Digital Alaska News

In Utah Senate Campaign, Former Republican Evan McMullin Faces His Former Party https://digitalalaskanews.com/in-utah-senate-campaign-former-republican-evan-mcmullin-faces-his-former-party/ George Frey/Getty Images Evan McMullin is a conservative, but he is the Democrats’ pick for Senate in Utah. Running as an independent against incumbent Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the former CIA agent’s campaign is focused on threats to democracy in the U.S. In an interview with Jewish Insider on Monday in which he laid out his approach to U.S. policy in the Middle East, McMullin pledged to defend democracy abroad, too. “I fought against violent extremism overseas and never thought I would see the kind of threats to American democracy that we do now see in America,” said McMullin, who served undercover in the Middle East after 9/11. “It’s absolutely critical that we maintain strong relationships with other democracies overseas. The world is experiencing now, I think, in the absence of American leadership, and recently, a rise in authoritarian regimes that are increasingly hostile and aggressive.” McMullin’s conservative opponent has forged unlikely foreign policy alliances with progressive colleagues. Earlier this month Lee was the lone Republican who co-authored a series of letters with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demanding additional federal oversight over U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.  “I have to agree that more oversight is required for those relationships, and for obvious reasons, so that we ensure that there are basic standards of human rights being met,” McMullin said. “Where there are such violations, I think it should cause reconsideration on our part.” The Senate hopeful spoke about a need to balance national security needs with American values. “We have to be realistic, and we have to put the security of our nation and of our allies in the free world first, and that certainly involves, at times, relationships with other countries that are less than ideal at times,” McMullin noted. “But I also think America needs to maintain a very strong voice for human rights, and I think we certainly should have additional scrutiny and oversight of relationships with foreign countries that are not meeting basic standards on human rights.” McMullin spent 10 years in the CIA before working briefly for Goldman Sachs and then as a national security advisor to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He left the Republican Party and ran as a third-party candidate against Donald Trump in 2016, winning 21% of the vote in Utah. One of the most prominent public officials to back McMullin’s long-shot 2016 presidential bid was Lee, who is now an ally of the former president but in 2016 was fiercely critical of Trump as a candidate.  Lee, who is considered a foreign-policy isolationist, has sought to rein in presidential war powers. McMullin appears more eager for diplomatic engagement, but he has also expressed skepticism of presidential actions in the Middle East, particularly when that president was Trump. In 2020, after the Trump administration authorized a strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, McMullin wrote a series of tweets criticizing the move. “No reasonable person is shedding a tear for Soliemani or Iran,” McMullin wrote at the time. “We question whether this unwell, self-serving president used good judgment and obeyed the law in launching an escalatory act of war.” On certain issues, like abortion, the pro-life McMullin finds himself more closely aligned with Republicans. But he diverges from his former allies on some foreign policy matters.  McMullin, unlike congressional Republicans, said he is open-minded about nuclear negotiations with Iran. “I’m glad negotiations are happening again,” he said. McMullin opposed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, arguing that it failed to keep Iran’s malign regional activities in check. “I thought that we had more leverage than we used in that negotiation, and I was just disappointed it didn’t include anything to limit or stop Iran’s relatively unchecked support for terrorist organizations around the region and around the world, and also, it didn’t include anything on Iran’s development of missile technologies,” said McMullin. But, he added, it was “unwise” for the Trump administration to pull out of the deal in 2018 when “Iran was, by all reports, living up to its part of the deal.”  Since the U.S. unilaterally left the deal four years ago, McMullin noted, “it’s not easier now to strike the kind of deal I would like to see then than it was in 2015, but I’m glad, nevertheless, that an effort is underway and hopefully it will yield something of value.”  After weeks of progress toward a deal last month, nuclear negotiations with Iran are now on pause. But while negotiations were happening, senior officials in the Biden administration noted that the deal being negotiated would only include Iran’s nuclear program, and not other issues like its support for terrorism.  “If the commitment is to work on the terrorism side separately, that’s fine, as long as we truly are making progress on that front,” said McMullin. “What I don’t want to see is us squander any leverage we still have with Tehran in such a way that we aren’t able to negotiate effectively with them on issues related to terrorism as well.” McMullin also broke with some Republicans by asserting that a two-state solution is the best outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a position that has become increasingly uncommon among Republicans who don’t believe the U.S. should determine the outcome of the conflict. “I think a two-state solution offers the best prospects for sustainable peace in the immediate region and for Israel,” said McMullin.  During his undergraduate years at Brigham Young University, McMullin lived in Israel for six months in 2000, when he studied Arabic as a David L. Boren Scholar with the Department of Defense’s National Security Education Program.  “I think Israel plays a stabilizing role in the region, and we have a very important national security relationship with Israel that is indispensable, frankly, not only in the region, but elsewhere.”  In a position paper shared with JI, McMullin vowed to partner with Israel “to thwart Iran’s terrorist activity in the region and elsewhere.” In that same document, he pledged to fight against white nationalism and antisemitism, including “standing with Israel against the BDS movement.”  Recent polling paints a muddled picture of which candidate has the lead. In early September, Lee’s campaign released an internal poll showing the incumbent ahead by 18 points. But a poll from the McMullin campaign showed him leading Lee by one point. An independent poll conducted in July by Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics showed Lee leading McMullin 41% to 36%. Utah’s other senator, moderate Republican Mitt Romney, has opted not to endorse either candidate. Join with a free membership to continue reading Jewish Insider covers U.S. politics, philanthropy and business news with a Jewish angle. What We’re About: We are here to bring you new ideas and information. We’re not advocacy news. We’re not here to confirm your views or challenge your beliefs. JI delivers a curated morning newsletter, the Daily Kickoff, which provides an overview of the news, buzz and stories that matter. The Daily Kickoff is distributed on weekday mornings. Read More Here

Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 9.20.22 https://digitalalaskanews.com/sunburn-the-morning-read-of-whats-hot-in-florida-politics-9-20-22/ Good Tuesday morning. Lobbying firm Ballard Partners has launched a new podcast co-hosted by firm partners Adam Goodman and Justin Sayfie. The podcast name, “13th and Park,” refers to the two street names where Ballard Partners has offices in Washington and Tallahassee. The first four episodes of the podcast were recorded at the newly opened Ballard Partners Studios in Washington and are now available for streaming on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Spotify and Amazon. Justin Sayfie and Adam Goodman are entering the podcast world. The first episode features Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia professor and renowned political prognosticator behind “Sabato’s Crystal Ball.” In his appearance, Sabato looks into his crystal ball and forecasts the results of the 2022 Midterm Elections. The second episode features Marc Caputo, NBC Digital reporter, formerly of POLITICO. Caputo discusses a day in the life of an NBC Digital reporter and provides an unusually candid assessment of the current state of the news media in the U.S. The third episode features John McLaughlin, a strategic consultant and GOP pollster for over 35 years. During the podcast, McLaughlin provides a behind-the-curtain look at the Republicans’ strategy for the 2022 Midterm Elections, and he also dishes some advice to GOP campaigns. The fourth episode features Ballard partner Courtney Coppola. Coppola is the Co-Chair of the firm’s Cannabis Practice Group and a former cannabis regulator for the state of Florida. In her appearance, she provides a crash course on cannabis legislation at the federal level and opines on the future of the cannabis industry and licensing in the State of Florida. “13th and Park listeners will feel like they are eavesdropping on a private conversation between the savviest minds in the country,” said Brian Ballard, the firm’s president and founder. “Adam and Justin are the perfect co-hosts for the podcast’s insightful conversations on a broad range of topics including politics, government, economics, technology and culture.” ___ Sen. Annette Taddeo has made the first major ad buy in her campaign for Florida’s 27th Congressional District. The announcement of a six-figure buy came alongside a new 30-second ad that attacks incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar for “failing to defend our freedoms and liberties” in Congress. “My family came to this country seeking freedom. Freedom from government control. Freedom from violence. This election will determine if we remain a beacon of freedom, or we become a socialist dictatorship. MAGA Republican María Salazar supports government control over women’s health care decisions even in cases of rape or incest,” Taddeo says in the ad, closing with “freedom is worth fighting for.” Taddeo’s ad buy makes her the first candidate to hit the airwaves in the General Election for CD 27, which is expected to be one of the closest congressional contests not only in Florida but nationwide, according to multiple election prognosticators. “Our ad highlights the biggest difference between myself and Maria Elvira, only one of us believes in actually defending freedom. I came to this country fleeing a Marxist terrorist group in Colombia funded by the Cuban regime, and I know firsthand how important it is that we fight for our freedom,” Taddeo said in a news release announcing the ad buy. “Freedom from government control over women’s bodies, freedom from violence. My MAGA Republican opponent María Elvira only pretends to care about freedom but has remained silent as those seeking freedom from Communist regimes have been shipped off and used as political pawns by Florida’s Governor.” To watch the ad, please click on the image below: ___ Here are some other thoughts: — You might as well get a good night’s sleep on Election Day because there’s a good chance we won’t know which party will control the U.S. Senate until Wednesday — or even longer. As POLITICO’s Zach Montellaro writes, it took five days before enough votes were counted to call the 2020 Presidential Election for Joe Biden, and many of the states that were up in the air will have a U.S. Senate seat on the ballot in November. — The New York Times’ 2022 edition of The Restaurant List is out, and two Florida establishments made the cut. You can check out both Sunshine State mentions without crisscrossing the state since they’re both in Coral Gables. Zitz Sum, run by Pablo Zitzmann, is known for its dumplings, and Mamey is known for chef Niven Patel’s “intelligent takes on unpretentious dishes.” — SITUATIONAL AWARENESS — —@BexarCoSheriff: The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the migrants that were lured from the Migrant Resource Center, located in Bexar County, TX, and flown to Florida, where they were ultimately left to fend for themselves in Martha’s Vineyard, MA. —@GovRonDeSantis: Biden declared the pandemic is over. So, when will he let those discharged from the military due to vax mandates return to protecting our country? —@LtGovNunez: Adrian and I are praying for the people of Puerto Rico as they recover from the damaging impacts of Hurricane Fiona. Adrian y yo estamos orando por la gente de Puerto Rico mientras se recuperan de los impactos del huracán Fiona. —@AaronBlake: In October 2020, 54% of registered Republicans said they were more supporters of (Donald) Trump than supporters of the GOP. Today it’s 33% — a new low. 58% now say they are party-first. Tweet, tweet: 2022 has officially surpassed the 2020 cycle in Non-Presidential political advertising spending! We’ve tracked $6.15 Billion so far this cycle and still have 50 days until election day. pic.twitter.com/Wk01cGjx2S — AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) September 19, 2022 —@ChrisMZiegler: The biggest number in Florida politics that no one is talking about: 17,197 While Florida has added 1,037,685 net new voters since @RonDeSantisFL 2018 Victory, the Democrat Party (@FlaDems) only managed to convince 17,197 of them to register as a Democrat. —@AoDespair: How is Charlie Crist not at the pulpit of a Cuban American church in Miami every Sunday until Election Day asking congregants to vote for the man who does misuse refugees from communism as political props? The man who seems them as valued citizens of a shared American future? Tweet, tweet: These are MiG-29s pic.twitter.com/fuxuq2gLux — Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) September 18, 2022 Tweet, tweet: My friend @JessMuroff is CEO at @UWSuncoast and she’s currently #Everesting — ascending 29k+ ft. The feat is a testament to the uncommon grit, determination, resilience and persistence you commonly find in @UnitedWay leaders. Proud of you Jess. You got this! pic.twitter.com/4BfLzPPoWT — Peter Gannon (@ThatPeterGannon) September 16, 2022 — DAYS UNTIL — ‘Andor’ premieres on Disney+ — 1; Biden to speak at a DNC rally in Orlando — 7; vote-by-mail mailing deadline for General Election — 12; 22-23 NHL season begins — 17; WPEC televised debate in Florida Governor’s race — 22; deadline to register for General Election — 24; ‘Before You Vote’ TV debates (Senate) — 28; Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ release — 31; Florida Chamber Annual Meeting & Future of Florida Forum — 34; Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Passenger’ releases — 35; Jon Meacham’s ‘And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle’ releases — 35; Early voting begins for General Election — 39; 2022 General Election — 49; ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ premieres — 52; ‘Captain Marvel 2′ premieres — 52; FITCon 2022 begins — 58; ‘The Flash’ premieres — 58; The World Cup kicks off in Qatar — 62; The U.S. World Cup Soccer Team begins play — 62; Florida TaxWatch’s Annual Meeting begins — 71; ‘Willow’ premieres on Disney+ — 71; McCarthy’s ‘Stella Maris’ releases — 77; ‘Avatar 2’ premieres — 87; final Broadway performance of ‘The Music Man’ with Hugh Jackman — 103; Bruce Springsteen launches his 2023 tour in Tampa — 134; ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ premieres — 150; 2023 Legislative Session convenes — 168; ‘John Wick: Chapter 4′ premieres — 185; American Association of Political Consultants Pollies’ 23 conference begins — 210; 2023 Session Sine Die — 227; ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ premieres — 227; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ premieres — 255; Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ premieres — 304; ‘Blade’ reboot premieres — 409; ‘Dune: Part Two’ premieres — 423; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Part 2 premieres — 556; Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games — 675; ‘Thunderbolts’ premieres — 675; ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot premieres — 780; ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ premieres — 958. — TOP STORY — “Florida second only to Texas in banning schoolbooks as number of bans rises, report finds” via Anne Geggis of Florida Politics — PEN America counted 566 Florida book bans spread over 21 of the state’s 67 school districts from July 2021 to June 2022. That compares to the 801 bans in effect in 22 Texas school districts. Pennsylvania clocked in at third place with 457 bans in 11 school districts. The report, issued Monday in recognition of Banned Books Week, raises the alarm from critics that this new momentum for banning books could impair the free exchange of ideas that makes American democracy work. Florida gets aggressive in banning books from school libraries. In the vast majority of cases, the new wave is much more than a parent objecting to a book found in their child’s backpack, officials from PEN America said. It’s coming from organized and coordinated groups such as the national Moms for Liberty and Florida Citizens Alliance. “Today’s wave of bans represents a coordinated campaign to banish books being waged by sophisticated, ideological and well-resourced advocacy organizations,” said Suzanne Nossel,...

