Ghoulish Moans Are Haunting The Intercoms Of American Airlines Flights
Ghoulish Moans Are Haunting The Intercoms Of American Airlines Flights https://digitalarizonanews.com/ghoulish-moans-are-haunting-the-intercoms-of-american-airlines-flights/
It’s not Halloween yet, but American Airlines passengers have reported ghoulish moans and ghostly breathing over the intercom systems on several flights in recent months.
Film producer Emerson Collins captured the strange cacophony on his Sept. 6 flight from Los Angeles to Dallas. The video has racked up millions of views on Twitter and TikTok.
The weirdest flight ever.
These sounds started over the intercom before takeoff and continued throughout the flight.
They couldn’t stop it, and after landing still had no idea what it was. pic.twitter.com/F8lJlZHJ63
— Emerson Collins (@ActuallyEmerson) September 23, 2022
The humanlike noises began before takeoff and persisted in the air, especially early in the flight and during service, Collins told The Washington Post. In the video, the sounds range from groans and grumbles to whoops.
“I swear it’s a prank,” a flight attendant can be heard telling Collins in the video.
At one point, a flight attendant comes over the intercom to apologize for the “extremely irritating sound” and says the pilots are working to mitigate the problem. As soon as she finishes speaking, the sounds reemerge, resembling a “ho!” and a guttural moan.
Collins said he walked the aisle looking for the source of the noises, expecting it would be obvious in the confined space of an aircraft cabin.
“I’m Nancy Drewing my way looking for the person who looks thoroughly amused by themselves,” he said. “And, of course, I didn’t see anything.”
The Airbus A321 landed safely in Dallas. Collins said he found the incident amusing and that the flight crew reassured passengers there was no safety concern.
“This was fully just a very modern form of immersive in-flight entertainment,” he said.
After Collins posted the video last week, the mystery deepened as passengers on other American flights in recent months reported the same array of noises.
“It wasn’t the whole flight, but periodically weird phrases and sounds. Then a huge ‘oh yeah’ when we landed. We thought the pilot left his mic open,” journalist Doug Boehner tweeted about his recent Orlando to Dallas flight.
Tech executive Brad Allen wrote that he and his wife experienced the noises on an American flight in July.
“To be clear, it was just sounds like the moans and groans of someone in extreme pain,” Allen wrote. “The crew said that it had happened before, and had no explanation.”
Another user said the noises occurred on her Aug. 5 flight from New York to Los Angeles, and aviation commentator @xJonNYC shared an account from a Santa Ana to Dallas flight on Sept. 18.
The incidents sparked amateur sleuthing online, with theories ranging from a prank like a passenger dragging the crew microphone into the lavatory to the more nefarious suggestion of a hack into in-flight systems.
So… We’ve had a good dig into this.
The A321 passenger announcement system looks to be physically discrete to the interphone and other systems.
We’re struggling to see a path. https://t.co/qVdJR6cUm0
— Cybergibbons (@cybergibbons) September 23, 2022
American Airlines spokesperson Sarah Jantz said in a statement that intercom systems on the airline’s planes are hardwired without any external access or WiFi component.
“Following the initial report, our maintenance team thoroughly inspected the aircraft and the PA system and determined the sounds were caused by a mechanical issue with the PA amplifier, which raises the volume of the PA system when the engines are running,” she said. The first report the airline received was the Sept. 18 Santa Ana-Dallas flight, according to Jantz.
“Our team is reviewing the additional reports,” she added.
Collins said if the sounds were the result of a technical problem, then “the ghost in the machine has a hilarious sense of humor.”
“The comedic timing of the sounds seemed entirely too planned to be able to just be some technical glitch,” he said. “But honestly, I have no idea.”
Read More Here
Arizona Jurors Can Now Earn Up To $300 Per Day For Trial Service
Arizona Jurors Can Now Earn Up To $300 Per Day For Trial Service https://digitalarizonanews.com/arizona-jurors-can-now-earn-up-to-300-per-day-for-trial-service/
For the first time in decades, Arizona has substantially raised the amount of money jurors are compensated during trial service.
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court has more than tripled the minimum amount of money jurors can earn each day for sitting in on a trial.
For the first time in over 50 years, state officials have increased juror compensation to between $40 and $300 per day — starting on day one of the trial. The pay rate had previously been set at $12 each day for trials lasting less than five days.
The pay increase applies to jurors serving in the superior courts. Jurors in the city and justice courts will continue to be paid $12 per day.
Arizona’s courts were able to boost its juror compensation after state officials appropriated $1.6 million to the state trial fund.
Chief Justice Robert M. Brutinel said the extra money should help the courts attract a more willing pool of potential jurors and help ensure a more balanced judicial system.
“That fundamental fairness includes placing decision-making in the hands of jurors who can truly be impartial and are representative of the communities in which they assemble,” Brutinel said in a statement.
Individuals who are unemployed, retired, or receive income from another source could can still qualify for a financial reimbursement.
All courts will reimburse jurors for mileage, regardless of whether they’re selected to serve or not.
Up to Speed
Catch up on the latest news and stories on our 12 News YouTube playlist here.
More ways to get 12News
On your phone: Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.
On your streaming device: Download 12News+ to your streaming device
The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like “Today in AZ” and “12 News” and our daily lifestyle program, “Arizona Midday”—on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.
12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona.
On social media: Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Read More…
Helicopter Crashes In Arizona Desert; 2 Aboard Not Injured
Helicopter Crashes In Arizona Desert; 2 Aboard Not Injured https://digitalarizonanews.com/helicopter-crashes-in-arizona-desert-2-aboard-not-injured/
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — A helicopter crash-landed in the Arizona desert Monday morning but authorities said the two people aboard walked away with no injuries.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said the Robinson R22 helicopter went down 4 ½ miles (7.2 kilometers) north of the Mesa’s Falcon Field Airport and on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The airport is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Phoenix.
Aerial video of the crash site showed a smoldering wreckage with scattered debris.
Tribal police said they responded to the scene around 8:30 a.m. and the pilot and passenger both avoided injury.
Authorities have not released their names or the helicopter’s flight plan.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Read More Here
Fox News Host Thinks QAnon Salute At Trump Rally Is A Call For Unity
Fox News Host Thinks QAnon Salute At Trump Rally Is A ‘Call For Unity’ https://digitalarizonanews.com/fox-news-host-thinks-qanon-salute-at-trump-rally-is-a-call-for-unity/
A Fox News host claimed former President Donald Trump was calling for “unity” when his supporters put their index fingers in the air at a recent rally. In reality, the supporters were expressing support for a deranged conspiracy theory asserting Democrats are Satan-worshipping pedophiles.
Emily Campagno was bashing Hillary Clinton on Fox News show Outnumbered Monday after the former secretary of state compared Trump rallies to how Germans became enthralled with Adolf Hitler.
Campagno claimed that while Clinton was criticizing Trump, Trump himself was describing the United States as “one America,” and that his supporters were putting “the finger in the air saying one.”
“So his calls for unity are ironically met with her comparison of World War II,” Compagno said.
Ironically, it wasn’t a call for unity that prompted supporters at the Trump rally to put their fingers in the air.
It was Trump playing a song associated with QAnon, a conspiracy theory that asserts Democrats pedophiles who worship Satan and want to destroy the world. Trump, the theory holds, is the man who can stop this global cabal of pedos.
What’s more, in a clip that went viral of Trump playing the QAnon song, he was attacking President Joe Biden as “cognitively impaired,” the Justice Department as pursuing him in a witch hunt, “fake news” media being “the enemy of the people,” crime being “rampant,” etc.
You could describe his comments as the opposite of unifying:
this is one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen at a Trump rally. All it is missing is passing around Kool-Aid right after. pic.twitter.com/BmPOztb7kA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2022
Of course, Trump has never been one to embrace unity, or nuance, or measured rhetoric of any kind. Winking at a conspiracy theory that deems your political opposition Satan-worshipping pedophiles is at this point par for the course.
Compagno is likely referring to another part of Trump’s speech, when he referred to his supporters as “one movement, one people, one family, and one glorious American nation.”
The QAnon song played throughout those comments as well, and his supporters raised their fingers before he made his comments about “one America.”
Even Trump’s team acknowledged the QAnon salute might have crossed a line. “Once we saw that, we realized we might have a problem,” a Trump aide told CNN after the first incident of finger-gesturing in Ohio earlier this month.
At Trump’s Friday rally in South Carolina, the former president once again played the QAnon song, and supporters in the crowd once again raised their fingers — prompting security working for Trump to tell the supporters to cut it out.
Watch above, via Fox News.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
Read More Here
Liz Cheney Says She Will Campaign Against Republicans | Cowboy State Daily
Liz Cheney Says She Will Campaign Against Republicans | Cowboy State Daily https://digitalarizonanews.com/liz-cheney-says-she-will-campaign-against-republicans-cowboy-state-daily/
***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***
By Leo Wolfson, State Political Reporter
Leo@Cowboystatedaily.com
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney continued her departure from Republican Party loyalty on Saturday, saying she will campaign against GOP nominees for governor in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Both candidates – Kari Lake of Arizona and Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania – have questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“That’s the kind of thing we cannot see in our party. We cannot see an accommodation like that,” Cheney said at a festival put on by the left-of-center Texas Tribune on Saturday. “And I think it’s very important that we be clear about that.”
Lake is the Republican nominee for governor in Arizona, running against Democrat Katie Hobbs in the general election.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected,” Cheney said.
Lake shot back in an interview on Fox News on Sunday, mentioning Cheney’s primary election loss in August.
“That might be the biggest, best gift I’ve ever received,” Lake said. “I mean, the people of Wyoming can’t stand her. I’m pretty much sure that the people of Arizona don’t like Liz Cheney.”
A Larger Effort
Lake, along with the Arizona Republican nominees for secretary of state and attorney general, have called for decertification of the 2020 election.
Cheney has consistently spoken out against those who question the results of the 2020 election, saying this rhetoric and its corresponding actions is an attack on the U.S. Constitution and one of the root causes of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Former President Donald Trump has been at the forefront of 2020 election claims. Cheney also said Saturday that she will leave the Republican Party if Trump wins the party’s nominee for president in 2024.
“If he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican,” she said.
Although Cheney did not clarify specific candidates she plans on supporting in Arizona and Pennsylvania, she said her campaign against Lake and Mastriano could include endorsing their Democratic opponents.
Candidates from the Independent-Green Party and Libertarian Party also are running in the Arizona governor’s race, and candidates from the Green, Libertarian and Keystone Party of Pennsylvania are running for governor in that state.
“The Independent voter and the moderate Democrats and the moderate Republicans around this country want sanity,” Cheney said. “And they want responsibility. And they want to know that their elected officials are serious.”
Although Cheney said she as supported Republican Virginia Gov. Glen Youngkin because he “hasn’t bought into the toxin of Donald Trump,” she also criticized him Saturday for supporting Lake.
Important Races
President Joe Biden’s 2020 election wins in Arizona and Pennsylvania were some of the most contested results in the nation, with many Trump supporters levying claims of fraud and irregularities. The claims were almost entirely unsupported.
Arizona’s governor race will be of particular interest to watch, as Biden was the first Democrat to win that state since 1996. If Lake does not win the election, it could be a sign that voters are still unwilling to give Trump their support and a bellwether for his chances in the 2024 presidential election. Conversely, if Lake wins, it could be a positive sign for Trump’s 2024 hopes.
Pennsylvania is a traditional swing state and will be another important marker for the 2024 election.
Mastriano has not yet responded to Cheney’s comments.
He was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and, like Lake, has been one of the driving voices behind Trump’s claims the 2020 election was illegitimate. He proposed giving the Pennsylvania Legislature the power to designate its own slate of presidential electors and pushed for a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election.
“I think we have to do everything we can in ’22 to make sure those people don’t get elected,” said Cheney. “We have to make sure Mastriano doesn’t win.”
***For All Things Wyoming, Sign-Up For Our Daily Newsletter***
Read More Here
The Premise Poll Finds Plus 10% Plurality Margin Opposing Governors Sending Undocumented Persons To Northern States
The Premise Poll Finds Plus 10% Plurality Margin Opposing Governors Sending Undocumented Persons To Northern States https://digitalarizonanews.com/the-premise-poll-finds-plus-10-plurality-margin-opposing-governors-sending-undocumented-persons-to-northern-states/
Trump remains in statistical dead heat with Biden, who remains underwater in job approval, 51% approve, 42% disapprove
, /PRNewswire/ — The Premise Poll, in its latest regular political tracking poll, found that by a margin of 10 points, 42% – 32%, a plurality of Americans oppose sending undocumented individuals from the U.S.-Mexico border to cities in the North.
Nearly half of respondents (48%) are in favor of increased security along the U.S. and Mexico border. However, 39% are in favor of establishing a way for immigrants here illegally to stay legally, and 39% are in favor of allowing those who came to the U.S. illegally as children (also known as “dreamers”) to remain here. Only 27% favor increasing deportation of immigrants here illegally.
The same poll, taken September 17-19, of a total nationwide sample of 1,703 adults, also had former President Donald Trump in a statistical dead heat with President Joe Biden in a possible 2024 presidential election – with Trump at 49% and Biden at 51%. The Premise Poll’s tracking poll from two weeks ago also had Biden and Trump in a statistical tie.
