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The Aizuri Quartet Announces 2022-2023 Season Of Debuts In New York, Texas & More https://digitalalabamanews.com/the-aizuri-quartet-announces-2022-2023-season-of-debuts-in-new-york-texas-more/ The GRAMMY-nominated Aizuri Quartet will continue its innovative approach to programming and performance in the 2022-23 season, including featured debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Texas Performing Arts, and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts as recipients of the Cleveland Quartet Award; the Library of Congress; Boston’s Celebrity Series; the season opening concert of Brevard Music Center’s new Parker Concert Hall; the 2023 Big Ears Festival; Dallas Chamber Music Society; Ottawa ChamberFest; and Impromptu Classical Concerts. Aizuri continues its role as WQXR Artist Propulsion Lab Fellows, and also releases new AizuriKids videos. Watch the latest AizuriKids Episode. They also make returns this season to Ravinia, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana, the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, and New Orleans Friends of Music. With Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, the Aizuris perform their Music and Migration program at the Civic Music Association in Des Moines and Armstrong Auditorium near Oklahoma City. University engagements include performances at Penn State Performing Arts Center, Auburn University’s Gogue Performing Arts Center, Amherst College, Shenandoah Conservatory, University of Nevada Reno, University of Mississippi’s Ford Center, University of North Texas, and Garmany Chamber Series at The University of Hartford. The Aizuri Quartet performs four imaginative programs this season, including Sunrise, which traces a journey from darkness to dawn, delving into the ways in which the atmosphere, psychological power, and political metaphor of the night have been an inspiration for composers from the classical era to the present-day. Opening with a Clara Schumann song arranged by quartet cellist, Karen Ouzounian, and Bartók’s Fourth Quartet, Sunrise opens its second half with Tanya Tagaq’s Sivunittinni, before culminating in the warmth of Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet. Aizuri Quartet’s season opened on September 18, 2022 with the Sunrise program, marking their debut at Dallas Chamber Music Society, and on September 21, 2022 at Auburn University’s Gogue Performing Arts Center and September 30 at Amherst College. They perform Sunrise this season at Penn State University’s Performing Arts Center on October 6, Shenandoah Conservatory on October 11, presented by Carnegie Hall in their debut at Weill Recital Hall on October 13, at Philadelphia Chamber Music Society on February 12, 2023, and Boston’s Celebrity Series on May 3, 2023. On October 4, 2022, the quartet performs the opening night concert in Brevard Music Center’s new Parker Concert Hall in Brevard, North Carolina. Their program, a revised version of Sunrise, features Ouzounian’s arrangement of Clara Schumann’s Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen, Robert Schumann’s String Quartet No. 1 in A minor, Tanya Tagaq’s Sivunittinni, and Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 76, No. 4 in B flat Major. Tagaq’s Sivunittinni opens Aizuri’s second program this season, Song Emerging, alongside the first string quartet of Robert Schumann, whose writing was inextricably linked to romantic lieder and vocal music. A celebration of the most direct human expression in music, the Aizuri Songbook is a soulful, personal, and surprising collection of songs, including new works as well as classical lieder and traditional songs in new arrangements commissioned by the Aizuri Quartet, in which the players sing and play simultaneously. Song Emerging launched on September 23 at Tippet Rise Arts Center in Fishtail, Montana, and will tour to University of Nevada, Reno’s Apex Chamber Music Series on November 16; The Greene Space as WQXR Artist Propulsion Lab Fellows on November 18; Evergreen Woods in North Branford, Connecticut on November 20; Ravinia Festival on December 10; and the Library of Congress in Washington D. C. on December 18, 2022. The Aizuri’s third program, The Art of Translation, creatively juxtaposes works by Franz Schubert and pieces by some of today’s most compelling new voices (Lembit Beecher, Hannah Kendall, Paul Wiancko, and Nina Shekhar) to explore the highly personal and expressive ways in which composers transform visual art and poetry into music and consider the dynamic nature of art. The program will appear on February 19, 2023 at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana; March 4 at Texas Performing Arts in Austin, TX; March 7 at the University of Mississippi’s Ford Center; March 27 at the New Orleans Friends of Music; and March 30 at the University of Hartford’s Garmany Chamber Series. On February 23, 2023, the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto presents a concert celebrating Icelandic-Canadian composer Fjóla Evans, featuring the Aizuri Quartet alongside pianist Talisa Blackman and vocalist Krista Kais-Prial in a world premiere by Evans commissioned by the club. The Aizuris perform a modified version of The Art of Translation, closing with Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 76 No. 4 in B-flat Major “Sunrise,” on February 24, 2023 at Canada’s Ottawa ChamberFest and February 26 at Impromptu Classical Concerts in Key West, Florida. Music and Migration is a collaborative touring program offered with Syrian-American clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh. Each of the Aizuri members and Azmeh have different personal relationships to and experiences of migration, as do their families, and the music of this concert approaches the theme of migration in the broadest possible terms, both as a physical journey and state of mind, something that occurs both between and within countries. Stemming from a deep friendship between the Aizuri Quartet and Azmeh, and built around a new commission by composer Layale Chaker, as well as additional works for string quartet and clarinet by Azmeh, Michi Wiancko and Wang Lu, among others. Music and Migration tours this season to Armstrong Auditorium in Edmond, Oklahoma on March 16, 2023 and to the Civic Music Association in Des Moines, Iowa on March 20, 2023. On April 1, 2023, the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee presents Aizuri alongside guitarist Kyle Sanna in harpist and composer Maeve Gilchrist’s Harpweaver, from the 2020 album of the same name. Watch the Harpweaver music video. Aizuri Quartet 2022-2023 Calendar September 18, 2022 Dallas Chamber Music Society Presents Sunrise Caruth Auditorium | Dallas, TX Link: https://dallaschambermusic.org/aizuri-quartet/ September 21, 2022 Auburn University Presents Sunrise Gogue Performing Arts Center | Auburn, AL Link: https://calendar.auburn.edu/event/aizuri_quartet September 23, 2022 Tippet Rise Arts Center Presents Song Emerging Tiara Acoustic Shell | Tippet Rise, MT Link: https://tippetrise.org/events/37801 September 30, 2022 Music @ Amherst Presents Sunrise Buckley Recital Hall | Amherst, MA Link: www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/music/events/node/842583 October 4, 2022 Brevard Music Center Presents Opening Night with the Aizuri Quartet Parker Concert Hall, Brevard Music Center | Brevard, NC Link: https://bit.ly/3Ly76rY October 6, 2022 Penn State University Presents Sunrise Center for Performing Arts at Penn State | Philadelphia, PA Link: https://cpa.psu.edu/events/aizuri-quartet October 11, 2022 Shenandoah Conservatory Performs Presents Sunrise Goodson Chapel Recital Hall at Shenandoah Conservatory | Winchester, VA Link: www.su.edu/performs/event/22-10-aizuri-quartet/ October 13, 2022 Carnegie Hall Presents Sunrise Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall | New York, NY Link: www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2022/10/13/aizuri-quartet-0730pm November 16, 2022 APEX Concerts at University of Nevada, Reno Presents Song Emerging Hall Recital Hall | Reno, NV Link: https://events.unr.edu/event/apex_concerts_song_emerging_with_aizuri_quartet December 10, 2022 Ravinia Festival Presents Song Emerging Bennett Gordon Hall | Highland Park, IL Link: www.ravinia.org/ShowDetails/2078/aizuri-quartet December 16, 2022 Library of Congress Presents Stradivari Anniversary: Aizuri Quartet (Song Emerging) Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress | Washington, DC Link: www.loc.gov/concerts/aizuri-quartet-dec17.html February 12, 2023 Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Presents Sunrise Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center | Philadelphia, PA Link: www.pcmsconcerts.org/concerts/aizuri-quartet/ February 19, 2023 Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Presents The Art of Translation Krannert Center, University of Illinois | Urbana, IL Link: https://krannertcenter.com/events/aizuri-quartet-art-translation#yourvisit February 23, 2023 Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Presents Aizuri x Fjóla Evans Walter Hall, University of Toronto | Toronto, ON, Canada Link: www.wmct.on.ca/concerts/ February 24, 2023 Ottawa Chamberfest Presents Aizuri Quartet Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre | Ottawa, ON, Canada Link: www.chamberfest.com/event/2022/introducing-aizuri-quartet/ February 26, 2023 Key West Impromptu Classical Concerts Presents Aizuri Quartet St. Paul Episcopal Church | Key West, FL Link: www.keywestimpromptu.org/concerts/season/all/ March 4, 2023 Texas Performing Arts Presents The Art of Translation McCullough Theater | Austin, TX Link: https://texasperformingarts.org/season/aizuri-quartet-2023-mccullough-theatre-austin-texas March 7, 2023 Ford Center for the Performing Arts Presents The Art of Translation Ford Center | Oxford, MS Link: https://fordcenter.org/event/aizuri-string-quartet/ March 16, 2023 Armstrong Auditorium Presents Music and Migration with clarinetist Kinan Azmeh Armstrong Auditorium | Edmund, OK Link: www.armstrongauditorium.org/performance/kinan-azmeh-aizuri-string-quartet March 19, 2023 Civic Music Association Presents Music and Migration with clarinetist Kinan Azme...

Applying The Clinician-Reported Genetic Testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE) To Genome Sequencing: Further Evidence Of Validity – European Journal Of Human Genetics https://digitalalabamanews.com/applying-the-clinician-reported-genetic-testing-utility-index-c-guide-to-genome-sequencing-further-evidence-of-validity-european-journal-of-human-genetics/ Abstract Genome sequencing (GS) outperforms other rare disease diagnostics, but standardized approaches to assessing its clinical utility are limited. This study assessed the validity of the Clinician-reported Genetic testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDE), a novel tool for assessing the utility of genetic testing from a clinician’s perspective, for GS. C-GUIDE ratings were completed for patients who received GS results. For each patient, total C-GUIDE and single item global scores were calculated. Construct validity was assessed using linear regression to determine the association between C-GUIDE total and global item scores and measure the effects of potential explanatory variables. Ratings were completed for 67 pediatric and 36 adult patients. GS indications were neurological for 70.9% and results were diagnostic for 28.2%. When the C-GUIDE assessed primary (PV), secondary (SV), and pharmacogenomic (PGx) variants, on average, a one unit increase in the global item score was associated with an increase of 7.3 in the C-GUIDE score (p � 0.05). Diagnostic results were associated with an increase in C-GUIDE score of 5.0 compared to non-diagnostic results (p � 0.05) and an increase of one SV was associated with an increase of 2.5 (p � 0.05). For children, decreased age of one year was associated with an increase in C-GUIDE score of 0.3 (p � 0.05). Findings provide evidence that C-GUIDE measures the construct of clinical utility in pediatric and adult rare disease populations and is sensitive to changes in utility related to variant type. Quantifying the clinical utility of GS using C-GUIDE can inform efforts to optimize its use in patient care. Introduction Genetic testing technology is rapidly evolving with the growth of precision medicine. While test evaluation typically relies on laboratory measures of performance (e.g. diagnostic yield) [1], tests can be costly, and analytically and ethically complex [2]. As such, a more comprehensive consideration of value and value for money is warranted to inform clinical adoption [3]. This is particularly true for genome sequencing (GS) where public and private health care systems are specifically seeking evidence of clinical utility to inform decisions about appropriate indications and timepoints for diagnostic testing [4, 5]. They are also adjudicating appropriate use of GS for the identification of secondary and/or pharmacogenomic findings [6,7,8,9]. To this end, a growing number of primary studies and evidence syntheses have emerged that report on various dimensions of clinical utility, inclusive of diagnostic, medical management, patient-reported, clinician-perceived, and health economic outcomes of GS [1, 10,11,12,13]. While these studies are continuing to better characterize the value and value for money of GS in a range of settings, standardized approaches to measuring the construct of clinical utility remain limited. The Clinician-reported Genetic testing Utility InDEx (C-GUIDETM) was developed to capture the informational value of genetic testing from a clinician’s perspective [14,15,16]. Specifically, C-GUIDE captures the utility of genetic testing as it relates to: (i) understanding diagnosis and prognosis, (ii) informing medical management, (iii) awareness and actionability of reproductive and health risks for patients and family members, and (iv) patient and family well-being. Modular in format, C-GUIDE items reflect these dimensions of value related to indication-based genetic test results (i.e. primary variants) and test results unrelated to the indication for testing (i.e. secondary and pharmacogenomic variants). A separate single item that reflects the overall value of the genetic test from the clinician’s perspective (i.e. global rating of utility) was also developed for the purpose of assessing C-GUIDE’s construct validity. In its first validation study at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, genetics professionals completed C-GUIDE ratings for 215 patients for whom genetic testing was performed for diagnostic purposes. The sample was largely pediatric and included utility ratings for patients with mostly neurodevelopmental phenotypes who received one of several different genetic test types (i.e. chromosome microarray, single gene, multi-gene panel). Findings indicated that an increase in the clinician’s global rating of utility was associated with an increase in C-GUIDE total score. In addition, partially/potentially diagnostic and non-diagnostic results had lower C-GUIDE scores than diagnostic results [14]. While these findings provide early evidence that C-GUIDE is a valid measure of clinical utility, insufficient patients were available to assess the validity of the C-GUIDE modules related to secondary and pharmacogenomic variants and insufficient patients were available to assess its validity in adults. Ongoing assessments of validity in different clinical settings for different types of genetic tests is therefore warranted. The objective of this study was to assess the construct validity of all modules of C-GUIDE in two US-based tertiary-care genetics settings in which GS—and the reporting of secondary and pharmacogenomic variants—is more widely available. Materials and methods Settings Genetics professionals based at The Smith Family Clinic for Genomic Medicine (SFC), HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, AL, USA and Children’s of Alabama (COA) in Birmingham, AL, USA participated. One genetic counsellor completed the C-GUIDE ratings at SFC and one medical geneticist completed the C-GUIDE ratings at COA after disclosing GS results to their patient or their patient’s family member. This study received ethics approval from the Institutional Review Boards that oversee SFC and COA (i.e. Western IRB Inc. and The University of Alabama at Birmingham, respectively) as well as the Research Ethics Board at SickKids. Clinician participants reviewed a consent document which indicated that survey completion constituted consent. Sample and recruitment With instructions from the study team, clinician raters identified eligible patients, including outpatients for whom: (i) GS was completed as part of a diagnostic work up, and (ii) clinically validated positive or negative primary, secondary [17], and/or pharmacogenomic results [18] were reported directly to the patient or family up to two years prior to completing the C-GUIDE rating. Cases ineligible for C-GUIDE ratings included family members of probands who received cascade testing and cases for whom genetic testing was reported prenatally. To receive GS through SFC or COA, cases must have had a chronic medical condition with a likely genetic cause that remained unknown despite thorough evaluation. Candidates for GS were evaluated by a medical geneticist (ACEH at COA, DB at SFC) to ensure GS was an appropriate testing option. All sequencing was performed at HudsonAlpha’s Clinical Services Lab (Huntsville, AL, USA). GS was performed with the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencing platform and all primary, secondary, and complex indel variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. With respect to secondary variants, the laboratory reports findings in the following categories: untreatable childhood diseases (e.g., Tay-Sachs), treatable adult-onset diseases (e.g., Lynch syndrome), untreatable adult-onset diseases (e.g., autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease), and carrier status. As such, not all reported variants are considered to be medically actionable and patients could opt out of receiving them. Based on the reporting criteria used in this laboratory, ~3% of cases are identified to have variants in the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG) secondary variants gene list (v2.0 [17, 19]) and approximately 33% are identified to have variants in genes related to other treatable conditions (e.g. CHEK2, MITF, SPINK1, F2, TTR, NOD2). An additional 85% are identified to carry at least one autosomal recessive or X-linked disorder [9]. The pharmacogenomics report is restricted to variants that have been curated by PharmGKB as meeting the highest standard for evidence supporting a variant-drug association (category designated 1A or 1B). All PharmGKB variants in categories 1A or 1B that have dosing guidelines were included in the report except the CYP2D6*5 variant and variants in the HLA-A, HLA-B, and CFTR genes. A stratified recruitment approach was used to include approximately 35 cases for each result type (i.e. diagnostic/partially diagnostic, potentially diagnostic, non-diagnostic) across both sites. Data collection Prior to data collection, the study team provided a 60 minute C-GUIDE training session for the clinician raters. C-GUIDE entries were completed between August 2020 and March 2021. For each rated patient, clinicians directly involved in the patient’s care completed a Case Description Questionnaire and C-GUIDE (Version 1.1, Supplementary Material) [14] through an online REDCap link [20, 21], using their knowledge of the patient, their own consult notes, or available medical records. Raters were able to start, stop, and resume data entry at their convenience. The Case Description Questionnaire included five items related to the index patient: age, sex, primary indication for testing, number of prior genetic tests, and test urgency and five items related to the test itself: GS strategy, result interpretation, disclosure modality, turnaround time, and time elapsed between result disclosure and C-GUIDE completion. GS strategies included singleton, duo, or trio; trios were defined as cases for whom the index case...

