described as a Russian missile attack near a nuclear plant in the southern Mykolaiv region. Battles gripped the city of Lyman and moved into the region of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe. Return to menu A Russian missile hit 300 yards from reactors at the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, and a nearby hydropower facility shut down, state company Energoatom said Monday. But the plant’s three power units were still operating, and no workers were injured in the explosion, the Ukrainian nuclear operator said. Artillery strikes against targets inside Russia have pushed officials in Russian border towns to order hasty evacuations, bringing the impact of the war closer for Russians. While Moscow blamed Ukrainian forces, Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attacks within Russian territory. Ukrainian forces have retaken a settlement in the eastern Luhansk region, which Russian forces seized almost entirely in recent months, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said. He said troops now control Bilohorivka in the suburbs of the city of Lysychansk. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the claim. Members of the far-right Alternative for Germany party said they were traveling to Russian-held parts of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. The trip is expected to be used in Moscow to buttress calls to annex swaths of Ukrainian territory. Return to menu Fighting is raging around the eastern city of Lyman, close to Izyum, according to the Pentagon. Russian forces “clearly have failed to deliver” on President Vladimir Putin’s call for all of the eastern Donetsk region to fall under Russian control by mid-September, a U.S. defense official said in a briefing Monday. Ukrainian forces are holding their positions around Kharkiv, after regaining ground there in a lightning counteroffensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky said. “We warned that the Russian soldiers in Ukraine have only two options: Flee our land or surrender,” he said in a nightly address. Ukrainian authorities are exhuming bodies from a mass burial site they discovered near Izyum, after a Russian retreat ended months of occupation of the city. Most of the 146 bodies exhumed so far were those of civilians, according to Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of the wider Kharkiv region. Return to menu Zelensky will address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, after members voted to exempt him from a rule for speeches at this year’s high-level session to be delivered in person. Russia and six other countries voted against it. The session starts Tuesday. A power line at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was disconnected over the weekend, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Monday. Grossi said the cause remains unclear. He said conditions were still “fragile and precarious” at the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is under the control of Russian forces in Ukraine. Three McDonald’s restaurants in Kyiv will reopen for delivery on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the company said. Alesya Mudzhyri, McDonald’s head of corporate communications, said seven more locations are set to open in about a week. Return to menu Separatist regions push to join Russia as war effort falters: Pro-Russian officials in two self-declared separatist republics in eastern Ukraine pleaded Monday for votes calling on Moscow to immediately annex the territories, David L. Stern reports from Kyiv. “The appeals from authorities in the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics came as Ukrainian forces continued to extend their gains of recent days, having already pushed Russian troops out of most of the northeast Kharkiv region,” he writes. Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report. Read More…

Christina Ham https://digitalalabamanews.com/christina-ham/ She was known as one of the 20th century’s most powerful and impactful voices, not only as a singer, but also as a voice for the silent. South Coast Repertory (Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Paula Tomei) opens the 2022-23 season with Nina Simone: Four Women by Christina Ham Oct. 2-23 on the Julianne Argyros Stage. Tickets are available now at www.scr.org. Directed by Logan Vaughn, who helmed SCR’s Pacific Playwrights Festival’s reading of Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life last spring, Nina Simone: Four Women tells the story behind the iconic singer fulfilling her pledge that “An artist’s responsibility is to reflect the times.” Following the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. that killed four young girls, Simone shifted her considerable talents to activism. The result was some of the most powerful, impactful civil rights anthems ever written. Ham’s intensely personal play with music takes theatregoers into how the iconic chanteuse gave voice to countless other Black women fighting to overcome stereotypes and racism. Nina Simone: Four Women includes many of Simone’s most forceful and gripping songs, including “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” “Go Limp” and “Mississippi Goddam.” “Nina Simone was deeply talented, hugely ground-breaking and fiercely independent, and through Christina Ham‘s amazing script, Nina’s talents and passion to see the world reflected back to her are on full display,” Ivers said. “With the gifted direction of Logan Vaughn, you’ll hear and see a powerhouse cast tell Nina’s story through the eyes of four Black women. It’s an honor to have this cast of four women and one amazing piano player who share Nina’s metaphoric DNA on our stage.” “We look forward to welcoming audiences back to our Costa Mesa home and kicking off a season of adventurous, passionate theatre,” Tomei said. “Our 2022-23 season offers great options for every theatregoer and we are immensely grateful to the audience for joining us on this journey.” Nina Simone: Four Women features Chibuba Osuala (Nina Simone), Meredith Noël (Sweet Thing), Arie Bianca Thompson (Sephronia), Jennifer Leigh Warren (Sarah) and Richard Baskin Jr. (Sam Waymon). All but Warren, who earned critical praise for her performance in the 2000 production of The Education of Randy Newman, are making their SCR debuts. A prolific and versatile writer, Ham recently signed an overall deal with Universal Content Production. This came on the heels of her work as a supervising producer on “Westworld.” Previously, Ham served as a co-producer on “Sweet Tooth” for Netflix/Team Downey/Warner Bros. She spent two seasons on “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” for Warner Bros./Netflix. Her plays have been produced nationally and internationally at The Kennedy Center, Center Theatre Group, Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre, off-Broadway at Theatre Row, The Market Theatre in South Africa and the Tokyo International Arts Festival, among others. Ham’s theatre for young audiences play Four Little Girls, Birmingham 1963 was performed in front of a sold-out audience at The Kennedy Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. The design and creative team include Baskin as musical director; Jack Magaw, set design; Jessica Ford, costume design; Christine A. Binder, lighting design; Everett Elton Bradman, sound design; Yee Eun Nam, projections design, Kevin Boseman, choreographer, and Joanne DeNaut, CSA, casting director. Maisie Chan is the production manager and Randall K. Lum is the production stage manager. Nina Simone: Four Women received generous support from Honorary Producers Timothy and Marianne Kay/Argyros Family Foundation, Mickey and Nickie Williams and the U.S. Bank Foundation, which serves as the Corporate Honorary Producer. Tickets are now on sale and range in price from $32 to $105, with additional discounts available for educators, seniors and theatregoers ages 25 and under. Tickets may be purchased online at www.scr.org or by phone at (714) 708-5555. More information is available at www.scr.org. Read More…

