Digital Arizona News

Elaine M. Combs Obituary (2022) Daily Journal Online https://digitalarizonanews.com/elaine-m-combs-obituary-2022-daily-journal-online/ Elaine M. Combs MESA, Az. – Elaine M. Combs, 76, of Mesa, Arizona, passed away August 24, 2022, in Mesa, Arizona. She was born December 11, 1945, to August Wolk and Arlene Byington in St. Genevieve, Missouri. After high school, Elaine went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in art at the Missouri School of Journalism, and earned the honor of Cum Laude. She also had two years of law school. Elaine met her husband, Charles Combs, in 1976 at Williams Air Force Base and they married in spring 1977 at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were happily married for forty-five years. Elaine’s favorite flowers are white carnations. Elaine was a businesswoman, and she started her own business from scratch; EMC Personnel Services was a business that provided security services. The biggest contract she had was with the City of Phoenix Airport, providing security guards for their parking lot. Her business also provided personnel (garbage collectors) for the city of Phoenix. Her Business grew to a five-million-dollar company in five years. She then sold it to a United Kingdom Company and retired. Elaine’s business was her baby, and she loved working every day. Another of her passions was to drive her Corvette and play with her five pets, her toy poodle, Petite Ms. Monique; and her four cats, Grayson (boy), Rocky (girl), Tanner (girl), and Lebock (girl). Elaine is survived by her husband, Charles Combs; sisters, Dottie Baumann, and Jeanette Baumann; brothers, Charles Wolk, and Johnny Wolk; and all her pets. She is preceded in death by her parents, August and Arlene; and her brother, Jerry Wolk. Services were held September 13, 2022. Interment was held at the U.S. Air Force Academy Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Arrangements by The Springs Funeral Services-North, www.tsfs.co Published by Daily Journal Online on Sep. 17, 2022. 34465541-95D0-45B0-BEEB-B9E0361A315A To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store. Read More Here

Donald Trump Has A New Lead Attorney, For $3 Million https://digitalarizonanews.com/donald-trump-has-a-new-lead-attorney-for-3-million/   (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.) Saturday September 17, 2022 · 12:11 AM PDT 2022/09/17 · 00:11 {{backgroundUrl avatar_large}} Joined: {{created_at}} Story Count: {{n_stories}} Comment Count: {{n_comments}} Popular Tags: {{showTags popular_tags}} {{#each badges}} {{badgeUrl .}} {{/each}} {{authorSig user_sig}} {{/unless}} {{/if}} {{#ifcanRecComment author_id}} {{#if recommenders_text}} {{else}} {{/if}} {{n_recrates}} {{n_recrates}} {{else}} {{#if recommenders_text}} {{else}} {{/if}} Recommended {{n_recrates}} time{{simplePlural n_recrates}} {{/ifcanRecComment}} {{#ifCommentFlaggable author_id story_author_id}} {{/ifCommentFlaggable}} {{#if preview}} {{/if}} Read More Here

Merlin’s Ac & Plumbing Is Proud To Announce A New Look For Their Website – Digital Journal https://digitalarizonanews.com/merlins-ac-plumbing-is-proud-to-announce-a-new-look-for-their-website-digital-journal/ New Website Look For Merlin’s AC & Plumbing Merlin’s Ac & Plumbing is proud to announce a new look for their company website. They are a family-owned plumbing and AC repair business that operates in Phoenix, AZ. They offer a wide range of services, including plumbing, AC repair, and air duct cleaning. They are open 24/7 and pride themselves on providing quality services at a fair price. Merlin’s AC & Plumbing is excited to announce a brand new look for their company website. The updated website features a sleek and modern design, making it easier than ever for customers to find the information they need. The new website layout is also designed to be mobile-friendly, so customers can easily access it on their smartphones and tablets. In addition, the website includes a blog section where customers can read articles on topics related to plumbing, insulation, duct cleaning, and AC repairs. Merlin’s AC & Plumbing is committed to providing their customers with the best possible experience, and they hope that the new website will help to do just that. Take a look at the new Merlin’s AC & Plumbing website design here. When Should A Company Website Be Redesigned?   A company website should be redesigned every few years to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. This can help ensure that customers have a positive experience when they visit the site and that they can easily find the information they need. This is especially important if those dealing with a plumbing emergency. Changes to websites usually include : – A new layout and design – New features and functionality – Updated content How Does This New Look Benefit Merlin’s AC & Plumbing?   The new design of the website makes it easier for customers to find the information they need and to navigate around the site. The mobile-friendly design is also beneficial, as more and more people are using their smartphones and tablets to access the internet. Merlin’s AC & Plumbing is hopeful that the new website will help to improve customer satisfaction and increase sales. They also want to make it as easy as possible for customers to find help in an emergency. If you’re in need of plumbing or AC repairs in Phoenix, AZ, be sure to check out the new website. What services do Merlin’s AC & Plumbing Offer?   You can expect the following services from Merlin’s AC & Plumbing: – Residential Plumbing – Commercial Plumbing – Drain cleaning – Water heater repair – Sewer line repair – Gas line repair – AC repair – AC duct cleaning – Home energy audits – Insulation replacement For more information, visit the website. Why Do You Need A Plumber On Call?   You never know when you’re going to need a plumber. If you have a plumbing emergency, it’s important to have a plumber on call who can come to your rescue immediately. At Merlin’s AC & Plumbing, they understand the importance of having a reliable plumbing team on call. That’s why they offer 24/7 emergency plumbing services. So, if you have a plumbing problem in the middle of the night, you can rest assured that Merlin’s will be there to help. If you’re looking for a plumber in Phoenix, AZ, look no further than Merlin’s AC & Plumbing. They’re always available to help, no matter what time of day it is. What Is The Most Common Type Of Plumbing Problem?   The most common type of plumbing problem is a clogged drain. This can happen for a variety of reasons, such as hair buildup, food waste, or soap scum. If you have a clogged drain, it’s important to call a plumber right away so they can clear it out and prevent any further damage. At Merlin’s AC & Plumbing, they have years of experience dealing with clogged drains. You can count on them to use the latest techniques and equipment to quickly and efficiently clear out your drain. If you’re dealing with a clogged drain, don’t hesitate to get a plumber in immediately. Water damage to your home isn’t something you want to have. What Are The Benefits Of Having Your AC Ducts Cleaned?   There are several benefits of having your AC ducts cleaned, such as: – Improved air quality – Reduced allergens and dust in your home – Increased energy efficiency – Extended lifespan of your AC unit If you’re interested in having your AC ducts cleaned, it’s recommended to call a professional. At Merlin’s AC & Plumbing, you’ll get top service and clean AC ducts in no time. You can count on the job being done right so you can enjoy all the benefits of clean ducts. Who Is Merlin’s AC And Plumbing?   Merlin’s AC & Plumbing is a family-owned and operated business that has been serving the Phoenix, AZ area for over 20 years. They are committed to providing their customers with quality services and products at a fair price. Merlin’s AC & Plumbing is also open 24/7, so customers can call anytime they need assistance. If you’re in need of plumbing or AC repairs, you can get in touch with Merlin’s AC & Plumbing. They will be happy to help you resolve any plumbing or AC issues you may be having. For more information, visit their social media pages: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Media Contact Company Name: Merlin’s AC & Plumbing Contact Person: Carl Weaver Email: Send Email Phone: (602) 892-5338 Address:428 E Thunderbird Road Suit #731 City: Phoenix State: Arizona Country: United States Website: https://www.acandheatingaz.com/ Read More…

Watch Live: Preparations Begin Ahead Of Queen's Funeral https://digitalarizonanews.com/watch-live-preparations-begin-ahead-of-queens-funeral/ Watch live: Preparations begin ahead of Queen’s funeral  Sky News Queen Elizabeth’s children hold vigil beside her coffin  CNN Prince Harry & Prince William Will Stand Vigil for Queen Elizabeth – Here’s What to Expect  Just Jared In Full: Queen’s children hold final vigil for their mother  Sky News Prince William and Prince Harry to stand vigil at Queen’s coffin on Saturday  CNN Read More Here