Former FBI Assistant Director Says Trump Is Getting 'increasingly Cornered' And That His Embrace Of QAnon Is The 'last Act Of A Desperate Man' https://digitalalaskanews.com/former-fbi-assistant-director-says-trump-is-getting-increasingly-cornered-and-that-his-embrace-of-qanon-is-the-last-act-of-a-desperate-man/ Donald Trump.Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said Trump is drawn to QAnon like a moth to a flame. Figliuzzi said Trump is embracing the movement because he feels “increasingly cornered.” Figliuzzi warned that violence could ensue if the QAnon movement felt threats to its leader. A former FBI official said former President Donald Trump is likely feeling cornered and embracing the QAnon movement out of desperation. Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, was weighing in on Trump’s links to the QAnon movement during a Monday appearance on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House.” Host Nicolle Wallace asked Figliuzzi if he thinks Trump knows just how dangerous the movement is to the US. “Oh, not only do I think he knows it, but I think that’s what attracts him to this. It’s like a moth to the flame,” Figliuzzi said. “And the thing is, he knows that he’s increasingly cornered,” Figliuzzi added. “He’s in trouble on so many legal fronts, even criminal fronts now, that this is, kind of, the almost last act of a desperate man.” Figliuzzi referenced Trump’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio, where a QAnon song played during Trump’s speech. During the rally, Trump’s supporters were seen pointing their fingers to the sky in a strange, one-finger salute, which experts say might have been a nod to the movement’s slogan, “where we go one we go all.” While the stadium in Ohio was not fully filled, and thus a sign that Trump may be losing support from his base, Figliuzzi said there’s still a significant threat from Trump and the QAnon movement. “What is extremely dangerous based on past histories of cults, is that as they come near the end, as the leader is threatened, they get more and more dangerous,” Figliuzzi said. “And they do something cult experts call ‘forcing the end.'” This could happen if the movement’s leader “calls for the violence” or is “taken out,” Figliuzzi said. “The members take a step up and force the ending — whatever that could be,” Figliuzzi said. “That’s what concerns me and we’ve learned from January 6, it only takes a small number of people to do that.” The Trump rally in Ohio is just one of many recent instances in which the former president appeared to embrace QAnon — a movement that claims without basis that Trump is fighting a deep-state cabal of pedophiles. In a stream of messages after the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, Trump shared over a dozen posts on his Truth Social account, some of which referenced QAnon and contained baseless conspiracy theories about the FBI. Other posts by the former president on the Truth Social platform in September included a reposted image of himself sporting a “Q” lapel pin, along with the movement’s “where we go one we go all” slogan. Figliuzzi and a representative at Trump’s post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment. Read the original article on Business Insider Read More Here

Apple To Raise App Store Prices In Some Countries In Europe, Asia https://digitalalaskanews.com/apple-to-raise-app-store-prices-in-some-countries-in-europe-asia/ A man walks next to an advertisement for Apple’s new iPhone 11 Pro at the Apple Store in IFC, Central district, Hong Kong, China October 10, 2019, after Apple Inc on Wednesday removed an app that protestors in Hong Kong have used to track police movements from its app store. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Sept 20 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Tuesday it will raise prices of apps and in-app purchases on its App Store from next month in all of the euro zone and some countries in Asia and South America. The new prices, excluding auto-renewable subscriptions, will be effective as early as Oct. 5, Apple said in a blog post. The U.S. tech giant periodically adjusts its prices in different regions and reduced prices for euro zone countries last year to adjust for currencies and taxes, dropping starting prices for many apps to 99 euro cents from 1.09 euros. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The latest price rise increases those starting prices to 1.19 euros. A rapid rise in inflation, interest rates and energy prices this year has hammered the yen, the euro and most emerging economy currencies. The euro has dropped to two-decade lows this year and has been languishing around parity against the dollar for weeks. Apart from euro zone countries, the price increases will hit Sweden and Poland in Europe; Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea and Vietnam in Asia; and Chile in South America. For some countries like Vietnam, the price increase was due to new regulations relating to collecting tax from consumers, Apple said. Apple, which launched its latest generation of iPhones earlier this month, has been developing its services business to reduce dependency on its mainstay smartphones. Revenue from Apple’s services business, which includes the App Store, has been growing at a rapid pace in the last few years and now hovers around $20 billion per quarter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Susan Fenton Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More Here

Violence Erupts In Iran After Woman Dies In ‘morality Police’ Custody https://digitalalaskanews.com/violence-erupts-in-iran-after-woman-dies-in-morality-police-custody/ Security forces cracked down on protesters demonstrating across Iran over the death of a young woman in the custody of its so-called morality police, allegedly killing five. The death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman from western Iran, during a visit to the capital this month has stirred outrage over the government’s increasingly strict enforcement of ultraconservative dress codes for women. Amini was detained as she exited a metro station, and she suffered a heart attack and slipped into a coma while in custody, state-affiliated media said. Her family insisted that she had no previous health problems, and activists asserted that she may have been beaten by police. Monday marked the third day of unrest across Iran, with protests in numerous places, including Tehran, the capital. Two people were killed as security forces fired on protesters in the Kurdish city of Saqez — Amini’s hometown — while two more died in the town of Divandarreh, and a fifth was killed in Dehgolan, according to Hengaw, a rights watchdog. The claims could not immediately be independently verified by The Washington Post. In Tehran, photos from the scene of one protest showed demonstrators crowded around a burning motorcycle. Videos posted on social media appeared to show protesters injured after clashing with authorities. Internet access was restricted in parts of the country. Iran hasn’t confirmed any deaths during the protests. The semiofficial Fars News Agency reported that demonstrators were dispersed by security forces in a number of cities, and that the leaders of some of the protests were arrested by police. A senior morality police official, Col. Ahmed Mirzaei, was suspended after Amini’s death, according to Iran International, a London-based news channel. Officials denied those claims, the Guardian reported. The Interior Ministry previously ordered an investigation into Amini’s death at the behest of archconservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The police commander of the greater Tehran area told reporters that Amini was walking in a park and wearing a hijab that was not suitable. He said she didn’t resist detention and even made jokes in the police van. The headscarf and other conservative dress have been compulsory for women since Iran’s 1979 revolution. Raisi is in New York this week, where he will address the U.N. General Assembly about the country’s relations with the West. He told reporters at the Tehran airport that he has no plans to meet with President Biden on the sidelines of the event, the Associated Press reported. Indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran to revive a 2015 nuclear deal appear to be close to stalling. Raisi, a hard line cleric who assumed office last year, has called for strict enforcement of the dress codes. Last month, a video appeared to show a woman detained by Iran’s increasingly assertive guidance patrols being thrown from a speeding van. The government crackdown sparked a protest movement over the summer by Iranian women, who photographed themselves without headscarves and posted the pictures on social media. Kareem Fahim contributed to this report. Read More Here

Attorneys For Migrants Sent To Martha's Vineyard Looking Into Origination Of Brochures They Believe Were Handed Out Under 'false Pretenses' https://digitalalaskanews.com/attorneys-for-migrants-sent-to-marthas-vineyard-looking-into-origination-of-brochures-they-believe-were-handed-out-under-false-pretenses/ (CNN)Attorneys for many of the nearly 50 migrants who landed unexpectedly in Martha’s Vineyard said Monday that brochures given to their clients were “highly misleading” and “used to entice (their) clients to travel under the guise that (resettlement) support was available to them.” The brochure lists refugee services, including cash and housing assistance, clothing, transportation to job interviews, job training and assistance registering children for school, among other resources. One Venezuelan migrant, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity for fear of negative impacts on their immigration case, shared images of the brochure. They said migrants were told that the brochure had information on the assistance they would receive in Massachusetts, but they were not told about the differences in programs for refugees and asylum seekers. Migrants are, in many cases, asylum seekers, not refugees. Refugees apply for protection overseas and are admitted through the refugee admissions program, whereas asylum seekers apply within the United States. The asylum seekers, whom local officials believe originated from Venezuela, arrived in Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday, flying in from Texas under arrangements made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, who is up for reelection this year, said he wanted to call attention to the border crisis. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — another Republican with a reelection bid — has bused thousands of migrants to New York and Washington, DC, throughout the summer to also highlight his criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policies. DeSantis’ move was sharply denounced by the White House, Democratic officials and immigration lawyers who say the migrants were misled about their final destination. In a Friday news conference, DeSantis said that everyone signed waivers and knew where they were going. “It’s obvious that’s where they were going,” he said, adding, “It’s all voluntary.” ‘Massachusetts Welcomes You’ The brochure, which has now been posted online by the legal group representing many of the cases, features a photo of what appears to be a road sign that reads “Massachusetts Welcomes You” and a photo of a nondescript lighthouse. It also provides a brief summary of what resettlement agencies may be able to do for refugees, in both English and Spanish text. The brochure also lists the telephone number for the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, which told CNN this is not a document published by their office. The front includes a picture of the state of Massachusetts and a list of community services agencies located on Martha’s Vineyard and at least one on Cape Cod. The list includes the number for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services — which ultimately received the migrants and helped them find initial housing in a church on the island. Oren Sellstrom, the litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston, which is representing many of the migrants, said his clients left Texas expecting to have everything promoted in the brochure waiting for them once they landed. The lawyers are investigating the origin of the brochures, when they were given to the migrants and why, according to the group. DeSantis again defended sending the migrants to Massachusetts during an interview with Fox News Monday night and said, “The vendor that is doing this for Florida provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha’s Vineyard. It had the numbers for different services on Martha’s Vineyard, and then it had numbers for the overall agencies in Massachusetts that handle things involving immigration and refugees.” It wasn’t clear whether he was referencing the brochure in question. Two of the migrants previously told CNN that while they were in San Antonio, they decided to go on the trip after two women and a man approached them on the streets near a migrant resource center. One of the migrants, Wilmer Villazana, said he was put up in a hotel for five days before the flights and was well taken care of. The women told him they were from Orlando and worked for private organizations that raise funds to help migrants, Villazana said. Most migrants are not eligible for programs referenced in the brochure “The type of program that is being discussed here is not something that is typically going to be available for any immigrant,” Sellstrom explained. “It’s highly misleading in the sense that it was used to entice our clients to travel under the guise that this support was available when in fact, the type of program has highly specific eligibility.” Most of the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard have been processed by federal authorities and will go through immigration proceedings where an immigration judge will ultimately decide whether they can remain in the United States. Given their status as asylum seekers, not refugees, they are likely not eligible for the benefits listed on the pamphlet. Refugees are eligible for benefits available to them through the federal government, including cash assistance and medical assistance. Generally, asylum seekers are not eligible for federally funded benefits though once granted asylum, they may receive some assistance. The migrants continue to receive humanitarian services at Joint Base Cape Cod after Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s office voluntarily transported them there, activating more 100 National Guardsmen in the all-out effort. US Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins told reporters Thursday she would be speaking with members of the Department of Justice about Gov. DeSantis sending the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Read More Here

Google Pilot To Keep Political Campaign Emails Out Of Gmail Spam Launched https://digitalalaskanews.com/google-pilot-to-keep-political-campaign-emails-out-of-gmail-spam-launched/ SAN FRANCISCO: Google has finally launched a new pilot programme to keep political campaign emails out of spam folders for Gmail users. Gmail users could start seeing more campaign fundraising emails in their inboxes in the next couple of days, reports Axios. Announced in June, the programme allows candidates, political party committees and leadership political action committees to apply for spam folder exemptions. The move is “partly a result of Google bowing to pressure from conservatives who claimed the company marked Republican emails as spam more often than others”. The US Federal Election Commission had approved the Google programme in August. “Google has come under fire that its algorithms unfairly target conservative content across its services, and that its Gmail service filters more Republican fundraising and campaign emails to spam, ” the report mentioned. “We expect to begin the pilot with a small number of campaigns from both parties and will test whether these changes improve the user experience, and provide more certainty for senders during this election period, ” a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying. “We will continue to listen and respond to feedback as the pilot progresses, ” the spokesperson added. Google will now allow candidates and political party committees to apply for its programme that would make their messages exempt from Gmail’s spam detection systems. Former US President Donald Trump’s campaigns were criticised for using spammy tactics in its fundraising emails. Read More Here