President Biden’s job approval ratings remain underwater (virtually unchanged from two weeks ago). 51% somewhat or strongly disapprove of the job President Biden is doing vs. 41% who somewhat or strongly approve. More than three times as many in the sample “strongly disapprove” of Biden’s job performance as “strongly approve” – 31% vs. 10% respectively.
Trump still leads the field of potential GOP candidates by huge margins among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents – at 63% for Trump to 14% for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. On the Democratic side, if Biden does not run again, Vice President Kamala Harris is way out front among Democrats and independent leaners – 36% followed by 18% for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 10% and 7% for California Governor Gavin Newsom and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, respectively.
A narrow margin of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents in the sample do not think President Biden should run again (52% – 48%), which is virtually identical to the 53% – 47% opposing another run as seen in Premise’s tracking poll two weeks ago.
Other findings:
More respondents prefer the Democratic party (46%) to have control of Congress following the 2022 midterms than the Republican party (34%) – a margin much larger than other polls. This could suggest an outlier (although the total sample taken mirrors the results of the 2020 presidential election, suggesting the sample is relatively representative).
On opposing vs. favoring what two governors have done in sending undocumented persons north, respondents located in the South (39%) were more likely to approve than respondents located in the Northeast (27%).
More respondents prefer the Democratic party (45%) to lead on immigration policy than the Republican party (37%).
For cross tabulation tables by party, gender, ethnicity, region, see here: https://www.premise.com/blog/premise-poll-immigration/.
Follow the “Great Minds Think Data” Podcast, hosted by Premise CEO Maury Blackman, on your favorite podcast selection site.
Methodology
These results are based on responses from 1,703 Americans collected between September 16th and September 19th via the Premise smartphone application. Premise randomly sampled its opt-in panel members, stratified on Age, Gender, Region and Education, based on the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS). The results are weighted by Age, Gender, Region and Education benchmarked against the 2019 ACS estimates. Respondents were compensated for their completion of the survey through the Premise app.
About Premise
Premise, the innovative platform that democratizes the way data is sourced, analyzed, and applied, recently surveyed, is an on-demand insights company. Its technology mobilizes communities of global smartphone users to source actionable data in real-time, cost-effectively, and with needed visibility. In more than 135 countries and 37 languages, Premise finds Data for Every Decision. To learn more, please visit www.premise.com.
Contact: Taylor C. Pearson
[email protected]
202-235-3482
SOURCE Premise
Read More Here
Will This 220 Page Lawsuit Break Donald Trump? https://digitalarizonanews.com/will-this-220-page-lawsuit-break-donald-trump/
President Biden says he will veto a bill restricting abortion access nationally should the Republicans win Congress this November election. Allison Gill from Mueller, She Wrote joins Stephanie to discuss the 220-page lawsuit brought forth against Donald Trump. She believes this New York Attorney will be what breaks Donald Trump.
The Stephanie Miller Show discusses politics, current events, and pop culture using a fast-paced, impromptu style. Before going nationwide, The SM Show pulled #1 ratings at KABC and KFI in Los Angeles and other radio stations in New York and Chicago. You know her from tons of exposure on TV, and on comedy’s prime stages: host of CNBC’s Equal Time, Oxygen TV’s I’ve Got a Secret, and many others. Stephanie has also appeared on CNN’s Joy Behar, Larry King Live, and Reliable Sources, as well as MSNBC’s The Ed Show, Hannity and Colmes and Neal Cavuto on Fox News, the Today Show, The Tonight Show, and Good Morning America, among many others. Her humor and snappy political wit draw listeners from all sides and makes her the perfect antidote to cantankerous conservatives.
Missed an episode? Check out The Stephanie Miller Show on FSTV VOD anytime or visit the show page for the latest clips. #FreeSpeechTV is one of the last standing national, independent news networks committed to advancing progressive social change. As the alternative to television networks owned by billionaires, governments, and corporations, our network amplifies underrepresented voices and those working on the front lines of social, economic and environmental justice. #FSTV is available on Dish, DirectTV, AppleTV, Roku, Sling and online at freespeech.org.
criminal lawsuit Donald Trump FBI federla lawsuit financial fraud Investigation New York
Read More Here
DeSantis Privately Elevates Election Deniers While Publicly Staying Mum On 2020 KRDO
DeSantis Privately Elevates Election Deniers While Publicly Staying Mum On 2020 – KRDO https://digitalarizonanews.com/desantis-privately-elevates-election-deniers-while-publicly-staying-mum-on-2020-krdo/
By Steve Contorno, CNN
Two months before he was Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ pick to oversee Florida voting, Cord Byrd was a featured speaker at a seminar for people who falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen and wanted training to stop it from happening again.
Leading the Orlando summit was Cleta Mitchell, a conservative lawyer deeply involved in Donald Trump‘s failed plot to overturn the 2020 election. In audio obtained by CNN, Mitchell introduced Byrd as someone committed to “election integrity ” — a phrase that has become a dog whistle for stoking myths about voting vulnerabilities. Mitchell described Byrd, a Republican state lawmaker at the time, as a trusted sounding board for new election policies and an active participant in weekly calls she hosted with like-minded officials across the country.
In turn, Byrd encouraged Mitchell’s trained activists to stay vigilant in the coming elections.
“You’re going to be our army on the ground monitoring your local (election supervisors) to ensure that they’re doing their job right,” Byrd said in the March recording. By the end of May, he was Florida’s next secretary of state.
Byrd’s past collaboration with Mitchell, unreported until now, is illustrative of the access election deniers and those who have given oxygen to their conspiracies have gained in the highest levels of DeSantis’ government. For the past 10 months, top officials in DeSantis’ administration have met numerous times with Florida activists greatly influenced by Mitchell and other national figures involved in the scheme to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat, according to records obtained by CNN. These activists, who operate under the name Defend Florida, argue that even the election results in the Sunshine State — which Trump won by a healthy margin — were tampered with.
Publicly, DeSantis has straddled the GOP’s divide over the last election as he considers whether to run for president in the next one. He is careful not to alienate voters animated by Trump’s relitigating of 2020, while maintaining credibility with Republicans desperate to talk about something else. He rejected calls for an intrusive Arizona-style review of Florida’s election, but nevertheless championed changes to voting procedures that conspiracists have celebrated as evidence of their growing clout in Tallahassee. DeSantis recently embarked on a national tour to boost the campaigns of some of the most fervent election deniers nominated by his party this cycle, though he has not joined them in suggesting Trump should still be president.
DeSantis, who has refused to say if he thinks President Joe Biden was lawfully elected, also privately addressed the Orlando summit, which was organized by the Conservative Partnership Institute, a group that has attracted multiple Trump confidantes. Its leadership now includes Mitchell, who was on the phone with Trump when he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to flip the election result in his state.
Documented, a watchdog group that tracks outside influence in politics, obtained the leaked recordings from the event and provided them to CNN. In his remarks, DeSantis recalled for the audience election night 2020, when the governor said he wanted to publicly declare Trump the winner in Florida before the networks had but “this is like the one time Fox News would not allow me to go on.”
“They’re always begging me,” DeSantis said. “They would not let me go on because I was going to say Trump won Florida.” Someone in the crowd yelled out, “Traitor.”
DeSantis went on to raise concerns about the election process in neighboring Georgia, dancing around the edges of the conspiracies that have rattled the state ever since Trump lost by less than 12,000 votes. He said there was “massive ballot harvesting” in Atlanta, demonizing a practice that until 2020 allowed for people in Georgia to legally drop off other people’s absentee ballots at voting locations and drop boxes. He alleged that Atlanta prosecutors wouldn’t investigate voter fraud even if presented with evidence.
DeSantis took particular issue with the amount of time needed for Georgia to finish tallying votes. It took days for the state to report a result. Election officials in Georgia had warned that counting absentee ballots often lasts past election night, but in 2020, the tight race and a surge in mail-in votes due to the coronavirus pandemic heightened the awareness of those votes counted later. Florida also counted mail-in ballots from military personnel and overseas voters received after the election, but Trump was too far ahead for the outcome to change.
“Even if you tell me it was 100% above board, it doesn’t sit well with people,” DeSantis said. “They’re not going to have confidence in that. Obviously, the more you spread it out, the more opportunities there are, you know, to not do it with integrity.”
Local election officials from both parties say they are troubled that DeSantis and others in his administration continue to entertain activists who have for the last two years hounded their offices with unfounded accusations of malfeasance and worked to undermine confidence in their operations.
“It’s unfortunate that their message is being amplified within government,” said Mark Earley, the supervisor of elections in Leon County and a Democrat who serves as president of the association representing local election officials in Florida. “It’s very disheartening. And it’s very hard to defend ourselves.”
Mark Ard, a spokesman for the Florida Department of State, did not respond when asked whether Byrd still participated in Mitchell’s organized calls. Ard said Byrd was “performing the role of a legislator” by participating in the Orlando summit and working with Mitchell’s group on election legislation. Byrd represented parts of Florida’s northeast coast in the state House for about five years until he was named DeSantis’ secretary of state.
“As a Representative, he was proactive in his role in ensuring that people were aware of legislation that would impact his constituency and was involved in discussions to improve legislation that would best suit the needs of his voters,” Ard said.
In a statement about his administration’s meetings with Defend Florida, DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin said the governor’s office “hears concerns from a variety of citizen interest groups regularly” and forwards them to the Florida Department of State.
“These matters are taken seriously,” Griffin said, “as election integrity is critical to a democratic society.”
Defend Florida goes to Tallahassee
In the days after the 2020 election, DeSantis was among the first Republican leaders to suggest that Trump-aligned legislators in key swing states had the power to intervene in the choosing of electors, even after all the votes were counted. He floated the idea during an appearance on Fox News two days after the election. But he quickly pivoted to highlighting Florida’s successful election night.
By promoting Florida’s flawless election performance, though, DeSantis was at odds with an increasingly vocal group of Trump supporters who baselessly believed the state hadn’t escaped a national conspiracy to commit widespread voter fraud. Organized under the name Defend Florida and modeled after Arizona Trump supporters, they spent the year after the 2020 election knocking on thousands of doors across the state in an effort to prove voter fraud existed on a mass scale. Supporters of their cause put their demands on a billboard in Tallahassee addressed to DeSantis: “Audit Florida’s 2020 Election Now.”
In his public remarks, DeSantis repeatedly rebuffed Defend Florida’s calls for an audit, insisting the state had already adequately verified the election results. But behind the scenes, several members of DeSantis’ top staff were assembled for a meeting last December with representatives from Defend Florida, according to a calendar invite obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight and provided to CNN.
Two days after their meeting, Caroline Wetherington, a co-founder of Defend Florida, sent DeSantis’ legislative affairs director Stephanie Kopelousos a document full of anti-Muslim conspiracies that suggested voter fraud was committed by a member of the Seminole County canvassing board identified as “the woman in the hijab.” Wetherington noted that Defend Florida “did not put this information together” but twice forwarded it to Kopelousos.
If the governor’s office found any validity in the accusations, it didn’t follow up with Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Chris Anderson, a Republican appointed by DeSantis Ωƒwho told CNN that whoever authored the document was “misinformed.” Nevertheless, the governor’s office scheduled to huddle again with Defend Florida two weeks later, another calendar invite showed. Defend Florida landed another meeting in February with the state’s top election officials, then-Secretary of State Laurel Lee, a DeSantis appointee, and Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews, according to an email between Defend Florida organizers and the state provided by American Oversight.
Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox attended a meeting between Defend Florida representatives and the DeSantis administration in which he and Lee painstakingly debunked the evidence the group had collected. For example, the group claimed that having thousands of voters registered to an Okaloosa County courthouse suggested obvious fraud. Wilcox, a Republican, told CNN he informed the group that the courthouse served as the address for Air Force service members stationed at a nearby base.
Wilcox thought the Defend Florida representatives left with a better understanding of the state’s election proc...
Special Master In Classified Mar-A-Lago Documents Case Still Plans To Preside Over Brooklyn Trial Of Man Who Threatened To Kill Trump
Special Master In Classified Mar-A-Lago Documents Case Still Plans To Preside Over Brooklyn Trial Of Man Who Threatened To Kill Trump https://digitalarizonanews.com/special-master-in-classified-mar-a-lago-documents-case-still-plans-to-preside-over-brooklyn-trial-of-man-who-threatened-to-kill-trump/
The special master in the Mar-a-Lago documents case still plans to preside over the November trial of a man who threatened to kill former President Donald Trump — another signal that the veteran jurist will make quick work of his role in the classified papers probe.
Judge Raymond Dearie is presiding over the case of Thomas Welnicki, a 72-year-old Rockaway Beach resident who federal prosecutors say made several calls to the Secret Service last year threatening to kill Trump.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in Brooklyn Federal Court on Nov. 2 — weeks before Dearie’s Nov. 30 deadline to complete his special master work.
Judge Raymond Dearie in a courtroom sketch. (Elizabeth Williams/AP)
Dearie told the Daily News through a staff member in his chambers Monday he has no plans to hand the case to another judge despite his special master duties.
At a hearing last week, Dearie told lawyers for Trump and the Department of Justice that he expects to review the roughly 11,000 documents seized by the FBI in a matter of weeks.
“We’re going to proceed with what I call ‘responsible dispatch.’ I’m not going to hurry but we have a lot to do and a relatively short period of time,” Dearie said at the hearing.
Dearie issued a scheduling order in Welnicki’s case last week, setting deadlines for motions as the trial approaches.