Smart Swabs, Mobile Alarms For Fires: Inventions By Abu Dhabi Police Receive International Recognition https://digitalalabamanews.com/smart-swabs-mobile-alarms-for-fires-inventions-by-abu-dhabi-police-receive-international-recognition/ The innovations, which are used to increase safety, have received accreditation from the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA) Supplied photo Published: Tue 20 Sep 2022, 1:46 PM Abu Dhabi Police inventors have received patents for unique devices used to enhance the safety of individuals and property. They have received accreditation from the International Federation of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA) in recognition of these inventions. The three police inventors include: Ali Muhammad Al Masabi, who obtained a patent for two inventions from the Patent Office of the Gulf Cooperation Council. His inventions include a smart swab to raise and test biological contaminations (blood, seminal and salivary), and a mobile alarm device for fires, toxic and flammable gases. The second inventor is Lieutenant-Colonel Wafaa Ali Al Tayari who obtained a patent from the GCC Patent Office for the design and manufacture of a new compound for genetic fingerprinting in the criminal field. The third inventor is civil innovation expert, Abdul Rahim Burwais, who obtained a global patent of a PCT type for a wearable device that measures the degree of activity which can be used in the sports field and in cases of some disorders such as hyperactivity disorder and autism. The device provides recommendations to users based on the degree of activity and based on artificial intelligence algorithms. It is the first time that such certificates and titles have been granted to Abu Dhabi Police. These inventions and innovations have been classified among the applied scientific research indicators and greatly contribute to strengthening the position of the Abu Dhabi Police as a sponsor of talented and inventors and as an innovative institution with excellence capable of global competition in the field of creativity, invention, knowledge and modern technology. ALSO READ: Watch: UAE cops warn motorists against using phones while driving Dubai: Over 23,000 discount cards issued to senior citizens, retirees, people with limited income and determination Major General Maktoum Ali Al Sharifi, Director General of Abu Dhabi Police, stressed the Abu Dhabi Police’s endeavour to achieve the priority of institutional leadership through the strategic goal of “consolidating creativity, innovation and readiness for the future” by supporting and nurturing creators and innovators of all categories and providing the appropriate and stimulating environment for the development of value-added innovations at work. “A policeman in cooperation with all concerned authorities, contributes to the development of the intellectual property system and the environment for innovation and invention in the UAE in accordance with the best international practices and in line with the directions of the rational leadership and the UAE’s full membership in the International Federation of Inventors “IFIA” to achieve the goals and principles of the 50th and support the new economic model of the country,” he said. Brigadier Khalfan Abdullah Al Mansouri, Director of the Strategy and Institutional Development Centre at the Abu Dhabi Police, explained the Abu Dhabi Police’s commitment to providing the necessary support and motivation to all its affiliates to enable them develop their skills and innovative capabilities and to market their police inventions and innovations, to contribute to building capabilities and knowledge that would enhance the security and safety of the UAE society. These innovations and inventions achieve positive effects in spreading the culture of invention among the employees of Abu Dhabi Police and transferring knowledge of how to transfer ideas to intellectual property and then to models and products. Police said the nation’s orientation towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution and applied scientific research is completely consistent with the efforts of individuals to integrate with the latest global practices in the field of innovation and invention, which contributes to strengthening the institution’s position at the global level within its strategies for innovation leadership. Read More…

What If Other Networks Paired College/NFL Broadcasters Like Thursday Night Football? https://digitalalabamanews.com/what-if-other-networks-paired-college-nfl-broadcasters-like-thursday-night-football/ My usual Saturday routine is to turn on the TV as soon as I get home from my son’s basketball game and then spend the rest of the day flipping between games. This past Saturday, it was hard not to notice the crowd surrounding the Big Noon Kickoff set and the way they openly campaigned for Urban Meyer to be the next head coach at Nebraska. Meyer has been the subject of speculation all week after Nebraska fired head coach Scott Frost. It makes sense. While Meyer is the worst coach in the history of the NFL, he remains the most eligible coaching bachelor in the college game. I get that most former coaches that are now on a TV set have a competitive itch that needs to be scratched, and I appreciate that. Scratching that itch in the past is what gives the great ones the perspective they need to be so good on television. But this time, it is in Urban’s best interest to keep itching. There is no mistaking the way I feel about Urban Meyer. I’ll own it. I think he has lost a lot of credibility as a football coach. The Jacksonville tenure started off with arrogance and ended with incompetence. But I think he is really good on FOX. Everything you want a coach-turned-analyst to do on TV, he does well. What win is there for him in going to Lincoln to coach the Cornhuskers? Did you watch them on Saturday? Clearly, Scott Frost was not that team’s only problem. There is absolutely no talent on that roster. Urban Meyer has more influence in college football on FOX’s pregame show than he would as the head coach of Nebraska. On top of that, FOX’s top analyst and his family are not under a microscope the way the coach of Nebraska or any other top college football program is. He isn’t scrutinized by fans week in and week out. He doesn’t have to worry about keeping boosters and their money happy. On top of that, broadcasting isn’t a job that has ever made him unwell! How is Meyer’s current lifestyle not preferable to the one where any spare moment you have is supposed to be spent on the phone with high school students trying to trick them into wanting to move to Lincoln, Nebraska? To be completely fair, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported on Saturday that Meyer expects to stay at FOX. I’m sure Thamel is well-sourced and that is the coach’s intention, but I would bet it was his