The Mainstream Media Is Dying. Here's What Will Take Its Place. https://digitalalaskanews.com/the-mainstream-media-is-dying-heres-what-will-take-its-place/ CNN, MSNBC, and ABC News all have ratings in the toilet. Public trust in mainstream media outlets has plumbed new lows as Americans realize they’re being fed a steady diet of propaganda. So what’s going to fill that hole in the information ecosystem? Programs such as “Counterpoints,” a new digital talk show hosted by Ryan Grim from The Intercept and Emily Jashinsky from The Federalist, hope to cut past the politics and strike straight at the truth. Jashinsky joins this episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the rise of independent media outlets and how they’re taking on the giants in the industry. Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript: Doug Blair: My guest today is Emily Jashinsky, culture editor at The Federalist and host of “The Federalist Radio Hour” as well as the new “Counterpoints” on the Breaking Points team. Emily, welcome to the show. Emily Jashinsky: Hey, Doug. Great to be here. Blair: Always good to have a friend of the show back on. Jashinsky: Always good to be back on. Blair: Exactly. So you are moving over from Hill “Rising” to the “Counterpoints” show, like I mentioned at the top. Tell us a little bit about what that new program is like and what you’re hoping to achieve with it. Jashinsky: Yeah, absolutely. We’re doing something really similar to what we did with “Rising” Fridays. Ryan Grim and me on Friday, so same day, same two hosts. Blair: Keep it consistent. Jashinsky: Exactly. But Breaking Points is independent media, and it’s obviously run by our friends, Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball, who are wonderful and are doing something incredibly important and innovative. It doesn’t matter if you’re left or right, you have to appreciate the importance of building new media institutions that are not beholden to corporate sponsors, that are not beholden to the super niche, NPR tote bag audience and have a business model that works and allows them to provide journalism without any corporate benefactors. So that’s the plan going forward. And it’s going to be the same old Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky coming from the Left and the Right, but covering the news of the week through those lenses and allowing the contrast to help us all work through what’s right and wrong. Blair: Now, here at the National Conservatism Conference, you gave a really interesting panel on the importance of building a conservative media ecosystem that we can exist in without the influence of the corporate media that is incredibly biased against us. One of the questions I have about that, though, is, while we build that infrastructure up, for lack of a better term, the normies that think The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are reputable sources of information maybe will be slightly hesitant to move over into those spaces, but we still need to have them on board. What is your solution to maybe pull in those people or to understand that those people aren’t necessarily on the same boat as us? Jashinsky: That’s one of the cool things about what Saagar and Krystal do with Breaking Points, and I’ve heard Saagar explain it this way before, and this was back when they were at “Rising.” They were like, this is a new media product that I can show my parents. And because it has the aesthetic feel of older news, it feels credible and legitimate in the same sense that people are used to. And I think that’s an important part going forward, is, new media doesn’t need to copy the bad stuff of old media, but I think having formal, serious spaces—I love Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan is not a replacement for The New York Times, obviously. And so the people who are engaged in these efforts to create parallel competitive institutions, I think it actually does go a really long way to putting stuff behind the aesthetics, putting stuff behind the delivery, how many people have—you know, we’re recording here, a little inside baseball with professional audio, there’s an audio engineer! That stuff I think is really important because you can have the best ideas in the world, and if they’re not delivered in a way that’s intelligible, you’re not going to have a lot of credibility. So I think actually really putting a lot of effort into the style and quality of delivery is important. Blair: So I guess is that then maybe where a lot of these places are still getting their legitimacy from, is the aesthetic of legitimacy? Because obviously, a CNN and a New York Times, like we’re talking about, don’t have that actual credibility behind them. Is it simply just a veneer? Jashinsky: Isn’t that funny? Because the Russia conspiracy hoax basically should have been on a blog. It was instead on the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post to the point where they won Pulitzer. So I do think the aesthetic helps a lot, but also just the fact that it’s run by a club that is exclusive and they will self-perpetuate. If The New York Times reports something with three anonymous sources, well, The Washington Post will then report what The New York Times reported and CNN will cover it on its airwaves, and it’s a vicious cycle, basically. So disrupting that and having credible people who actually know how to do really good journalism. For instance, on the panel that I was on, Christina Pushaw, who works for the [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis campaign, was talking about the efforts that they’ve made to have events where only fair journalists are allowed. I don’t want a world where those fair journalists who want to do a good job and are fair-minded don’t know how to do the basics of reporting. And a little plug, that’s what we do at the National Journalism Center. And [Young America’s Foundation] is equipping conservative-minded journalists with the ability to say, “I’m going to go into this event hosted by a politician. Even if I like the politician, I’m going to cover it as if I don’t.” And that’s important. … I worry about that a little bit just because new institutions don’t have the muscle memory. But that’s a great future where the old guard is totally disrupted. Blair: Right. Well, one of the things that brings up is critics of this idea that we’ll just build up another conservative ecosystem, you see that then the reality would be there is a conservative media space and a liberal media space, and then you either are one or the other and now we have two different realities. How does that play out in a country as, one, big as ours and, two, as integrated as ours, where there’s people who might watch Fox News in New York and people who might watch CNN in Texas? Jashinsky: Yeah. I think there’s still a space, if we’re talking about media in particular, for wire reports. Which is interesting, and this is kind of inside baseball, anything you read from the AP or Reuters, for the most part, they’re wires. They’re supposed to just be, “Ron DeSantis said this here at this time,” for example. And very dry and as neutral as is humanly possible. Neutrality is not possible, but as neutral as is humanly possible. I think there’s a market for that and I think somebody is going to figure that out. I don’t know who it’s going to be, but there is a real business opportunity for monoculture, whether it’s “Top Gun,” as we discussed on our panel, whether it’s “Top Gun,” whether it’s genuinely very good pop music, whether it’s genuinely with neutral reporting, there’s a market for it. And as soon as somebody figures out and figures out how to do it, great, but for now, the business models and I think into the future are going to prize these niche audiences. Whether it’s Stephen Colbert—could never be Johnny Carson. But Stephen Colbert can be very successful by making resistance boomers tune in every single night. And so it’s the same thing you see on the Right. And it’s not entirely bad because you’re getting better information. The Federalist, we’re new media. We have a conservative audience, and that’s great. We love that. But there will be an audience as well for, I think, neutral stuff too, going forward. And to the extent that’s possible, I think someone’s going to figure out how to monetize it. Blair: Sure. Well, fingers crossed, because one of the things that brings up to me is AP and Reuters that are supposed to exist as these independent sort of blasé wire services, we actually at The Daily Signal had an issue with Reuters where they misrepresented some of our reporting. So some of these traditional wire services aren’t doing that. Is there a reason why that seems to have shifted? Jashinsky: Yeah. It’s why we assign our students at [the National Journalism Center] what I call the most important book about journalism that has nothing to do with journalism. It’s “Coming Apart” by Charles Murray. Because the reason is that these cultural differences and elite sorting, so into literal super ZIPS, you can do this down to a ZIP code, people tend to be higher education, higher income, but that more than ever before in our history means they also have different cultural tastes. And this is because of the great splintering. So they’re going to be watching “Modern Family,” everyone else is watching “Blue Bloods,” whatever it is. And these touchstones are really important. If you don’t drive a car, you have a different perspective on gas prices, or you don’t have a perspective on gas prices. So these things are really, really, really important. And the AP is a great example because they changed their style guide years ago to be sure that preferred pronouns were respected in AP style. And that goes to every single newsroom that copies or follows AP’s style guide. And they made that decision right away. And that went a very long way toward normalizing this poisonous and harmful ideology. And so that’s because they all tend to have gone through the same coll...

Live Updates: Russia's War In Ukraine https://digitalalaskanews.com/live-updates-russias-war-in-ukraine-5/ 1 hr 51 min ago After classified Senate briefing on Ukraine, Republicans signal potential support for additional Ukraine aid From CNN’s Ted Barrett, Ellie Kaufman and Paul LeBlanc Republican senators signaled tentative support for additional Ukraine aid that the Biden administration has requested following a classified briefing on Monday night, though senators are expected to nix other top White House priorities from the upcoming stop-gap bill to keep the government open. The Biden administration has asked for $12 billion in aid to Ukraine to be added to the continuing resolution that’s needed to keep the government open past September 30.  Cross-party support is essential because at least 10 Republican votes would be needed to break a filibuster attempt.  Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Monday evening that negotiators are still discussing the makeup of a package for Ukraine, but that it would be about $11 billion which could include humanitarian, economic and military assistance.  The deliberations come at a critical time in Russia’s war in Ukraine. US officials broadly view Ukraine’s recent momentum as evidence that the types of weapons and intelligence that the West has been providing to Ukraine in recent months have been effective.  Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday that he expects Congress to approve Ukraine military aid in the continuing resolution but is worried GOP support for Ukraine could corrode in the future.  “I think there’s going to be long term erosion of Republican support for Ukraine aid. I think President Trump’s decision to attack Ukrainian aid — and attack Republicans who support it — is going to have an impact,” Murphy told CNN.  “We will have enough to get this aid across the finish line on the continuing. But the long-term trajectory of Republican support for Ukraine is really menacing. What does that mean? It means that if Republicans win a majority in the House and the Senate, I don’t think you can count on Congress continuing to support Ukraine.” Some context: Since the beginning of the conflict in February, the Biden administration has taken an incremental approach to providing arms to Ukraine — in some cases, later agreeing to send weapons that earlier in the conflict would have been deemed far too escalatory.  Its calculus has largely been based on avoiding systems that might be seen by Russian President Vladimir Putin as too provocative, although those lines have moved over time and been criticized by some former officials as arbitrary. 1 hr 31 min ago Russians continue to conduct airstrikes “impacting civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine, US military official says From CNN’s Ellie Kaufman A hose pumps water out from a house in the town of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, where dozens of homes were flooded after a Russian attack damaged a dam upstream. (Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images) Russian forces are continuing to conduct airstrikes that are impacting civilian infrastructure, a senior US military official said Monday. Most recently, Russian forces struck a “dam near Kryvyi Rih,” and they conducted an airstrike “near a power plant in Mykolaiv,” the official said. “This disturbing pattern which includes strikes that hit power stations last week continues to show Russian forces’ disregard for civilian life,” the official added.  Ukrainians “continue to make efforts to consolidate their gains” on the battlefield, “holding the border to the southeast,” the official said. “In the vicinity of Kherson, we continue to see deliberate and calibrated operations by the Ukrainians, and we have observed Ukrainians continuing to liberate villages in this area,” the official said.  In the Donbas region, “Ukrainians have continued to effectively defend against continued Russian attacks, although” the US has seen Russian forces “make some minor gains in terms of territory.”  The official specified the Russian gains here were only a “few hundred meters.” 32 min ago More civilian bodies including 2 children exhumed from Izium mass grave, official says From CNN’s Kostan Nechyporenko in Kyiv Forensic technicians at the site of a mass grave on the outskirts of Izium on Sunday. (Photo by Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images) More bodies of mostly civilians, including two children, were found in the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine, officials said Monday.  Separately, two more bodies were discovered in Bucha, the town on the outskirts of Kyiv that was the scene of mass atrocities at the start of the war, authorities said. In Izium, 146 bodies of mostly civilians were exhumed from a mass burial site, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv region civil-military administration. “Some of the dead have signs of a violent death, and there are bodies with tied hands and traces of torture. The dead also have mine-explosive injuries, shrapnel and stab wounds,” Synehubov said, adding that all of the bodies have been sent for forensic examination to determine the final cause of death. On Sunday, Izium Mayor Valerii Marchenko said the exhumation of bodies would continue for another two weeks.  Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said at least 440 “unmarked” graves were found in the city in recent days and on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some of the bodies showed “signs of torture,” blaming Russia for what he called “cruelty and terrorism.” Russia has dismissed Ukraine’s accusations of war crimes as a “lie.” In Bucha, volunteers found two more “victims of Russian aggression” in civilian clothing, according to a Facebook post on Monday from the Bucha City Council. The bodies were discovered while volunteers were patrolling the forest around the Warsaw Highway near the Vorzel settlement.  Some background: Bucha’s name became a byword for war crimes after accounts of summary executions, brutality and indiscriminate shelling emerged in the wake of Russia’s hasty retreat on March 31. 2 hr ago Ukrainian forces liberate village in Luhansk region, military official says From CNN’s Kostan Nechyporenko in Kyiv The village of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region is now entirely under Ukrainian control according to a Telegram post from Sehiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration on Monday. Haydai asked Ukrainians to be patient with their operation to free towns and villages in the Luhansk region, saying it is proving to be a “much more difficult” operation than the liberation of Kharkiv.  “There will be a hard fight for every centimeter of Luhansk land,” Haidai said.  Some context: Ukrainian forces stopped Russian advances in Bilohorivka earlier this year. In May, the Ukrainian military blew up two pontoon bridges near Bilohorivka, stopping Russian efforts to cross the Siverskyi Donets River in the Luhansk region.  In July, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Ukrainian soldiers “competently repelled another combat reconnaissance attempt near Berestove and Bilohorivka” and that Russian soldiers suffered losses and withdrew. A CNN team that travelled to Bilohorivka saw destroyed Russian tanks and armed personnel carriers, shattered Russian armor.  2 hr 1 min ago Fears for nuclear safety as another plant hit by Russian shelling, Ukraine says From CNN’s Sophie Jeong Russian troops carried out a missile attack on the industrial site of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the southern Mykolaiv region, but all three power units are operating normally, nuclear operator Energoatom said on Monday. A “powerful explosion” occurred just 300 meters (984 feet) from the reactors, and the shock wave damaged the power plant buildings, Energoatom said in a statement. The attack shut down one of the hydropower units of the Oleksandrivska hydroelectric power station, which is part of the South Ukrainian power complex, according to Energoatom. Three high-voltage power lines were down as well. Some background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenky said last week that large swathes of eastern Ukraine, including the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, were without electricity following “deliberate and cynical missile strikes” from Moscow. 2 hr 3 min ago Liberation has finally come to Ukraine’s Kharkiv. But scars of Russia’s brutal occupation remain From CNN’s Natalie Gallón, Nick Paton Walsh, Kostyantin Gak and Brice Lâiné There is little respite in victory for Ukrainian forces in the recently liberated Kupiansk. Russian shells still hit its pockmarked streets, marring the skyline with plumes of black smoke. Intense damage is visible on nearly every building. A huge billboard with an image of a waving Russian flag stands next to the bridge that crosses the Oskil River in the city center, bearing the words, “We are one people with Russia!” For now, the Ukrainian army has chased Russian forces over the bridge and appears to be building some momentum pushing across the eastern banks of the river towards Luhansk, a key separatist territory controlled by Moscow. CNN witnessed Ukrainian infantry returning from the eastern side on foot.  Yet inside this city, one of several in the eastern region of Kharkiv that have been liberated, are the telltale signs of a hellish occupation. A former police building was used as a vast detention center by the Russians, where at one point up to 400 prisoners were held in its cramped and dark cells, with eight or nine prisoners per room, Ukrainian authorities told CNN. A brightly painted mural of a Russian soldier with a “Z” on his armband standing next to an elderly woman waving the flag of the former Soviet empire is still visible on one wall. As authorities continue investigating and clearing liberated towns in the Kharkiv region, they’re finding more and more evidence of detention centers and cells used for torture. Ukrainian President...