Sending Messages Early In The Prep Season https://digitalarizonanews.com/sending-messages-early-in-the-prep-season/ The early portion of the prep football season is a great time for many powerhouse program to send a message. Sometimes the messages come from a place of being slept on or counted out. Other times there are “personal” reasons that coaches and teams want to send a message. A few teams within state 48 are sending big-time messages early in the 2022 campaign. Liberty Firing on All Cylinders The Liberty Lions are storming out of the gates. On offense, they’ve put up 50, 49, and then 50 again tonight against Colorado powerhouse Valor Christian. By the way, that program has never trailed by more than 41 points since its inception in 2007. Liberty trounced them 50-7.  Final here at Valor @LibertyFBLions 50@GoValorFootball 7@GoValorFootball Thank you for being such gracious host!!! Good luck the rest of your season! — Liberty Lions Football (@LibertyFBLions) September 17, 2022 Pinnacle also only mustered seven points against this stingy defense.  Head coach Colin Thomas knows how great his team is because they are as gritty as they come no matter which 11 players are on the field at anytime. The Lions were an overtime game with Chandler away from making the Open Division title game in each of the last seasons. No one should be sleeping on Liberty this year, they look like an Open Division title team. Saguaro and Basha in back-to-back games will be their big mid season test. Also, Arizona continues to show out against out-of-state powerhouses, Chandler “6 Out of 7 Ain’t Bad” Chandler has won a title in six of the last seven seasons. The subtitle above references a shirt that I’ve seen a few members of the coaching staff wear at practices. That mentality is fueling this start to the 2022 run. After throttling Cathedral catholic in San Diego 63-7, the Wolves are yet to allow an Arizona opponent to find the end zone. They stomped Corona del Sol 50-0 last week, before beating Notre Dame Prep 35-0 on Thursday. Rick Garretson is chomping at the bit to face Saguaro next week in a revenge match. This will be a big test for Dylan Raiola and crew on the offensive side of the ball, but they’re more than up for it. Casteel Could Be Ready For The Open Division Don’t look now, but the Casteel Colts are 3-0. Bobby Newcombe’s squad is playing against solid teams, including Williams Field. The Colts won 23-20 in dramatic fashion. #TheSidelineVlog Casteel QB Landon Jury puts it up and WR Elijah Beamon comes down with his second TD!! 23-20 Casteel leads Williams Field :26.5 4Q@casteeltdclub @JuryLandon @ElijahBeamon7 pic.twitter.com/T2KSRMefmi — Just Chilly (@JUSTCHILLY) September 17, 2022 There are playmakers all over the field for Casteel, starting with Jeremiah Newcombe. Landon Jury is quarterbacking at an efficient level, and the defense is holding opponents when it matters most. Games against Chandler, Hamilton, and Basha remain, but if they run the table in every other game, the Open Division is a real possibility.  Corona del Sol and Perry Are On Track Last year Jake Barro and Joseph Ortiz led 4A programs to phenomenal years. The former winning a state title and the latter making the Open Division.  Now they both lead 6A schools who are coming off down seasons. Through three games, they both sit a 2-1, with plenty of new energy on the field. It was evident in a hard fought battle between the two, with the Aztecs coming out on top 21-13. With 30 seconds left in the half, @ConnorAckerley connects with @RVinesbright for the 2nd time @CdS_Football leads 21-6 at the half. @Sports360AZ pic.twitter.com/8sQGNdLPO9 — Jordan Spurgeon (@spurge_) September 17, 2022 Connor Ackerley is a solid quarterback who runs the Aztec’s system at a great level. He can lead this team far, Jack Amer does it all at quarterback for the Pumas, with his arm and legs.  This was such an impressive scramble + completion by @jackamer_3 earlier in the 1st half. Evaded at least 1 sack. @perrypumas @Sports360AZ pic.twitter.com/jktW2CBphY — Jordan Spurgeon (@spurge_) September 17, 2022 Both teams have play makers all over the defensive side of the ball as well. It’s highly possible that both programs could matchup again in the 6A playoffs. Other Scores That Sent a Message Desert Edge 6 – Highland 27 (many people picked Desert Edge over the defending 6A champions) Apache Junction 51 – Combs 36 (AJ may be one of the top 4A teams) Skyline 22 – Maricopa 15 (Skyline is off to a 3-0 start under new head coach Adam Schiermyer) Final: Skyline advances to 3-0 with a 22-15 win over Maricopa as the Rams’ final pass is incomplete as time expires. Tough win but the Coyotes got it done thanks to a 38-yard touchdown run from Jace Hardin, his only carry of the night #VXLive pic.twitter.com/Awb4RFYwRG — Zach Alvira (@ZachAlvira) September 17, 2022 Casa Grande 40 – Central 30 (The defending 4A champion is still winning in 5A with new head coach Mark Luna) Queen Creek 13 – Pinnacle 39 (The offense gets back on track after getting stifled by Liberty) Higley 57 – Sunnyslope 35 (This Higley offense is special, led by Jamar Malone) @HIGLEYFOOTBALL comes right back @jamar1malone swing to @daxen_hall8 and look out, he’s gone 49yards for the TD , PAT failed 7-6 @SlopeFootball pic.twitter.com/4PBicHEGv7 — Kevin McCabe (@KevinMcCabe987) September 17, 2022 Flagstaff 59 – Rio Rico 12 (Flagstaff’s first win this season, first start for QB Chase Brown) Flagstaff QB Chase Brown has tied the team’s record for TD passes (5) after hitting Holden Sena here. Brown is a freshman starting in his first game. Flagstaff leads Rio Rico 43-12 4:58 3Q pic.twitter.com/BFzpXqMHhL — Eric Newman (@enewmanwrites) September 17, 2022 Read More Here

Texas Bans Social Media Apps From Censoring Users Due To “viewpoint” https://digitalarizonanews.com/texas-bans-social-media-apps-from-censoring-users-due-to-viewpoint/ Platforms like Twitter and Facebook are facing what may be a lengthy lawsuit ahead as it was ruled in Texas that they cannot censor users based on their political viewpoints. TX law bans social media apps from banning users due to “viewpoint” (Bloomberg) A Texas law was sustained by a US appeals court on Friday, prohibiting large social media companies with at least 50 million monthly active users from censoring their users on account of “viewpoint”. The state’s decision comes as an unprecedented measure that limits the tech industry’s ability to micromanage accounts and discourses, something social media companies claim would allow their platforms to become a “stronghold of dangerous content”. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, the 3-0 ruling by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, is considered the groundwork that would lead to the US Supreme Court’s ruling on the law, which conservatives and right-wing commentators expressed as critical to preventing “Big Tech” from censoring their views. Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in the ruling, which was passed by the state’s Republican-led legislature and signed by its Republican governor: “Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say”.  The tech groups concerned in the ruling – and thus recorded a legal loss on Friday – included NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which count Meta Platforms’ (META.O) Facebook, Twitter (TWTR.N), and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube as members, which have sought to regulate user content when they believe it may incite violence, raising concerns that unregulated platforms will enable extremists such as Nazi supporters, terrorists, and hostile foreign governments. The Computer & Communications Industry Association on Friday expressed its dismay with forcing private companies to provide equal treatment to all viewpoints. “‘God Bless America’ and ‘Death to America’ are both viewpoints, and it is unwise and unconstitutional for the state of Texas to compel a private business to treat those the same,” it said in a statement, as some conservatives labeled the social media platforms’ practices as abusive, pointing to Twitter’s permanent suspension of former US President Donald Trump from the platform shortly after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of his supporters, after which Twitter had cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” as a reason. The ruling allows either users or the Texas attorney general to sue to enforce the law, as the ruling was praised as a “massive victory for the constitution and free speech” by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The included parties have a stronger case for petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the matter due to the 5th Circuit ruling conflicts with part of a ruling by the 11th Circuit, which is based in Atlanta, and which has previously found in May that most of a similar Florida law violates the companies’ free speech rights and thus cannot be implemented. Read More Here