intention to stay at ESPN before Ohio State came calling and his intention to stay at FOX before the Jaguars came calling. How many former coaches have to go back? How many guys have to leave the studio, return to the sideline and fall flat on their faces before Urban Meyer and others like him get it? Broadcasting is a pretty good gig. It may be a better gig than coaching. Some guys were just born to compete. I get that. To quote Nigel the Pelican from Finding Nemo, “fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat,” and I will add to that coaches gotta coach. But there are so many cautionary tales. Look at Gene Chizik. He won a national championship in 2010 as the head coach at Auburn. Now, I don’t think you will find anyone that will tell you Chiz was an awesome head coach. He had the good fortune of a quarterback named Cam Newton that he rode to a title. He was fired two years later. Chizik landed at the SEC Network. He was really good on TV. Just like Meyer, he was good at explaining what was going on in a coach’s head in specific situations. He could explain scheme as clearly as he could motivation. It was a pleasure to watch. For whatever reason, he decided to leave TV at the end of the last college football season to become Mack Brown’s defensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina. The Tar Heels are currently 3-0, but the defense has received some pretty dreadful reviews. This isn’t just a college problem either. Look at Jon Gruden. Now, let me be totally honest with you. I am a Buccaneers fan. I appreciate that Gruden was willing to come in and give the Super Bowl XXXVII ring that rightfully belongs to Tony Dungy a good home, but I have zero delusions that he was actually a good coach. I also did not think much of him as an analyst on Monday Night Football, but it was clear that ESPN did. It wasn’t just the huge paycheck that showed how much he was valued by the network. ESPN also created spots for him on TV and radio where he was a much more dynamic presence than in the booth. There was no reason he had to go back to the sidelines, but in 2018 he did. That put him in a position to respond to emails from Bruce Allen and now both his coaching and broadcasting careers are over. Those are two specifically bad situations. I think Urban Meyer and any other former coach on TV are smart enough to resist going back to be a coordinator and I think Gruden serves as enough of a cautionary tale that any of them would be more disciplined on email. But maybe the message to take away is bigger than worst-case scenarios. Mark Jackson’s name was mentioned in connection to a few open jobs after the last NBA season. At the time, Andy Masur wrote a great piece for the site arguing that none of the jobs Jackson had been connected to were better than being part of the league’s top play-by-play team on TV. Ego can ruin a good thing. Success in sports demands sacrifice. Success in broadcasting after you have had success in sports? Not so much. Urban Meyer still has a seven-figure paycheck. I am sure he has plenty saved from his previous coaching gigs too. He and his wife are not “scraping by” by any means. Life should be pretty good for him on the Big Noon Kickoff set. He should be done with sacrificing and ready to take advantage of the free time needed to actually enjoy life. I appreciate the competitive spirit, but I don’t understand how taking Nebraska to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl is better than what Urban Meyer has right now. Read More…

Photos: Iranians Protest Over The Death Of Mahsa Amini https://digitalalabamanews.com/photos-iranians-protest-over-the-death-of-mahsa-amini/ Published On 20 Sep 202220 Sep 2022 Iranians have taken to the streets of the capital Tehran to protest the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country’s conservative dress code. The semiofficial Fars news agency said students in many Tehran universities gathered in protest on Monday, demanding an investigation into the death of Mahsa Amini and the dismantling of the morality police, who were holding her when she died. Witnesses said demonstrators poured into Keshavarz Boulevard, a central thoroughfare, chanting “Death to the Dictator”. They also chanted against the police and damaged a police vehicle. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns. Late on Monday, Associated Press (AP) news agency reporters saw torched rubbish bins and rocks strewn across some downtown intersections as the smell of tear gas hovered in the air. Police closed roads leading to the central Vali-e Asr square. Plainclothes security forces and groups of riot police could be seen throughout the area, and mobile internet service was down in central Tehran. Dozens of protesters on motorbikes briefly appeared at a couple of junctions, where they overturned rubbish cans and chanted against the authorities before speeding off. Meanwhile, videos circulating on social media showed the third day of demonstrations in Kurdish-majority cities in western Iran as well as the northern city of Rasht and a university in the central city of Isfahan. AP could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage. The morality police detained the 22-year-old Amini last Tuesday for not covering her hair with the Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab, which is mandatory for Iranian women. Police say she died of a heart attack and deny that she was mistreated. They released closed-circuit video footage last week purportedly showing the moment she collapsed. Her family says she had no history of heart trouble. Amini, who was Kurdish, was buried on Saturday in her home city of Saqez in western Iran. Protests erupted there after her funeral and police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators on Saturday and Sunday. Several protesters were arrested. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, who departed for New York on Monday to address the United Nations General Assembly, has ordered an investigation and pledged to pursue the case in a phone call with Amini’s family. The judiciary has launched a probe, and a parliamentary committee is also looking into the incident. The hijab has been compulsory for women in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the morality police are charged with enforcing that and other restrictions. The force has been criticised in recent years, especially over its treatment of young women. Dozens of women removed their headscarves in protest in 2017. Iranians have also taken to the streets in recent years in response to an economic crisis exacerbated by Western sanctions linked to Iran’s nuclear programme. Read More…