GOP’s Election-Year Standing With Independents At Risk https://digitalalaskanews.com/gops-election-year-standing-with-independents-at-risk/ COLUMBUS, Wis. (AP) — Sarah Motiff has voted for Sen. Ron Johnson every time his name appeared on the ballot, starting in 2010 when the Wisconsin Republican was first elected as part of the tea party wave. Fond of his tough views on spending, she began the year planning to support his reelection again. She became skeptical this summer as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection reported his office discussed giving then-Vice President Mike Pence certificates with fake presidential electors for Donald Trump from Wisconsin and Michigan, part of a broader push to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. Johnson has downplayed the effort and the certificates were never given to Pence, but Motiff, a political independent, wasn’t convinced. “I’m not going to lie when I say I’ve had some concerns about some of the reports that have come out,” the 52-year-old nonpartisan city councilwoman from Columbus, Wisconsin, said. “It just put a bad taste in my mouth.” Nudged further by the June U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, Motiff is opposing Johnson and supports his Democratic challenger, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, in one of the most fiercely-contested Senate races this year. “Which was really a hard decision for me because I do think he’s done good things in the past,” Motiff said of Johnson. “But this is pretty damaging.” Motiff’s evolution represents the challenge for Republicans emerging from a tumultuous summer, defined by the court decision, high-profile hearings on former President Donald Trump’s actions during the insurrection and intensifying legal scrutiny of his handling of classified information and efforts to overturn the election. Now, a midterm campaign that the GOP hoped would be a referendum on President Joe Biden and the economy is at risk of becoming a comparison of the two parties, putting Republicans in an unexpectedly defensive position. In politically-divided Wisconsin where recent elections have been decided by a few thousand votes, the outcome could hinge on self-described independent voters like Motiff. “Having former President Trump so prominently in the news in so many ways makes it easier for Democrats to frame the midterm as a choice between two competing futures as opposed to a referendum on the Democrat governance,” said Republican pollster Whit Ayres. “That’s hurting Republicans. It’s distracting from the referendum message and allowing more of a focus on a choice of two different parties.” That tension is playing out in Columbia County, Wisconsin, a constellation of tidy small towns surrounded by rolling dairy farm country, all within commuting distance of Madison. Statewide, top-of-the-ticket candidates have won by barely a percentage point in the past three elections. Trump won Columbia County by a little more than 500 votes out of 33,000 cast in 2020. In interviews with more than a dozen independent voters here over two days last week, many were rethinking their support of the GOP this fall. Steve Gray, a self-described Republican-leaning independent “but never a Trump fan,” opposed the June court decision, because he backs abortion rights. But the 61-year-old school maintenance manager also resented what he saw as an unwelcome political power play by out-of-power Republicans. “Trump stacked the Supreme Court. We all knew he wanted to overturn Roe,” said Gray, of small-town Rio, where Trump won by two votes in 2020. “That decision was a partisan hand grenade Trump threw into this election.” The court decision “upended the physics of midterm elections,” said Jesse Stinebring, a pollster advising several Democratic campaigns. It gave voters the rare opportunity to judge a policy advance backed by the minority party, distracting them from a pure up-or-down vote on majority Democrats, he said. “The backlash from a political perspective isn’t directed at the traditional party in power, but is actually reframed in terms of this Republican control of the Supreme Court,” Stinebring said. The decision made Dilaine Noel’s vote automatic. The 29-year-old data analytics director for a Madison-area business said she had never affiliated with either party. Despite her grievances about Democrats’ warring moderate and liberal wings, her support for abortion rights gave her no choice than to vote for the party’s candidates this fall. “By default, I have to move in that direction,” said Noel, from small-town Poynette in the Wisconsin River valley. “I’m being forced to.” Mary Percifield is a lifelong independent voter who says the abortion decision motivated her to vote Democratic because she worries the court might overturn other rights. “A right has been taken away from us,” the 68-year-old customer service representative from Pardeeville, said. “I question if a woman’s right to vote will be taken away. A woman’s right for birth control.” Independent voters who lean neither Democrat nor Republican nationally preferred Biden over Trump, 52% to 37% in 2020, and preferred Democrats over Republicans in U.S. House races by a similar margin in the 2018 midterms, according to AP VoteCast. Independents who lean neither Democrat nor Republican made up 5% of the 2020 electorate and 12% in 2018. Independents had moved toward Republicans by early this year, seeking answers on the economy, said Republican pollster David Winston, a senior adviser to House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. But they have drifted back toward Democrats as efforts by GOP leaders to focus on the economy have clashed with Republican attacks on the Justice Department and Trump’s continuing complaints about the 2020 election. “Everything is suddenly back in the context of Trump,” Winston said in light of Trump’s prominent endorsement of Senate candidates and protests of the federal investigation into classified documents recovered from his Florida home. “It’s not that Democrats are gaining. It’s that Republicans over the summer were off talking about a variety of things. And independents are thinking, ‘If you’re not talking specifically about the problems that I’m concerned about, why am I listening?’” Republicans remain optimistic about their chances in November, particularly about netting the handful of seats they need to regain the U.S. House majority. Inflation remains high and, despite a recent uptick, approval of Biden is still low for a party hoping to maintain its hold on power. The economy remains the most effective message and one that breaks through others, GOP campaign officials say. “Prices and things are so front-of-mind to people,” said Calvin Moore, the communications director for Congressional Leadership Fund, a superPAC supporting Republican U.S. House candidates. “It’s not just something that’s on the news. It’s something they are experiencing every day in their daily life. It’s something they face themselves every day when they go to the grocery store.” A shift by independents is particularly meaningful in Wisconsin, as Republicans work to overtake Democrats’ one-seat majority in the Senate. Johnson, among the most vulnerable Republicans running for reelection this fall, is locked in a tight race with Barnes, Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor. Of the most competitive Senate seats this year, his is the only one held by a Republican. Though Johnson dismissed testimony about fake electors as staff work which never reached him, it reminded Christian Wood, an independent voter from Lodi, of Johnson’s opposition to certifying the election before Jan. 6. Johnson reversed course after the riot. “It’s absolutely scary,” said Wood, who has often voted Republican. “To me that’s the most existential threat to our democracy. And to think he was even considering it makes him a non-starter.” There’s time for an economic message to win out, but it will require news about Trump fading, GOP pollster Ayres said. Meanwhile, Trump has a full schedule of fall campaign travel for candidates he has endorsed. “Any distraction from that focus undermines the best Republican message,” he said. Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

Trump Lawyers Acknowledge Mar-A-Lago Probe Could Lead To Indictment https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-lawyers-acknowledge-mar-a-lago-probe-could-lead-to-indictment/ The Justice Department and lawyers for Donald Trump filed separate proposals Monday for conducting an outside review of documents seized at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home, with key disagreements over how the process should work and Trump’s team acknowledging that the criminal probe could lead to an indictment. Both sides referenced a “draft plan” given to them by Judge Raymond J. Dearie, the newly appointed special master. Trump’s lawyers expressed concern that Dearie posed questions about the documents that the judge who appointed Dearie has left unasked, arguing that Trump might be left at a legal disadvantage if he answered them at this stage of the process. Specifically, the legal team objected to what it said was Dearie’s request that it “disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government.” Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is overseeing the special master and document-review process, has not asked Trump’s lawyers to address whether about 100 documents with classified markings that were seized by the FBI on Aug. 8 might in fact not be classified. Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly suggested in court filings that the former president could have declassified the documents — but they have not actually asserted that he did so. In Monday’s filing, Trump’s lawyers wrote that they don’t want Dearie to force Trump to “fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment without such a requirement being evident in the District Court’s order” — a remarkable statement that acknowledges at least the possibility that the former president or his aides could be criminally charged. The Justice Department is investigating the possible mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, and the possible hiding or destroying of government records. A key issue in the probe is that even after Trump’s team responded to a grand jury subpoena requesting all documents with classified markings that were being kept at Mar-a-Lago, with aides reportedly saying all relevant material had been handed over, the FBI search turned up about 100 more such documents. The government’s filing Monday evening did not address how Dearie should review the classified documents. Prosecutors said they were waiting to see if the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta would grant their request to stay Cannon’s decision to include the classified documents in the special master review — leaving about 11,000 nonclassified documents and other items. Prosecutors have said the classified material is by definition the property of the government and cannot be shielded from them by privilege. Cannon’s order barred prosecutors from using the classified materials in their criminal probe until the outside review is complete. Dearie — a former chief federal judge in New York — is scheduled to meet for the first time with Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors Tuesday afternoon. The session, in Dearie’s courtroom in the Brooklyn federal courthouse, will focus on how to proceed. The Justice Department’s filing said a third-party vendor should be hired to scan the seized documents into a secure software system. Trump’s lawyers would then review the nonclassified documents and decide which should be shielded from criminal investigators because of attorney-client or executive privilege. Prosecutors would note any disagreement with Trump’s defense team, and Dearie would settle any disputes. “FBI agents will attend and observe the scanning process to maintain the chain of custody of the evidence,” the government wrote. In earlier filings, the Justice Department had unsuccessfully argued that a special master was unnecessary and that, as a former president, Trump could not assert executive privilege in this investigation. Prosecutors also said that temporarily barring the government from using the documents in its investigation could pose a national security risk. But Cannon disagreed. She has ordered Dearie to complete his review by Nov. 30 and said he should prioritize sorting through the classified documents, though she did not provide a timeline as to when that portion must be completed. The Justice Department said it hopes its Monday proposal helps complete the review in an “efficient and timely manner.” Trump’s team said in its filing that the government should begin to make the classified documents available for review as soon as next week by Dearie — who previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which handles sensitive national security cases. The Justice Department urged Dearie in its Monday filing to check in with the National Archives and Records Administration — the federal agency charged with maintaining and tracking government records — as he conducts the review. It also proposed that Dearie conduct weekly reviews with the parties by video or audio conference to resolve questions and ensure smooth operation of the review process. The government has said that it already reviewed all the seized documents prior to Trump requesting a special master, to separate out any that should be shielded from investigators because of attorney-client privilege. That filter team, approved by the magistrate judge who also approved the search warrant, set aside 64 sets of documents — made up of some 520 pages — that might be considered protected by attorney-client privilege, the government has said. Read More Here

D https://digitalalaskanews.com/d-5/ Donald Trump’s lawyers acknowledge possibility of criminal charges against the ex-president and his aides in new court filing – as he and the DOJ prepare to meet special master for FIRST time On Monday the lawyers representing Donald Trump wrote to the special master overseeing the investigation into classified documents at Mar-a-Lago They for the first time said that the former president could be exposed to criminal charges for his role in the saga They argued against some of the requests made by the government and the special master, arguing it could jeopardize any future legal action Trump’s lawyers and the government are scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Dearie on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com Published: 01:08 EDT, 20 September 2022 | Updated: 01:10 EDT, 20 September 2022 Donald Trump‘s lawyers have for the first time admitted that the former president could face criminal prosecution for his actions with the Mar-a-Lago document stash. In a letter to Raymond Dearie, the special master – independent adjudicator – appointed to oversee the FBI investigation into the documents, Trump’s team on Monday outlined concerns about the inquiry. Trump’s lawyers wrote that they do not want Dearie to force Trump to ‘fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment without such a requirement being evident in the District Court’s order’ – a statement indicating that Trump or his aides could be criminally charged. The FBI are investigating how more than 300 classified documents ended up in Trump’s Florida estate, and why they were removed from the White House when he left, rather than handed over to the national archives. Donald Trump is seen on Saturday at a rally in Ohio. On Monday his lawyers wrote to the special master, Raymond Dearie, to set out their requests for the investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents Raymond Dearie, a veteran New York judge, has been appointed as special master to oversee the Mar-a-Lago investigation Documents related to the search warrant for Trump’s estate are pictured on August 18 Mar-a-Lago was raided on August 8 by FBI agents  In January the FBI seized the first batch of documents, with a second cache taken away in June. On August 8 agents searched the estate, while Trump was in Manhattan, and took away the remaining files. Trump, 76, has claimed that he had in place a protocol meaning that any files he removed from the Oval Office were automatically declassified. But on Monday, Trump’s lawyers tried preemptively to stop Dearie asking about the classification rules. They argued that Trump might be left at a legal disadvantage if he answered questions about the supposed declassification system at this stage of the process, and objected to Dearie’s request that it ‘disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government.’ Judge Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge presiding over the case who agreed to the special master review of the process, has ruled that Dearie must complete his analysis of the approximately 11,000 documents by the end of November. The preliminary conference is scheduled before Dearie on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York. Trump’s lawyers, in their Monday letter, said they were ‘in general agreement’ with the timeline, but had some alterations they wished to discuss at Tuesday’s hearing. They also expressed concern that some parts of the case could be heard by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the judge who approved the warrant for the FBI’s search. The Trump attorneys argued that Cannon, a Trump appointee who appointed the special master, intended for that litigation to happen through the special master process, with Dearie’s recommendations ultimately reported to her. In their own filing, the Justice Department did not address how Dearie should review the classified documents. They urged Dearie to check in with the National Archives and Records Administration — the federal agency charged with maintaining and tracking government records — as he conducts the review, and suggested weekly reviews with both parties to ensure smooth running of the review process. Advertisement Read More Here

Powerful Earthquake Hits Mexico On Fateful Anniversary, Killing At Least 2 https://digitalalaskanews.com/powerful-earthquake-hits-mexico-on-fateful-anniversary-killing-at-least-2/ MEXICO CITY, Sept 19 (Reuters) – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck western Mexico on Monday on the anniversary of two devastating temblors, killing at least two people, damaging buildings, knocking out power and sending residents of Mexico City scrambling outside for safety. Two died in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, authorities said, one crushed by the facade of a department store while another was found dead at a mall. Videos on social media showed the roof of the mall collapsed into the top floor, a gym, as people yelled for help. Authorities also reported damage to several hospitals in the western state of Michoacan near the epicenter, which was in a sparsely populated part of Mexico. One person was injured by falling glass at one of the hospitals, the government said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com The quake hit shortly after 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) near Mexico’s west coast and close to Michoacan’s border with the state of Colima – where major port Manzanillo is located, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. It was relatively shallow, at only 15 km (9 miles) deep, which would have amplified its impact. The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas, saying waves reaching 1 to 3 meters (3 to 9 feet) above the tide level were possible. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said there were no immediate reports of major damage in the capital after the quake struck, which rumbled through Mexico on the same day as destructive earthquakes battered the country in 1985 and 2017. “It seems like a curse,” Isa Montes, a 34-year-old graphic designer in the city’s central Roma neighborhood, said of the quake’s timing as helicopters flew overhead, surveying the city. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), one of the country’s most prestigious seats of higher learning, said there was no scientific explanation for three major quakes on the same day and attributed it to pure coincidence. But others could not quite believe it. “It’s this date. There’s something about the 19th,” said Ernesto Lanzetta, a business owner in the Cuauhtemoc borough of the city. “The 19th is a day to be feared.” Thousands of people were killed in the Sept. 19, 1985 earthquake and more than 350 died in the Sept. 19, 2017 quake. Vehicles damaged by the collapse of the facade of a department store during an earthquake are pictured in Manzanillo, Mexico September 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jesus Lozoya Many Mexicans reacted to the latest quake by posting an array of memes online venting their anxiety and finding humor in the natural disaster. read more President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also noted material damage near the epicenter. Images posted on social media showed buildings badly damaged. Mexican authorities said the seismic alert had sounded nearly two minutes before the quake struck, giving residents time to evacuate. Still, some people in the capital struggled to grasp it was a real quake as the government had already sounded the alarm earlier in the day as a practice exercise commemorating the past earthquakes on the same day. POWER OUT In Coalcoman, Michoacan, not far from the epicenter, pictures showed shingles knocked off homes and building walls cracked by the force of the quake. In one store, merchandise was scattered across the floor. Power was knocked out in parts of the trendy Roma neighborhood in Mexico City, some 400 km (250 miles) from the epicenter. The national power utility said outages hit 1.2 million users. Roma residents stood on the streets cradling pets, while tourists visiting a local market with a guide were visibly confused and upset. Traffic lights stopped working, and people clutched their phones, sending text messages or waiting for calls to get through. Clara Ferri, who owns an Italian bookshop in Roma, said she told a customer to get out as soon as she heard the windows rattle, her senses attuned to the sounds of incipient earthquakes after 16 years in the location. “It was like the dentist’s drill for me,” she said. The rumbling grew in intensity, and as Ferri gathered with neighbors at an intersection, she looked up to see the eight-story building that houses her shop sway from side to side. When she returned, shelves had toppled like dominos, sending over 1,000 books into heaps on the floor. Officials roped off the sidewalk, which was littered with masonry that appeared to have fallen off the building. Residents trickled out with pets and suitcases, preparing to spend the night elsewhere, and a woman carefully escorted her 89-year-old uncle in his blue-and-white striped pajamas. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Additional reporting by Isabel Woodford, Stefanie Eschenbacher, Anthony Esposito, Raul Cortes, Diego Ore and Mexico City Newsroom; Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Sandra Maler, Cynthia Osterman and Muralikumar Anantharaman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More Here