Ukraine Forces Break Through Russian Defences In South, Advance In East https://digitalalabamanews.com/ukraine-forces-break-through-russian-defences-in-south-advance-in-east/ Ukraine making gains in two of four regions annexed by Russia Retaking of strategic hub of Lyman improves access to the Donbas Elon Musk proposal for ending war draws Ukrainian condemnation Ukraine says it took 31 Russian tanks out of action in south SVIATOHIRSK/KYIV, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian defences in the south of the country while expanding their rapid offensive in the east, seizing back more territory in areas annexed by Russia and threatening supply lines for its troops. Making their biggest breakthrough in the south since the war began, Ukrainian forces recaptured several villages in an advance along the strategic Dnipro River on Monday, Ukrainian officials and a Russian-installed leader in the area said. Ukrainian forces in the south destroyed 31 Russian tanks and one multiple rocket launcher, the military’s southern operational command said in a nightly update, without providing details of where the fighting occurred. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield accounts. The southern breakthrough mirrors recent Ukrainian advances in the east even as Russia has tried to raise the stakes by annexing land, ordering mobilisation, and threatening nuclear retaliation. Ukraine has made significant advances in two of the four Russian-occupied regions Moscow last week annexed after what it called referendums – votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive. In a sign Ukraine is building momentum on the eastern front, Reuters saw columns of Ukrainian military vehicles heading on Monday to reinforce the rail hub of Lyman, retaken at the weekend, and a staging post to press into the Donbas region. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s army had seized back towns in a number of areas, without giving details. “New population centres have been liberated in several regions. Heavy fighting is going on in several sectors of the front,” Zelenskiy said in a video address. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk – one of two regions that make up the Donbas – said Russian forces had taken over a psychiatric hospital in the town of Svatovo, a target en route to recapturing the major cities of Lysychansk and Sivierodonetsk. “There is quite a network of underground rooms in the building and they have taken up defensive positions,” he told Ukrainian television. In the south, Ukrainian troops recaptured the town of Dudchany along the west bank of the Dnipro River, which bisects the country, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson province, told Russian state television. “There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces,” Saldo said. Dudchany is about 30 km (20 miles) south of where the front stood before Monday’s breakthrough, indicating the fastest advance of the war in the south. Russian forces there had been dug into heavily reinforced positions along a mainly static front line since the early weeks of the invasion. While Ukraine has yet to give a full account of the developments, military and regional officials did release some details. Soldiers from Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Assault Brigade raised the blue and yellow national flag in Myrolyubivka, a village between the former front and the Dnipro, according to a video released by the defence ministry. Serhiy Khlan, a Kherson regional council member, listed four other villages recaptured or where Ukrainian troops had been photographed. “It means that our armed forces are moving powerfully along the banks of the Dnipro nearer to Beryslav,” he said. Reuters was unable to independently verify the developments. ‘ABILITY TO ATTACK’ The southern advance is targeting supply lines for as many as 25,000 Russian troops on the Dnipro’s west bank. Ukraine has already destroyed the river’s main bridges, forcing Russian forces to use makeshift crossings. A substantial advance down river could cut them off entirely. “The fact we have broken through the front means that … the Russian army has already lost the ability to attack, and today or tomorrow it could lose the ability to defend,” said Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst based in Kyiv. Ukraine appears to be on course to achieve several of its battlefield objectives, giving it “a much better defensive position to ride out what probably will be a tamping down of the hot fighting over the winter”, Celeste Wallander, a senior Pentagon official, said on Monday. Just hours after a concert on Moscow’s Red Square on Friday where Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be Russian territory forever, Ukraine recaptured Lyman, the main Russian bastion in the north of Donetsk province. Billionaire Elon Musk on Monday asked Twitter users to weigh in on a plan to end the war which included proposing U.N.-supervised elections in the four occupied regions and recognising Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, as Russian. The plan drew immediate condemnation from Ukrainians, including President Zelenskiy. read more Russia’s flagging fortunes have led to a shift in mood on state media, where talkshow hosts have been acknowledging setbacks and searching for scapegoats. “For a certain period of time, things won’t be easy for us. We shouldn’t be expecting good news right now,” said Vladimir Solovyov, the most prominent presenter on state television. The commander of Russia’s western military district, which borders Ukraine, has lost his job, Russian media reported on Monday, the latest in a series of top officials to be fired after defeats. (This story refiles to correct spelling of Saldo in paragraph 13) Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Rami Ayyub and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Sam Holmes Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More…

Fire Damages Center Point Apartment Building https://digitalalabamanews.com/fire-damages-center-point-apartment-building/ Fire damages Center Point apartment building THIS IS WVTM 13. BREAKING NEWS IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. THE BREAKING NEWS, AN APARTMENT FIRE IN CENTER POINT. FIRE OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN ON THE SCENE FOR MORE THAN AN HOUR NOW. LET’S GET OUT TO WVTM 13. CHIP SCARBOROUGH. HE JOINS US LIVE WITH DETAILS. CHIP. SHERRI AND GUY, I CAN TELL YOU A TOTAL OF EIGHT UNITS ARE IMPACTED HERE AT THE COUNTRY PARK APARTMENTS ON VILLA RICA COURT AND CENTER POINT. FIREFIGHTERS TELL US THIS FIRE STARTED IN A SECOND STORY UNIT. THEY SAY NO ONE WAS IN THAT PARTICULAR UNIT AT THE TIME THE FIRE STARTED. BUT AS A RESULT, SEVEN OTHER UNITS WERE DAMAGED EITHER BY FIRE OR WATER. FIREFIGHTERS NOT READY TO SAY YET WHAT STARTED THIS FIRE. THEY SAY THE BEST NEWS, THOUGH, NOBODY ENTERED. THEY’LL REMAIN HERE THROUGHOUT THE EVENING. MONITORING THINGS LIVE IN CENTER POINT AN GET LOCAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Privacy Notice Fire damages Center Point apartment building A fire damaged an apartment building in Center Point.It happened just before 8:00 p.m. Monday at Country Park Apartments on Villa Rica Court.Center Point Fire District firefighters were on scene, as well as crews from the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service.It’s believed the fire started in a second st0ry unit, but we’re told no one was inside the unit at the time it caught fire.The blaze affected eight units total, but it’s unclear how many people were displaced.No one was hurt. CENTER POINT, Ala. — A fire damaged an apartment building in Center Point. It happened just before 8:00 p.m. Monday at Country Park Apartments on Villa Rica Court. Center Point Fire District firefighters were on scene, as well as crews from the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service. It’s believed the fire started in a second st0ry unit, but we’re told no one was inside the unit at the time it caught fire. The blaze affected eight units total, but it’s unclear how many people were displaced. No one was hurt. Loading more articles… Read More…

Kelly, Hobbs Face Different Prospects In Crucial Ariz. Races https://digitalalabamanews.com/kelly-hobbs-face-different-prospects-in-crucial-ariz-races/ PHOENIX (AP) — A year ago, Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was all over cable news, building a national profile as a defender of democracy and raking in cash for her campaign for governor. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, newly elected to finish the late John McCain’s last term and running for reelection, looked to be among the most vulnerable members of the Senate. Fortunes appear to have flipped for the two Democrats as the midterm campaign enters the home stretch in a fast-growing, diverse state that is increasingly central to how the Democratic Party sees its future. Kelly maintains a position of strength in polling and fundraising while Hobbs is in a tighter spot. The dynamics reflect how the campaigns have sometimes pursued different strategies and face different types of rivals. Kari Lake, Hobbs’ opponent as the Republican nominee for governor, has gained a significant following as a savvy ally of former President Donald Trump. Blake Masters, Kelly’s rival in the Senate race, has struggled to gain the same type of traction. “People like shiny objects, and Kari Lake is that shiny object that’s putting herself out there,” said Bridget Bellavigna, a Democrat who was inspired by Trump’s election to get involved in local politics. She’s running for constable in the Phoenix suburbs. FILE – Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs speaks to the media before dropping off her primary election ballot, July 21, 2022, in Scottsdale, Ariz. A year ago, Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was all over cable news, building a national profile as a defender of democracy and raking in cash for her campaign for governor. Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, newly elected to finish John McCain’s last term and running for re-election, looked to be among the most vulnerable members of the Senate. Fortunes appear to have flipped for the two Democrats. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Ross D. Franklin A Fox News poll released Thursday found Kelly leading Republican Blake Masters 46% to 40%, while the race for governor was roughly tied. The survey of 1,008 Arizona voters was conducted Sept. 22-26. The margin of error was 3 percentage points. Hobbs and Kelly are working largely independently of one another and have not campaigned together. Both portray their Republican opponents as extremists but otherwise are taking different approaches to their public persona. Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, flies around the state in a rented four-seat plane, courting media attention along the way. Hobbs, by contrast, had a sparse presence on the campaign trail through the Democratic primary in August and much of the period since. She’s focused her attention on rural areas far from the voter-rich areas of Phoenix and Tucson, where Democrats have to drive up turnout if they’re to be competitive here. She’s been more visible over the past two weeks, though she prefers choreographed events in which she largely sticks to a script and limits her interactions with journalists. In a brief interaction after an event last month, Hobbs said she’s not running from tough questions. “I’m doing what my team is having me do,” she said. “I’m not looking to dodge anything.” Hobbs is playing “prevent defense,” a cautious football strategy that concedes short gains to the opponent in an attempt to run out the clock, said Wes Gullett, a Republican consultant and former adviser to McCain. Gullett attached his name to a public list of Republicans supporting Democrat Adrian Fontes for secretary of state, but he’s declined to do the same for Hobbs, though he says he’d prefer that she beats Lake. “What I want to see from Katie Hobbs is a more aggressive candidate,” Gullett said. “Talking about the issues that she cares about, talking about what’s important.” Late last month, Hobbs jumped on a chance to sharpen her message when a judge in Tucson ruled that prosecutors can enforce a near-total ban on abortion that was first enacted during the Civil War. She pledged to use the full power of the governor’s office to protect women’s rights, though she acknowledged there was little she could do without cooperation from the Legislature, which is likely to be controlled at least in part by Republicans who oppose abortion. Hobbs announced over the weekend that she raised $1.2 million in the week following the abortion ruling, a major uptick in fundraising, though she hasn’t yet had to file campaign finance statements that would confirm the numbers. Hobbs is a former social worker who worked with people experiencing homelessness and later was a lobbyist for a domestic violence shelter. She was elected to the Legislature in 2010, running on a slate with now-U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to represent the same central Phoenix district, Hobbs in the House and Sinema in the Senate. “At the end of the day, we’re confident that sanity will beat chaos and Sec. Hobbs will be elected in November,” Hobbs campaign manager Nicole DeMont said in a statement to The Associated Press. The race for governor is closer than the race for Senate because Hobbs faces a tougher matchup, said Chad Campbell, a Democratic consultant and former Arizona legislator. Lake is a stronger candidate than Masters, he said. “Kari Lake is a better version of Trump,” Campbell said. “She’s a more polished, better looking version of Donald Trump.” It also helps Kelly that Senate races attract significantly more money than campaigns for governor, allowing Kelly and Democratic allies to relentlessly attack Masters, who is struggling to keep up financially. The Senate race also has a Libertarian candidate who could draw votes from right-leaning voters. Independent voters make up a third of the electorate in Arizona and hold the keys to statewide victories. They often split their tickets, electing Sinema to the Senate and Republican Doug Ducey as governor in 2018. Two years later, they propelled Kelly to a 2.4 percentage point victory while Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden eked out a 0.3 point win, the closest margin of any state he won. Republicans ran the table on the rest of the ballot. Hobbs became the undisputed Democratic frontrunner last year when she forcefully defended the 2020 election as Trump supporters oversaw a discredited recount of ballots in Maricopa County on behalf of state Senate Republicans. But she’s struggled to translate her defense of democracy into a firm position of strength. Her own missteps haven’t helped. Late last year, a jury for a second time sided with a Black former legislative aide, Talonya Adams, who said she was fired for discriminatory reasons in 2015, when Hobbs was the top Democrat in the Senate. Hobbs testified that she made a group decision with two others to fire Adams. Hobbs at first defended the decision and deflected responsibility, blaming Republicans for underpaying Adams. After a firestorm from Democrats who felt she was dismissive of workplace discrimination against people of color, Hobbs apologized to Adams and said her initial response “fell short of taking real accountability.” Two-thirds of the Hobbs campaign staff quit this summer, telling the Arizona Agenda newsletter that the atmosphere was emotionally abusive. More recently, she’s faced an onslaught of criticism, even from allies, and weeks of negative headlines for her decision not to debate Lake. “It’s bad for her not to,” said Linda Martini, a Democratic volunteer from Phoenix who tried to share her opinion with Hobbs at a recent campaign event but was rebuffed by the candidate, who walked away. “Furthermore, she could destroy her opponents. There’s no doubt about it. And the people want to see her on TV.” Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More…

Biden Pledges $60 Million In Aid To Puerto Rico After Hurricane https://digitalalabamanews.com/biden-pledges-60-million-in-aid-to-puerto-rico-after-hurricane/ President Joe Biden on Monday pledged $60 million in aid for Puerto Rico while visiting after Hurricane Fiona devastated the island as a Category 1 storm around two weeks ago, leaving most without power. The president and first lady met with Puerto Rican residents impacted by Fiona on Monday, two weeks after the storm ravaged the island on Sept. 18, dumping 30 inches of rain, and tearing up roads, water pipes, and power lines. Once on the ground in Ponce, a city on the southern side of the island, Biden said he came in person with First Lady Jill Biden to show Puerto Ricans that “all of America’s with you as you receive and recover and rebuild.” Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 1 on Sept. 18, leaving most people without power and around 13 dead, according to Puerto Rico’s Department of Health (pdf). Biden, who was joined by FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, said the $60 million he announced Monday is earmarked to help rebuild coastal regions. The $60 million will go toward shoring up levees and flood walls and creating a new flood warning system to help residents better prepare for future storms, Biden further said on Twitter. Cars drive under a downed power pole in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 21, 2022. (Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters) Cost of Recovery Fiona struck Puerto Rico a week before Hurricane Ian ravaged Florida as a Category 4 storm before moving north to the Carolinas as a weakened hurricane. The disaster recovery in those states is expected to cost tens of billions. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clarified that while the $60 million was nowhere near the estimated costs of Ian in Florida and the Carolinas, it would help with “specific pieces.” She noted the $60 million is on top of $2 billion already allocated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law earmarked to build and strengthen the island’s infrastructure. Criswell also noted Monday, while en route with the president, that FEMA had authorized around $9.5 billion to restore Puerto Rico’s power grid from the impacts of 2017’s Hurricane Maria, a deadly Category 5 storm that killed around 3,000 in the Caribbean. “It’s going to take multiple different funding streams from the federal family to make sure that we’re getting them to a place that they can be more resilient,” Criswell said. In September, Fiona brought over 30 inches of rain to some areas of the island, causing flooding and mudslides that damaged roads and bridges. Criswell said that around 92 percent of power has been restored to the island, and around 95 percent of the water has been patched up with temporary fixes. Around 100,000 customers remain without power since the hurricane struck two weeks ago, according to LUMA Energy. Congress wrote to Luma Energy on Sept. 27 expressing “grave concern” about the ongoing outages and disruption of power on the island (pdf). In the letter, members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce said the outages “amplify concerns that LUMA has failed to adequately develop and maintain crucial electrical infrastructure in Puerto Rico despite its lucrative 15-year contract.” White House Contrasts Trump’s 2017 Visit Biden’s visit to Puerto Rico fell on the anniversary of a 2017 visit by then-President Donald Trump after Hurricane Maria, which the White House made a point to contrast. Prior to departing Washington on Marine One on Monday, Biden alluded to the former administration when he said Puerto Rico hasn’t “been taken very good care of.” “They’ve been trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can,” he said on the south lawn of the White House. Jean-Pierre made a “fine point” of noting that the Bidens’ visit to Ponce, a hard-hit area, demonstrated Biden’s commitment to Puerto Ricans. In a bid to paint Biden as more generous than Trump in 2017, Jean-Pierre said Trump had “restricted ability … for Puerto Rico to access $5 billion in funds” that she said was “for critical recovery and reconstruction needs.” Trump Response Praised by Puerto Rico Officials In the wake of Maria, Trump visited Puerto Rico on Oct. 3, 2017, receiving praise from island officials for the U.S. government’s federal response to the disaster. Puerto Rico’s then-governor, Ricardo Rosselló, said the cooperation between local and federal authorities had been crucial. “I want to let the people of Puerto Rico and the people on the United States know that you have always responded to us,” Rosselló said during Trump’s visit. “I want to personally thank you, Mr. President, because over the course of the past week you have called essentially every day to make sure we have what we need, to make sure that the resources are over here,” Rosselló said, addressing his remarks to Trump. At the time, Trump signed a disaster declaration following Maria that allowed the federal government to provide 100 percent funding for debris removal and emergency protective measures for 180 days. More than 12,000 federal responders were deployed to Puerto Rico to help stabilize the situation, enabling water and food supplies to be distributed to staging areas across the island, and the reopening of almost 60 hospitals. The Trump administration’s aid also saw a decrease in the number of people in shelters. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked with the island’s then-power supplier, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, and the Department of Energy to restore power, which was completely wiped out. Around 4,000 personnel from different branches of the military were on-site to help during Maria, having been deployed there after Hurricane Irma struck the week before, on Sept. 6, 2017. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, making it neither a U.S. state nor a sovereign nation. Residents don’t have voting rights in U.S. domestic elections unless they move to the mainland. Biden will visit Florida on Wednesday, a week after it was hit by Hurricane Ian, a devastating Category 4 storm that left two million without power at the height of the outages. State utilities report that power has since been restored to around 80 percent of affected customers. Follow Caden Pearson is a reporter based in Australia. Contact him on caden.pearson@epochtimes.com.au Read More…

