Digital Alabama News

Trump On The Stump In Youngstown Bashes Ryan https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-on-the-stump-in-youngstown-bashes-ryan/ …Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, comes out fighting while being the featured speaker at the Save America Rally at the Covelli Centre Sat. night…by R. Michael Semple YOUNGSTOWN — Former President Donald Trump took aim at U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, calling him a “militant left winger who is lying to your faces” during a Youngstown rally for J.D. Vance, the Republican candidate for the seat. Ryan is “pretending to be a moderate so he can get elected and betray everything that you believe in,” Trump said Saturday at the Covelli Centre. “He is not a moderate. He’s radical left.” Trump spent most of his speech airing past grievances, including falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him. Trump was in Youngstown primarily as part of a rally to support Vance while also backing Republicans running for House seats throughout Ohio. Trump said when he was president, “I was always fighting (Ryan). I never liked him that much.” Trump said Ryan’s moderate approach during this Senate campaign is a lie as the congressman has voted 100 percent of the time with President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump said when he was president, Ryan voted with him only 16 percent of the time. Trump urged those in attendance to back Vance, calling him a “tough cookie.” Trump said of Vance: “This is a very important race. This is a great person who’ve I’ve really gotten to know. Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that was before he knew me and then he fell in love.” Trump later said that Vance “kissing his ass” would help him beat Ryan. He criticized Ryan for saying he’d end the filibuster, for supporting abortions and for “being an energy extremist.” Trump spent much of his speech complaining about the 2020 election falsely contending he didn’t lose to Biden and that the election was “rigged and stolen.” He also went after Biden, saying he was a terrible president who doesn’t know what he’s doing and if Trump was running the country, there wouldn’t have been a Russian invasion of Ukraine, high gas prices and inflation. The only reason gas prices are going down, Trump said, is that Biden and other Democrats are doing that to win the Nov. 8 election and that those prices will rise after that. There were about 5,500 people at Saturday’s rally with most of the back section of the Covelli Centre empty though there was a full crowd at the front of the facility. The last time Trump campaigned at the arena, on July 25, 2017, there were about 7,000 people in attendance. During his Saturday speech, Vance said: “We need to get back to the policies of the real Donald Trump, not fake Tim Ryan pretending he’s someone he’s not.” Vance said Ryan tries to come across as a moderate in his “nonstop fraudulent television commercials,” but it’s a lie. Vance said there’s “two Tims out there. A D.C. Tim that votes 100 percent of the time with Joe Biden, and there’s campaign Tim who pretends he’s a moderate.” He added: “We need to take D.C. Tim to the curb and make him get a real job.” Polls indicate a close race between Vance, a venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” and Ryan, a 10-term House member who represents much of Mahoning and Trumbull counties. In a campaign fundraising email after the rally, Ryan wrote: “Republicans are panicking about losing here. And Trump knows how important winning Ohio is. Him wading into our race means more attack ads, more dark money and a tougher environment in an already competitive race.” At a Youngstown event Friday, Ryan criticized Vance for having a rally Saturday at the same time as the Ohio State-University of Toledo football game, saying it shows his opponent is out of touch with Ohioans. As for the rally in the heart of his congressional district, Ryan said: “They’re trying to cut into my vote, which is a political tactic. The fact is J.D. Vance can’t carry his own political message.” In addition to the Saturday rally with Trump, Vance had Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a leading potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, campaign Aug. 19 at the Metroplex Expo Center in Liberty, also in Ryan’s district. “He needs Ron DeSantis, he needs Donald Trump and he needs everybody else to come in and make the case for him because he can’t make the case for himself,” Ryan said. Ryan added: “Ohioans don’t want someone who’s got to rely on someone else to carry their message for him or to buttress or support them in some way I’m out here. I’m scrapping. I’m clearly the underdog here with all this money coming at us.” Asked to comment after Saturday’s rally, Jordan Fuja, a campaign spokeswoman, said: “I was too busy watching football, but I’m sure whatever San Francisco phony J.D. Vance and his out-of-state allies tried to talk about in a half-empty stadium would’ve rang hollow with all the Ohioans who were also busy turning into the Ohio State-Toledo game.” Though Trump failed to win re-election in 2020, he was only the third Republican presidential candidate since 1936 to win Mahoning County. He beat Democrat Joe Biden by 1.9 percent. Trump did even better in Trumbull County. He was the first Republican candidate to win that county in two consecutive presidential elections since Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932 before Trumbull and Mahoning counties started consistently voting for Democrats in 1936. He beat Biden by 10.56 percent in Trumbull two years ago and beat Democrat Hillary Clinton by 6.22 percent. Trump’s victories were key parts of a changing political trend in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.His success helped some Valley Republicans win elections and made a number of other races a lot more competitive than they had been in previous years. dskolnick@vindy.com Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More…

Small Group Protests Trump’s Youngstown Visit https://digitalalabamanews.com/small-group-protests-trumps-youngstown-visit/ Staff report YOUNGSTOWN — A small group of people gatheredSaturday outside the U.S. courthouse at 125 Market St. for a “honk and wave” rally to reject politics of hate and fear ahead of former President Donald J. Trump’s visit to the Covelli Centre to support U.S. Senate hopeful J.D. Vance. The Valley United for Fair Democracy group stood outside the courthouse, just blocks away from the Covelli Centre, from 1 to 7 p.m., garnering apparent support in the form of honks from passing cars. At 3 p.m., several people in the group spoke about their visions of full democracy, equality under the law and justice for all. “The people over there have made it to where socialism is a scary word,” said Glenn Hall with the Democratic Socialists of America Mahoning Valley Chapter. “But this is the truth: when we talk about socialism and we talk about justice, immigrant justice, health care justice, all these things — that’s economic and political democracy. That’s what socialism is. We are fighting a battle for everybody.” Hall said democracy does not just exist for one year or four years, but is a constant process. “Every day we live democracy,” he said. Alicia Prieto Langarcia, a mathematics professor at YSU who listed her three speaking points as “uno,” “dos” and “tres,” said people often distinguish between immigrants who “did it right” by waiting in line for citizenship and those who do not. “But there is no line for people that look like me,” she said. She went on to say that when certain groups seek to “Make America Great Again,” “the America these people want to come back is a place where they can oppress us — I don’t want that America.” Speakers also touched on the topics of heath care and reproductive rights. “Our Valley has a proud history and tradition of supporting workers across all sectors, expanding public health services for all, thriving in multicultural and interfaith communities, welcoming immigrants,” said Chris Flak of Youngstown, one of the event’s co-organizers, in a news release. “We reject the divisive, out of step politics of hate and fear that Vance and Trump weaponize to turn Ohioans against their own interests — and we know that those who attend (their rally) are not representative of our community, our state or our nation.” news@vindy.com Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More…

Former Dothan Star Stepping In For Steelers’ T.J. Watt https://digitalalabamanews.com/former-dothan-star-stepping-in-for-steelers-t-j-watt/ Pittsburgh’s acquisition of outside linebacker Malik Reed and a seventh-round draft pick on Aug. 30 in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick looks as though the Steelers could see the future now. In Pittsburgh’s season-opening 23-20 overtime victory against the Cincinnati Bengals last week, 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt sustained a pectoral injury that landed him on injured reserve and will keep him sidelined for at least the next four games. MORE NFL: · DEVONTA SMITH ‘HAS GOT TO TOUCH THE BALL’ FOR EAGLES · BROWNS’ ANTHONY SCHWARTZ REBOUNDS AFTER DIFFICULT PRESEASON · MAC JONES ON MINKAH FITZPATRICK: ‘EPITOME OF A GREAT FOOTBALL PLAYER AND PERSON’ “When you lose a guy like him, it’s not about the guys that occupy his position of left outside linebacker,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “It’s about how we redistribute our responsibilities collectively to produce the collective outcome that we desire. “Those guys are not going to be T.J. It’s not realistic to think that they’re going to be T.J., but we expect them to be varsity, and we’re going to formulate a plan to redistribute the responsibilities to lean on our strengths and minimize our weaknesses like we always do each and every week, and so we’re excited about doing that with them and getting this group ready to play this week.” Reed and Jamir Jones will shoulder the load with Watt out. A former Dothan High School standout, Reed has been in this situation previously. His entire NFL career practically has been spent in this circumstance. An injury to Bradley Chubb elevated Reed into the Denver Broncos’ starting lineup in 2019, his rookie season. In 2020, perennial Pro Bowl outside linebacker Von Miller missed the entire season because of an ankle injury. Last season, injuries caused Chubb to miss 10 games and Denver traded Miller to the Los Angeles Rams seven games into the campaign. After making the Broncos as an undrafted rookie from Nevada, Reed started 34 games in his first three NFL seasons. “I’m ready, for sure,” Reed said. “The past three years, that’s pretty much how I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities early on, so I’m definitely ready for it and ready to embrace it. … “I’m a firm believer in my faith and that God had me in each position for a reason. We didn’t know that Von was going to go down. We didn’t know that Chubb was going to go down. We don’t know what’s going to happen to T.J. But being ready for the opportunity is something that I feel like has been a part of my story, and I’m just looking forward to it to embracing it.” Reed has taken heed of Tomlin’s explanation of how the Steelers are approaching Watt’s absence. “I feel like by being me,” Reed said of his plan to replace Watt. “I feel like I’ve been able to play the game at a high level when my number was called, so I’m just going to come in and be me. I feel like that’s why I was brought here, so I’m just looking forward to it.” RELATED: NFL WEEK 2: SCHEDULE, TV, ODDS In 45 games with Denver, Reed had 123 tackles, 15 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, 30 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while on the field for 1,992 defensive snaps and 315 special-teams plays. Reed played 81 percent of Denver’s defensive snaps in 2021. But during the offseason, the Broncos signed Randy Gregory in free agency and drafted Oklahoma’s Nik Bonitto in the second round to add to Chubb at outside linebacker. Against Cincinnati, Reed played 32 of Pittsburgh’s 100 defensive snaps, as well as eight special-teams plays in his debut with the Steelers. “I feel comfortable more and more each day,” Reed said after a crash course in the Pittsburgh defense, “and even in the game, I feel really good. I’m definitely ready for it.” The New England Patriots will be the first to test the Pittsburgh defense without Watt. The Steelers and Patriots will square off at noon CDT Sunday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. “Malik can rush the passer,” Steelers All-Pro defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said. “He’s a savvy vet. He’s had a lot of success in Denver, and we believe in him.” 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…

Racking Horse World Celebration Underway For The Final Time In Celebration Arena Venue https://digitalalabamanews.com/racking-horse-world-celebration-underway-for-the-final-time-in-celebration-arena-venue/ HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – The Morgan County Celebration Arena is hosting it’s 51st annual Racking Horse World Celebration. But after new owners purchased the building for 2.5 million dollars in July, the longtime event will be finding a new home outside of Priceville. “There’s people on these grounds that’s been coming to Racking Horse Celebration here their entire lives.” That’s Bill Stricklend, President of the Racking Horse Breeders’ Association. He knows the sentimental value this year’s event has on many people. He says, even if the event isn’t at Celebration Arena, the show will go on. “We will have our celebration next year. We will have our spring show next year. We probably just won’t be here,” Bill continued. The breed will continue, our horses will continue to show. It is sad that we have to move our show, but we will survive it and we will be showing our horses next year, absolutely.” Kenneth Harris is a longtime fan and has been attending and participating in the Racking Horse World Celebration for 30 years. He knows it’s the final year in this venue and decided it was time for one last ride. “It’s wonderful that I’m able to be here, and I hate… It’s bittersweet that this is the last one, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said. “You gotta get out there and have fun no matter what you place. Just have fun. And I enjoy riding horses, I’ve ridden them since I was a teenager and I enjoy it, quite a bit.” There are still seven more days to see the event. Every event starts at 6 o’clock and will end with the crowning of a new World Grand Champion September 24th. Copyright 2022 WAFF. All rights reserved. Read More…

Trump Looks To Thwart Tim Ryan's Courtship Of Republican Voters In Ohio – KRDO https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-looks-to-thwart-tim-ryans-courtship-of-republican-voters-in-ohio-krdo/ By Dan Merica, CNN Donald Trump looked to stall Democratic Senate candidate Tim Ryan’s attempt to win over his supporters with a Saturday rally in Ohio, telling the audience that the Democrat is no friend of the Trump movement even if he is “acting as though he is my friend on policy.” Trump’s appearance in support of Republican Senate candidate JD Vance is the latest stop on his tour to aid the candidates he helped win contentious Republican primaries. Trump has used his endorsement to help Senate candidates such as Vance, Blake Masters in Arizona and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania emerge from crowded Republican fields. But these nominees have since struggled to pivot to the general election, beset by depleted campaign coffers and poor post-primary fundraising, forcing the former President to come to their aid once again. As influential as Trump has been in Republican primaries, his influence in a general election remains uncertain. But Republicans working to take back the Senate now find themselves in a scenario under which the candidates Trump helped nominate are now central to any hope of controlling the chamber in 2023. To do just that, Trump has hit the road. The former president headlined a rally two weeks ago in Pennsylvania, where Oz spoke and the former President lauded the celebrity doctor, albeit briefly. Trump is scheduled to lead an event in North Carolina on Friday with US Rep. Ted Budd, the state’s Senate nominee, who has the former President’s endorsement, and later in Michigan with a series of candidates he has backed. In Ohio, Ryan is mounting a stronger than expected challenge to Vance by distancing himself from some Democratic policies and embracing aspects of Trump’s tenue. Ryan has run ads criticizing his own party, suggested President Joe Biden shouldn’t run for reelection and — in acknowledgment of Ohio’s recent rightward shift — stressed the need for Democrats to win over Trump voters. “I agreed with Trump on trade,” Ryan said in a television ad over the summer. “I voted against outsourcing every single time.” Trump has clearly taken note of Ryan’s strategy — his rally on Saturday was in Youngstown, the heart of Ryan’s congressional district. “He looked at my poll numbers. I think he is running, JD, on an I love Donald Trump policy,” Trump said of Ryan, adding, “He doesn’t like me, and I don’t like him. He has been terrible.” By rallying in Youngstown, Trump is stepping into the area that shaped Ryan. Raised in nearby Niles, Ohio, Ryan has represented the community for all his political career, making it and surrounding Mahoning County synonymous with his brand of union-backing Democratic politics. But Mahoning has tilted toward Republicans after being a Democratic stronghold for years: Trump in 2020 was the first Republican presidential nominee to win the county since Richard Nixon in 1972. “I won his area by a lot,” Trump said, adding, “We won Ohio twice. … We won it in two landslides and now we have to give JD a landslide.” One way Ohio Democrats have looked to win over Trump voters is by casting Vance as a phony, repeatedly noting that as recently as 2016 the now Trump-endorsed Senate candidate criticized the former president. “Yeah, he said some bad things about me,” Trump said with a smile, acknowledging Vance’s past criticism. “But that was before he knew me. And then he fell in love.” Trump’s remarks were littered with his trademark grievance politics. The former president said, “for six straight years I have been harassed, investigated, defamed, slandered, and persecuted” like no president in history, adding that people are “not just coming after me, they are coming after you through me.” His complaints were not just about Democrats, though. While complaining about inflation, Trump said, “Mitch McConnell better get on the ball and stop it in the Senate. He is like a Democrat.” And Trump also put the onus on Vance to stand up to the Senate Republican leader and “get him out of there.” “Mitch McConnell is a disgrace and I hope you are going to do something about it, JD,” Trump said, putting Vance in an awkward position given Senate Majority PAC, a group with close ties to McConnell, was forced to reserve $28 million in television ad time in Ohio, an outlay no Republican would have expected for the race earlier in the cycle. By the end of June, Ryan had raised $21.8 million in the 2022 cycle, compared with only $3.5 million for Vance. The Democrat entered the second half of the year with a 5-to-1 cash advantage over his GOP opponent. And in Vance’s case, the money issues extend beyond his own fundraising. To get through the primary, Vance needed the outside support of billionaire tech mogul Peter Thiel, who poured millions into a pro-Vance super PAC. The money Thiel spent to boost Vance even warmed Trump to backing the Republican candidate. But once Vance emerged from the primary, Thiel stopped spending on his pro-Vance effort, causing significant rifts between the PayPal co-founder and Republicans such as McConnell, who has lobbied Thiel to spend more on Senate campaigns. Much of Trump’s speech focused on his personal politics more than Vance or others. Trump continued to tease a 2024 run — something he has been doing for months. “I ran twice, I won twice,” Trump said, before adding that he “may have to do it again.” The crowd erupted as Trump continued to lie about the 2020 election, a sign of how election denial is still a key motivator for the former president’s followers. “Stay tuned, everybody. Stay tuned,” he added. Trump was scheduled to begin speaking at 7 p.m. ET, the same time as the Ohio State Buckeyes kicked off against the Toledo Rockets less than 200 miles away in Columbus. Vance, who graduated from Ohio State, said he thought the rally would be over at 8:30 p.m. ET so that people could leave and watch the second half. Trump began speaking at 7:44 p.m. ET and didn’t end until 9:25 p.m. ET — when the Ohio State game was well into the third quarter with Ohio State leading 49-21. Trump acknowledged the Ohio State football game, saying, “you have a football game going on and it didn’t effect this crowd.” Democrats responded to the Trump rally by primarily dismissing it as less important than the Ohio State game. “I was too busy watching football, but I’m sure whatever San Francisco phony JD Vance and his out-of-state allies tried to talk about in a half-empty stadium would’ve rang hollow with all the Ohioans who were also busy tuning into the Ohio State-Toledo game,” said Jordan Fuja, a Ryan spokeswoman who was at the Ohio State game on Saturday night. The scene around the event was like most other Trump rallies, where some of the former President’s most fervent acolytes milled about as his devout supporters stood in line for hours to get in. Those acolytes included Mike Lindell, who said Tuesday that the FBI served him with a grand jury subpoena for the contents of his phone as part of an investigation into a Colorado election security breach. Trump did not mention Lindell from the stage. The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. Read More…

