Judge: Trump Gets More Time To Challenge Mar-A-Lago Documents
Judge: Trump Gets More Time To Challenge Mar-A-Lago Documents https://digitalalaskanews.com/judge-trump-gets-more-time-to-challenge-mar-a-lago-documents/
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump, who has suggested FBI agents might have “planted” evidence during the search at Mar-a-Lago, doesn’t have to detail his complaints in court immediately and the special master will have two weeks longer to review the documents, under a federal judge’s order Thursday.
Trump has suggested on social media FBI agents may have “planted” evidence during the search Aug. 8 that recovered 11,000 documents. The special master reviewing the records, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, gave him until Friday for his lawyers to detail his concerns.
But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who appointed Dearie, ruled Tuesday that Trump doesn’t have to explain his challenges yet. She also extended the deadline for Dearie to complete his review to Dec. 16. He had set a goal to finish by Nov. 30.
Cannon ruled her order “imposed no additional requirements on” Trump regarding the inventory of what was seized.
Dearie had ordered Trump on Sept. 23 to detail any challenges to the FBI’s official inventory of what was seized during the search. Dearie wrote it would be Trump’s “final opportunity to raise any factual dispute” about the accuracy of the government’s inventory.
Trump questioned on social media two days after the search why FBI agents wouldn’t let his lawyers or staffers watch the search. He suggested agents could be “planting” rather than just searching for evidence.
“The FBI and others from the Federal Government would not let anyone, including my lawyers, be anywhere near the areas that were rummaged and otherwise looked at during the raid on Mar-a-Lago,” Trump wrote. “Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be left alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting.’ Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out?”
But Trump’s lawyers haven’t raised that allegation in court.
Dearie invited Trump to detail any items that “were not seized from the premises,” any incorrect description of the contents or location of an item seized, and items seized but not listed in the inventory.
But James Trusty, one of Trump’s lawyers, objected in a letter Sunday and argued Dearie’s request exceeded his authority. Trusty said U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s order appointing Dearie asked only for a declaration from the Justice Department that the inventory was correct, not one from Trump.
Government lawyers said in a letter Tuesday that Trump’s verification of the inventory is required before Dearie conducts his review.
“The Special Master needs to know that he is reviewing all of the materials seized from Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022 – and no additional materials – before he categorizes the seized documents and adjudicates privilege claims,” wrote Julie Edelstein, deputy chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section.
The FBI inventory listed about 11,000 documents seized, including about 100 classified documents. FBI agents conducted the search under a court-approved warrant for evidence of mishandling national defense documents under the Espionage Act or obstruction of justice.
Dearie is reviewing the documents for personal items or documents that could be shielded from the investigation because they fall under attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.
Under a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department can continue its criminal investigation of the classified documents while Dearie conducts his review.
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AP News Summary At 6:07 P.m. EDT https://digitalalaskanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-607-p-m-edt/
Floods trap many in Florida as Ian heads to South Carolina
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — Rescue crews are wading through water and using boats to rescue Florida residents stranded in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The Orange County fire department posted photos Thursday of crews in a flooded neighborhood in the Orlando area. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the U.S. Coast Guard began rescue operations hours before daybreak. At least one person in Florida was confirmed dead on the state’s eastern coast. Flooding rains continued falling even after Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm. It’s center finished crossing the Florida peninsula Thursday and emerged in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters predicted it would return to hurricane strength and turn north toward South Carolina.
Russia to annex more of Ukraine on Friday at the Kremlin
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is planning to annex more of Ukraine on Friday. The move represents an escalation of the seven-month war that is expected to isolate the Kremlin further, draw more international punishment and bring extra support to Ukraine. An annexation ceremony is planned in the Kremlin. The annexation would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed “referendums” that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged. In an apparent response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting Friday of his National Security and Defense Council.
Russia opens more border draft offices amid call-up exodus
Russian authorities are opening more military enlistment offices near Russia’s borders in an apparent effort to intercept Russian men of fighting age who are trying to avoid getting called up to fight in Ukraine. Saratov regional officials said a new draft office opened Thursday at a checkpoint on Russia’s border with Kazakhstan. Another military enlistment center was to open at a crossing in the Astrakhan region, also on the border with Kazakhstan. Earlier this week, makeshift Russian draft offices were set up near a border crossing into Georgia and on Russia’s border with Finland. Russian officials say they would hand call-up notices to all eligible men who were trying to leave the country.
1/6 chairman: Ginni Thomas reiterates false election claims
WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has stood by the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent during an interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. That is according to Rep. Bennie Thompson, the panel’s Democratic chairman. The committee has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. She texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin after the election. Thomas’ attorney says his client was solely focused on ensuring reports of voter fraud and irregularities were investigated.
Trump records probe: Tensions flare over special master
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI search of Donald Trump’s Florida estate has spawned a parallel “special master” process that has slowed the Justice Department’s criminal investigation and exposed simmering tensions between department prosecutors and lawyers for the former president. The probe into the presence of top secret information at Mar-a-Lago continues. But barbed rhetoric in the past week’s court filings has laid bare deep disagreements related to the special master’s work and made clear that a process the Trump team initially sought has not been playing to the president’s advantage. The special master, Raymond Dearie, is a former federal prosecutor and served as a U.S. District judge in Brooklyn.
GOP states sue Biden administration over student loan plan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Six Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration to try and halt its plan to forgive student loan debt for millions of Americans. They’re accusing it of overstepping its executive powers. It’s at least the second legal challenge this week to the sweeping proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August, when he said his administration would cancel up to $20,000 in education debt for millions of borrowers. The announcement became immediate political fodder ahead of the November midterms while fueling arguments from conservatives about the program’s legality.
ALS drug wins FDA approval despite questionable data
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials have approved a much-debated drug to treat the deadly illness known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The approval Thursday follows an intense lobbying campaign by patients and advocates, though it’s also likely to raise questions about the standards used to review experimental medicines. The Food and Drug Administration approved the medication from Amylyx Pharmaceuticals based on results from one small, mid-stage study. The agency’s internal scientists repeatedly said the company’s results were not convincing. But thousands of patients have urged the FDA to be flexible and grant patients’ access. Lou Gehrig’s disease has no cure and most patients die within five years of initial symptoms.
‘Crown,’ ‘Interview With the Vampire’ among TV highlights
LOS ANGELES (AP) — What’s fall got to do with the fall TV season? “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “House of the Dragon” are among the major series that arrived early. The broadcast tradition of a strict September-to-May season has been undermined by streaming and cable efforts to keep audiences glued to TV year-round. But there’s still an expectation that people watch more TV when days grow shorter and colder, so long-awaited and promising new shows are rolling out. Among them: Season five of “The Crown,” the journalism drama “Alaska Daily” starring Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, and the quirky comedy “Sherman’s Showcase.”
Wall Street drops back to lowest since 2020 as fear returns
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are back to falling on Wall Street as worries about a possible recession and rising bond yields put the squeeze back on markets. The S&P 500 fell 2.1% Thursday, reaching its lowest level since late 2020. The washout erased the index’s gains in a big rally the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% and the Nasdaq lost 2.8%. For markets to really turn higher, analysts say investors will need to see a break from the high inflation that’s swept the world. That hasn’t arrived yet, and even more data arrived Thursday showing the opposite.
Space telescopes capture asteroid slam with striking clarity
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two space telescopes have captured this week’s asteroid strike, the first planetary defense test of its kind. NASA on Thursday released pictures of the dramatic event taken by the Hubble and Webb space telescopes. Telescopes on all seven continents also watched as NASA’s Dart spacecraft slammed into the harmless space rock in hopes of altering its orbit. All these pictures will help scientists learn more about the little asteroid Dimorphos, which took the punch and ended up with a sizable crater. The $325 million Dart mission was launched last year.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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IDIOTS AT FOX NEWS Downplay Hurricane Damage 'In Our Country' Vs Puerto Rico
IDIOTS AT FOX NEWS Downplay Hurricane Damage 'In Our Country' Vs Puerto Rico https://digitalalaskanews.com/idiots-at-fox-news-downplay-hurricane-damage-in-our-country-vs-puerto-rico/
As Hurricane Ian rumbles over Florida and much of the south eastern seaboard, leaving human and material destruction in its wake, the coverage of this unnatural product of climate change by Fox News proves to be just another opportunity to propagate disinformation and amplify ignorance.
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On Thursday morning, host Martha MacCallum responded to comments by her colleague Bill Hemmer regarding the the state of the power grid in Florida following the hurricane’s landfall. Hemmer noted that 200,000 people were reported to have lost power, and that that number was likely go up in the next few hours. MacCallum agreed and added that…
“You know you feel terrible for people in Puerto Rico who were just hit, in Cuba who were just hit. Thank God we have better infrastructure in our country. We’ve put a lot of investment into making sure that we’re ready for these things. But it’s an act of nature and you never know exactly what to expect.”
Prosecutors Use Emails To Build Case Against Key Trump Ally
Prosecutors Use Emails To Build Case Against Key Trump Ally https://digitalalaskanews.com/prosecutors-use-emails-to-build-case-against-key-trump-ally/
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors cracked open a trove of emails and other communications at a federal trial on Thursday that they say shows how the former chair of Donald Trump’s inaugural committee worked behind the scenes in 2016 to get the future president to embrace the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Some of the email traffic was between Tom Barrack — accused of working at the direction of the UAE as a secret foreign agent — and Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager at the time. The exchanges focused in part over an energy policy speech by Trump in 2016.
In one email read to the jury by an FBI agent, Barrack complained to Manafort that an original draft of the speech didn’t mention either the UAE or Saudi Arabia, or the importance of their role in the Middle East.
“Wow. I’m just stunned by how bad this is,” the billionaire private equity manager wrote about the draft.
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Manafort responded: “Send me an insert that works for our friends.”
The speech Trump gave ended up referring to the need to team with “our supportive Gulf allies” as part of a broader strategy to fight terrorism in the region. Afterward, Barrack received an email from a UAE official congratulating him for doing a “great job.”
In other emails, Manafort assured those in the back-channel network that he would get Trump to tone down his anti-Muslim rhetoric and that he would set up face-to-face meetings between Trump and UAE and Saudi leaders.
Another Barrack email indicated he had lobbied Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner on Manafort’s behalf to get Manafort the campaign manager post. Manafort was eventually convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and later pardoned by Donald Trump.
Prosecutors say the communications demonstrate Barrack’s efforts to manipulate the Trump campaign and later his administration to advance the interests of the UAE. They say at the same time, the energy-rich Gulf state poured millions of dollars into business ventures operated by Barrack.
Barrack, 75, has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
In his opening statements this week, defense attorney Steven Schachter insisted there was no evidence that Barrack ever took orders from the UAE or betrayed his country by becoming a covert agent.