Today In History: October 4, Soviets Launch Sputnik https://digitalalabamanews.com/today-in-history-october-4-soviets-launch-sputnik/ Today is Tuesday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2022. There are 88 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit. On this date: In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, resulting in heavy American casualties. In 1887, the International Herald Tribune had its beginnings as the Paris Herald, a European edition of the New York Herald. In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps. In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly. In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room. In 1990, for the first time in nearly six decades, German lawmakers met in the Reichstag for the first meeting of reunified Germany’s parliament. In 1991, 26 nations, including the United States, signed the Madrid Protocol, which imposed a 50-year ban on oil exploration and mining in Antarctica. In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was accidentally downed by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people aboard. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 70th home run to tie Mark McGwire’s 1998 record in a 10-2 victory over the Houston Astros. In 2002, “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh received a 20-year sentence after a sobbing plea for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. (He was released from prison in May, 2019.) In a federal court in Boston, a laughing Richard Reid pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives in his shoes (the British citizen was later sentenced to life in prison). In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth’s atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. Pioneering astronaut Gordon Cooper died in Ventura, California, at age 77. In 2010, the Supreme Court began a new era with three women serving together for the first time as Elena Kagan took her place at the end of the bench. In 2020, infected and contagious, President Donald Trump briefly ventured out in an SUV from the hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19 to salute cheering supporters. Trump’s medical team reported that his blood oxygen level had dropped suddenly twice in recent days and that they gave him a steroid typically only recommended for the very sick; doctors said he had also been given oxygen before being hospitalized. Ten years ago: A day after his first debate with Mitt Romney, which had been widely seen as a victory for Romney, President Barack Obama suggested that his Republican rival hadn’t been candid about his policy positions during the faceoff. The Nielsen Co. said an estimated 67.2 million people had watched the debate; it was the biggest TV audience for a presidential debate since 1992. Five years ago: Four U.S. soldiers were killed in the African country of Niger (nee-ZHEHR’) when a joint patrol of U.S. and Niger forces was ambushed by militants who were believed linked to the Islamic State group. President Donald Trump visited hospital bedsides and a police base in Las Vegas in the aftermath of the shooting rampage three nights earlier that left 58 people dead. One year ago: A massive global outage knocked Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms offline for hours due to what Facebook called a “faulty configuration change”; there were no signs that malicious activity was involved. The Biden administration reversed a Trump-era ban on abortion referrals by federally-funded family planning clinics. Supreme Court justices returned to the courtroom for the start of a new term after a nearly 19-month absence because of the coronavirus pandemic. China flew 56 fighter planes toward Taiwan, continuing three days of military harassment against the self-ruled island. A federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent, Michael Garbo, was shot and killed while questioning a passenger on an Amtrak train in Tucson, Arizona; the passenger who opened fire was then killed in a gunfight with other officers. Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 93. Actor Felicia Farr is 90. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 81. Actor Lori Saunders (TV: “Petticoat Junction”) is 81. Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa is 78. Actor Clifton Davis is 77. The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is 76. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is 76. Actor Susan Sarandon is 76. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 74. Playwright Lee Blessing is 73. Actor Armand Assante is 73. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 72. Actor Christoph Waltz is 66. Actor Bill Fagerbakke is 65. Music producer Russell Simmons is 65. Actor-singer Wendy Makkena is 64. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 63. Country musician Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 62. Actor David W. Harper is 61. Singer Jon Secada is 61. TV personality John Melendez is 57. Actor-comedian Jerry Minor is 55. Actor Liev Schreiber is 55. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 53. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 52. Singer-guitarist M. Ward (She & Him) is 49. Actor Alicia Silverstone is 46. Actor Dana Davis is 44. Rock musician Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs) is 44. Actor Phillip Glasser is 44. Rock singer-musician Marc Roberge (O.A.R.) is 44. Actor Brandon Barash is 43. Actor Rachael Leigh Cook is 43. Actor Tim Peper is 42. Actor Jimmy Workman is 42. Actor Michael Charles Roman is 35. Actor Melissa Benoist is 34. NBA All-Star Derrick Rose is 34. Actor Dakota Johnson is 33. Figure skater Kimmie Meisner is 33. Actor Leigh-Anne Pinnock (Little Mix) is 31. Actor Ryan Scott Lee is 26. Read More…

Both Devils, Dragons Will Be Seeing All Red In Finals https://digitalalabamanews.com/both-devils-dragons-will-be-seeing-all-red-in-finals/ Central Cambria’s Marley Ratchford and Ella Persio will face Central’s Julia Ritchey and Ashlyn Renner in the District 6 Class 2A Girls Doubles Tennis championship match. The two duos both advanced with through the semifinals on Monday on the Herb Faris Courts at Mansion Park and will meet on the same court at noon Wednesday. Ratchford and Persio, the top seed, beat Centrals Adacyn James and Kate Dunn in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-3, and eliminated Westmont Hilltop’s Olivia Berish and Celina Hong in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-0. Ritchey and Renner, the No. 2 seed, beat CC’s Riley Baxter and Lydia Paskowski in the quarters, 6-4, 6-4, and Westmont’s Morgan Allen and Madison Podrebarac in the semis, 6-2, 6-4. The District 4-6 Class 3A doubles tournament will be held today through the semifinals. FIRST ROUND Adacyn James-Kate Dunn, Central, def. Ashlynn McKinney-Sarah Butina, Tyrone, 6-3, 6-3. Madison Sivi-Haylee Walyko, Richland, def. Morgan Guisler-Alissa Sentman, Huntingdon, 6-1, 6-2. Olivia Berish-Celina Hong, Westmont, def. Deanna Plummer-McKenzie Webb, Forest Hills, 6-1, 6-0. Julia Ritchey-Ashlyn Renner, Central, def. Haylee Dunlap-Abby Shawley, Richland, 6-1, 6-0. Riley Baxter-Lydia Paskowski, Central Cambria, def. Renee VanProoyen-Emma Witkamp, Tyrone, 6-3, 6-2. Morgan Allen-Madison Podrebarac, Westmont, def. Kennedy Williams-Ada Stapleton, Huntingdon, 6-0, 6-1. Ella McClellan-Lily Pearl Koelle, Bishop Guilfoyle, def. Kayla Weinzierl-Lucia Yuhas, Forest Hills, 6-2, 6-3. QUARTERFINALS Marley Ratchford-Ella Persio, Central Cambria, def. Adacyn James-Kate Dunn, Central, 6-3, 6-3. Olivia Berish-Celina Hong, Westmont, def., 4, Madison Sivi-Haylee Walyko, Richland, 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. Julia Ritchey-Ashlyn Renner, Central, def. Riley Baxter-Lydia Paskowski, Central Cambria, 6-4, 6-4. Morgan Allen-Madison Podrebarac, Westmont, def. Ella McClellan-Lily Pearl Koelle, Bishop Guilfoyle, 6-0, 6-1. SEMIFINALS Marley Ratchford-Ella Persio, Central Cambria, def. Olivia Berish-Celina Hong, Westmont, 6-1, 6-0. Julia Ritchey-Ashlyn Renner, Central, def. Morgan Allen-Madison Podrebarac, Westmont, 6-2, 6-4. CROSS COUNTRY CC sweeps Portage PORTAGE — The Central Cambria boys topped Portage, 15-46, and the CC girls won, 15-49, in high school girls cross country action on Monday. Aiden Lechleitner placed first for the CC boys with Evan George and Dom Kuntz following next, and CC’s Abigail George won the girls race, followed by Annaliese Niebauer and Alaina Sheehan. BOYS 1, Lechleitner, CC, 16:57.92; 2, George, CC, 17:04.38; 3, Kuntz, CC, 17:53.14; 4, Wilson, CC, 18:25.21; 5, Archangelo, CC, 18:58.01; 6, Corte, P, 19:06.12; 7, Gentile, P, 19:24.53; 8, Ray, CC, 19:38.23; 9, Hanik, North Star, 19:44.40; 10, Bradley, CC, 19:46.56. GIRLS 1, George, CC, 19:28.09; 2, Niebauer, CC, 19:33.30; 3, Al. Sheehan, CC, 19:49.78; 4, Brandis, CC, 19:59.28; 5, Ab. Sheehan, CC, 20:07.07; 6, Long, CC, 20:28.58; 7, Chobany, P, 21:01.25; 8, Link, CC, 21:51.91; 9, Ruddek, CC, 22:10.43; 10, Westrick, CC, 23:11.37. Records: Central Cambria boys (7-0), girls (7-0); Portage boys (5-7), girls (1-9). Junior high boys: Central Cambria, 16-47: 1, McConnell, CC, 9:15.46; 2, Illig, CC, 9:28.71; 3, Brannigan, CC, 9:36.14. Junior high girls: Central Cambria, 20-42: 1, White, P, 9:55.42; 2, Remillard, CC, 10:11.50; 3, Krumenacker, CC, 10:32.0. Adams leads Heights MORRISDALE — Zoe Adams ran to a first-place finish to help the Cambria Heights girls defeat West Branch, 17-44, in cross country action. Savannah Hoover, Josie McMullen and Emily Lowe finished 2-3-4 for the Heights girls. Noah Ryder placed first to help the West Branch boys earn a 20-35 win. Heights’ Brock Eckenrode was third. BOYS 1, Ryder, WB, 18:28; 2, Carr, WB, 18:30; 3, Eckenrode, CH, 18:33; 4, Alexander, WB, 19:47; 5, Hock, CH, 19:51; 6, Hurley, WB, 19:59; 7, Brown, WB, 21:02; 8, Delattre, CH, 21:32; 9, Hall, CH, 21:45; 10, Elias, CH, 22:35. GIRLS 1, Adams, CH, 21:52; 2, Hoover, CH, 23:46; 3, McMullen, CH, 24:40; 4, Lowe, CH, 25:00; 5, Petriskey, WB, 25:19; 6, Alexander, WB, 25:20; 7, Kutruff, CH, 28:22; 8, Farabaugh, CH, 29:08; 9, Hall, CH, 29:11; 10, Clary, CH, 29:14. Records: Cambria Heights boys (6-3), girls (5-4). Junior high boys: Cambria Heights, 11-25. Junior high girls: Cambria Heights, 10-26. Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More…

Salute To Jazz 'LEGENDS: Kenton & Ferguson' Oct. 16 In Vero Beach – Community News – Vero News https://digitalalabamanews.com/salute-to-jazz-legends-kenton-oct-16-in-vero-beach-community-news-vero-news/ Jazz Concert Salutes ‘LEGENDS: Kenton & Ferguson’       Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra program a high-energy tribute     (VERO BEACH, FL) October 3, 2022 – Frank Wosar will lead the Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra in an October tribute to two of the most important figures in jazz, Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson. The JAZZ Orchestra of Central Florida’s finest jazz musicians will present LEGENDS: Kenton & Ferguson at 3:00 PM on Sunday, October 16 at the Emerson Center, 1590 27th Avenue in Vero Beach. Kenton was known for his big blaring horn sections—his was the original “wall of sound.” Under the direction of Wosar, the Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra will feature an enlarged big band (the same size as Kenton’s) playing a number of songs written and arranged by Kenton, including “Malaguena,” “Peanut Vendor,” and “A Little Minor Booze.” The concert will also pay homage to trumpeter and composer, Maynard Ferguson. Ferguson came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton’s orchestra before forming his own band in 1957. Selections from Ferguson will include “Coconut Champagne,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “Birdland,” “MacArthur Park,” and more. Tickets are $30 in advance for adults, available through the orchestra website at SpaceCoastSymphony.org or at Marine Bank & Trust, beachside and mainland branches. Tickets at the door are $35. LEGENDS: Kenton & Ferguson is free for those aged 18 and under or with a student ID. For more information, call toll free to 855-252-7276 or visit SpaceCoastSymphony.org. Masters of composition and musicianship, Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson are today regarded as genuine American jazz legends. And Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra Conductor, Frank Wosar thinks audiences will be wowed by his group’s high energy tribute to the greats. Wosar is Director of Jazz Bands at Valencia College. The trombone professor is a four-time Down Beat Award winner for outstanding jazz solo. “I’ve been a fan of Stan Kenton and Maynard Ferguson my whole life,” said Wosar. “This concert really honors their genius. We have a band of fantastic musicians who will bring the music of these two legends to life.” Several members of Wosar’s jazz orchestra are also current or former players with the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra. Concertgoers aged 18 and under or with a college ID are admitted free to every SCSO concert. For more information about the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra and Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra 2022-23 Season, please visit SpaceCoastSymphony.org or call toll-free (855) 252-7276. TRUMPET ‘WALL OF SOUND’ Joe Breidenstine began his musical studies at a very early age. He began playing piano at age 8 and took up trumpet at age 10. After graduating from Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, New Jersey, Joe attended the jazz studies program at William Paterson University of New Jersey under the direction of Rufus Reid. After college, Joe landed a 6 month stint at the Imperial Plaza Hotel in Osaka, Japan, where he performed 6 nights a week with the David Cedeno Orchestra. Once returning to the states, Joe was offered and accepted a chair in the Glenn Miller Orchestra on the recommendation of the great trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, and toured the United States. In the mid-90’s, Joe settled in New York City where he has had the opportunity to perform with some of the greats in music. Some of Joe’s most memorable performances have been with Lou Rawls, Tito Puente, Jon Faddis, George Benson, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine, David “fathead” Newman, Benny Golsen, Eric Alexander, Ralph Bowen, and many others. Joe has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Japan, and the Middle East.                 Joseph Meadows is a trumpet player, singer, songwriter, producer, booking agent and featured performer with the Space Coast Symphony Jazz Orchestra over the past five years. In addition to playing with SCSJO, Joseph is Co-Founder of Orlando-based Brown Bag Entertainment, one of Central Florida’s premier entertainment companies, serving the region and beyond.                 Brian Scanlon started his musical journey at the age of nine. He found he had an affinity for trumpet from the very beginning, and went on to help his high school jazz ensemble win countless gold medals in state and national competition. Brian matriculated to the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) to study under Jeff Holmes, and then to the University of North Florida to work with Bruce Silva. During his college years, Brian won summer positions with the Disney All American College Band (Anaheim, CA) and the Disney All American College Jazz Band (Orlando, FL), where he performed with Arturo Sandoval, Joe Williams, and many other guest artists. Over the years, Brian has been lucky enough to perform and recorded with many jazz orchestras, including those of Woody Herman (Live in London 1999, Frank Tiberi), Tommy Dorsey (Buddy Morrow), Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller (Tex Beneke), Xavier Cugat, Harry James, Cab Calloway, Larry Elgart, and Les Brown. He has also toured and recorded with KC and the Sunshine Band (Tonight Show 2000, 2003), The Brian Setzer Orchestra (Songs from Lonley Avenue 2009), Natalie Cole, The Four Tops, and The Temptations. Brian is currently a freelance musician in the Orlando area and can be heard regularly at Disney World, Epcot Center, B.B. King’s Blues Club, and many other venues.                 Dr. Ryan Chapman is a freelance trumpet player and educator living in Miami, FL. He recently received his D.M.A. in jazz performance from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He has studied with Chris Howard, Dennis Herrick, Rich Szabo, Jon Faddis, Vincent DiMartino, Ramon Vasquez, Roger Ingram, Sam Pilafian, and Brian Lynch. Ryan is originally from Montgomery, AL and received his B.M. in performance from the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. He spent some time performing on cruise ships before earning his M.Ed. from Auburn University. Following Auburn, Ryan taught band and elementary music while freelancing in the greater Atlanta area before moving to Miami to study at the University of Miami.                 Ed Gaston began his professional career as a Trumpet player at the age of fifteen. In 1981 he received his Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Tennessee. He studied composition with Dr. John Lennon, Jazz arranging with Jerry Coker and arranging and composition with Barry McDonald.. Upon completion of his studies he moved to Nashville where he wrote and performed for 3 years with Danny Davis & The Nashville Brass. He spent the next 6 years working with Boots Randolph. While in Nashville, Ed began to publish his work, first with Arrangers’ Publishing Corp. and later with CPP-Belwin and Hal Leonard. Ed was also the Staff Arranger for the University of Tennessee “Pride of the Southland” for 2 years. ABOUT THE SPACE COAST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA— The SCSO is a lively and passionate Central Florida orchestra comprised of professional musicians, music educators and mentored amateurs of exceptional ability.  The Orchestra was formed by Conductor and Artistic Director Aaron T. Collins with a two-fold mission: to provide mentoring and performance opportunities for Florida’s finest young musicians as well as to provide professional concerts at genuinely affordable prices. The ultimate goal of the organization is to help ensure the symphonic tradition for the enjoyment of future generations.                 Aaron T. Collins is garnering recognition for his achievements.  LEAD Brevard named the ambitious Collins one of their “4 under 40” Young Professionals, the youngest-ever recipient of the honor.  Space Coast Business magazine listed him as one of Brevard’s “100 Most Admired Businesspeople.” Collins is a past recipient of the Richard A. Stark Award for cultural leadership from the Cultural Council of Indian River County. Through his personal involvement with more than a dozen performing arts groups, pioneering reciprocal ad program and social media cross promotions, Collins has gained a reputation for generosity; championing other arts organizations throughout Central Florida for the cultural enrichment of the community. School-aged children 18 years and under are admitted free of charge, as are college students with a valid ID.  In keeping with their mission, the symphony provides a unique Symphony for Everyone ticketing program, a “pay-what-you-can” option designed to provide substantially discounted admission to any Space Coast Symphony concert. The non-traditional Space Coast Symphony Orchestra is one of only 19 U.S. orchestras to perform year-round. In addition to maintaining the Space Coast Symphony JAZZ Orchestra and Space Coast Symphony Wind Orchestra, the nonprofit organization provides numerous separate and free ensemble performances. More information about the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concerts, ticket sales, venues, directions and sponsorship opportunities is available at SpaceCoastSymphony.org by calling toll free (855) 252-7276. Read More…