A page from the order by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon naming Raymond Dearie as special master to serve as an independent arbiter and to review records seized during the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, is photographed Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. (Jon Elswick/AP)
Welnicki made several threats against Trump, starting in 2020, when he told Capitol Police in a voluntary interview that he would “acquire weapons” and “take him down” if he refused to leave office, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint refers to Trump as “Individual-1,” and details a series of calls Welnicki made to the Secret Service in 2021, including a Nov. 8 call where he referred to the former president as “Hitler” and said, “I will do everything I can to make sure [Individual-1] is dead.”
The Daily News Flash
Weekdays
Catch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Breon Peace declined comment on Monday, as did Welnicki’s lawyer, Deirdre Von Dornum.
Judge Raymond J. Dearie in 2001. (Edwine Seymour/for New York Daily News)
Sources familiar with Welnicki’s defense team said they consider Dearie “extremely fair” and don’t believe any conflict might arise from his special master work.
Dearie was one of Team Trump’s picks for a special master, after Judge Aileen Cannon put the brakes on the DOJ’s investigation into whether the former president took and improperly stored classified and top secret documents after leaving office.
Cannon, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida’s Southern District, ordered that DOJ investigators couldn’t use the seized documents in their probe until a special master reviewed them, in a much-derided August ruling.
Former President Donald Trump (Chris Seward/AP)
But that legal victory may have backfired on Trump’s lawyers.
Dearie put Trump’s legal team on the hook last week, forcing them to take a position on whether he declassified documents and to provide proof of his unfounded claim the FBI planted evidence.
And last Wednesday, a three-judge appeals panel in the 11th Circuit — which included two Trump appointees — reversed parts of Cannon’s decision and ruled that the DOJ can continue to use about 100 classified files uncovered in the Mar-a-Lago search.
Read More Here
Stock Market Today: Dow Loses Over 300 Points British Pound Drops To Record Low Against The U.S. Dollar
Stock Market Today: Dow Loses Over 300 Points, British Pound Drops To Record Low Against The U.S. Dollar https://digitalarizonanews.com/stock-market-today-dow-loses-over-300-points-british-pound-drops-to-record-low-against-the-u-s-dollar/
About this page
Last Updated: Sep 26, 2022 at 1:35 pm ET
Follow The Wall Street Journal’s full markets coverage after the British pound hit its lowest-ever level against the U.S. dollar.
Read More Here
Ian Strengthens Into A Hurricane As Florida Begins Evacuations And Cuba Braces For Possible Floods
Ian Strengthens Into A Hurricane As Florida Begins Evacuations And Cuba Braces For Possible Floods https://digitalarizonanews.com/ian-strengthens-into-a-hurricane-as-florida-begins-evacuations-and-cuba-braces-for-possible-floods/
Ian strengthened into a hurricane on Monday as Florida began ordering evacuations and prepared for possible floods this week.
Tornadoes are also possible late Monday night and into Tuesday across the Florida Keys and the southern and central Florida Peninsula, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A mandatory evacuation was issued for some residents in Hillsborough County on the westernmost part of the Florida Peninsula on Monday. Emergency shelters were opened in the county, which includes Tampa.
County Administrator Bonnie Wise told reporters the orders and recommendations for evacuation will go into effect at 2 p.m. on Monday.
“We did not make this decision easily, but the storm poses a serious threat and we must do everything we can to protect our residents,” Wise said during a news conference.
In coordination with Hillsborough officials, the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, home to U.S. Central Command, has also announced a mandatory evacuation. The order is for “non-mission essential individuals” living in the westernmost part of the county, which includes uniformed service members, civilian employees and their dependents. This evacuation is in effect and set to be completed by Tuesday afternoon.
Hernando County, about an hour north of Hillsborough, has issued a voluntary evacuation order on Monday for those living in low-lying areas and mobile homes. The order will become mandatory on Tuesday morning. Shelters will also open on Tuesday and schools will be closed in the coastal county.
Manatee County, south of Hillsborough, also announced plans for mandatory evacuation for some residents that will go into effect Tuesday morning, according to a news release.
Cuba, Cayman Islands in the path of the storm
Currently in the western Caribbean Sea, Ian is expected to rapidly strengthen during the next day or so and become a major hurricane as it nears western Cuba, where it is expected to “produce significant wind and storm surge impacts.”
The storm, which is about 240 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba, has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, with higher gusts, the hurricane center said.
A hurricane watch was issued along the west coast of Florida from north of Englewood to the Anclote River, including Tampa Bay, while a tropical storm warning is in place for the lower Florida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge to Key West as well as Dry Tortugas Island.
The center of Ian is expected to pass near or west of the Cayman Islands on Monday, and near or over western Cuba on Monday evening and early Tuesday, the hurricane center said.
“Ian will then emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, and pass west of the Florida Keys late Tuesday, and approach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday,” it said.
Preparing for heavy rain, flooding, storm surge
The hurricane is forecast to bring 8 to 15 inches of rain to central West Florida, 3 to 8 inches to the rest of the Florida Peninsula and 4 to 6 inches to the Keys.
“Heavy rainfall is expected to affect North Florida, eastern portions of the Florida Panhandle, and portions of the Southeast, and Mid Atlantic regions Friday and Saturday,” the NHC said. This rain can cause flash and urban flooding mid-to-late week in central Florida as well as across the Florida Keys and peninsula through midweek.
Flooding and rising of streams and rivers over northern Florida and parts of the southeast U.S. are also possible mid-to-late week.
“Regardless of Ian’s exact track and intensity, there is a risk of dangerous storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and heavy rainfall along the west coast of Florida and the Florida Panhandle by the middle of this week, and residents in Florida should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place,” it said.
In photos captured Sunday, residents in Tampa could be seen filling sandbags to help prevent against flooding ahead of the storm.
People fill their allotted 10 free sandbags to prepare for the storm’s arrival in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday.Luis Santana / Tampa Bay Times via Zuma Press
In Kissimmee, about an hour northeast of Tampa, a long line of shoppers could be seen waiting outside a store in a race to stock up on supplies ahead of Ian’s arrival. A number of people could be seen carting several cases of water bottles out of the store.
Before the hurricane reaches Florida, it is predicted to pass near or west of the Cayman Islands before moving over to western Cuba.
‘Pray and hope for the best’
“Life-threatening” storm surge and hurricane-force winds are expected to hit parts of western Cuba starting late Monday, with Ian expected to be at or near major hurricane strength by the time it nears the region.
Western Cuba can receive anywhere from 6 to 16 inches of rain, the Cayman Islands might receive 3 to 8 inches and Jamaica an additional 1 to 3 inches, according to forecasters. This rainfall may produce flash flooding and mudslides in higher terrain areas over western Cuba.
Water levels along the coast of western Cuba can rise as much as 9 to 14 feet above normal tide levels Monday night and early Tuesday.
A hurricane warning is in place for Grand Cayman and the Cuban provinces of Isla de Juventud, Pinar del Rio and Artemisa while a tropical storm warning is in effect for the Cuban provinces of La Habana, Mayabeque and Matanzas.
Authorities in Cuba suspended school classes in Pinar del Rio Province and said they would start evacuations Monday in preparation for the storm.
The Cuban state media outlet Granma reported that authorities planned to start evacuating people from vulnerable areas early Monday in the far-western province.
“Efforts to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the hurricane center warned.
Tropical storm watches are in place for Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.
Cayman Islands Premier Wayne Panton urged residents to get ready for the storm and to also check in on neighbors.
He said that there was some uncertainty, but that “history has taught us that we must prepare as best we can, and we must prepare for the worst and absolutely pray and hope for the best.”
Read More Here
Iran Says U.S. Attempting To Use Unrest To Weaken Country
Iran Says U.S. Attempting To Use Unrest To Weaken Country https://digitalarizonanews.com/iran-says-u-s-attempting-to-use-unrest-to-weaken-country/
Pro-government peoples rally against the recent protest gatherings in Iran, after the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran September 23, 2022. Iranians have staged mass protests over the case of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died last week after being arrested by the morality police for wearing “unsuitable attire”.WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Calls for teachers and students strike
Iran says will respond to U.S. action
Germany summons Iranian ambassador
DUBAI, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Iran faced more international criticism on Monday over the death of a woman in police custody which triggered nationwide protests, after Tehran accused the United States of using the unrest to try to destabilise the country.
Iran has cracked down on the biggest demonstrations since 2019 sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 after she was detained by morality police enforcing the Islamic Republic’s strict restrictions on women’s dress. The case has drawn widespread condemnation.
Canada will impose sanctions on those responsible for the death of Amini, including Iran’s morality police unit and its leadership, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
“We’ve seen Iran disregarding human rights time and time again, now we see it with the death of Mahsa Amini and the crackdown on protests,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
Iran said the United States was supporting rioters and seeking to destabilise the Islamic Republic.
“Washington is always trying to weaken Iran’s stability and security although it has been unsuccessful,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told Nour news, which is affiliated with a top security body, in a statement.
On his Instagram page, Kanaani accused the leaders of the United States and some European countries of abusing a tragic incident in support of “rioters” and ignoring “the presence of millions of people in the streets and squares of the country in support of the system”.
ENVOY SUMMONED
Also on Monday, Germany summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin to urge Tehran to stop its crackdown and allow peaceful protests. Asked about the possibility of further sanctions on Tehran in response to the violence, a German foreign ministry spokesperson had earlier said, “we will consider all options” with other European Union states. read more
Last week, the United States imposed sanctions on Iran’s morality police over allegations of abuse of Iranian women, saying it held the unit responsible for the death of Amini.
Students from the Dentistry Faculty of the University of Tabriz, with the exception of the emergency department, took part in a strike on Monday and refused to participate in classes, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRNA), a news site by a collective of Iranian human rights advocates.
The strikes were conducted to protest against widespread arrests of students and forceful encounters with security forces in Iranian universities, it said.
On Sunday, Iran summoned the British and Norwegian ambassadors over what it called interference and hostile media coverage of the unrest.
STRIKE CALL
The anti-government protests are the largest to sweep Iran since demonstrations over fuel prices in 2019, when Reuters reported 1,500 people were killed in a crackdown on protesters – the bloodiest bout of internal unrest in the Islamic Republic’s history.
At least 41 people have been killed since Sept. 17, according to state TV.
President Ebrahim Raisi has said Iran ensures freedom of expression and that he has ordered an investigation into Amini’s death.
A leading Iranian teachers’ union, in a statement posted on social media on Sunday, called for teachers and students to stage the first national strike since the unrest began, on Monday and Wednesday.
Women have played a prominent role in the protests, waving and burning their veils.
In a video circulating on social media, the sister of a man killed in the anti-government demonstrations, Javad Heydari, cut her hair on his grave in defiance of Iran’s Islamic dress code. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video.
The state has organised rallies to try to defuse the crisis.
Although the demonstrations over Amini’s death are a major challenge to the government, analysts see no immediate threat to Iran’s leaders because the elite security forces have stamped out protests in the past.
Iran has blamed armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of involvement in the unrest, particularly in the northwest where most of Iran’s up to 10 million Kurds live.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched an artillery and drone attack on Iranian militant opposition bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, semi-official Tasnim news agency said.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Additional reporting by Rachel More in Berlin and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams, William Maclean and Grant McCool
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Read More Here
Aguano Recruiting Era Kicks Off Updates And Decommitments
Aguano Recruiting Era Kicks Off, Updates And Decommitments https://digitalarizonanews.com/aguano-recruiting-era-kicks-off-updates-and-decommitments/
On this edition of the Recruiting Roundup brought to you by IBEW Local 640, Claudia Collins has the latest updates, offers and decommitments. Shaun Aguano has already begun to make his mark on in-state recruitment after making appearances at to high school football games. Aguano was at the Mountain View at Basha game and made his way to the Saguaro at Chandler game.
Players Mentioned:
Chandler – Ca’lil Valentine
Chandler – Dylan Raiola
Highland – Caleb Lomu
Desert Mountain – Dylan Tapley
Pinnacle – Elijah Paige
Read More Here
Here's How Phoenix Aims To Transform McDowell Road AZ Big Media
Here's How Phoenix Aims To Transform McDowell Road – AZ Big Media https://digitalarizonanews.com/heres-how-phoenix-aims-to-transform-mcdowell-road-az-big-media/
A long-neglected stretch of McDowell Road in central Phoenix could one day be transformed with shade trees, enhanced lighting, colorful crosswalks and murals.
Representatives from the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department met with the public Tuesday night to discuss the McDowell Road Revitalization Project to bring safety and aesthetic improvements to a section of the road from Seventh Street to State Route 51.
“We’re here to seek out what the community envisions to foster this sense of place, with the primary focus on pedestrian safety,” project manager Brandy Ruark said.
McDowell Road is a six-lane roadway that serves as an exit and entrance to state Route 51. It also serves as a detour route to Interstate 10 in emergency situations.
READ ALSO: Ranking Arizona: Top 10 best places to live for 2022
READ ALSO: Phoenix ranks as No. 6 most desirable city in America
“McDowell has importance to the local community due to its history and vibrant nature, in addition to a large commercial network of diverse and active local businesses,” Ruark said. “McDowell also provides access to a major hospital and serves as an incident management route.”
Because McDowell Road is a major roadway, the department said traffic lanes will not be changed through this project. However, they are looking at minimal changes that enhance the overall efficiency of the area.