8 Cheetahs Arrive To India From Namibia As Part Of Reintroduction Project | CNN https://digitalalabamanews.com/8-cheetahs-arrive-to-india-from-namibia-as-part-of-reintroduction-project-cnn/ CNN  —  After going extinct in India over 70 years ago, cheetahs are finally making a comeback in the country with a new reintroduction program. Eight cheetahs from Namibia arrived in India on Saturday, according to a tweet from the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). The big cats were released into India’s Kuno National Park in the state of Madya Pradesh. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who was celebrating his 72nd birthday – was there to welcome the cheetahs to their new home. “A long wait is over,” Modi wrote on Twitter alongside pictures of the cats in their new environment. Cheetahs were declared extinct in India in 1952 and are the only large carnivore in the country to have suffered that fate. Today, the spotted felines are found in southern and eastern Africa, particularly in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, and Tanzania, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). But the endangered cats used to have a much larger range. Historically, cheetahs roamed throughout the Middle East and central India as well as most of sub-Saharan Africa. Habitat loss, poaching, and conflict with humans have greatly reduced their populations. There are now less than 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild, says the WWF. In Iran, there are just 12 adult cheetahs in the wild. The release of the eight animals is part of a larger plan to reintroduce the cats to their former range. In January, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced in a news release that the government planned to release 50 cheetahs into Indian national parks over the next five years. The group that arrived in Kuno consists of three male and five female adult cheetahs from Namibia, according to a news release from the CCF. Each cheetah was vaccinated, fitted with a satellite collar and kept in isolation at the fund’s location in Otjiwarongo, Namibia, according to the release. The animals chosen for the 11-hour trek were selected “based on an assessment of health, wild disposition, hunting skills, and ability to contribute genetics that will result in a strong founder population,” says the organization. It took a multi-step journey to get the cats from Namibia, on Africa’s southwestern coast, to central India. On Friday, the cheetahs traveled from the CCF’s center to the Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia. Then, they took a private jet to Jaipur, India. Finally, on Saturday the cats were taken to Kuno National Park and released into their new home. “As a conservationist, I am thrilled, and as CCF’s leader, I am exceptionally proud of the work of our CCF reintroduction team,” Laurie Marker, the founder and executive director of the CCF, said in the release. “Without research and dedication to cheetah conservation, this project could not take place.” Jhala Yadvendradev, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India and principal scientist for India’s Project Cheetah, said that the project will benefit India’s ecoystems at large – not just cheetahs. “Bringing back a top predator restores historic evolutionary balance, resulting in cascading effects, leading to better management and restoration of wildlife habitat, for the benefit of all species, and will uplift the livelihoods of poor forest dwelling communities,” Yadvendradev said in the release. A previous attempt to bring African cheetahs to Kuno National Park in 2012 was halted by India’s Supreme Court, which suggested that introducing a non-native species was problematic and warned the there might not be enough prey in the park to keep them fed. SP Yadav, Director General of Project Cheetah, said India has worked to prepare the park over several years, through anti-poaching measures and boosting the amount of prey. However, Faiyaz Khudsar, a conservation biologist who worked at the Kuno National Park for around eight years, is concerned the cheetahs may still not have enough to eat. “If naturally you build up the population of the prey base and then you bring in a new species or predator, it’s sustainable. (But if you bring in a) prey base from somewhere else … I don’t know which direction it will go after six months or a year,” Khudsar told CNN. Khudsar also said the cheetahs would have competition from aggressive other predators like leopards. But Adrien Tordiff, associate professor at the University of Pretoria, who has been involved with Project Cheetah since 2020, said the cheetahs from South Africa had been selected with the National Park’s other creatures in mind. “Because they’re going into areas where there’s quite a high leopard density, we wanted animals that are really quite wild and very used to being with other large carnivores, lions, leopards and so on. So they’re not naïve of those carnivores, and they can avoid them, they can defend themselves against them, they’re really aware of what they are and the risks that they pose to them,” Tordiff told CNN. India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change believes that bringing cheetahs back to India “will likely result in better conservation of open forest, grassland, and scrub ecosystems for which they will serve as a flagship species.” The Indian government believes the factors that led to the cheetah’s extinction within the country – primarily hunting and habitat loss – have “abated.” Under the British Raj, forests were cleared to develop settlements and set up plantations, resulting in the loss of habitat for big cats, such as the cheetah. Considered less dangerous than tigers and relatively easy to tame, cheetahs were also frequently used by Indian nobility for sport-hunting. According to Jhala, the last cheetahs were shot in 1947, shortly before they were officially declared extinct. Read More…

The Ragin' Cajuns Lose The Win Streak, Fall To The Owls, 33-21 https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-ragin-cajuns-lose-the-win-streak-fall-to-the-owls-33-21/ The Ragin’ Cajuns traveled to Houston to battle it out with the Owls of Rice in the first away game of the young 2022 season. Rice is not a well-known opponent to this iteration of the Cajuns. The last time these teams met was 1989 and the Cajuns came away with an 18-3 victory. This time, the Owls got the better of the Ragin’ Cajuns. The game started, unfortunately for the Cajuns, similarly to last week. The offense came out and looked sluggish, forcing the defense to play without momentum. The defense responded by making their own momentum and intercepting the ball and scoring themselves, courtesy of Caleb Anderson. The defense wasn’t about to settle for just one turnover either. After sending the house on a blitz, Andre Jones stole the ball again. The first quarter ended not long after. The Cajuns didn’t get much done on offense for a majority of the second quarter, while Rice managed another touchdown. With the half approaching, Louisiana’s defense had to help out again, with a freakishly athletic interception by Nijel McGriff leading to a beautiful loft from Chandler Fields to Terrence Williams that put the Cajuns back on top. Unfortunately, the Owls got the ball back with enough time to move the ball downfield and into field goal range. The Owls booted it through, and the game went to halftime. After an electric halftime report from Blaise Breaux, the Cajuns re-entered the field aiming to improve their offensive situation. They did not, and the Owls put up a touchdown to retake the lead. Eventually, Ben Wooldridge came into the game and made some progress, but a crippling holding penalty on a 4th down run forced Preston Stafford to try a 52-yard field goal. It had the leg but he pushed it left. The Cajuns defense started to show signs of fatigue as the third quarter ended. The Owls would continue pushing downfield, and put the game away with a touchdown pass. They completed a two-point conversion to go up by 13. The Cajuns, at this point were still under 100 yards of total offense, and they needed anything. They got a determined drive from Ben Wooldridge, and finally, another offensive touchdown, this time on the legs of Chris Smith. The Cajuns defense, exhausted, were unable to stop Rice’s offensive onslaught. They gave up another touchdown and the game was all but over. One final turnover on downs sealed it. The Cajuns lost their nation-leading 15 game win streak to Rice, 33-21. The Cajuns will get a chance to bounce back next Saturday, September 24 in Monroe against the ULM Warhawks. ESPN Lafayette will have the game on air, with the pregame show starting at 5pm. Pro Athletes From the Acadiana Area Louisiana has produced some of the best pro athletes in the world, especially in Acadiana. The 5 States That Produce Best College Football Players When it comes to college football, five states produce more elite talent than the rest. 25 of Brad Kemp’s Favorite Ragin’ Cajun Sports Photographs Read More…

China Values UN Relationship Despite Human Rights Criticism https://digitalalabamanews.com/china-values-un-relationship-despite-human-rights-criticism/ BEIJING (AP) — As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. Chinese diplomats are speaking out and lobbying others at an ongoing session of the Human Rights Council to thwart a possible call for further scrutiny of what it calls its anti-extremism campaign in Xinjiang, following a U.N. report on abuses against Uyghurs and other largely Muslim ethnic groups in the western China border region. The concurrent meetings, on opposite sides of the Atlantic, illustrate China’s divided approach to the United Nations and its growing global influence. Beijing looks to the U.N., where it can count on support from countries it has befriended and in many cases assisted financially, as a counterweight to U.S.-led blocs such as the Group of Seven, which have grown increasingly hostile toward China. “China sees the U.N. as an important forum that it can use to further its strategic interests and goals, and to reform the global order,” said Helena Legarda from the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin. While holding up the United Nations as a model of multilateralism, China rejects criticism or decisions that the ruling Communist Party sees as counter to its interests. Its diplomats struck back at the report published last month by the U.N. human rights office raising concerns about possible “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang — vowing to suspend cooperation with the office and blasting what it described as a Western plot to undermine China’s rise. FILE – China’s President Xi Jinping remotely addresses the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in a pre-recorded message, Tuesday Sept. 21, 2021, at UN headquarters. As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, Pool, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Mary Altaffer FILE – The symbol of the United Nations is displayed outside the Secretariat Building during an emergency meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York. As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Minchillo FILE – Zbigniew Rau, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland addresses the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 2, 2022. As world leaders gather in New York at the annual U.N. General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. (Denis Balibouse/Pool via AP, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Denis Balibouse PreviousNext China had pushed hard to block the report on Xinjiang, delaying its release for more than a year. In the end, the information did come out — but just minutes before embattled U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet left office. Like the United States, China feels a certain freedom to ignore U.N. institutions when it wants: The Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Human Rights Council in 2018, accusing it of anti-Israel bias. The Biden administration jumped back in this year, and has made a priority of defending Israel in the 47-member-state body. Also like the United States, China leverages its influence to get its way — effectively stymieing an investigation by the U.N.’s World Health Organization into whether China was the birthplace of the coronavirus pandemic. Ken Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Chinese President Xi Jinping is trying to redefine what human rights are, in part by casting economic development as a key criterion. China, Roth said, “more than any government in the past, is trying to undermine the U.N. human rights system” — by pressuring U.N. officials, retaliating against witnesses and trying to bribe governments. “One of their top priorities right now — maybe after Taiwan — is to avoid condemnation by the Human Rights Council,” Roth said. The self-governing island of Taiwan is claimed by China as its sovereign territory, an issue that the Beijing government is vociferous about internationally. Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at Renmin University in China, said advocating for the U.N.’s role in maintaining the international order doesn’t mean that China agrees with every U.N. body, citing the COVID-19 origins study and the recent Xinjiang report. “When the U.N high commissioner for human rights issues such a report, in the eyes of China, it is the same as all organizations in the world, no matter official or private, that defames China,” Shi said. But China doesn’t want its pique toward the rights office, which falls under U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to spill over to its deepening relationship with other parts of the world body that deal with refugees, climate, the internet, satellites, world hunger, atomic weapons, energy and much more. China wields power as one of the five veto-holding members of the Security Council, helping it build relationships with the United States and others who needed China’s support for past resolutions on Iran and North Korea. That influence has diminished somewhat with the overall deterioration of U.S.-China ties, Shi said. Subsequently, both China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-backed resolution in May to impose new sanctions on North Korea. Under Xi, who came to power 10 years ago, China has expanded its U.N. involvement from primarily international development early on to political, peace and security issues, Legarda said. She noted how China has had its concepts and language worked into U.N. resolutions and used the U.N. system to promote a “Global Development Initiative” proposed by Xi in a video address to last year’s General Assembly. “This is a reflection of China’s more assertive and ambitious foreign policy under Xi,” Legarda said. China has stepped into a diplomatic void created by a lack of U.S. leadership, said Daniel Warner, a Geneva-based political analyst. Former President Donald Trump shunned many international institutions, Warner said, and successor Joe Biden has been preoccupied with domestic issues. Chinese hold the top jobs at three of the U.N.’s 18 specialized agencies: the Food and Agricultural Organization, the Industrial Development Organization and the International Telecommunications Union, where the United States has put up a candidate to succeed outgoing chief Houlin Zhao. A Chinese official headed the International Civil Aviation Organization until last year. For China, it’s a matter of prestige as well as influence, Warner said. “The United States and the Western countries were very much involved in the initial United Nations,” he said. “China doesn’t want to have that kind of leadership. They’re not talking about liberal values, but they want to make sure that their interests are defended in the U.N. system.” Chinese diplomats spearheaded a joint statement — which it said was backed by 30 countries including Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela — that blasted “disinformation” behind the U.N. report on Xinjiang and the “erroneous conclusions” drawn in it. And China’s ambassador in Geneva said Beijing could no longer cooperate with the human rights office — without specifying how. Sarah Brooks, a China expert at the International Society for Human Rights advocacy group in Geneva, said China could hold up its funding for the office – which lately has come in at $800,000 a year, far less than Western countries that give tens of millions. Still, Brooks said it would be a “huge blow” if funding from China were to stop, in part because many countries appreciate and support the causes that Beijing helps pay for. “The optics of it are really damaging,” she said. “You have a country that says, ‘Hi, I want to be responsible, but I’m so thin-skinned … I’m still going to lash out at the organization that drafted it.’” ___ Keaten reported from Geneva. Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More…