Trump Openly Embraces, Amplifies QAnon Conspiracy Theories https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-openly-embraces-amplifies-qanon-conspiracy-theories-3/ FILE – Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Sept. 3, 2022. Trump is increasingly embracing and endorsing the QAnon conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world incidents linked to the movement increase.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) After winking at QAnon for years, Donald Trump is overtly embracing the baseless conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world events linked to it grows. On Tuesday, using his Truth Social platform, the Republican former president reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.” In QAnon lore, the “storm” refers to Trump’s final victory, when supposedly he will regain power and his opponents will be tried, and potentially executed, on live television. As Trump contemplates another run for the presidency and has become increasingly assertive in the Republican primary process during the midterm elections, his actions show that far from distancing himself from the political fringe, he is welcoming it. He’s published dozens of recent Q-related posts, in contrast to 2020, when he claimed that while he didn’t know much about QAnon, he couldn’t disprove its conspiracy theory. Pressed on QAnon theories that Trump allegedly is saving the nation from a satanic cult of child sex traffickers, he claimed ignorance but asked, “Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” “If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it,” Trump said. Trump’s recent postings have included images referring to himself as a martyr fighting criminals, psychopaths and the so-called deep state. In one now-deleted post from late August, he reposted a “q drop,” one of the cryptic message board postings that QAnon supporters claim come from an anonymous government worker with top secret clearance. A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Even when his posts haven’t referred to the conspiracy theory directly, Trump has amplified users who do. An Associated Press analysis found that of nearly 75 accounts Trump has reposted on his Truth Social profile in the past month, more than a third of them have promoted QAnon by sharing the movement’s slogans, videos or imagery. About 1 in 10 include QAnon language or links in their profile bios. Earlier this month, Trump chose a QAnon song to close out a rally in Pennsylvania. The same song appears in one of his recent campaign videos and is titled “WWG1WGA,” an acronym used as a rallying cry for Q adherents that stands for “Where we go one, we go all.” Online, Q adherents basked in Trump’s attention. “Yup, haters!” wrote one commenter on an anonymous QAnon message board. “Trump re-truthed Q memes. And he’ll do it again, more and more of them, over and OVER, until (asterisk)everyone(asterisk) finally gets it. Make fun of us all you want, whatever! Soon Q will be everywhere!” “Trump Sending a Clear Message Patriots,” a QAnon-linked account on Truth Social wrote. “He Re-Truthed This for a Reason.” The former president may be seeking solidarity with his most loyal supporters at a time when he faces escalating investigations and potential challengers within his own party, according to Mia Bloom, a professor at Georgia State University who has studied QAnon and recently wrote a book about the group. “These are people who have elevated Trump to messiah-like status, where only he can stop this cabal,” Bloom told the AP on Thursday. “That’s why you see so many images (in online QAnon spaces) of Trump as Jesus.” On Truth Social, QAnon-affiliated accounts hail Trump as a hero and savior and vilify President Joe Biden by comparing him to Adolf Hitler or the devil. When Trump shares the content, they congratulate each other. Some accounts proudly display how many times Trump has “re-truthed” them in their bios. By using their own language to directly address QAnon supporters, Trump is telling them that they’ve been right all along and that he shares their secret mission, according to Janet McIntosh, an anthropologist at Brandeis University who has studied QAnon’s use of language and symbols. It also allows Trump to endorse their beliefs and their hope for a violent uprising without expressly saying so, she said, citing his recent post about “the storm” as a particularly frightening example. “The ‘storm is coming’ is shorthand for something really dark that he’s not saying out loud,” McIntosh said. “This is a way for him to point to violence without explicitly calling for it. He is the prince of plausible deniability.” Bloom predicted that Trump may later attempt to market Q-related merchandise or perhaps ask QAnon followers to donate to his legal defense. Regardless of motive, Bloom said, it’s a reckless move that feeds a dangerous movement. A growing list of criminal episodes has been linked to people who had expressed support for the conspiracy theory, which U.S. intelligence officials have warned could trigger more violence. QAnon supporters were among those who violently stormed the Capitol during the failed Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. In November 2020, two men drove to a vote-counting site in Philadelphia in a Hummer adorned with QAnon stickers and loaded with a rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition and other weapons. Prosecutors alleged they were trying to interfere with the election. Last year, a California man who told authorities he had been enlightened by QAnon was accused of killing his two children because he believed they had serpent DNA. Last month, a Colorado woman was found guilty of attempting to kidnap her son from foster care after her daughter said she began associating with QAnon supporters. Other adherents have been accused of environmental vandalism, firing paintballs at military reservists, abducting a child in France and even killing a New York City mob boss. On Sunday, police fatally shot a Michigan man who they say had killed his wife and severely injured his daughter. A surviving daughter told The Detroit News that she believes her father was motivated by QAnon. “I think that he was always prone to (mental issues), but it really brought him down when he was reading all those weird things on the internet,” she told the newspaper. The same weekend a Pennsylvania man who had reposted QAnon content on Facebook was arrested after he allegedly charged into a Dairy Queen with a gun, saying he wanted to kill all Democrats and restore Trump to power. Major social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have banned content associated with QAnon and have suspended or blocked accounts that seek to spread it. That’s forced much of the group’s activities onto platforms that have less moderation, including Telegram, Gab and Trump’s struggling platform, Truth Social. Newsletter Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. Read More Here