Republican Lawmaker Supports Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy https://digitalalaskanews.com/republican-lawmaker-supports-donald-trumps-foreign-policy/ The funeral of Queen Elizabeth the second is one of the biggest events in modern history Millions of royal supporters from every corner of the globe tuned to both commemorate and celebrate this most gracious Queen. NEPAL In Nepal, we’ve seen a special screening at the U-K embassy in Kathmandu. British Gurkha veterans have served the Queen for much of their working lives. Some even accompanied the Monarch to some ceremonies. UAE Over in Dubai where the mood is sombre on board the Queen Elizabeth 2 vessel. Of course, the ocean liner was launched in 19-69 but retired in 2008. It’s now a floating hotel where hundreds gathered to witness the historic state funeral. KENYA Over in Kenya, we saw British soldiers reflecting on the Queen’s life. The Monarch was in Kenya when he father passed away… she the rushed back to London where she became Queen. Many have said the late Elizabeth “could empathise with service personnel”. British Press have woken up following the funeral service for their late Monarch THE DAILY TELEGRAPH The Daily Telegraph writes “an outpouring of love” as King Charles is shown on the front page with her mother’s coffin. THE EYE The Eye marks “the end of the Elizabethan age”, as thousands fill the streets of London to bid their final farewell to Her Majesty. THE TIMES Moving onto The Times, which reports that tens of thousands of people lined the streets to say farewell to the Queen on the day of her funeral. It’s believed 2,000 people filled the iconic Westminster Abbey. Millions of people around the world also saw the live broadcast, with the event likely to be one of the most-watched in history. Read More Here

Disgraced Crypto Founder Says He’s Not On The Run. But No One Knows Where He Is. https://digitalalaskanews.com/disgraced-crypto-founder-says-hes-not-on-the-run-but-no-one-knows-where-he-is/ The person most closely associated with last spring’s crypto crash appears to be on the run after an arrest warrant was issued for him — and investigators have asked for Interpol’s help to track him down. Do Kwon, the South Korean developer of the TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies, is believed to have been in Singapore since at least the spring, when those coins lost nearly all of their value. But Singapore authorities said this weekend he is no longer there, and South Korean investigators have reportedly asked Interpol to issue a “red notice” that would allow officers in member countries to provisionally arrest Kwon pending extradition if they find him. Last Wednesday the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and five other people who worked on both the currencies and Terraform Labs, the company that Kwon co-founded. Prosecutors did not list the charges, but investors have said he defrauded them in promoting the coins. TerraUSD — which used a computer program that claimed to peg its value to the U.S. dollar — and a related token known as Luna both took off in the past year, with each multiplying in value dozens of times over before crashing in May. A Terra spokesman did not reply to a request for comment. Kwon also did not reply to a request for comment. He said on Twitter Sunday that “We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions – we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months.” The red-notice request was originally reported by the Financial Times. The Kwon case is being watched closely as a sign of how aggressively law enforcement will pursue those engaged in allegedly illegal activities in the crypto space. Last month the Treasury Department issued sanctions on Tornado Cash, which helps anonymize crypto transactions, in a strong example of a crackdown on tech-based financial tools. But the pursuit of individuals in crypto is much rarer, and Kwon’s case could be a bellwether for how other projects that lost large sums of value could be targeted in the courts — and if, eventually, some investors might claw their money back. The 31-year-old Kwon graduated from Stanford University and briefly worked at Apple before returning to his home country several years ago to found a number of crypto projects, including Luna. Before the spring crash, Kwon was hailed as a visionary and even attracted a cult of everyday fans known as “Lunatics.” Nor was it just retail traders — Terraform also raised money from respective financiers such as Silicon Valley VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners. But in May a quick sell-off began for still-unclear reasons, prompting the loss of more than $40 billion in value, according to analysis firm Elliptic, as the price of Luna plunged to nearly zero and TerraUSD went from $1 to $0.11. The collapse helped trigger a broader crypto crash that affected dozens of other assets and companies. Bitcoin has gone from nearly $40,000 to under $20,000 since the Terra collapse, and the total market value of crypto has plummeted by more than a trillion dollars in just a few months. Kwon made an attempt to relaunch Luna shortly after, to the outrage of many investors. Law-enforcement experts said that they believed prosecution of the entrepreneur was possible but challenging given the vagaries of crypto, with the line in the industry between fraud and risky investment often blurry. “If someone walks into a bank and holds it up for a lot of money with a videotape of the whole thing, well that’s a pretty clear-cut case,” said William Callahan III, a former Drug Enforcement Administration special agent who now serves as director of government and strategic affairs for a crypto company called the Blockchain Intelligence Group. “Investigating and prosecuting something like this requires a much more unique set of skills.” He said the case against Kwon would likely turn on whether it can be proved he knowingly misled investors in stumping for the coins or was mounting a good-faith campaign for a risky-but-legal-venture. Some evidence gathered by South Korean investigators so far, according to local media, includes allegations that Kwon and other Terraform executives decided to close their South Korea offices just a week before the currencies crashed. Kwon has said the shuttering was long in the works. On Sunday the pursuit of Kwon took a surreal social-media turn when Kwon, outspoken on Twitter, took to the platform to deny he is a fugitive. “I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar – for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide,” he posted. But the Seoul prosecutors quickly denied it. He is “obviously on the run,” the office said in a statement, according to local news media agency Yonhap. Kwon quipped that he would only give away his coordinates if “1) we are friends, 2) we have plans to meet 3) we are involved in a gps based web3 game.” Read More Here

E https://digitalalaskanews.com/e-3/ An advisory panel to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council has approved combining   two separate accounts of federal funds for habitat protection and research related to the  March 24, 1989 oil spill disaster in Prince William Sound.  Panel members voted 4-2, with one person abstaining on Wednesday, Sept. 7 in favor of the action.  The trustee council is expected take final action when it meets on Oct. 5.    At the crux of the issue was action taken last year by the council to approve millions of dollars for projects, exceeding available funds.  Members of the trustee council sent a letter to the advisory panel on Aug. 22 requesting its support for a recission of its Resolution of March 1, 1999, which created a distinction between funds to be used to support habitat and research needs. Otherwise, the letter said, the research account would be drained to levels insufficient to support long-term research and monitoring, several mariculture projects, education and outreach projects and archeological repositories and museums past 2025.  Advertisement Documents provided to the advisory panel for the Sept. 7 meeting show a spending record that projects a deficit of millions of dollars by fiscal year 2026 in research funds, a predicted balance of over $25 million in habitat funds by fiscal 2032 and a deficit of millions of dollars in remaining subaccount funds by fiscal year 2029 if the research and habitat subaccounts are combined.   The council’s spending scenarios document, dated Aug. 29, 2022, states that all remaining fund balances as of July 31, 2022 be allocated to projects at the Trustee Council’s October 13, 2021 and January 18, 2022 meetings for FY2022-FY2031. The encumbered funds were to be released in increments annually over the remaining years of council operations, the document said.  The document also notes that the research subaccount is projected to be insufficient to support the long-term research and monitoring program, data management program, mariculture projects, education and outreach projects and archeological repositories and museums past 2025. If the habitat and research subaccounts are combined, depending on the annual net asset value of the combined subaccounts, the funds are projected to be support all remaining projects through FY2028 or FY2029. The document is online at https://evostc.state.ak.us/media/7727/9-fy23-fy33-spending-scenarios-82922.pdf  Federal council members are Craig O’Connor, special counsel to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Sara Taylor, policy advisor for Alaska for the Interior Department, and David Schmid, Alaska regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service. State council members are Alaska Commissioner of Environmental Conservation Jason Brune, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor and Alaska Commissioner of Fish and Game Doug Vincent-Lang.  Questions addressed to Taylor, who spoke about the issues to the advisory panel during its meeting, were referred by a publicist with the Interior Department in Washington DC to Shiway Wang, executive director of EVOSTC.  Wang said that while she cannot speak for the trustees that her understanding is that funding decisions last year were made under the belief that funds from the habitat subaccount could be used to support mariculture and other multi-year projects. “Upon further legal review after the meeting, agency attorneys determine that these approved projects could not be funded (or could only be partially funded) by the habitat subaccount due to restrictions set forth in the council’s March 1999 Resolution and corresponding paragraph 5 of Section 350 in the Public Law 106-113,” Wang said.  While again she cannot speak for the trustees, it may be that they were anticipating investment income earnings to fund future years,” Wang said. “This is not unreasonable given the income earnings of the subaccounts in the past which have amounted to more than anyone ever anticipated since the Alaska Department of Revenue began managing the funds, but the subaccounts have also incurred significant losses in the past due to down turns in the market,” she said.  Several members of the advisory panel said if they did not approve pooling of money that some approved projects would have to be cancelled.  “My strong preference is to make good on the offers we (EVOSTC) has made,” said John Whissel, who voted for combining funds. “It’s the only logical path forward, except it has shortfalls. We need to come up with enough funds to approve all the projects that were approved,” said Whissel, who heads the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the Native Village of Eyak and holds the conservation/environmental seat on the advisory panel.   “The trustee council has the clout to get more money. I think we ought to make the most of the resources we have,” he said. “It was not our job to figure out how to allocate the funds.”  “You don’t want to leave things unfunded and it made sense to me to do it,” said Linda Leary, owner of Fishe®Wear, who fills the sport hunting and fishing seat on the council. Leary, who voted for the merger, said she did not know why the council approved more projects than that budget allowed for.  “It was more of a decision about how I feel about habitat conservation in general,” said Kristin Carpenter, one of two people who voted against the proposed action. “I was thinking of the value of that conservation and the original intent on how to use those funds.  It was a real tough call,” said Carpenter, executive director of the Prince William Sound Economic Development District, who fills the science/technology seat on the advisory panel.   Carpenter said the advisory panel had recommended that all four habitat protection projects be funded and the council did not fund any of them, but that the council did fund several mariculture projects.  “It is hard to understand how you could not keep a tally on what you were spending,” she said. “ I really did look at the numbers. They disregarded our advice.  How is it that you don’t try to live within the parameters of what money is available?” she asked.  There is still habitat work to be done,” said Amanda Bauer, who joined Carpenter in voting against the proposal. “We can never get back what we lost (in the oil spill disaster), but we can protect going forward,” said Bauer, a captain with Stan Stephens Glacier and Wildlife Cruises in Valdez, who fills the panel’s commercial tourism seat.   “The public is opposed to combining these accounts,” Bauer told the advisory panel. “There is still (environmental and habitat protection) work to be done.  The most important part of this whole thing is conservation work.”  Also voting for the proposal were Stacey Simmons, director of shareholder services for Koniag Inc, Cynthia Berns, vice president of community and external affairs for Old Harbor Native Corp., George Skladal, an Anchorage attorney who fills the public-at-large seat on the advisory panel and Michael Stekoll, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry emeritus at the University of Alaska Southeast.  Simmons fills the recreation seat on the advisory panel, Berns represents Native land ownership,   and Stekoll the seat for aquaculture and mariculture.  R.J. Kopcheck, of Cordova, who holds the commercial fishing seat, abstained from voting.  Meeting documents are online at https://evostc.state.ak.us/events/?year=2022&meeting_type=Public+Advisory+Committee+Meeting#results  Read More Here