“Tom Barrack is his own man,” the lawyer said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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School Newspaper Calls On Biden To Be More Progressive
School Newspaper Calls On Biden To Be More Progressive https://digitalalaskanews.com/school-newspaper-calls-on-biden-to-be-more-progressive/
The University of Pittsburgh’s student-run newspaper, The Pitt News, recently published an editorial urging President Biden to follow through on his progressive campaign policies.
‘President Joe Biden ran his campaign as a progressive candidate against Donald Trump’s lean into extremist Republican ideals,’ the editorial opens.
Thursday, September 29, 2022 8:15 PM
The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh’s (Pitt) student-run newspaper, recently published an editorial urging President Biden to follow through with the progressive policies he campaigned on.
The Sept. 19 editorial, titled “President Biden needs to deliver on his progressive campaign policies,” called out Biden not only for failing to support the progressive agenda, but for acting on some of President Trump’s previous policies.
“President Joe Biden ran his campaign as a progressive candidate against Donald Trump’s lean into extremist Republican ideals,” the editorial opens.
The Pitt News’ accusation of “extremist Republican ideals” shortly follows President Biden’s attack on Republican voters and Trump supporters.
According to the editorial board, Biden’s immigration reform proposal and his plan to combat COVID constitute as examples of progressive policy. However, the board does not think Biden followed through with his word.
[RELATED: Student newspaper says it’s ‘committed’ to ‘anti-racism’]
“Despite criticizing Trump’s border wall on the campaign trail and saying he would cease its construction once president, reports indicate that the wall is still being built. It’s truly upsetting that, nearly two years into his presidency, Biden has yet to change the symbol of Trump’s presidency and the dehumanizing treatment of immigrants,” the board wrote.
The board also called out Biden for claiming that the pandemic is over, writing, “Despite life going somewhat back to normal after the two years of COVID-19, there are still active cases and immunocompromised people who are concerned for their health.”
“We need to hold Biden accountable and make sure his actions speak louder than his words,” the editorial concludes.
[RELATED: Student newspaper no longer publishing opinion pieces that do not contribute to a ‘safe space’]
Campus Reform reached out to The Pitt News Editorial Board and the University of Pittsburgh for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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What you stand for is what defines you
Conservative students on college campuses are marginalized, threatened, and silenced by threatening students who oppose their views, or radicalized liberal professors or administrators. Campus Reform—and readers like you—are pushing back. Progressives would rather threaten you with violence, silence your conservative views, or call for you to be “canceled” from our society if you oppose them. They say your views are dangerous, hateful, fearful, or racist.
They have it all wrong. What we stand for defines us—it always has.
We can no longer remain silent. It is time for conservatives young and old to unite as a single voice to boldly proclaim what we stand for and oppose the mob.
Will you join with us, select the principles you stand for, and sign your name below?
I stand for the preservation of free speech all across our country—where I’m allowed to express my beliefs without fear of condemnation if my opinion differs from yours.
I stand for protections for conservative students who are illegally being threatened or silenced on college campuses all across our country.
I stand for the federal funding to be pulled from colleges and universities when they silence conservative views or students.
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U.S. Says Ex-Army Major And Wife Tried To Leak Military Health Data To Russia
U.S. Says Ex-Army Major And Wife Tried To Leak Military Health Data To Russia https://digitalalaskanews.com/u-s-says-ex-army-major-and-wife-tried-to-leak-military-health-data-to-russia/
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – A former U.S. Army major and his anesthesiologist wife have been criminally charged for allegedly plotting to leak highly sensitive healthcare data about military patients to Russia, the Justice Department revealed on Thursday.
Jamie Lee Henry, the former major who was also a doctor at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and his wife, Dr. Anna Gabrielian, were charged in an unsealed indictment in federal court in Maryland with conspiracy and wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information about patients at the Army base.
Although the indictment identifies Henry with the pronouns “he” and Henry used male pronouns during an initial court appearance on Thursday, in prior media interviews dating back to 2015, Henry came out as a transgender female.
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Henry’s attorney David Little declined to comment on the charges, but said his client was released on home detention.
An attorney for Gabrielian could not immediately be reached for comment.
The indictment alleges that after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February, the pair sought to assist the Russian government by providing it with data to help the Putin regime “gain insights into the medical conditions of individuals associated with the U.S. government and military.”
The couple met with someone they believed was a Russian official but was in fact an FBI undercover agent, the indictment says.
At a hotel in Baltimore on Aug. 17, Gabrielian told the undercover agent “she was motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant being fired or going to jail,” the indictment says.
In the meeting, she volunteered to bring her husband into the scheme, saying Henry had information about military training the United States had provided to Ukraine, among other things.
At another meeting later that day, Henry told the undercover agent he too was committed to Russia, and said he had even contemplated volunteering to join the Russian army.
“The way I am viewing what is going on in Ukraine now, is that the United States is using Ukrainians as a proxy for their own hatred toward Russia,” Henry told the agent, according to prosecutors.
The agent in turn urged them to read a book called “Inside the Aquarium: The Making of a Top Soviet Spy,” telling the pair it would help them understand what they were about to do.
“It’s the mentality of sacrificing everything … and loyalty in you from day one,” the agent said. “That’s not something you walked away from.”
Henry had some reservations about providing healthcare data, saying it would violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), according to the indictment, but Gabrielian had no hesitations.
In a subsequent Aug. 24 meeting, she told the agent her husband was a “coward” to be concerned about violating HIPAA, but she broke the law “all the time” and would ensure they could provide Russia with access to medical records from Fort Bragg patients.
By the end of the month, she had handed over information on current and former military officials and their spouses, the indictment says.
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Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Escalation Of Ukraine War Effort Raises Risks To Russias Putin At Home And Abroad
Escalation Of Ukraine War Effort Raises Risks To Russia’s Putin At Home And Abroad https://digitalalaskanews.com/escalation-of-ukraine-war-effort-raises-risks-to-russias-putin-at-home-and-abroad/
After staging referendums that were widely criticized as a sham, Russia is moving to annex roughly 15% of Ukraine’s territory. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains how the process unfolded, and why the attempted land-grab is crucial to Vladimir Putin’s war strategy. Illustration: Elizabeth Smelov
Sept. 29, 2022 2:46 pm ET
MOSCOW—Russia is planning triumphant ceremonies and public rallies as President Vladimir Putin prepares to formally annex a broad, additional swath of neighboring Ukraine in the coming days.
The celebrations are set to echo the pomp and circumstance that accompanied Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula eight years ago, an event that Mr. Putin marked in the imperial grandeur of the Kremlin’s gilded St. George’s Hall.
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AP News Summary At 3:01 P.m. EDT https://digitalalaskanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-301-p-m-edt/
Floods trap many in Florida as Ian heads to South Carolina
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) — Rescue crews are wading through water and using boats to rescue Florida residents stranded in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The Orange County fire department posted photos Thursday of crews in a flooded neighborhood in the Orlando area. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the U.S. Coast Guard began rescue operations hours before daybreak. At least one person in Florida was confirmed dead on the state’s eastern coast. Flooding rains continued falling even after Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm. It’s center finished crossing the Florida peninsula Thursday and emerged in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters predicted it would return to hurricane strength and turn north toward South Carolina.
Russia to annex more of Ukraine on Friday at the Kremlin
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is planning to annex more of Ukraine on Friday. The move represents an escalation of the seven-month war expected to isolate the Kremlin further, draw it more international punishment and bring extra support to Ukraine. An annexation ceremony is planned in the Kremlin. The annexation would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed “referendums” that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged. In an apparent response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting Friday of his National Security and Defense Council.
Virginia Thomas appears for interview with Jan. 6 panel
WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has appeared for a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The committee has for months sought an interview with Thomas in an effort to know more about her role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn his election defeat. She texted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin after the election. She did not answer questions when she arrived on Capitol Hill for the interview or later when she briefly left for a break. But Thomas did tell reporters she was looking forward to answering questions from the members of the committee.
Trump docs probe: Tensions flare over special master process
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US Supreme Court Justices Wife Questioned By January 6 Panel
US Supreme Court Justice’s Wife Questioned By January 6 Panel https://digitalalaskanews.com/us-supreme-court-justices-wife-questioned-by-january-6-panel/
Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, a conservative activist, meets with committee investigating last year’s US Capitol riot.
Published On 29 Sep 202229 Sep 2022
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has been interviewed by the January 6 committee investigating last year’s riot at the United States Capitol.
Thomas, a conservative activist, appeared on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a voluntary interview with the Congressional panel, which has sought an interview with her for months.
Her lawyer said last week that Thomas was “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election”.
Thomas has said she attended a rally held by former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, during which he made an incendiary speech alleging widespread voter fraud shortly before a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.
But she said she “played no role” in planning what happened that day, CNN reported earlier this year.
The January 6 panel, which has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses in its investigation into the riot in Washington, DC, had hoped to interview Thomas before wrapping up its work.
The Washington Post reported in March that Thomas “repeatedly pressed” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks after the 2020 elections that Trump lost to President Joe Biden, urging him to continue to fight to overturn the results.
Trump’s legal team had filed a series of lawsuits seeking to invalidate the results on the basis of his false voter fraud claims – but several US courts rejected those allegations as unfounded.
The Post cited a November 10, 2020, text in which Thomas wrote to Meadows, “Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! … You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America’s constitutional governance at the precipice.”
In that same text, Thomas promoted Trump’s fraud allegations, stating that “Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History”.
The Associated Press news agency also obtained emails from Thomas urging two lawmakers in Arizona to choose “a clean slate of Electors” and “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure”.
Thomas has maintained that her political activities are not a conflict of interest for her husband.
“Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America. But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn’t discuss his work with me, and I don’t involve him in my work,” she told the Washington Free Beacon in March.
Her husband, Clarence Thomas, was the only member of the US Supreme Court to object to a ruling that allowed the January 6 panel access to presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts and handwritten notes relating to the riot.
Thomas has been actively critical of the January 6 committee and signed a letter calling on House Republicans to expel Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their involvement in the panel.
Thomas did not answer questions when she arrived for the interview with the panel on Thursday, the Reuters and Associated Press news agencies reported.
But she told reporters she was looking forward to answering questions from the members of the committee, the AP said.
The panel’s chairperson, Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, told reporters on Wednesday that Thomas would appear before the panel this week.
The committee was expected to hold a televised hearing that day, but it was postponed due to a massive storm, Hurricane Ian, which has battered the state of Florida.
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Emails Reveal Trump White House Ordered USS McCain Hidden During 2019 Japan Trip
Emails Reveal Trump White House Ordered USS McCain Hidden During 2019 Japan Trip https://digitalalaskanews.com/emails-reveal-trump-white-house-ordered-uss-mccain-hidden-during-2019-japan-trip/
Emails reveal Trump White House ordered USS McCain hidden during 2019 Japan trip FOX Illinois
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Nord Stream Spill Could Be Biggest Methane Leak Ever But Not Catastrophic
Nord Stream Spill Could Be Biggest Methane Leak Ever But Not Catastrophic https://digitalalaskanews.com/nord-stream-spill-could-be-biggest-methane-leak-ever-but-not-catastrophic/
BERLIN — The two explosions in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea resulted in what could amount to the largest-ever single release of methane gas into the atmosphere, but it may not be enough to have a major effect on climate change, experts say.