Herschel Walker’s Son Lashes Out At Dad After News Report The Senate GOP Nominee Paid For Abortion In 2009 https://digitalalabamanews.com/herschel-walkers-son-lashes-out-at-dad-after-news-report-the-senate-gop-nominee-paid-for-abortion-in-2009/ Herschel Walker’s son, Christian Walker, blasted his dad’s bid for a Georgia Senate seat by calling him a bad father, a liar and a hypocrite just hours after a news report on Monday said the GOP nominee got a woman pregnant and paid for her abortion more than a decade ago. “I don’t care about someone who has a bad past and takes accountability. But how DARE YOU LIE and act as though you’re some ‘moral, Christian, upright man.’ You’ve lived a life of DESTROYING other peoples lives.  How dare you,” Christian Walker wrote in a series of tweets. “Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past. Every single one. He decided to give us the middle finger and air out all of his dirty laundry in public, while simultaneously lying about it,” he added. The outburst came shortly after the Daily Beast, citing a woman who asked not to be identified because of privacy concerns, published a story saying Walker had urged a woman to have an abortion in 2009 after getting her pregnant. The news outlet said it corroborated the details with a friend who says she accompanied the woman to the procedure. It also published what the woman said was a “get well” card signed by Walker and said she had provided both the receipt from the abortion clinic and a bank deposit showing an image of Walker’s check reimbursing her for the cost of the procedure. NBC News has not yet verified the woman’s allegations or independently reviewed the documents. When reached for comment, Walker’s campaign pointed NBC News to the candidate’s response on Twitter, where he denied the story and said he planned to sue the publication for defamation. Walker later addressed the allegations on Fox News. “I can tell you right now, I never asked anyone to get an abortion, I never paid for an abortion,” Walker told Sean Hannity. When asked about the check, Walker said, “Well, I send money to a lot of people. I give money to people all the time because I’m always helping people, because I believe in being generous.” Walker, a political newcomer and former NFL running back who was recruited and endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is an outspoken opponent of abortion and a harsh critic of absentee fathers. Earlier reporting by the Daily Beast revealed that Walker had three other children he had not publicly acknowledged as a candidate. He later confirmed he had four children. In response to Christian Walker’s tweets, Herschel Walker responded to one by saying, “I LOVE my son no matter what.” The broadsides from Walker’s son and the steady drum beat of negative ads and other unflattering stories about his personal life are making it more difficult for the former football star to overtake Sen. Raphael Warnock, his Democratic opponent, in the polls. Monday’s bombshell story comes as abortion has emerged as a key issue for voters after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Last month, Warnock launched a TV ad targeting Walker’s opposition to abortion rights. As for the effect of the latest revelations, Republicans weren’t sure what the aftershocks would bring because the electorate is so polarized in Georgia. “If you asked me five years ago, I would’ve said someone like Donald Trump couldn’t get elected. Today, that calculus is different,” said former Republican state Rep. Scot Turner. “This will make a difference with a certain segment of the electorate, but in the post-Trump era, dirty laundry doesn’t matter as much as the bigger picture,” he said. “Herschel is still beloved here. He’s a folk hero. A lot of people have shown they’re willing to look the other way if someone is supporting the right policies.” Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, deadpanned that “I can’t think of a scenario where this helps him.” But Republican consultant John Porter said it’s too soon to assess the damage to Walker’s campaign. “Let’s see how it plays out in the next 48 hours,” he said. “Most persuadable voters aren’t on Twitter following Christian Walker and his penchant for drama. Let’s see if it gets greater legs.” Buzz Brockway, a former Republican state legislator who has been critical of Trump in the past, said the crush of ads savaging Walker has made news like this “already baked in the cake, so to speak. His record of violent behavior has been known for month’s now. It’s also known his son doesn’t get along with him. I’m not sure this matters at all.” But one top adviser to a statewide Republican campaign who was granted anonymity to speak freely was down on Walker’s chances. “This just ended his campaign,” the Republican said, adding that “for every punch, there is a counter punch. They [Walker’s campaign] don’t even have that … he’s not that type of candidate.” Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News. Marc Caputo Marc Caputo is a senior national political reporter for NBC News. Read More…

Trump’s 1st Secretary Of State Testifies He Never Asked Tom Barrack To ‘conduct Any Diplomacy’ For US – Deltaplex News https://digitalalabamanews.com/trumps-1st-secretary-of-state-testifies-he-never-asked-tom-barrack-to-conduct-any-diplomacy-for-us-deltaplex-news/ (NEW YORK) — Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testified Monday during the illegal foreign lobbying trial of former Donald Trump ally Tom Barrack that he never asked Barrack to undertake any diplomacy on behalf of the United States during his year-long stint as Trump’s secretary of state. “Did you ever ask Tom Barack to commit any diplomacy on behalf of the United States?” prosecutor Hiral Mehta asked. “No,” Tillerson replied. Barrack, a billionaire California businessman who ran Trump’s 2016 inaugural committee, is currently on trial in Brooklyn federal court for alleged illegal lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates before and during the Trump administration. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which Barrack’s defense attorney has dismissed the charge as ridiculous. “[The government’s] accusations are nothing short of ridiculous. Tom Barrack was never under anybody’s direction. Tom Barrack was never under anybody’s control,” said Michael Schachter, Barrack’s attorney, during opening statements. “Tom Barrack was his own man [and] said things because he wanted to.” Tillerson, the former chief diplomat of the United States, during his three hours on the stand said he had had no knowledge of Barrack’s communications with the UAE. Prosecutors allege failing to register as a lobbyist for those communications constitutes a crime. But Tillerson also conceded there were conversations about foreign policy that he was not always a part of, including between Trump and his son-and-law, Jared Kushner — who he said was also in communication with government officials, though not always in lockstep. “It was evident that at times Mr. Kushner was engaging with the same government officials on the same issues I was engaging with them on and that those messages were not consistent,” Tillerson said. Regardless, he emphasized the importance of transparency surrounding relationships with foreign governments. “You always, in any communication, want to understand the context in which the information is coming to you,” Tillerson said. Tillerson also testified that his dealings with Barrack were limited, but that Barrack had called him “on a couple of occasions” to discuss a potential ambassadorship. “I recall him expressing interest in serving as an ambassador,” said Tillerson, who said he brought the idea up to Trump, who “did not direct [him] one way or another” on the idea. On cross-examination, the defense sought to normalize Barrack’s contacts with the UAE by likening them to Tillerson’s own contacts with foreign government officials during his time as the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil. Tillerson testified he took over one hundred foreign trips and met with dozens of foreign government officials when serving in that private role, including in the Middle East and Russia, in his efforts to promote the interests of his company. “The fact that you were interacting with government officials in Russia… in no way meant you adopted all of their views or operated under their control, right?” asked Randall Jackson, Barrack’s attorney. “We at all times represent our views, nobody else’s,” said Tillerson, who has since retired. But Tillerson said during that time, he explored registering. “I had my attorneys look at the law,” Tillerson said, “and I wanted to be sure.” Barrack was arrested in California in July 2021, accused of using his connection to Trump to surreptitiously promote UAE interests. The trial is expected to last five weeks, attorneys said during a hearing earlier this year. According to the indictment, The UAE worked through Barrack “to influence United States foreign policy in the first 100 days, 6 months, 1 year and 4 years of the Trump administration.” The UAE funds committed nearly $400 million to Barrack’s investment management firm, the indictment said, though it did not make clear whether Barrack’s firm ever received the money. The indictment released last July also charged Barrack with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 20, 2019, interview with federal law enforcement agents. Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Read More…

Fact Check Arizona: Ep. 1 Mark Finchem's Claims Of Voter Fraud https://digitalalabamanews.com/fact-check-arizona-ep-1-mark-finchems-claims-of-voter-fraud/ The Fact Check Arizona podcast will cover the 2022 Arizona election and premieres Friday, October 7. AZPM Tucson-area legislator and Republican Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem has been a staunch supporter of false claims about the 2020 election, and has made election security a key component of his campaign. Rep. Finchem’s denials that Joe Biden won Arizona include an appearance at a Stop the Steal rally on January 5, 2021 in Washington, DC. “Do you find it odd that the Democrats aren’t doing a happy dance over winning? When you steal something, it’s not a win. It’s a fraud,” he said in a brief speech at the event that was the day before the storming of the US Capitol. In that speech, Finchem said there needs to be a forensic accounting of every vote in every state that’s in question. The Arizona Secretary of State’s website shows that hand-count audits for most counties in Arizona had been completed almost two months prior to that time. These audits fall under a provision of state law that allows county political parties to request a hand count of a sample of ballots to test the accuracy of the vote tabulation equipment. Results must be reported to the state. Representatives from political parties that are entitled to representation on the state ballot are allowed to attend these audits. Audits were performed in 10 Arizona counties, with party officials in Apache, Gila, Graham, La Paz and Yuma counties, as local Republicans and other political parties did not designate the required members for the Hand Count Election Board. Coconino, Greenlee, Maricopa, Navajo, Santa Cruz and Yavapai counties were found to have no discrepancies. Discrepancies found in Cochise, Mohave, Pima and Pinal counties were “found to be within the acceptable margin.” The Arizona Senate would hire the outside firm Cyber Ninjas, who had no prior experience conducting election audits, to complete another audit months later, one that Senate President Karen Fann, also a Republican, would refer to in emails obtained by the Arizona Republic as a “full forensic audit.” “Every one of our caucus members work hard to represent all of our constituents and have taken on this huge additional task of a full forensic audit of 2.1 million ballots. This is in additional to all their other full time obligations,” she wrote in response to an email threatening a recall effort against Fann and other Republicans. The Cyber Ninjas audit reported that Arizona had undercounted Joe Biden’s votes by 99 and overcounted Donald Trump’s by 261. More than 10,000 votes separated the two in official results. Despite the audits, Finchem continued to espouse support for ideas that Joe Biden did not win Arizona in 2020. Another such occurrence came when he mentioned support for a group led by former Trump Campaign Attorney Cleta Mitchell. Finchem made the following statement on a July 2022 appearance on Voice of Healing Radio with Michael Petro, which airs on Houston-area radio station KKHT. The station is owned by Salem Media Group, which is listed as an executive producer of the largely-debunked election fraud documentary 2000 Mules. “Cleta Mitchell has launched the Election Integrity Network, and she is going to key states, I think eight different key states, where we know that election fraud, election irregularities, whatever, discrepancies, you use the word you want to use. But the elections were rigged, and she is going to those states to implement a strategy that is about building election integrity infrastructure.” The Election Integrity Network website also notes a connection with The Conservative Partnership Institute, which is headed by former US Senator Jim DeMint and former White House House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. An NPR report said “Experts in tax law told NPR that the nonprofit group appears to be pushing the boundaries of charity law by closely entwining itself with explicitly Republican and pro-Trump political organizations.” Finchem’s fraud claims have not quieted since he won the primary to represent the Republican Party in the Secretary of State’s race. In a post-primary August 25 appearance on the John Fredericks Show, a conservative talk show originating in Virginia, Finchem continued to make similar claims about the election. “I’m a fan of the West Virginia model, which is absentee ballots opt-in. In Arizona, we have flood the zone with fake ballots.” The term “flood the zone” has been used in many instances by Steve Bannon, a former advisor to Trump and founding member of Breitbart News. The claims are not limited to conservative media either. Finchem made claims about the 2020 election during the Arizona Clean Elections debate between himself and Adrian Fontes, the Democratic Party nominee in the Secretary of State race and the Maricopa County Recorder in 2020. The debate aired on Arizona Horizon, a program on Arizona PBS. Finchem was asked if he would have signed off on the state’s 2020 election results if he were the Secretary of State at the time of the election. Finchem started his answer by saying there were too many hypotheticals in that question before adding, “But knowing what we know today, there are certain counties that should have been set aside as irredeemably compromised. Maricopa County was one of them. Yuma County was one of them. We have so many votes outside of the law that it begs the question, ‘What do we do with an election where we have votes that are in the stream but should not be counted?’.” When pressed for evidence, Finchem mentioned “people who were indicted and plead guilty” of ballot harvesting. Guillermina Fuentes and Alma Juarez of San Luis plead guilty to charges related to ballot harvesting. The Associated Press reported, “that fewer than a dozen ballots could be linked to Fuentes, not enough to make a difference in all but the tightest local races.” Finchem also mentioned evidence of ballot harvesting from 2000 Mules and said there is terabytes of video and documentation showing cases on open.ink. Read More…

Laurence Silberman, Titan Of Conservative Jurisprudence, Dies At 86 https://digitalalabamanews.com/laurence-silberman-titan-of-conservative-jurisprudence-dies-at-86/ Laurence H. Silberman, one of the most influential conservative judges on the federal appellate bench, whose opinions on Second Amendment rights, the separation of powers, and the limits of press freedom resonated in the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court and across American jurisprudence, died Oct. 2 at his home in Washington. He was 86. His son Robert Silberman confirmed his death and said the cause was an undiagnosed infection. Mr. Silberman was named to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1985. He remained in full-time service on that bench — widely considered the second-most important judicial body in the country after the Supreme Court — until taking senior status in 2000. He continued hearing cases until shortly before his death and was celebrated among conservatives as a constant if sometimes provocative exponent of judicial restraint, the notion that judges must limit the exercise of their power to the analysis of the legal questions that come immediately before them. Mr. Silberman’s decades on the D.C. appeals court capped a government career that dated to the administration of Richard M. Nixon, one of several Republican presidents he served. Under Nixon, Mr. Silberman was solicitor of labor, the Labor Department’s top lawyer, and deputy attorney general. Under President Gerald Ford, Mr. Silberman served as U.S. ambassador to what then was Yugoslavia from 1975 to 1976. Three decades later, Mr. Silberman paused his judicial duties when President George W. Bush named him and Chuck S. Robb, a Democrat who served as U.S. senator and governor of Virginia, as co-chairmen of a presidential commission that issued a scathing report on the intelligence failures leading to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Bush later awarded Mr. Silberman the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, calling him “a stalwart guardian of the Constitution” whose “work to strengthen our national security institutions has made Americans safer.” But Mr. Silberman was best known as a jurist, and for the rigorous, sometimes tartly worded opinions he issued elucidating his legal worldview. “It has always seemed rather simple to me that in a democracy federal judges appointed for life may not allow themselves, or should not allow themselves, to make policy judgments,” he once said in an oral history for the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit.” Rather, he said, they “should do their very best to interpret the policy judgments Congress makes and turns into legislation as well as the policy judgments that are embodied” in the Constitution. That position, “didn’t please everyone — or anyone all of the time,” Paul Clement, a former clerk to the judge who became U.S. solicitor general, wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “But disappointing those who view judicial decisions through a political lens was part of the job.” Mr. Silberman “wrote important opinions and spotted lurking jurisdictional defects,” Clement observed, “as he strived to model his vision of judicial restraint.” Mr. Silberman issued one of his most important opinions in Parker v. District of Columbia, authoring the 2-1 decision in 2007 that found a District gun control measure in violation of Second Amendment protections of the right to bear arms. The case proceeded as District of Columbia v. Heller to the Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 the following year to strike down the D.C. law. Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion, one of the most significant of his career, reflected Mr. Silberman’s view that Second Amendment protections apply not only to militia members, but also to individuals. Mr. Silberman wrote a majority opinion in 1988 that would have invalidated the law that created an independent counsel to investigate government officials, including the president, accused of certain federal crimes. The judge saw the law as a violation of the separation of powers. The case advanced to the Supreme Court as Morrison v. Olson, in which the court voted to uphold the independent counsel law. It was, Mr. Silberman said, “my greatest disappointment as a judge.” Scalia wrote a noted dissent — of which Mr. Silberman’s earlier opinion had “formed the first draft,” according to Clement — and the law was allowed to expire in 1999. Mr. Silberman occasionally surprised court-watchers, including when he voted to uphold the 2010 Affordable Care Act, one of President Barack Obama’s signature policy achievements, against Republican challenges. He disliked the law but argued that it was supported by the “commerce clause” of the Constitution allowing Congress to regulate commerce between the states. Mr. Silberman was frequently floated as a contender for a seat on the Supreme Court, including when Justice William Brennan Jr. resigned in 1990. Around that time, Mr. Silberman ruled in favor of Oliver L. North, the National Security Council aide who had appealed his convictions in connection with the Iran-contra affair. (The charges against him were eventually dropped.) According to The Washington Post, Mr. Silberman’s decision in that case was seen as possibly costing him the Supreme Court nomination, which ultimately went to David Souter. One of Mr. Silberman’s most controversial opinions was a dissent in a 2021 libel case, in which he argued that the unanimous 1964 Supreme Court decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, a foundational case in media law that protects journalists from libel suits from public figures, should be reevaluated. “Two of the three most influential papers (at least historically), The New York Times and The Washington Post, are virtually Democratic Party broadsheets. And the news section of The Wall Street Journal leans in the same direction,” he wrote. “Nearly all television — network and cable — is a Democratic Party trumpet.” “I recognize how difficult it will be to persuade the Supreme Court to overrule such a ‘landmark’ decision,” he conceded. “After all, doing so would incur the wrath of press and media. … But new considerations have arisen over the last 50 years that make the New York Times decision (which I believe I have faithfully applied in my dissent) a threat to American Democracy. It must go.” Mr. Silberman’s opinion caused an uproar among journalists and advocates for press freedom. It was sharply criticized by J. Michael Luttig, a former federal appeals court judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush, as “dangerous” and “chilling.” To his admirers, the decision represented Mr. Silberman’s ability to shape legal conversations in the country even when he was not in the majority. “Judge Silberman had a powerful legal mind, enormous energy, and a passion for freedom,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement after Mr. Silberman’s death. “Our country benefited greatly from that combination. And there was never a dull moment when he was in the room.” Laurence Hirsch Silberman was born in York, Pa., on Oct. 12, 1935. His paternal grandfather made a fortune in the steel industry, and he described his father as “spoiled and pretty much a ne’er-do-well who lost a great deal of money in various ventures financed by my grandfather.” Mr. Silberman was a baby when his 5-year-old brother was fatally struck by a car. His parents soon relocated to Philadelphia and then to New Jersey, where Mr. Silberman grew up. His parents divorced when he was 9, and his mother later worked in real estate and remarried. He said that his mother, his grandfather and an uncle who was a lawyer all encouraged him to enter the legal field. He graduated with a history degree from Dartmouth College in 1957 and, after Army service, from Harvard Law School in 1961. He practiced law in Hawaii before joining the National Labor Relations Board as a lawyer in 1967. At the Labor Department, he helped draft the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. At the Labor Department, Mr. Silberman once threatened to resign when the Nixon administration attempted to block the nomination of an African American labor scholar. He was deeply affected by an episode in 1975 when, as a top Justice Department official, he was tasked with reviewing the secret files of J. Edgar Hoover, the powerful FBI director who had died three years earlier. “It was the single worst experience of my long governmental service,” Mr. Silberman wrote years later in the Journal. “I intend to take to my grave nasty bits of information on various political figures — some still active.” “As bad as the dirt collection business was, perhaps even worse was the evidence that he had allowed — even offered — the bureau to be used by presidents for nakedly political purposes,” Mr. Silberman continued. “I have always thought that the most heinous act in which a democratic government can engage is to use its law enforcement machinery for political ends.” In between his stints in government, he worked in private practice, as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and as an executive at Crocker National Bank in San Francisco. Mr. Silberman was married for 49 years to Rosalie Gaull “Ricky” Silberman, who co-founded the Independent Women’s Forum, an advocacy organization representing conservative women. She was a vocal supporter of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during his 1991 confirmation process, which was bitterly contested over allegations that he had sexually harassed Anita Hill, a former colleague at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where Mr. Silberman’s wife also had worked. Thomas was ultimately confirmed to the high court. Ricky Gaull Silberman died in 2007. In 2008, Mr. Silberman married Patricia Winn. Besides his wife, of Washington, survivors ...