Department officials pointed out current constraints on the road: property lines with parking too close to the roadway, frequent driveways that cut across sidewalks, minimal building setbacks, high traffic volumes and driver behavior not compatible with safe biking and walking.
They also proposed ideas that could be implemented on the road and the surrounding area.
“Potential updates for new features include structural shade, median islands, bike parking, bench seating areas and pedestrian-scale lighting,” Ruark said.
Carl Langford, a traffic engineering supervisor with the department, said a top priority will be to upgrade traffic signals so that there is better timing synced to cars on that section of McDowell Road.
“In general, research shows that that improves red light running,” he said.
By identifying the area’s problems and proposing new examples, the department hopes to encourage more ideas from the community. They are heavily relying on public input through meetings and their survey.
“This survey includes an opportunity to list other innovative ideas you may have,” Ruark said.
According to the Phoenix Street Transportation Department director Kini Knudson, about 140 people registered to attend the virtual meeting and about 43 people requested to speak.
He said this is the first of three meetings that the department will have throughout the next year as they go through this pre-design phase.
Many community members who spoke gave suggestions on what would enhance safety and aesthetics in their eyes. Ideas included building bike racks, turning bus stops and street furniture into public art opportunities, incorporating features for people with visual or hearing impairments, and maintaining wide and well-shaded sidewalks.
However, one community member had concerns about the actual goals of the project.
“It seems like most of the things we’re hearing are cosmetic and the priority here is still to maintain this as a six lane corridor, which puts traffic first as opposed to pedestrians,” he said. “Seems like our priorities are a little upside down here.”
With high community engagement in their first meeting, the department gathered an array of feedback and ideas to further the early planning stages of the revitalization project. According to the City of Phoenix website, they are aiming to complete this phase by May 2023. They have not yet determined a construction year.
Knudson said the department has not identified funding for the design and construction phases.
However, Ruark said the Street Transportation Department won a grant from the Maricopa Association of Governments to fund the current planning phase after emphasizing the significance of the road to the region.
“The area includes an array of ethnic restaurants and markets and is becoming a hub for immigrant and refugee entrepreneurship,” she said.
Read More…
2 People On Board Crash-Landed Helicopter In Desert Area On Salt River-Pima Indian Community
2 People On Board Crash-Landed Helicopter In Desert Area On Salt River-Pima Indian Community https://digitalarizonanews.com/2-people-on-board-crash-landed-helicopter-in-desert-area-on-salt-river-pima-indian-community/
SALT RIVER PIMA-MARICOPA INDIAN COMMUNITY, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Multiple agencies are responding to an apparent helicopter crash in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community in the East Valley early Monday morning.
The crash was first reported north of the Loop 202 Red Mountain freeway along Power Road in east Mesa, near the Granite Reef dam recreational area, around 8 a.m. A short time later, Salt River Police and Fire crews located the crash site of a Robinson R-22 helicopter along the Beeline Highway (SR-87) near the Arizona Canal. The Federal Aviation Administration said the crash happened about 4.5 miles north of the Falcon Field Airport in Mesa. Aerial video of the crash site shows a wrecked helicopter in a desert area with debris scattered around the crash site. Two people were on board. Officials have not said if they were injured.
The FAA and NTSB are now investigating what led up to the crash.
This is a developing story. Stay with Arizona’s Family on TV and on our FREE mobile app for the latest updates.
Fire crews were on the scene not far from the crash site.(Arizona’s Family)
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
Read More Here
The Center For Aesthetics Explains Botox And How It Works Digital Journal
The Center For Aesthetics Explains Botox And How It Works – Digital Journal https://digitalarizonanews.com/the-center-for-aesthetics-explains-botox-and-how-it-works-digital-journal/
Idaho Falls, Idaho: The highly trained practitioners at the Center for Aesthetics, receive many questions regarding how Botox works. To best serve their community, they produced a new blog post to help explain how Botox works. CFA uses state-of-the-art technology to provide a wide range of treatment options tailored to their patient’s concerns. See their advanced and proprietary aesthetic medicine services here: https://cfabeautyidahofalls.com.
CFA stated, “There are several misconceptions around Botox, and many wonder if Botox works if you already have wrinkles, the answer is a resounding YES. In fact, smoothing out facial wrinkles and fine lines, crow’s feet, and frown lines is the primary FDA-approved purpose of Botox injections.”
They go on to say, Botox is a fully tried-and-tested procedure it has been researched for over 20 years and is the only product in its category with this level of scientific backing. The safety and efficacy of Botox have been described in more than 500 peer-reviewed articles in scientific and medical journals.
As The Center for Aesthetics explains, there are several reasons why lines and wrinkles develop on the face. A reduction in collagen or sun and environmental damage is partially responsible for it, but muscle contractions generated by frowning, squinting, or raising eyebrows cause the skin to furrow and fold as well, thus leading to the formation of facial wrinkles.
Botox is a neuromodulator that relaxes the muscles of the face that cause unwanted lines. Injecting it into specific muscles will block specific chemical signals from nerves, preventing muscles from contracting. This will, in turn, reduce wrinkles around the eyes and on the forehead because the muscles in those areas remain relaxed. CFA emphasizes that neuromodulators have been used in medicine for over 30 years and are proven to be very safe.
Botox is quick and unintrusive, having minimal to no downtime after the procedure is done. While there may be some minor bruising after the injections, it will fade away quickly. Results from the procedure will be visible within 4-14 days, and they will last for 3-4 months. The procedure can be repeated regularly to maintain the results. Go here to read the article: Botox – How it Works, and the Top Frequently Asked Questions.
CFA says, “We have been performing Botox procedures for over 20 years, and we have set the standard for these treatments. Unlike many other med spas providing this service, our providers are experienced, board-certified Physician Assistants and Medical Doctors.”
The Center for Aesthetics does point out that Botox treatments are not a permanent solution to wrinkles; if and when the treatments are stopped, the moderate to severe lines and crow’s feet will gradually reappear. However, they can be treated with Botox once more without any issues. Since Botox is approved for patients who are 18 years and older, Botox can also be used as a preventative measure to ensure that early, fine lines do not transform into severe wrinkles.
Experts agree that patients in their mid to late 20s and early 30s are excellent candidates for the procedure. Since most people are unlikely to have enough wrinkles to be concerned about prior to their late 20s, there is no need for Botox before this stage of their lives. The Center for Aesthetics assures that Botox is a great option despite the age of the individual in question and that it can even work to suppress advanced signs of aging. CFA also offers advanced treatments, pairing Botox with dermal fillers and skin treatments such as lasers, tixel, and microneedling for more dramatic results.
In the article, the company goes into more detail and answers other questions concerning Botox, such as how many injections may be required and more. Those who want to learn more about Botox or simply read about the Idaho Falls med spa and other services they provide should visit their official website for more information. Founder Catherine Durboraw, MD encourages interested parties to get in touch with the clinic via phone or email.
###
For more information about The Center for Aesthetics, contact the company here:
The Center for Aesthetics
Catherine Durboraw, MD
800-575-8337
[email protected]
Idaho Falls Clinic
2375 E Sunnyside Rd, Idaho Falls, ID 83404
Jackson Hole Clinic
3465 North Pines Way, Suite 101, Wilson WY 83014
Scottsdale
36600 N. Pima Road, Suite 104B, Carefree, AZ 85377
Read More Here
Rally For Trump-Backed Pennsylvania Gov. Candidate Flops Hard After Only 60 People Show Up
Rally For Trump-Backed Pennsylvania Gov. Candidate Flops Hard After Only 60 People Show Up https://digitalarizonanews.com/rally-for-trump-backed-pennsylvania-gov-candidate-flops-hard-after-only-60-people-show-up/
Doug Mastriano. (US Army photo)
Doug Mastriano, the far-right Trump-backed candidate for Pennsylvania governor, held what was supposed to be a “big rally” in the state capital of Harrisburg.
However, the New York Times reports that the rally was a massive flop after only 60 people showed up.
The Times notes that the rally debacle was just the latest setback to Mastriano’s campaign, which has drawn criticism for trying to find support on the right-wing social network Gab that is a haven for bigotry and anti-Semitism.
“[Mastriano] is being heavily outspent by his Democratic rival, has had no television ads on the air since May, has chosen not to interact with the state’s news media in ways that would push his agenda, and trails by double digits in reputable public polling and most private surveys,” the paper writes. “There’s no sign of cavalry coming to his aid, either: The Republican Governors Association, which is helping the party’s nominees in Arizona, Michigan and six other states, has no current plans to assist Mr. Mastriano, according to people with knowledge of its deliberations.”
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump made a ‘startlingly honest admission’ about his reasons for entering politics
The Times writes that Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, the RGA’s co-chairman, hinted earlier this year that Mastriano might be a “lost cause” unworthy of receiving a major injection of funds.
“We don’t fund lost causes and we don’t fund landslides,” he explained after being asked about Mastriano. “You have to show us something, you have to demonstrate that you can move numbers and you can raise resources.”
Read More Here
Hurricane Ian Strengths To 80 Mph As Watches Extended Farther Into Florida Keys
Hurricane Ian Strengths To 80 Mph As Watches Extended Farther Into Florida Keys https://digitalarizonanews.com/hurricane-ian-strengths-to-80-mph-as-watches-extended-farther-into-florida-keys/
Hurricane Ian’s top winds increased to 80 mph late Monday morning, beginning a period of rapid intensification expected to bring the storm to Category 4 strength.
Tropical storm watches were extended to the Middle Florida Keys and Lake Okeechobee, reflecting the storm’s larger wind field, while Florida’s Gulf coast braced for the first direct hit on the continental United States of the 2022 hurricane season.
As of 11 a.m. Monday, Ian was 100 miles west of Grand Cayman and 240 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba. Both Cuba and Grand Cayman are under hurricane warnings.
The storm is expected to strengthen quickly, becoming a major hurricane with winds of up to 120 mph by Monday night when it’s expected to approach landfall in western Cuba, the National Hurricane Center said. Its winds are projected to top out at 140 mph, Category 4 strength over the Gulf of Mexico before weakening slightly before landfall.
Despite the attention given to high winds, the biggest killer in hurricanes tends to be water. The hurricane center warned Monday that the Gulf coast faces a high risk of storm surge, the rapid increase in sea level that can flood coastal neighborhoods.
“Life-threatening storm surge is possible along much of the Florida west coast, with the highest risk from Fort Myers to the Tampa Bay region,” the hurricane center said at 11 a.m.
Hurricane watches went up on Florida’s west coast Monday morning, from north of Englewood to the Anclote River, including Tampa Bay.
Southeast Florida remains outside the cone projecting the likely course of the storm’s center. But winds of tropical force and hurricane force can occur outside the cone, depending on how close to the center comes to the edge of the cone.
South Florida has a 35-45% chance of tropical-force winds, meaning winds of at least 39 mph, the National Weather Service said in a Monday morning report. The earliest time these winds could arrive is Tuesday morning, although Tuesday night or Wednesday morning is more likely.
[ MAP: See the latest forecast map for potential Hurricane Ian ]
“Heavy rain bands with wind gusts and squalls to near tropical storm force are expected over all of South Florida tomorrow through Wednesday,” the weather service said. “Rainfall flooding and isolated tornadoes are possible across all of South Florida during this time frame.”
The storm is expected to expand as it strengthens, placing a larger area at risk of high winds. These winds can rip off tree branches, knock down power line and blow objects off the ground, the weather service said.
“While a direct landfall to South Florida is unlikely at this time, hazardous conditions can extend well away from the center of the system” the weather service said.
The National Hurricane Center said Ian is forecast to rapidly into a major hurricane by Monday night, meaning Category 3 or above. If it were to reach major hurricane status, it would be the season’s second major Atlantic hurricane. Fiona, which dissipated Sunday as a remnant low, was 2022′s first major hurricane.
Experts predict Ian’s maximum sustained winds could ultimately reach up to 140 mph this week, which would make it a Category 4 hurricane.
[ RELATED: NASA plays it safe, to roll Artemis I back from launch pad ]
Most of Florida continued to brace for the uncertain path of the intensifying storm.
In addition to the hurricane watch for part of west Florida, a tropical storm warning was in effect from Seven Mile Bridge to Key West, including the Dry Tortugas, meaning tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.
On the forecast track, the center of Ian is expected to pass near or west of the Cayman Islands on Monday, and near or over western Cuba Monday night and early Tuesday. Ian will then emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.
Tropical storm force wind probability from Hurricane Ian in the National Weather Service’s 11 a.m. update
The National Weather Service continues to emphasize uncertainty in the storm’s path once it enters the Gulf, and said the storm is expected to expand in size as well. The models show a possible direct hit to the Tampa area all the way through the Florida Panhandle.
In addition to the tropical storm warning for the lower Keys, a storm surge watch has been issued for the Keys from the Card Sound Bridge westward to Key West, including the Dry Tortugas, and for the west coast of Florida from Englewood southward to the Card Sound Bridge, including Florida Bay. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the west coast of Florida from Englewood southward to Chokoloskee.
Small changes in the path will make a big difference in the impact throughout Florida. In South Florida, widespread rain could lead to major flooding, accompanied by winds gusting up to tropical storm levels.
[ STAY UPDATED with the latest forecast for tropical weather at SunSentinel.com/hurricane ]
DeSantis said to expect heavy rains, strong winds, flash flooding, storm surges and even isolated tornadoes. He has issued a state of emergency for all 67 counties “given the uncertainty of the storm.”