While sudden influxes of methane from underwater pipelines are unusual and scientists have little precedent to fall back on, the consensus is that with so much methane spewing into the atmosphere from all around the globe, the several hundred thousand tons from the pipelines will not make a dramatic difference.
“It’s not trivial, but it’s a modest-sized U.S. city, something like that,” said Drew Shindell, a professor of earth science at Duke University. “There are so many sources all around the world. Any single event tends to be small. I think this tends to fall in that category.”
New data released Wednesday by the Danish Energy Agency allowed scientists to produce preliminary estimates of the amount of methane released. If all that gas reaches the atmosphere, it would be equivalent to about 0.1 percent of the estimated annual global methane emissions, according to scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project.
From an emissions perspective, the breach is “an important one to watch,” said Carolyn Ruppel, chief of the project, who made the estimate with a colleague, Bill Waite. A worst-case calculation by Thomas Lauvaux, a researcher with the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences in France, equated it to what comes from about 1 million cars in a year — compared with the about 250 million cars operating in the European Union alone.
Other scientists cautioned against underestimating methane’s power. Paul Balcombe, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering and renewable energy at London’s Queen Mary University, called it a “really potent greenhouse gas” and said that “even a little leak has quite a climate impact.”
Swedish monitoring stations that measure local atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have reported spikes since the pipeline burst, with the methane concentration 20 to 25 percent higher than usual, “which is quite remarkable compared with our long-term data series,” Thomas Holst, a researcher at Lund University in Sweden, told The Washington Post in an email, while maintaining it was not enough to pose a health risk.
Monitoring stations in Finland and Norway reported similar spikes. Ruppel noted that “methane is generally well-mixed in the atmosphere, so these local spikes would dissipate over the globe.”
Despite the size of the leak, it isn’t likely to affect marine life in the way an oil leak might, said Jasmin Cooper, a research associate at the Sustainable Gas Institute. “The environmental impact will be toward global warming.”
Images released Thursday by the Swedish coast guard still show a large mass of methane bubbles on the sea surface emanating from the four leaks across the pipelines — not three, as authorities initially said.
Scientists say that further imaging and access to the site are both necessary to get a clearer picture of the leaks and to calculate how much methane might be released into the atmosphere.
“We know it’s leaking badly because we see the pictures and video of the gas bubbling at the water surface, but we don’t know anything about the leaks,” Cooper said. “We don’t know how big they are or where they are in the pipeline, and so it’s difficult to figure out the flow rate.”
Danish officials said Wednesday that they anticipate both pipelines being empty by Sunday, as more than half of the gas had already been released. Once the gas is gone, they said, scientists and security officials will have better access to the site, which has been limited because of safety concerns.
The dissipation of the gas will also allow forensic experts to examine the site for clues to what caused the explosions, which have fixated security officials across Europe.
NATO on Thursday issued its strongest statement yet on the breaches in the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, calling the damage the result of “deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible acts of sabotage.”
An E.U. official reiterated Thursday that the damage to the pipelines was “not a coincidence.”
The Swedish National Seismic Network put the strength of the second, larger blast at the equivalent of 100 to 200 kilograms (220 to 440 pounds) of TNT. The first blast was smaller and consequently harder to measure.
Arms experts say it is difficult to guess what kind of munition might have caused the damage. It is possible that a torpedo was used, but it is more likely that divers or an autonomous underwater vehicle put one or more demolition charges on each site. To identify the weapon or weapons used, more evidence — including additional sensor data, as well as physical evidence such as munition remnants — would be required.
With the consensus among European leaders that sabotage was involved, suspicion is increasingly falling on Russia, which has used energy supplies as leverage against Europe since the invasion of Ukraine.
Intelligence officials have begun poring over communications intercepts, sonar signatures and other records that might reveal suspicious activity in the weeks or months leading to the explosions. Two senior officials with two European security services said Russia remains a main suspect because it has the technical means to carry out subsurface attacks on key infrastructure and has demonstrated its determination to destabilize energy markets in Europe.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, emphasized that these are preliminary, analytic conclusions with no evidence emerging so far to implicate Moscow.
The Kremlin has denied responsibility, suggesting Thursday that the incidents should be investigated as “an act of terrorism” and that a coordinated international investigation is required, as Russia is the majority owner of both pipelines.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has also hinted that the United States could be behind the blasts.
“The absolute beneficiary of this situation was Washington,” she said Thursday. “Mr. Blinken, made no secret of the fact that the main goal was to cut Europe off from Russian energy resources, and now you don’t know who might benefit from it. It benefits you!” she added, addressing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
A U.S. official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said Wednesday that the United States had nothing to do with the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, calling the idea “preposterous.”
Francis reported from London. Greg Miller in Washington, Emily Rauhala in Brussels, Martin Selsoe Sorensen in Copenhagen, Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.
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What https://digitalalaskanews.com/what/
So you’ve pulled up to McDonald’s. You’re a full-on adult. You absolutely do not need a toy with your meal, right?
Joking — of course you do.
The fast-food chain will soon be selling boxed meals geared toward adults, and each one has a cool, odd-looking figurine inside.
The meal carries an odd name too — the Cactus Plant Flea Market Box — that’s based on the fashion brand collaborating with McDonald’s on this promotion.
According to McDonald’s, the box is inspired by the memory of enjoying a Happy Meal as a kid. The outside of the box is multi-colored and features the chain’s familiar golden arches.
The first day you can get a Cactus Plant Flea Market Box will be Monday, Oct. 3. Pricing is set by individual restaurants and may vary, according to McDonald’s. It’ll be available in the drive-thru, in-restaurant, by delivery or on the McDonald’s app, while supplies last.
You can choose between a Big Mac or 10-piece Chicken McNuggets. It will also come with fries and a drink.
Now about those toys. The boxes will pack in one of four figurines. Three of the four appear to be artsy takes on the classic McDonald’s characters Grimace, Hamburglar and Birdie the Early Bird, while the fourth is a little yellow guy sporting a McDonald’s shirt called Cactus Buddy.
In other McD’s news, Halloween buckets could be returning to the chain this fall. So leave some room in your stomach for a return trip.
Read More Here
'Substantial Loss Of Life' Possible In Florida As Tropical Storm Ian Now Takes Aim At South Carolina | CNN
'Substantial Loss Of Life' Possible In Florida As Tropical Storm Ian Now Takes Aim At South Carolina | CNN https://digitalalaskanews.com/substantial-loss-of-life-possible-in-florida-as-tropical-storm-ian-now-takes-aim-at-south-carolina-cnn/
Editor’s Note: Affected by the storm? Use CNN’s lite site for low bandwidth. You also can text or WhatsApp your Ian stories to CNN +1 332-261-0775.
CNN —
Hurricane Ian’s vicious combination of winds, rain and storm surge caused at least a dozen deaths, flooded homes, cut off roadways and left millions of Florida residents without power Thursday.
And the storm’s path of destruction is not over. Ian made landfall Wednesday afternoon in southwest Florida and has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, but the storm is dropping heavy rain on central and northeast Florida throughout Thursday. Ian is forecast to strengthen to a Category 1 hurricane and make a second landfall in South Carolina on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.
In southwest and central Florida, about a dozen people were reported dead so far due to the storm. One person who was in hospice care died in Osceola County, Emergency Management Director Bill Litton said; about five people are believed to have died in Lee County, the sheriff said; and six deaths were reported in Charlotte County, commissioner Chris Constance told CNN’s John King on Thursday.
“This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida’s history,” President Joe Biden said Thursday. “The numbers are still unclear, but we’re hearing early reports of what may be substantial loss of life.”
Survey crews, photos and videos of the region show collapsed buildings, flooding, downed power lines and impassable roads, including a key bridge connecting Sanibel and Captiva islands to Florida’s mainland that has been washed out. More than 2.6 million electric customers have no power Thursday, according to PowerOutage.US, and some drinking water systems have broken down completely or have boil notices in effect.
“I just literally got out of a helicopter where I was able to take a complete tour of the entire county and there’s really no words that I can say to tell you what I’ve seen,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marcino said on CNN Thursday. “The Fort Myers Beach area, buildings, major, major homes and buildings completely washed away with vehicles in the water, vehicles in the bay, boats are upside down.”
There are many people who need to be rescued in southwest Florida’s Fort Myers area, FEMA chief Deanne Criswell said Thursday morning. The nearby Naples area was similarly slammed, with feet of water submerged streets, nearly swallowing vehicles and rushing into the first floors of homes and businesses.
The Coast Guard and National Guard were “pulling people off of roofs in Fort Myers” with aircraft Thursday morning, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson told CNN. Coast Guard crews have conducted 28 rescues on Thursday, the service said.
The rescue efforts come a day after Ian came ashore near Cayo Costa as a Category 4 hurricane as one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall on Florida’s west coast. The storm has since weakened to a tropical storm with 70 mph sustained winds, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm cut a path from near Fort Myers in the southwest across to the eastern part of the state, and its combination of wind, rain and storm surge caused flooding that Gov. Ron DeSantis called “a 500-year flood event.”
Here are the latest developments:
• Downgraded to a tropical storm: Ian weakened to a tropical storm Thursday with winds of 70 mph, and the center of the storm was about 25 miles north-northeast of Cape Canaveral around 11 a.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said. Based on wind speed, Ian tied with 2004’s Hurricane Charley as the strongest storm to make landfall on the west coast of the Florida Peninsula, both with 150-mph winds at landfall.
• Hurricane warnings for South Carolina: Hurricane warnings are in place for the entire coast of South Carolina. In addition, Tropical Storm warnings are in place from Jupiter, Florida, up the east coast to Duck, North Carolina.
• Record-high storm surges: Ian’s storm surge hit up to 12 feet in some places in western Florida. On Thursday morning, a storm surge warning – meaning life-threatening surges could hit – was in place for a coastal stretch from northeastern Florida into an area north of Charleston, South Carolina.