Miss USA 2022: Miss Texas USA Takes The Crown https://digitalalabamanews.com/miss-usa-2022-miss-texas-usa-takes-the-crown/ R’Bonney Gabriel, Miss Texas USA 2022, was named Miss USA 2022 on Monday night at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada. At the pageant, which was televised by the A&E Network’s FYI channel, Gabriel received her crown from Miss USA 2021, Elle Smith. Gabriel is a fashion designer who specializes in eco-friendly clothing. She has her own brand, R’Bonney Nola, in Houston. Gabriel also works as a sewing instructor at Magpies & Peacocks, a nonprofit design house that takes discarded materials and transforms them into new fashions. Gabriel graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in fashion design. She is the first woman of Filipino-American descent to be named Miss Texas USA, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I’m here to represent Texans, Filipina-Americans, and those who push past self doubt to reach their greatest potential,” Gabriel said in an Instagram post on Sunday, after a private interview with the judges for Miss USA. “I feel at peace knowing I have put in the work to develop into the truest form of myself. I’ve learned the importance of embracing who I am.” Over the weekend, Gabriel competed in a preliminary competition for Miss USA and a state costume contest. Gabriel won the costume contest with an outfit inspired by the bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas. As Miss USA, Gabriel will move on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant on Jan. 14, 2023, in New Orleans. Gabriel bested 50 other contestants for the Miss USA title, including Miss Alabama USA, Katelyn Vinson. Vinson won the state title in January, competing as Miss Dothan USA. All 51 contestants for Miss USA are the winners of state pageants held earlier this year. Vinson was not among 16 semi-finalists announced on Monday, so she didn’t compete in the televised swimsuit, evening gown or question-and-answer competitions for Miss USA. (The pageant doesn’t have a talent competition.) RELATED: Miss USA 2022: Meet 51 women competing for the crown, including Miss Alabama USA Morgan Romano, Miss North Carolina USA, was named the runner-up for Miss USA. Natalie Pieper, Miss Nebraska USA, took third place. Sir’Quora Carroll, Miss Ohio USA, came in fourth. Angel Reyes, Miss Illinois USA, rounded out the top five finalists. Gabriel begins a yearlong reign as Miss USA, with Los Angeles as her base. “For the duration of her reign, she will be engaged in red carpet experiences, networking opportunities, professional photo shoots, speaking engagements and more,” the Miss USA website says. “She will also have the opportunity to promote her personal platform alongside the charitable alliances of the Miss USA Organization.” If she becomes Miss Universe, Gabriel will cede the Miss USA title to Romano, the first runner-up. RELATED: Miss USA and Miss America: What’s the difference? Finals for the 2022 Miss Teen USA pageant were held on Oct. 1, also at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. Faron Medhi, who competed as Miss Nebraska Teen USA, was the winner. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Brothers Say Their Land Was Stolen: For Nine Years, They https://digitalalabamanews.com/brothers-say-their-land-was-stolen-for-nine-years-they/ Lorenzo Tolbert, 75, hopped in his car one afternoon to take a drive around Marion Junction, the rural town in Dallas County where he was born and raised. He and his brothers had some family property about 10 minutes away from their home that they hadn’t checked on in a while, so he figured he would head in that direction.  It was 17 acres of growing wildflowers, weeds and trees. Their cousin, Jessie Gardner, used to live there, but shortly after she died at 102 years old, the house that had once stood on the property burned down.  “What could possibly be happening over there now?” Tolbert remembers thinking.  When he arrived, the land was not untouched as he expected. Instead, a sign that read “FOR SALE” stuck out of the grass. He called his two younger brothers to inquire whether they were trying to sell the property without his knowledge.  They said, “No.” That was nine years ago.  On Nov. 25, 2013, Lorenzo and Tony Tolbert filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Dallas County asking for an injunction to stop the sale of the 17 acres on County Road 29. According to the Tolberts, the court did not grant them a hearing, and the case was dismissed. Several months later, the Tolbert brothers filed a civil lawsuit against Rodney Harrison, his mother Gloria Harrison and other parties.  In other news:Judge imposes sanctions on Alabama auto parts manufacturer accused of child labor For subscribers:Alabama redistricting case before Supreme Court could further weaken Voting Rights Act The case remains open, and their next court date is set for Nov. 16.  John Pilcher, an attorney in Selma representing the Harrisons, did not respond to the Montgomery Advertiser’s request for comment.  The land in question originally belonged to Nora Harrell, great-grandmother of the Tolbert brothers. She died intestate, without a will, and in turn, her death would open up a world of problems for her family. The land became heir property, jointly owned by her descendants. “They never probated. We should have, but we didn’t have nobody that was smart enough to do that in the family. That’s just why we’re going through this now,” Lorenzo Tolbert said.  Historically, heir property is a primary cause of land loss among Black families and a major factor contributing to poverty in the Black Belt. According to the Alabama Probate Code, a will must be probated within five years after the death of the owner of the estate. When this isn’t done, or if there is no will, ownership of property is divided among surviving heirs in order of closest relation. From there, ownership can fragment with each passing generation.  “Often only one or a handful of heirs remain on the land, paying taxes and maintaining the property. Yet these co-owners hold no more legal claim to the land than those living several states away,” according to an Auburn University rural sociology study. In this case, Lorenzo Tolbert said he had been taking care of the land and paying property taxes since moving back to Marion Junction in 1998 to care for his mother, Vendetta Harrell. Before then, she tended to the property and had received various offers from local farmers to purchase the land. She declined to sell. According to deeds on record, Gloria Harrison conveyed a quitclaim deed to herself including the 17 acres on March 20, 1999. She and Benjamin Harrell claimed ownership of the property through familial relation, and Harrison deeded the property to her son, Rodney Harrison, in 2008, according to a warranty deed.  In 2009, well-known local farmer Douglas Cogle entered into a contract with the Harrisons to purchase 38 acres of property including the disputed 17 acres. His family owns “all of the real estate surrounding” those 38 acres.  “My attorneys determined that the sellers could not convey good title to said real property,” Cogle said in an affidavit. “I did not acquire any legal or equitable interest in said real property.”  In 2012, Cogle entered into another contract with Rodney Harrison to purchase 19 acres of land in the same area. Once again, Cogle said his attorney “determined that it was questionable whether Mr. Harrison could convey good title to this parcel of real property.”  The Tolbert brothers say they had no idea this was happening at the time. It wasn’t until the day Lorenzo Tolbert drove past the for sale sign that they thought to raise questions about the land.  That week, Tony Tolbert says he called the number listed on the sign and spoke with a Demopolis real estate agent who said Gloria Harrison, a woman from New Jersey, was selling the plot of land, and a farmer in town was interested in purchasing it.  Now, after nine years of back and forth, subpoenas, motions to dismiss and court hearings, not much has changed.  The Tolbert brothers have enlisted the services of seven different attorneys over the years, and they estimate that they have spent around $27,000.  “For whatever reason, we have issues with attorneys doing what they’re supposed to be doing when it comes to the defendants filing motions and responding in a timely manner,” Tony Tolbert said. “It’s really a simple case, if we could get an attorney to just fight the case. The land has been in our family for over 100 and some years.” Lorenzo is approaching his 76th birthday, and he says he feels an obligation to his younger brothers, Tony Tolbert and Barry Harrell, to stay in Marion Junction and fight for what they feel rightfully belongs to them.  “It’s one of those things that you don’t know how long you get,” he said.  Lorenzo and Barry now live together in the home they grew up in, a few miles away from the disputed land. That’s heir property, too. Read More…

Georgia Election Probe Enters New Phase With Search Warrants https://digitalalabamanews.com/georgia-election-probe-enters-new-phase-with-search-warrants-2/ Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is shown in her office on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies broke the law trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case, a sign that the wide-ranging probe has entered a new phase. The revelation came Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury that has been seated as part of the investigation. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File) ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case, a sign that the wide-ranging probe has entered a new phase. The revelation came Monday in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury seated to help the investigation. In an order sealing any search warrants and related documents from being made public, McBurney wrote that District Attorney Fani Willis’ office is “now seeking to obtain and execute a series of search warrants, the affidavits for which are predicated on sensitive information acquired during the investigation.” Disclosure of the information could compromise the investigation, McBurney wrote, “by, among other things, causing flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, and intimidation of potential witnesses.” It could also result in risks to the “safety and well-being” of people involved in the investigation, he wrote. It wasn’t immediately clear who the targets of the search warrants are or whether any search warrants had yet to be approved by a judge. To obtain a search warrant, prosecutors must convince a judge they have probable cause that a crime occurred at the location where authorities want to search. As Willis’ investigation ramps up, the public court filings in the case have provided a rare window into the workings of a special grand jury that meets behind closed doors. Willis, a Democrat, opened the investigation early last year, shortly after the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump suggested that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In addition to the Trump-Raffensperger call, Willis confirmed early on that she was investigating a call that Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made to Raffensperger, the sudden departure of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in early January 2021 and statements made during legislative committee meetings by people pushing debunked claims casting doubt on the legitimacy of the state’s election. Court filings in recent months have also shown that Willis is interested in a slate of fake electors who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. She said in a court filing that the 16 Georgia Republicans who signed that certificate have all been notified they are targets of the investigation, meaning they could face criminal charges. Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor and Trump lawyer, say their client has also been notified that he’s a target of Willis’ investigation. He appeared at state legislative committee hearings in December 2020 and made claims of election fraud in Georgia. Giuliani was also involved in coordinating the fake elector plan, Willis wrote in a court filing. He testified before the special grand jury in August. Willis’ investigation has also expanded into a breach of voting equipment at the elections office in a rural Georgia county, some 200 miles southeast of Atlanta. Documents, emails, security video and deposition testimony produced in response to subpoenas in a long-running lawsuit have shown that lawyer Sidney Powell and other Trump allies hired a computer forensics team to go to Coffee County to make complete copies of data and software on elections equipment there. Willis is seeking testimony from Powell and has also requested documents from the company that employs the computer forensics team. Another thread Willis seems to be pursuing is alleged attempts to pressure a Fulton County election worker. A petition filed last month indicates she wants to question Harrison Floyd, a director of Black Voices for Trump. Willis said in the petition that Floyd and Trevian Kutti, whom Willis described as a Chicago-based “purported publicist,” tried to pressure Ruby Freeman. Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, were election workers falsely accused by Trump allies of pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase during ballot counting. As the investigation has progressed, a number of people who have been summoned to testify have tried to avoid testifying. Most have been unsuccessful. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who’s facing a reelection challenge from Democrat Stacey Abrams, managed to delay his testimony until after next month’s election. Graham’s attempt to fight his subpoena is currently pending before a federal appeals court. Willis has said in a court filing that she wants to talk to Graham about calls he made to Raffensperger and his staff in which he reportedly asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” Graham has denied any wrongdoing and said his status as a senator shields him from having to testify. A number of high-ranking Georgia state officials, including Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, have already testified before the special grand jury. Others in Trump’s orbit who’ve undergone questioning include attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro. And the panel is still expecting testimony from others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Willis has indicated she could seek to compel testimony from Trump himself. The former president has hired a legal team in Atlanta and last month disparaged the investigation as a “strictly political Witch Hunt!” Read More…

AP News Summary At 9:02 P.m. EDT https://digitalalabamanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-902-p-m-edt/ Ukraine claws back more territory Russia is trying to absorb KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces have scored more gains in their counteroffensive across a broad front. The troops advanced Monday in the very areas Russia is trying to absorb. Their breakthroughs challenged Russia’s effort to engage fresh troops and its threats to defend incorporated areas by all means, including with nuclear weapons. Ukrainian forces penetrated Moscow’s defenses in the strategic southern Kherson region, one of the four areas Russia is annexing. Ukraine’s advances have become so apparent that even Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman admitted the gains. He cited Ukraine’s numerically superior tank units. Also Monday, Russia released from detention the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. N. Korea sends missile soaring over Japan in escalation SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years as it escalates tests of weapons designed to strike regional U.S. allies. The launch early Tuesday forced Japan to issue evacuation notices to residents in the northeast and suspend trains. It was North Korea’s most significant missile test since January. Japan and South Korea both called security meetings to discuss the launch. The launch is the fifth round of weapons tests by North Korean in the past 10 days in what was seen as an apparent response to recent military drills involving the United States and its allies in North Asia. Officials: US to send Ukraine more advanced rocket systems WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will soon deliver four more advanced rocket systems to Ukraine, under a new $625 million package of aid expected to be announced Tuesday. That’s according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the package ahead of the announcement. The decision marks the first time the U.S. has sent more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems to Ukraine since late July, and it will bring the total number delivered so far to 20. The systems have become a key tool in Ukraine’s ability to strike bridges that Russia has used to supply its troops, enabling Ukrainian forces to make inroads in Russia-controlled regions. Oath Keepers trial: Jan. 6 was ‘rebellion,’ prosecutor says WASHINGTON (AP) — Prosecutors are saying at the opening of the most serious case to reach trial in the attack on the U.S. Capitol that the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates planned for an “armed rebellion” to stop the transfer of presidential power. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler delivered his opening statement Monday in Washington’s federal court in the trial of Stewart Rhodes and others charged with seditious conspiracy. They are accused of a weekslong plot to stop the transfer of power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden. Defense attorneys accused prosecutors of cherry-picking comments from messages and videos and said the government has no evidence there ever was any plan to attack the Capitol. Frustration and desperation mount as Ian’s effects linger FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Days after Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, the dangers persisted, and even worsened in some places. It was clear the road to recovery from the storm will be long and painful. More than 500,000 homes and businesses remained without power Monday in Florida and it will be the weekend before most power is restored. And Ian still is not done. Officials warned there still was the potential of coastal flooding from Long Island south to North Carolina’s Outer Banks where the only highway to the barrier islands was closed by sand and seawater. Seventy-eight deaths have been blamed on Ian, with 71 of them reported in Florida. Georgia election probe enters new phase with search warrants ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case. It’s a sign the wide-ranging probe has entered a new phase. The revelation came Monday in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. It wasn’t immediately clear who the targets of the search warrants are or whether any search warrants had been executed. As the investigation ramps up, the public court filings have provided a rare window into the workings of a special grand jury that meets behind closed doors. Trump rallies drift to fringe ahead of potential 2024 bid WARREN, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s rallies have always attracted a broad swath of supporters. They draw first timers taking advantage of their chance to see a president in person to devotees who camp out for days and follow him around the country like rock band groupies. But after spending much of the last two years obsessively peddling false claims of a stolen election, Trump is increasingly attracting those who have broken with reality. That includes adherents of the baseless QAnon conspiracy, which began in the dark corners of the internet and is premised on the belief that the country is run by a ring of child sex traffickers that only Trump can defeat. Frustration with Ukraine war spills out on Russian state TV Russia’s retreat from a key Ukrainian city over the weekend elicited outcry from an unlikely crowd – state-run media outlets that typically speak glowingly about Moscow’s war. A series of embarrassing military losses for Moscow has presented a growing challenge for prominent hosts of Russian news and political talk shows scrambling to find ways to paint Kyiv’s gains in a way that is still favorable to the Kremlin. The less conciliatory tone from state-run media comes as President Vladimir Putin faces more than just battlefield losses; there is widespread Russian discontent about his partial mobilization of reservists and officials are struggling to explain plans to annex Ukrainian regions while they are being retaken by Kyiv’s forces. Wall Street soars to best day since summer, S&P 500 up 2.6% NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied to its best day since July as falling bond yields eased some of the pressure that’s battered markets. The S&P 500 rose 2.6% Monday, the latest swing for a scattershot market that’s been mostly falling this year on worries about a possible global recession. Treasury yields fell after a report on U.S. manufacturing came in weaker than expected. That could mean the Federal Reserve won’t have to be so aggressive about raising interest rates to beat down the high inflation damaging households’ finances, but analysts still see plenty more turbulence ahead. Will Smith’s ‘Emancipation’ gets release date, post-slap NEW YORK (AP) — After holding “Emancipation” in limbo following Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards in March, Apple will release the actor’s next big project in December. The fate of the $120 million runaway slave thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua had been uncertain. One of Apple’s most high-profile productions yet, the film had once been expected to be a potential Oscar contender this year. But an awards-season rollout of a film headlined by Smith has obvious complications as Smith is banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years. Apple TV+ will debut “Emancipation” on Dec. 2 in theaters and stream it Dec. 9. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More…

Donald Trump Sues CNN For $475m Over ‘campaign Of Slander’ And ‘comparisons To Hitler’ https://digitalalabamanews.com/donald-trump-sues-cnn-for-475m-over-campaign-of-slander-and-comparisons-to-hitler/ Former US president Donald Trump sued CNN for defamation yesterday, seeking $475m in punitive damages and claiming the network had carried out a “campaign of libel and slander” against him. r Trump claims in his lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that CNN had used its considerable influence as a leading news organisation to defeat him politically. CNN declined to comment on the case. Mr Trump, a Republican, claims in the 29-page lawsuit that CNN had a long track record of criticising him but had ramped up its attacks in recent months because the network feared that he would run again for president in 2024. “As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the left, CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist’, ‘Russian lackey’, ‘insurrectionist’, and ultimately ‘Hitler’,” the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit lists several instances in which CNN appeared to compare Mr Trump to Hitler, including a January 2022 special report by host Fareed Zakaria that included footage of the German dictator. Mr Trump, who in 2020 lost a re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden, has not said whether he would seek re-election. The lawsuit comes as the 76-year-old former president faces considerable legal woes, including a criminal investigation by the US Justice Department for retaining government records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in January 2021. Mr Trump was sued last month by New York state Attorney General Leticia James, who has accused him of lying to banks and insurers over the value of his assets. And a congressional committee is investigating the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, focusing on the former president’s role in the attack. Read More…