Trump Is Making Love To QAnon And We Should All Be Terrified https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-is-making-love-to-qanon-and-we-should-all-be-terrified/ I didn’t think it was possible, but Donald Trump is more dangerous than ever. Last week, he warned America that if he’s indicted, we would face “problems… the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen.” For a man who already incited one violent riot over his defeat in the 2020 election, a veiled threat of violence (nice democracy there—if you can keep it!) cannot be dismissed as a mere toothless bluff. But it gets (arguably) worse: Trump has gone full QAnon. Last Tuesday, Trump reposted a picture of himself on his social media platform Truth Social wearing a Q pin with the words “The Storm is Rising.” As the Associated Press explains, “In QAnon lore, the ‘storm’ refers to Trump’s final victory, when supposedly he will regain power and his opponents will be tried, and potentially executed, on live television.” Then, at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, this weekend, Trump’s campaign played a song that was eerily similar to the QAnon song “Wwg1wga,” an abbreviation of the QAnon slogan, “Where we go one, we go all.” As Trump spoke, members of the crowd raised outstretched arms and index fingers in an apparent reference to “one.” To many, the visual—you really have to see it—evoked the Nazi salute. I’ll stop short of that and just say it was weird and disturbing. To be sure, Trump has long flirted with QAnon, once saying (regarding their obsession with unmasking pedophile cults run by Democrats and Hollywood celebrities), “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” To answer his question: Yes—when you falsely accuse innocent people who also happen to be your political rivals. As we saw in the case of the Proud Boys (“Stand back and stand by!”), Trump will never criticize or alienate even the most-fringe elements of his loyal fan base. Still, something new is afoot, and it’s worth asking why Trump has suddenly ratcheted up his outreach to QAnon. These two recent developments—Trump’s veiled threat of violence if he’s indicted, and his open embrace of QAnon—are not isolated. Trump feels threatened—by potential political rivals and by law enforcement. And during his time of need, an army of Q supporters gives him both emotional support and leverage (in the form of potential ground troops). In recent months, you might have heard the theory that a wounded Vladimir Putin is more desperate to save face now that Ukraine has made an embarrassment of Russia’s attempt to take over the country. Whether this is a reasonable analysis about the danger of humiliating a narcissist with nukes, or a rationalization for appeasement, the metaphor of a cornered animal rings true. “ Trump’s penchant for losing elections hasn’t undermined his image as a winner (among his flock) any more than debunked quackery can shake the faith of doomsday cult members. ” Trump senses he’s in danger of losing his grip (and maybe his freedom). Like the coward who flexes and blusters to avoid an actual physical confrontation, Trump wants to remind everyone that he has a mob (both in person and online), and they’d be pissed if he is ever held accountable for his actions. Mobs of blindly loyal supporters have always been a powerful weapon in the hands of a skilled demagogue, but Q fans are potentially more dangerous because of their willingness to embrace delusional conspiracy theories—and their resilience. It’s amazing that the Q movement is even still around. Its perseverance parallels the political survival of Trump. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, both houses of Congress in subsequent midterms, and the presidency in 2020—and yet, he remains popular among Republicans. Like chronic bad breath, he just won’t go away. Similarly, QAnon prophecies about Pizzagate, Trump’s 2020 re-election, the return of JFK, Jr., etc., have all been exposed as bullshit. And yet… Trump’s penchant for losing elections hasn’t undermined his image as a winner (among his flock) any more than debunked quackery can shake the faith of doomsday cult members. This explains why QAnon supporters and hard-core MAGA devotees aren’t giving up on Trump. But at this point, it’s worth asking any remaining Trump enablers not quaffing his Kool-Aid if they are ready to head for the exits. After all, when Team Normal rationalized supporting Trump as “the lesser of two evils,” they couldn’t have bargained for all of this. My guess is that anyone who has already been willing to tolerate the Access Hollywood video, the Muslim ban, Charlottesville, the Big Lie, Stop The Steal, and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot may not heed my warnings. Still, every once in a while, it’s worth asking if they are finally ready to jump off the Trump family truckster? For my Republican friends who dislike Trump but, nevertheless, voted for him twice, your reflexive response may be, “But critical race theory!” or “But AOC!” I get it. The left’s excesses worry me, too. But are you capable of saying that what Trump is doing goes beyond politics and is essentially damaging our nation? I know there are numerous legitimate political policy issues and problems in America. For example, immigration is a political issue. Inflation is a political issue. CRT is a political issue. But threatening violence and embracing a conspiracy theory does not qualify as a political issue. Hell, this isn’t even just an issue. This is just crazy—and profoundly dangerous. With apologies to Sinéad O’Connor (and Prince), nothing compares to Q. Read More…

Can MAGA Cavalry Save Vance From GOP’s ‘Hillbilly’ Apathy? https://digitalalabamanews.com/can-maga-cavalry-save-vance-from-gops-hillbilly-apathy/ YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio—The night before the Secret Service, RV merchandise salesmen, and thousands of MAGA superfans would descend on Youngstown for the Trump rally in honor of Republican Senate contender J.D. Vance, the biggest show in town was under the lights at Rayen Stadium. Paid for with COVID-19 relief funds and the site of the first-ever penalty flag thrown in an American football game back in 1941, the renovated ground hit its maximum capacity of 7,000 by halftime for the hotly anticipated matchup of Chaney vs. Canfield, a city-suburb rivalry with both high school football teams coming into the game undefeated at 4-0. Along the railing at the top of the stands under one of the floodlights, standing with his arms folded and gaze tethered to the line of scrimmage, Charles Stevens said he isn’t sold on Vance, whom he described as “an opportunist.” Despite voting for Reagan and both Bushes—and still with the intention of voting to re-elect Republican Gov. Mike DeWine—the 66-year-old financial adviser who grew up in Youngstown furrowed into the pockets of his windbreaker jacket, taking a pause to explain why he’s planning on voting split-ticket for Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan. “It’s hard not to know Tim Ryan,” Stevens, who came to see his grandson play for Canfield, told The Daily Beast, lauding the congressman’s popularity among the union guys in his social circle. To have a realistic path to victory against Vance, Ryan will need voters like Stevens and his friends in order to build a coalition similar to that of Sherrod Brown, Ohio’s senior senator, who secured each of his three terms in wave years for Democrats: 2006, 2012, and 2018. “Tim Ryan can definitely assemble a Sherrod Brown-type coalition and has already been doing it with a campaign that is going to parts of the state traditionally ignored by Democrats not named Sherrod,” David B. Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron, told The Daily Beast. While conservatives have rolled their eyes at Ryan’s working-class campaign branding—such as the congressman slinging footballs at 1990s-era TV sets in one of his ads—the once-considered longshot candidate might have a real chance at flipping the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman. “He’s been in the U.S. House for 20 years representing places like Youngstown and Akron and has a strong base of support from working-class folks. Ryan has always been an economic populist and it is authentic, not some campaign gimmick,” Cohen added. The RealClearPolitics average rates the Ohio Senate race as a toss-up with Vance leading by an average of 2.7 percentage points, while the FiveThirtyEight Senate model gives Ryan a 29 in 100 chance of winning. Cohen noted that Ryan’s support remained solid in the Trump years “because he has never wavered in his support of union rights” and “crossover appeal with independents and disaffected Republicans.” Stevens, who voted for Biden in 2020 but couldn’t bring himself to vote for Hillary Clinton against Trump in 2016, considered himself one such disaffected Republican. He said he switched his party registration in 2017 after being horrified at the early stages of the Trump administration. Abortion, Stevens went out of his way to add, has completely shaken up how he views the upcoming midterms. Despite DeWine signing a law—temporarily blocked by a county judge—banning virtually all abortions, Stevens said the governor’s handling of the pandemic and the economy earned his vote. “I personally am not in favor of abortion, but I’m also not in favor of making decisions over other people’s bodies,” Stevens said. “I think they made a mistake, the Republicans. They’ve galvanized women.” Former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, DeWine’s opponent, told The Daily Beast the key to winning statewide for both her and Ryan will be to perform better with suburban women. “We compared the collar counties of Detroit with the collar counties around Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati,” Whaley said, referring to a gubernatorial post-mortem from 2018. “And we found, we were underperforming 6 to 10 points with women in suburban areas.” Lisa Ricciardi, a 44-year-old hair stylist from Boardman, Ohio, who was at the game to see her son suit up on special teams for the suburban Canfield squad, said she hasn’t seen much of the bombardment of TV ads yet, but is certain on voting for Ryan. She said she’s voting for his character, but also that abortion is a top issue after the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling. “I think he’s a man of his word,” Ricciardi told The Daily Beast. “He does what he says he’s gonna do.” While Vance, a businessman and author of The Hillbilly Elegy, has previously compared abortion to slavery, he did not mention the topic or any anti-abortion rights messaging during his speech at the Trump rally nor at a campaign event in Avon, Ohio, that Saturday morning. When asked at the Avon event whether he’d support Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s national ban on most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Vance dodged the question before being pulled away by a staffer. Vance has struggled with fundraising and several attendees at the event in Avon asked about why the campaign hasn’t had more ads on TV compared to the Ryan campaign, something Vance acknowledged in his speech. National Republicans have rushed to the state to bail him out both on the airwaves and in person. Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, bought $28 million worth of statewide TV and radio ads, a purchase first reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. At the rally in Youngstown on Saturday, the MAGA cavalry were out in full force for Vance, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) bringing the house down in a tirade against transgender people and several applause lines about the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell got a standing ovation just for walking around. Rep. Jim Jordan, a fellow Ohio Republican, also revved the crowd up for the Republican Senate hopeful. But off-stage, enthusiasm for Vance at the rally was lukewarm. John Conley, a retired union electrician from Fairlawn, Ohio, who attended the rally wearing an “ULTRA MAGA” T-shirt, told The Daily Beast he doesn’t “know a lot about Vance” and primarily wants to see Trump retake power, ideally with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the ticket. “I’m not that concerned about J.D. Vance,” Conley said, adding that he didn’t know much about his views on abortion. “Donald Trump is the best right-to-life president there’s ever been,” he continued. “Yeah. I don’t give a shit about his, what he does with his, you know, morality. I don’t care. He runs the country really well.” Conley said he is pro-union, but bemoaned his fellow union members for preferring Ryan, a recurring theme for rallygoers who similarly found themselves split from the rank and file over their support for Trump. Facilities manager David Bowen of Mayfield, Ohio, said he was initially “upset” that Vance had taken anti-Trump stances in the past, but ended up changing his mind about the candidate. “When I listened to him talk several times, I realized that he just kinda turned himself around,” Bowen said. Jacob Spor, another pro-union but anti-Ryan voter who works as a union bricklayer, said he’s much more enthusiastic about voting for Vance than DeWine, whom he still begrudges for taking COVID-19 shutdown measures. “With regards to Vance, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s so much better than Tim Ryan,” Spor, sporting a “Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirt emblazoned with an Ohio State logo and a Brutus Buckeye tattoo underneath, told The Daily Beast. Other rallygoers said they weren’t that familiar with Vance, but their antipathy toward Ryan is enough for them to pull the lever for the Peter Thiel acolyte in November. “I hate Tim Ryan’s guts,” said Donny Betts, a truck driver from Austintown, Ohio. “He’s a nasty douchebag. I’ve got all kinds of war names for him. He’s done nothing for Mahoning County. Make sure you put that in there.” Ryan, who was off the campaign trail over the weekend to attend a family wedding, skewered Vance for leaning on Trump’s roadshow, saying it was “no surprise” he brought “his out-of-state allies to lie about Tim’s record and kickstart his flailing campaign.” At both Vance events, there was a palpable anxiety about the current state of the race. As the meet-and-greet wrapped up, several voters asked about why the campaign has not been on the air as much as the Ryan campaign with TV ads. Jim Thompson, a 75-year-old retiree from Elyria, Ohio, said he first heard about Vance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, and that even though he liked GOP primary rival Josh Mandel, he decided to back Vance once he got the Trump endorsement. “My impression is the fact that I believe he represents what people are all concerned about,” Thompson said of Vance. “To me the three things are inflation, the border, and crime. I thought he could have touched on crime a little bit more.” Back at the rally, Rob Burton, a 56-year-old contractor who drove to the Youngstown from Tionesta, Pennsylvania, offered an outside perspective on Vance’s woes, comparing him to his state’s Republican Senate nominee, Mehmet Oz. “I think they’re both a little shy of being out and about, honestly,” Burton said. “I think they need to be out in the public more. I don’t know where either of them stand.” Burton said he ultimately feels Oz is the bigger liability as a candidate, and would swap in Vance “in a heartbeat” to run in Pennsylvania. Eric Knoth, a 47-year-old small business owner from nearby Warren, Ohio, who skipped the Ohio State Football game for the rally, shrugged when asked if it was worth seeing Vance instead of catching the Buckeyes kickoff. Ohio St...