• More than a foot of rainfall: Lehigh Acres near Fort Myers got 14.42 inches of rain, and Warm Mineral Springs near Port Charlotte got 11.05 inches. Up to 30 inches of rain may have fallen in parts of Florida by storm’s end, forecasters say.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
A man takes photos Thursday, September 29, of boats that were damaged by Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Stedi Scuderi looks over her flooded apartment in Fort Myers on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Wilfredo Lee/AP
This aerial photo shows damaged homes and debris in Fort Myers on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times/Zuma
Fort Myers residents explore damage on Fort Myers Beach on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images
A boat lies partially submerged in Punta Gorda, Florida, on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Tom Park begins cleaning up in Punta Gorda on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Wilfredo Lee/AP
A causeway to Florida’s Sanibel Island is seen on Thursday. A portion of the causeway was washed away by storm surge, according to live video from CNN affiliate WBBH. The causeway is the only way to get to or from Sanibel and Captiva Islands to Florida’s mainland.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Chris O’Meara/AP
People survey damage to their home in Valrico, Florida, on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images
Debris litters a street in Punta Gorda on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that pushed up against her apartment building in Fort Myers on Thursday. She said the boat floated in around 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Vehicles make their way through flooded streets in Fort Myers on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Stefanie Karas stands in her flooded apartment in Fort Myers on Thursday. She is an artist and was salvaging what she could from her home.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Orange County Fire Rescue’s Public Information Office via AP
Firefighters help stranded people in Orange County, Florida, early on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Presss
A spiral staircase lies next to a damaged pickup truck in Sanibel, Florida, on Thursday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Marco Bello/Reuters
A flooded street is seen in downtown Fort Myers after Ian made landfall on Wednesday, September 28.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Marco Bello/Reuters
A woman surveys damage through a door during a power outage in Fort Myers on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
NOAA/NASA
A satellite image shows the hurricane making landfall on the southwest coast of Florida on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Naples Police
The streets of Naples, Florida, are flooded on Wednesday. City officials asked residents to shelter in place until further notice.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ben Hendren/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A woman is helped out of a muddy area Wednesday in Tampa, Florida, where water was receding due to a negative storm surge.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images
Strong winds hit Punta Gorda on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ben Hendren/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
A woman holds an umbrella inverted by the wind in Tampa on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS/Abaca/Reuters
Sailboats anchored in Roberts Bay are blown around in Venice, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Crystal Vander Weit/TCPalm/USA Today Network
Melvin Phillips stands in the flooded basement of his mobile home in Stuart, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post/USA Today Network
Damage is seen at the Kings Point condos in Delray Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Officials believe it was caused by a tornado fueled by Hurricane Ian.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Marco Bello/Reuters
A TV crew broadcasts from the beach in Fort Myers on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/AP
Utility trucks are staged in a rural lot Wednesday in The Villages, a Florida retirement community.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Highways in Tampa are empty Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Ian making landfall. Several coastal counties in western Florida were under mandatory evacuations.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Wilfredo Lee/AP
An airplane is overturned in Pembroke Pines, Florida, on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP
Zuram Rodriguez surveys the damage around her home in Davie, Florida, early on Wednesday.
Photos: Hurricane Ian pummels Florida
Ramon Espinosa/AP
People play dominoes by flashlight during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, on Wednesday. Crews in Cuba have been working to restore power for millions after the storm battered the western region with high winds and dangerous storm...
Congress President Poll Highlights: Met Sonia Gandhi Discussed Events In Rajasthan In Detail Says Pilot
Congress President Poll Highlights: Met Sonia Gandhi, Discussed Events In Rajasthan In Detail, Says Pilot https://digitalalaskanews.com/congress-president-poll-highlights-met-sonia-gandhi-discussed-events-in-rajasthan-in-detail-says-pilot/
updated: Sep 29 2022, 22:57 ist
As the last day for filing nomination draws near, Congress leaders are in intense discussions to solve the political conundrum that has everyone guessing – who all will contest the election for party president. As of now, Digvijaya Singh and Shashi Tharoor have confirmed that they will be filing their nomination for the party’s top post tomorrow. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot confirmed that he will not contest polls.
21:42
Whatever positive decisions have to be taken with respect to Rajasthan, Cong president will take: Sachin Pilot
21:41
Conveyed my sentiments, feedback to Sonia Gandhi: Sonia Gandhi
Conveyed my sentiments, feedback to Sonia Gandhi; priority is to win 2023 assembly polls for which we have to work together: Pilot
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) September 29, 2022
21:39
Met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, discussed events in Rajasthan in detail, says Pilot
21:39
Congress G23 leaders meet at Anand Sharma’s residence
Delhi | Congress G23 camp leaders including Manish Tewari, Prithviraj Chavan, BS Hooda are currently meeting at party leader Anand Sharma’s residence
— ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2022
20:47
Whoever becomes the party president will work under Nehur-Gandhi family’s leadership: Digvijaya Singh
The Nehru-Gandhi family will remain our leader. Whoever becomes the party president will work under their leadership…Our priority is to see how the situation in the country improves, won’t let the country divide or the constitution weaken: Digvijaya Singh, Congress MP
— ANI (@ANI) September 29, 2022
20:05
Sachin Pilot reaches Sonia Gandhi’s residence for meeting
19:34
Congress advises leaders to ‘refrain’ from making statements on party’s internal matters’
17:48
Sonia to decide on Rajasthan CM in a day or two, says K C Venugopal
17:40
Sonia is neutral pertaining to Congress president polls, says Cong General Secretary
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi is neutral pertaining to Congress president polls. Let’s wait for tomorrow, we’ll get a clear picture, saysCongress General Secretary KC Venugopal.
14:57
I apologised to her: CM Ashok Gehlot after meeting Sonia Gandhi
14:51
Gehlot out of Congress president race
14:45
Not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest among colleagues, says Tharoor after meeting Digvijaya
14:41
14:36
Digvijaya Singhreached the party headquarters in New Delhi from Kerala andcollected the nomination form.With thisfresh twist in the race of the Cong chief, Singh makesit clear that he wants to be a contestant. Credit: IANS Photo
14:17
Shashi Tharoor to file his nomination for Cong prez poll on September 30
After filing papers, Tharoor will hold press conference at 1 PM at 97 Lodhi Estate, Delhi.
14:11
Sachin Pilot to meet Sonia Gandhi later today, reports PTI
13:08
Gehlot meets Sonia ahead of last day of filing nominations
12:21
Digvijaya Singh joins party chief race, says will file nominations tomorrow
11:58
Ahead of last day of nominations for Congress president polls, leaders in discussions
Ahead of last day of nominations for Congress president polls, leaders in discussions
* Mukul Wasnik meets Ashok Gehlot
* P Chidambaram meets Digvijaya Singh
* KC Venugopal meets Sonia Gandhi@DeccanHerald
— Shemin (@shemin_joy) September 29, 2022
11:56
Tariq Anwar meets AK Antony
10:36
Congress leader KC Venugopal arrives at 10 Janpath to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi
08:51
Bharat Jodo Yatra will go down in history as ‘epitome of love, unity and Bhartiyata’: Congress
08:50
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other party workers during the 18th day ofBharatJodoYatra in Malappuram. Credit: PTI Photo
08:48
Last phase of Cong’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala begins, to enter Tamil Nadu in afternoon
Accompanied by a huge crowd of supporters,Congressleader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday morning began the last phase of the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala.
The foot march — which resumed from Marthoma College Junction at Chungathara here — would take a break at CKHS Manimooly at Vazhikadavu after covering around 8.6 km.
According to the itinerary of the yatra, from Vazhikadavu, Gandhi would travel to Government Arts and Science College at Gudalur in Tamil Nadu by car. The march would resume from Government Arts and Science College at Gudalur around 5 pm and halt for the day at Gudalur Bus Stand after covering around 5.5 km.
07:59
Digvijaya Singh reaches Delhi, likely to file nomination for Cong prez election today
SeniorCongressleader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday night left Kerala for Delhi and is likely to file his nomination for the election to the party president’s post on Thursday, sources said.
AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal was also in the same flight from Kerala to Delhi.
Singh and Venugopal were participating in the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra which was currently in Kerala.
07:38
No drama in Rajasthan, says K C Venugopal
Congress leader K C Venugopal on Wednesday said that there is no drama in Rajasthan and that “everything will be clear in a day or two.”
Read more
07:37
Cong prez race heats up, Gehlot to meet Sonia today
With just two days left for filing nomination, the battle lines for the Congress president election are not clear yet but Digvijaya Singh appeared to be emerging as a new contender while a final word on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s prospects could finally emerge on Thursday.
Read more
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Protesters Declare Trump Tower Crime Scene Call For Prison Time For Former President | AmNewYork
Protesters Declare Trump Tower Crime Scene, Call For Prison Time For Former President | AmNewYork https://digitalalaskanews.com/protesters-declare-trump-tower-crime-scene-call-for-prison-time-for-former-president-amnewyork/
Protesters are demanding former President Donald Trump be held accountable for his criminal actions, declaring Trump Tower a crime scene on Sept. 29.
Photo by Dean Moses
Protesters declared Trump Tower a crime scene Thursday as they picketed the former home of the 45th president who’s under a myriad of corruption investigations, from allegedly hoarding classified documents to inciting the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Rather than wait for those investigations to conclude, the group Rise and Resist held up large crime scene tape at Donald Trump’s former pad — effectively declaring him guilty of the many crimes of which he’s accused.
“We feel that what Trump did around the election and trying to overturn the election, it really deserves criminal charges. And so, we’re out here and we’re frequently out here to call Trump out,” Jamie Bauer of Rise and Resist said while clinging to the tape.
The tape itself listed those alleged offenses: Fraud, for the alleged tax scheme in New York that led Attorney General Letitia James to launch a lawsuit against Trump and his family; Sedition, for Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden; Espionage, for hoarding numerous top secret documents recovered by federal agents during an August raid at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida; and Treason, ostensibly for Trump’s role in inciting the mob of his supporters that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Protesters held up crime scene tape in front of Trump Tower in Midtown. Photo by Dean Moses
One sign read, “Hold Trump accountable.” Photo by Dean Moses
Photo by Dean Moses
The group displayed a large banner reading “Arrest Trump” while holding up images of him behind bars. Protesters also used his own words against him by calling him a mob boss for pleading the fifth when he himself had criticized others for doing so.
Passing pedestrians flipped a thumbs up to the banners while others decided to snap a few photographs. While the affair may have seemed like a catchy photoshoot to some, those behind Rise and Resist declared this an issue of top priority.
“This is the headquarters for the Trump Organization, the Trump Corporation, and it’s also where all his lawyers are, and it’s where his New York City based home is. So, it is a crime scene, particularly for the campaign finance violations, the money laundering, all the real estate corruption, you know, and it’s really like which crimes of his do you want to focus on?” Bauer said. “One of the things that we try to do by coming out here is to not so much chip away at his base, but to chip away at the independents and the people who voted him and sort of supported him and who were sort of believing the big lie about the election results.”