AP News Summary At 2:31 A.m. EDT https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-231-a-m-edt/ Royal fans give London tourism a bump amid UK economic woes LONDON (AP) — Hotels, restaurants and shops are packed as royal fans pour into the heart of London to experience the flag-lined roads, pomp-filled processions and brave a mileslong line for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to bid adieu to Queen Elizabeth II. Visitors crowding into central London from as far away as the U.S. and India for the historic moment are giving a boost to businesses at a time when the British economy is facing a cost-of-living crisis fueled by the highest inflation in four decades and predictions of a looming recession. The overall economic boost might be limited because Monday has been declared a public holiday for the queen’s funeral. But experts said renewed interest in the royal family could sustain tourism demand. King stands vigil; Wait to see queen’s coffin hits 24 hours LONDON (AP) — A surging tide of people — ranging from London retirees to former England soccer captain David Beckham — have lined up to file past Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as it lies in state at Parliament. So many have shown up that authorities called a temporary halt Friday to others joining the miles-long queue. The waiting line reopened late Friday afternoon. Still the British government warned the waiting time to see the queen’s coffin had climbed to more than 24 hours. King Charles III on Friday visited Llandaff Cathedral in Wales for a prayer service in honor of his late mother. Later in the evening, Charles and his three siblings stood vigil around queen’s flag-draped coffin in London. Ukrainian president: Burial site contains torture victims IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — Investigators searching through a mass burial site in Ukraine have found evidence that some of the dead were tortured, including bodies with broken limbs and ropes around their necks. That’s according to Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, who spoke Friday. The site near Izium was recently recaptured from Russian forces. It appears to be one of the largest of its kind discovered in Ukraine. Zelenskyy rushed out a video statement just hours after the exhumations began, apparently to underscore the gravity of the discovery. Military intel chief says Putin can’t achieve Ukraine goal WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s intelligence chief says Russian forces have shown themselves incapable of achieving President Vladimir Putin’s initial objectives in Ukraine, as things stand now. Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier spoke on Friday to an intelligence and national security forum outside Washington. He said Putin is at a point where he will have to revise his initial aims in invading Ukraine. Berrier said what Putin decides next will determine how long the conflict continues. His comments followed Russian forces latest major setback, a Ukrainian offensive that drove Russians out of a large swath of northeast Ukraine. Putin on Friday vowed to keep pressing his offensive. Voter challenges, records requests swamp election offices Election conspiracy theorists are flooding local election offices with voter challenges and public records requests. The wave of inquiries is adding to the already heavy workload those offices face as they scramble to prepare for November’s elections. Election officials say many of the challenges they’re receiving contest the presence on voter rolls of people who already are being removed or have the right to be registered. At a minimum, it takes time for election offices to record all the challenges. And if some of the targeted voters cast ballots in November, there could be a fight over whether to count their votes. Abrams’ strategy to boost turnout: Early voting commitments DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is launching an intensive effort to get out the vote by urging potential supporters to cast in-person ballots the first week of early voting as she tries to navigate the state’s new election laws. The strategy, outlined to The Associated Press by Abrams’ top aides, is a shift from 2018, when she spent generously in her first gubernatorial bid to encourage voters to use mail ballots. It also moves away from Democrats’ pandemic-era emphasis on mail voting, a push that delivered Georgia’s electoral votes to President Joe Biden and helped Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win concurrent U.S. Senate runoffs. US asks appeals court to lift judge’s Mar-a-Lago probe hold WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to lift a judge’s order that temporarily barred it from reviewing a batch of classified documents seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month. The department made the request Friday with the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta. It says the judge’s hold is impeding the “government’s efforts to protect the nation’s security” and interfering with its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. It says the hold needs to be lifted immediately so work can resume. Trump openly embraces, amplifies QAnon conspiracy theories Donald Trump is increasingly embracing and endorsing the QAnon conspiracy theory, even as the number of frightening real-world events linked to the movement rises. Using his Truth Social platform, Trump this week reposted an image of himself overlaid with the words “the Storm is Coming.” In QAnon lore, the storm refers to Trump’s final victory, when his opponents supposedly will be tried and possibly executed. It’s among dozens of recent Q-related posts from the Republican former president, who also ended a rally with a QAnon song. Experts who study QAnon say Trump may be trying to rally his most stalwart supporters as investigations into his conduct escalate. Biden meets with families of Whelan, Griner at White House WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden met with family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan. The meetings Friday at the White House are the first face-to-face encounter between the president and the relatives of Griner and Whelan. Administration officials say the sessions are meant to underscore Biden’s commitment to bringing home Americans held overseas and to establish a personal connection, but are not an indication that negotiations with Russia for their release have reached a breakthrough. A national security spokesman told reporters Friday that the U.S. had made a serious offer to get the Americans home but the Russians had not responded to that offer. Surprise is key part of migrant travel from Florida, Texas EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the playbook of a fellow Republican, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to a new level by catching officials flat-footed in Martha’s Vineyard with two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants. An immigration attorney says the migrants had “no idea of where they were going or where they were.” Providing little or no information is part of the plan. On Friday, the migrants were being moved voluntarily to a military base on nearby Cape Cod. Before going to the wealthy Massachusetts island, a woman in San Antonio showered them with gifts and promised jobs and housing. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More Here

Virginia Will Block Schools From Accommodating Transgender Students https://digitalarizonanews.com/virginia-will-block-schools-from-accommodating-transgender-students/ In a major rollback of LGBTQ rights, the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) will require that transgender students in Virginia access school facilities and programs that match the sex they were assigned at birth and is making it more difficult for students to change their names and genders at school. Under new “model policies” for schools’ treatment of transgender students released Friday evening, the Department of Education is requiring that families submit legal documentation to earn their children the right to change names and genders at school. The guidelines also say teachers cannot be compelled to refer to transgender students by their names and genders if it goes against “their constitutionally protected” free speech rights. And the guidelines say schools cannot “encourage or instruct teachers to conceal material information about a student from the student’s parent, including information related to gender” — raising the prospect that teachers could be forced to out transgender students to their parents. School districts must adopt the new state guidelines or “policies that are more comprehensive,” after a 30-day comment period that will begin on Sept. 26, the Education Department said. The Board of Education will not have to vote to adopt the policies. “These 2022 Model Policies reflect the Department’s confidence in parents to prudently exercise their fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Virginia Constitution to direct the upbringing, education, and control of their children,” the guidelines state. “This primary role of parents is well established and beyond debate. Empowering parents is essential to improving outcomes for children.” The model policies reverse guidelines published in 2021 by the administration of Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Those guidelines mandated that transgender students be allowed to access restrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities that match their gender identities, stipulated that schools let students participate in sports and programs matching their gender identities and required that school districts and teachers accept and use students’ gender pronouns and identities without question. In their own guidelines, Youngkin administration officials wrote that Northam’s guidance sought “cultural and social transformation in schools” and “disregarded the rights of parents.” The Youngkin guidelines state the Northam-era policies are dead: they “have no further force and effect.” The Northam guidelines were developed in accordance with a 2020 law, proposed by Democratic legislators, that required the Virginia Education Department to develop model policies — and later required all school districts to adopt them — for the protection of transgender students. The law does not define the specific nature of these policies but says they should “address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based best practices” and says they should be designed to prevent bullying and harassment of transgender students. But — in a move that is likely to draw legal challenges — the Youngkin administration has used that same law to issue its own version of the Education Department guidelines. The 20-page document released Friday states it is being issued “as required under” the 2020 legislation. The Youngkin administration is also attempting to repurpose the period of public scrutiny the Northam-era rules were subjected to. Those guidelines, as is typical, were posted for weeks online so the public could share their reactions. The Friday document states that Youngkin’s guidelines were developed by “taking into account the over 9,000 comments received during the public comment period” for the Northam-era policies. “The 2022 model policy posted today delivers on the governor’s commitment to preserving parental rights and upholding the dignity and respect of all public school students,” Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter said in a written statement. “It is not under a school’s or the government’s purview to impose a set of particular ideological beliefs on all students.” The reaction from Democratic lawmakers was swift. “These new policies are cruel and not at all evidence based,” tweeted Del. Marcus Simon, who was a co-sponsor of the Northam-era law. “If enacted these policies will harm Virginia children. Stop bullying kids to score political points.” Allies of the governor praised the proposal. “Thank you @GovernorVA for fixing one of the most overreaching and abusive uses of a ‘model policy’ that I’ve seen,” tweeted GOP Del. Glenn Davis. “This new standard ensures all students have the right to attend school in an environment free from discrimination, harassment, and bullying. Laura Vozzella contributed to this report. Read More Here

US Justice Department Appeals Halt Of Trump Classified Docs Review » Capital News https://digitalarizonanews.com/us-justice-department-appeals-halt-of-trump-classified-docs-review-capital-news/ Washington (AFP), Sep 17 – The US Justice Department on Friday appealed in part a judge’s decision to halt the review of seized documents from former president Donald Trump’s Florida estate, asking to continue its investigation of those materials marked as classified. Federal investigators have been blocked since last week from reviewing thousands of documents taken by the FBI from Trump’s seaside mansion, after a judge sided with the former president and decided to appoint an independent arbiter to sort through the files. The Justice Department, in its filing Friday evening, argued that Judge Aileen Cannon “fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive relief,” but would limit its appeal to just the “roughly 100 records bearing classification markings,” recovered from Trump’s estate. Delaying the review of the classified documents, which it argues are government property, “impedes the government’s efforts to protect the Nation’s security,” the Justice Department said. “It also irreparably harms the government by enjoining critical steps of an ongoing criminal investigation and needlessly compelling disclosure of highly sensitive records, including to Plaintiff’s counsel,” the filing added, referring to Trump’s lawyers. Trump is facing mounting legal pressure, with the Justice Department saying top-secret documents were “likely concealed” to obstruct an FBI probe into his potential mishandling of classified materials. He has denied all wrongdoing, and said the raid on his mansion was “one of the most egregious assaults on democracy in the history of our country,” while making it a major talking point at his political rallies. The appeal will be heard first by a three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit, but could ultimately wind up at the Supreme Court. On Thursday, Judge Cannon appointed Raymond Dearie to review the files, as the so-called special master. The 78-year-old senior federal judge in New York was one of two people proposed by Trump’s legal team. Dearie issued an order on Friday for Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department counsel to meet with him in New York early next week. Agenda items for the Tuesday meeting are to be submitted by either side by the close of business on Monday, Dearie ordered. In addition to the documents probe, Trump faces investigations in New York into his business practices, as well as legal scrutiny over his efforts to overturn results of the 2020 election, and for the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. Read More Here