Breaking News Alerts
As it happens
Get updates on developing stories as they happen with our free breaking news email alerts.
President Biden has also approved a federal emergency declaration for Florida, allowing it to access the resources of FEMA.
The state has waved restrictions for commercial trucks and authorized emergency refills of prescriptions or 30 days. DeSantis said he’s also activated 2,500 members of the Florida National Guard to assist with the emergency.
[ RELATED: Everything you need to know heading into the potential hurricane ]
Meanwhile, forecasters say there’s a 40 to 50% chance a tropical depression could form this week from a broad area of low pressure in the Atlantic off Africa. However, experts say it may be short-lived if it encounters upper-level winds, which hinder storm formation.
What was Tropical Storm Gaston had dissipated by early Monday.
The next named storm to form would be Julia.
Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
Staff writer Scott Travis contributed to this report.
Read More Here
British Pound Falls To All-Time Low Against Dollar After Taxes Slashed
British Pound Falls To All-Time Low Against Dollar After Taxes Slashed https://digitalarizonanews.com/british-pound-falls-to-all-time-low-against-dollar-after-taxes-slashed/
LONDON — The British pound hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar on Monday following the new government’s move to enact sweeping tax cuts to boost growth, adding to global recession fears.
The pound’s slide comes as Britain grapples with soaring public debt and a cost-of-living crisis, amid deteriorating investor confidence. It also raised the prospect that Bank of England may intervene in currency markets to shore up the pound.
Sterling’s slump in part reflects the strength of the U.S. dollar, which has been boosted by higher interest rates. But it also has dropped against many other currencies, indicating specific concerns about the British economy.
The pound hit a record low of $1.03 in Asian trading early Monday, before regaining some ground and stabilizing around $1.08 — still well below where it was Friday morning before the government unveiled its “mini-budget.”
The slump comes as global markets falter and recession fears grow in many geographies. In the United States, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week in its ongoing push to subdue high inflation. It was the fifth rate hike of the year and the third consecutive one of three-quarters of a percentage point. That roiled Wall Street, and by Friday the Dow Jones industrial average had closed below 30,0000, to its lowest point since 2020.
“We have got to get inflation behind us,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell said last week. “I wish there were a painless way to do that. There isn’t.”
The major U.S. indexes were mixed Monday morning, with the Dow falling about 125 points, or 0.4 percent and the S&P 5oo down 0.2 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.3 percent.
The pound’s drop comes about two months after the euro reached parity with the dollar for the first time in nearly two decades. The war in Ukraine has disrupted food supplies and sent energy costs soaring around the world and especially in Europe. That combined with the Fed’s raising interest rates has made the dollar a comparatively safer bet for investors.
A weaker currency, of course, does not necessarily reflect a weak economy. In many cases, it may be advantageous, for example making British exports cheaper for consumers in the United States — and so a weak pound will boost overseas sales for companies that are export-oriented. But it means that anything denominated in dollars, such as energy costs, will soar for consumers.
It is good news for American tourists in the United Kingdom, who suddenly find that their dollars are going much further. It is not good news for many British households, which already are facing soaring energy bills and inflation running at 10 percent. They will find the costs of imported goods and services will go up, everything from fuel for vehicles to food on plates — in 2020, the U.K. imported 46 percent of the food it consumed.
On Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, or finance minister, announced a package of tax cuts worth 45 billion pounds ($48 billion), the biggest shake-up to its tax system in 50 years. The top rate of 45 percent for income tax was slashed, the cap for banker bonuses will be scrapped, and taxes on house purchases were cut — moves that will predominantly help more affluent citizens in hopes they will boost their spending.
While the new prime minister, Liz Truss, had pledged tax cuts during her leadership campaign, the scale of the cuts still shocked many economic observers.
“In the current economic environment it is a huge gamble,” wrote Thomas Pope, an economist with the Institute for Government. It is a major shift away from the policies of Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, who last year had announced tax increases to help pay for combating the pandemic.
The new British government hopes that by slashing taxes and regulations, it will be able to generate growth that will help to fund public services and eventually pay down the debt.
John Hardy, head of foreign exchange strategy at Saxo Bank, said the pound was sliding because the government’s math isn’t reassuring investors.
“It’s a numbers game and their numbers don’t add up,” he said.
Investors are looking at where inflation is going and at U.K.’s balance sheet.
“They are saying, ‘I don’t want to own U.K. paper because they are not playing responsibly.’”
Truss, who is just three weeks into her new job, has defended the tax-cutting bonanza.
In a recent interview, CNN’s Jake Tapper put it to Truss that British opposition parties are framing her plans are “recklessly running up the deficit” and that President Biden “is, in essence, saying your approach doesn’t work.”
Last week, Biden tweeted: “I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked.” He was referring to the supply-side economics made famous by President Ronald Reagan, which Truss’s approach resembles.
In the interview, Truss responded: “The U.K. has one of the lowest levels of debt in the G-7. But we have one of the highest levels of taxes. Currently, we have a 70-year high in our tax rates. And what I’m determined to do as prime minister, and what the chancellor is determined to do, is make sure we are incentivizing businesses to invest. And we’re also helping ordinary people with their taxes.”
Truss continued: “That’s why I don’t feel it’s right to have higher national insurance and higher corporation tax, because that will make it harder for us to attract the investment we need in the U.K. It will be harder to generate those new jobs.”
Rachel Lerman contributed to this report.
Read More Here
Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Wisconsin GOP Leader Targeted By Trump
Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Wisconsin GOP Leader Targeted By Trump https://digitalarizonanews.com/jan-6-committee-subpoenas-wisconsin-gop-leader-targeted-by-trump/
The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Robin Vos, the Republican speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly who was targeted by former President Donald Trump, last weekend for testimony about a phone call he received from the former president in July.
The panel is seeking Vos’ testimony by Monday, but the Wisconsin lawmaker is suing to block the subpoena.
In his lawsuit, Vos attached a letter from Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chair of the Jan. 6 committee, seeking his testimony. Thompson cited Trump’s efforts to pressure Vos into changing the 2020 election result in Wisconsin following the state Supreme Court’s decision in July to restrict the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in future elections. After Vos reportedly told Trump that following through on his demand would be unlawful, the former president posted derogatory comments aimed at Vos and endorsed his challenger in the GOP primary.
“The circumstances and details regarding your interactions with former President Trump related to the 2020 election are relevant to the select committee’s investigation and proposed recommendations,” Thompson wrote.
NBC News has reached out to the committee for comment.
Vos is suing the committee to bar it from enforcing its subpoena, which was first reported by Politico; the Wisconsin speaker argues that the subpoena “imposes an under burden” by demanding his compliance on short notice.
“Despite conducting such an extensive inquiry, and despite having known for months about the single matter for which it seeks Speaker Vos’ testimony, the committee has served the speaker on the afternoon of Saturday, September 24, 2022, with a subpoena to appear for a deposition first thing on the morning of September 26, 2022,” Vos wrote. “This is less than 48 hours’ notice, and the only intervening day was a Sunday.”
Vos wrote that he believes the “only explanation for such an extreme timeline” is the House committee’s desire to conduct the deposition prior to its upcoming public hearing, scheduled Wednesday,
Vos also argued that the committee’s rationale in deposing him is “not clear.” In the filing, Vos wrote that his conversations with Trump in July pertained to the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, but “do not pertain to the events of January 6th, or even (to construe the authorizing resolution broadly) the events leading up to it or its immediate aftermath.”
Vos’ lawsuit against the House committee comes more than a month after he narrowly survived a primary challenge against Trump-backed challenger Adam Steen.
Vos, the longest-serving speaker in Wisconsin history, became a target of the former president’s ire for refusing to overturn the 2020 election results in the state for months. Following his win in the GOP primary last month, Vos told The Associated Press that his victory proved that lawmakers “don’t have to be a lapdog to whatever Donald Trump says.”
Read More Here
Tropical Storm Watches Issued For Parts Of The Treasure Coast As Hurricane Ian Moves Toward Florida
Tropical Storm Watches Issued For Parts Of The Treasure Coast As Hurricane Ian Moves Toward Florida https://digitalarizonanews.com/tropical-storm-watches-issued-for-parts-of-the-treasure-coast-as-hurricane-ian-moves-toward-florida/
Video above: The latest tropical forecast from WPBF 25 First Warning Weather meteorologists. Parts of the Treasure Coast are under tropical storm watches as Hurricane Ian is expected to rapidly strengthen Monday while moving toward Florida.Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the entire state of Florida in preparation for the storm. Informational: 2022 WPBF 25 First Warning Weather Hurricane Survival GuideWPBF 25 First Warning Weather meteorologists say South Florida will begin to see the effects of Ian Monday with severe weather risks Tuesday and Wednesday.This comes as another disturbance churns in the Atlantic.Weather | Radar | Hurricanes | Traffic | uLocal | Facebook | Twitter | InstagramOutlook:As of 11 a.m. Monday, Hurricane Ian is 240 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba. It has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and is moving northwest at 13 mph.Ian is expected to produce significant wind and storm surge impacts in western Cuba. The storm is expected to move over the Florida Keys Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida Wednesday. Up to 6 inches of rain is likely in the Keys.Tampa Bay could see about 8 feet of storm surge, NHC forecast. Central and western Florida could see up to 15 inches of rain, with the rest of the peninsula seeing 3 to 8 inches of rain. Tornadoes are possible across the Florida peninsula late Monday night and Tuesday. South Florida is under a threat for severe storms Tuesday and Wednesday. Video Below: State leaders urge everyone in Florida to prepare for possible storm impactsWatches and Warnings: A hurricane warning is in effect for: Grand CaymanParts of CubaA hurricane watch is in effect for:Englewood to the Anclote River, including Tampa BayA tropical storm warning is in effect for: Parts of CubaThe Florida Keys from Seven Miles Bridge westward to Key WestDry TortugasA tropical storm watch is in effect for:Little Cayman and Cayman BracEnglewood southward to FlamingoFlorida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge to the Channel 5 BridgeLake OkeechobeeOkeechobee CountyRelated Coverage: Utility companies, water management districts prepare for possible stormWPBF 25 First Warning Weather meteorologist Glenn Glazer discussed the possibility of a tropical system hitting Florida in late September in the WPBF 2022 Hurricane Season Forecast.Video below: WPBF 25 News 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season ForecastStay updated on the latest weather updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
Video above: The latest tropical forecast from WPBF 25 First Warning Weather meteorologists.
Parts of the Treasure Coast are under tropical storm watches as Hurricane Ian is expected to rapidly strengthen Monday while moving toward Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the entire state of Florida in preparation for the storm.
Informational: 2022 WPBF 25 First Warning Weather Hurricane Survival Guide
WPBF 25 First Warning Weather meteorologists say South Florida will begin to see the effects of Ian Monday with severe weather risks Tuesday and Wednesday.
This comes as another disturbance churns in the Atlantic.
Weather | Radar | Hurricanes | Traffic | uLocal | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Outlook:
As of 11 a.m. Monday, Hurricane Ian is 240 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba. It has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and is moving northwest at 13 mph.
Ian is expected to produce significant wind and storm surge impacts in western Cuba.
The storm is expected to move over the Florida Keys Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida Wednesday. Up to 6 inches of rain is likely in the Keys.
Tampa Bay could see about 8 feet of storm surge, NHC forecast.
Central and western Florida could see up to 15 inches of rain, with the rest of the peninsula seeing 3 to 8 inches of rain. Tornadoes are possible across the Florida peninsula late Monday night and Tuesday. South Florida is under a threat for severe storms Tuesday and Wednesday.
Video Below: State leaders urge everyone in Florida to prepare for possible storm impacts
Watches and Warnings:
A hurricane warning is in effect for:
Grand Cayman
Parts of Cuba
A hurricane watch is in effect for:
Englewood to the Anclote River, including Tampa Bay
A tropical storm warning is in effect for:
Parts of Cuba
The Florida Keys from Seven Miles Bridge westward to Key West
Dry Tortugas
A tropical storm watch is in effect for:
Little Cayman and Cayman Brac
Englewood southward to Flamingo
Florida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge to the Channel 5 Bridge
Lake Okeechobee
Okeechobee County
Related Coverage: Utility companies, water management districts prepare for possible storm
WPBF 25 First Warning Weather meteorologist Glenn Glazer discussed the possibility of a tropical system hitting Florida in late September in the WPBF 2022 Hurricane Season Forecast.
Video below: WPBF 25 News 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast
Stay updated on the latest weather updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.
Read More Here
Hear A New Song From The War On Drugs Oceans Of Darkness Treble
Hear A New Song From The War On Drugs, “Oceans Of Darkness” – Treble https://digitalarizonanews.com/hear-a-new-song-from-the-war-on-drugs-oceans-of-darkness-treble/
The War on Drugs have just digitally released their new deluxe edition of their 2021 album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore. This Friday, the limited edition box set version of the deluxe album will be released, which features a bonus 7-inch with two previously unreleased songs, “Oceans of Darkness” b/w “Slow Ghost”. Today, the band has released a visualizer for “Oceans of Darkness,” which you can check out below.
The group also continues to tour behind I Don’t Live Here Anymore. Check out the remainder of their 2022 tour dates below.
I Don’t Live Here Anymore was on our list of the 50 Best Albums of 2021.