Photo by Dean Moses
Members of Rise and Resist demanded that Trump be arrested. Photo by Dean Moses
Photo by Dean Moses
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'They Cant Do This To Me': Trump Threatened To Sue Congress Following His First Impeachment New Book Reveals
'They Can’t Do This To Me': Trump Threatened To Sue Congress Following His First Impeachment, New Book Reveals https://digitalalaskanews.com/they-cant-do-this-to-me-trump-threatened-to-sue-congress-following-his-first-impeachment-new-book-reveals/
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Conservatives Are Melting Down Because Lizzo Played James Madison's Crystal Flute
Conservatives Are Melting Down Because Lizzo Played James Madison's Crystal Flute https://digitalalaskanews.com/conservatives-are-melting-down-because-lizzo-played-james-madisons-crystal-flute/
The MAGA crowd is triggered because the Library of Congress let the pop star and classically trained flautist play a 200-year-old instrument
James Madison defeated DeWitt Clinton in 1812 to secure a second term in the White House. To commemorate his inauguration, a craftsman from Paris made him a crystal flute. The flute eventually made its way into the possession of the Library of Congress and sat unplayed until this week, when Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden invited Lizzo, a classically trained flautist, to blow a few notes and even take the piece of history onstage during her concert in Washington, D.C.
Conservatives are none too pleased!
“Simply desecrating American history just for the sake of it,” wrote right-wing pundit Matt Walsh, adding that letting Lizzo play the flute sends a “message that our heritage and history are meaningless and that nothing we love or care about has any value.”
“This Lizzo-flute controversy is a perfect example of what I have termed Face Tattoo Phenomenon,” tweeted Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire, where Walsh hosts a podcast, “the phenomenon whereby someone does something deliberately controversial in an attempt to draw attention, and then acts offended when you notice.”
The conservative Columbia Bugle called it a “humiliation ritual.” Right-wing commentator Greg Price wrote that “they” want to “degrade our history and then call you a racist if you actually value it.” Trump appointee Darren Beattie described Lizzo as the “perfect representative of the American Globalist Empire.” Trump superfan Nick Adams tweeted that the “Biden Administration is making a mockery of the country.” Former GOP congressional candidate Andrew McCarthy said everyone involved “should be deported.”
Jenna Ellis, a former member of Trump’s crack team of election fraud lawyers, even felt compelled to address the issue on her online show. “It’s hideous,” she said. “Lizzo is famous for being one of the most morbidly obese people in the world who claims that she’s oppressed.”
“This is desecration, purposefully, of America’s history,” Ellis added before bringing on right-wing commentator Ryan Fournier to talk about how “disgusting” Lizzo looked.
It shouldn’t come as a shock that the MAGA crowd is upset that a Black, body-positive pop star was given exclusive access to a piece of American history, and though the cruelty of their comments is yet another distressing sign of a right-wing that is increasingly animated by hatred, it’s also pretty damn hilarious that they’re writing about a novelty wind instrument like it’s the Declaration of Independence.
The tweets from triggered conservatives about Lizzo playing a 200-year-old flute they almost certainly weren’t even aware of before this week have indeed been entertaining, but the best comment about the incident came from Lizzo herself. “I just twerked and played James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s,” she proclaimed on Tuesday. “We just made history tonight.”
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KHS Tennis Concludes Season At Regions Championships
KHS Tennis Concludes Season At Regions Championships https://digitalalaskanews.com/khs-tennis-concludes-season-at-regions-championships/
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MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
Kodiak’s Scout DeVries returns the ball during the Region III Tennis Championships Monday in Anchorage.
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
A Kodiak High School tennis player compete at the Region III Monday in Anchorage.
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
Kodiak High School tennis players compete at the Region III Monday in Anchorage.
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
A Kodiak High School tennis player compete at the Region III Monday in Anchorage.
By DEREK CLARKSTON sports@kodiakdailymirror.com
Sep 29, 2022
12 min ago
0
1 of 4
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
Kodiak’s Scout DeVries returns the ball during the Region III Tennis Championships Monday in Anchorage.
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
A Kodiak High School tennis player compete at the Region III Monday in Anchorage.
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
Kodiak High School tennis players compete at the Region III Monday in Anchorage.
MATT BIEBER/Kodiak High School
A Kodiak High School tennis player compete at the Region III Monday in Anchorage.
The short season for Kodiak High School tennis ended Monday at the Region III Championships in Anchorage.
The Bears came up empty in their quest to qualify individuals for the state meet — the first time in program history that has happened.
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By MAISIE THOMAS Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Apr 4, 2022
1
In Alaska, Covid-19 cases are leveling off after reaching record highs during the Omicron surge, but a new and even more highly contagious variant is on the rise. The BA.2 variant of Omicron now accounts for over 50% of new cases nationally, and just under half of cases in Alaska, state epid…
LINDA F. HERSEY Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Apr 1, 2022
0
North Pole Rep. Mike Prax was one of eight lawmakers diagnosed with Covid-19 Wednesday in an outbreak that has swept through the Alaska House.
By LIV CLIFFORD Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Mar 31, 2022
0
Alaskans lost more than $13 million to suspected internet crimes in 2021, federal data shows.
Read More Here
Fairbanks Man Arrested After Hit-And-Run While Driving Stolen Car
Fairbanks Man Arrested After Hit-And-Run While Driving Stolen Car https://digitalalaskanews.com/fairbanks-man-arrested-after-hit-and-run-while-driving-stolen-car/
News Home
More from News of the North
Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – State troopers arrested a Fairbanks resident Tuesday after crashing a stolen car, and leaving the scene.
On Tuesday at about 7:23 in the morning, state trooper dispatch received a call that a gold in color Toyota Camry had left the scene of a motor vehicle crash on Phillips Field Rd and Peger Rd.
The Toyota Camry was located by the Alaska State Troopers Criminal Suppression Unit at the end of Phillips Field Road at the Ice Park.
A K9 Track was initiated and K9 Kenny tracked from the stolen vehicle to a RV Trailer inside the Ice Park.
The owner said there may be someone in the back that was not supposed to be in the trailer.
K9 announcement were made and a male, identified as Koali’I Foster Zimmer, 20 of Fairbanks, was apprehended by K9 Kenney after he refused to exit the trailer and not follow commands.
Zimmer was currently on Felony probation for DV Assault 3.
Zimmer was taken to FMH for medical clearance and then remanded to FCC on charges of Vehicle Theft 1, Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance V, Leaving the Scene of a MVC, and felony Probation Violation.
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Donations are sparse for Alaska constitutional convention vote, disclosures show
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SEARHC honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month with no-cost 3D mammograms
Juneau, Alaska (KINY) – October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness of the disease and to explore research into the causes, treatments and cures for breast cancer.
Report: Noordam brings 1,664 tourists to Wrangell on ‘last minute’ change to itinerary
Wrangell, Alaska (Wrangell Sentinel) – The 935-foot-long Holland America Noordam made a stop in Wrangell last Wednesday, bringing 1,664 passengers and 700 crew members to town.
Read More Here
Violating International Law Putin To Sign Annexation Of Ukrainian Regions
Violating International Law, Putin To Sign Annexation Of Ukrainian Regions https://digitalalaskanews.com/violating-international-law-putin-to-sign-annexation-of-ukrainian-regions/
Russian President Vladimir Putin will formally move Friday to seize four Ukrainian regions by signing documents that the Kremlin is calling “accession treaties.”
The signing ceremony, to take place in the Grand Kremlin Palace, marks Putin’s attempt to annex the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, even though Russia does not fully control them militarily or politically.
Voronezh
BELARUS
RUSSIA
Four regions
where staged
referendums
on joining Russia
were held
Chernihiv
Belgorod
Sumy
Valuyki
Kyiv
Kharkiv
LUHANSK
Cherkasy
Slovyansk
Luhansk
Dnipro
Donetsk
Kirovohrad
DONETSK
Zaporizhzhia
ZAPORIZHZHIA
Area held
by Russia-
backed
separatists
since 2014
Mariupol
Mykolaiv
Melitopol
KHERSON
MOL.
Kherson
Odessa
RUSSIA
Kerch
CRIMEA
Krasnodar
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
ROM.
Novorossiysk
Sevastopol
Black Sea
Control areas as of Sept. 28
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project
Ukrainian reclaimed territory
through counteroffensives
Voronezh
BELARUS
Four regions
where staged
referendums on
joining Russia
were held
RUSSIA
Chernihiv
Belgorod
Sumy
Kyiv
Kharkiv
Poltava
LUHANSK
Cherkasy
Kramatorsk
Dnipro
Uman
DONETSK
Zaporizhzhia
ZAPORIZ.
Area held by
Russia-backed
separatists
since 2014
Mykolayiv
Melitopol
KHERSON
Kherson
Odessa
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
Sevastopol
100 MILES
Control areas as of Sept. 28
Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project
Ukrainian reclaimed territory
through counteroffensives
Four regions
where staged
referendums
were held on
joining Russia
BEL.
Chernihiv
Belgorod
Sumy
Kyiv
Kharkiv
LUHANSK
Cherkasy
Dnipro
DONETSK
ZAPORIZ.
Mykolayiv
Area held by
Russia-backed
separatists
since 2014
KHERSON
Kherson
Odessa
Crimea
Annexed by Russia
in 2014
100 MILES
Sevastopol
Black Sea
Sources: Institute for the Study of War
The move, in defiance of stern international warnings including from President Biden, potentially slams the door on diplomacy for years to come and almost certainly assures further escalation of the war in Ukraine. Kyiv insists it will fight to reclaim all of its lands, and Western allies are promising to send more weapons and economic assistance.
Putin’s recent declaration of a partial military mobilization, intended to activate hundreds of thousands of reinforcements for deployment to Ukraine, and the sabotage this week of two Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea have raised fears that the Russian leader is preparing for a long hybrid conflict with NATO.
Russia has also warned that it could use a nuclear weapon to defend the Ukrainian regions once they are absorbed into Russia, on grounds that it would view an attack on its forces there as an attack on Russian territory. Similarly, Putin could use such attacks to declare martial law, putting Russia’s economy and society fully on a war footing.
Putin’s land grab, which is a blatant violation of international law, will further isolate Russia, triggering new Western sanctions. But Putin nonetheless appears to hope that a long, brutal war will eventually fray Western support for Ukraine and curtail military and economic aid that is providing a lifeline to Kyiv.
One of the few viable diplomatic channels remaining is between Russia and Turkey, but even Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who helped broker a recent prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, has voiced disapproval of Putin’s recent steps.
After Russia orchestrated the referendums with implausible results claiming overwhelming support for annexation, Erdogan said the voting brought “troubles,” and he lamented that the conflict had not been resolved through diplomacy.
Erdogan was due to speak to Putin late Thursday, likely too late to persuade him to change course if that were ever possible. “These kinds of ventures strain the efforts for diplomacy and lead to the deepening of instability,” Erdogan said, referring to the staged referendums and the military mobilization.
Russia’s proxy leaders from the partially occupied regions traveled to Moscow on Wednesday ahead of the signing of the so-called accession treaties.
And in a sign of the hoopla in Moscow, the state-controlled Rossiya 24 news channel started broadcasting a countdown clock, showing the hours and minutes until Putin’s scheduled announcement at 3 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern). Russia’s rubber-stamp parliament, meeting Monday and Tuesday, is certain to approve the treaties and then adopt amendments to the constitution to formalize the annexation, in a process mirroring that of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Adding a dash of patriotic theater to Friday’s proceedings, the Kremlin announced that a gala concert would be held in Red Square on Friday after the signing of the treaties.