Voter Challenges, Records Requests Swamp Election Offices https://digitalarizonanews.com/voter-challenges-records-requests-swamp-election-offices/ Spurred by conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, activists around the country are using laws that allow people to challenge a voter’s right to cast a ballot to contest the registrations of thousands of voters at a time. In Iowa, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller had handled three voter challenges over the previous 15 years. He received 119 over just two days after Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who is touring the country spreading doubts about the 2020 election, swung through the state. In Nassau County in northern Florida, two residents challenged the registrations of nearly 2,000 voters just six days before last month’s primary. In Georgia, activists are dropping off boxloads of challenges in the diverse and Democratic-leaning counties comprising the Atlanta metro area, including more than 35,000 in one county late last month. Election officials say the vast majority of the challenges will be irrelevant because they contest the presence on voting rolls of people who already are in the process of being removed after they moved out of the region. Still, they create potentially hundreds of hours of extra work as the offices scramble to prepare for November’s election. “They at best overburden election officials in the run-up to an election, and at worse they lead to people being removed from the rolls when they shouldn’t be,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of The Brennan Center for Justice, which has tracked an upswing in voter challenges. Gwinnett County elections supervisor Zach Manifold looks over boxes of voter challenges on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, in Lawrenceville, Ga. Manifold estimated his office has a month to log and research the challenges, before mail ballots go out for the November elections. “It is a tight window to get everything done,” he said. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Bazemore Rachel Rodriguez, left, the elections management specialist for Dane County, Wis., looks over a table of ballots being tested before being sent to more than 200 voting locations across the state’s second-largest county on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Madison, Wis. Her office is among those that have been hammered with requests by what appear to be coordinated campaigns by groups who reject the results of the 2020 presidential election. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Scott Bauer Rachel Rodriguez, left, the elections management specialist for Dane County, Wis., looks over a table of ballots being tested before being sent to more than 200 voting locations across the state’s second-largest county on Sept. 14, 2022, in Madison, Wis. Her office is among those that have been hammered with requests by what appear to be coordinated campaigns by groups who reject the results of the 2020 presidential election. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Scott Bauer PreviousNext The voter challenges come as activists who believe in the election lies of former President Donald Trump also have flooded election offices across the country with public records requests and threats of litigation, piling even more work on them as they ready for November. “It’s time-consuming for us, because we have to consult with our county attorneys about what the proper response is going to be,” said Rachel Rodriguez, an elections supervisor in Dane County, Wisconsin, which includes Madison, the state capital. She received duplicate emails demanding records about two weeks ago: “It’s taking up valuable time that we don’t necessarily have as election officials when we’re trying to prepare for a November election.” Michael Henrici, the Democratic commissioner of elections in New York’s Otsego County, received a single-line email last week warning of unspecified “election integrity” litigation, then a follow-up complaining he hadn’t responded. “These aren’t people with specific grievances,” Henrici said. “They’re getting a form letter from someone’s podcast and sometimes filling in the blanks.” Multiple investigations and reviews, including one by Trump’s own Department of Justice, found no significant fraud i n the 2020 presidential election, and courts rejected dozens of lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies. But Trump has continued to insist that widespread fraud cost him re-election. That has inspired legions of activists to become do-it-yourself election sleuths around the country, challenging local voting officials at every turn. In Linn County, Iowa, which includes the city of Cedar Rapids, Miller said he and the auditors who run elections in the state’s other 98 counties have been deluged with both records requests and voter challenges. “The whole barrage came in a two-week period,” Miller said, following the tour by Frank, who uses mathematical projections to make claims of a vast conspiracy to steal the election from Trump, “and it’s happening to auditors across the state.” Election offices routinely go through their voter rolls and remove those who have moved or died. Federal law constrains how quickly they can drop voters, and conservative activists have long complained that election officials do not move swiftly enough to clean up their rolls. The recent challenges stem from activists comparing postal change-of-address and other databases to voter rolls. Election officials say this is redundant, because they already take the same steps. Sometimes the challenges come after election conspiracists go door-to-door, often in heavily minority neighborhoods, seeking evidence that votes were cast improperly in 2020. Texas’ heavily Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston, received nearly 5,000 challenges from a conservative group that went door-to-door checking voter addresses. The election office said it dismissed the challenges it legally had to review before the election and will finish the remainder after Nov. 8. Activists in Gwinnett County, which stretches across the increasingly Democratic northern Atlanta suburbs, spent 10 months comparing change-of-address and other databases with the county’s voter rolls. They submitted eight boxes of challenges last month. About 15,000, they said, were complaints that specific voters improperly received mail ballots in 2020. Another 22,000 were for voters they contend are no longer at their registered address. There are so many challenges that election officials have yet to even count them all. But Zach Manifold, Gwinnett’s election supervisor, said that, in every single mail ballot complaint the office has sampled, the voter properly received a mailed ballot. But if any of the address-challenged voters do try to cast a ballot in November, the county’s elections board will need to decide whether that vote should count. They’ll only have six days to make a decision, as they have to certify their vote total by the Monday after Election Day under Georgia law. Manifold estimated his office has a month to log and research the challenges, before mail ballots go out for the November elections: “It is a tight window to get everything done,” he said. Many of the large counties facing voter roll challenges are places where President Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020, including Gwinnett and Harris. Yet those behind the effort dispute the notion that they are targeting Democratic-leaning counties and say they’re working on behalf of all voters. In Florida’s Nassau County, for example, Trump won with more than 72% of the vote. “They should be glad that the voter rolls are being cleaned up so they can make sure their votes count,” said Garland Favorito, a conservative activist who has teamed up with supporters of Trump’s election lies and is helping with voter challenges in Georgia. Favorito said more challenges are coming in other Georgia counties. Under legislation passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, there are no limits on the number of voter challenges that can be filed in Georgia. Most states implicitly set restraints on challenges, said Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center. They require a complainant to have specific, personal information about the voters they target and establish penalties for making frivolous challenges. Florida is an example. Its voter challenge law only permits the filing of challenges 30 days before an election, requiring election officials to contact each voter challenged before Election Day. It is a misdemeanor to file a “frivolous” challenge. But voter challenges almost derailed Florida’s primary last month in heavily-Republican Nassau County, in the northeastern part of the state. Two women who belonged to a conservative group, County Citizens Defending Freedom, dropped off the nearly 2,000 challenges at the county elections office six days before the Aug. 23 primary. Luckily for the office, the challenges were filed in an incorrect format. Elections Supervisor Janet Adkins told the activists they would review them, anyway — after the primary. “To take away a person’s right to vote is a very serious thing,” Adkins said. —- Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