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Over Japan https://digitalalabamanews.com/north-korea-fires-ballistic-missile-over-japan/ TOKYO — North Korea on Tuesday launched a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, Japanese and South Korean officials said. The missile, which was the first North Korean projectile to pass through Japanese airspace since 2017, landed in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese government issued a rare evacuation order Tuesday morning, urging residents in the Aomori and Hokkaido prefectures in the northern region to take shelter. Japanese officials said the missile flew outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone but warned about falling debris. North Korea has tested an unprecedented number of missiles this year as it diversifies and expands its weapons arsenal as part of leader Kim Jong Un’s five-year plan. North Korea has conducted five rounds of ballistic missile tests since Sept. 24, ahead of Vice President Harris’s visit to the region. In recent weeks, the U.S., Japanese and South Korean governments have all conducted military exercises designed to demonstrate the allies’ readiness to work together in the event of a conflict. The latest launch came as the United States and South Korea wrap up their joint military exercises involving the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. While the allied countries say the drills are defensive in nature, Kim’s regime has long viewed them as hostile acts and used them to justify its weapons development and nuclear program. Tuesday’s launch is the seventh time since 1998 that North Korea has launched a missile over Japan. There are signs that a new cycle of escalation is already taking shape, with North Korea rejecting overtures and possibly preparing for a seventh nuclear test amid a diplomatic deadlock with Washington and shifting security dynamics in the region. On Tuesday morning, residents in the Aomori prefecture woke up to the noise of blaring sirens warning them of the missile launch. Fishermen who work off the coast of Aomori in the waters where the missile fell told Japanese news outlets that the launch was a serious threat to their safety. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida convened a meeting of the National Security Council in response and condemned the launch. Japanese officials said they sent the strongest words of condemnation possible through diplomatic channels. “The recent repeated launch of missiles is outrageous and we strongly condemn this,” Kishida said. The intermediate-range ballistic missile is believed to be, or may be similar to, the Hwasong-12, according to missile experts. The missile’s reach includes Japan and Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean located to the east of Japan. North Korea launched the missile from the Chagang Province in the northern part of the country, South Korean military officials said. The missile was launched at 7:22 a.m. and it flew 4,600 kilometers (2,858 miles) for 22 minutes over Aomori Prefecture before landing in the Pacific Ocean, Japanese officials said. Its maximum height was 1,000 km (621 miles). Min Joo Kim in Seoul and Julia Mio Inuma in Tokyo contributed to this report. Read More…

Alabama Elementary School Teacher’s Assistant Fired After Allegedly Tossing 4-Year-Old Boy By The Leg https://digitalalabamanews.com/alabama-elementary-school-teachers-assistant-fired-after-allegedly-tossing-4-year-old-boy-by-the-leg/ Tuscaloosa Real-Time News Published: Oct. 03, 2022, 7:44 p.m. An Alabama elementary school teacher’s assistant facing child abuse charges has been fired after she allegedly tossed a 4-year-old boy by the leg and threw him six feet in an incident caught on video, according to court filings and Tuscaloosa County Schools. Mandy Munoz, the teacher’s assistant at Lake View Elementary School in Tuscaloosa County, was charged with one count of child abuse on Friday, court records showed. Munoz allegedly grabbed the 4-year-old boy by the arm and slung him to the other side of her before she grabbed his leg and “slung him 6 feet across the room,” according to the complaint filed against her in Tuscaloosa County District Court. Munoz allegedly told the elementary school’s principal that she “just snapped from dealing with” the boy. The incident was captured on school surveillance footage, the complaint stated. A Tuscaloosa County Schools spokeswoman told the Tuscaloosa Thread that Munoz was fired before charges were filed against her. “Mandy Munoz’s employment as a teacher’s assistant at Lake View Elementary was terminated on Monday, September 26,” said spokeswoman Terri Brewer. “The Tuscaloosa County School System has and will cooperate with any law enforcement investigation regarding this situation. Due to laws that protect the privacy of students, the Tuscaloosa County School System is unable to discuss publicly any details of the situation. The safety of our students is the highest priority of the Tuscaloosa County School System.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Opelika Homes For Big Families https://digitalalabamanews.com/opelika-homes-for-big-families/ Opelika homes for big families Opelika homes with at least five bedrooms. 5 Bedroom Home in Auburn – $435,000 Brand New Interior Paint & a ceiling to floor deep clean for 2195 Watts Way! This 5bed/4bath in the well desired subdivision of The Oaks in Cotswold is just what your buyer has been looking for! You are welcomed into a very spacious open floor plan with the dining area directly to your left & the living room directly in front of you which flows into the beautifully designed kitchen. The layout of the first level of this home is an entertainers dream! The natural light in this home is fantastic. One bedroom is on the first level along with a full bath. As you walk up the beautiful staircase you will find the master bedroom & bedroom #3 to your right bedroom 4 & 5 to the left. The Master bath in this home is a-maz-ing! 2 Car garage! Nice size fenced in backyard with a covered patio! Don’t let your buyers miss out on viewing this beauty! 5 Bedroom Home in Auburn – $426,929 **MOVE IN READY** “Norfolk” plan is ultimately unique in every way. Grand impression from the stately foyer that is flanked by impressive 90 degree angle staircase that leads to balcony area overlooking the first floor. Enormous guest bedroom on first floor as well as full bath will accommodate the teen, in-law, or out of town guests as well as allow the owners to retreat to the private second floor sleeping quarters. Impressive master suite boasts dramatic vaulted beamed ceiling and a spectacularly designed luxury bath with majestic bay window over garden/soaking tub featuring tile plank ledge. Three additional amply sized bedrooms and convenient jack and jill bath, make this plan a pleasure to own with it’s fascinating options. Delightful kitchen with massive granite counter tops and huge eating area adorned with bay window, makes cooking and entertaining a positive experience. 5 Bedroom Home in Opelika – $457,000 Beautiful, corner-lot home, in desirable Cannon Gate neighborhood! This 5/3 home, just under 2900 sq ft, is a spacious and inviting home for anyone! As you enter the home, you are greeted with gorgeous hardwood floors, the grand staircase in the two-story foyer, and the formal dining room! Once through the foyer, you enter the spacious living room, with vaulted ceiling, and wood-burning fireplace with beautiful built-ins on either side! Once in the kitchen, you have granite countertops, plentiful cabinetry throughout, and an open serving area into the living room with bar seating. The master bedroom itself has a vaulted ceiling, wood floors, and great natural light! Also downstairs you have another bedroom/office space, with a full bathroom. Once up the grand staircase, you have 3 additional bedrooms, and 1 full bathroom. Outside, you have a covered front porch AND covered back porch! Also take advantage of the neighborhood pool, covered gathering area (with bathrooms), and playground. 5 Bedroom Home in Auburn – $448,763 5 Bedroom Home in Auburn – $530,000 This property is a rare fine 5BD/4 Baths located just minutes from Auburn University as well as restaurants/shops at Moore’s Mill/Ogletree and Tigertown. Beautifully updated home with hardwood floors throughout. Master bedroom with trey ceilings and his and her sinks, large tub and shower. The kitchen has been renovated with granite and a lovely large sink. All appliances in kitchen are stainless steel with a eat-in kitchen. The den has a gas fireplace with granite trim around the fireplace. There is a bedroom and bath located in the basement.The home has approximately 75% of the basement completed with a den and pool table in this area. Just on the outside of the basement den is a very nice outside grilling area. Just outside of the kitchen upstairs is a refinished deck that will be nice for the Fall weather. 5 Bedroom Home in Auburn – $485,000 Incredibly maintained MODEL HOME with all the bells and whistles! Private lot on a quiet street, backing up to non-buildable berm. Upon entry, note the spacious main level with formal dining room, great room, and expansive kitchen. Complete with two islands, upgraded appliances, ample storage, and tons of natural light. Off the kitchen is a covered patio overlooking the yard. Main level owners suite with walk in closet and large en suite. Main level guest suite. Laundry room convenient to the owners suite. Upstairs you will find three additional bedrooms sharing a large hall bathroom with a double sink vanity and seperate water closet. Bonus room/media room includes a projector, screen, and speaker system. Additional storage in the bonus room hidden by barn doors. Two car garage, irrigation, surround sound, spray foam insulation, and a gas tankless hot water heater complete this lovely home! HOA fee covers lawn maintenance, weed control and pine straw. 5 Bedroom Home in Opelika – $369,900 Only minutes away from the heart of Auburn, AL! Hughston Homes’ newest community, Drake’s Landing featuring the Hawthorn A plan! This trendy homesite encompasses five spacious bedrooms with an abundance of room for relaxing, entertaining, dining, study and sleep, three luxurious bathrooms, entry foyer, Media Room, and a sleek stylish Kitchen offering Luxury Lighting and Hardware Package, granite countertops, a huge island and breakfast area that flows through to the Great Room with wood burning fireplace, Formal Dining Room, and the covered 10×10 patio out back! The Guest Suite on Main with full bathroom ensures privacy from upstairs. Upstairs you will find the open Media Room, Luxurious Owner’s Suite offering a MASSIVE walk-in closet, double vanity with Piedrafina countertops, shower, and separate garden tub, three additional spacious bedrooms, third full bathroom, and laundry with entry to Owner’s Bathroom. Virtual tour available upon request. 5 Bedroom Home in Opelika – $414,900 Welcome to Wyndham Village – a Hughston Community! Our HOTTEST selling plan! Must-see CYPRESS has 3158 energy efficient sqft! Inviting open kitchen concept with SS appliances, beautiful granite counters, sink WITHIN the large island, and walk-in pantry. Formal dining room with designer coffered ceilings and timeless judges panel w/ chair rail. Cozy up in the Great room by the wood burning FP! Tiled laundry room on the ¬2nd level. Large owner suite on 2nd level includes sitting area, 2 vanities, garden tub, separate shower, and oversized walk-in closet! Upstairs has a versatile media room. Guest Bedroom on main level. Owner entry from 2-car garage has convenient drop zone w/ built-in storage cubbies! Intelligent home tech–Keyless Entry, Touchless Video doorbell, control panel, controlled front porch lighting (and Gameday patio speakers) – all connected through 1 app from anywhere. Enjoy natural gas with cooking, Great room FP and tankless water heater! Includes signature Gameday patio! 5 Bedroom Home in Phenix City – $375,000 Beautiful 5B/3.5B brick home located in desirable Ivy Creek! This open floor plan has the master on the main floor with 4 large bedrooms and a recreational/game area upstairs! A gorgeous wood burning fireplace in the living room, granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, a large pantry, a mudroom with a cubby, a large laundry room, a half bath along with a covered back patio encompass the first floor making it great for enjoyment! The two bathrooms upstairs have a seperate tub/shower and toilet room so someone can get ready at the vanity with another person has privacy to shower. With a fenced in backyard, a storage room off the back patio and a covered entranceway to the large 2 car detached garage make for lots of space! Enjoy this home which was the model home for Ivy Creek! Basically new as the owners haven’t lived there long. A brand new fridge is included. HOA fees are $200/year. This is a must see spectacular home! 5 Bedroom Home in Phenix City – $375,000 Beautiful 5B/3.5B brick home located in desirable Ivy Creek! This open floor plan has the master on the main floor with 4 large bedrooms and a recreational/game area upstairs! A gorgeous fireplace in the living room, granite countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, a large pantry, a mudroom with a cubby, a large laundry room, a half bath along with a covered back patio encompass the first floor making it great for enjoyment! The two bathrooms upstairs have a seperate tub/shower and toilet room so someone can get ready at the vanity with another person has privacy to shower. With a fenced in backyard, a storage room off the back patio and a covered entranceway to the large 2 car detached garage make for lots of space! Enjoy this home which was the model home for Ivy Creek! Basically new as the owners haven’t lived there long. A brand new fridge is included. HOA fees are $200/year. This is a must see spectacular home! 5 Bedroom Home in Opelika – $365,350 Must-see CANNABERRA plan has 2820 energy efficient sqft! Inviting open kitchen with SS appliances, beautiful granite counters, sink WITHIN the large island, and walk-in pantry. Formal dining room with designer coffered ceilings and timeless judges panel w/ chair rail. Cozy up in the Great room by the wood burning FP! Tiled laundry room on the ¬2nd level. Large owner suite on 2nd level includes a double vanity, garden tub, separate shower, and oversized walk-in closet! Guest Bedroom on main level. Owner entry from 2-car garage has convenient drop zone w/ built-in storage cubbies – making mornings a breeze! Intelligent home tech–Keyless Entry, Touchless Video doorbell, control panel, controlled front porch lighting (and Gameday patio speakers) – all connected through 1 app from anywhere. 5 Bedroom Home in Auburn – $1,750,000 Breathtaking 11 acre estate in Auburn city limits. Built in 2016 by Michael Schumacher, the stunning home has absolutely everything – 3814SF, welcoming front porch, back porch w/ fireplace, view...

US Forecast https://digitalalabamanews.com/us-forecast-56/ US Forecast for Tuesday, October 4, 2022 City/Town, State;Yesterday’s High Temp (F);Yesterday’s Low Temp (F);Today’s High Temp (F);Today’s Low Temp (F);Weather Condition;Wind Direction;Wind Speed (MPH);Humidity (%);Chance of Precip. (%);UV Index Albany, NY;57;41;60;45;Showers around;N;5;54%;70%;2 Albuquerque, NM;74;55;72;55;A thundershower;SE;7;60%;96%;3 Anchorage, AK;53;42;52;43;Cloudy;NNE;8;74%;18%;1 Asheville, NC;61;44;69;41;Mostly sunny;NW;8;56%;3%;5 Atlanta, GA;76;53;78;47;Sunny and pleasant;NNW;6;58%;6%;5 Atlantic City, NJ;57;53;60;55;Very windy, rain;NNE;32;89%;100%;1 Austin, TX;88;59;90;59;Partly sunny;ESE;5;35%;0%;6 Baltimore, MD;55;47;53;51;Cool with rain;N;9;80%;100%;1 Baton Rouge, LA;85;59;84;62;Clouds and sun, nice;ENE;6;61%;12%;6 Billings, MT;67;47;73;49;Sunny and nice;SSW;8;59%;2%;4 Birmingham, AL;78;53;81;49;Mostly sunny, nice;NNE;6;52%;6%;5 Bismarck, ND;71;51;69;48;A shower in spots;W;8;67%;48%;2 Boise, ID;79;52;81;52;Sunny and warm;ENE;7;33%;0%;4 Boston, MA;56;48;57;52;Occasional rain;NNE;12;74%;98%;1 Bridgeport, CT;55;47;56;52;Rain and drizzle;NNE;14;74%;100%;1 Buffalo, NY;61;40;64;42;Partly sunny;ESE;5;48%;4%;4 Burlington, VT;59;36;63;39;Clouds and sun;ESE;5;52%;4%;4 Caribou, ME;58;31;63;36;Partly sunny;S;6;52%;7%;3 Casper, WY;67;39;66;38;Brilliant sunshine;NE;8;55%;2%;4 Charleston, SC;66;52;72;54;Clouds and sun;NW;10;52%;0%;5 Charleston, WV;64;40;66;42;Partly sunny;NW;4;57%;0%;5 Charlotte, NC;72;46;73;46;Mostly sunny, nice;N;7;51%;6%;5 Cheyenne, WY;66;43;64;40;A shower in spots;SE;7;53%;44%;5 Chicago, IL;64;48;71;50;Mostly sunny;SSE;6;38%;3%;4 Cleveland, OH;60;47;63;49;Mostly sunny;NNE;7;56%;6%;4 Columbia, SC;68;48;76;48;Mostly sunny;NNW;6;50%;1%;5 Columbus, OH;67;39;69;40;Mostly sunny;N;6;45%;1%;4 Concord, NH;58;34;61;44;Mainly cloudy;NNE;7;58%;44%;3 Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX;85;60;87;60;Plenty of sunshine;ESE;7;39%;0%;5 Denver, CO;74;48;69;48;A brief shower;E;6;55%;82%;5 Des Moines, IA;76;48;79;55;Clouds and sun;SSE;10;37%;43%;4 Detroit, MI;64;42;69;46;Mostly sunny;NNE;5;43%;7%;4 Dodge City, KS;84;52;77;53;Mainly cloudy;NNW;11;39%;67%;2 Duluth, MN;69;55;71;57;Cloudy;E;7;65%;27%;1 El Paso, TX;84;61;79;59;A t-storm around;ENE;7;52%;66%;5 Fairbanks, AK;51;30;51;34;Clouds and sun;NNE;7;64%;8%;2 Fargo, ND;73;58;74;53;Afternoon showers;W;7;66%;100%;1 Grand Junction, CO;69;49;73;49;Partly sunny;NE;7;51%;1%;5 Grand Rapids, MI;68;39;71;45;Partly sunny;WSW;5;48%;9%;4 Hartford, CT;56;46;58;50;Rain and drizzle;NNE;9;68%;99%;1 Helena, MT;69;47;73;47;Sunny and nice;SW;5;56%;0%;4 Honolulu, HI;89;74;86;72;Partly sunny;NE;10;58%;14%;8 Houston, TX;88;61;88;62;Partly sunny;SE;6;47%;5%;6 Indianapolis, IN;71;41;74;44;Mostly sunny;NE;5;44%;2%;4 Jackson, MS;82;56;82;55;Sunny and pleasant;ENE;6;52%;9%;6 Jacksonville, FL;73;61;76;56;Partly sunny, nice;NNE;10;55%;2%;6 Juneau, AK;55;40;54;47;Becoming cloudy;ENE;12;69%;93%;2 Kansas City, MO;82;55;84;59;Partly sunny;SSE;7;38%;27%;4 Knoxville, TN;71;46;74;43;Sunshine and nice;NE;6;49%;0%;5 Las Vegas, NV;92;68;93;68;Sunny and hot;NNW;6;25%;0%;5 Lexington, KY;70;41;70;42;Sunny and pleasant;N;7;46%;1%;5 Little Rock, AR;84;52;82;49;Sunny and nice;NNE;6;42%;6%;5 Long Beach, CA;80;65;80;66;Some sun;S;6;67%;1%;5 Los Angeles, CA;76;64;83;65;Mostly sunny;S;7;65%;1%;5 Louisville, KY;73;43;75;45;Sunny and nice;N;6;40%;2%;5 Madison, WI;70;42;72;45;Partly sunny;S;6;39%;6%;4 Memphis, TN;79;55;81;51;Sunny and nice;ENE;7;37%;5%;5 Miami, FL;86;72;85;73;Partly sunny;N;8;62%;39%;5 Milwaukee, WI;65;45;71;48;Partly sunny;SSW;7;47%;4%;4 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN;76;57;77;59;Mostly cloudy, warm;SW;9;45%;67%;2 Mobile, AL;82;61;83;61;Nice with some sun;NNW;6;62%;6%;5 Montgomery, AL;81;55;80;54;Mostly sunny;N;5;57%;7%;6 Mt. Washington, NH;41;38;47;37;Partly sunny;E;7;23%;5%;4 Nashville, TN;76;45;77;41;Sunny and nice;NE;7;39%;3%;5 New Orleans, LA;83;67;83;67;Partly sunny;SE;8;59%;8%;6 New York, NY;54;48;55;52;Rain and drizzle;NNE;20;85%;99%;1 Newark, NJ;54;47;55;52;Cool with rain;NNE;11;81%;99%;1 Norfolk, VA;57;51;55;52;A little rain;WNW;14;85%;96%;1 Oklahoma City, OK;84;56;86;58;Sunshine;SSE;9;38%;0%;5 Olympia, WA;79;49;73;47;Mostly cloudy;SW;6;71%;5%;3 Omaha, NE;82;54;80;55;Inc. clouds;NW;9;44%;33%;4 Orlando, FL;83;66;80;62;A shower in spots;NNE;9;64%;49%;6 Philadelphia, PA;51;47;54;52;Cool with rain;NNE;12;90%;100%;1 Phoenix, AZ;97;74;94;74;Mostly sunny, warm;SE;6;39%;36%;5 Pittsburgh, PA;65;42;65;44;Clouds and sun;NNW;5;46%;2%;4 Portland, ME;57;40;59;46;Mostly cloudy;ENE;8;62%;25%;3 Portland, OR;80;54;77;54;Fog, then sun;NNE;5;65%;5%;3 Providence, RI;57;46;55;51;Rain and drizzle;NNE;11;77%;99%;1 Raleigh, NC;63;47;62;48;Decreasing clouds;NNW;8;60%;16%;2 Reno, NV;80;45;82;47;Partly sunny, warm;WSW;6;31%;0%;5 Richmond, VA;54;46;53;48;A little rain;NW;9;84%;85%;1 Roswell, NM;83;55;78;58;A t-shower in spots;WNW;7;52%;73%;5 Sacramento, CA;86;56;87;57;Partly sunny, warm;S;5;52%;1%;4 Salt Lake City, UT;78;51;76;51;Sunny and pleasant;ESE;7;39%;0%;5 San Antonio, TX;87;61;90;61;Partly sunny;ESE;6;39%;1%;6 San Diego, CA;72;68;77;67;Turning sunny, humid;SW;7;76%;0%;5 San Francisco, CA;67;57;70;57;Mostly sunny;SW;10;69%;1%;5 Savannah, GA;66;51;76;53;Clouds and sun, nice;WSW;8;52%;0%;6 Seattle-Tacoma, WA;78;56;74;54;Partly sunny;SW;7;63%;4%;3 Sioux Falls, SD;82;54;69;54;A couple of showers;SW;7;61%;94%;1 Spokane, WA;79;49;81;47;Sunny and very warm;E;5;50%;1%;3 Springfield, IL;72;39;73;42;Sunny and nice;SE;5;43%;1%;4 St. Louis, MO;74;42;75;44;Sunny and pleasant;ESE;5;39%;0%;5 Tampa, FL;84;63;84;61;Partly sunny;ENE;7;65%;27%;6 Toledo, OH;64;39;69;42;Mostly sunny;W;4;47%;8%;4 Tucson, AZ;94;68;88;66;A p.m. t-storm;SE;7;47%;91%;6 Tulsa, OK;86;54;87;56;Plenty of sunshine;SSE;7;43%;2%;5 Vero Beach, FL;86;69;81;70;A shower in the p.m.;NNE;11;69%;87%;6 Washington, DC;55;47;52;49;Rain and drizzle;NNW;10;83%;98%;1 Wichita, KS;86;53;86;58;Partly sunny;ENE;10;35%;60%;5 Wilmington, DE;53;48;54;52;Rain;NNE;16;91%;100%;1 Copyright 2022 AccuWeather Copyright 2022 AccuWeather. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More…