NH Secretary Of State: Effort To Force Hand Count Of Primary Ballots Slowed Results https://digitalalabamanews.com/nh-secretary-of-state-effort-to-force-hand-count-of-primary-ballots-slowed-results/ Published: 9/17/2022 11:15:21 PM Modified: 9/17/2022 11:14:40 PM An organized effort to force a hand count of ballots slowed the tabulation of results in Tuesday’s primary election by hours in some places, New Hampshire Secretary of State Dave Scanlan said Friday. Groups opposed to voting machines urged people to write in the names of the candidates they support, even when those names were already printed on the ballot. This forced election officials to count those ballots by hand. “It’s disruptive to the process,” Scanlan said in an interview. “It’s a current concern. It really stresses the system when you have poll workers who have been at it for 12 to 16 hours now having to count all these ballots at the end of the night. It probably increases the chances for errors.” Scanlan didn’t have an estimate for how many ballots were cast this way but said the activity occurred at some of the state’s larger polling places and was seen in Londonderry, Windham, Merrimack and elsewhere. Full election results are usually seen in New Hampshire around 11 p.m., but on Tuesday, the full tabulation was not reached in some races until hours later — 3 a.m. in one case, Scanlan said. Scanlan said he will reach out to groups backing the write-in effort and try to gain a better idea of their concerns. He said he doesn’t want to dissuade write-in votes on a general basis but does want to explain this is unnecessary when the name already appears on the ballot. Terese Grinnell, 48, of Loudon, who lost by a landslide in a Republican primary race to Executive Councilor Ted Gatsas, of Manchester, said a pro-liberty group she is involved in, We The People, encouraged people who doubt the accuracy of voting machines to write in the names of their preferred candidates, even if those names were already on the ballots. She said the intent was to encourage people to vote who were so disenchanted with the process that they otherwise might not do so. “We can’t have them shut down. So we said, ‘If you don’t want to vote in the traditional way, here’s another option,’ ” said Grinnell, one of nine people arrested on allegations of being disruptive at an Executive Council meeting in October. She said a graphic was posted online showing that if voters filled in the oval next to the “write-in” line on the ballot, and then put the candidate’s name on that line, the ballot would be counted by hand. This would be done instead of filling in the oval next to the candidate’s printed name. Ballots that have the write-in oval filled in are routed to a bin separate from the other ballots. Election workers check the bin at the end of the night and hand-count those ballots. Former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him led to and inflamed conspiracy theories that voting machines were rigged and boosted efforts in some states to require that all votes be counted by hand. Former Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney General William Barr has said there was no widespread election fraud. Numerous courts have also rejected claims of fraud. In New Hampshire, Scanlan and Republican Gov. Chris Sununu say the state’s election system is accurate and trustworthy. More than 80% of the ballots in the state are counted by AccuVote optical scan machines that are not connected to the internet. The others are counted by hand, typically in small communities. Legislation that was rejected unanimously by a House committee in August sought to ban all voting machines in the state and force a hand count of all ballots. More than 800,000 ballots were cast in New Hampshire during the 2020 presidential election. A bill approved this past legislative session required an audit of the performance of voting machines. Primary ballots cast in Hopkinton and Laconia’s Ward 1 were sent through a high-speed scanner in the State Archives building in Concord on Thursday to compare the results to those rendered by the AccuVote machines. The two sets of results were identical in Laconia’s Ward 1. Out of 1,360 ballots cast in Hopkinton, there was a three-vote discrepancy on the Republican side and a one-vote difference on the Democratic side, which the auditing team thinks may be attributable to a reported jam in an election machine. Scanlan said the audit affirmed the accuracy of the AccuVote devices. Further audits will be done after the general election. These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org. Read More…

Rep. Gaetz Sought Trump Pardon, Former White House Aide Testifies To Jan 6 Committee – Local News 8 https://digitalalabamanews.com/rep-gaetz-sought-trump-pardon-former-white-house-aide-testifies-to-jan-6-committee-local-news-8/ By Annie Grayer, CNN An aide to former President Donald Trump testified to the House Select Committee investigating January 6 that GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida sought a preemptive presidential pardon relating to a Justice Department investigation examining whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, a source familiar with the aide’s testimony tells CNN. John McEntee, who served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office in the Trump Administration, told the committee that Gaetz spoke with him about his process for seeking a pardon relating to the DOJ’s investigation in a short meeting. McEntee told the committee he could not remember if his brief meeting with Gaetz was before or after the attack on the Capitol. Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes, and the investigation is ongoing. An associate of Gaetz, former Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty to federal charges including a count of sex trafficking of a child, after striking a plea deal with federal prosecutors for a reduced criminal case after agreeing to give “substantial assistance” to the sprawling investigation. The assistance included an agreement to testify at trials or in federal grand juries if needed and to turn over all documents that could help the federal inquiry. Gaetz has claimed the allegations stemmed from an extortion plot against him and his family, saying in a statement to CNN in 2021 that “no part of the allegations against me are true.” His spokesman also said that Gaetz has never paid for sex, nor has he had sex with a 17-year-old as an adult.​ The new information McEntee told the select committee provides more context into Gaetz’s concern about the investigation and provides fresh insight into the specific kind of pardon Gaetz was seeking. The Justice Department has been investigating Gaetz since early 2021 over allegations involving sex trafficking and prostitution, including whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. McEntee relayed to the committee that Gaetz said at the time “they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him,” without mentioning the Justice Department as the entity investigating him explicitly. But when committee investigators asked McEntee if he interpreted Gaetz’s request for a pardon to be in the context of the DOJ investigation, McEntee said “I think that was the context, yes.” McEntee also testified that Gaetz told him that “he did not do anything wrong but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.” The details of McEntee’s testimony were first reported by The Washington Post. McEntee also told the committee that Gaetz shared he had asked Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows for a pardon, which the panel has already revealed in previous testimony. A spokesperson for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Gaetz told CNN, “Congressman Matt Gaetz discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term. As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.’ Rep. Gaetz continues to stand by President Trump’s statement.” The panel had already revealed some of McEntee’s testimony in one of its June hearings. McEntee testified to the committee that Gaetz said he asked Meadows explicitly for a pardon, though it was not clear at the time what the pardon request was for. CNN reached out to a phone number and an email address believed to belong to McEntee for comment but has not received a response. When an investigator asked McEntee how he knew Gaetz had asked Meadows for a pardon, McEntee replied, “he told me he had asked Meadows for a pardon.” The committee also revealed testimony from McEntee where he said he was aware of conversations about the possibility of a blanket pardon relating to January 6. The committee had also previously revealed that a group of Republican lawmakers, including Gaetz, had sought preemptive presidential pardons. A spokesperson for the House select committee declined to comment. During a June hearing, the panel revealed an email sent from GOP Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama to the White House “pursuant to a request from Matt Gaetz,” requesting a pardon for Gaetz, himself, and others who were unnamed. Former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson also testified to the committee that “Mr. Gaetz was personally pushing for a pardon, and he was doing so since early December, I’m not sure why. Mr. Gaetz had reached out to me to ask if he could have a meeting with Mr. Meadows about receiving a presidential pardon.” Hutchinson said that Gaetz was not the only GOP member to contact her about a blanket presidential pardon. She said GOP Reps. Brooks, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania all contacted her about receiving pardons. She testified that she heard GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, “had asked White House Counsel’s Office for a pardon from Mr. Philbin, but I didn’t frequently communicate with Ms. Green.” She said GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio “talked about congressional pardons, but he never asked me for one.” Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann testified to the committee, “I believe so” when asked if Gaetz sought a presidential pardon. “The general tone was we may get prosecuted because we were defensive of the president’s positions on these things. The pardon that he was discussing, requesting was as broad as you could describe. From beginning — I remember he said, from the beginning of time up until today for any and all things. He had mentioned Nixon, and I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad,” Herschmann testified, which the committee revealed during its hearing. None of the lawmakers ever received pardons from Trump. 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T.J. Finley Gets Benched During Auburn’s 41-12 Loss Against Penn State https://digitalalabamanews.com/t-j-finley-gets-benched-during-auburns-41-12-loss-against-penn-state/ Nearly anything that could go wrong did go wrong for Auburn during a 41-12 beatdown on Saturday against Penn State at Jordan-Hare. Tiger fans hoping to use the “Orange-Out” to return the favor of last season’s 28-20 defeat at Beaver Stadium got trampled under Nittany Lion running back Nicholas Singleton’s quick feet. Singleton ran for a 54-yard score with a little over 12 minutes left in the game. Singelton’s second touchdown put the Nittany Lions ahead 38-12, which put the game out of reach. Jarquez Hunter caught a 22-yard touchdown from backup quarterback Robby Ashford on the previous drive. Singleton finished with 124 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Ashford’s connection with Hunter gave the Tigers a bit of optimism with a 31-12 deficit. Singleton destroyed the ambition by sending the orange-clad supporters home early. Auburn fans showed up, but besides Hunter’s touchdown, the offense was mostly absent. “I thought our crowd was fantastic. The energy, what they brought tonight, and the environment. It was exactly what we thought it would be,” Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin said after the game. “We’re disappointed in the performance, and we’re disappointed in the loss, obviously. You can look at the stats, it’s a pretty matter of fact. Football really comes down to the execution piece.” Read More Auburn Football: Instant Analysis: Turnovers and miscues lead to Auburn’s 41-12 loss against Penn State Red-zone issues sink Auburn in worst home loss since 2012 Bryan Harsin addresses job security after Auburn blown out by Penn State Auburn had four turnovers in the loss. Shedrick Jackson had a fumble. Finley and Ashford each threw interceptions for the second consecutive week. The fourth turnover came in a particularly precarious situation for Auburn. Finley dropped back for a pass and got sacked. He fumbled on the play. Auburn held the Nittany Lions to a field goal with 9:27 left in the third quarter. Auburn trailed 24-6, and Finley got walloped on the play. He took several hits on a day when Auburn’s quarterbacks got sacked several times and remained under constant pressure from Penn State’s front seven. Finley was seen grabbing his shoulder several times during the game, including after throwing an interception on the last play of the second quarter. He also threw one in a similar situation against San Jose State in a win. Finley bounced back from a 1-5 start with an interception to throw for 158 yards in the comeback win against the Spartans. Auburn wouldn’t make such a comeback after Finley’s fumble as Penn State outscored the Tigers 17-0 in the third quarter and 10-6 in the fourth. Finley wouldn’t return to the game after the fumble. Was he hurt? Maybe, but Harsin said that’s not why Finley sat. “He got banged up a little bit in the game, Harsin said. “I don’t think that impacted too much of the decision to go with Robby at that point. But TJ was trying to make plays out there as well, and Robby came in and did some good things for us.” Finley threw for 152 yards on 11-19 passing with the interception. He was the quarterback when Auburn failed to score touchdowns in the first half. He was in when the Tigers went three-and-out on the Tigers’ first drive of the second half with the game within reach. Auburn trailed 14-6 at the half. “We went three-and-out on that drive there, and that was one that hurt us, just from a momentum standpoint,” Harsin said. “But even at that point, the score is not out of hand. It comes back to us executing, but the decision for that was not necessarily off of, you know, him not being able to go. TJ’s a tough guy. He showed toughness tonight, too, and we felt like Robby had some plays in there and that he could get some things going, and he did.” Ashford finished the game 10-19 for 144 yards with the touchdown to Hunter. “He moved the ball down the field, we scored, had a nice throw to Jarquez,” Harsin said. “That made a great play there. That’s probably too little, obviously, at that point. Probably a little too late there, but at the same time, those guys are executing, we just had to do more of that.” Auburn has a chance to do more scoring next week against Missouri for an 11am kick at Jordan-Hare. “I’ve got to do a better job — we all do, as coaches, to get these guys prepared to go out there and play against really good football teams,” Harsin said. They continue to keep getting better.” Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Read More…

Austin Peay State University Football Gets 28-3 Road Win Against Alabama A&M – Clarksville Online – Clarksville News, Sports, Events And Information https://digitalalabamanews.com/austin-peay-state-university-football-gets-28-3-road-win-against-alabama-am-clarksville-online-clarksville-news-sports-events-and-information/ Antoine Williams’ 60-yard fumble recovery for a game-sealing score, the Governors’ defense rolled up 12 tackles for loss, five sacks, two interceptions, and a fumble while holding Alabama A&M without a touchdown and 283 offensive yards. Austin Peay (3-1) was tested on the game’s opening drive as Alabama A&M drove 66 yards to get inside the 20-yard line. But when it looked like the Bulldogs would break through for a touchdown, the Govs’ defense bowed its neck and forced a pass for a loss, a rush for no gain, and an incomplete pass to limit the drive to three points.   The APSU Govs’ offense took the lead two drives later on a quick strike. After getting the ball at the AAMU 37-yard line, quarterback Mike DiLiello found James Burns for a 58-yard touchdown pass and a 7-3 lead with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter.   Neither defense would yield another point for the rest of the first half. Austin Peay State University’s defense held Alabama A&M to 194 yards in the first half while ending three drives on downs and intercepting a pass to stop another drive. The Bulldogs returned the favor, forcing five punts and a fumble on the Govs’ other six drives of the first half while holding APSU to 138 offensive yards.   Austin Peay State University’s defense helped open the game up in the second half. On Alabama A&M’s second drive, Shamari Simmons intercepted a pass at the Austin Peay State University 41-yard line. The APSU Govs powered down the field on the ensuing drive, with CJ Evans rushing seven times to get the ball inside the AAMU 20-yard line. Two plays later, DiLiello bullied his way through the Bulldogs defense for an 18-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead.   Alabama A&M (0-3) had another opportunity to score on the following drive, getting to the Austin Peay 28-yard line. But again, the Govs’ defense limited the Bulldogs to a rush for no gain, a rush for one yard, and an incomplete pass to force a long field goal try. The 44-yard field goal attempt sailed wide, and the Bulldogs’ final opportunity went with it.   Austin Peay State University would tack on two touchdowns in a 1:38 span of the fourth quarter to seal the win. The Govs defense forced a turnover on downs inside AAMU territory. The APSU Govs’ methodical follow-up drive took 11 plays to cover 39 yards, with DiLiello finding Trey Goodman for a 13-yard touchdown on a crossing route.   The APSU Govs put the game away on the next Alabama A&M possession. The Bulldogs drove into Austin Peay State University territory but Kwame Sutton sacked the Bulldogs quarterback and forced a fumble. Antoine Williams caught the fumble and rumbled 60 yards for the score.   DiLiello completed 7-of-22 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns while adding a touchdown on an 11-carry, 72-yard rushing performance. CJ Evans Jr. had 18 carries for 76 yards to pace the run game.   Cedarius Doss led the APSU Govs’ defense with a career-high nine tackles, three for loss, and a sack. Antoine Williams had nine tackles, a sack, and the fumble recovery. Sutton added eight tackles, 1.5 sacks, and forced a fumble.   Alabama A&M was held to 89 offensive yards in the second half and finished the game with 283 offensive yards. Xavier Lankford completed 15-of-33 passes for 187 yards to lead the AAMU offensive effort. Scoring Summary APSU 0, AAMU 3 – On the game’s opening drive, Alabama A&M drove 66 yards on 12 plays, but the Governors’ defense held firm inside its 20-yard line and forced a 30-yard field goal. Cedarius Doss’ tackle for loss on a 1st-and-Goal lateral brought the drive to a halt. Josh Rudolph then stopped the 2nd-and-Goal run for no gain, and two plays later, the Bulldogs settled for three points.   APSU 7, AAMU 3 – Austin Peay State University’s second drive of the game needed just three plays to cover 63 yards. After two CJ Evans runs covered nine yards, Mike DiLiello unleashed a season-best 58-yard bomb down the middle of the field to James Burns, who got behind the Bulldogs’ defense and sprinted for a touchdown in his third consecutive game.   APSU 14, AAMU 3 – The Governors took over at midfield after Shamari Simmons’ interception at the APSU 41-yard line. The Govs powered down the field with running back CJ Evans carrying the ball seven times for 41 yards. After an incomplete pass – the lone pass attempt on the drive – DiLiello scrambled 18 yards and found the end zone for the touchdown.   APSU 21, AAMU 3 – The Govs’ defense forced a turnover on downs deep inside Alabama A&M territory. Austin Peay State University, taking over on the AAMU 39-yard line, used 11 plays and burned nearly five minutes off the clock to score. DiLiello used a 12-yard rush on 3rd-and-9 to keep the drive alive. Six plays later, DiLiello used his arm, finding Trey Goodman on a crossing pattern, and the APSU Govs’ wide receiver made the left turn to the corner of the end zone for the touchdown.   APSU 28, AAMU 3 – The APSU Govs’ defense struck again for the game’s fourth touchdown on the ensuing Alabama A&M drive. One play after Alabama A&M entered Austin Peay State University territory, Kwame Sutton sacked the Alabama A&M quarterback and forced a fumble, which Antonine Williams picked up and rumbled 60 yards for the touchdown. Next Up For APSU Football The Austin Peay State University football team returns to Clarksville for its third home game in the past four weeks when it hosts nationally-ranked Eastern Kentucky in a Saturday 3:00pm game that also is APSU’s 76th Homecoming Game. Read More…