Voter Challenges, Records Requests Swamp Election Offices – KION546 https://digitalarizonanews.com/voter-challenges-records-requests-swamp-election-offices-kion546/ By NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press Spurred by conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, activists around the country are using laws that allow people to challenge a voter’s right to cast a ballot to contest the registrations of thousands of voters at a time. In Iowa, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller had handled three voter challenges over the previous 15 years. He received 119 over just two days after Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who is touring the country spreading doubts about the 2020 election, swung through the state. In Nassau County in northern Florida, two residents challenged the registrations of nearly 2,000 voters just six days before last month’s primary. In Georgia, activists are dropping off boxloads of challenges in the diverse and Democratic-leaning counties comprising the Atlanta metro area, including more than 35,000 in one county late last month. Election officials say the vast majority of the challenges will be irrelevant because they contest the presence on voting rolls of people who already are in the process of being removed after they moved out of the region. Still, they create potentially hundreds of hours of extra work as the offices scramble to prepare for November’s election. “They at best overburden election officials in the run-up to an election, and at worse they lead to people being removed from the rolls when they shouldn’t be,” said Sean Morales-Doyle of The Brennan Center for Justice, which has tracked an upswing in voter challenges. The voter challenges come as activists who believe in the election lies of former President Donald Trump also have flooded election offices across the country with public records requests and threats of litigation, piling even more work on them as they ready for November. “It’s time-consuming for us, because we have to consult with our county attorneys about what the proper response is going to be,” said Rachel Rodriguez, an elections supervisor in Dane County, Wisconsin, which includes Madison, the state capital. She received duplicate emails demanding records about two weeks ago: “It’s taking up valuable time that we don’t necessarily have as election officials when we’re trying to prepare for a November election.” Michael Henrici, the Democratic commissioner of elections in New York’s Otsego County, received a single-line email last week warning of unspecified “election integrity” litigation, then a follow-up complaining he hadn’t responded. “These aren’t people with specific grievances,” Henrici said. “They’re getting a form letter from someone’s podcast and sometimes filling in the blanks.” Multiple investigations and reviews, including one by Trump’s own Department of Justice, found no significant fraud i n the 2020 presidential election, and courts rejected dozens of lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies. But Trump has continued to insist that widespread fraud cost him re-election. That has inspired legions of activists to become do-it-yourself election sleuths around the country, challenging local voting officials at every turn. In Linn County, Iowa, which includes the city of Cedar Rapids, Miller said he and the auditors who run elections in the state’s other 98 counties have been deluged with both records requests and voter challenges. “The whole barrage came in a two-week period,” Miller said, following the tour by Frank, who uses mathematical projections to make claims of a vast conspiracy to steal the election from Trump, “and it’s happening to auditors across the state.” Election offices routinely go through their voter rolls and remove those who have moved or died. Federal law constrains how quickly they can drop voters, and conservative activists have long complained that election officials do not move swiftly enough to clean up their rolls. The recent challenges stem from activists comparing postal change-of-address and other databases to voter rolls. Election officials say this is redundant, because they already take the same steps. Sometimes the challenges come after election conspiracists go door-to-door, often in heavily minority neighborhoods, seeking evidence that votes were cast improperly in 2020. Texas’ heavily Democratic Harris County, which includes Houston, received nearly 5,000 challenges from a conservative group that went door-to-door checking voter addresses. The election office said it dismissed the challenges it legally had to review before the election and will finish the remainder after Nov. 8. Activists in Gwinnett County, which stretches across the increasingly Democratic northern Atlanta suburbs, spent 10 months comparing change-of-address and other databases with the county’s voter rolls. They submitted eight boxes of challenges last month. About 15,000, they said, were complaints that specific voters improperly received mail ballots in 2020. Another 22,000 were for voters they contend are no longer at their registered address. There are so many challenges that election officials have yet to even count them all. But Zach Manifold, Gwinnett’s election supervisor, said that, in every single mail ballot complaint the office has sampled, the voter properly received a mailed ballot. But if any of the address-challenged voters do try to cast a ballot in November, the county’s elections board will need to decide whether that vote should count. They’ll only have six days to make a decision, as they have to certify their vote total by the Monday after Election Day under Georgia law. Manifold estimated his office has a month to log and research the challenges, before mail ballots go out for the November elections: “It is a tight window to get everything done,” he said. Many of the large counties facing voter roll challenges are places where President Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020, including Gwinnett and Harris. Yet those behind the effort dispute the notion that they are targeting Democratic-leaning counties and say they’re working on behalf of all voters. In Florida’s Nassau County, for example, Trump won with more than 72% of the vote. “They should be glad that the voter rolls are being cleaned up so they can make sure their votes count,” said Garland Favorito, a conservative activist who has teamed up with supporters of Trump’s election lies and is helping with voter challenges in Georgia. Favorito said more challenges are coming in other Georgia counties. Under legislation passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature, there are no limits on the number of voter challenges that can be filed in Georgia. Most states implicitly set restraints on challenges, said Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center. They require a complainant to have specific, personal information about the voters they target and establish penalties for making frivolous challenges. Florida is an example. Its voter challenge law only permits the filing of challenges 30 days before an election, requiring election officials to contact each voter challenged before Election Day. It is a misdemeanor to file a “frivolous” challenge. But voter challenges almost derailed Florida’s primary last month in heavily-Republican Nassau County, in the northeastern part of the state. Two women who belonged to a conservative group, County Citizens Defending Freedom, dropped off the nearly 2,000 challenges at the county elections office six days before the Aug. 23 primary. Luckily for the office, the challenges were filed in an incorrect format. Elections Supervisor Janet Adkins told the activists they would review them, anyway — after the primary. “To take away a person’s right to vote is a very serious thing,” Adkins said. —- Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report. Read More Here

Parents Respond To Allegations Against Gilbert Football Coach, Players https://digitalarizonanews.com/parents-respond-to-allegations-against-gilbert-football-coach-players/ GILBERT, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — As football teams across Arizona play under the Friday night lights, a football player and his mother are leveling serious accusations against Gilbert High School’s football coach and players. Senior Deion Smith says he was harassed and assaulted, claiming the Tiger’s coach didn’t take action. However, other parents are backing the coach after the allegations broke. Arizona’s Family spoke with several parents with strong opinions on the claims against head coach Derek Zellner. Darryl Toppin and Jasmin Cerimagic are parents of football players on the Tigers team, quickly coming to Coach Zellner’s defense. “When I heard about this, I was like, that’s not Coach Z,” said Toppin. Smith alleged months of discrimination ended with him being knocked out by a teammate earlier this week, but Cerimagic says this is the first she’s hearing about the claims. “We’ve never experienced any racial prejudice from Coach Z or his staff,” Cerimagic said. Toppin and Cerimagic both have sophomore sons on the football team, who are half-Black. Both students have told their parents racism isn’t tolerated on the team or at the school. “We haven’t had any issues,” said Cerimagic. Both are among a larger group of parents who feel Coach Zellner and his staff treat all players like family. “They want to make sure everyone feels comfortable and included,” said parent Lacie Nole. Meanwhile, parent Alex Santa Cruz had nothing but praise for the coach. “A lot of the parents love him. He’s a very nice, approachable coach. Something that you really look for, somebody to take the time to make a young man out of your athlete,” he said. None of the parents say they’re aware of any racist behavior associated with the team. However, sophomore Amir Pierson says there have been other racist incidents around campus. Amir says since last year, a football player has said the N-word multiple times at school. “It just started to build up, and it started to bother me after a while. And it just became too much, and I had to come forward with it,” she explained. Amir’s mom, Brittany, contacted Gilbert High School about the incidents last May. Brittany said she’s frustrated that the football player is still on the team and at the school. “I specifically voiced my concern that a student could get hurt or these things would escalate. It validates the thought that Gilbert tolerates this culture,” Brittany said. The school is aware of Pierson’s allegations, but they’re not a part of the current investigation surrounding the claims made by Smith regarding the football team. Parents say the only way to move forward is to continue the investigation. “Speak with his teachers, speak with his peers, speak with the student athletes. Get a diverse group of people, and get to the bottom of it,” said Cerimagic. Gilbert Public Schools said that because of the ongoing investigation, Zellner couldn’t comment on the issue. Since it’s a developing situation, Gilbert police and the Gilbert Public School District investigations are ongoing. Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved. Read More Here