The concert mimics a similar event in 2014 when Putin appeared onstage after Russia had seized Ukraine’s Crimea region. It was part of an effort to whip up public euphoria over reclaiming the peninsula, which a majority of Russians viewed as historically belonging to them.
The annexation of Crimea, a popular Russian holiday destination, propelled Putin’s approval rating to a record high 89 percent in 2015. But public sentiment is unlikely to be as strong for the takeover of the four new regions.
Multiple Russian setbacks in the war have exposed the poor shape of Russia’s military and left Putin more vulnerable than at any time in office. He has been criticized from the right by pro-war hawks furious over the military missteps as well as the bungled mobilization, and from the left by opponents of the war.
More than 200,000 Russians have fled the country in recent days to escape the partial mobilization.
A wave of newly mobilized Russian soldiers already arriving in Ukraine with relatively little preparation will probably not be enough for Moscow to launch offensives in the coming weeks to get full control of the regions it is annexing, according to military experts, but they may help Russia to hold territory through the winter.
Putin’s approval rating has fallen in the wake of his mobilization announcement, according to opinion survey results released Thursday by the Levada Center, an independent pollster. Given Russia’s authoritarian system, however, his rating remains at levels that would be the envy of any Western politician.
According to the new Levada poll, Putin’s approval rating fell to 77 percent from 83 percent the previous month, while his disapproval rating rose to 21 percent from 15 percent. (Putin’s ratings fell to their lowest point — 59 percent — in April 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.)
The new results nevertheless highlight the unpredictable consequences of the war for Putin, as he faces a protracted bleak period with tougher Western sanctions, long-term economic decline and likely increasing military casualties in Ukraine.
The annexation marks perhaps the darkest moment in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War, following a NATO warning Thursday that damage to two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea was the result of “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage.”
“We, as Allies, have committed to prepare for, deter and defend against the coercive use of energy and other hybrid tactics by state and nonstate actors,” NATO said in a statement. “Any deliberate attack against Allies’ critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday stepped up Russian accusations over the apparent sabotage. She noted that the damage occurred in the waters of Denmark and Sweden, countries that she said were “stuffed” with American weapons and “under the control” of the CIA.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the explosions that damaged the pipelines, causing massive leaks of natural gas, appeared to be “deliberate.”
“It’s very difficult to imagine that such a terrorist action could take place without the involvement of some state,” Peskov said.
Russian state-controlled media aired analysts and pundits saying that the attack could only have been carried out by the United States or Britain. Western analysts, meanwhile, said the sabotage was more likely to have been perpetrated by Russia.
Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King’s College London, said it was “hard to think who else it could be.” The pipeline attack could be meant as “a general, darker warning about the vulnerability of all underwater pipes and cables should Russia want to inflict more disruption,” he added.
The pipeline damage could be also the Kremlin’s message to Europe that it would never again benefit from relatively low-priced Russia natural gas, or potentially a signal to Nordic countries that they would always be vulnerable to Russia, Freedman wrote in an emailed newsletter Wednesday.
The European Commission on Wednesday recommended an eighth package of sanctions on Russia, including a cap on oil prices, a ban on European nationals serving on the boards of Russian state-owned companies and new bans on exports of high-tech goods to Russia.
But the package still requires unanimous approval of all 27 European Union countries, and Gergely Gulyas, chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, cast doubt on the key measures when he said Thursday that Hungary would block any new energy sanctions.
The full ramifications of Putin’s annexation declaration are difficult to predict.
In one move, Russia is likely to declare the Sea of Azov to be an internal Russian sea. And Moscow could deploy special police troops to suppress partisan activity in the occupied areas. In s...
Hurricane Ian: DeSantis Says weve Never Seen A Flood Like This As Biden Declares Disaster Live
Hurricane Ian: DeSantis Says ‘we’ve Never Seen A Flood Like This’ As Biden Declares Disaster – Live https://digitalalaskanews.com/hurricane-ian-desantis-says-weve-never-seen-a-flood-like-this-as-biden-declares-disaster-live/
Biden declares official disaster in Florida
Chris Michael
Joe Biden has approved a Florida disaster declaration.
The move by the president sends federal money to help state, tribal and local recovery efforts, including debris removal, emergency protective measures and hazard mitigation.
Crucially, it also makes federal funds available to individuals in specific counties, many in central Florida – Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota – which would allow them to “apply for grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster”.
The help comes on top of already-extensive assistance from the Biden administration for Florida:
“,”elementId”:”e985f8de-a673-48e3-969e-278b84ddfbd7″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
“A turn toward the north-northeast is expected later today, followed by a turn toward the north and north-northwest with an increase in forward speed Friday and Friday night,” it said.
n
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The center of the hurricane is expected to move off the east-central coast of Florida and will make its way to the coast of South Carolina on Friday.
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On Friday night and Saturday, the center will move farther inland cross the Carolinas, the advisory said, adding that maximum sustained winds will remain near 65 mph (100 km/h) with higher gusts.
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A section of the Sanibel Causeway – a major roadway connecting the Sanibel and Captiva Islands to the mainland – has been destroyed by Hurricane Ian.
“,”elementId”:”5e7c9ac3-5892-48aa-a408-ba0bd67a1586″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
“Where the bridge rises from the mainland toward the island, one of the first sections of the span has disappeared. Crumbled pavement lies near the water’s edge. The rest of the bridge stretches forward, unreachable,” the Tampa Bay Times reported.
n
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The pavement surrounding the bridge is described to have “folded up like an accordion, ripped to ribbons.”
“,”elementId”:”9756236e-7d2a-42de-93d4-819db165c7b8″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement”,”html”:”
n
“Two cars tried to pass out to the island about 1:30 a.m., including a group of young men hoping to reach their friend. They had to turn around,” the outlet added.
n
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#BreakingNews: An approximately 50-65 foot section of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge has fallen into the Gulf of Mexico. @NBC2 pic.twitter.com/vOI2EvyVOY
— Gage Goulding – NBC2 (@GageGoulding) September 29, 2022
n”,”url”:”https://twitter.com/GageGoulding/status/1575433281100824578?s=20&t=kr-OSZ7W0l94TdoBaQYKfw”,”id”:”1575433281100824578″,”hasMedia”:false,”role”:”inline”,”isThirdPartyTracking”:false,”source”:”Twitter”,”elementId”:”70e0b7a4-ce5c-400d-a52a-50bb73e818f2″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1664459064000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”09.44 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1664459611000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”09.53 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1664459437000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”09.50 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”09.50″,”title”:”Section of major Florida bridge destroyed by hurricane”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thu 29 Sep 2022 11.17 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Thu 29 Sep 2022 06.41 EDT”},{“id”:”633598768f084e56bac581bf”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
“We’ve never seen a flood event like this. We’ve never seen storm surge of this magnitude,” the governor said.
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With numerous interruptions in communication across the state, DeSantis announced that 100 portable cell towers are being deployed to southwest Florida.
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Joe Biden has approved a Florida disaster declaration.
“,”elementId”:”d73315cf-7d34-45ef-9f5e-c3accd95e2ca”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The move by the president sends federal money to help state, tribal and local recovery efforts, including debris removal, emergency protective measures and hazard mitigation.
“,”elementId”:”cd8188c5-ac2c-4f95-a975-5fcaa851a77b”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Crucially, it also makes federal funds available to individuals in specific counties, many in central Florida – Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Pinellas and Sarasota – which would allow them to “apply for grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster”.
“,”elementId”:”ebff2d63-c5df-4838-a54f-1c7d57ded2bb”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The help comes on top of already-extensive assistance from the Biden administration for Florida:
“,”elementId”:”f43a15e4-5a68-4cc3-83af-1a08537e6376″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement”,”html”:”
The Administration has:– Pre-staged 110,000 gallons of fuel and 18,000 pounds of propane– Moved in a variety of generators– 3.7 million meals and 3.5 million liters of water ready– 300 ambulances working side by side with local officials
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 28, 2022
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Video has emerged of a shopping center sign collapsing in Jacksonville, Florida just as a reporter was about to go on air.
The First Coast News reporter can be see darting back in shock as the structure collapsed.
“Please tell me you were recording…oh my gosh!” she said.
A video of a man rescuing a cat during Hurricane Ian in south-west Florida has gone viral overnight, prompting praise from many viewers.
“My boyfriend saving a cat from flood waters near Bonita Beach,” wrote Megan Cruz Scavo in a caption that accompanied a video of her boyfriend, 29-year old Mike Ross, treading across knee-deep water to rescue a terrified-looking cat sitting atop an air conditioner.
Ross’s mother, Marybeth Ross, filmed the rescue and can be heard saying, “Look at Michael saving the kitty. Awww!”
The video has since been viewed 3.1 million times on Twitter and has garnered significant pr...
European Stocks Fall As Bank Of England Boost Fades; Stoxx 600 Down 2%
European Stocks Fall As Bank Of England Boost Fades; Stoxx 600 Down 2% https://digitalalaskanews.com/european-stocks-fall-as-bank-of-england-boost-fades-stoxx-600-down-2/
BOE spends additional $1.55 billion on long-dated gilts
The Bank of England bought £1.415 billion ($1.55 billion) worth of government bonds with maturities of over 20 years, Reuters reported.
It is the second day of the bank’s bond-buying scheme, launched to stabilize market volatility after a government budget announcement saw a historic rise in bond yields, which move inversely to prices. It bought £1.025 billion of gilts Wednesday.
The start of the program boosted gilt prices, though they began to fall again after Prime Minister Liz Truss said in a series of interviews that she would stick to her policies.
The 10-year gilt yield was trading at 4.121% at 3:20 p.m. London time.
— Jenni Reid
Stocks on the move: Rational up 15%, Barratt Developments down 12%
Rational shares jumped more than 15% by mid-afternoon trade to lead the Stoxx 600, after the German combi steamer and oven manufacturer raised its sales revenue and profit forecast for 2022.
At the bottom of the European blue chip index, British property developer Barratt Developments fell more than 12%.
– Elliot Smith
Semiconductor shortage set to ease in 2024, Porsche CFO says
Semiconductor shortages will continue to affect Porsche throughout 2023, according to Arno Antlitz, Volkswagen’s chief financial officer, but supply should improve the following year.
“We expect a better supply in 2023, but we expect easing of the shortages only to kick in in 2024,” Antlitz told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach.
The comments were made as Antlitz reflected on Porsche shares making their stock market debut in Frankfurt.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
Euro zone economic sentiment continues to deteriorate
The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator, which aggregates business and consumer confidence surveys, fell to 93.7 in September from 97.3 in August, its lowest point since November 2020.