Oath Keepers Trial: Jan. 6 Was 'rebellion,' Prosecutor Says https://digitalalabamanews.com/oath-keepers-trial-jan-6-was-rebellion-prosecutor-says/ By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group and four associates planned an “armed rebellion” to keep President Donald Trump in power, a federal prosecutor contended Monday as the most serious case yet went to trial in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Stewart Rhodes and his band of extremists were prepared to go to war were prepared to go to war to stop Joe Biden from becoming president, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told jurors. The group celebrated the Capitol attack as a victory in that fight and continued their plot even after Biden’s electoral victory was certified, Nestler alleged. “Their goal was to stop, by whatever means necessary, the lawful transfer of presidential power, including by taking up arms against the United States government,” the prosecutor said during his opening statement. “They concocted a plan for armed rebellion to shatter a bedrock of American democracy.” The defendants are the first among hundreds of people arrested in the Capitol riot to stand trial on seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which last secured such a conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago, and intends to try two more groups on the charge later this year. The trial comes as Trump continues to insist, against much evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and as vocal pushback against the charges filed against those who entered the Capitol continues in some quarters. The broader reaction could show how the American public, as well as the jury, sees the attack, nearly two years later. Defense attorneys accused prosecutors of cherry-picking comments from messages and videos and said the government has no evidence there ever was any plan to attack the Capitol. Rhodes’ attorney said his client will take the stand and show that the Oath Keepers had merely been preparing for orders they expected from Trump but never came. “Stewart Rhodes meant no harm to the Capitol that day. Stewart Rhodes did not have any violent intent that day,” Rhodes’ attorney, Phillip Linder, said. “The story the government is trying to tell you today is completely wrong.” On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group. They face several other charges as well. They are among roughly 900 people who have been charged in the attack, which temporarily halted the certification of Biden’s victory, sent lawmakers running for cover and left dozens of police officers injured. In the Oath Keepers case, prosecutors will try to prove that their actions were not a spontaneous outpouring of election-fueled rage but part of a detailed, drawn-out plot to stop Biden from entering the White House. The Oath Keepers “were prepared in November, they were prepared in December and when the opportunity finally presented itself on Jan 6, 2021, they sprang into action,” Nestler said. Rhodes began plotting to overturn Biden’s victory right after the election, Nestler said. In November 2020, Rhodes sent his followers a step-by-step plan for stopping the transfer of power based on a popular uprising that brought down Yugoslavia’s president two decades earlier. As December approached, Rhodes’ rhetoric became increasingly violent and desperate, Nestler said. In messages and comments read to the jury, the Oath Keepers repeatedly warned of violence if Biden were to become president. During a December interview, Rhodes called senators “traitors” and warned that the Oath Keepers would have to “overthrow, abort or abolish Congress.” He described Jan. 6 as a “hard constitutional deadline” for stopping the transfer of power. The Oath Keepers organized training, including one session on “unconventional warfare.” Before coming to Washington, they stashed “weapons of war” at a Virginia hotel to serve as “quick reaction force” that could get guns into the capital quickly if necessary, the prosecutor said. As Oath Keepers stormed the Capitol in helmets and other battle gear, Rhodes remained on the outside, like “a general surveying his troops on a battlefield,” Nestler said. After the attack, the elated Oath Keepers went to a Virginia restaurant to celebrate their victory, the prosecutor said. They planned to continue “that war,” but “thankfully their plans were foiled,” Nestler said. In the days between the riot and Biden’s inauguration, Rhodes spent more than $17,000 on firearm parts, ammunition and other items, prosecutors say. About a week after the insurrection, Rhodes was secretly recorded saying that his “only regret is that they should have brought rifles,” Nestler said. Prosecutors showed jurors a slew of videos, including showing Meggs, Harrelson and others firing AR-15 style rifles at targets at a range. Meggs sent the video, set to rock music, to a group on Jan. 5 and declared: “We are ready!” the prosecutor said. Among those who may testify during the trial, which will last several weeks, are three Oath Keepers who’ve pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and are cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of getting lighter sentences. They include a man who says that after arriving in Washington, Meggs told him that another Florida Oath Keeper had brought explosives in his RV. The government’s first witness was a FBI agent, who responded on Jan. 6 to help rescue senators. He described lawmakers crying, broken doors and windows and a scene that “looked like a bomb had gone off.” Defense lawyers say prosecutors have ripped the Oath Keepers’ messages out of context to paint them unfairly. The Oath Keepers came to Washington to provide security at events for figures such as Trump ally Roger Stone before the president’s big outdoor rally behind the White House, defense lawyers said. Rhodes’ attorney described the group as a “peacekeeping” force and called his client an “extremely patriotic” man who “loves this country.” Rhodes’ attorneys plan to argue that Rhodes believed Trump was going to going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up a militia, which Rhodes had been calling on him to do to stop Biden from becoming president. Rhodes’ lawyers have said he was merely lobbying the president to invoke a U.S. law. Prosecutors say it’s clear the Oath Keepers were going to act regardless of what Trump did. Nestler told jurors that Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, was only using the Insurrection Act as “legal cover.” In one message, Rhodes wrote in December 2020 that Trump “needs to know that if he fails to act, then we will.” An attorney for Caldwell said his client is a disabled veteran who didn’t even know of the Oath Keepers until November 2020. The defense lawyer, David Fischer, called Jan. 6 a “black eye” for the country, but said Caldwell merely came to Washington “on a date with his wife” and wasn’t een planning to go to the Capitol until Trump’s speech on the Ellipse before the riot. “Mr. Caldwell couldn’t storm his way out of a paper bag,” Fischer said. “I came here to clear his name.” ___ This story has been corrected to reflect that there are five defendants, not five men, on trial. ___ For full coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More…

Ukrainian Troops Overrun Russian Forces, Break Through Lines In Recently Annexed Kherson; US To Send More Advanced Weapons: Live Updates https://digitalalabamanews.com/ukrainian-troops-overrun-russian-forces-break-through-lines-in-recently-annexed-kherson-us-to-send-more-advanced-weapons-live-updates/ A Ukrainian counteroffensive that already has reclaimed thousands of miles is breaking through Russian lines in the southern Kherson region recently subject to annexation by Moscow, Kremlin-aligned officials said Monday. Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-picked head of the Kherson province, said on state television that multiple settlements about 70 miles northeast of the city of Kherson on the Dnieper River have been overrun. “It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Saldo said in a translation by Reuters. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in his daily briefing that “with superior tank units … the enemy managed to penetrate into the depths of our defense.” But Konashenkov said Russian troops had fallen back to a defensive position and “continue to inflict massive fire damage” on Kyiv’s forces. Ukraine also reported making inroads in the Luhansk province days after reclaiming the strategic eastern city of Lyman in the Donetsk province near the border with Luhansk. The Ukrainian gains are bringing into question Russia’s ability to absorb four occupied regions — Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhizhia — after claiming overwhelming victory last week in widely discredited elections. Russian officials so far can’t even agree on where the borders of those provinces are. Developments: ►The European Union nations will have to reduce natural gas use by 13% in the winter and may wind up competing for energy with Asia if they get entirely cut off by Russia, the International Energy Agency said Monday. ►Ihor Murashov, director general of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian province of Zaporizhzhia, was released from Russian custody after being detained leaving the facility Friday, according to Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. ►WNBA star Brittney Griner’s appeal of her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession has been set for Oct. 25, a Russian court said Monday. ►Russian shelling of eight Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours killed two civilians and wounded 14 others, Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday. ►The Joint Expeditionary Force group of northern European nations met Monday and discussed coordinated security — “including increased maritime presence” — for the pipelines in the Baltic Sea after blasts created three leaks of natural gas, the British Defense Ministry said. Ukraine to get four more HIMARS launchers in near term Four more of the U.S. rocket launchers that have proven pivotal in the war against Russia are coming Ukraine’s way soon, not years down the road. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, will be part of a new $624 million package of military aid expected to be announced Tuesday, U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity. The new delivery will increase to 20 the number of HIMARS sent to Ukraine, which has benefited from their capacity to strike accurately from 40-plus miles to destroy weapon depots and bridges Russia used to supply its troops. That ability has helped turn the war’s momentum in Ukraine’s favor. This new supply of HIMARS is separate from a program announced in recent weeks that will fund 18 more such launchers in future years as the U.S. and its allies seek to boost Ukraine’s long-term defenses. Russian media outlets becoming more critical of war, think tank says Embarrassing battlefield losses in the northern Kharkiv region and more recently in the strategic eastern city of Lyman, along with the troubled mobilization of civilians, “are fundamentally changing the Russian information space,” the Institute for the Study of War said. The Washington think tank noted that Russian state media outlets and military bloggers, faced with the facts on the ground, are pointing fingers for Moscow’s failures and complaining about war misinformation. Some guests on pro-Kremlin TV shows have even criticized the planned annexation of four Ukrainian provinces whose control by Russia seems increasingly tenuous, according to the ISW assessment. And a Russian public that had largely remained disengaged from the war has grown wary and distrustful upon the heightened prospect of being more directly impacted by the conflict, in some cases being forced to participate. “The Kremlin’s declaration of partial mobilization exposed the general Russian public to the consequences of the defeat around Kharkiv and then at Lyman,” the institute wrote, “shattering the Kremlin’s efforts to portray the war as limited and generally successful.” Petraeus: US and NATO allies would ‘take out’ Russian forces if they used nukes There’s an important fact to keep in mind amid the concern Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised with his nuclear threats: The U.S. and its allies would crush the Russian forces, former CIA Director David Petraeus says. Petraeus, a retired four star general, said that if Putin used nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the U.S. would lead a collective response with other NATO nations “that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea.” Petraeus made the comments during a Sunday interview with ABC’s “This Week” in which he said Putin is not only losing the war, but “the battlefield reality he faces is, I think, irreversible.” He added: “There’s nothing he can do at this point. … and the losses have been staggering.” Petraeus noted that he hasn’t spoken with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who last week revealed the Biden administration has made it clear to the Russians that they would face “catastrophic consequences” if they used nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, Petraeus said a Russian nuclear attack would be so “horrific” that the U.S. and its allies would have no choice but to respond militarily. “But it doesn’t expand, it doesn’t –  it’s not nuclear for nuclear. You don’t want to, again, get into a nuclear escalation here,” he said. “But you have to show that this cannot be accepted in any way.” Russia has stolen $530 million in Ukrainian grain, investigation finds Russia has stolen at least $530 million worth of Ukrainian grain as part of a sophisticated smuggling operation used to help fund the war, according to an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline.” Tracking three dozen ships that made more than 50 trips carrying grain from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine to ports in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and other countries, the news organizations found Russia used “falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge” to steal the grain.   Ukraine has made repeated accusations of grain theft during the war, drawing denials from Moscow. “It’s just pure pillaging and looting, and that is also an actionable offense under international military law,” said David Crane, a prosecutor who has been involved in numerous international war crime investigations. Russian parliament house approves annexations The lower house of the Russian parliament on Monday approved the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia. The unanimous vote by the State Duma came days after President Vladimir Putin and Russian-installed leaders of the four regions signed the treaties. The upper house is expected to follow suit Tuesday. Ukraine, the U.S. and its western allies have dismissed the annexations as having no legal validity. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up the Donbas would join Russia. He said the borders of the two other regions – Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – have not been determined. Kremlin shrugs off criticism of leadership Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said criticism of Russia’s military leadership by Chechnya’s regional leader was driven by emotions. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, scathingly criticized the Russian military command over the weekend, saying the Russian retreat from the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine was a result of incompetence and nepotism. Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that Russian military leader Colonel-General Alexander Lapin should be fired. “If I had my way I would have demoted Lapin to private, would have deprived him of his awards and would have sent him to the front line to wash off his shame with the rifle in his hands,” Kadyrov wrote. Kadyrov also called for the use of low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine to reverse the momentum of the war, which has been decidedly in Ukraine’s favor in recent weeks. Contributing: The Associated Press Read More…

Marc Short Criticizes Trump’s “racial Slur” Against Elaine Chao https://digitalalabamanews.com/marc-short-criticizes-trumps-racial-slur-against-elaine-chao/ Marc Short, a senior adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence and onetime director of legislative affairs under then-President Trump, said it was “obviously wrong” for the former president to use a “racial slur” against Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump’s former transportation secretary. Short made the comments in an interview on CBS News’ “Red and Blue” Monday night, after Trump last week posted on his platform Truth Social that McConnell has a “DEATH WISH” for voting with Democrats to approve a stop-gap funding bill, and called Chao, “his China-loving wife, Coco Chow.” Short called the post “erroneous,” to say the last, highlighting how much Chao has done for the cause of freedom in China.  “When I — when I saw those tweets at midnight, I sort of assumed the president had taken to drinking at that point,” Short joked. “I think that you know, it’s important to remember that Elaine Chao and her family have been strong crusaders against communist China their whole lives. She’s devoted herself to that. She’s spent time outside of government working at Heritage Foundation, fighting the cause for freedom. She, her family is actually from Taiwan. I think that that certainly was a misplaced and erroneous tweet, to say the least.” Trump, who doesn’t drink, continues to criticize Republicans who don’t fully align with him on Truth Social. Although the former president is expected to announce a 2024 bid, exactly when he might do so isn’t yet clear. Pence has also hasn’t ruled out a presidential bid and has made multiple trips to Iowa since the 2020 election.  CBS News correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns pointed out that most Republicans have offered little in the way of rebuke for the former president’s “death wish” tweet. On CBS News “Face the Nation” Sunday, Sen. Rick Scott declined to criticize the former president’s comments.  “Caitlin, I can’t speak for them,” Short said of other Republicans. “I think that Elaine Chao has been a strong crusader against communist China. I think the president’s factually wrong in his tweet, much less to the notion of him taking a racial slur like that I think was obviously wrong.”  Short also suggested that “there’s a sense that there’s been such enormous bias against [Trump] in the mainstream media, that perhaps [Republicans] are overcompensating for that. But again,” he added, “I don’t think there’s any place for the tweet he sent out the other night, and I think it’s entirely wrong.” Read More…