Today In History: September 17, Camp David Accords https://digitalarizonanews.com/today-in-history-september-17-camp-david-accords/ Today in History Today is Saturday, Sept. 17, the 260th day of 2022. There are 105 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Sept. 17, 1978, after meeting at Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (men-AH’-kem BAY’-gihn) and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a framework for a peace treaty. On this date: In 1787, the Constitution of the United States was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In 1862, more than 3,600 men were killed in the Civil War Battle of Antietam (an-TEE’-tum) in Maryland. In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge of the U.S. Army Signal Corps became the first person to die in the crash of a powered aircraft, the Wright Flyer, at Fort Myer, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. In 1920, the American Professional Football Association — a precursor of the National Football League — was formed in Canton, Ohio. In 1937, the likeness of President Abraham Lincoln’s head was dedicated at Mount Rushmore. In 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland during World War II, more than two weeks after Nazi Germany had launched its assault. In 1944, during World War II, Allied paratroopers launched Operation Market Garden, landing behind German lines in the Netherlands. (After initial success, the Allies were beaten back by the Germans.) In 1947, James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first U.S. Secretary of Defense. In 1980, former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza (suh-MOH’-sah) was assassinated in Paraguay. In 1986, the Senate confirmed the nomination of William H. Rehnquist to become the 16th chief justice of the United States. In 2001, six days after 9/11, stock prices nosedived but stopped short of collapse in an emotional, flag-waving reopening of Wall Street; the Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 684.81 at 8,920.70. In 2011, a demonstration calling itself Occupy Wall Street began in New York, prompting similar protests around the U.S. and the world. Ten years ago: Republican Mitt Romney tried to head off a new distraction for his presidential campaign after a video surfaced showing him telling wealthy donors that 47 percent of all Americans “believe they are victims” entitled to help from the government that permeated their lives; Romney offered no apologies, but conceded his comments were not “elegantly stated” and were spoken “off the cuff.” Five years ago: British authorities said a second suspect was in custody in connection with a bomb that partially exploded two days earlier on a packed London subway, injuring dozens. The top series prizes at the Emmy Awards went to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” ″Veep” and the ever-topical “Saturday Night Live”; the ceremony took almost nonstop aim at President Donald Trump in awards and speeches. One year ago: A Los Angeles jury convicted Robert Durst of murdering his best friend 20 years earlier; the a case had taken on new life after the New York real estate heir participated in a documentary that connected him to the slaying linked to his wife’s 1982 disappearance. (Durst who was sentenced to life in prison, died in January 2022 at 78.) Retreating from its defense of a drone strike that had killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan in August, the Pentagon announced that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, and not an Islamic State extremist as first believed. France recalled its ambassador to the United States in an unprecedented show of anger by America’s oldest ally; the action came after the U.S., Australia and Britain shunned France in creating a new Indo-Pacific security arrangement, and Australia scrapped a purchase of French submarines in favor of nuclear subs built with U.S. technology. Today’s Birthdays: Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, is 89. Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter (SOO’-tur) is 83. Singer LaMonte McLemore (The Fifth Dimension) is 87. Retired U.S. Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni is 79. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson is 77. Singer Fee Waybill is 74. Actor Cassandra Peterson (“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”) is 71. Comedian Rita Rudner is 69. Director-actor Paul Feig is 60. Movie director Baz Luhrmann is 60. Singer BeBe Winans is 60. TV personality/businessman Robert Herjavec (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 59. Actor Kyle Chandler is 57. Director-producer Bryan Singer is 57. Rapper Doug E. Fresh is 56. Actor Malik Yoba is 55. Rock singer Anastacia is 54. Actor Matthew Settle is 53. Rapper Vin Rock (Naughty By Nature) is 52. Actor-comedian Bobby Lee is 51. Actor Felix Solis is 51. R&B singer Marcus Sanders (Hi-Five) is 49. Actor-singer Nona Gaye is 48. Singer-actor Constantine Maroulis is 47. NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson is 47. Country singer-songwriter Stephen Cochran is 43. Rock musician Chuck Comeau (Simple Plan) is 43. Actor Billy Miller is 43. Rock musician Jon Walker is 37. NHL forward Alex Ovechkin (oh-VECH’-kin) is 37. Actor Danielle Brooks is 33. Gospel singer Jonathan McReynolds is 33. Actor-singer Denyse Tontz is 28. NHL center Auston Matthews is 25. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Read More Here

Justice Dept. Appeals Judge’s Rulings On Classified Material In Mar-A-Lago Case https://digitalarizonanews.com/justice-dept-appeals-judges-rulings-on-classified-material-in-mar-a-lago-case/ The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Friday night to override parts of a judge’s order appointing a special master to review documents seized from former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and club, arguing that some of the terms hamper a critical national security investigation. The appeals court filing comes a day after U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon appointed another federal judge, Raymond J. Dearie, to serve as special master and review the almost 11,000 documents seized in the FBI’s Aug. 8 search. The new filing from the Justice Department notes that it disagrees with that decision but for the time being is asking the appeals court to intercede on two parts of Cannon’s ruling — one barring criminal investigators from using the seized material while the special master does his work, and another allowing the special master to review the roughly 100 classified documents seized as well as the nonclassified material. The government filing asks for a stay of “only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public,” calling the scope of their request “modest but critically important.” It’s unclear how long the special master review, or the appeals, might take, but the new filing asks the appeals court to rule on their request for a stay “as soon as practicable.” Cannon ordered Dearie to complete his review by Nov. 30. She said he should prioritize sorting through the classified documents, though she did not provide a timeline as to when that portion must be completed. The Justice Department had asked in a previous court filing for the review to be completed by Oct. 17. And Trump’s lawyers had said a special master would need 90 days to complete a review. Dearie, 78, was nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan (R) after serving as a U.S. attorney. Fellow lawyers and colleagues in Brooklyn federal court describe him as an exemplary jurist who is well suited to the job of special master, having previously served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees sensitive national security cases. The appeals court filing also argues that the very premise of Cannon’s order, as it relates to the classified material, makes little sense because classified documents are by definition the property of the government, not a former president or a private club. Trump “has no claim for the return of those records, which belong to the government and were seized in a court-authorized search. The records are not subject to any possible claim of personal attorney-client privilege,” prosecutors wrote, adding that Trump has cited no legal authority “suggesting that a former President could successfully invoke executive privilege to prevent the Executive Branch from reviewing its own records.” The Justice Department contends that Cannon’s instruction for intelligence officials to continue their risk assessment of the Mar-a-Lago case, while criminal investigators could not use that same material in their work, is highly impractical because the two tasks are “inextricably intertwined.” That order “hamstrings that investigation and places the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) under a Damoclean threat of contempt should the court later disagree with how investigators disaggregated their previously integrated criminal-investigative and national-security activities,” the filing argues. “It also irreparably harms the government by enjoining critical steps of an ongoing criminal investigation and needlessly compelling disclosure of highly sensitive records, including to” Trump’s lawyers. Prosecutors have also said the judge’s restriction on further investigation prevents them from determining if any other classified documents remain to be found — a potential ongoing national security risk — and the appeals filing says it also makes it harder for the FBI to determine if anyone accessed the documents they did recover. “The court’s injunction restricts the FBI … from using the seized records in its criminal-investigative tools to assess which, if any, records were in fact disclosed, to whom, and in what circumstances,” the new filing says. Similar arguments did not sway Cannon, who repeatedly expressed skepticism about the Justice Department claims, even on the question of whether the roughly 100 documents at the core of the case were classified. In her ruling Thursday, she rejected the argument that her decision will cause serious harm to the national security investigation. Evenhanded application of legal rules “does not demand unquestioning trust in the determinations of the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote. Cannon, a Trump appointee confirmed by the U.S. Senate just days after Trump lost his bid for reelection, added that she still “firmly” believes that the appointment of a special master, and a temporary injunction against the Justice Department using the documents, is in keeping “with the need to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under unprecedented circumstances.” The Justice Department is investigating Trump and his advisers for possible mishandling of classified information, as well as hiding or destroying government records — a saga that began last year when the National Archives and Records Administration became concerned that some items and documents that were presidential records, and therefore government property, were instead in Trump’s possession at his Florida club. After months of discussions, Trump aides turned over about 15 boxes of material to the archives, and a review of those boxes turned up what officials say were 184 documents with classification markings, including some that were top secret. After the FBI and Justice Department opened a criminal investigation, a subpoena was sent in May seeking the return of all documents marked classified. In response, a lawyer for Trump turned over 38 additional classified documents, and another Trump aide signed a document claiming they had conducted a diligent search for any remaining sensitive documents, prosecutors said. “The FBI uncovered evidence that the response to the grand-jury subpoena was incomplete, that classified documents likely remained at Mar-a-Lago, and that efforts had likely been undertaken to obstruct the investigation,” the filing says in describing the decision to get a court order to search Mar-a-Lago. That search, officials said, turned up roughly 100 more classified documents, including some that were at the highest level of classification. Two weeks after that search, Trump’s lawyers filed court papers seeking the appointment of a special master to review the seized material and hold aside any documents covered by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. Executive privilege is a loosely defined legal concept meant to safeguard the privacy of presidential communications from other branches of government, but in this case Trump’s legal team has suggested the former president can invoke it against the current executive branch. The government’s appeals argument also tries to demolish the suggestion that Trump may have declassified the material while he was president, noting that his legal team has never claimed he did so at any point in the long months of negotiating the return of the documents, and since the raid has only suggested he might have or could have declassified them. In buying that reasoning, Judge Cannon “erred in granting extraordinary relief based on unsubstantiated possibilities,” the Justice Department lawyers wrote. Read More Here