By Transporting Migrants, GOP Governors Are Exposing Democrats’ Hypocrisy https://digitalalabamanews.com/by-transporting-migrants-gop-governors-are-exposing-democrats-hypocrisy/ Next time, Joe Biden should be more precise when he calls for national unity. Because he and his fellow Democrats don’t like the kind of unity they’re getting from Republican governors.  The decision by GOP leaders in Texas, Florida and Arizona to “share” their abundance of foreign migrants with northern cities and states that boast of their sanctuary status is apparently not a gift the Dems appreciate. In fact, the president and his party are so mad they’re setting fire to the welcome wagons.  Shipping the migrants north is outrageous, a stunt, pure politics, they wail. The White House is making noises about assigning its chief partisan enforcer, Attorney General Merrick Garland, to stop it.  That would be the height of irony because the same White House has for months secretly shipped tens of thousands of migrants around the country, often in the middle of the night with no notice to local officials. No Dems complained then, so where did their love go?  Naturally, the media is eager to echo the left’s sudden pain, with Chuck Todd of NBC News showing why he deserves to replace Brian Stelter, late of CNN, as the most mocked man in television. Todd declared it “inhumane” to send 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard because it’s a “literal island that doesn’t have any infrastructure designed to help them at all.”  Hillary Clinton can usually be counted on to say something ridiculous, and she didn’t disappoint. “Literally human trafficking” is what she called the Vineyard dispatch, the brainchild of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.  Like Todd, Clinton not only doesn’t get the irony, she misses the point.  Democrats like Hillary Clinton have said that the migrants being brought to Martha’s Vineyard is “literally human trafficking.” Photo by CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Dems running New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, and, yes, Martha’s Vineyard, are being hoisted on their own petard.  They supported virtually unfettered immigration, but didn’t bargain on thousands of the world’s unwashed popping up in their neighborhoods. In aiming their fire at Republicans sending the migrants north, they’re only shooting the messengers.  Their hypocrisy is a thing to behold and the GOP governors deserve an award for delivering a comeuppance for the ages.  More broadly, Biden’s border fiasco is the latest proof that the left has plenty of fanciful ideas about creating paradise but none on how to govern in the real world. The defund-the-police movement led to a sickening surge in violent crime that continues as cops are demonized and criminals are coddled.  Blunders piling up  The war on fossil fuels led to the dramatic rise in oil prices and helped fuel the historic inflation eating family paychecks. Biden is so far detached from reality that he actually threw a party to celebrate yet another spending bill that will keep the inflation fires roaring.  It is simply incredible how much damage he has inflicted on the nation in just 20 months.  President Biden held a White House event to celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act on Sept. 13, 2022. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik And now the blue havens are getting a taste of the disaster that is the open-border policy. Unprecedented waves of people are crossing over, including many who flew to Mexico from far-off countries, knowing they could simply walk into America.  Immigration restrictions were a mainstay of both parties for generations, but the leftward shift of Dems led to less tolerance for barriers. Then, as with so many other issues, the presidency of Donald Trump saw them jettison common sense and go nuts as a form of protest.  Radical activists began preaching the gospel of massive immigration as a key to social and racial justice.  Biden, a sucker for anything anti-Trump, rejected his predecessor’s success in limiting illegal crossers and the abuse of the asylum system, which lets people stay in the US for years because of bureaucratic inertia. Making them wait in Mexico until their claims were adjudicated, as Trump did, persuaded many the dangerous trek north was not worth the risk.  Biden foolishly dismantled those restrictions, stopped building the wall and essentially issued an invitation for the whole world to come to America.  Migrant crisis moves North: Here’s what’s happening around the country as border states bus migrants around the US National Guard called into Martha’s Vineyard for 50 migrants Migrants dropped off on Kamala Harris’ DC doorstep dispute her ‘secure’ border claim: ‘We come in free, no problem’ Flood of migrants helps lead to worst NYC shelter failure in more than decade DC now a ‘border town’ as mayor declares public emergency over bussed migrants Huge rise in border deaths from drowning, dehydration overwhelm Texas border town’s morgues And come they are. Hundreds of thousands cross the border each and every month, more than 4 million since he took office, according to Fox News, which is the only network that regularly covers the crisis.  Unaccounted masses  Most migrants, coached by American lawyers, turn themselves in to federal agents with a claim of asylum. Although most claims will be rejected, the process will take years.  Perhaps 20% of the total, or as many as 900,000, reportedly avoided the agents and simply entered the country without being identified or making any claims to stay.  There is no end in sight, and the numbers already here are so vast that it is hard to imagine how the situation gets rectified.  Migrants outside of Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence at the Naval Observatory after being transported from Texas on Sept. 15, 2022. Photo by JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Meanwhile, with the border states unable to continue to bear the ever-growing burden of cartel shipments of fentanyl and other drugs and the care of the migrants turned loose by agents, the northern cities and states have been handed an opportunity to show their benighted fellow Americans how to put their supposed compassion into practice.  Instead, they’ve gone as hard as if their hearts are frozen over. Their compassion vanished the minute it collided with reality.  The Vineyard had its meager allotment of 50 shipped off to a military base on Cape Cod, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a bus of migrants to a suburb and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser summoned the National Guard and declared a state of emergency, saying the nation’s capital is “not a border town.”  Vice President Kamala Harris, who claimed the border is “secure,” can watch from her official residence as buses drop off migrant passengers, absolute proof her claim was false.  Mayor Adams in New York is making some especially curious decisions, with 8,000 of the 11,000 migrants who arrived living in crowded homeless shelters.  A bus of migrants arriving at Port Authority in Manhattan on Sept. 17, 2022. G.N.Miller/NYPost Adams said nothing as Biden sent his secret flights north, then went ballistic when Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas started sending busloads to Gotham.  But as The Post discovered, Adams also made a deal with the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, to take 200 migrants from that city everyday.  At the same time, the swelling influx led City Hall to see if it can finesse the requirement that New York provide a bed to any and all comers.  If there is a consistent principle and a coherent plan in this mash-up of contradictions, it’s well hidden.  Still, the GOP governors have failed in their main objective. They made clear they not only wanted Dem mayors and governors to share the burden, but also for them to convince Biden to wake up and secure the border.  Yet not a single Dem has publicly demanded that Biden shut off the spigot. Their party loyalty might be admirable if it weren’t so destructive to their cities and the nation. Read More…

Challenges, Requests Swamp Election Offices https://digitalalabamanews.com/challenges-requests-swamp-election-offices/ NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press Originally Published: September 17, 2022 6:08 p.m. Spurred by conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, activists around the country are using laws that allow people to challenge a voter’s right to cast a ballot to contest the registrations of thousands of voters at a time. In Iowa, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller had handled three voter challenges over the previous 15 years. He received 119 over just two days after Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who is touring the country spreading doubts about the 2020 election, swung through the state. In Nassau County in northern Florida, two residents challenged the registrations of nearly 2,000 voters just six days before last month’s primary. In Georgia, activists are dropping off boxloads of challenges in the diverse and Democratic-leaning counties comprising the Atlanta metro area, including more than 35,000 in one county late last month. Election officials say the vast majority of the challenges will be irrelevant because they contest the presence on voting rolls of people who already are in the process of being removed after they moved out of the region. Still, they create potentially hundreds of hours of extra work as the offices scramble to prepare for November’s election. “They at best overburden election officials in the run-up to an election, and at worse they lead to people being removed from the rolls when they shouldn’t be,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of The Brennan Center for Justice, which has tracked an upswing in voter challenges. The voter challenges come as activists who believe in the election lies of former President Donald Trump also have flooded election offices across the country with public records requests and threats of litigation, piling even more work on them as they ready for November. “It’s time-consuming for us, because we have to consult with our county attorneys about what the proper response is going to be,” said Rachel Rodriguez, an elections supervisor in Dane County, Wisconsin, which includes Madison, the state capital. She received duplicate emails demanding records about two weeks ago: “It’s taking up valuable time that we don’t necessarily have as election officials when we’re trying to prepare for a November election.” Michael Henrici, the Democratic commissioner of elections in New York’s Otsego County, received a single-line email last week warning of unspecified “election integrity” litigation, then a follow-up complaining he hadn’t responded. “These aren’t people with specific grievances,” Henrici said. “They’re getting a form letter from someone’s podcast and sometimes filling in the blanks.” Multiple investigations and reviews, including one by Trump’s own Department of Justice, found no significant fraud i n the 2020 presidential election, and courts rejected dozens of lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies. But Trump has continued to insist that widespread fraud cost him re-election. That has inspired legions of activists to become do-it-yourself election sleuths around the country, challenging local voting officials at every turn. In Linn County, Iowa, which includes the city of Cedar Rapids, Miller said he and the auditors who run elections in the state’s other 98 counties have been deluged with both records requests and voter challenges. “The whole barrage came in a two-week period,” Miller said, following the tour by Frank, who uses mathematical projections to make claims of a vast conspiracy to steal the election from Trump, “and it’s happening to auditors across the state.” Election offices routinely go through their voter rolls and remove those who have moved or died. Federal law constrains how quickly they can drop voters, and conservative activists have long complained that election officials do not move swiftly enough to clean up their rolls. The recent challenges stem from activists comparing postal change-of-address and other databases to voter rolls. Election officials say this is redundant, because they already take the same steps. Sometimes the challenges come after election conspiracists go door-to-door, often in heavily minority neighborhoods, seeking evidence that votes were cast improperly in 2020. Texas’ heavily Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston, received nearly 5,000 challenges from a conservative group that went door-to-door checking voter addresses. The election office said it dismissed the challenges it legally had to review before the election and will finish the remainder after Nov. 8. Activists in Gwinnett County, which stretches across the increasingly Democratic northern Atlanta suburbs, spent 10 months comparing change-of-address and other databases with the county’s voter rolls. They submitted eight boxes of challenges last month. About 15,000, they said, were complaints that specific voters improperly received mail ballots in 2020. Another 22,000 were for voters they contend are no longer at their registered address. There are so many challenges that election officials have yet to even count them all. But Zach Manifold, Gwinnett’s election supervisor, said that, in every single mail ballot complaint the office has sampled, the voter properly received a mailed ballot. But if any of the address-challenged voters do try to cast a ballot in November, the county’s elections board will need to decide whether that vote should count. They’ll only have six days to make a decision, as they have to certify their vote total by the Monday after Election Day under Georgia law. Manifold estimated his office has a month to log and research the challenges, before mail ballots go out for the November elections: “It is a tight window to get everything done,” he said. Many of the large counties facing voter roll challenges are places where President Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020, including Gwinnett and Harris. Yet those behind the effort dispute the notion that they are targeting Democratic-leaning counties and say they’re working on behalf of all voters. In Florida’s Nassau County, for example, Trump won with more than 72% of the vote. “They should be glad that the voter rolls are being cleaned up so they can make sure their votes count,” said Garland Favorito, a conservative activist who has teamed up with supporters of Trump’s election lies and is helping with voter challenges in Georgia. Favorito said more challenges are coming in other Georgia counties. Under legislation passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, there are no limits on the number of voter challenges that can be filed in Georgia. Most states implicitly set restraints on challenges, said Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center. They require a complainant to have specific, personal information about the voters they target and establish penalties for making frivolous challenges. Florida is an example. Its voter challenge law only permits the filing of challenges 30 days before an election, requiring election officials to contact each voter challenged before Election Day. It is a misdemeanor to file a “frivolous” challenge. But voter challenges almost derailed Florida’s primary last month in heavily-Republican Nassau County, in the northeastern part of the state. Two women who belonged to a conservative group, County Citizens Defending Freedom, dropped off the nearly 2,000 challenges at the county elections office six days before the Aug. 23 primary. Luckily for the office, the challenges were filed in an incorrect format. Elections Supervisor Janet Adkins told the activists they would review them, anyway — after the primary. “To take away a person’s right to vote is a very serious thing,” Adkins said. Read More…