Georgia Election Probe Enters New Phase With Search Warrants https://digitalalabamanews.com/georgia-election-probe-enters-new-phase-with-search-warrants/ ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case, a sign that the wide-ranging probe has entered a new phase. The revelation came Monday in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury seated to help the investigation. In an order sealing any search warrants and related documents from being made public, McBurney wrote that District Attorney Fani Willis’ office is “now seeking to obtain and execute a series of search warrants, the affidavits for which are predicated on sensitive information acquired during the investigation.” Disclosure of the information could compromise the investigation, McBurney wrote, “by, among other things, causing flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, and intimidation of potential witnesses.” It could also result in risks to the “safety and well-being” of people involved in the investigation, he wrote. It wasn’t immediately clear who the targets of the search warrants are or whether any search warrants had yet to be approved by a judge. To obtain a search warrant, prosecutors must convince a judge they have probable cause that a crime occurred at the location where authorities want to search. As Willis’ investigation ramps up, the public court filings in the case have provided a rare window into the workings of a special grand jury that meets behind closed doors. Willis, a Democrat, opened the investigation early last year, shortly after the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump suggested that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In addition to the Trump-Raffensperger call, Willis confirmed early on that she was investigating a call that Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina made to Raffensperger, the sudden departure of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in early January 2021 and statements made during legislative committee meetings by people pushing debunked claims casting doubt on the legitimacy of the state’s election. Court filings in recent months have also shown that Willis is interested in a slate of fake electors who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. She said in a court filing that the 16 Georgia Republicans who signed that certificate have all been notified they are targets of the investigation, meaning they could face criminal charges. Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor and Trump lawyer, say their client has also been notified that he’s a target of Willis’ investigation. He appeared at state legislative committee hearings in December 2020 and made claims of election fraud in Georgia. Giuliani was also involved in coordinating the fake elector plan, Willis wrote in a court filing. He testified before the special grand jury in August. Willis’ investigation has also expanded into a breach of voting equipment at the elections office in a rural Georgia county, some 200 miles southeast of Atlanta. Documents, emails, security video and deposition testimony produced in response to subpoenas in a long-running lawsuit have shown that lawyer Sidney Powell and other Trump allies hired a computer forensics team to go to Coffee County to make complete copies of data and software on elections equipment there. Willis is seeking testimony from Powell and has also requested documents from the company that employs the computer forensics team. Another thread Willis seems to be pursuing is alleged attempts to pressure a Fulton County election worker. A petition filed last month indicates she wants to question Harrison Floyd, a director of Black Voices for Trump. Willis said in the petition that Floyd and Trevian Kutti, whom Willis described as a Chicago-based “purported publicist,” tried to pressure Ruby Freeman. Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, were election workers falsely accused by Trump allies of pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase during ballot counting. As the investigation has progressed, a number of people who have been summoned to testify have tried to avoid testifying. Most have been unsuccessful. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who’s facing a reelection challenge from Democrat Stacey Abrams, managed to delay his testimony until after next month’s election. Graham’s attempt to fight his subpoena is currently pending before a federal appeals court. Willis has said in a court filing that she wants to talk to Graham about calls he made to Raffensperger and his staff in which he reportedly asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” Graham has denied any wrongdoing and said his status as a senator shields him from having to testify. A number of high-ranking Georgia state officials, including Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, have already testified before the special grand jury. Others in Trump’s orbit who’ve undergone questioning include attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro. And the panel is still expecting testimony from others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Willis has indicated she could seek to compel testimony from Trump himself. The former president has hired a legal team in Atlanta and last month disparaged the investigation as a “strictly political Witch Hunt!” Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More…

Alabama Coach Nick Saban Shares Update On Bryce Young Shoulder Injury https://digitalalabamanews.com/alabama-coach-nick-saban-shares-update-on-bryce-young-shoulder-injury/ I know you’re interested in the injury situation really. There’s no updates on bryCE. You know, he’s got *** little bit of *** shoulder injury, It’s not *** long term, you know, type injury, he’s gonna be day to day when he can get back to, you know, throwing. Um and we’ll just have to evaluate *** day today. So I can’t I can’t tell you if that’s going to be today tomorrow or the next day. Um You know, brian branch should I’m not going to practice today but should be okay after today. Uh Justin uh Boy B is um he’s got *** neck injury that we’re having, specialists look at uh to make sure we managed correctly. And we’re not going to allow him to play until we can, you know, get the exact most expert plan of action for him in his future. Alabama coach Nick Saban shares update on Bryce Young shoulder injury Alabama coach Nick Saban on Monday shared an update on the quarterback Bryce Young’s shoulder injury he suffered in the win over Arkansas and previewed Saturday’s SEC showdown against Texas A&M. Watch the video above to see Saban’s remarks on Young’s injury and other injured Tide players.”He’s got a little bit of a shoulder injury. It’s not a long-term injury, he’s going to be day-to-day,” Saban said. “He’s gonna be day-to-day when he can get back to throwing, and we’ll just have to evaluate it day to day. So I can’t tell you if that’s going to be today, tomorrow, or the next day.”Saban became slightly irritated when asked about potential changes to the Alabama offensive playbook due to Young’s injury.”Again, I don’t talk to Jimbo on a regular basis, but I’ll call him and tell him right after the conference if you want me to,” Saban said sarcastically. “Do you guys think I’m gonna tell you what we’re going to do with our offense and our team? You might as well make it up.”Click here to see what college football experts said about the injury to the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.Saban and Alabama are gearing up for a visit from Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M, a game that’s been highly anticipated since the Tide’s upset loss in College Station last season and the offseason drama between the coaches. Alabama is a 24-point favorite to beat the Aggies. Kickoff at Bryant-Denny Stadium is set for 7 p.m. Saturday. CBS will televise the primetime matchup.Alabama regained its preseason No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 college football poll this week after Georgia struggled to beat Missouri last week. Get the WVTM 13 app for the latest Alabama Football news and updates.—Q&A WITH WILL ANDERSONHear what Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. said about facing Fisher and the Aggies below.—Q&A WITH JAHMYR GIBBSAlabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs met the media on Monday ahead of the Texas A&M game. Check out what he said below.Gibbs is coming off his best game yet with the Crimson Tide. He rushed for 206 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries in the Arkansas win.—BAMA PRACTICEWatch the video below to see the top-ranked Tide practicing for the Aggies on Monday.—BAMA VS TAMU SERIESOverall: 15th meeting (Alabama leads, 11-3)In Tuscaloosa: Alabama leads, 5-1Current Streak: Alabama, Lost 1Last Meeting: Oct. 9, 2021 – Bryan-College Station (L, 38-41)Series Notes: Alabama and Texas A&M will square off for the 15th time in series history on Saturday evening. The Crimson Tide owns an 11-3 advantage in the series, including a 5-1 mark in Tuscaloosa. Texas A&M came out on top, 41-38, in 2021 to snap an eight-game winning streak by UA that included a dominant 52-24 victory the last time the two teams met in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 3, 2020. Alabama head coach Nick Saban is 8-2 for his career against the Aggies, all of which have come during his time at the Capstone. Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is 1-4 against the Tide, including a 1-3 mark at A&M and an 0-1 record at Florida State. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama coach Nick Saban on Monday shared an update on the quarterback Bryce Young’s shoulder injury he suffered in the win over Arkansas and previewed Saturday’s SEC showdown against Texas A&M. Watch the video above to see Saban’s remarks on Young’s injury and other injured Tide players. “He’s got a little bit of a shoulder injury. It’s not a long-term injury, he’s going to be day-to-day,” Saban said. “He’s gonna be day-to-day when he can get back to throwing, and we’ll just have to evaluate it day to day. So I can’t tell you if that’s going to be today, tomorrow, or the next day.” Saban became slightly irritated when asked about potential changes to the Alabama offensive playbook due to Young’s injury. “Again, I don’t talk to Jimbo on a regular basis, but I’ll call him and tell him right after the conference if you want me to,” Saban said sarcastically. “Do you guys think I’m gonna tell you what we’re going to do with our offense and our team? You might as well make it up.” Click here to see what college football experts said about the injury to the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. Saban and Alabama are gearing up for a visit from Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M, a game that’s been highly anticipated since the Tide’s upset loss in College Station last season and the offseason drama between the coaches. Alabama is a 24-point favorite to beat the Aggies. Kickoff at Bryant-Denny Stadium is set for 7 p.m. Saturday. CBS will televise the primetime matchup. Alabama regained its preseason No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 college football poll this week after Georgia struggled to beat Missouri last week. Get the WVTM 13 app for the latest Alabama Football news and updates. — Q&A WITH WILL ANDERSON Hear what Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. said about facing Fisher and the Aggies below. — Q&A WITH JAHMYR GIBBS Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs met the media on Monday ahead of the Texas A&M game. Check out what he said below. Gibbs is coming off his best game yet with the Crimson Tide. He rushed for 206 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries in the Arkansas win. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. — BAMA PRACTICE Watch the video below to see the top-ranked Tide practicing for the Aggies on Monday. — BAMA VS TAMU SERIES Overall: 15th meeting (Alabama leads, 11-3) In Tuscaloosa: Alabama leads, 5-1 Current Streak: Alabama, Lost 1 Last Meeting: Oct. 9, 2021 – Bryan-College Station (L, 38-41) Series Notes: Alabama and Texas A&M will square off for the 15th time in series history on Saturday evening. The Crimson Tide owns an 11-3 advantage in the series, including a 5-1 mark in Tuscaloosa. Texas A&M came out on top, 41-38, in 2021 to snap an eight-game winning streak by UA that included a dominant 52-24 victory the last time the two teams met in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 3, 2020. Alabama head coach Nick Saban is 8-2 for his career against the Aggies, all of which have come during his time at the Capstone. Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is 1-4 against the Tide, including a 1-3 mark at A&M and an 0-1 record at Florida State. Read More…

LIRR's $2.5 billion Third Track Opens After Six Decades Of Debate, Planning And Construction https://digitalalabamanews.com/lirrs-2-5-billion-third-track-opens-after-six-decades-of-debate-planning-and-construction/ The Long Island Rail Road’s nearly 10-mile-long Third Track through Nassau County is done, officials announced Monday morning. The $2.5 billion effort had been considered and debated by Long Island planners for more than six decades before construction began in 2019.  “This is the completion of a long, long ride,” Gov. Kathy Hochul announced at a news conference at a garage adjacent to the LIRR’s Westbury Station. The crowd included key figures from the project’s long history, including two former LIRR presidents and the current interim president.  The new track, stretching from Floral Park to Hicksville, has long been seen as critical to the expansion of the LIRR, which has operated on the same two tracks through its bottlenecked Main Line for more than a century. The constrained infrastructure limited the railroad’s ability to run eastbound trains during the morning rush hour, westbound trains in the evening, and to work around unexpected service disruptions along the busy line, which connects to Ronkonkoma, Huntington, Port Jefferson, Hempstead, and Oyster Bay. WHAT TO KNOW Construction is complete on a the Long Island Rail Road’s new 9.8-mile Third Track, stretching from Floral Park to Hicksville, officials announced Monday. The LIRR says the added capacity will allow them to boost service on its Main Line, and to more quickly recover from unexpected service disruptions. After decades of planning and debate, the project was launched in 2016, and construction began in 2019. Officials said the $2.5 billion effort was completed on time and $100 million under budget, although some related station improvements are still unfinished.  Although the project has been largely praised by business and planning groups, some residents along the project’s corridor have complained about the impact from construction. Combined with its also soon-to-be-completed East Side Access megaproject, the LIRR says it will boost service by 40% and, for the first time, be able to provide adequate service to “reverse commuters” traveling to and from jobs on Long Island.  “Now, with the last leg of the Third Track having been completed, we are able to deliver with the best benefit of them all — more Long Island Rail Road service in two directions,” LIRR interim president Catherine Rinaldi said.  The LIRR first tried to move ahead with the Third Track about a dozen years ago, but dropped its plans amid fierce opposition from residents along its path and elected officials who were concerned over the effects from construction. The original plan would have required the LIRR to build on private property, including some residents’ backyards.  In 2016, then-++Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, under the urging of project supporters, resuscitated the Third Track, using a new design and public outreach process that minimized impact on residents, and offered several new benefits, such as the elimination of eight grade crossings. Still, the Third Track faced resistance throughout construction, including in Garden City, where residents said the placement of utility poles and other elements of the project were damaging the look of their village. Construction also resulted in frequent, major service disruptions, including this past weekend, when service was suspended between Jamaica and Hicksville. “For a long time people didn’t expect this project to happen,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said. “There were a lot of reasons people resisted it. But we proved everybody wrong.” The first stretch of the track, from Floral Park to Merillon Ave. station in Garden City, opened in August. A few weeks later, the second segment was completed, to Mineola. The last section brings the track all the way to Hicksville. Hochul and MTA officials said the project was completed on time and $100 million under the original $2.6 billion budget. Although the entire 9.8-mile Third Track is in place and already in service, some work on the project, known formally as the “Main Line Expansion,” remains, including various station improvements. That work is expected to last into the spring. Carle Place resident Peter Gaffney said, despite Monday’s celebration, the project appears far from done in his neighborhood, where new plantings are already dying and broken concrete and overgrown weeds are apparent throughout the Carle Place station.  “They have more work to do,” Gaffney said. “They’re rushing to try to get this work done because it’s their fourth year [of construction]. There’s a lot of stuff that they did that wasn’t necessarily right.” Garden City resident Richard Corrao Jr. similarly said the project appears “very far from done” near the Merillion Avenue station, where project officials have promised improved landscaping. Corrao said, right now, the station is “an absolute mess.” “They’re quick to cut the ribbon, but not as quick to solve the problem,” he said.  The long-awaited completion of the project drew praise from Long Island leaders and others instrumental in making the Third Track a reality. “It was a long and difficult fight, but it was the right one that will benefit current and future generations of Long Islanders,” former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement. Cuomo resigned a year ago amid sexual harassment allegations. Matthew Cohen, president of the Long Island Association a business group that advocated for the Third Track — called it a “historic project” that will “result in economic growth, help our region’s businesses, and change the daily lives of people traveling to New York City and Long Island.” Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons. Read More…

Paul Finebaum: Jimbo Fisher ‘embarrassed’ Texas A&M, Explains Difference Between Him, Gus Malzahn https://digitalalabamanews.com/paul-finebaum-jimbo-fisher-embarrassed-texas-am-explains-difference-between-him-gus-malzahn/ Alabama Football Updated: Oct. 03, 2022, 5:32 p.m.| Published: Oct. 03, 2022, 5:31 p.m. ARLINGTON, TX – SEPTEMBER 24: Texas A&M Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher leads his team onto he field during the Southwest Classic college football game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Arkansas Razorbacks on September 24, 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. (Photo by Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Paul Finebaum isn’t exactly high on Jimbo Fisher these days. Fisher’s Texas A&M team has now lost two games to unranked opponents and limps into Saturday’s matchup with No. 1 Alabama with a 3-2 record. It has been less than stellar for Fisher in his first five years in College Station. “Somebody texted me during that (Texas A&M and Mississippi State) game and with one of those riddles: ‘What is the difference between Jimbo Fisher and (former Auburn head coach) Gus Malzahn?’ The answer is Jameis Winston,” Finebaum told ESPN’s Matt Barrie. “Take Jameis Winston out of this guy’s arsenal, and he may not be a head coach right now. That’s how important Winston was. The good news for A&M, if there is any good news, is the schedule gets easy and manageable. But so what? Saturday night will be the third loss of the season. You can manufacture 8-4 or 9-3. I don’t know where they are going to end up. But that’s not what Texas A&M is paying for. RELATED: Finebaum calls A&M a cupcake “We’re knocking on the door of Oct. 8. From the end of May until a few weeks ago, that was a date even non-college football fans knew. That was the battle between Saban and Jimbo. Essentially now, this is a cupcake game for Alabama. This is not to be taken seriously. I know about upsets, but don’t tell me. It’s not happening this year. The amount of money people are paying for this game, they are taking an ‘L’ on those tickets.” Finebaum believes Fisher is clinging to the 2020 season and needs to start building up more current currency. “He lives off of 2020 when they came in No. 4 in the final AP Top 25 poll, argued they should have been in the playoffs, but still lost to Alabama in Tuscaloosa by 28 points,” Finebaum said. “That’s it. He has nothing else to show for. … “I know he beat Alabama last year and then completely threw it away. Completely. Let that one get away. And then don’t forget that A&M canceled a bowl game nine days out last year because of the quarterback chaos. They were going to lose the bowl game. They were going to lose. That was going to mean five losses. They completely weaseled their way out. Nobody cancels nine days out. LSU played with about 25-30 scholarship players and did not even have a coach. But they did what most credible schools do.” He added that the money men in College Station aren’t happy. “The buyout (for Jimbo) is about $90 million. I spoke at a dinner a week ago in Dallas with the top Texas A&M people before the Arkansas game. … These guys don’t fool around. You know Texas. They don’t fool around. A $90 million buyout? That does not faze these guys. They are embarrassed right now. They lost to Mississippi State for a second year in a row, and there is no telling what the score is going to be Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read More…

Trump Files $475 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN https://digitalalabamanews.com/trump-files-475-million-defamation-lawsuit-against-cnn/ A man holds up his index finger during former President Donald Trump’s rally in Warren, Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Jill Colvin) Jill Colvin AP NEW YORK Former President Donald Trump on Monday sued CNN, seeking $475 million in damages, saying the network had defamed him in an effort to short-circuit any future political campaign. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, focuses primarily on the term “The Big Lie” about Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud that he says cost him the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. There was no immediate comment from CNN. Trump repeatedly attacked CNN as president, which resonated with his conservative followers. He has similarly filed lawsuits against big tech companies with little success. His case against Twitter for knocking him off its platform following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection was thrown out by a California judge earlier this year. Numerous federal and local election officials in both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even Trump’s own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the election fraud he alleges. Trump’s lawsuit claims “The Big Lie,” a phrase with Nazi connotations, has been used in reference to him more than 7,700 times on CNN since January 2021. “It is intended to aggravate, scare and trigger people,” he said. In a statement Monday, Trump suggested that similar lawsuits would be filed against other news organizations. And he said he may also bring “appropriate action” against the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. The lawsuit comes as he is weighing a potential bid for the presidency in 2024. New CNN chief Chris Licht privately urged his news personnel in a meeting more than three months ago to refrain from using the phrase because it is too close to Democratic efforts to brand the former president, according to several published reports. Read More…