Confidence plummeted across economic sectors amid a broad increase in inflation expectations, despite the European Central Bank‘s commitment to interest rate hikes in order to rein in soaring prices.
– Elliot Smith
Porsche shares rise in Frankfurt market debut
Porsche shares increased almost 2% above its IPO price in its stock market debut on Thursday, in what’s being billed as one of Europe’s biggest ever public offerings.
Shares in the luxury carmaker initially traded at 84 euros ($81) at the start of the day.
Shares had been priced at the top end of their range late Wednesday, putting the company value up to 75 billion euros.
Read CNBC’s full coverage here.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
Stocks on the move: Rational up 12%, Barratt Developments down 9%
Rational shares jumped more than 12% in early trade to lead the Stoxx 600 after the German combi steamer and oven manufacturer raised its sales revenue and profit forecast for 2022.
At the bottom of the European blue chip index, British property developer Barratt Developments fell more than 9%.
– Elliot Smith
CNBC Pro: Analyst says this FAANG stock is an evergreen winner — and investors should buy the dip
Tech stocks have had a difficult year so far but a Rosenblatt Securities analyst thinks the sell-off is an opportunity for long-term investors to buy the dip.
“Stay away from the losers,” he said, recommending “winners in the various secular battles and evolutionary battles” in tech.
Pro subscribers can read more.
— Zavier Ong
Stocks may continue this ‘oversold bounce’ over the next few days, Wells Fargo’s Harvey says
Wells Fargo’s Chris Harvey expects stocks to continue their upward move.
“The spike in short interest, retail selling skew, and BOE’s action all suggest stocks will continue their oversold bounce for the next few days,” he said in a note to clients Wednesday.
Stocks hit fresh lows earlier in the week, with the S&P 500 notching a new bear market. The sell-off was triggered by the Fed’s latest rate decision last week, which some investors believe steered the market into oversold conditions.
As the cost of capital rises and prices hover near record highs, the consensus is increasingly coming to believe that a Fed-induced recession is unavoidable, Harvey said.
“We look at a recession like a car crash,” he wrote. “You never know how bad it will be, but there is almost no ‘better-than-expected’ outcome — so policymakers need to be careful what they wish for.”
— Samantha Subin
10-year Treasury yield drops the most since 2020
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped the most since 2020 on Wednesday, despite briefly topping 4% earlier in the session, after the Bank of England announced a bond-buying plan to stabilize the British pound.
The 10-year Treasury yield last dropped 23 basis points to 3.733%, or the most it’s dropped since 2020.
It hit a high of about 4.019%, a key level that was the highest since October 2008, earlier in the day before erasing those gains.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point is equal to 0.01%.
— Sarah Min
Wed, Aug 17 202212:29 AM EDT
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European stocks are expected to open in negative territory on Wednesday as investors react to the latest U.S. inflation data.
The U.K.’s FTSE index is expected to open 47 points lower at 7,341, Germany’s DAX 86 points lower at 13,106, France’s CAC 40 down 28 points and Italy’s FTSE MIB 132 points lower at 22,010, according to data from IG.
Global markets have pulled back following a higher-than-expected U.S. consumer price index report for August which showed prices rose by 0.1% for the month and 8.3% annually in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday, defying economist expectations that headline inflation would fall 0.1% month-on-month.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, climbed 0.6% from July and 6.3% from August 2021.
U.K. inflation figures for August are due and euro zone industrial production for July will be published.
— Holly Ellyatt
Read More Here
Only 46 Percent In New Poll Say Candidates Should Commit To Accepting Midterm Election Results
Only 46 Percent In New Poll Say Candidates Should Commit To Accepting Midterm Election Results https://digitalalaskanews.com/only-46-percent-in-new-poll-say-candidates-should-commit-to-accepting-midterm-election-results/
iStock.
Voter booths await the anticipated record turnout in the 2022 midterm elections, as enthusiasm runs high among both Democrats and Republicans, with a close battle for control of Congress.
Fewer than half of Americans believe that political candidates should commit to accepting the results of their midterm election races, according to a new Yahoo! News/YouGov survey.
The poll, published on Thursday, found that 46 percent of respondents believe that political candidates should accept election results.
Nineteen percent of those surveyed disagreed, saying candidates should not commit to accept midterm election results.
The survey comes after unprecedented attacks on the results of the 2020 presidential election led by former President Trump.
A mob of Trump supporters, some of them chanting for the hanging of then-Vice President Mike Pence, invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to interrupt the certification of the Electoral College results of the 2020 elelction.
The new poll suggests doubts about the validity of elections and a refusal to accept results is becoming more commonplace.
Democrats were more likely to say that candidates should accept the results of the midterms.
Sixty-four percent of Democratic respondents indicated that political candidates should accept the results in their midterm election races.
But only 36 percent of Republican respondents said candidates should accept the results of the midterms.
When asked the same question, just 45 percent of Independent respondents said political candidates should accept midterm election results.
Forty-eight percent of White respondents said that political candidates should accept the results of their midterm election results, with 43 percent of Black respondents and 42 percent of Hispanic respondents agreeing with the same sentiment.
Tags Midterm elections midterms 2022 Yahoo! Yougov
Read More Here
Illinois News Headlines For Sept. 29 https://digitalalaskanews.com/illinois-news-headlines-for-sept-29/
Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Public Schools appears to have lost its title as the nation’s third-largest school district, with enrollment falling for the 11th consecutive year, according to data released Wednesday.
CPS is reporting enrollment of 322,106 students, down 2.5% from 330,411 students the last school year. A decade ago, there were about 403,000 CPS students. The district noted 20,000 fewer students — about 10% — in district-run elementary schools compared with two years ago, while enrollment in district-run and charter high schools has remained steady.
Read more
According to a source, the CTU House of Delegates approved a resolution in support of Johnson by an “overwhelming” voice vote Wednesday evening. Johnson is also a former teacher who has worked for the union over the last decade as a political organizer.
Read more
The Republican candidate for Illinois treasurer is speaking out against Democratic lawmakers and warns tax increases are coming after the November election.
Tom Demmer, a state representative from Dixon, hosted a news conference Wednesday and said the Democrats are being secretive with the public about their post-election plans.
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Chicago’s Board of Education on Wednesday narrowly approved key steps toward the construction of a Near South Side high school despite significant opposition from even the strongest advocates for a new neighborhood school.
The school board in a 4-3 vote opted to move forward with leasing former public housing land from the Chicago Housing Authority to build a high school and to acquire another nearby parcel for the CHA in exchange. The district will also ask the city’s Public Building Commission to begin designing the school.
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No Republican nominee for president has won Illinois since 1988, with Joe Biden beating Donald Trump by more than 1 million votes in the last election two years ago.
As a reliably blue state, Illinois has been largely spared from the viral conspiracy theories about vote fraud and physical threats against elections officials that continue to plague many swing states, including Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.
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WalletHub: Twin Cities Seeing Decreasing Unemployment Claims https://digitalalaskanews.com/wallethub-twin-cities-seeing-decreasing-unemployment-claims/
(Minneapolis MN-) With inflation staying high but the U.S. gaining 315,000 jobs in August, WalletHub today released updated rankings for its report on Changes in Unemployment Rate by City as a follow-up to our report on the States Where Unemployment Claims Are Decreasing the Most.
With Minnesota showing the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, it’s not a surprise that The Twin Cities rated high in the latest study…
1. Hialeah FL
2. South Burlington VT
3. Miami FL
4. Burlington VT
5. Juneau AK
6. Minneapolis
7. St Paul
180. Dover Delaware
https://wallethub.com/edu/cities-unemployment-rates/73647
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Post Politics Now: Congress Angles To Avert Shutdown Before Lawmakers Hit Campaign Trail
Post Politics Now: Congress Angles To Avert Shutdown Before Lawmakers Hit Campaign Trail https://digitalalaskanews.com/post-politics-now-congress-angles-to-avert-shutdown-before-lawmakers-hit-campaign-trail/
Today, the Senate is angling to pass a stopgap funding bill that would keep the government open for 2½ months. Some details remain to be worked out. The House must also pass the measure by midnight Friday to avert a partial government shutdown. Getting the bill to President Biden is among the final pieces of business before lawmakers turn their full attention to campaigning for the November elections.
Meanwhile, Biden is scheduled to receive a briefing on Hurricane Ian, now a tropical storm, which has left more than 2 million people without power in Florida. Later Thursday, Biden is hosting a first-of-its-kind gathering of more than a dozen Pacific Island leaders.
Your daily dashboard
10 a.m. Eastern: House Republican leaders hold an event on their “Commitment to America” agenda at the Capitol. Watch live here.
Noon Eastern: Biden receives a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters in Washington.
3 p.m. Eastern: Biden speaks at the U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit at the State Department in Washington.
6:45 p.m. Eastern: Biden hosts a dinner at the White House for the Pacific Island leaders.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Analysis: In a first, U.S. appoints a diplomat for plants and animals
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As temperatures rise and habitats shrink, hundreds of thousands of plant and animal species around the world are at risk of vanishing.
For the first time, the United States is designating a special diplomat to advocate for global biodiversity amid what policymakers here and overseas increasingly recognize as an extinction crisis, The Post’s Dino Grandoni writes in The Climate 202.
Per Dino:
Monica Medina is taking on a new role as special envoy for biodiversity and water resources, the State Department announced Wednesday. She currently serves as the department’s assistant secretary for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs.
The appointment underscores the Biden administration’s desire to protect land and waters not just at home but to also conserve habitats abroad.
You can read Dino’s full analysis here.
Noted: Historically low ratings for the Supreme Court, federal judiciary
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Forty seven percent of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the federal judiciary, headed by the Supreme Court — a 20 percentage point drop from two years ago and the lowest number since Gallup started asking the question in 1972.
Another 53 percent in the latest poll say they have “not very much” trust in the federal judiciary or “none at all.”
When asked about the Supreme Court itself, a majority of Americans also express dissatisfaction.
In the new poll, 40 percent of U.S. adults approve of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job compared to 58 percent who disapprove. The disapproval is a record high in Gallup polling.
Analysis: Electoral Count Act changes become latest Trump loyalty test
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The bill to update the Electoral Count Act is on a surprisingly easy path to Senate passage as support among Republicans continues to grow.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer say that while the bill appears likely to be a major bipartisan win, the split among Republican lawmakers on the bill is spotlighting the continued tensions in the GOP over the party’s leader, former president Donald Trump, and his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. Per our colleagues:
On our radar: White House hosts first Pacific islands summit as China makes inroads
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President Biden on Thursday is welcoming to the White House for the first time more than a dozen Pacific island leaders whose countries are receiving fresh attention and resources as China asserts its own influence in the region.
The Post’s Ellen Nakashima reports that the high-level wooing — including meetings with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — coincides with the unveiling of the first Pacific island strategy that is aimed at addressing the nations’ top concerns. Those include climate change, recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, illegal fishing and technology investments.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
On our radar: Congress moves toward funding government, averting shutdown
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Congress is poised to pass stopgap legislation to avert a government shutdown, a rare bipartisan compromise on the eve of hotly contested midterm elections.