'Shootings, Stabbings, Rapes, Carjackings.' Trump Brings Roadshow To Ohio, Trashes America https://digitalalabamanews.com/shootings-stabbings-rapes-carjackings-trump-brings-roadshow-to-ohio-trashes-america/ “We no longer have a border. Our country is being invaded. It’s an invasion by millions of illegal aliens… The economy is crashing. Your 401(k) is collapsing,” the former president told an Ohio crowd If you ask the former president, America is in ruins. “We no longer have a border. Our country is being invaded. It’s an invasion by millions of illegal aliens,” Donald Trump said at his Saturday night rally, using the Great Replacement Theory’s racist “invasion” language, favored by violent white nationalists. “The economy is crashing. Your 401(k) is collapsing,” Trump told the crowd. “Shooting, stabbings, rapes, carjackings are skyrocketing.” Trump delivered his speech, which started 45 minutes late, byspewing hate to an enthusiastic crowd in Youngstown, Ohio. Trump is in the state to campaign for Senate candidate J.D. Vance, who he endorsed and whose campaign recently required an urgent cash bailout. “J.D. is kissing my ass,” Trump said. “He wants my support so bad!” But, per usual, Trump spent more time talking about himself and positioning himself as a victim of an “unhinged persecution” than building up the candidates he is there to support. He complained that Jan. 6 witnesses are compelled to turn on him. “They take good people and they say, ‘You’re going to jail for 10 years … unless you say something bad about Trump. In which case you won’t have to go to jail,’” he said. And Trump whined that he left a “very luxurious and enjoyable life” to enter politics. Trump: From the moment I left my very luxurious and enjoyable life, I had such a nice life. Now they wanted to say, let’s go get this guy. They’ve been trying for six years. They haven’t made it. We’re not going to let it happen. pic.twitter.com/EnzBw3AIkT — Acyn (@Acyn) September 18, 2022 Trump believes his supporters are being jailed for five to ten years because they refuse to say something bad about him. No, Donald, they are being jailed because they broke the law. pic.twitter.com/AyKEYlF9nE — The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) September 18, 2022 Trump later pulled out another of his favorite talking points, painting himself as the victim of government spying. “They spied on my campaign. And nobody wants to do anything about it. Can you imagine if I spied on the campaign of — forget Biden — how about Obama’s campaign? Can you imagine what [the penalty] would be? Maybe it would be death. They’d bring back the death penalty,” Trump said. Later, Trump endorsed punishing drug dealers and human traffickers with the death penalty. The former president also complained that Biden released crude from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve to reduce gas prices, claiming it is used “only for war” and apparently forgetting that he himself once tapped into the strategic reserve for the exact same reason. “I don’t know if we’ve had a more radicalized or dangerous time in our country,” Trump said. Returning to his argument that America is falling apart, the former president zealously recited the details of gruesome crimes allegedly committed by immigrants. The hate continued when Trump mocked trans women in sports. Before Trump’s speech, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) helped warm the crowd up and declared him the “one true leader” of the GOP. “The future under Republicans… loyally follows the one true leader of the Republican Party and you know who that is,” she said before injecting election fraud lies. “He’s the one we elected in 2016 and the one we re-elected in 2020, who won the election.” Fresh off appearing to kick a climate activist on video (she denies this), Greene scoffed at Democrats’ concerns about climate change. “We know that cheap gas won’t last,” she told the crowd. “You want to know why? Democrats worship the climate. We worship God.” Trump bashed the Green New Deal as well, calling it “destructive” and “bullshit.” “I can’t think of a word that describes it better,” he said. Also in the pre-Trump lineup: GOP congressional candidate J.R. Majewski, who has bragged that he was at the “base of the Capitol building” on Jan. 6 but claims he “committed no crimes” and “broke no police barriers.” Majewski in his speech said “my pronouns are patriot ass kicker” and promised to “turn that Green New Deal brown, like the turd it is.” MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell made an appearance in the afternoon where he claimed he “prayed” for then-Democratic Senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to win their elections in Jan. 2021 because if a Republican had won one of those seats, “most people in the country” would not believe his and Trump’s absurd claims that widespread “election crime” was taking place in the U.S. Mike Lindell spoke for 1 hour and 26 minutes minutes straight outside the Trump rally in OH today. Here, he says he prayed to God for Warnock and Ossoff to win their Senate races, because that proved to people once and for all that elections were rigged. pic.twitter.com/21FOuSiORE — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 17, 2022 The FBI this week seized Lindell’s phone while the pillow magnate was in line at a Hardee’s drive-thru. Trump, meanwhile, continues to fight the Justice Department’s search of his Mar-a-Lago compound and Georgia’s election interference prosecution alongside a host of other legal woes. “We are a nation in decline,” Trump said toward the conclusion of the rally. As he spoke, dramatic classical strings music swelled in the background (yes, seriously), giving the moment a cinematic propaganda feel. Read More…

DeWayne McBride’s Career Outing Powers UAB To 35-21 Win Over Georgia Southern https://digitalalabamanews.com/dewayne-mcbrides-career-outing-powers-uab-to-35-21-win-over-georgia-southern/ UAB running back DeWayne McBride had an inauspicious debut to the 2022 season and released the full brunt of his wrath onto an unsuspecting Georgia Southern defense. Angry and livid, McBride ran as if he intended to pull all of the pain and frustration from his body and inject it into every defender that saw the soles of his cleats as he left them in shambles on the turf. “I love contact, anytime I get a chance to run the ball,” McBride said. “Let’s play football, I’m ready.” McBride put together a career outing in his second appearance this season and fueled the Blazers in their 35-21 victory over Georgia Southern, Saturday, Sept. 17, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham. RELATED: Instant analysis of UAB’s 35-21 win over Georgia Southern The junior running back finished with a career-high 223 yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 8.0 yards per attempt and manufacturing seven runs of more than 10 yards, and was responsible for 54 percent of UAB’s offensive output (413 yards) and 77.4 percent of its rushing production (288 yards). However, his relentless running style and determination are what impresses the UAB coaching staff when evaluating his performance. “Dwayne’s effort, every single day in practice, every game, he gives this football team everything he’s got,” UAB interim head coach Bryant Vincent said. “Like I said after the (Liberty) game, (I) have 100 percent confidence in Dwayne McBride and Jermaine Brown. He’s (McBride) the same guy this week — unbelievable every single day and he came out with a purpose to help his team. He’s a team player, we’re about the team, and I couldn’t be more proud of DeWayne McBride and his effort and what he feels and how he loves his teammates.” McBride, or Debo as he is affectionately known, missed the season opener against Alabama A&M, due to illness, but made his debut last week at Liberty. He rushed for 177 yards and scored but fumbled twice in the game, including one inside the Liberty 10-yard line. A muffed punt return and Jermaine Brown fumble stole four possessions from the UAB offense in the loss, but the defense rose up to not allow any points directly off the turnovers while forcing one late in the game to give the Blazers a final chance to pull off the win. “We go up to Liberty we play our tails off, we fight from the first play to the last play and turnovers set us back,” Vincent said. “But we never blinked. We stuck together and let that adversity strengthen us. And when we saw Georgia Southern beat Nebraska, it got us more focused and more excited to welcome them to Protective Stadium.” McBride got off to a hot start and never relaxed throughout the game. He carried the ball seven times for 35 yards and a touchdown on UAB’s initial possession and toted the rock three times for 57 yards and a score on the second possession of the second quarter. In the first half alone, McBride had 15 rushing attempts for 109 yards and two touchdowns. “It felt good, I felt it in warmups and my team was ready,” McBride said. I got to give a shout-out to the offensive line, they were moving boys off the ball today and we came out ready. I know when you see the hole, you got to hit it. We got each other’s backs, no matter the adversity.” McBride’s brutality was not compromised in the second half and broke off a 47-yard gain to open the third quarter. The drive eventually stalled, resulting in a missed field-goal attempt by Matt Quinn, and the Blazers went cold on its next two possessions. UAB got back on track at the end of the third frame, marching to the 27-yard line as time expired in the quarter. McBride had four carries for 29 yards at that point in the drive and capped it on the first play of the fourth quarter with a 27-yard touchdown run. McBride not only bounced off would-be tacklers, but he also bulldozed through them while churning his Redwood-sized thighs behind immense power and momentum. Georgia Southern managed to pull within 28-21 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, but Tyler Taylor pulled down the Blazers’ second interception of the game at the Eagles’ 33-yard line. Hopkins gained 17 yards down to the 4-yard line on a naked bootleg and McBride finished dessert with his final touchdown of the game, a 4-yard plunge into the end zone to give the Blazers a 35-21 lead late in the final frame. Georgia Southern quarterback Kyle Vantrease’s third interception of the day, picked off by Keondre Swoopes, was the final nail in the coffin for the Eagles. “When your teammates see you give that extra effort for them, for each other, over and over again, it inspires them,” Vincent said. “We feed off each other and we have each other’s back and we love each other. All it does is help us get to that next level and that next step. Dwayne’s effort, over and over and over again, is what we’re all about.” Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Read More…

As Massive Storm Batters Alaska Coastal Towns, Residents Are Evacuated, Widespread Flooding Reported https://digitalalabamanews.com/as-massive-storm-batters-alaska-coastal-towns-residents-are-evacuated-widespread-flooding-reported-2/ Alaska braces for strongest storm in years Alaska braces for strongest storm in years 00:15 A massive, potentially record-breaking storm brought major flooding and damage to coastal towns in Alaska Saturday, and some residents were evacuated. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he “verbally declared” a disaster for communities impacted by the storm. The center of the storm was making its way up the Bering Strait Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.  On Alaska’s western coast, the towns of Nome, Hooper Bay, Skaktoolik, Kotlik and Nunam Iqua were all hit hard by the storm, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF).  The governor said on Twitter that there had been no reported injuries as of Saturday morning. “We will continue to monitor the storm and update Alaskans as much as possible,” he tweeted. A news briefing was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. local time Saturday night.  The state had also established an emergency operations center.  Rep. Mary Peltola also tweeted Saturday afternoon, asking that Alaskans “please be safe and seek shelter. It’s imperative we all look out for each other and keep each other safe. We will get through this, but stay safe.”   Flooding is seen in Golovin, Alaska, on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Heidi Varga In the town of Golovin, major flooding was reported early Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and forecasters warned it would only get worse. The town could see an additional 1 to 2 feet of water by the day’s end. The Old Golovin Airport was under water, according to ADOT&PF.  “Water is surrounding the school, homes and structures are flooded, at least a couple homes floating off the foundation, some older fuel tanks are tilted over,” the weather service’s office in Fairbanks tweeted. Photos from the weather service showed the high water levels there. Major flooding in Golovin this morning. Water is still expected to rise 1-2 feet by this afternoon Our thoughts are with the community. (photos courtesy C. Lewis) #akwx pic.twitter.com/BO63uN8dGL — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 Wales – the westernmost town in both Alaska and the U.S., located on the Bering Strait coast – was seeing flooding in “low lying areas,” the weather service reported. “Water levels will peak this afternoon with the high tide, then gradually fall through Sunday,” the weather service tweeted. Wales on the Bering Strait coast is starting to experience some flooding in low lying areas. Water levels will peak this afternoon with the high tide, then gradually fall through Sunday. Here are some photos from Wales taken by Joanne Keyes. Please stay safe out there. pic.twitter.com/zGk7zSVUwJ — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 Another town, Shaktoolik, reported coastal flooding, with water “entering the community and getting close to some homes,” according to the weather service. Residents there were evacuated to a school and clinic. Shaktoolik was also expected to see the worst of the storm later in the day. According to the weather service, the water level in Nome rose above 10 feet Saturday, and is expected to continue to rise. A very angry sea in Nome this morning. Waves and storm surge are pushing into the community, including along Front Street. Water levels are expected to peak this afternoon. Here is an image from the Port of Nome (courtesy of Alaska Ocean Observing System). pic.twitter.com/oX5XZPHIti — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 The weather service also shared footage from a webcam in Unalakleet, comparing an average day in the town against the scene there Saturday morning. Images from the FAA airport webcam in Unalakleet. One image shows a normal day, the other shows water inundating the area around the airport as of 8am this morning. Water levels will continue to rise another foot by this afternoon. #akwx pic.twitter.com/0tVjXy3dLv — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 As of Saturday afternoon, large swaths of the state’s western coast were under coastal flooding and high wind warnings. The weather service said flood warnings would remain in effect for several areas through Sunday night, while the wind warnings were expected to expire by Saturday night.  The weather service said the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta would see a “smaller surge” during high tide in the afternoon and evening hours Saturday. The “highest water levels are expected from Kipnuk north to Newtok,” the NWS tweeted. A coastal flood warning was extended for that region through 10 p.m. Saturday.   A massive storm hits Gambell, Alaska. Sept. 16, 2022.  Clarence Irrigoo Jr. Other portions of the state are under gale warnings, according to the weather service. The weather service shared peak reported wind gusts as of 8 a.m. local time — the highest recorded was 91 mph in Cape Romanzof. Several other towns, including Golovin, saw winds topping 60 mph. Here’s a view of the Bering Sea storm lit by moonlight just prior to sunrise (brightening on the right). It’s centered just south of the Bering Strait at this time. It was just over a half moon last night. Thankfully tides weren’t as high as they could have been. pic.twitter.com/sKoVAWOaBc — NWS Alaska Region (@NWSAlaska) September 17, 2022 The storm is the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, and forecasters predicted this week it could bring “potentially historical” flooding, with some coastal areas seeing water levels up to 11 feet higher than the normal high tide. In: Storm Flooding Alaska Sophie Reardon Sophie Reardon is a News Editor at CBS News. Reach her at sophie.reardon@viacomcbs.com Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. 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Matt Gaetz Wanted Preemptive Pardon In Sex Trafficking Probe, Report Says https://digitalalabamanews.com/matt-gaetz-wanted-preemptive-pardon-in-sex-trafficking-probe-report-says/ Representative Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. Credit: John Raoux / AP Aware that he was the target of a federal sex trafficking investigation, Rep. Matt Gaetz told a White House aide he’d asked former Trump administration chief of staff Mark Meadows about a preemptive pardon, according to The Washington Post. Gaetz, R-Fla., stated he had done nothing wrong, but allegedly said “If the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.” That claim was reportedly made during former aide Johnny McEntee’s testimony before the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. McEntee was cut loose by the Trump administration in 2018, then brought back in 2020 as Trump’s director of the office of presidential personnel. The Daily Beast reported in late August that multiple sources confirmed Gaetz, 40, was the subject of a methodical investigation revolving around underage sex trafficking charges. Allegations against the congressman, who has denied wrongdoing, came from a former “wingman,” who reportedly alerted Gaetz a female they’d solicited for sex was not of age. McEntee reportedly told lawmakers he believed that’s what Gaetz was referencing when he sought a pardon from Meadows. “I think that was the context, yes,” McEntee said. Whether Gaetz told McEntee of his request for a pardon before or after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory isn’t clear. The Justice Department investigation into Gaetz’s alleged sexual proclivities began late in Trump’s term as president. Trump and Gaetz have said the conservative lawmaker never directly asked the former president — to whom the congressman is slavishly loyal — for a pardon. In June, former Meadow’s aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified to the Jan. 6 committee that she recalled Gaetz lobbying for a “blanket pardon” for Trump acolytes who challenged transferring power to the 46th president’s administration. She could not speak specifically to Gaetz’s alleged request for amnesty. Former Trump administration White House lawyer Eric Herschmann gave testimony stating he believed Gaetz was angling for a broad pardon “for any and all things.” Gaetz has repeatedly claimed to be a victim of political persecution. Story by Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News Post navigation Read More…

Trump Was Invited To A Ceremony In Honor Of Queen Elizabeth To Be Held In Washington https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-was-invited-to-a-ceremony-in-honor-of-queen-elizabeth-to-be-held-in-washington/ Former President Donald Trump was invited by the British government to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which will be held in Washington, DC after the funeral in London was left out of the guest list. The invitation to the event describes it as a “celebration of thanksgiving for the life of her late Queen Elizabeth II”. Wire, On Thursday, invitations were sent to Trump and other living former presidents, including Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and their spouses. The ceremony will take place on Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral. The complex has previously hosted state funerals for four former US presidents: Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George HW Bush, as well as several funeral ceremonies. It has a capacity of around 1,700 people and is expected to be a full house for the event. The report said Prime Minister Liz Truss is unlikely to attend the ceremony at the cathedral in Washington. Hosted by the British Embassy in Washington, the ceremony is expected to be attended by senior members of the US Congress as well as dignitaries including all foreign ambassadors. A few days ago, President Joe Biden accepted an invitation to the Queen’s funeral in London. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the invitation was transmitted in the form of a diplomatic note from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office of Protocol Directorate on Saturday, and Biden accepted it a day later. “The invitation was given only to the President and the First Lady to the United States Government,” he explained. Following the announcement of the Queen’s death, Trump, who was invited on a state visit to the UK in 2019, praised her on his truth social platform. “Melania and I are deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Together with our family and fellow Americans, we send our deepest condolences to the Royal Family and the people of the United Kingdom during this time of grief and sorrow. ,” they wrote. “Melania and I will always cherish our time with the Queen, and we will never forget the Queen’s generous friendship, great wisdom and amazing sense of humour. What a great and beautiful woman she was, there was no one like her!” World Nation News Deskhttps://worldnationnews.com/ World Nation News is a digital news portal website. Which provides important and latest breaking news updates to our audience in an effective and efficient ways, like world’s top stories, entertainment, sports, technology and much more news. Read More…