The War on Drugs tour dates:
Mon. Sep. 26 – Birmingham, AL @ Avondale
Tue. Sep. 27 – Knoxville, TN @ The Mill & Mine
Thu. Sep. 29 – Wilmington, NC @ Live Oak Bank Pavilion
Fri. Sep. 30 – Charleston, SC @ Firefly Distillery
Sat. Oct. 1 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
Mon. Oct. 3 – Ft Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live
Tue. Oct. 4 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues
Wed. Oct. 5 – Tampa, FL @ Jannus Live
Thu. Oct. 6 – St. Augustine, FL @ St Augustine Amphitheater
Sat. Oct. 8 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Music Festival – Weekend 1
Mon. Oct. 10 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
Tue. Oct. 11 – San Diego, CA @ Open Air Theater
Thu. Oct. 13 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
Sat. Oct. 15 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Music Festival – Weekend 2
Sat. Oct. 22 – Sound Summit 2022
Sign-up for our newsletter!
Stay up to date on the latest news, reviews, interviews and more.
Yes, I would like to sign up
Read More Here
Post Politics Now: Amid Inflation Challenges Biden To Hold Event Focused On Saving Money
Post Politics Now: Amid Inflation Challenges, Biden To Hold Event Focused On Saving Money https://digitalarizonanews.com/post-politics-now-amid-inflation-challenges-biden-to-hold-event-focused-on-saving-money-2/
Today, with inflation remaining a challenge for his party as the midterm elections loom, President Biden is convening senior administration officials at the White House to talk about “new actions that will save families money and lower costs,” according to an advisory. Among the moves will be a new proposed rule that would require airlines and ticket sales websites to disclose additional fees up front, adding more transparency to the process of booking travel.
Congress returns to Washington this week with a deadline of Friday to pass a short-term funding bill to keep the government open. Also on tap this week: The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection will hold a public hearing on Wednesday. A witness list has yet to be announced but expect a heavy focus on former president Donald Trump.
Your daily dashboard
10:35 a.m. Eastern time: Biden returns to the White House from Delaware.
11:45 a.m. Eastern: Biden welcomes the Atlanta Braves to the White House. Watch live here.
1:30 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. Watch live here.
4:15 p.m. Eastern: Biden hosts a meeting of the White House Competition Council.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
On our radar: Biden to propose airlines disclose extra fees up front
Return to menu
President Biden is expected to announce a new proposal Monday that would require airlines and ticket sales websites to disclose additional fees up front, according to the Department of Transportation, aiming to add a dose of transparency to the process of booking travel.
The Post’s Ian Duncan reports that the disclosures would cover any fees for passengers to sit with their children, to change or cancel a flight, and to bring checked or carry-on bags, according to the department. The fees would be required to be displayed the first time a ticket price is shown.
Noted: 93 percent of Democrats think Trump should be charged with a crime
Return to menu
A Washington Post-ABC News poll published over the weekend finds that a slim 52 percent majority of U.S. adults say the former president should be charged with crimes for his handling of classified documents, his fundraising or for his actions related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Like so much these days, party affiliation factors heavily into the results, however.
A staggering 93 percent of Democrats say Trump should be charged with a crime, while only 3 percent say he should not be. The remaining 4 percent have no opinion.
On our radar: As more states create election integrity units, Arizona is a cautionary tale
Return to menu
Republicans across the country have embraced an aggressive tactic this year as they seek to tout baseless claims that voter fraud is a serious threat: arming state agencies with more power and resources to investigate election crimes.
Virginia’s Republican attorney general earlier this month announced a new election integrity unit staffed with more than 20 attorneys and investigators “to increase transparency and strengthen confidence in our state elections.” Georgia legislators recently empowered the statewide police agency to launch election probes. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last month described the arrests of 20 people for alleged illegal voting as the “opening salvo” of a new elections police force.
Analysis: Democrats urge support for EPA union, testing Biden’s pro-labor pledge
Return to menu
More than 80 congressional Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to support proposals from the Environmental Protection Agency’s largest union during ongoing contract negotiations.
Writing in The Climate 202, The Post’s Maxine Joselow is the first to report that in a letter sent Monday to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, the Democrats urged the agency’s political leadership to accept the requests of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents more than 7,500 EPA employees.
Analysis: Manchin makes permitting push as time ticks away for a deal
Return to menu
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) is working hard to attach his energy permitting bill to a stopgap spending bill needed by week’s end, and he’s sharpening his message to Republicans who may withhold their support despite agreeing with his bill’s overall goal: It’s probably now or never.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer say Manchin argued in an interview that Democratic support for energy project permitting reform is at its high-water mark and that it won’t pass in the next Congress regardless of which party controls the Senate.
The latest: Harris discusses China’s ‘irresponsible provocations’ with Japanese prime minister
Return to menu
Vice President Harris, who is leading the U.S. delegation to Tuesday’s funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, met Monday with the country’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, in Tokyo.
According to a White House readout, topics included China’s “aggressive and irresponsible provocations in the Taiwan Strait” that followed a visit to Taiwan by a congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Harris and Kishida also condemned a recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea and “pledged to work together to address the threats posed by [North Korea’s] nuclear and ballistic weapons program,” the White House said.
On our radar: Biden welcoming Atlanta Braves to the White House
Return to menu
With this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs just around the corner, President Biden plans to welcome last year’s World Series champions, the Atlanta Braves, to the White House on Monday.
Biden is scheduled to host the Braves late Monday morning in keeping with a long tradition of presidents celebrating championship teams in major U.S. sports.
The Braves were previously scheduled to be in town for a series with the Washington Nationals.
The Braves have secured a playoff spot again this year. With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, the team is trying to overtake the New York Mets to win the National League East division. If the Braves fall short, the team will still make the playoffs as a wild card team.
Noted: Ex-staffer’s unauthorized book about Jan. 6 committee rankles members
Return to menu
News that a former adviser to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is publishing a book billed as a “behind-the-scenes” look at the committee’s work came as a shock to most lawmakers and committee staff when it was announced last week.
The Post’s Jacqueline Alemany and Josh Dawsey report that Denver Riggleman, a former Republican congressman, is set to publish “The Breach” on Tuesday, just one day before a public hearing of the Jan. 6 panel, which has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent unauthorized leaks, as well as keep its sources and methods of investigation under wraps.
On our radar: The Biden-Trump rematch, in many ways, has already begun
Return to menu
President Biden was at a Democratic reception in Maryland a few weeks ago when his rhetoric turned toward an increasingly frequent topic — “what Trump is doing and the Trumpers are doing.” An audience member called out, “Lock him up!” Biden went on to cite “the new polls showing me beating Trump by six or eight points.”
A few days earlier, former president Donald Trump was at a rally in Pennsylvania when he, too, turned toward a frequent topic: “We’re leading Biden … by record numbers in the polls.” He said three times, with growing enthusiasm, “So I may just have to do it again!”
Take a look: On Sunday shows, Sullivan warns Russia against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Return to menu
National security adviser Jake Sullivan made the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows, warning that there would be “catastrophic consequences” for Russia if it uses nuclear weapons in its war on Ukraine. Sullivan said that message has been conveyed to Russian officials at the highest levels.
The Post’s Blair Guild pulled together what Sullivan had to say during appearances on multiple shows.
Noted: Blinken says conversation about supplying weapons to Ukraine ‘ongoing’
Return to menu
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a conversation with Ukraine over the supply of U.S. weapons to aid the country’s war effort is “ongoing,” notably regarding a request from Kyiv for Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, as the surface-to-surface missiles are commonly known.
The Post’s Rachel Pannett has details:
“Whatever they put on the table is something we’re going to look at, to consider, and we’re going to give them our best judgment about what can be effective for them,” Blinken said in an interview with “60 Minutes.”
The United States so far has made 20 transfers of defense equipment valued at billions of dollars, Blinken said, including antitank and antiaircraft weapons that helped repel Russian forces during their attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
“At every step of the way, we have worked to make sure that the Ukrainians had in their hands what they needed to defend themselves,” Blinken said. He described it as an “ongoing conversation” about what Ukraine needs at any given moment, adding: “We adjust as we go along.”
You can read the full story here.
Read More Here
Letters: Brennaman Was Wrong, But Give Him A Break https://digitalarizonanews.com/letters-brennaman-was-wrong-but-give-him-a-break/
Letters to the editor | Cincinnati Enquirer
Regarding, “Brennaman’s punishment is terribly wrong,” (Sept. 16): I totally agree with Andy Furman about Thom Brennaman. If he was a politician or public servant, he would have been sent to sensitivity class and kept his job. It is a shame to lose such an entertaining broadcaster full of baseball and football knowledge.
I know he was wrong but give him a break. Seems like if you make a lot of money, do anything you want with minor consequences
Daniel Junker, Dillonvale
Police showed kindness, caring in time of tragedy
On Sept. 12, our family experienced an immense tragedy, the death of our son Justin. Cincinnati police officers and the Hamilton County Coroner’s office were there for us. I really can’t express enough my gratitude to all who were there that horrible day. They were extremely professional in doing the work they had to do. But they were, first and foremost, kind and caring for my son, his mother, stepmother and me. It appeared clear to me that they were “feeling” the grief along with us.
Our police have taken much negative press over the past few years. My experience, in an extremely horrible moment, was nothing but caring and loving. Thank you to all who were involved in any manner.
Jeff Duell, Union
CPS’s underperformance shows need for voucher program
I see that a dismal 13% of Cincinnati Public Schools are meeting or exceeding state minimum standards for achievement (“Report Card: CPS not meeting state standards,” Sept. 18).
I was wondering how anyone, who actually professes to care about students, could oppose a school voucher program, which allows parents more options than an obviously failing school system.
Howard Bueker, Green Twp.
A man is no better than his words
Regarding, “Brennaman’s punishment is terribly wrong,” (Sept. 16): Enquirer Board of Contributors member Andy Furman made a vain attempt to justify why Thom Brennaman should be reinstated to his job as a sports media analyst. Furman apparently has not changed from his past sports analyst career in Cincinnati.
Comparing Brennaman’s homophobic slur caught on a hot mic during a sports game to athletes’ illegal or immoral actions is like saying apples and oranges are the same fruit. Why? Because athletes’ actions primarily affect themselves, Brennaman’s Freudian slip was broadcast to millions and defined who he is. Remember a man is no better than his word. We make our country better when we hold politicians, religious leaders, business CEOs, educators and others accountable, as role models are important for our youth. Yes, that includes our sportscasters.
Benjamin Crews, Springdale
Noncompliance not an option when getting tax incentives
Regarding, “Audit: Six noncompliant projects should lose city tax incentives,” (Sept. 18): For 10 years, I worked in low-income housing using federal low-income housing tax credits combined with Cincinnati grants and private investor money. At that time, we, the developer, had to borrow money to fund the project until successful (and inspected) completion. Only then did we get the government funds to pay off our loans. Noncompliance was not an option. Nothing new here.
Harry Blaine, East Walnut Hills
Fundraisers a blessing to help flood victims
On Sept. 15, Chris, owner/manager of Gold Star Chili in Bellevue, hosted a fundraiser for Eastern Kentucky. Two ministries, Dead Men Walking Motorcycle Ministry/Reverend Robert Ashley Beagle and High on God Ministries/ Lance Mockbee have combined efforts to take down goods and products to the Eastern Kentucky flood victims.
So far, the duo has delivered over 20,000 pounds of goods and products. Chris agreed to do a fundraising night at the Bellevue location of Gold Star from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Sept. 15.
On Sept. 18, to help out Eastern Kentucky flood victims, he gave a little bit more percentage than they normally donate and kicked in a few extra dollars. This was a great blessing to the two ministries and because of this gift they will be able to fill their cargo van full of canned goods and other products and take them down to Eastern Kentucky on a trip in the near future.
Rev. Robert Ashley Beagle, Dayton
More, better reporting needed on crisis at southern border
I enjoyed the Sept. 14 Enquirer article “Colorful fentanyl powder … DEA warns of danger.” It is interesting that there was no mention about the route that the drugs come to the United States. The fact is that they come, in many cases, from China and move through Mexico to the U.S. border. As everyone knows, especially the two million-plus who have come across the border illegally, the border is wide open. The caravans coming across the border divert the attention of the poor, overworked border patrol agents while the cartels sneak across at other locations.
I am not sure why there is never an article in The Enquirer exposing the mess at our southern border. What happened to even-handed reporting? Is it because the border situation reflects poorly on the Biden administration? Let’s get some even-handed reporting in our one and only daily paper.
Jerry Welling, Sycamore Twp.
Beware government-controlled money values
Regarding, “Treasury explores digital dollar,” (Sept. 17) by Fatima Hussein: President Biden signed an executive order to look at creating digital assets. This order will create digital tokens that the government will be able to turn on or off and set values for your money at any time. Greenback dollars will be eliminated. The free market economy of the United States, where buyers and sellers determine the value of currency, will be replaced by socialistic central government control. The government will at anytime control the value of your assets, savings and money. This is the next step in making the United States a socialistic democracy.
Welfare made millions of Americans indentured to the government for assistance. Government-controlled medicine, and now government-controlled value of the dollar will assure transition of the country to socialism.
John Grady, West Chester
Support for Peace Corps volunteers needed, appreciated
As a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in Kiribati, I am grateful that U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot voted to pass the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act in the House of Representatives.
This is the most comprehensive Peace Corps legislation in more than a generation. It comes as volunteers return to service after the COVID-19 pandemic closed global operations in March 2020. Roughly 500 volunteers have now returned to posts in nearly 30 countries.