Adnan Syed, Featured In ‘Serial’ Podcast, Released From Prison https://digitalalaskanews.com/adnan-syed-featured-in-serial-podcast-released-from-prison/ Adnan Syed, whose murder case captivated the nation after it was featured on the true-crime podcast “Serial,” was freed from prison Monday after 23 years, his conviction vacated — at least for now — by a judge who found deficiencies in how prosecutors had turned over evidence to defense attorneys decades ago. Acting on a request from Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn ordered Syed unshackled in the courtroom and sent home while he waits to find out whether prosecutors will seek a new trial or drop their pursuit of him. Now 42 years old, Syed emerged from the courthouse to a roaring crowd. Dressed in white with a blue tie, he smiled and waved before he was ushered into a car and driven away. But his continued freedom is not guaranteed. Phinn said prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether they will retry Syed in the killing of his ex-girlfriend, 18-year-old Hae Min Lee. Mosby said after the Monday decision that her office had not yet declared him innocent but that he was entitled to a new trial “in the interest of fairness and justice.” Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) — whose office has previously defended the handling of Syed’s case in court proceedings — blasted the Baltimore prosecutor for acting without consulting his office, and he called the allegations that prosecutors did not hand over evidence to Syed’s defense as they should have “incorrect.” “Neither State’s Attorney Mosby nor anyone from her office bothered to consult with either the assistant state’s attorney who prosecuted the case or with anyone in my office regarding these alleged violations,” Frosh said. “The file in this case was made available on several occasions to the defense.” While he awaits prosecutors’ next move, Syed will be under GPS supervision, Phinn said. Syed has maintained his innocence since he was arrested for Lee’s murder in February 1999, when he was a 17-year-old in high school. Investigators at the time determined that she died by strangulation, and Syed was convicted of murder in 2000 and sentenced to life behind bars. He had long sought to overturn his conviction and get a new trial, but until recently, he had faced opposition from prosecutors. Syed’s case was featured on the first season of “Serial” in 2014. Host Sarah Koenig detailed the events surrounding the death of Lee, raising questions about the handling of the investigation, the conduct of Syed’s defense and whether Syed might be innocent. Over a decade after his conviction, Syed started to see some hope that he would get new legal proceedings. In 2016, a circuit court vacated Syed’s conviction, citing the “ineffective assistance” of a former attorney who failed to investigate an alibi witness, and in March 2018, the Court of Special Appeals upheld the ruling granting Syed a new trial. But in March 2019, Maryland’s highest court reinstated Syed’s murder conviction. Then on Wednesday, the Baltimore City state’s attorney’s office said in a motion in circuit court that it wanted the conviction tossed and Syed released. The office said its own nearly year-long investigation into the case, which was conducted with Syed’s defense, had found new evidence of potential suspects, as well as materials that should have been handed over to defense attorneys that were not. The move drew widespread praise from supporters of Syed, who have long waged a public and legal campaign for his freedom. C. Justin Brown, a former attorney for Syed who began representing him in 2009, released a statement that celebrated the ruling, but expressed concern at how long it took to arrive at this decision. “It has now been revealed that prosecutors were aware of another viable suspect in Hae Min Lee’s murder, but that they sat on that information for more than 20 years,” Brown’s statement said. “While we do not know how this happened, nor whether it was intentional, we do know it is inexcusable.” But that feeling was not universal. Young Lee, Hae Min Lee’s brother, said at the hearing Monday that prosecutors’ motion to vacate the conviction left him feeling “betrayed.” “That’s really tough for me to swallow, and especially for my mom,” he said. Young Lee said he was “not against investigation or anything of that sort,” adding, “Knowing that there could be someone out there free for killing my sister — it’s tough.” “I ask that you make the right decision,” he said to the judge. After the hearing, Steven J. Kelly, an attorney for the family, said in a statement: “For more than 20 years, no one has wanted to know the truth about who killed Hae Min Lee more than her family. The Lee family is deeply disappointed that today’s hearing happened so quickly and that they were denied the reasonable notice that would have permitted them to have a meaningful voice in the proceedings.” Mosby said DNA analysis will help determine whether Syed’s case will be dismissed or if prosecutors will seek a new trial. She said that she understands Lee’s brother’s feelings, but that Syed is entitled to fairness in the criminal justice system. “You have some sort of resolution and believe that you have closure, and the case comes back up and it rips a whole new wound that you think has healed,” Mosby said. “I understand his frustration.” Prosecutors have not disclosed the identities of the other potential suspects. But Becky Feldman, chief of the state’s attorney’s office sentencing review unit, on Monday described them as “credible, viable suspects.” According to court filings, one had threatened to make Lee “disappear” and “kill her,” she said, and alleged one of them “engaged in multiple instances of rape and sexual assault.” One had relatives who lived near the area where Lee’s car was found. Feldman said authorities at the time “improperly cleared” one suspect by relying on a polygraph test that was “not reliable.” Prosecutors’ filing said the suspects “may be involved individually or may be involved together,” and made references to them throughout the motion as “one of the suspects,” without clarifying which person they were referring to. The state’s attorney’s investigation also determined that a key witness in the case, Jay Wilds, was inconsistent in his accounts to police. For example, Wilds testified that he had helped Syed bury Lee’s body. But he gave two different accounts to authorities about where he saw the body and a third to the media, according to the motion. Wilds was an important character in the “Serial” podcast. The investigation also found that the data prosecutors used to corroborate Wilds’s account could have also been misleading or inaccurate. Attorneys used data from incoming calls to place Syed at the site of Lee’s body, but the state’s attorney’s office said in the motion that type of cellphone data “would not be considered reliable information for location.” “If that evidence had been disclosed, perhaps Adnan would not have missed his high school graduation or 23 years of birthdays, holidays, family gatherings, community events, everyday moments of joy,” said Erica Suter, Syed’s attorney, outside the courthouse on Monday. “Perhaps the real killers would have been brought to justice.” Read More Here

Feature: Cuba Boosts Cigar Exports To Facilitate Recovery Amid Pandemic, U.S. Sanctions https://digitalalaskanews.com/feature-cuba-boosts-cigar-exports-to-facilitate-recovery-amid-pandemic-u-s-sanctions/ by Yosley Carrero HAVANA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Cuba continues to promote cigar exports for economic recovery as the country braves the headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. trade embargo. Situated on the outskirts of the Cuban capital city of Havana, the El Laguito cigar factory is well known for producing Cohiba cigars over the past five decades. The factory, one of the five making cigars for exports in Havana, has some 250 workers, with 70 percent being women. Among them is Nelsa Leonard, a 75-year-old roller, who started working at El Laguito in 1968. She expects Cuban cigar production to help the Caribbean nation’s economy recover amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “These are the best cigars in the world and Cohiba is our top brand,” she said. “We are doing our best to sell as many Cuban cigars as possible to the world.” Official data showed that in 2021, the Caribbean nation reported record sales of its hand-rolled cigars worth over 507 million U.S. dollars, as the tobacco industry is one of the four core sectors that contribute most to Cuba’s GDP. Oscar Rodriguez, director of El Laguito cigar factory, said that they are now making some 9,000 Cuban cigars a day. “We continued to work despite the COVID-19 pandemic as this is a critical sector for the performance of the economy,” he said. “This factory is projected to deliver 2 million Cuban cigars by the end of the year.” Moreover, “incomes from Cuban cigar sales are redistributed to improve living conditions of people,” female roller Marilyn Sanchez said. “With that money, the government repairs hospitals and schools.” The upcoming Cuban tobacco harvest is scheduled to start in October this year, said the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture. It comes amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the intensification of the U.S. trade embargo on the Caribbean nation. Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez said that in the first 14 months of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, the embargo has caused Cuba economic losses of around 6.3 billion dollars. First imposed in 1962, the embargo was tightened by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who imposed more than 240 sanctions against the island. The United States “persists in ignoring the demands of the international community and has intensified the blockade to unprecedented levels,” he said. The island’s economy started to see a slight recovery during the first half of the year. However, “the U.S. blockade, which remains almost invariable, continues to be the main obstacle to the development of Cuba,” said Cuban economist Jose Luis Rodriguez. ■ Read More Here

Which Will Matter More To Voters? Abortions Or The Economy? https://digitalalaskanews.com/which-will-matter-more-to-voters-abortions-or-the-economy/ A string of bad economic news may be reversing trends that seemed to be tilting voters toward Democrats in their quest to keep power in the House and Senate this fall. But it remains to be seen if Republicans can capitalize on voter dissatisfaction on the economy, given their own lack of a unified message.  The Democrats were gaining confidence in their chances of pulling out an unlikely win this November in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which invigorated Democratic activists and seemed to lift Democratic candidates in the polls. But the continuous drumbeat of bad economic news picked up again in the past few weeks, and polling shows Republicans have a clear advantage over Democrats in regards to who voters trust on the economy.  In the past week, voters were inundated with bad economic news. Grocery prices are up as inflation woes continue, home prices are falling, and the stock market just had one of its worst weeks in an already bad year, contributing to a record drop in U.S. household wealth.  In an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired over the weekend, President Joe Biden showed just how hard it is for Democrats to respond to criticism on economic issues. When asked about high inflation and grocery bills, Biden responded by downplaying the problem.  “Well, first of all, let’s put this in perspective,” he said. “(The) inflation rate, month-to-month is up just an inch. Hardly at all.” To which, correspondent Scott Pelley responded, “It’s the highest inflation rate, Mr. President, in 40 years.”  On the possibility of a recession, Biden said he would stave it off by “growing the economy.”  But economist Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, said a recession is still a “very real” possibility in the coming months, in part because of Democratic policies. Even as it became clear that inflation was a growing problem, he said, Democrats continued to pour money into the economy, both through their legislative agenda and through Biden’s executive actions, including his recent move to forgive billions of dollars in student loans.  “The more the president and Congress enact policies that will actually worsen inflation, the harder we’re going to need the Federal Reserve to push the brakes on inflation,” said Riedl.  As the Fed continues to raise interest rates to try to cool inflation, the more likely it is that the economy falls into recession, which could put Democrats at a disadvantage not just in this year’s midterms, but in the 2024 presidential election as well, Riedl continued.  But in order for Republicans to fully capitalize on runaway inflation, they would need to have their own economic agenda to run on, and so far their strategy seems to be to count on the bad economy sinking Democrats rather than coming up with their own solutions, he said.  Part of the problem is that the party’s base has shifted in recent years on economic issues, muddying the waters not just for voters but for elected officials as well. Riedl worked on a deficit reduction plan for Utah Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, but the days of Republicans worrying about the deficit seem long gone, he said. Policies that may help fight inflation — like lower tariffs and reducing regulations — no longer seem to have popular support among Republican lawmakers or the base.  Despite their lack of a consensus on economic issues, keeping the economy at the forefront of voters’ minds would still seem to help Republicans. But the main issue keeping Republicans from focusing on the economy is abortion — and they have members of their own party to thank for keeping the issue front and center.  Many Republicans voiced frustration recently with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., after he released a bill that would ban most abortions in the U.S. after 15 weeks. Democrats immediately seized on the bill, calling it a “national abortion ban.”  Graham’s bill is in line with international abortion laws, and more in line with where many U.S. voters say they are on the issue, but many in the party see the issue as a loser for them, and want to keep abortion out of the news altogether.  Some Republican candidates, like Senate candidate Blake Masters in Arizona, have tried to pivot on the issue of abortion by painting their Democratic opponents as extreme on the issue. Other Republicans just want the issue to go away.  There are other concerns that are weighing on voters’s minds this year — like high crime and former President Donald Trump’s continued presence in the news — but inflation and the economy consistently rank as voters’ top concerns in polls. With just a few weeks to go before early voting starts, it remains to be seen if Republicans can keep voters’ focus on the economy as they head to the polls, or if their lack of a unified message will keep them from winning in November.  Read More Here

Journal Junction For September 20, 2022 https://digitalalaskanews.com/journal-junction-for-september-20-2022/ From Martinsburg: According to “the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget” (a nonpartisan organization), the Biden administration, by enacted policies and executive actions, will add more than $4.8 trillion to our deficit while only halfway through his term. The Democratic-controlled Congress is currently discussing changes to increase Medicare. Medicare premiums would increase by $3.5 billion. W.Va. has the third-highest percentage of seniors in the country. Another slap in the face to our seniors, while we help pay off everybody’s student loans. From Martinsburg: To Berkeley County: Lord forgive the blind people for praising such an incompetent and divisive dictator who currently resides in Delaware (he is rarely at the White House). It’s laughable how people actually believe this imbecile is trying to bring our country back together. He hates America and is successfully destroying it. THAT is what people need to think about when they vote. I hope we only have living and breathing voters this time around. Eighty-one million — LOL! From Berkeley County: To Pikeside: If only the government would give the taxes from the rich to the poor instead of lining their own pockets. The Bible also teaches “if a man doesn’t work, he shouldn’t eat.” There are many able-bodied people not working right now that freeload at every opportunity. We all want to help the poor, but it doesn’t have to come at the cost of the entire economy of our country. From Charles Town: I wish the uneducated would stop blaming Biden for the immigration problem. Even Trump couldn’t do certain things, on account the court would say it wasn’t legal. Get on Congress to do its job! Both Democrats and Republicans have failed to do what’s needed to be done for decades. Vote them out in November! From Jefferson County: To Martinsburg: It is not fair for the border states to bear the burden of millions of illegal immigrants, when there are sanctuary locations throughout the country. For your information, this is not a Republican immigration stunt. Read More Here

Iranian Police Say Death Of Mahsa Amini 'unfortunate' As Protestors Take To The Streets | CNN https://digitalalaskanews.com/iranian-police-say-death-of-mahsa-amini-unfortunate-as-protestors-take-to-the-streets-cnn/ CNN  —  Iranian police called the death of Mahsa Amini an “unfortunate incident” and denied that she was harmed physically in custody, semi-official news agency Fars News said on Monday. Amini, 22, who was stopped and detained by Iran’s morality police in Tehran on Tuesday, died after falling into a coma on Friday. CCTV footage released by Iran’s state media appeared to show her collapsing at a “re-education” center where she had been taken by the morality police to receive “guidance” on her attire. “The incident was unfortunate for us and we wish to never witness such incidents,” Greater Tehran Police Commander Hossein Rahimi said during a press briefing on Monday. Rahimi said “false accusations” had been made against the Iranian police and that Amini was not harmed physically during and after she was taken into custody. He added the police had “done everything” to keep her alive. Iranian officials have said that Amini died after suffering a “heart attack” following her arrest on Tuesday, but her family say she did not have a pre-existing heart condition, according to Emtedad news, an Iranian pro-reform media outlet who allegedly spoke to Amini’s father. Students took to the streets on Monday in Tehran, demanding justice and accountability for the death of Amini as protesters clashed with police in Iranian cities in the northwestern Kurdistan province over the weekend, semi-official news agencies said. One video circulating on social media showed women in Tehran taking off their hijab and waving it while chanting “death to the dictator” on Monday. Another video showed a motorcycle burning on a street area near where the judiciary building is located in the capital. Fars, a government aligned news agency, published a video showing protestors demonstrating in the capital of Kurdistan province, Sanandaj, late on Sunday and chanting slogans against officials. According to Fars, protestors were “not convinced” by the police’s justification of Amini’s death, saying she died “under torture.” Security forces fired tear gas on protesters following Amini’s funeral ceremony in her hometown of Saqqez on Saturday, Fars said, while demonstrators demanding answers allegedly threw rocks at the governor’s office, semi-official Mehr news said. At least 38 people were injured during protests in both cities, according to a report released on Sunday by Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norwegian-registered organization monitoring rights violations in Iran. US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley took to Twitter on Friday calling on Iran to “end its improper violence against women for exercising their fundamental rights.” “Those responsible for her death should be held accountable,” he added. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said he “categorically rejects any interventionist statements from American authorities involving Iran’s internal affairs.” “If the American government is concerned about the Iranian nation, it should lift its decades-long cruel, unilateral and illegal blockade against the Iranian nation,” he added. Read More Here

Judge Rejects Antitrust Challenge To UnitedHealth Acquisition https://digitalalaskanews.com/judge-rejects-antitrust-challenge-to-unitedhealth-acquisition/ The court’s decision is a win for UnitedHealth, which owns the largest U.S. health insurer and a sprawling healthcare operation. Photo: Minneapolis Star Tribune/ZUMA Press Updated Sept. 19, 2022 10:23 pm ET WASHINGTON—A federal judge Monday ruled against a Justice Department antitrust challenge to UnitedHealth Group $13 billion acquisition of health-technology firm Change Healthcare rejecting government claims that the deal would unlawfully suppress competition and limit innovation in health-insurance markets. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled for the companies in an opinion that he kept under seal for now because he said it “may contain competitively sensitive information.” The judge said he would release a redacted public version of the ruling in the coming days. In a one-page public order, he denied the Justice Department’s request to block the companies from completing the deal. Read More Here