The Post’s Jacob Bogage reports that the Senate is set to advance a continuing resolution — a bill to sustain government funding at current levels, often called a “CR” — on Thursday that would keep the government running through Dec. 16. The House will probably take up the measure Friday.
Jacob writes:
Once Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) agreed to remove language from the legislation that would have overhauled federal rules for permitting large energy projects, the bill easily overcame a procedural vote in the evenly divided Senate on Tuesday, signaling a probable glide path to final passage.
The legislation includes $12.4 billion in military and diplomatic assistance for Ukraine in its now seven-month-long war with Russia but does not include money the Biden administration requested for vaccines, testing and treatment for the coronavirus or monkeypox. …
“We’re going to work quickly and work fast to finish the process here in the Senate and send a CR to the House so they can send it to the president’s desk,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday. “With cooperation from our Republican colleagues, the Senate can finish his work as soon as [Thursday].”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also signaled his expectation that the CR will soon clear the chamber.
The latest: Harris visits DMZ after North Korean missile tests
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Vice President Harris toured the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea on Thursday, becoming the most senior Biden administration official to inspect the demarcation line during a four-day trip to Asia that has been dominated by Indo-Pacific security concerns.
The Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Michelle Ye Hee Lee report that as Harris stood just a few feet from the North Korean side of the border in the Joint Security Area, North Koreans working in a building on the other side peeked out from behind a curtain. Per our colleagues:
Analysis: Stacey Abrams’s rhetorical twist on being an election denier
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In 2018, Stacey Abrams lost a bitter election for Georgia governor to Brian Kemp, then the state’s secretary of state, and refused to concede after suggesting that Kemp used his position to manipulate his way to victory.
Now, Abrams is in a rematch with Kemp, fending off questions from reporters that she is little different from former president Donald Trump, who has falsely claimed that election fraud led to his defeat by Joe Biden, The Post’s Glenn Kessler writes in The Fact Checker.
Per Glenn:
In recent weeks she has subtly adjusted language to argue that, unlike Trump, she “never denied the election” and “never denied that I lost.”
“The difference [with Trump] is very stark when I did not win my election in 2018,” she told Yahoo News in August. “The first thing I said was that I acknowledged the outcome — that the new governor was Brian Kemp. I was not the governor, but I did say the system was broken.” …
Abrams, in her non-concession speech, did acknowledge Kemp “will be certified as the victor of the 2018 gubernatorial election.” But a review of numerous interviews shows that Abrams subsequently used language denying the outcome of the election that she now appears to be trying to play down.
You can read the full analysis here.
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Trump Team Accuses Special Master Dearie Of Exceeding His Authority In Late Night Filing: Report
Trump Team Accuses Special Master Dearie Of Exceeding His Authority In Late Night Filing: Report https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-team-accuses-special-master-dearie-of-exceeding-his-authority-in-late-night-filing-report/
By Bekah McNeel, The 74
Sept. 29, 2022
Every day after work, veteran English teacher Staci Ely pulls into the parking lot of the Spanish Trail Lodge in Fort Stockton, a small town in far West Texas.
She parks right in front of her door in the motor court-style hotel and settles into a small, recently refurbished room with an en suite bathroom, Saltillo tile floors, a mini fridge and Southwest-style fixtures.
The cozy motel room is home these days, and it’s one reason Ely took the job with the Fort Stockton Independent School District. That and the $80,000 salary.
In order to secure a livable retirement, Ely, 54, temporarily left the spacious home 500 miles away she built with her husband, a former professional bull-rider who stayed behind.
“He’s a cowboy, and he likes cowboyin’ at home,” Ely said of her husband.
Staci Ely in front of her room at the district-owned Spanish Trail Lodge in Fort Stockton. Credit: Courtesy of Staci Ely
She rents her room for $250 a month from the Fort Stockton school district, which purchased the motel in December for $705,000 out of its budget, part of a multifaceted plan to recruit teachers amid a chronic shortage.
The plan also includes hefty salaries for the teaching positions the 2,200-student district needs the most.
The district’s teacher shortage, made all the worse by the COVID-19 pandemic, mirrors a reality seen in many parts of the country.
“Historically speaking, teacher shortages are nothing new to rural districts,” district Superintendent Gabriel Zamora said. “But we’re not struggling for teachers now.”
Lured by higher salaries and low-cost housing, the district has filled all of its critical positions, said Ember Renteria, its head of personnel. And it’s filled them with well-qualified teachers. “Normally we were just looking for anyone who was willing to teach,” she said. “There’s been a big difference this year. If you pay them, they will come.”
Zamora wasn’t in Fort Stockton when the pandemic started, but he has always worked in the kind of very small, rural district struggling to fill slots. After years of innovation and recruiting, the pandemic was a massive setback.
“Whatever ground we gained, we were losing,” Zamora said. The pivot to virtual learning and then again to hybrid learning pushed many teachers past their breaking point and out of the profession. When he looked at the staffing situation in Fort Stockton in 2021, he saw that as in most other rural districts, the pandemic had made another “hole in the bucket.”
He arrived in Fort Stockton in June 2021 and immediately got to work figuring out how to get more teachers into the district, and how to get the experienced teachers already on the payroll to transfer into positions like math, English and science that are hardest to fill.
Instead of teachers being lured into electives by the lack of stress, as often happens, he said, he’s trying to hire experienced teachers to the core subjects with a bigger paycheck — up to $72,000 for a first-year teacher, more for experienced teachers like Ely.
For the eighth grade English teacher, this was a golden opportunity to stash away the $80,000 salary. The position is usually hard to fill because subjects that are covered by state exams are typically more stressful. But the bump in pay made it worth her while.
That’s exactly what Zamora was counting on.
Fort Stockton ISD Superintendent Gabriel Zamora. Credit: Gabriel Zamora (FSISD.net)
He’s no stranger to the disincentives facing the teaching profession. Starting salaries are too low to appeal to many college graduates, especially those carrying college debt. From there, most districts follow a set pay schedule based on years of experience. If a district follows the minimum pay scale, as many small, rural schools do, it takes a teacher 20 years to get to $54,000.
He looked at the funding he had available for his 180 teacher salaries this school year and found a way to pay them according to how much the district needed to fill the position. The average salary for Fort Stockton teachers in 2021-22 was $53,000 — the state average is around $56,000 — but now, for instance, a first-year teacher in a high school math class could make around $72,500. If a veteran teacher takes that position, they’ll make even more.
But even at $70,000, Zamora said, housing prices in Fort Stockton were another large hurdle. The housing stock is mostly single-family homes, many of them older. Oil companies drilling nearby offer relatively generous housing stipends to their workers. But with home appraisals on the rise, landlords are charging top dollar.
The district built 12 brick duplexes, similar to what one might see in a suburban development, complete with a playground in the shared, fenced yard behind them. Teachers can rent those for $750 to $800 a month.
That’s great for families, Zamora knew, but when the Spanish Trail Lodge came up for sale last December, he knew it would sweeten the deal for even more recruits. He was thinking of young teachers not ready for homeownership, as well as older teachers who aren’t necessarily looking to uproot their lives but need to be thinking about their financial future, like Ely.
Ely wasn’t permanently relocating 500 miles away. Her husband, six kids and four grandchildren are still back in Emory, a tiny, rural town east of Dallas.
But Ely knew she couldn’t end her career there, where the district was on the state minimum salary schedule, if she wanted to have a stable income in retirement.
She could retire with a yearly stipend of 60% of about $55,000 or 60% of the $80,000 she’ll make in Fort Stockton.
It was a huge raise, but the Spanish Trail Lodge gave her the opportunity to take home even more by cutting out her biggest expense — a market-rate rental. “I didn’t want all of my raise to go to housing when we own a home,” she said.
In the 29 years she’s been teaching, Ely has made a lot of sacrifices. She’s driven 45 minutes to work each way. She’s worked for the state minimum teacher salary. She’s taken on extra classes when positions went unfilled. She’s been happy to do it, she said, because she loves her job and loves the middle school kids she teaches.
Fort Stockton teacher Staci Ely works in her room at the Spanish Trail Lodge. Credit: Courtesy of Staci Ely
But now she has to think about her future. It feels almost sacrilegious to say so, Ely said, because teachers are trained and conditioned to be all about the kids. They are praised when they are, in a way, martyrs to the profession, she said. “I’ve done 29 years for the kids, and I have to start thinking about my retirement.”
She flies home to see her family when she can, but soon she’ll be able to take advantage of another perk; for the first time in her teaching career, Ely won’t have to work through the summer, either picking up summer school classes or a side gig.
To house teachers recruited from across the state, Fort Stockton bought the Spanish Trail Lodge, where teachers pay $250 a month in rent. Credit: Bekah McNeel
The motel is great in the meantime, she said. In the center of the horseshoe-shaped motor court, there’s a freestanding house where the proprietor lived. The district turned it into a clubhouse of sorts, with a large kitchen, two living rooms with recliners and large flat-screen TVs, a workout room with new equipment, and a laundry room with washers and dryers.
One of the administrative assistants in Zamora’s office was in charge of making the clubhouse “homey,” Zamora said, nodding to the decorative vases, potted plants and other decor in the living rooms. “She really got into it.”
It’s not uncommon for rural districts to provide housing for teachers and administrators, Zamora said, but the hotel with its rock-bottom rent was something new. Not everyone in town has been happy about the district’s housing plans, Zamora said. Landlords have been able to charge $1,500 or more simply because of supply and demand. In a town of 8,000 people, it doesn’t take much to disrupt the market.
Fort Stockton High School Principal Ken Wallace had already paid the oil field premium once and wasn’t keen to do it again. Oil companies offer workers housing stipends high enough to drive rents well beyond what local residents are used to. He was coaching in a small Texas town when the market boomed and watched his rent triple within a year. When he moved to Fort Stockton for the principal’s job this year, he recognized what was happening with the housing market and opted for the Spanish Trail Lodge.
As the only school administrator in the motel, the district offered him a double room, since he would be something of an acting resident assistant on site — a link to district administration should anything go awry. But it’s not like rowdy college kids, he said — these hard-working professionals just want some peace and quiet when they get home.
“We’re all here and we see each other, but everyone kind of understands,” Wallace said. “We try not to step on each other.”
Wallace’s own retirement calculations include running Airbnb properties with his wife, who stayed behind in Goliad — 400 miles away — until the house they are renovating there was ready to start earning income. He wouldn’t have been able to take on another mortgage or an equally high rent.
“That’s the only reason we can swing it,” Wallace said. “It’s a total game-changer as far as being able to be housed.”
The 74 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization focused on America’s schools, education policy and 74 million children.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/29/texas-teachers-shortage-fort-stockton-motel/.
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonp...