Donald Trump Takes A Dig At Joe Biden https://digitalalabamanews.com/donald-trump-takes-a-dig-at-joe-biden/ Home / News / World /  Location is everything: Donald Trump takes dig at Joe Biden’s sitting position during Queen’s funeral Premium US President Joe Biden takes his seat with wife Jill Biden, other heads of state and dignitaries, including French President Emmanuel Macron at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. (REUTERS) 3 min read . Updated: 20 Sep 2022, 02:05 PM IST Livemint Around 500 world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, and royals from across the world at Westminster Abbey for a sombre ceremony to bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II – the UK’s longest-serving monarch Former President of United States of America, Donald Trump took a dig at current President of USA Joe Biden after he was seated in the 14th row along with his wife which is only seven from the back in a ceremony that was held at Westminster Abbey, London. According to a report published in UK’s The Telegraph, Donald Trump posted a photograph on his social media platform Truth Social and wrote, “This is what’s happened to America in just two short years. No respect! “However, a good time for our President to get to know the leaders of certain Third World countries.” “If I were president, they wouldn’t have sat me back there – and our Country would be much different than it is right now! “In Real Estate, like in Politics and in Life, LOCATION IS EVERYTHING!!!” Meanwhile, around 500 world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, and royals from across the world at Westminster Abbey for a sombre ceremony to bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II – the UK’s longest-serving monarch. Thousands lined the streets on the route of this final procession, which Buckingham Palace said had been drawn up with the public in mind, and the Order of Service for the Committal Service was discussed with the late monarch “over a number of years”. “We have come together to commit into the hands of God the soul of his servant Queen Elizabeth,” said the Dean of Windsor, who led the service. “In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us theconfidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope. “As, with grateful hearts, we reflect on these and all the many other ways in which her long life has been a blessing to us, we pray that God will give us grace to honour her memory by following her example, and that, with our sister Elizabeth, at the last, we shall know the joys of life eternal,” he said. Much of the music at the Committal Service was composed by Sir William Harris, who served as the Organist at St. George’s Chapel between 1933 and 1961 and much of the Queen’s childhood. The young Princess Elizabeth is said to have often visited the Organ Loft to watch him play, and it is believed he taught her to play the piano. Prior to the final hymn, the Imperial State Crown, the orb and the sceptre – known as the Instruments of State – were removed from the coffin by the Crown Jeweller and, with the Bargemaster and Serjeants-at-Arms, passed to the Dean who placed them on the Altar. At the end of the final Hymn, King Charles III placed the Queen’s Company Camp Colour of the Grenadier Guards on the coffin. At the same time, Lord Chamberlain – the most senior officer of the royal household – made the ceremonial gesture to “break” his “Wand of Office” and place it on the coffin. The funeral service for Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was conducted at the same chapel in April last year. Other members of Queen Elizabeth II’s family also lie buried there, including her mother – also Elizabeth, father King George VI, and sister Princess Margaret. *With inputs from agencies Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates. More Less Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Post your comment Read More…

Stock Futures Flat With Fed Set To Kick Off September Meeting On Tuesday https://digitalalabamanews.com/stock-futures-flat-with-fed-set-to-kick-off-september-meeting-on-tuesday/ Stock futures were flat on Tuesday morning as Wall Street looked to build on a modest rebound ahead of another rate hike from the Federal Reserve. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were marginally lower. S&P 500 futures shed 0.05%, and those for the Nasdaq 100 also fell 0.03%. The Federal Open Markets Committee kicks off its September meeting on Tuesday, and the central bankers are expected to announce a 0.75 percentage point rate hike on Wednesday. Stocks have tumbled in recent weeks as comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and an unexpectedly hot August consumer price index report caused traders to prepare for even higher rates until inflation cools. “I think last week a lot of the work was done to reset interest rate expectations,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones. “The momentum in equity markets is to the downside. … Until we establish that pattern of lower [inflation] readings, it’s going to be hard to reverse that elevated uncertainty and volatility that we are seeing,” Kourkafas added. During a choppy trading session on Monday, stocks rose in the afternoon to snap a two-day losing streak and claw back some of their recent losses. The Dow rose 197 points, or about 0.6%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained roughly 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively. However, after the market closed on Monday, Ford announced that supply chain issues would cost the automaker an extra $1 billion in the third quarter. Shares fell 4.5% in extended trading. On the economic front, investors will get a fresh look at the housing market on Tuesday morning with the August reports for housing starts and building permits. German producer prices soar 45.8% year-on-year in August German producer price inflation hit 45.8% year-on-year in August, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday, driven by soaring energy prices. The reading vastly outstripped a Dow Jones consensus forecast of 37.9%, while on a monthly basis, the producer price index rose 7.9% against a forecast of 1.6%. The PPI reading excluding energy, however, was 0.4% on the month and 13% on the year. – Elliot Smith Sweden’s central bank launches 100 basis point rate hike, says ‘inflation is too high’ Sweden’s Riksbank on Tuesday launched a 100 basis point hike to interest rates, taking its main policy rate to 1.75%, as it warned that “inflation is too high.” In a statement, the central bank said soaring inflation was “undermining households’ purchasing power and making it more difficult for both companies and households to plan their finances.” Read more here. – Elliot Smith European markets choppy as Fed meeting gets underway European markets were choppy on Tuesday, struggling to build on the previous session’s broadly higher trade. The pan-European Stoxx 600 hovered marginally below the flatline by mid-morning, having given back opening gains of more than 0.9%. Banks added 1.5% while retail stocks fell 1.8%. – Elliot Smith CNBC Pro: Fund manager says the bear market is going to get ‘nasty’ Fund manager Cole Smead believes the stock market is still in the early innings of a bear market — and warns that it won’t be a “garden variety” one. But, he is not losing any sleep over it. Here’s why: Pro subscribers can read more here. — Zavier Ong China keeps key lending rates unchanged The People’s Bank of China kept its one-year and five-year loan prime rates (LPR) unchanged, in line with predictions in a Reuters poll. The one-year loan prime rate remains at 3.65%, and the five-year rate closely tied to home mortgages stands at 4.3%. China cut both those rates last month. — Abigail Ng Ford under pressure after supply chain warning Shares of Ford fell more than 4% in extended trading after the automaker warned it would take a $1 billion hit due to supply chain costs for the third quarter. Ford set that an inability get all the parts it needs could delay delivery for more than 40,000 vehicles to dealerships. The company did say it expects those vehicles to be moved during the fourth quarter and reiterated its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes. — Jesse Pound Stock futures open higher U.S. stock futures opened modestly higher on Monday evening, suggesting that the late-day rise for equities may carry over into the next session. Nasdaq 100 futures were the early leaders, but were still up just 0.2%. — Jesse Pound Stocks break losing streak on Monday The three major indexes ended positive today — breaking multi-day losing streaks — as the markets came out of last week’s sell-off. SPDR S&P 500 and Invesco QQQ both surpassed their 30-day average volume. Approximately three stocks in the New York Stock Exchange advanced for every two that declined. Nine of 11 sectors were positive, with materials up the highest at 1.6%. Of those that fell, health care posted the greatest loss going down approximately 0.5%. The U.S. two-year, five-year and 10-year Treasury notes all hit highs not seen in more than a decade. DJ Transports gained nearly 2%, breaking a four-day losing streak. It was the largest gain of any of the major U.S. indices, which all were positive at the close. — Alex Harring, Chris Hayes Read More…