Did Joe Biden Just Announce A 2024 Presidential Run? https://digitalalaskanews.com/did-joe-biden-just-announce-a-2024-presidential-run/ In a new interview with CBS 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, President Joe Biden said that he intends to run for re-election in 2024 but has not yet made a “firm decision.” “Look, if I were to say to you, I’m running again, all of a sudden, a whole range of things come into play that I have—requirements I have to change and move and do. In terms of election laws. and it’s much too early to make that kind of decision. I’m a great respecter of fate. And so, what I’m doing is I’m doing my job. I’m gonna do that job. And within the timeframe that makes sense after this next election cycle here, going into next year, make a judgment on what to do,” Biden said. “Look, my intention as I said to begin with is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,” he continued. Biden, who will be eighty-one years old in 2024, also took time during the interview to push back on concerns about his fitness for the job of commander-in-chief. “Watch me. And honest to God, that’s all I think. Watch me. If you think I don’t have the energy level or the mental acuity, then, you know, that’s one thing. It’s another thing, you just watch and, you know, keep my schedule. Do what I’m doing,” he said. “I respect the fact that people would say, you know, ‘You’re old.’ And—but I think it relates to how much energy you have, and whether or not the job you’re doing is one consistent with what any person of any age would be able to do,” he added. According to a recently released Yahoo News/YouGov poll, Biden is leads former President Donald Trump by six points among registered voters in a hypothetical 2024 presidential rematch. Conducted September 2 to 6 with the participation of more than 1,600 adults, the survey found that if the next presidential election “were held today,” 48 percent of registered voters would select Biden, while 42 percent would choose Trump. Meanwhile, more Democrats are now saying that America is “generally headed in the right direction” (48 percent) than “off on the wrong track” (38 percent). Last month, those figures were reversed. “As a result, Biden has strengthened his standing for 2024, which had been looking unusually weak for an incumbent,” Yahoo wrote. As for a potential Trump run, 55 percent of respondents said that he should be barred from being elected again if he is found guilty of “mishandling highly classified documents” or “obstructing” the ongoing investigation by the Justice Department. Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn. Image: Reuters. Read More Here

‘ https://digitalalaskanews.com/13788-2/ Charlene Cakora devoted “every day” of the last 31 months to setting her brother free. Her anguish has turned into a wave of relief. American hostage Mark Frerichs, a Lombard native and civil engineering contractor who was abducted in Afghanistan in January 2020, was released by the Taliban on Monday in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord who had been held in U.S. federal prison. Charlene Cakora of Lombard, Frerichs’ sister, said she got the news when her cellphone rang at 3:36 a.m. Monday and President Joe Biden was on the line, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. “I was just in awe. I was stunned, very happy, very happy,” Cakora said, adding that the call from Biden “was very brief, just getting to the point, because, you know, he was at the queen’s funeral,” referring to the final day of services for Queen Elizabeth II in London. “But he was really brief and sweet and just basically said that my brother is pretty much lucky to have me as a sister,” she said. Frerichs, 60, had been working on civil engineering projects at the time of his Jan. 31, 2020, abduction in Kabul. He’s believed to have been lured into a meeting to discuss a new project and then taken against his will to Khost, a stronghold of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network near the Pakistan border. He was accompanied Monday by the administration’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and was in stable health, a U.S. official said. His ultimate destination was not immediately clear, though a Qatari Foreign Ministry official said Frerichs would soon head from Doha, the capital of Qatar, to the U.S. Frerichs was reported to have stopped at Germany first for medical checks. “I’ve been having my phone next to me and had little sleep for the past 2½ years,” Cakora told the Sun-Times. She said she’s always been close to her brother, who’s two years older. “We never gave up hope that he would survive and come home safely to us,” Cakora said in a statement issued Monday. She thanked President Joe Biden and U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin for their efforts to obtain his freedom. Duckworth “got personally involved — advocating tirelessly within our government to get him home,” Cakora said in the statement. Duckworth voiced “profound relief that Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who served our nation honorably, is now safely back in American hands after being kidnapped in Afghanistan more than two and a half years ago.” “I’m thrilled that his family, who have long been Mark’s champions, will get to reunite with him,” Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, said in a statement. “I applaud President Biden … for taking the steps necessary to prove that we do not leave Americans behind.” During a briefing with reporters Monday, senior Biden administration officials said it became clear in the course of negotiations with the Taliban that the release of Bashir Noorzai, a convicted drug trafficker sentenced to life in U.S. federal prison, was key to securing Frerichs’ freedom. “My brother is alive and safe because President Biden took action,” Cakora said in her statement. “There were some folks arguing against the deal that brought Mark home, but President Biden did what was right. He saved the life of an innocent American veteran.” Frerichs was taken hostage a month before the United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020. “Initially the Trump Administration gave away our leverage to get Mark home quickly by signing a peace accord with the Taliban without ever having asked them to return Mark first,” stated Eric Lebson, a former U.S. national security official who has advised Frerichs’ family. “Mark’s family then had to navigate two administrations, where many people viewed Mark’s safe return as an impediment to their plans for Afghanistan,” Lebson said in a statement. Cakora thanked “the countless people” at the State Department, FBI and National Security Council, and said the efforts of Ambassador Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, “to raise Mark’s profile in both the Trump and Biden Administrations were important factors in today’s result.” A video of Frerichs pleading for his release, a brief recording published by The New Yorker in April, provided the first public confirmation that he was still alive. Duckworth at the time expressed support for a prisoner swap. “Bashir Noorzai cooperated with our government by providing intelligence and helping us recover weapons from the Taliban for years and, as an elderly man in poor health, he is unlikely to return to any position of operational significance for the Taliban,” she said in April. U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, a Downers Grove Democrat, praised the “consistent advocacy of President Biden, Sen. Durbin, and Sen. Duckworth to ensure his safe return.” Durbin said in a statement that Frerichs’ release was long overdue. “The tragic and cruel use of him as a hostage has finally come to an end,” Durbin said. Cakora told the Sun-Times she had not yet spoken to her brother, and his next move is his decision. “Right now he’s on safe ground, and it’s up to him what he wants to do,” she said. • The Associated Press contributed to this report. Read More Here

Trump Ally Mike Lindell Must Face Defamation Suit Over Election-Rigging Claims https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-ally-mike-lindell-must-face-defamation-suit-over-election-rigging-claims/ MyPillow Inc. Chief Executive Mike Lindell must face a defamation lawsuit brought by a voting machine company that the Trump ally falsely accused of rigging the 2020 U.S. election, a Minnesota federal judge ruled on Monday. Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright denied Lindell and MyPillow’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit by Smartmatic USA Corp., finding ample evidence that Lindell ignored publicly available information that contradicted his theories. Judge Wright also found sufficient evidence that Lindell knew or should have known his statements were false and acted with “actual malice” in promoting them, a key legal threshold in defamation cases. Lawyers for the defendants did not immediately respond to inquiries Monday. An attorney for Smartmatic, J. Erik Connolly, told Reuters in a statement the company was pleased with the ruling. “Mr. Lindell continues to spread disinformation and, by doing so, jeopardizes secure and accurate voting in the United States and elsewhere. It must come to an end,” Connolly said. Smartmatic operated voting machines in Los Angeles County in 2020 and says there were no irregularities in its tallies. The London-based company alleged in its January complaint that Lindell knowingly made false election-rigging claims to boost MyPillow’s sales and made Smartmatic “synonymous with election fraud.” The defendants said in their motion to dismiss that Lindell’s statements were “not inherently improbable” and were based on publicly available information about problems with voting machines. Smartmatic and competitor Dominion Voting Systems Inc have filed similar lawsuits against Trump allies and media outlets that spread the rigging claims, including Fox Corp and Newsmax Media Inc. Read More Here

Trump Team Says It Doesn't Want To Immediately Disclose Certain 'declassification' Information In Special Master Review – Local News 8 https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-team-says-it-doesnt-want-to-immediately-disclose-certain-declassification-information-in-special-master-review-local-news-8/ By Tierney Sneed, Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN Lawyers for former President Donald Trump signaled Monday that they oppose having to immediately make disclosures about declassification related to the Mar-a-Lago documents as part of the special master process ordered by a federal judge this month. In a letter to US District Judge Raymond Dearie, who was tapped to serve as an independent third party to review the documents the FBI seized during a search of the former President’s residence and resort, Trump’s lawyers referenced a non-public draft plan for the review that Dearie circulated among the parties ahead of a status conference set for Tuesday. The draft plan, according to Trump’s letter, “requires that the Plaintiff disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government.” “We respectfully submit that the time and place for affidavits or declarations would be in connection with a Rule 41 motion that specifically alleges declassification as a component of its argument for return of property,” the letter said, referring to a type of motion that can be filed calling for the return of property that was unlawfully seized in a search. “Otherwise, the Special Master process will have forced the Plaintiff to fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment without such a requirement being evident in the District Court’s order,” the Trump team’s letter continued. In her ruling denying prosecutors’ request for a stay last week, Judge Aileen Cannon ordered that the special master review — conducted by Dearie and involving approximately 11,000 documents — be finished by the end of November. The preliminary conference is scheduled before Dearie on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York. In their filing, the former President’s lawyers additionally flagged concerns with the draft plan’s apparent proposal to have the Rule 41 motions litigated in the docket before US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the judge who approved the warrant for the FBI’s search. The Trump attorneys argued that Cannon, a Trump appointee who appointed the special master, intended for that litigation to happen through the special master process, with Dearie’s recommendations ultimately reported to her. Trump’s lawyers, in their letter to Dearie, also suggested pushing back some of the interim deadlines that were laid out in the draft plan. “While we have concerns about the inclusion of two aspects within the Draft Plan (timing of any declassification disclosures and briefing regarding reversion to the issuing magistrate), we are otherwise in general agreement with Your Honor’s proposed sequencing but suggest addressing the potential deadlines at tomorrow’s status conference,” the Trump attorneys wrote. In a separate filing on Monday, the Justice Department proposed a system for the special master to review the documents seized from Trump’s Palm Beach residence and resort. In order for both the Trump team and prosecutors to evaluate evidence at the same time, prosecutors suggested in the filing that the documents be uploaded to a third-party online platform. The Justice Department suggested that the third-party vendor “batch out” documents on a rolling basis as they are scanned to both prosecutors and Trump’s defense team. The lawyers should plan to sort through about 500 documents every business day, DOJ said. As the review begins, prosecutors suggested that Dearie host “weekly reviews” with both parties to “resolve questions and ensure smooth operation of the review process.” The department also said it would propose a protective order for Cannon’s approval, which makes leaking details from the seized collection punishable by contempt of court “or any other legally available sanction that the Court deems appropriate.” In its filing, the DOJ noted that if the 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals grants its request to block parts of Cannon’s order requiring a special master, Dearie would not be permitted to review the more than 100 documents marked classified. “If the Eleventh Circuit does not stay the review of the documents with classification markings, the government will propose a way forward,” prosecutors wrote in the filing. This story has been updated with additional developments Monday. The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. Read More Here