Column | The Queen And I https://digitalalabamanews.com/column-the-queen-and-i/ Michael Reagan, Syndicated Columnist Originally Published: September 17, 2022 5:32 p.m. Some people over here in the former Colonies are complaining about all the heavy media coverage of the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Not me. I like watching history in real time, even if it’s coming by satellite from half a world away. I also enjoy seeing all the official pomp and ceremony surrounding the long and loving goodbye that the Queen is getting from 99.9 percent of her British subjects. I’m a devout small-r republican, not a monarchist. But whether you love the British form of government or hate it for being a relic of a primitive political age, Queen Elizabeth deserves her gigantic send-off and every second of the media attention she’ll get until her state funeral on Monday. She was a major historical figure of our time – an essentially symbolic but politically important leader of her country and its shrinking commonwealth. Everyone but a few leftist cranks agrees she did her job with great wisdom, dignity and grace for seven decades. As former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “… We understand the vital role she played, selflessly and calmly embodying the continuity and unity of our country.” It’s really shocking when you realize just how long Queen Elizabeth was a superstar on the world stage. When she began her reign in 1952, historic tough guys like Churchill, Stalin and Truman were still in charge. She lived for 96 years and ruled for 70 in a monarchy more than 1,000 years old; our country is only 256 years old. Thanks to my lucky life, I met Queen Elizabeth in LA in 1983 when she attended a dinner at 20th Century Fox studios. Watching her funeral on BBC was a great way to escape the non-stop politics of stupidity and division that Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats are practicing every day here at home. They have been calling Republicans and conservatives “racists, murderers, misogynists” and “domestic terrorists” for almost two years. Now, as they conduct their dirty campaign to use the DOJ and the FBI to prevent Donald Trump from running in 2024, they’ve added the word “fascists” to describe “MAGA Republicans.” Hopefully, come November the Democrats will be thrown out of the House and Senate and the country will be spared any further damage from their bad ideas and evil actions. Meanwhile, Biden and his hapless vice president can’t get out of their own clumsy way. Last weekend Kamala Harris was on TV insisting with a straight face that the southern border – which is a high-speed drug highway into America and is being crossed by about 2 million illegal immigrants a year from around the world – is “secure.” On Tuesday – as the stock market was falling 1,200 points on news that August’s inflation rate went up – Biden threw a party on the White House lawn to celebrate the passage of the fraudulently named Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. James Taylor was even hauled out of the basement of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Old Folks Home to sing “Fire and Rain,” a 1970 song about a friend’s suicide and his own heroin addiction. It was not such a smart idea to book Taylor, considering thousands of Americans are dying each year by overdosing on the fentanyl flowing in from Mexico across our secure border. But the entire inflation party was so tone-deaf it makes you wonder which of the Three Stooges is running the White House for Joe Biden. Lucky for us and the rest of the world, presidents like Biden only “rule” for eight years at most and their power is checked by Congress and the courts – at least in theory. We don’t have a royal family like the Brits that produces great leaders like Queen Elizabeth who hold “office” for life. It’s a good thing for America, too. Try to imagine the national suicide rate if we got stuck with a Queen Hillary or a Queen Nancy for 70 years. Read More…

The Best Images From Auburn's Loss To Penn State https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-best-images-from-auburns-loss-to-penn-state/ September 17, 2022 6:45 pm CT The highly anticipated matchup between Auburn and Penn State was quickly erased Saturday, as the host Tigers fell to their opponents from Pennsylvania, 41-12 on Saturday afternoon at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn trailed by just four points heading into halftime, 14-10. However, the Nittany Lions broke away in the 3rd quarter by outscoring Auburn, 17-0, to take a 31-6 lead into the final stanza. Buy Tigers Tickets Auburn cut into the lead on a 22-yard pass from Robby Ashford to running back Jarquez Hunter with 14:27 remaining in the game to make the score 31-12. The small amount of life that was brought back into Jordan-Hare Stadium was quickly taken away, as Penn State’s Nicholas Singleton rushed 54 yards on the ensuing possession to extend their lead to 38-12 at the 12:03 mark in the 4th. Auburn will now begin preparing for the SEC opener. The Tigers welcome Missouri to Jordan-Hare Stadium for an 11 a.m. CT next Saturday. Here are the best images from Auburn’s tough loss to Penn State: FTBL: FOOTBALL Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Owen Pappoe (0) blocks PSU during the game between Auburn… Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Owen Pappoe (0) blocks PSU during the game between Auburn and Penn State at Jordan-Hare Stadium . Todd Van Emst / AU Athletics Penn State v Auburn AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Linebacker Owen Pappoe #0 of the Auburn Tigers sacks quarterback Sean… AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Linebacker Owen Pappoe #0 of the Auburn Tigers sacks quarterback Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions and causes a fumble during the first half of play at Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) Penn St Auburn Football Auburn running back Tank Bigsby (4) carries the ball against Penn State during the first half… Auburn running back Tank Bigsby (4) carries the ball against Penn State during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) Penn St Auburn Football Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter (27) carries the ball as he tries to get past Penn… Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter (27) carries the ball as he tries to get past Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (9) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) throws a pass against… Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) throws a pass against the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports NCAA Football: Penn State at Auburn Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Tank Bigsby (4) carries against the… Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers running back Tank Bigsby (4) carries against the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser Auburn Tigers defensive back Nehemiah Pritchett (18) defends against Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver Mitchell… Auburn Tigers defensive back Nehemiah Pritchett (18) defends against Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver Mitchell Tinsley (5) as Auburn Tigers take on Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Aupsu05 Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) throws the ball as he is hit by Penn State… Auburn Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley (1) throws the ball as he is hit by Penn State Nittany Lions safety Jaylen Reed (7) as Auburn Tigers take on Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Aupsu06 Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser Auburn Tigers running back Tank Bigsby (4) tries to elude Penn State Nittany Lions defensive back… Auburn Tigers running back Tank Bigsby (4) tries to elude Penn State Nittany Lions defensive back Joey Porter Jr. (9) as Auburn Tigers take on Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Aupsu00 Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser Auburn Tigers wide receiver Shedrick Jackson (11) is stopped by Penn State Nittany Lions safety Jaylen… Auburn Tigers wide receiver Shedrick Jackson (11) is stopped by Penn State Nittany Lions safety Jaylen Reed (7) as Auburn Tigers take on Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Aupsu04 Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser Auburn Tigers wide receiver Shedrick Jackson (11) catches a pass as Auburn Tigers take on Penn… Auburn Tigers wide receiver Shedrick Jackson (11) catches a pass as Auburn Tigers take on Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Aupsu03 Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford (9) hands the ball to running back Tank Bigsby (4) as… Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford (9) hands the ball to running back Tank Bigsby (4) as Auburn Tigers take on Penn State Nittany Lions at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Aupsu07 Penn St Auburn Football Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford (9) carries the ball as he tries to get around Penn State… Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford (9) carries the ball as he tries to get around Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (9) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) Penn St Auburn Football Auburn quarterback T.J. Finley (1) rolls out to pass during the first half of an NCAA… Auburn quarterback T.J. Finley (1) rolls out to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Penn State, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) Penn St Auburn Football Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter (27) carries the ball as Penn State linebacker Tyler Elsdon (43)… Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter (27) carries the ball as Penn State linebacker Tyler Elsdon (43) and cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (9) defend during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) Penn St Auburn Football Auburn basketball player Dylan Cardwell shows off his SEC championship ring as he cheers during the… Auburn basketball player Dylan Cardwell shows off his SEC championship ring as he cheers during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Penn State, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) Penn State v Auburn AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Quarterback T.J. Finley #1 of the Auburn Tigers scrambles and escapes… AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Quarterback T.J. Finley #1 of the Auburn Tigers scrambles and escapes a tackle by linebacker Dominic DeLuca #34 of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half of play at Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) 17 auburn 13 17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Landon King (14) before Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit:… 17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Landon King (14) before Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Todd Van Emst 17 auburn 14 17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Anders Carlson (26) kick before Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory… 17 09, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Anders Carlson (26) kick before Auburn vs Penn State Mandatory Credit: Todd Van Emst FTBL: FOOTBALL Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Derick Hall (29) makes the tackle during the game between… Sep 17, 2022; Auburn, AL, USA; Derick Hall (29) makes the tackle during the game between Auburn and Penn State at Jordan-Hare Stadium . Todd Van Emst / AU Athletics Penn State v Auburn AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Wide receiver Landen King #14 of the Auburn Tigers catches a… AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Wide receiver Landen King #14 of the Auburn Tigers catches a pass in front of cornerback Daequan Hardy #25 of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half of play at Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) Penn State v Auburn AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Running back Tank Bigsby #4 of the Auburn Tigers runs the… AUBURN, ALABAMA – SEPTEMBER 17: Running back Tank Bigsby #4 of the Auburn Tigers runs the ball by defensive tackle PJ Mustipher #97 of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half of play at Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 17, 2022 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) Read More…

Democrats Doubt Biden Will Run For Reelection In 2024 https://digitalalabamanews.com/democrats-doubt-biden-will-run-for-reelection-in-2024/ US President Joe Biden, who was the oldest individual to be inaugurated when he was sworn in January 2021, is telling everyone he plans to run for reelection in 2024, but most Democrats aren’t sure he will follow through on that plan. Biden, who has suffered a dip in his job approval ratings in recent months, has been telling advisers and staff he plans to run again in 2024. Biden would be 82 at the start of his second term if reelected. Cedric Richmond, the former Democratic lawmaker and Biden White House official, said definitively the plan is on when it comes to Biden and 2024. “He’s running and we’re building an infrastructure for him to run and win,” Richmond told NBC this week. “Right now, it’s all an early investment in 2024 while we’re helping 2022.” However, a number of Democrats have cast their doubts. If Democrats lose the House but keep the Senate majority, will Biden decide to stick with his stated plans and be the party’s nominee? Democrats are talking behind the scenes, and talking about the possibilities, debating the pros and cons of a Biden run. “I think a lot of the mystery is we’re all beholden to the never-ending political news cycle, and Trump announced for reelection like three minutes after taking office, but it’s not unusual for a president to be waiting until after the midterms to announce,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale, urging Democrats to stay calm. “I think a lot of people who were speculating about him not running were bed wetting because of insanely far out poll numbers and/or have a different preferred candidate, but every indication seems to me he’s running,” he said. Biden said in June he “would not be disappointed” to face Trump in a rematch. Last week, Vice President Harris also reiterated that view. “The president has been very clear that he intends to run again,” she told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And if he does, I will be running with him proudly.” A majority of Democratic voters say Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, according to a new poll. A USA Today-Ipsos poll found that 56 percent of Democratic voters oppose Biden’s reelection bid.  The online survey was conducted Aug 18-22. Sixty percent of Democrats said they believe Biden can gain a victory if he does contest the election in 2024. Whereas, 59 percent think former President Donald Trump “deserves reelection” and should be the Republican nominee. An incredible 82 percent of Republican voters think Trump could win the 2024 election. Biden has been under attack for his advanced age from Republicans. Former US Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley has even suggested that aged politicians in the American government should undergo a “cognitive test.” According to another recent poll, Biden is the least popular US president in decades with 59 percent of Americans believing his performance has been poor and 45 percent “strongly disapproving” of the Democratic president’s leadership in the past two years. Biden and his team have been denying official reports indicating that the US economy is in a state of recession. Read More…

Matt Gaetz Sought Preemptive Pardon In Sex Traffic Probe: Report https://digitalalabamanews.com/matt-gaetz-sought-preemptive-pardon-in-sex-traffic-probe-report/ Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told a former White House aide that he sought a preemptive presidential pardon in a sex trafficking investigation, according to testimony before members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, The Washington Post reported Saturday. A probe launched in the waning days of the Trump administration is reportedly still seeking to determine if Gaetz broke federal law by allegedly recruiting women online for paid sex, including a teenager. He has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. Some of the alleged interactions with women occurred with the help of former Gaetz “wingman” Joel Greenberg. The one-time Seminole County tax collector pleaded guilty last year to six crimes, including trafficking a minor. He has been cooperating with federal investigators, and turned over “years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos,” ABC News reported last year. Johnny McEntee, a White House aide, recently testified that Gaetz told him he sought a presidential pardon from former President Donald Trump’s then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the trafficking investigation, sources familiar with the testimony told the Post. McEntee recounted that Gaetz told him “he did not do anything wrong, but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great,” the Post reported. Gaetz didn’t specify that it was the Justice Department conducting the probe, but McEntee said he assumed that was the investigation he was referring to, the Post reported. The testimony is the first linking Gaetz to a specific request for a pardon in the trafficking probe, the outlet noted. The Jan. 6 panel revealed this summer that Gaetz was among at least five Republican lawmakers who sought broad pardons from Trump to protect them from potential insurrection crimes investigations might uncover. Neither McEntee nor Meadows responded to the Post’s request for comment. A representative for Gaetz pointed out that the Republican lawmaker never asked Trump directly for a pardon, but did not comment on a request submitted through Meadows. Gaetz “discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Post. “As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.’” Read the entire Washington Post story here. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related… Trump Dangles ‘Full Pardons’ For Jan. 6 Defendants If He’s Reelected Matt Gaetz, Under Federal Investigation For Sex Trafficking, Wins His GOP Primary Matt Gaetz’s GOP Opponent Releases Ad Suggesting He’s The Mar-A-Lago Informant Report: Matt Gaetz Told Roger Stone ‘Big Guy’ Would Likely Get Him Off Read More…