Next, the bill faces the Senate. I thank Sen. Rob Portman for already co-sponsoring the bill and encourage Sen. Sherrod Brown to follow suit, helping promote peace for generations to come.
Michael Roman, Mason
Limit number of paid political ads
It is time for citizens to put an end to the “cruel and unusual punishment” we are subjected to prior to every election. Three months prior to an election, citizens are bombarded with paid advertisements for candidates running for an office or reelection. Sometimes, two to four paid advertisements will appear back-to-back during one commercial break. The advertisements are filled with nothing but misrepresentations and false statements about what they have done while in office or what they are going to do if elected. The vast majority of the time, these candidates do not represent the citizens, but rather the corporate entities, special interest groups and political parties funding their campaigns.
Citizens should speak up and demand restrictions be implemented limiting the number of paid advertisements a candidate can air in one hour and in one day. Specifically, one advertisement per channel per hour and not to exceed a total 24 advertisements in one day. These restrictions will sae millions of dollars wasted on political candidate advertisements and maybe, just maybe, result in the election of the best candidate.
Dennis M. Luken, Pierce Twp.
Fixing what Republicans broke isn’t easy or cheap
It’s sad but true. When the facts don’t fit the right-wing narrative, they disregard the facts. All I hear from Republicans is the economy is bad, Biden is demented, we’re headed for a recession and there’s no hope. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In Biden’s term and since he took office, the stock market is stable, unemployment is at a record low, millions of jobs have been created, manufacturing jobs are returning, the national deficit is down 62% for 2022 compared to 2021 and down about 70% from the last Trump deficit of $3.2 trillion.
Sure, inflation is up, but we’re far better off than Argentina where inflation is at 75% and interest rates are at 100%. Inflation is a global phenomenon, not only in the U.S. The Inflation Reduction Act passed about 30 days ago and Republicans are already claiming the legislation is failed. It’s not even implemented yet but they’re pronouncing it DOA. Because they hope for disaster in the U.S. so they can exploit disaster for their political goals.
Then there’s the issue of Biden and dementia − it’s a lie and it’s projection. Biden’s speeches are coherent, reasoned and clear. Now compare that to the word salad and grunts of Donald Trump. There are tapes.
Republicans want to deflect from the obvious mental failings displayed by Donald Trump for four years. Trump’s mental issues over that four-year nightmare left the U.S. with multi-trillion dollar annual deficits, exploded debt by $8 trillion, a four-year cumulative deficit of almost $9 trillion, record unemployment and an out of control pandemic. Trump received the Obama economy entering the eighth year of record expansion − and he by his failure ended it two years later.
That hot mess has continued with Trump’s mishandling and taking of top secret government document...
Ukraine Live Briefing: Gunman Attacks Russian Military Center; Protests Over Mobilization Continue
Ukraine Live Briefing: Gunman Attacks Russian Military Center; Protests Over Mobilization Continue https://digitalarizonanews.com/ukraine-live-briefing-gunman-attacks-russian-military-center-protests-over-mobilization-continue/
A man opened fire at a Siberian military recruitment office on Monday — the latest sign of unrest within Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced a military mobilization affecting up to 300,000 reservists from around the country.
At least 100 people were arrested Sunday in Russia’s southwestern region of Dagestan, according to the human rights group OVD-Info, as protesters gathered in the regional capital, Makhachkala, to condemn the war in Ukraine. In a speech Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the protests by urging Russians to “fight to ensure that your children are not sent to die.”
The United States announced more than $457 million in new “civilian security assistance” to Ukraine on Monday, as voting on joining Russia continued in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. These staged referendums organized by pro-Russian authorities and backed by the Kremlin are expected to end Tuesday. The votes have been widely criticized in the West — and by some of Russia’s own allies — as a pretext for and prelude to annexation.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Return to menu
A gunman was detained after he shot and severely wounded an official overseeing Russia’s military mobilization at a commissariat in the Irkutsk region in Siberia, the area’s governor, Igor Ivanovich Kobzev, said Monday on Telegram. The official, Alexander Eliseevan, is in “critical condition” and undergoing emergency medical treatment, the governor said.
According to local news outlets, the alleged gunman’s mother said his best friend had been called up to fight despite having never served in the army. She was quoted as saying that her son, identified in the media as 25-year-old Ruslan Zinin, “was very upset because of this.”
The Kremlin acknowledged that some Russians who do not meet the current criteria for military mobilization have received summons, and it pledged to rectify any errors. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday: “There have been cases of violations of the order. In some regions, governors are working hard to fix the situation.” Peskov also said that “no decisions” have yet been made to close Russia’s borders to prevent military-age men from fleeing, despite media reports in recent days that a decision was imminent.
The United States will send $457.5 million in new aid to Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday. The funds will go toward bolstering the capacity of Ukrainian law enforcement and criminal justice institutions, he added.
Protesters blocked a highway on Sunday and took to the streets in Dagestan, a largely impoverished Russian republic that borders Georgia and Azerbaijan, to oppose the call-up of reservists to Russia’s armed forces. Videos posted on Twitter by the independent Russian outlet Mediazona show people shouting “No war!” and “Our children are not fertilizer!” on a busy street interspersed with police vehicles and officers. At least 100 people in the region were arrested, according to OVD-Info.
Zelensky said the Kremlin could punish those who refuse to vote in its staged referendums. “Russians can turn off their electricity and won’t give them an opportunity to live a normal human life,” he said of potential dissidents on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “They force people. They throw them in prisons,” he added. In a post on Telegram, Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol, said that only 20 percent of the city’s remaining population was found by Russian authorities during door-to-door referendum voting and that an even smaller fraction ultimately voted.
Return to menu
Reservists mobilized in Russia are likely to receive “minimal” training before being deployed to Ukraine, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Monday in its daily intelligence assessment. The ministry said the partial military mobilization announced by Putin represents “an administrative and logistical challenge,” as a deficit of military trainers means fighters who largely have not had recent combat experience will be sent to the front unprepared, likely leading to a “high attrition rate.”
The United States is having an “ongoing conversation” with Ukraine about the weapons it needs to fight Russia, including Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday. Earlier this month, Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned the United States that providing longer-range missiles to Ukraine would be crossing a “red line” and make Washington a “direct party” to the conflict.
Return to menu
Russian-Moldovan dual nationals mobilized to fight in Ukraine could lose their Moldovan citizenship under plans being developed by the government there, President Maia Sandu said Monday. According to Reuters, 200,000 people with Moldovan and Russian passports live in Transnistria, a breakaway republic in eastern Moldova controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Italy’s election has thrown the country’s stance on the war in Ukraine into question, with the country projected to elect its most far-right government since the fall of Benito Mussolini. Although the projected winner for prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has consistently backed Ukraine, other figures in her circle have shown a fondness for Putin. One member of her coalition, Silvio Berlusconi, falsely claimed that Putin was following the will of the people by invading Ukraine and that he intended to replace Zelensky’s government with “decent people.”
A group of Sri Lankans recounted beatings and abuse in Russian captivity as they told their stories Saturday in a news conference. Seven Sri Lankans were held in an agricultural factory in eastern Ukraine for months before escaping on foot, and members of the group recalled being tortured. One said he was shot in the foot, and another said a toenail was ripped off and he was bashed with a rifle butt, the Associated Press reported. “Every day, we were cleaning toilets and bathrooms,” said Dilukshan Robertclive, one of the former captives. “Some days, Russians came and beat our people, our Sri Lanka people.”
Return to menu
Long before his war in Ukraine, Putin waged war on Russian journalists: TV anchor Tikhon Dzyadko fled Russia after he received telephone death threats in the days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Alexey Kovalyev, an investigative editor, crossed into Europe in the middle of the night with “panic-packed bags” on his back and his dog in tow. Kirill Martynov, the political editor of Russia’s only remaining independent newspaper, sought refuge in Latvia with 53 other newspaper staff members.
But Putin has waged war on journalists in Russia for years, Washington Post reporter Robyn Dixon writes. In the wake of the war in Ukraine, many have had no choice but to leave the country, while dozens have found themselves labeled “foreign agents.”
“That means I’m toxic,” said Alexei Venediktov, who was editor in chief of the radio station Echo of Moscow when it was shut down in March. He escaped to Latvia. “I lost my job. I lost my company.”
Read More Here
Donald Trumps California Golf Course Ensnared In New York Lawsuit Alleging Fraud In Land Value Inflation
Donald Trump’s California Golf Course Ensnared In New York Lawsuit Alleging Fraud In Land Value Inflation https://digitalarizonanews.com/donald-trumps-california-golf-course-ensnared-in-new-york-lawsuit-alleging-fraud-in-land-value-inflation/
Former President Donald Trump and three of his children used an illegal branding scheme to fraudulently inflate the value of the Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes by nearly $50 million in 2013, according to a sweeping lawsuit filed last week by the New York state attorney general
The 214-page civil complaint also alleges Trump, daughter Ivanka Trump, sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and senior executives at the Trump Organization pressured appraisers to submit an erroneous valuation in 2014 to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for the donation of an 11.5-acre conservation easement at the club, resulting in a hefty tax break.
From 2011 to 2021, the suit alleges, Trump and his co-defendants intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations on annual Statements of Financial Condition for 23 assets nationwide, including the Rancho Palos Verdes golf course.
Prosecutors contend Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available, to satisfy loan obligations, obtain lower insurance premiums and gain tax benefits.
The lawsuit seeks to permanently bar Trump and his three children from serving as officers in any New York corporation. Moreover, it requests that the Trump Organization’s corporate certificate be revoked, which would effectively force the company to cease operations in New York.
Furthermore, the suit demands $250 million in restitution.
“For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them. Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct,” said a statement from Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, who vowed during her campaign for office that she would investigate Trump’s finances.
The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment regarding the fraud claims or allegations surrounding the easement donation in Rancho Palos Verdes. However, Trump blasted James on Truth Social, the Twitter-like platform that he owns, saying she is engaging in “another witch hunt.”
“She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!” Trump said in a Wednesday post.
Donald Trump news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles to announce a conservation easement grant to the Peninsula Land Conservancy to protect 11.5 acres as open space for scenic enjoyment and public use. Land is now in the area of the driving range along PV Dr South. (1/15/14 Photos by Brad Graverson/The Daily Breeze)
Value of course allegedly inflated
Construction on the Rancho Palos Verdes golf course, originally known as Ocean Trails Golf Club, started in 1997 and was nearly complete in June 1999 when a landslide dropped 300 yards of the 18th hole fairway into the Pacific Ocean.
Development of Ocean Trails ceased after the landslide and the property went into bankruptcy. VH Property Corp., a Trump Organization subsidiary, acquired the golf course out of bankruptcy in November 2002 for a reported $27 million, the lawsuit states.
Every year from 2011 to 2020, Trump National has operated with a net income at $1.5 million or lower, and in some cases less than $1 million, according to prosecutors. However, the suit says during most of that period the Trump Organization touted the valuation of the golf course in its financial statement as $23.8 million to $74.3 million.
As a result of the landslide, the property’s instability, and its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the Trump Organization needed approval from the city of Rancho Palos Verdes to develop 16 planned lots on the driving range and putting green, the suit says.
In June 2011, a Trump Organization geologist produced a report stating that 104 shear pins, which are drilled into the ground to provide stability, would be required to develop the lots safely, according to the complaint.
Due to the difficulties in developing the 16 lots, the Trump Organization began to consider donating a conservation easement that would preclude any development but allow continued use of the area as a driving range and putting green, the suit states.
Nevertheless, for the purposes of a required Statement of Financial Condition, the Trump Organization allegedly inflated the value of the lots as if there were no practical limitations on development.
After the issuance of the 2012 annual financial statement, Sheri Dillon, who at the time was the Trump Organization’s tax attorney, allegedly hired two appraisers and an engineer to put a value on the potential easement donation.
“If this valuation met with the Trump Organization’s approval, the appraisers would then move on to provide a valuation suitable for supporting a charitable donation,” the suit says.
The Trump Organization allegedly conveyed to the appraisers that it believed the lots might be worth a total of $40 million or $50 million in what was described in the lawsuit as a “paper napkin analysis.”
In December 2012, the appraisers purportedly reached a preliminary conclusion that the lots’ development potential was about $17.7 million, prompting the Trump Organization to put the conservation easement project on hold.
Then, in 2013, to reach a total valuation of $225 million, the Trump Organization changed its method of valuing the golf club by utilizing a brand premium scheme, without disclosing the change in its financial statement in violation of generally accepted accounting principles, according to the suit.
The Trump Organization added a premium to inflate the value of the golf club, often up to 30% for the “Trump Brand,” but expressly claimed that brand premiums were not included, according to prosecutors.
The valuation was sabotaged when the Trump Organization finally decided to pursue the conservation easement project and began the process of obtaining the necessary formal appraisal to support the donation, prosecutors said.
In October 2014, the appraisers reached a preliminary valuation of around $27 million to $28 million for the driving range property, putting the value of each lot at $1.6 million to $1.7 million, lower than the $2.5 million used by the Trump Organization, the suit states.
Appraisers pressured
The appraisers allegedly were pressured by Trump to increase the value of the parcels, arguing that lots were in a more prestigious ZIP code than other lots on the property and could command a “ZIP code” premium.
However, as the appraisers began to prepare a formal appraisal, they lowered the value of the driving range property down to as little as $20.5 million after realizing that the costs associated with developing the lots had been underestimated, the suit states.