Biden Warns Putin Against Using Nuclear Weapons; Another Nuclear Plant Hit By Russian Strike https://digitalalaskanews.com/biden-warns-putin-against-using-nuclear-weapons-another-nuclear-plant-hit-by-russian-strike/ Two Turkish banks suspend Russian Mir payments after U.S. sanctions Turkish lenders Isbank and Denizbank have suspended use of Russian payment system Mir, the banks said, following a U.S. crackdown on those accused of helping Moscow skirt sanctions over the war in Ukraine. The moves, announced separately, came after Washington expanded its sanctions last week to include the head of the entity running Mir, which is popular with the tens of thousands of Russian tourists who arrived in Turkey this year. The suspensions by two of the five Turkish banks that had been using Mir reflect their effort to avoid the financial cross-fire between the West and Russia, as the Turkish government takes a balanced diplomatic stance. Isbank, whose shares tumbled 10% on Monday, said it halted Mir payments and is evaluating the U.S. Treasury’s new sanctions. Isbank also said it was keen to comply with national and international laws, regulations and commercial business principles. — Reuters Missile strikes near Ukraine nuclear plant, IAEA says A. Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in territory under Russian military control, southeastern Ukraine, May 1, 2022. AP An explosion near a Ukraine power plant damaged windows and power lines but did not impact the operation of the three reactors there, Kyiv told the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday. The blast from the shelling occurred about 300 meters, or 984 feet, from the industrial site of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in Mykolaiv Province, the IAEA said in a press release. No staff were injured by the missile, which impacted three power lines that were swiftly reconnected, Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom told the IAEA. Ukrainian authorities reportedly called the shelling an act of “nuclear terrorism” by Russia. The IAEA also said its experts discovered that a power line used to supply electricity to another nuclear plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, had been disconnected Sunday. Zaporizhzia, located in southeastern Ukraine, is Europe’s largest power plant, and has six reactors that are currently in a “cold shutdown state,” the IAEA said. The plant still receives the electricity it needs for essential safety functions, but it now does not have access to back-up power from the Ukrainian grid, the IAEA experts said. The disconnected power line transferred electricity from the Ukrainian grid through the switchyard of a nearby thermal power station, the IAEA said. It was not immediately clear how the line was disconnected. “The situation at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant remains fragile and precarious,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in the press release. “Last week, we saw some improvements regarding its power supplies, but today we were informed about a new setback in this regard. The plant is located in the middle of a war zone, and its power status is far from safe and secure. Therefore, a nuclear safety and security protection zone must urgently be established there,” Grossi said. — Kevin Breuninger Schumer calls for another $12 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) holds a news conference to tout the $430 billion drug pricing, energy and tax bill championed by Democrats at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. August 5, 2022.  Jonathan Ernst | Reuters Lawmakers will vote next week on whether to add $12 billion in U.S. aid for Ukraine to the budget, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday. The proposed boost in military funding for Kyiv comes as Ukrainian forces appear to be making significant gains as they wage a counteroffensive against invading Russian troops. Those gains coincide with Russia’s attendance at this week’s United Nations General Assembly, Schumer said during a press conference. “It’s going to hear from world leaders what an outlier nation and outlaw nation Russia is,” he said, according to an NBC News transcript of his remarks. Additionally, Congress faces an end-of-the-month deadline to pass a stopgap spending bill, called a continuing resolution, that would keep the government from shutting down until mid-December, Schumer noted. “Ukraine depends on our aid. And now that they have begun to really push back the Russians, more aid at this point is crucial,” Schumer said. Democrats could face hurdles from Republicans wary of tacking on more money to the continuing resolution, a spokesman for Schumer told CNBC on Monday. — Kevin Breuninger Kremlin denies accusations of war crimes committed in Izium after mass graves found EDITORS NOTE: This post shows graphic content of mass graves uncovered near Izium, Ukraine. Two forensic technicians uncover a body in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, eastern Ukraine on September 16, 2022. Juan Barreto | AFP | Getty Images The Kremlin denied that Russian forces carried out executions of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Izium following a grizzly discovery of more than 400 mass graves. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of committing war crimes in the eastern Ukrainian city. “More than 400 bodies were found at the mass burial site in Izyum with signs of torture. Children, those killed as a result of missile attacks, warriors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in English on the Telegram messaging app last week. Izium was recently liberated from Russian occupation following a stunning Ukrainian counter offensive. “This is a lie, and, of course, we will defend the truth in this whole story,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to an NBC News translation. “This is the same scenario as in Bucha. Everything develops according to one scenario,” Peskov said, referencing the more than 450 dead civilian found in that Kyiv suburb after Russian soldiers retreated following about five weeks of occupation. The Kremlin has previously denied that its forces target and kill civilians, a violation of international humanitarian law. — Amanda Macias Five NATO allies still have to approve Sweden and Finland’s entry into the alliance NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (C), Finland Ministers for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (L) and Sweden Foreign minister Ann Linde (R) give a press conference after their meeting at the Nato headquarters in Brussels on January 24, 2022. John Thys | AFP | Getty Images Five NATO member countries have yet to sign ratification protocols for Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance. Out of NATO’s 30 member countries, Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey are the last holdouts to grant Sweden and Finland membership. Greece was the latest NATO ally to sign ratification documents on September 15. In May, both nations began the formal process of applying to NATO as Russia’s war in Ukraine raged. All 30 members of the alliance have to ratify the countries’ entry into the group. Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed ratification documents following a 95-1 Senate vote to bring Finland and Sweden into NATO. — Amanda Macias Russia has lost 55 aircraft in Ukraine, U.S. Air Force general says Remains of the Russian fighting aircraft are seen at a residential area, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in this handout picture released March 5, 2022.  Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Reuters Russia has lost 55 aircraft in Ukraine since the invasion began, U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker told reporters Monday. That figure from Hecker, the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe, aligns with a running tally of aircraft losses compiled by the military blog Oryx. Of those 55 aircraft, 53 were destroyed and two were damaged, according to Oryx. More than 80% of Ukraine’s aircraft are remaining, Hecker estimated during his remarks at the 2022 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, journalists reported. — Kevin Breuninger More than 163 vessels carrying agricultural products have left Ukrainian ports Barbados-flagged general cargo ship Fulmar S is pictured in the Black Sea, north of the Bosphorus Strait, in Istanbul, Turkey August 5, 2022. Mehmet Caliskan | Reuters The organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from Ukraine said that so far 163 vessels have left the besieged country since ports reopened. The Joint Coordination Center, an initiative of Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said the ships transported a total of 3.6 million metric tons of grain and other food products. In July, three of Ukraine’s ports were reopened to exports under the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative. — Amanda Macias UN says at least 5,916 killed in Ukraine since start of war A volunteer places a cross onto a grave of one of fifteen unidentified people killed by Russian troops, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, during a burial ceremony in the town of Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine September 2, 2022. Vladyslav Musiienko | Reuters The United Nations has confirmed 5,916 civilian deaths and 8,616 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay fatality reports. The international organization said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes. — Amanda Macias Biden to hold bilateral meeting with U.K. prime minister Liz Truss at U.N. General Assembly The U.K.’s next prime Minister Liz Truss Dan Kitwood | Getty Images News | G...

OAN’s Trumpy Boss Cuts A Fat Check For Ron DeSantis https://digitalalaskanews.com/oans-trumpy-boss-cuts-a-fat-check-for-ron-desantis/ Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here. Far-right channel One America News (OAN)–currently in the midst of an existential crisis—may be cartoonishly loyal in its efforts to boost all things Donald Trump, but it appears as though the network’s founder and boss is playing footsie with the ex-president’s top potential 2024 primary rival. According to Florida election filings shared with Confider by the liberal American Bridge 21st Century PAC, OAN founder and CEO Robert Herring earlier this month cut a $20,000 check to Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC, the Florida governor’s state-level political action committee currently boosting his re-election campaign. The donation is especially notable considering OAN and Herring’s unyielding loyalty to Trump and the many ways in which the former president has quietly stewed over the emergence of DeSantis as a wannabe heir to the MAGA throne. As The Daily Beast has reported, the mere prospect of a Trump vs. DeSantis 2024 race has already begun to create rival factions among right-wing media diehards. When asked about the donation, Herring emailed Confider: “It means that we support De Santis as a vice President. I believe that President Trump was the greatest President in My eighty years.” Subscribe to the Confider newsletter here and have The Daily Beast media team’s stellar reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday night. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Read More Here

OAN’s Trumpy Boss Cuts A Fat Check For Ron DeSantis https://digitalalaskanews.com/oans-trumpy-boss-cuts-a-fat-check-for-ron-desantis-2/ This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here. Far-right channel One America News (OAN)–currently in the midst of an existential crisis—may be cartoonishly loyal in its efforts to boost all things Donald Trump, but it appears as though the network’s founder and boss is playing footsie with the ex-president’s top potential 2024 primary rival. According to Florida election filings shared with Confider by the liberal American Bridge 21st Century PAC, OAN founder and CEO Robert Herring earlier this month cut a $20,000 check to Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC, the Florida governor’s state-level political action committee currently boosting his re-election campaign. The donation is especially notable considering OAN and Herring’s unyielding loyalty to Trump and the many ways in which the former president has quietly stewed over the emergence of DeSantis as a wannabe heir to the MAGA throne. As The Daily Beast has reported, the mere prospect of a Trump vs. DeSantis 2024 race has already begun to create rival factions among right-wing media diehards. When asked about the donation, Herring emailed Confider: “It means that we support De Santis as a vice President. I believe that President Trump was the greatest President in My eighty years.” Subscribe to the Confider newsletter here and have The Daily Beast media team’s stellar reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday night. Read More Here

Mosquito Fire: Foresthill, Other Placer County Communities Can Begin Returning Home https://digitalalaskanews.com/mosquito-fire-foresthill-other-placer-county-communities-can-begin-returning-home/ Residents of the town of Foresthill in Placer County can begin returning home as evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings for the Mosquito Fire, officials said Monday afternoon. The Foothills area saw some light rain in the area, which crews took advantage of in getting a better handle on the wildfire. With evacuation warnings, residents are recommended to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice in case wildfire activity becomes threatening, but it also allows for already evacuated residents to return home. The reduction from order to warning is a big contrast from nearly a week ago when the wind-driven Mosquito Fire flared up and nearly tore through Foresthill.Several other communities in Placer County were also given the green light to begin repopulating as well, allowing for a total of 2,128 residents to return to 983 homes.Residents will have to show identification at the following traffic control points.Mosquito Ridge Road at Foresthill RoadSoap Street at Lowe StreetMichigan Bluff Road at Chicken Hawk RoadAs of Monday morning, the fire has burned 76,290 acres and is 39% contained. Containment is a measure of the perimeter crews have established to prevent the spread of a wildfire. Thousands of people were allowed to go home on Sunday as more evacuation orders were downgraded in Placer County. At least 78 structures have been destroyed, and 13 structures damaged.Battling the BlazeIn its Monday morning incident update, Cal Fire said that containment on the Mosquito Fire almost doubled within the last 36 hours. “This increase in containment can be attributed to the hard work of firefighters who have been working around the clock to strengthen and secure containment lines in and around the communities,” Cal Fire said.Communities have also been able to repopulate some areas following the increase in containment and wet weather. However, several evacuation warnings and orders remain in place. Rain helped fight the fire Sunday, but Cal Fire said that added precipitation makes the landscape “more treacherous” due to muddy and slippery terrain. A flash flood watch is also in place for the fire area due to potential ash and debris flow from forecast thunderstorms in the burn scar. Some evacuation orders reducedOn Monday, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office reduced evacuation orders for the Volcanoville and Quintette areas to evacuation warnings. This reduction in orders also includes the area east of the intersection of Wentworth Springs Road and Wolfridge Road, west of Stumpy Meadows Lake, south of the El Dorado-Placer county line and north of Wentworth Springs Road.Evacuation warnings were also lifted for the Canyon Creek, Bottle Hill and Grey Eagle areas.On Sunday morning, some evacuation orders in Placer County were reduced to warnings and people could start to go home. Zones 7B, 8, 9, 10, 11A, 12, 15 and 26 all on the west side of the fire are the ones that were downgraded. At least 3,701 people are able to return home, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday. For those returning home to spoiled food, there are dumpsters available in the parking lot at the LDS Church on Todd Valley Road, authorities said. Some orders in El Dorado County were also downgraded on Sunday.The communities allowed to return home include Cannon Creek, Bottle Hill and Grey Eagle. The warnings in Cool, Garden Valley, Georgetown Proper and Swansboro were lifted. On Saturday evening, evacuation orders were reduced to warnings for Zone 12 in Placer County and some people along Foresthill Road, among others, will be allowed to go home. However, authorities warn people there is no gas available in Foresthill and Worton’s Market remains closed. Some residents in the community of Georgetown in El Dorado County were allowed to return home on Friday. The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office reduced the evacuation order, a lawful mandate to leave immediately, to an evacuation warning, which is a recommendation to be ready to leave in case wildfire activity becomes threatening. For evacuated residents, a drop from order to warning is also a green light for them to begin repopulating. Evacuation orders were reduced for the area west of Wentworth Springs Road at Citabria Lane, north of Greenwood Road and Graybar Mine Road. Also included is east of Highway 193 at Sliger Mine Road, and south of Bottle Hill Road and Snow Cap Road. The reduced orders do not include Sliger Mine Road north of Loriel Drive and Spanish Dry Diggins Road north of Odyssey Falls Drive.Georgetown is about 18 miles north of Placerville and about 19 miles east of Auburn. See all evacuation orders and warnings below. App users, click here.Evacuation centersPlacer CountySierra College — 5100 Sierra College Blvd, Rocklin, CA 95677 (Parking in Lot B, the shelter will be in the Building J cafeteria)El Dorado CountyCameron Park Services District — 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park, CA 95682. Overnight shelter, meals, showers, limited health services and parking for trailers will be provided. Animals in crates and carriers will also be accepted.Green Valley Community Church — 3500 Missouri Flat Road, Placerville, CA. This location with accept human and small domestic animals on leashes or in creates. No Large animal and no birds. Limited RV parking and no hookups.Animal evacuation centersPlacer County Gold Country Fairgrounds — 209 Fairgate Road, Auburn, CaliforniaPeople can start to pick up their animals starting at 8 a.m. on SundayDiamond Springs Shelter (small animals only) — 6435 Capitol Avenue, Diamond Springs, CA 95619Rancho Murieta Equestrian Center (equines only) — Call for information: 916-985-7334Flying M Ranch (large animals only) — 5421 Buck Mountain Road, Placerville, CA 95667Road ClosuresThe Placer County Sheriff’s Office said hard road closures are in place on Foresthill Road and Lincoln Way in Auburn. There are also closures at the Old Foresthill Road at the Confluence.The eastbound Interstate 80 offramp to Foresthill Road is closed due to the fire.(Click through the gallery below for a glimpse at the firefight.) Some Foresthill residents without powerAs thousands return to their homes and businesses many are finding their utilities off.The owner of Everybody’s Inn, a restaurant in Foresthill, opened Monday morning as a resource to the community.“What they’re coming home to is no power, some no water, rotting food in their refrigerators and freezers,” said Cynthia Wardleigh, owner of Everybody’s Inn.The Red Cross has opened as a resource in the Everybody’s Inn parking lot to aid the many repopulating the community.Cal Fire explained the wet weather helps the fire “lay down.” Though they worry in the coming days as conditions begin to dry, hotspots will likely reignite creating the possibility of further fire growth.Foresthill students take classes in AuburnHigh school is tough enough without students having to worry about their town or school burning in a massive wildfire.Yet, for 200 Foresthill High School students, they are now taking classes at Placer High in Auburn while the town of Foresthill remains under an evacuation order because of the Mosquito Fire.”The first few days, I wasn’t able to focus because the fire kept getting closer and closer to our town,” said Foresthill sophomore Bryce Dowling. Full story here. Foresthill resident who didn’t evacuate recalls terrifying flare-upMitch Griffith has lived in the town of Foresthill in Placer County for the last 22 years.He is also one of the residents who chose to stay put when mandatory evacuations were issued for his home when the Mosquito Fire began threatening that area.“Tuesday morning was a great morning,” Griffith said. “It was beautiful. Everything was great, and then this fire jumped up.” Full story here.El Dorado County and Placer County residents can check if their home is destroyedResidents in El Dorado and Placer counties can check if their homes have been damaged, destroyed, or still intact.The sheriff’s offices for both counties released their own respective interactive maps that let you click on homes that are color-coded based on the amount of damage. Damaged or destroyed homes will also include pictures showing what the house looks like. Homes without damage will not have their pictures posted.View the El Dorado County map below. App users, click here.View the Placer County map below. App users, click here.State of emergency declared Placer County issued a local emergency due to the blaze.“A local emergency proclamation asserts continuing risk to life and property and that the response is beyond the capabilities of local resources,” a release from the county said. “Placer’s proclamation requests state and federal assistance, but neither a state nor a federal disaster has yet been declared that would authorize individual disaster assistance for residents and businesses.” Gov. Gavin Newsom also declared a state of emergency in Placer and El Dorado counties due to the fires. With the state of emergency declared, that opens up federal resources to assist in combating the fire. PG&E files incident report to CPUCIt’s still unclear how the Mosquito Fire started. However, PG&E filed a report with the state’s public utility commission for a pole near where the fire started. The U.S. Forest Service had placed “caution tape around the base of a PG&E transmission pole” the report said on Thursday. “Thus far, PG&E has observed no damage or abnormal conditions to the pole or our facilities near Oxbow Reservoir, has not observed down conductor in the area or any vegetation related issues.”PG&E is investigating. Here’s a look at the current air quality in Northern CaliforniaSmoke from the Mosquito Fire burning in Placer and El Dorado counties will continue to impact areas across the Sacrame...