Two Dead After 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake In Mexico – Follow Live https://digitalalabamanews.com/two-dead-after-7-6-magnitude-earthquake-in-mexico-follow-live/ 7.5 magnitude earthquake hits Mexico’s pacific coast At least two people were killed by a major earthquake off the coast of Michoacán state in Mexico. The earthquake, measured at a magnitude of 7.6, stuck on exactly the same day that two previous earthquakes caused enormous damage and killed hundreds or thousands of people in 1985 and 2017. One of the victims died on Monday after being crushed by the facade of a department store in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, while another was found dead at a mall. The tremor passed without that level of tragedy, despite heightened nerves from a nationwide annual earthquake drill that occurred less than an hour before. The tsunami alert, which was issued immediately after the quake, was revised later in the day. Authorities said the tsunami threat has “largely passed”, with minor sea fluctuations of up to 0.3 metres above and below the normal tide to continue for the next few hours. Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists Email Please enter a valid email Please enter a valid email Password Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number First name Please enter your first name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters Last name Please enter your last name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters You must be over 18 years old to register You must be over 18 years old to register Year of birth I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.  Read our Privacy notice You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe. Already have an account? sign in Registration is a free and easy way to support our truly independent journalism By registering, you will also enjoy limited access to Premium articles, exclusive newsletters, commenting, and virtual events with our leading journalists Email Please enter a valid email Please enter a valid email Password Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number First name Please enter your first name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters Last name Please enter your last name Special characters aren’t allowed Please enter a name between 1 and 40 characters You must be over 18 years old to register You must be over 18 years old to register Year of birth I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent.  Read our Privacy notice You can opt-out at any time by signing in to your account to manage your preferences. Each email has a link to unsubscribe. Already have an account? sign in Read More…

Judge Vacates Conviction Of 'Serial' Subject Adnan Syed https://digitalalabamanews.com/judge-vacates-conviction-of-serial-subject-adnan-syed/ Baltimore (CNN)A judge on Monday approved a motion by prosecutors to vacate the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, the subject of the first season of the popular “Serial” podcast, who has maintained he is innocent in the 1999 slaying of his ex-girlfriend. Baltimore prosecutors filed the motion last week asking for a new trial for Syed, who has been serving a life sentence after he was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment in connection to the killing of Hae Min Lee. In explaining her decision to vacate, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn cited material in the state investigation ​that was not properly turned over to defense attorneys​, as well as ​the existence of two suspects ​who may have been improperly cleared as part of the investigation. Her ruling was met by cheers and tears in the courtroom. Syed — who attended the hearing wearing a white button-down shirt, a dark tie and a kufi cap — was not handcuffed, but his feet were. After the ruling, officials uncuffed his ankles, and soon after, Syed walked out of the courthouse to cheers and applause from supporters. He did not stop to speak to reporters as he got into a vehicle. “We’re not yet declaring Adnan Syed is innocent,” Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said Monday following the judge’s ruling. “But we are declaring that in the interest of fairness and justice he is entitled to a new trial.” Prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether to pursue a new trial, and they are waiting for DNA analysis that they are trying to expedite to determine whether Adnan’s case is dismissed or the case is set for trial. But that mandate, Mosby said, is “separate and apart” from the investigation into who killed Lee. In the meantime, Syed will wear an ankle monitor with tracking, according to Becky Feldman, chief of the Sentencing Review Unit of the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. Twenty-three years after he went to prison, “we now know what Adnan and his loved ones have always known, that Adnan’s trial was profoundly and outrageously unfair. Evidence was hidden from him, evidence that pointed to other people as the killers,” Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, Syed’s attorney and director of the Innocence Project Clinic, said in a statement following the ruling. The hearing comes nearly eight years after the “Serial” podcast dug into his case, raising questions about the conviction and his legal representation. In doing so, the podcast reached a huge audience and set off a true-crime podcasting boom as well as further examinations of the case, including the HBO docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed.” Prosecutors moved to vacate Syed’s conviction following a nearly year-long investigation, they said in a news release last week. At the time, Mosby said prosecutors were “not asserting, at this time, that Mr. Syed is innocent” but that the state “lacks confidence in the integrity of the conviction” and that Syed should get a new trial. The reinvestigation of the case revealed evidence about the possible involvement of two suspects other than Syed, including a person who said they would make Lee “disappear” and that “(h)e would kill her,” prosecutors said. Syed’s attorneys said he and his legal team were unaware that information existed until this year. Defense attorneys praised the prosecution’s motion to vacate the conviction as righting a wrong. “Given the stunning lack of reliable evidence implicating Mr. Syed, coupled with increasing evidence pointing to other suspects, this unjust conviction cannot stand,” Suter said in a statement last week. Maryland public defender Natasha Dartigue in a news release called the case “a true example of how justice delayed is justice denied. An innocent man spends decades wrongly incarcerated, while any information or evidence that could help identify the actual perpetrator becomes increasingly difficult to pursue.” What we know about the case Adnan and Lee were seniors at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County in January 1999 when she disappeared. Her strangled body was discovered in a city forest three weeks later. Syed and prosecutors in March filed a joint motion for post-conviction DNA testing, saying that since the crime occurred more than two decades ago, “DNA testing has changed and improved drastically.” The March motion asked that the victim’s clothing be tested for touch DNA, which was not available at the time of trial. Items now being tested were not previously tested in 2018 — when the Baltimore City Police Lab tested various items for DNA — with the exception of the victim’s fingernail clippings, Mosby’s statement said. Mosby said the motion to vacate was filed along with Sentencing Review Unit Chief Becky Feldman. Syed was a juvenile when convicted. The alternative suspects were known persons at the time of the original investigation “and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense,” according to Mosby’s statement. The state is not disclosing the names of the suspects but said that, according to the trial file, one of them said, “He would make her (Ms. Lee) disappear. He would kill her.” The investigation also revealed that one suspect was convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, according