Still, Dillion and the Trump Organization allegedly persisted in pushing the appraisers to increase the value of the driving range parcel, which in turn would increase the value of the easement donation.
Ultimately the appraisers submitted a fraudulent appraisal to the Internal Revenue Service valuing the easement donation at $25 million, according to prosecutors.
In January 2015, the easement donation to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy was publicly disclosed. Dillion wrote to an attorney at the Trump Organization, advising against a press conference to avoid drawing undue scrutiny to the transaction, says the suit.
Advised not to tout donation
“Remind him (Trump) that the larger the value and the more he makes of it, then he is telling the world how large a tax deduction he is taking for it,” she wrote, according to the lawsuit. “In this case, this is tantamount to the US taxpayers paying Donald Trump to keep his driving range and use it for exactly what he is already using it for.”
Trump nevertheless held a press conference to announce the donation of the easement.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a year, maybe a little longer than a year, and I decided to pull the trigger and do it,” Trump said the time, adding that giving up entitlements to develop the land “was not an easy thing to do” because it is valued at “much more than $25 million.”
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, which has preserved 1,500 acres, did not respond to a request for comment regarding the donation.
Read More Here
Readers Respond: McLeod-Skinner Will Work Across The Aisle
Readers Respond: McLeod-Skinner Will Work Across The Aisle https://digitalarizonanews.com/readers-respond-mcleod-skinner-will-work-across-the-aisle/
Opinion
Published: Sep. 26, 2022, 6:30 a.m.
I served as an elected Republican county commissioner in a very conservative part of Oregon. I am endorsing Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner for the 5th Congressional District.
I met McLeod-Skinner in 2018 when I called to learn about her positions on issues and share mine. I was impressed she took my call and listened to my concerns.
We have met numerous times since. My respect for her has grown tremendously.
It’s no secret that our nation is deeply divided. McLeod-Skinner is a Democrat who reminds me of past great Oregon Republicans like former Gov. Tom McCall and Sen. Mark Hatfield. Their ability to reach and work across the aisle made Oregon better. I am confident McLeod-Skinner will follow in their tradition.
I am familiar with McLeod-Skinner’s opponent, Lori Chavez-DeRemer mostly through a thousand-plus tweets on her official Twitter account and through news articles. At first, in 2016, she seemed to be someone who would work with a bipartisan effort. Then she changed after embracing Donald Trump. OPB reported she did not give a clear answer to whether she believed Biden won the 2020 election, and that she questioned the trustworthiness of Oregon’s vote-by-mail system.
One Chavez retweet from the Republican Party of Arizona praised far-right members of Congress including Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar for standing with Trump on national security at the southern border. Both Biggs and Gosar reportedly sought Trump’s presidential pardon for their involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
McLeod-Skinner has my full support.
John Lamoreau, La Grande
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
Read More Here
Oil Prices Hit 9-Month Lows On Recession Fears https://digitalarizonanews.com/oil-prices-hit-9-month-lows-on-recession-fears/
Model of Oil barrels are seen in front of rising stock graph in this illustration, July 24, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Oil prices hit nine-month lows on Monday before recovering some ground in choppy trade, as recession fears and a strong dollar spooked markets.
Brent crude futures for November settlement were down 37 cents, or 0.4%, at $85.78 a barrel, having fallen as far as $84.51, the lowest since Jan. 14.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for November delivery dropped as far as $77.21, the lowest since Jan. 6, and was last down 23 cents, or 0.3%, at $78.51.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Both contracts slumped by about 5% on Friday.
The dollar index that measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies climbed to a 20-year high on Monday. A stronger dollar tends to curtail demand for dollar-denominated oil.
The impact of a strong dollar on oil prices is at its most pronounced in more than a year, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.
Reuters Graphics
Meanwhile, interest rate increases imposed by central banks in numerous oil-consuming countries to fight surging inflation has raised fears of an economic slowdown and accompanying slump in oil demand.
“With more and more central banks being forced to take extraordinary measures no matter the cost to the economy, demand is going to take a hit which could help rebalance the oil market,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda in London.
Disruptions in the oil market from the Russia-Ukraine war, with European Union sanctions banning Russian crude set to start in December along with a plan by G7 countries for a Russian oil price cap, has lent some support to prices.
Attention is turning to what the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, together known as OPEC+, will do when they meet on Oct. 5, having agreed at their previous meeting to cut output modestly.
However, OPEC+ is producing well below its targeted output, meaning that a further cut may not have much impact on supply.
Data last week showed OPEC+ missed its target by 3.58 million barrels per day in August, a bigger shortfall than in July. read more
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Noah Browning Additional reporting by Mohi Narayan in New Delhi and Sonali Paul in Melbourne Editing by David Goodman
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Read More Here
Here Are The Best Desert Hikes To Try In Metro Phoenix Now That It
Here Are The Best Desert Hikes To Try In Metro Phoenix Now That It https://digitalarizonanews.com/here-are-the-best-desert-hikes-to-try-in-metro-phoenix-now-that-it/
Roger Naylor | Special for The Republic
Autumn changes everything in the Valley of the Sun. Autumn means that overflowing bowls of Halloween candy are acceptable décor and pumpkin spice flavor is added to everything from coffee to cookies to dog food to deodorant.
Most of all, the season means it’s time to start hiking in the desert again.
Winter visitors will soon flock to town but for right now, the parks and preserves belong to residents. Take advantage of this quiet time to get out and explore some of the amazing neighborhood trails.
Here are five great desert hikes across metro Phoenix.
Best day hikes in Phoenix: Easy, scenic trails to try this weekend with family, friends
Phoenix: Deem Hills Recreation Area
The Deem Hills in northwest Phoenix should be on everybody’s Halloween hiking list. With slopes as black as a witch’s hat, they make an otherworldly, apocalypse-flavored getaway — just right for the season.
All sorts of options are available via a network of interconnected trails, but for something quick and quiet, combine Circumference Trail with Palisade Trail for a stealthy little loop.
From the east trailhead, start on the Circumference Trail then immediately turn uphill on paved Water Tank Road. After a quarter-mile the Palisade Trail branches to the left, continuing to climb through a field of black basalt boulders adding that seasonal touch of menace.
According to trailhead signs, the boulders are remnants of ancient lava flows from volcanoes in the Flagstaff area that broke through the Earth’s surface here. For the rest of the hike, I’m obsessed with the idea that there’s an underground lava tube, an old once-molten subway, beneath Interstate 17, stretching all the way to Flag.
Atop the hill, Palisade intersects and joins the Basalt Trail for a short jog through desert scrub before they separate. Soon afterward, Palisade bends sharply east following a ridge. Views stretch to different corners of the Valley.
I pass a couple of connector paths to Circumference Trail, one right after another. Handy in case you need to shave off a little time. But I follow Palisade until it dead-ends at Circumference after 1.5 miles.
A left on Circumference and I make my way back down the slope covered with the blood of prehistoric volcanoes.
Trailhead: 27428 N. 39th Ave., Phoenix.
Admission: Free.
Length: 2.7 miles round trip.
Difficulty: Moderate.
Details: 602-495-6939, www.phoenix.gov/parks.
Fall colors 2022: Where to see Arizona’s best leaves, plus things to do along the way
Phoenix: Sonoran Preserve
The Dixie Mountain Loop has an urban address but it beats with a wild country heart. It snatches you away from civilization in a matter of minutes.
From the Desert Vista Trailhead in north Phoenix, the Hawk’s Nest Trail unlocks this corner of the Sonoran Preserve. Make the short (0.4 mile) climb to a small saddle where Dixie Mountain Loop fans out in both directions.
According to the website, going counterclockwise softens the ascents so that’s what I do. But I’m the only one. Half a dozen hikers pass me heading in the opposite direction so maybe locals have a different opinion. Either way, it’s a pretty gentle ramble.
The city vanishes behind a ring of hills and I’m left with unbroken desert. Following recent storms, the slopes are pleasingly green. Rain-swollen barrel cactus are plump as baby walruses. Teddy bear chollas are everywhere, fields of them growing like a cash crop. Morning sunlight splinters on those spines in small silver bursts. Watch for stray cholla segments in the trail, eager to hitch a ride on any passing shoe.
To spice up your workout, two spur trails offer short but mildly steep summit climbs.
Near the end of my hike I pass the rusted skeleton of an old SUV perched in an arroyo. I ponder the lengths desert dwellers will go to find a shady parking spot. One last moderate climb and I’m back at Hawk’s Nest. With a healthy population of brittlebush, this also makes an excellent springtime hike.
Trailhead: 1900 W. Desert Vista Trail, Phoenix.
Admission: Free.
Length: 4.3 miles round trip.
Difficulty: Easy to moderate.
Details: 602-495-6939, www.phoenix.gov/parks.
More: 10 great Arizona hikes for fans of water, mountains and saguaros
Scottsdale: McDowell Sonoran Preserve
The reasonably new Pima-Dynamite Trailhead opened up another quadrant of Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve. And one of the best trails to access it is Axle Grease.
Fast and flowy, the Axle Grease Trail tracks almost due north, breaking away from the power lines with swooping curves through open desert. I detect the fine hand of mountain bikers in the construction of the trail, the way it glides over the landscape.
It also passes some impressive saguaro groves. Groupings of the lean giants tower over the trail.
Axle Grease stretches for 4.5 miles so it is a good out-and-back hike or a way to probe deeper into the preserve. But interconnected trails make it easy to create a customized loop.
I turn right on Rock Tank Trail as it crosses a shallow basin. The trail squeezes through rough boulder clumps adding interesting texture to the hike for almost a mile before connecting to Latigo Trail.
Turn right on Latigo and almost immediately Sidewinder Trail branches off and leads to desert royalty, an exquisitely formed crested saguaro. The tall trunk of the cactus cascades into a classic fan-shape — a picture book representation of a crested saguaro. Sidewinder rejoins Latigo and returns to the trailhead.
Trailhead: 28777 N. Pima Road, Scottsdale.
Admission: Free.
Length: 4.1 miles round trip.
Difficulty: Easy.
Details: 480-312-7013, https://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/preserve.
What causes a crested saguaro? Here’s everything to know about these gnarled giants
Goodyear: Estrella Mountain Regional Park
The Baseline Trail offers a quick fun hike that can be turned into a longer one. It’s also ideal if you’re in the mood for a fall picnic.
The trail is easily accessed from multiple trailheads. I set out on wheelchair-accessible Gila Trail, which begins from the Turf Picnic Area (see what I mean?) with numerous ramadas and shady tables scattered among the mesquite grove.
At the end of the wide, smooth Gila Trail (0.2 mile), an unsigned path pushes into the hills connecting to Baseline Trail. I turn right and cross the lean desert. Vegetation is sparse on these rocky slopes. It’s mostly creosote, buckhorn cholla, paloverde trees and a few skinny saguaros.
Baseline wraps around one of the front foothills and offers wide views that usually include a little bit of city. There are enough up and downs to make you feel like you accomplished a modest workout while still allowing you to carry on a conversation.
You’ll pass several trail junctions if you want to wander deeper into the mountains. Otherwise, finish the loop and hurry back to your picnic spread.
Trailhead: Casey Abbott Drive South in Estrella Mountain Regional Park, 14805 W. Vineyard Ave., Goodyear.
Admission: $7 per vehicle.
Length: 2.1 miles round-trip.
Difficulty: Easy.
Details: 602-506-2930, ext. 6; https://www.maricopacountyparks.net.
More: Dog-friendly hiking trails around Phoenix
Mesa: Usery Mountain Regional Park
Usery Mountain Regional Park may be the greenest corner of Sonoran Desert in the Valley. The place always feels lush with forests of saguaros, a supporting cast of smaller cactuses and a secret garden of leafy shrubs.
Most folks show up to hike the crazy popular Wind Cave Trail but I think the long loop that circles Pass Mountain delivers more bang for your hiking buck.
From the Trailhead Staging Area, I turn left onto the Pass Mountain Trail heading north. This means I’ll make a gentle ascent from the valley floor to a high saddle with a steeper descent on a rocky path. If you prefer getting the climbing out of the way sooner and coasting back down, go counterclockwise.
It’s a lovely ramble through scenic desert along the base of the mountain. I scoot past the Wind Cave Trail, already bustling with people.
As the trail curves around the northern tip of the mountain it tops a ridge and expansive views suddenly open up to the east and the south. The cactus-clad valley is framed by mountain ranges, including the Goldfields, Four Peaks and Superstitions.
The skinny path hugs the contoured slopes of Pass Mountain amid a cradling stillness. The city is a distant memory through here. At 4.3 miles I reach the saddle, a wide notch in the cliffs.
I relax on the shady ledge while enjoying the big drama-filled window and letting my legs rejuvenate. They need to be rested before plunging down the trail littered with assorted toe-banging rocks. Saguaros gather round again and some rooftops loom before I angle back to the trailhead.
Trailhead: Trailhead Staging Area in Usery Mountain Regional Park, 3939 N. Usery Pass Road, Mesa.
Admission: $7 per vehicle.
Length: 7.5 miles round trip.
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult.
Details: 602-506-2930, ext. 4; https://www.maricopacountyparks.net.
More: Top 25 signs you’re truly an Arizonan: How many of these apply to you?
Find the reporter at https://www.rogernaylor.com. Or follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RogerNaylorinAZ or Twitter @AZRogerNaylor.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
Read More Here