Castelli Emphasizes Moderate Views In Fulton County – The Daily Gazette https://digitalalabamanews.com/castelli-emphasizes-moderate-views-in-fulton-county-the-daily-gazette/ Saturday, September 17, 2022 When credibility matters Fulton County BROADALBIN — Matt Castelli, the Democratic and Moderate Party candidate for New York’s 21st Congressional District, put his commitment to bipartisanship and defending abortion rights in states like New York from a proposed federal ban front-and-center during his speech at the Fulton County Democratic Party picnic Saturday. “Folks are tired of the divisiveness, they’re tired of the extremes and they’re looking for a moderate — they’re looking for somebody who’s going to bring us together to get stuff done,” Castelli said. “So, we’re really focused on making sure we’re in a position to fight to reduce costs for working families and seniors and improve our economy. We’re focused on defending our personal freedoms, like a woman’s right to choose, as well as the 2nd Amendment. We’re focused on making sure we’re in a position to ensure the safety and the security of every single American by full funding our law enforcement, making sure we’re securing our borders, making sure we’re supporting our military and our veterans.” Castelli’s points of emphasis echo the Moderate Party platform he released this past Monday that emphasized “Safety & Security” issues like funding for law enforcement and border security, issues usually emphasized by Republicans. His speech in heavily-Republican Fulton County came four days after U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Saratoga, was one of 86 members of the House of Representatives who signed on as cosponsors of the House version of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed 15-week nationwide abortion ban, dubbed the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act. In a news release, Castelli blasted Stefanik’s endorsement of the bill. “Elise Stefanik has sold out women by supporting this vast government overreach, and is completely out of step with the voters of NY-21 who don’t want the government in our bedrooms or our medical exam rooms,” he said in the release. “These politicians need to stay the hell out of where they don’t belong and stop regulating women’s bodies.” Stefanik, who is also running on the Conservative Party line for the November election, became Chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-ranking GOP congressional rep after former conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, lost support among the House GOP for her unwillingness to defend former President Donald Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Since then, Stefanik’s role in the House has coincided with more overtly partisan rhetoric like her embrace of the “ultra-MAGA” label President Joe Biden has applied to the most extreme Republican supporters of Trump. Castelli, a former independent who served in the CIA and as a Director of Counterterrorism under both President Barack Obama and Trump, has sought to emphasis his willingness to support the rule of law and federal law enforcement officials like FBI agents against what he’s characterized as the increasingly dangerous radicalism of “ultra-MAGA” Republicans, including Trump himself. and his willingness to take possession of Top secret documents that can place at risk the lives of people who helped obtain that information for the U.S. as well as his post social media posts criticizing specific FBI agents by name. Stefanik, in previous congresses ,scored high on the Lugar Center’s ranking of congressional members bipartisanship. The Lugar score is based on having cosponsored legislation with members of the opposing party. For the 116th Congress, serving from 2019 to 2020, Stefanik ranked 13th out of all 435 representatives in the House for bipartisanship, higher than her rankings in the prior two congressional terms, when she was 19th and 14th respectively. The Fulton County Democratic Party picnic was an almost bipartisan event itself, with speeches given by Republicans Sheriff Richard Giardino, Acting District Attorney Amanda Nellis, GOP candidate for district attorney and Johnstown City Attorney Michael Poulin, Gloversville City Court Judge Traci DiMezza and her challenger former Gloversville City Attorney John Clo. Many elections in Republican-dominated Fulton County — typically those for sheriff, district attorney and many judge races — feature no Democratic Party candidate, paradoxically putting the Democratic vote in play during general elections between GOP-endorsed candidates and registered Republican candidates running on independent lines. Giardino, who rankled many Democrats and moderates for his strong stance against social gathering mandates from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the holiday season in 2020, struck a bipartisan tone during his speech emphasizing how political parties must play no role in how laws are enforced, prosecuted or in how court cases are judged in the judicial system. He praised Democratic state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s nonpartisan approach to his job after DiNapoli spoke at the picnic. “In my capacity as a sheriff we frequently reach out to his office to get support for our investigative units and council’s office and they never say ‘Well, are you a Republican sheriff or a Democratic sheriff?’, and I think that that’s something to emulate, and I try to do the same with our office,” Giardino said. “I come every year [to the Democratic Party picnic] because I feel very strongly that because I’ve been given the opportunity to serve by the people of this community to serve as district attorney, judge and sheriff — no one lese in New York has ever done all three — and obviously I couldn’t do all of that with just one party, and I feel it’s important with every job I’ve had to serve everyone in this community.” More from The Daily Gazette: Categories: Fulton Montgomery Schoharie, News, News Read More…

Ukrainian Strikes Into Russia’s Border Towns Compound Putin’s Troubles https://digitalalabamanews.com/ukrainian-strikes-into-russias-border-towns-compound-putins-troubles/ After a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the northeast of the country, the messy war that Russian President Vladimir Putin started is now being fought directly on his doorstep, with artillery strikes hitting military targets in Russia and Russian officials in cities and towns along the border ordering hasty evacuations. On Saturday, a new round of strikes hit the Belgorod region in Western Russia, killing at least one person and wounding two. On Friday, Ukraine reportedly struck the base of the Russian 3rd Motorized Rifle Division near Valuyki, just nine miles north of the Russia—Ukraine border. Russian officials did not acknowledge that a military target was hit but said one civilian died, and the local electrical grid experienced a temporary disruption. Russia blamed the attacks on Ukraine, but Kyiv did not claim responsibility for striking targets in Russian territory. Kyiv has assured U.S. officials that donated weapons would not be used to strike targets inside Russia proper. But Ukrainian forces are now so close to the border that they can hit targets using their own less-advanced weaponry. That Russian citizens are starting to seriously feel the impact of the war directly is another new source of pressure on Putin, who returned home this weekend from a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan where he faced a remarkable public rebuke by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questions about the war from Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a stunning public rebuke, Modi told Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.” That followed an acknowledgment by Putin that he had heard “concerns and questions” about the war from the Chinese president. Ukraine has made stunning advances in the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of the country, in the past two weeks. During its advances, it has also uncovered hundreds of mass graves and stories of Russian forces terrorizing residents in the liberated city of Izyum. Ukrainian officials have cited the gains and the evidence of torture and killings to reiterate pleas for modern battle tanks and other heavily armored vehicles which NATO allies have been slow to send. Valuyki and Krasny Khutor are among dozens of small settlements in Russia that the Russian military uses as a staging ground, putting them in the middle of Moscow’s faltering invasion and Kyiv’s mounting counteroffensive. The local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has ordered the evacuation of hundreds of people and shut down schools in border towns over the past months. But now the authorities in Belgorod are under increasing pressure from unnerved residents who are experiencing what many Ukrainians have lived with for months: nighttime explosions, destroyed homes and sometimes casualties. “I’m asking once again, where is our army, the one that must be protecting us?” Belgorod resident Tatyana Bogacheva wrote on Gladkov’s VKontakte social media page. “We are on the border; they are shooting at us, so we need an army and protection. Who will wake up the President?” Russian forces have been depleted after battlefield blunders and are scrambling to find personnel and working equipment to hold their ground in northeastern Ukraine. A recent hasty retreat from Izyum and Balakliya as well as concerns among local Russians who fear the war is coming home appear to have prompted Moscow to reinforce the border with young conscripts. Russian soldiers who had been conscripted to serve in the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the Taman Division as part of this year’s spring draft are reportedly being transferred from the Moscow region to “protect the state border.” The BBC Russian Service, citing the families of troops, reported that many conscripts in the Taman Division had died at the beginning of the invasion and those who survived were returned to the Russian territory. But instead of returning to headquarters in Naro-Fominsk near Moscow, they were stationed in Valuyki. The new group of conscripts is supposed to replace those who are due to be demobilized in October, the BBC said. According to Russian laws, conscripts can’t be sent into battle unless they have at least four months of training. Putin has repeatedly denied that Russia is using conscripts in Ukraine. But the country’s defense ministry acknowledged as early as March that some had been mistakenly sent to fight. Russia’s problems along the border are drawing criticism from staunch pro-Kremlin quarters inside Ukraine as well. “I am curious whether the Russian leadership is going to somehow react to the constant shelling of Russian territory?” Igor Girkin, a hard-line former commander of separatists in Ukraine, lamented in his Telegram blog. “Or do I understand correctly that the Kremlin no longer considers the Belgorod region to be the territory of Russia?” The war also appears to be weakening Russia’s capacity to put out fires to the south, in the region the Kremlin has long considered its backyard. This week, for example, Armenia sought Russia’s help amid a renewed Azerbaijani attack on its border towns, according to the country’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, who formally appealed to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a regional security alliance of post-Soviet states, including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. But the response so far has been slow and tepid, perhaps undermining Armenia’s trust in Moscow as an ally and in the CSTO as a reliable security broker. Azerbaijan is not part of the CSTO but is backed by Turkey, an essential mediator in the Ukrainian war. Azerbaijan accused Armenia of “provocations” in the border area, something Yerevan denies. More than 200 officers have been killed on both sides this week, in what turned into the deadliest confrontation since the six-week war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. On Friday, in a face-to-face meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev said the border conflict had “stabilized,” and a cease fire had been in place for the last three days. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she plans to make a weekend visit to Armenia. War in Ukraine: What you need to know The latest: Grain shipments from Ukraine are gathering pace under the agreement hammered out by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had sent food prices soaring and raised fears of more hunger in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed. The fight: The conflict on the ground grinds on as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pummel Ukrainian forces, which have sometimes been able to put up stiff resistance. In the south, Ukrainian hopes rest on liberating the Russia-occupied Kherson region, and ultimately Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remain as both sides accuse each other of shelling it. The weapons: Western supplies of weapons are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike farther behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. Russia has used an array of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts. Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war — here’s some of their most powerful work. How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. can help support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating. Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video. Read More…

Instant Analysis: UAB's McBride Runs Amok; Defense Shines In 35-21 Win Over Georgia Southern https://digitalalabamanews.com/instant-analysis-uabs-mcbride-runs-amok-defense-shines-in-35-21-win-over-georgia-southern/ DeWayne McBride and the defensive secondary for the UAB football team were not as impressed with a Power 5 road upset as the rest of us in keeping the second-ranked offense in the nation off the field and in its head. The Blazers rolled up more than 400 yards of offense, including 288 yards on the ground, as they held on for a 35-21 victory over Georgia Southern, Saturday, Sept. 17, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham. Dylan Hopkins was his usual efficient self, completing 12-of-19 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown while giving up zero turnovers in the game. Tejhaun Palmer and T.J. Jones once again led the receiving effort, combining for 53 yards on 5 receptions, and tight end Terrell McDonald had 2 catches for 6 yards and a score. Defensively, UAB allowed the Eagles to gain 418 total yards and convert 11-of-20 third-down conversions, but collected 3 tackles for loss and forced 3 turnovers. Noah Wilder led the unit with a career-high 18 tackles and Mac McWilliams added 6 tackles and 3 pass breakups. That’s My End Zone DeWayne “Debo” McBride had an impressive debut last week at Liberty, amassing 177 yards and a score, but fumbled twice in the eventual 21-14 loss. The junior running back kept a vice grip on the ball against Georgia Southern and produced his third straight 100-yard rushing performance, dating back to UAB’s 31-28 upset of No. 13 BYU in the 2021 Independence Bowl. In the first half alone, McBride carried the ball 15 times for 109 yards and scored two touchdowns, a 1-yard plunge to open the scoring and a 31-yard run to give the Blazers a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. UAB finished the first half with 129 rushing yards and 6.1 yard average per rush. McBride kept the ball rolling throughout the game, taking off for a 47-yard run on the first play of the second half and adding 114 yards and two scores for yet another dominant performance for the Blazers. He finished with 28 carries for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns and more than made up for his two costly fumbles last week. The Blazers rushed for 288 total yards against Georgia Southern with Jermaine “Skull” Brown Jr. adding 42 yards on 11 attempts and Hopkins and Lee Witherspoon combining for 24 yards. Flak Attack Georgia Southern entered the game as the second-ranked offense in the country (573.0 ypg), including a passing attack that was ranked fourth (388.0 ypg) but unable to consistently move the ball against the UAB defense. Kyle Vantrease finished 24-of-50 passing for 204 yards and a touchdown, against 3 interceptions, and was 7-of-14 for 57 yards on third down, converting six times in the game. The Eagles average 51 pass attempts per game and played to that trend with 23 attempts in the first half. However, Georgia Southern was held to only 83 yards through the air, amassing 158 total yards, and converted 6-of-11 third downs in the first two quarters. Of their 83 total plays, the Eagles had only eight amount for more than 15 yards. Despite the lack of consistency in the passing game, Georgia Southern found success in its rushing attack. The Eagles produced 214 yards on 33 carries, highlighted by a 71-yard touchdown run by Jalen White late in the third quarter. Playing Clean The Blazers were the second most penalized team last season while ringing up the most penalty yardage in the nation simultaneously. That trend continued against Georgia Southern as the Blazers were called for seven infractions that resulted in a loss of 68 yards, including four holding calls on the offense but only one personal foul on the defense. UAB gave up four turnovers last week in its 21-14 loss at Liberty but secured the ball in its home victory over the Eagles. The Blazers did not give up a turnover and forced three of their own with a Jaylen Key interception in the third quarter, a Tyler Taylor pick in the final frame and an interception by Keondre Swoopes to seal the game on Georgia Southern’s final offensive possession. Somewhat Special Teams Before entering Saturday’s game against Georgia Southern, UAB placekicker Matt Quinn had made two consecutive 50-yard field goals, a career-long 52-yard make against BYU to cap the 2021 season and a 51-yard kick against Alabama A&M in the 2022 season opener. The junior had made 23-of-29 attempts before Saturday, including a 6-of-7 mark from less than 30 yards and an 8-of-10 performance from beyond 40 yards. However, Quinn uncharacteristically missed a 21-yard and 24-yard attempt in the second half of UAB’s win over the Eagles. On a brighter note, despite Quinn’s less-than-envious day, Kyle Greenwell averaged 47 yards per punt, including a long of 55 yards, and Reese Burkhardt nailed five touchbacks on six kickoffs. Mac McWilliams and Starling Thomas each had a punt return of more than 20 yards in the second half. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. Read More…