to the statement. The second suspect was convicted of engaging in serial rape and sexual assault, the statement said. Some of the information was available at the time of the trial, the statement said, and some came to light later. It is not clear when these assaults took place. Lee’s car was located “directly behind the house of one of the suspect’s family members,” the statement said. Attorneys for Syed brought the case to the attention of the sentencing review unit in April 2021. Syed’s attorneys “identified significant reliability issues regarding the most critical pieces of evidence at trial,” Mosby’s statement said. In the 2019 HBO docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” an attorney for Syed said his client’s DNA was not found on any of the 12 samples retrieved from the victim’s body and car. That testing was not part of the official investigation by authorities. HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. At trial, prosecutors relied on testimony from a friend, Jay Wilds, who said he helped Syed dig a hole for Lee’s body. To corroborate his account, prosecutors presented cell phone records and expert witness testimony to place Syed at the site where Lee was buried. CNN’s Lauren Koenig reported from Baltimore, while Dakin Andone and Eric Levenson wrote this story in New York. CNN’s Amy Simonson, Ray Sanchez and Sonia Moghe contributed to this report. Read More…

NFL Monday Night: Jalen Hurts Plays Like An MVP https://digitalalabamanews.com/nfl-monday-night-jalen-hurts-plays-like-an-mvp/ How well did Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts play in the first half of the Eagles’ 24-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night? Before the game, the odds at Caesars Sportsbook on the former Alabama QB winning the 2022 NFL MVP Award were 14-1. By halftime, Hurts was down to 8-1. Hurts completed 17-of-20 passes for 251 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for 50 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries in the first half of the late game in the NFL’s Monday night doubleheader. After opening the season with a 31-10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams, last season’s Super Bowl champions, the Buffalo Bills posted a 41-7 rout of the Tennessee Titans, last season’s No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, in Monday night’s other NFL game. In Philadelphia, Hurts completed his five passes on the game’s opening possession for 63 yards as the Eagles went 82 yards in 11 plays, capped by Hurts’ 3-yard TD run. On the first play of the second quarter, Hurts threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Quez Watkins. Next Gen Stats measured the pass at 56.4 yards in the air, making it the longest of Hurts’ NFL career. Philadelphia got its final touchdown on a 26-yard run by Hurts with 1:58 left in the first half to complete a seven-play, 85-yard drive. Hurts closed the first half by completing three consecutive passes for 59 yards, leading to a field goal as time expired in the second quarter. Until Monday night, no NFL player had had at least 251 passing yards, one TD pass, 50 rushing yards and two TD runs in a game since the second week of the 2020 season. Hurts reached those figures in the first half. Hurts finished the game 26-of-31 passing for 333 yards with one touchdown and one interception and 57 yards and two touchdowns on 11 rushing attempts. Hurts became the fourth player in NFL history with at least 333 passing yards, one TD pass, 57 rushing yards and two TD runs in a game, and, at 84 percent, he was the first of those players to complete more than 72 percent of his passes. The Detroit Lions’ Bobby Layne in 1950, San Francisco 49ers’ Steve Young in 1991 and the Eagles’ Michael Vick in 2010 are the other players who have met those stats. In Orchard Park, New York, on Monday night, Buffalo wide receiver Stefon Diggs caught 12 passes for 148 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Josh Allen threw the TD passes to Diggs as well as one more as he passed for 317 yards before departing in the third quarter of the blowout. The No. 1 defense in the NFL in 2021, the Bills limited Tennessee to 187 yards in Monday night’s game. In addition to Hurts, 16 players from Alabama high schools and colleges got on the field on Monday night: Tennessee Titans cornerback Roger McCreary upends Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen during an NFL game on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.(Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images) Buffalo Bills 41, Tennessee Titans 7 · Zach Cunningham (Pinson Valley) started at right linebacker for the Titans. Cunningham made five tackles and broke up a pass. · Titans defensive end Da’Shawn Hand (Alabama) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play. · Derrick Henry (Alabama) started at running back for the Titans. Henry ran for 25 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries. Henry scored from 2 yards out on a fourth-down carry as Tennessee tied the score with 5:23 left in the first quarter. Henry had his smallest rushing total since running for 24 yards on eight carries against the Eagles on Sept. 30, 2018. · Ben Jones (Bibb County) started at center for the Titans. · Roger McCreary (Williamson, Auburn) started at cornerback for the Titans. After making two tackles in his NFL debut last week, the rookie led Tennessee with 11 against Buffalo. McCreary became the eighth Tennessee player to make at least 11 tackles in a game as a rookie. The list includes former James Clemens High School star Monty Rice, who had 11 in a 2021 game, and former Samford standout Cortland Finnegan, who had 11 in a 2006 game. McCreary is the first for the franchise to do so before the fourth game of a career. · Bills cornerback Siran Neal (Eufaula, Jacksonville State) made two tackles. · Titans linebacker Monty Rice (James Clemens) is on reserve/physically unable to perform and not eligible to play. · Titans quarterback Malik Willis (Auburn) made his NFL debut with 3:49 left in the third quarter after Ryan Tannehill threw a pick-six that put Buffalo up 41-0. Willis completed 1-of-4 passes for 6 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions and ran four times for 16 yards. Willis also lost a fumble. The 2-0 Bills visit the 2-0 Miami Dolphins for an AFC East rivalry game on Sunday. The Titans will seek their first victory of 2022 when the Las Vegas Raiders visit on Sunday. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Quez Watkins catches a touchdown pass during an NFL game against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) Philadelphia Eagles 24, Minnesota Vikings 7 · Eagles safety Reed Blankenship (West Limestone) was designated as a game-day inactive. · James Bradberry (Pleasant Grove, Samford) started at cornerback for the Eagles. Bradberry made one tackle and broke up a pass. · Landon Dickerson (Alabama) started at left guard for the Eagles. · Eagles offensive lineman Jack Driscoll (Auburn) played but did not record any stats. · Eagles cornerback Josh Jobe (Alabama) played but did not record any stats. · Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens (Spain Park) dressed for the game but did not play. · Eagles punter Arryn Siposs (Auburn) averaged 44.8 yards on four punts, with a 43.5-yard net. Siposs also made his first NFL tackle. · DeVonta Smith (Alabama) started at wide receiver for the Eagles. Smith caught seven passes for 80 yards after going without a reception in Philadelphia’s season-opening game last week. · Vikings tight end Irv Smith Jr. (Alabama) caught five passes for 36 yards and one touchdown. Smith scored on a 2-yard reception with 9:39 left in the first half. After missing last season with an injury, Smith reached the end zone for the first time since Dec. 25, 2020. · Za’Darius Smith (Greenville) started at outside linebacker for the Vikings. Smith two tackles, recorded a tackle for loss and registered a quarterback hit. · Dalvin Tomlinson (Alabama) started at defensive end for the Vikings. Tomlinson made seven tackles and shared a sack. · Quez Watkins (Athens) started at wide receiver for the Eagles. Watkins caught two passes for 69 yards and one touchdown. Watkins scored on a 53-yard reception with 14:52 left in the first half. The 2-0 Eagles open their NFC East schedule on the road against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. At 1-1, the Vikings return to NFC North play at home against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry carries the football during an NFL game on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.(AP Photo/Adrian Kraus) FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Read More…