Column: Padres Looking Like Team That Could Be Headed For Cabo In October https://digitalalabamanews.com/column-padres-looking-like-team-that-could-be-headed-for-cabo-in-october/ Sez Me … The Padres can be a hard, frustrating follow. Far too often, I feel as though I’m binge-watching C-SPAN with pink eye. I can see them playing in the middle of Baseball October. But somewhere sunny. Relaxing. Cabo, maybe. Cancun. French Riviera. The Maldives. Maui. Maybe a fictional paradise — I wanna say, Bali Hai. No major league ballparks in those destinations. And that’s if they make the wild-card playoffs, so they could be bagging rays and catching some tasty waves earlier in the month. As of this moment, that if can be seen from Alpha Centauri. I’ve read every Padres who-done-it-wrong since 1969, but this team is their greatest mystery. And, in their life, they have finished above .500 12 times — not once since 2010 (70 in COVID year). For more than a half-century, they have been bad, semi-bad, OK, near-good, or good. Never great. The 2022 Pads have a poorly drawn map and have been all over it. Consider: The Pads couldn’t buy a hit with runners in scoring position at a penny arcade. They continuously strike out looking. Embarrassing. Their starting pitching (with the exception of Yu Darvish and occasional Blake Snell brilliance) has been spotty. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s misbehavior has cost them firepower and speed by getting caught with his hand in the apothecary jar and suspended 81 games after Evel Knievel-ing himself into a well-hidden broken wrist in the Dominican. Juan Soto was supposed to be the next Ted Williams. He got here and couldn’t hit with Ted if they played together at Hoover High. Josh Bell, same thing. After an awful start, maybe closer Josh Hader is coming around. The Brandon Drury acquisition has worked. Given all this, being well above .500 at this point in September and in wild-card contention would seem improbable. But it is probable. A good chance remains, and I have a hunch they’re going to crawl into the playoffs anyway because they aren’t being chased by Man o’ War. Anyway, it all came to a head Thursday evening in Arizona, where they regurgitated all over the field during their most embarrassing loss of the season. It prompted an angry Bob Melvin to say: “Didn’t even look like we put up a fight.” Those are damning words from a veteran manager, but at least he prompted a team chemistry meeting. The lab was blown up. If that ignited a Bunsen burner under them is a guess for a higher authority. Who’s to blame, the manager? Melvin has been to more rodeos than Roy Rogers. As with any manager, he’s made mistakes. But he only can play the guys he has. Can he hit for them? Throw out somebody trying to steal a base? Make bad pitches to nobodies? Provide every batter with a good eye? This team is constructed by General Manager A.J. Preller, who has had good intentions, while using enormous amounts of Peter Seidler’s money and turning over once-fertile farmland. His hedge fund isn’t paying off. If this team doesn’t make the playoffs, Seidler has some serious decisions to make. He’s spent hundreds of millions on a vehicle that spends too much time in the shop. One positive: If they do make the playoffs, they won’t have to face a rookie Arizona pitcher Sandy Koufax-ing them in his first big-time fling. … The Padres are a knife and the Dodgers are a gunfight. … How much does the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, baseball’s Ralph Lauren, enjoy the Pads’ City Connect duds? “It’s easier to hit when you’re not staring at highlighted sherbet jerseys.” Amazing thing about The NFL Team That Used To Be Here: Their greatest quarterbacks have been tough guys. Justin Herbert is armored, his own irresistible force meeting his own irresistible object. … Fortunately for the Judases, Herbert didn’t get a pain shot in his ribs. … But I’m reading a cracked rib heals faster than cracked rib cartilage. Most carnivores have no problems with ribs in Kansas City. … Memo to Gerald Everett: Next time, take a futbol dive. … Never, Ever Hear: Mike McCarthy says OC Kellen Moore has to be smarter in certain situations. Mike, you don’t have a say? … Meanwhile, also in Dallas, Jerry “Rice” Jones says CeeDee Lamb has to make plays when doubled and covered. … Nebraska has fired expensive football coach Scott Frost. If interim Mickey Joseph gets the permanent job — which history deems impossible (read on) — he will be the first Black head coach in Cornhuskers history. In any sport. … Freshman Broncos coach Nathanial Hackett, borrowing from the late Marty Schottenheimer: “I thought we had a great fourth-and-64 play.” … Hackett swallowed an olive in his premiere and gagged. … “Looking back,” Hindsight Hackett said a day later, “we should have gone for it.” You don’t think GM or Walmart owner changed his mind, do you? … Since 1961, NFL kickers trying 64-yard-plus field goals are 2-41. … It’s OK. I invented clock management. I’ve changed my mind. If I were a billionaire owner, I’d demand TWO assistants guiding head coaches on clock and replay management (because one may have been a former head coach). … Brett Favre made $140 million playing football, endorsements not included. In case you’re interested. … Chicago monsoon is a bad excuse for the Niners. Did the Bears play with umbrellas? … Kyle Shanahan is 8-28 when Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t his starting quarterback, 24-9 when he is. Quoting Rick Smith: “Just between you and me, there is a drop-off.” … Mike Trout is invisible, man. When they hang his plaque in Cooperstown, it will feature a likeness of Claude Rains. … Baseball is much more fun when you see an ump running his fingers through a pitcher’s hair, looking for a little dab of Brylcreem. … Know why catchers frame pitches? Because umpires can be duped. … Snapdragon Sun Haters: A whole lot of college stadiums don’t offer shade, including the Rose Bowl and L.A. Coliseum. … Tom Brady’s inspiration: In 1965, 59-year-old Satchel Paige threw three shutout innings for the Kansas City A’s vs. the Red Sox. Again, I do not understand. … Craig Thompson is finished as commissioner of the Mountain West, the soft spot between a hard place, and you know, a rock. … I’ve been with this company 51 years. That’s many paychecks, many dollars into Social Security. My money. Not the government’s. … There are “people” holding and running for office in this country Al Capone would find unstable. … Ham & Eggers: Our trash pickup isn’t free. Taxes. … Earlier in this century, when Fredo Spanos wanted to build a new stadium and pay all costs for 60 acres of land, Councilwoman Donna Frye told me: “Mission Valley’s already too congested.” Been there lately? Still congesting. … If Donna thought the Valley needed a decongestant, wait until 10,000 people move into the Midway District. Vicks will build kiosks. … A Florida woman was arrested for calling two police precincts more than 12,000 times. The cutoff before incarceration for most stable states is five. … There were 559 scripted TV shows in 2021. Congratulations to the 20,000 Emmy voters who took the time to see each and every one. … Dear Twitterites: I hate your fantasy team. Don’t care. And I don’t need photos of your meals, either. … There I was, fast asleep, and the FBI seized my pillow. Read More…

As Massive Storm Batters Alaska Coastal Towns, Residents Are Evacuated, Widespread Flooding Reported https://digitalalabamanews.com/as-massive-storm-batters-alaska-coastal-towns-residents-are-evacuated-widespread-flooding-reported/ Alaska braces for strongest storm in years Alaska braces for strongest storm in years 00:15 A massive, potentially record-breaking storm brought major flooding and damage to coastal towns in Alaska Saturday, and some residents were evacuated. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he “verbally declared” a disaster for communities impacted by the storm. The governor said on Twitter there have been no reported injuries. “We will continue to monitor the storm and update Alaskans as much as possible,” he tweeted. Flooding is seen in Golovin, Alaska, on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Heidi Varga In the town of Golovin, major flooding was reported early Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and forecasters warned it would only get worse. The town could see an additional 1 to 2 feet of water by the day’s end. “Water is surrounding the school, homes and structures are flooded, at least a couple homes floating off the foundation, some older fuel tanks are tilted over,” the weather service’s office in Fairbanks tweeted. Photos from the weather service showed the high water levels there. Major flooding in Golovin this morning. Water is still expected to rise 1-2 feet by this afternoon Our thoughts are with the community. (photos courtesy C. Lewis) #akwx pic.twitter.com/BO63uN8dGL — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 Another town, Shaktoolik, reported coastal flooding, with water “entering the community and getting close to some homes,” according to the weather service. Residents there were evacuated to a school and clinic. Shaktoolik was also expected to see the worst of the storm later in the day. According to the NWS, the water level in Nome rose above 10 feet Saturday, and is expected to continue to rise. A very angry sea in Nome this morning. Waves and storm surge are pushing into the community, including along Front Street. Water levels are expected to peak this afternoon. Here is an image from the Port of Nome (courtesy of Alaska Ocean Observing System). pic.twitter.com/oX5XZPHIti — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 The weather service also shared footage from a webcam in Unalakleet, comparing an average day in the town against the scene there Saturday morning. Images from the FAA airport webcam in Unalakleet. One image shows a normal day, the other shows water inundating the area around the airport as of 8am this morning. Water levels will continue to rise another foot by this afternoon. #akwx pic.twitter.com/0tVjXy3dLv — NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022 As of Saturday afternoon, large swaths of the state’s western coast were under coastal flooding and high wind warnings. The weather service said flood warnings would remain in effect for several areas through Sunday night, while the wind warnings were expected to expire by Saturday night.  The weather service said the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta would see a “smaller surge” during high tide in the afternoon and evening hours Saturday. The “highest water levels are expected from Kipnuk north to Newtok,” the NWS tweeted. A coastal flood warning was extended for that region through 10 p.m. Saturday.   A massive storm hits Gambell, Alaska. Sept. 16, 2022.  Clarence Irrigoo Jr. Other portions of the state are under gale warnings, according to the weather service. The weather service shared peak reported wind gusts as of 8 a.m. local time — the highest recorded was 91 mph in Cape Romanzof. Several other towns, including Golovin, saw winds topping 60 mph. The center of the storm was located just south of the Bering Strait on Saturday morning, the weather service said. Here’s a view of the Bering Sea storm lit by moonlight just prior to sunrise (brightening on the right). It’s centered just south of the Bering Strait at this time. It was just over a half moon last night. Thankfully tides weren’t as high as they could have been. pic.twitter.com/sKoVAWOaBc — NWS Alaska Region (@NWSAlaska) September 17, 2022 The storm is the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, and forecasters predicted this week it could bring “potentially historical” flooding, with some coastal areas seeing water levels up to 11 feet higher than the normal high tide. In: Storm Flooding Alaska Sophie Reardon Sophie Reardon is a News Editor at CBS News. Reach her at sophie.reardon@viacomcbs.com Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue Read More…

Man Who Went On I-85 Shooting Spree Was Circling Courthouse Before Arrest, Deputies Say https://digitalalabamanews.com/man-who-went-on-i-85-shooting-spree-was-circling-courthouse-before-arrest-deputies-say/ TROUP COUNTY, Ga — A shooting spree on I-85 in East Alabama and West Georgia last month now has some new information. Chambers County, Alabama Sheriff Sid Lockhart says before 39-year-old Jerel Brown was taken into custody for going on a shooting spree in Georgia and Alabama last month, witnesses spotted him circling the block around the county courthouse. Police say Brown shot at two drivers coming down I-85 one morning, with a 45-year-old man critically wounded after two separate shootings in Auburn, AL and Troup County. Just one person was injured, but deputies say the situation could’ve turned deadly. “I didn’t know every detail about the situation, but I did know he was a shooting suspect. You’re nervous going into something like that,” said Chambers County Deputy Derick Wright. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Shortly after Auburn police posted a photo of Brown’s 1996 white Cadillac Fleetwood, he was captured in Lafayette, Alabama. “From when they actually sent that photo out of the suspect vehicle, I believe it was only about 15 minutes later that our deputies in the field spotted the vehicle,” said Sergeant Keegan Daniel. Police say they found several firearms and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition in Brown’s car. “Later on, I did notice a gun that was within arm’s reach. Had he decided to grab the gun instead of put his hands out the window, I mean there’s no telling what direction that would’ve went,” said Wright. TRENDING STORIES: Body found in car off I-20 identified as woman who vanished after leaving pub Furious parent jumps on school bus full of students refusing to get off, parents say Mother wants answers after daughter’s hair ripped from scalp at school Brown remains in custody without bond at the Lee County jail, facing an attempted murder charge. He’s also facing three charges in Troup County, including aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and first-degree criminal damage. Brown is scheduled for a preliminary court hearing on Sep. 28. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: UGA students forced to find a new place to live after delays at Athens apartment complex ©2022 Cox Media Group Read More…

On The Colorado River, Growing Concern For Trout And Chub https://digitalalabamanews.com/on-the-colorado-river-growing-concern-for-trout-and-chub-2/ DENVER (AP) — To guide fishing trips for a year or two, that’s what brought Terry Gunn to the red canyons of northern Arizona. The chance to hike, raft and fly fish drew Wendy Hanvold, a retired ski bum, who took a job there waiting tables at an anglers lodge. She heard rumors of the intrepid fishing guide who had just returned from an Alaska trip, and one day when he came in approached his table to take his order. “You fly fish, right?” she said. “I’ve always wanted to learn.” It was a match made in Marble Canyon. Since then, the couple opened an anglers shop, guide service, purchased a lodge, and raised their son. They take pride in showing tourists the best spots to catch and release prized rainbow trout beneath craggy cliffs carved by the Colorado River. But it could all soon change as warmer water temperatures threaten fish survival and the Gunn‘s livelihood. Key Colorado River reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead are both only about one-quarter full. The continued drop, due to overuse and an increasingly arid climate, is threatening the fish and the economies built around them. “We’re in totally uncharted territory,” said Gunn, who began guiding in Marble Canyon in 1983. That year, Glen Canyon Dam began to release water on an emergency basis after record snowmelt produced a powerful spring runoff, resulting in near failure of the dam. In all these years, the river has usually been cold, with typical summer temperatures in the 50s. But since late August, the water temperature at Lees Ferry – the site of a world-famous trout fishery – has risen above 70 degrees seven times. That might be idyllic for a summer dip under the blazing Arizona summer sun, Gunn said, but approaches peril for the beloved sport fish. A few degrees higher can be lethal. To make matters worse, when temperatures rise, the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water falls, making it tough for fish to even breathe. As the reservoir drops, it sends warmer water with less oxygen into the river below the dam. Should that water reach 73 degrees, Gunn said his family’s guide service could start calling off afternoon trips. Recently, a small reprieve of cooler temperatures has taken the edge off the fear at Lees Ferry, but uncertainty still taints the air. “Mother Nature holds a handful of trump cards and if she decides to play one, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it,” Gunn said. Seven states, Mexico, and tribal nations depend on the stressed Colorado River. They have undergone voluntary and mandatory cuts and are grappling with how to further reduce their reliance on the river by about 15 to 30 percent, per a recent mandate by the Department of the Interior. Struggling aquatic life further complicates the already delicate river management and increases the cost. Just a few miles north of Lees Ferry and its trout fishery there’s another threat – nonnative predatory smallmouth bass. They’re supposed to be contained in Lake Powell. But this summer they were found in the river below the dam. Smallmouth bass already wreaked havoc on native fish way upriver where the government spends millions of dollars each year to control the predators. They were held at bay in Lake Powell because Glen Canyon Dam has served as a barrier for them for years – until now. The reservoir’s recent sharp decline is enabling these introduced fish to shoot through the dam and edge closer to the Grand Canyon, where the biggest groups of humpback chub, an ancient, threatened, native fish, remain. The National Park Service is going so far as to apply chemicals Saturday to kill these predatory fish. The infested area is sealed off from the river with a vinyl barrier, desirable fish are moved to the main channel, and the substance is applied to just that area, said National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Arnold. A second treatment is likely later this fall. The Bureau of Reclamation has said it will contribute $30,000 for the second treatment, and is exploring additional funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for longer-term solutions such as barriers that would prevent fish from even approaching the dam. A mid-term solution could involve a technique that lets cold water from deeper in the lake flow into the river below. Although this would mean forgoing hydropower, the cool water would disrupt spawning of predatory fish. It’s been successful in other rivers and could help protect both native fish and rainbow trout. Several hundred miles downstream, at the site of another fish threat, one hatchery has completely shut down. Lake Mead Fish Hatchery, which used to breed endangered razorback sucker and bonytail chub, ceased operations earlier this year when the lake dipped below the point where the hatchery drew its water. Last month, the state of Nevada and the Bureau of Reclamation announced they’re kicking in nearly $12 million on a project to pull water from deeper in the lake into the hatchery. The new line will source water from a third straw that the Southern Nevada Water Authority built following a severe drop in lake levels in the early 2000s. As Lake Mead plummeted this year, the agency had to begin using it to rescue Las Vegas, and soon, the hatchery. Walking into a silent hatchery, normally abuzz with flowing water and air compressors, is a challenge, said Nevada Department of Wildlife supervising fish biologist Brandon Singer. “At first you feel kind of lost, your purpose is gone,” Singer said. But it’s been an opportunity for repair work and for his team to work on species in other parts of the state while they await their return to fish-rearing. Maintaining native fish populations is a legal obligation the bureau has under the Endangered Species Act. It could face a lawsuit if it fails to meet that obligation, even as it juggles other pressing demands on the river. Back upstream near Lake Powell, the introduced rainbow trout don’t have the same protection. Losing them would be heartbreaking but feels inevitable, said Terry Gunn, who checks water temperature religiously. “It’s like watching a family member grow old or die – it’s gonna happen.” Wendy Gunn says if the trout fishery is lost and smallmouth bass take over, she could imagine Lees Ferry transitioning to a haven for warm water fish. It would be tragic in many ways, with the beloved rainbow trout gone and the likelihood that native fish downstream could be next, she said, but people would still come to cast lines. “Everybody’s just gonna have to adapt,” Wendy said. “You either roll with it and change or you go away.” Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC. Read More…