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot: Time To Send Illinois GOP Gubernatorial Candidate 'back To The Farm' https://digitalarizonanews.com/chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot-time-to-send-illinois-gop-gubernatorial-candidate-back-to-the-farm/ The mayor of Chicago said it was time to send an Illinois Republican candidate for governor “back to the farm” during a rally on Friday. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s comments about gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey came during a speech rallying supporters to go vote for Democrats in November. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR, CHICAGO MAYOR BLASTED FOR ‘HYPOCRISY’ AFTER SENDING MIGRANTS BUSSED FROM TEXAS TO SUBURBS Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/cR6I1rY83bA6bBCxexuI7g–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM5Nw–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/f5fsTuGFkzkDt9lfUzKTUg–~B/aD03MjA7dz0xMjgwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/fox_news_text_979/c34b5d5055118acbff0de5f17a16cc15″ Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduces Jazmine Sullivan during 2022 Lollapalooza day one at Grant Park on July 28, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images “So make no mistake, Trump is on the ballot. His name is Darren Bailey. And we need to send him back to the farm,” Lightfoot said. “Trump is on the ballot in every single one of the Republicans that you are going to face when you go into the voting pool. And you must remember that we are Illinois. We are a state that believes in people’s rights and that we’re going to treat everyone with dignity and respect.” Lightfoot had just finished blasting Republicans who “do nothing but hatred” as they “present a picture of our city and our state that is out of touch with reality because they live in a world that is different than the lives of the people of this city in the state every day.” Bailey, a third-generation farmer, touts his rural credentials on his campaign page. Fox News Digital reached out to Bailey’s campaign for comment. Read More Here

Trump Openly Embraces, Amplifies QAnon Conspiracy Theories https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-openly-embraces-amplifies-qanon-conspiracy-theories-2/ On Tuesday, using his Truth Social platform, the Republican former president reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming.” In QAnon lore, the “storm” refers to Trump’s final victory, when supposedly he will regain power and his opponents will be tried, and potentially executed, on live television. As Trump contemplates another run for the presidency and has become increasingly assertive in the Republican primary process during the midterm elections, his actions show that far from distancing himself from the political fringe, he is welcoming it. Read More Here

US Asks Appeals Court To Lift Judge’s Mar-A-Lago Probe Hold https://digitalarizonanews.com/us-asks-appeals-court-to-lift-judges-mar-a-lago-probe-hold/ Published September 16, 2022 11:27PM Judge considers appointment of special master over FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago A federal judge in Florida held a hearing on Thursday over whether to appoint a special master to review what FBI agents retrieved from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. FOX 5’s Katie Barlow reports. The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Friday to lift a judge’s order that temporarily barred it from reviewing a batch of classified documents seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month. The department told the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the judge’s hold, imposed last week, had impeded the “government’s efforts to protect the nation’s security” and interfered with its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. It asked the court to remove that order, so work could resume, and to halt a judge’s directive forcing the department to provide the seized classified documents to an independent arbiter for his review. “The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay” of the order, department lawyers wrote in their brief to the appeals court. Veteran NY judge named as arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago probe U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s appointment of a so-called special master to review the documents, and the resulting legal tussle it has caused, appear certain to slow by weeks the department’s investigation into the holding of classified documents at the Florida property after Trump left office. The Justice Department has been investigating possible violations of multiple statutes, including under the Espionage Act, but it remains unclear whether Trump — who has been laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run — or anyone else might be charged. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home on Aug. 8. Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to conduct an independent review of the records. Cannon granted the request last week, assigning a special master to review the records and weed out any that may be covered by claims of attorney-client or executive privilege. She directed the department to halt its use of the classified documents for investigative purposes until further court order, or until the completion of the special master’s work. On Thursday night, she assigned Raymond Dearie, the former chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, to serve in the role. She also declined to lift her earlier order, citing ongoing disputes about the nature of the documents that she said merited a neutral review by an outside arbiter. “The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion,” she wrote. Judge grants Trump’s legal team a special master in Mar-a-Lago case The Justice Department on Friday night told the appeals court that Cannon’s injunction “unduly interferes with the criminal investigation,” prohibiting investigators from “accessing the seized records to evaluate whether charges are appropriate.” It also prevents the FBI from using the seized records in its criminal investigation to determine which documents, if any, were disclosed and to whom, the department said. Though Cannon has said investigators are free to do other investigative work that did not involve a review of the documents, the department said Friday that that was largely impractical. Noting the discovery of dozens of empty folders at Mar-a-Lago marked classified, it said the judge’s hold appeared to bar it from “further reviewing the records to discern any patterns in the types of records that were retained, which could lead to identification of other records still missing.” Legal battle between Trump and DOJ continues Former president Donald Trump is urging a judge to keep blocking the justice department from reviewing documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate. The request comes after the DOJ asked for the injunction to be lifted. AP reporter Eric Tucker breaks it all down. The department also asked the appeals court to reject Cannon’s order that it provide the newly appointed special master with the classified documents, suggesting there was no reason for the arbiter to review highly sensitive records that did not involve questions of legal privilege. “Plaintiff has no claim for the return of those records, which belong to the government and were seized in a court-authorized search,” department lawyers wrote. “The records are not subject to any possible claim of personal attorney-client privilege. And neither Plaintiff nor the court has cited any authority suggesting that a former President could successfully invoke executive privilege to prevent the Executive Branch from reviewing its own records.” Cannon has directed Dearie to complete his work by Nov. 30 and to prioritize the review of the classified documents. She directed the Justice Department to permit the Trump legal team to inspect the seized classified records with “controlled access conditions” — something government lawyers said Friday was needless and harmful. On Friday, Dearie, a former federal prosecutor, scheduled a preliminary conference with Trump lawyers and Justice Department lawyers for Tuesday afternoon. The Associated Press contributed to this report.  Read More Here

Tempe Prep Posts Victory Over Tempe High https://digitalarizonanews.com/tempe-prep-posts-victory-over-tempe-high/ Tempe Prep swim team huddling up and getting ready for Thursday’s meet to start. (Erin Patterson photo/ AZPreps365). Erin Patterson is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Tempe Preparatory Academy fro AZPreps365.com The Tempe Preparatory swim team splashed its way to a 180-88 win over Tempe High School on Thursday at McClintock Pool. The Knights (2-1) are now on a two-meet winning streak. The first event of the meet was the boys 200 medley relay. Tempe High had a strong start winning that event with a time of 2:25.35. The Buffaloes continued the hot streak into the boys 200 freestyle where freshman David Pugh finished first over Tempe Prep’s Ethan Rynish. (CQ) “We did a lot of new races today but when we are swimming against a team that’s similar in size to us and similar in skill level to us the kids are able to compete and have fun competing,” Tempe High coach Ryan Dignan said, “I think that’s what we did the best out there today, just getting out and actually racing.” The Buffaloes did not stay on their streak for long as Tempe Prep won the next six events. Sophomore Stella Andersson won the 50 freestyle with a time of 29.60, a personal best. “That’s something she (Andersson) has been working on for a while,” Tempe Prep coach Maria Zello said. “She’s younger, too, so it was exciting. She has been sitting at a 31 for some time and finally got under 30 today. It was probably our most exciting event of the day.” Another swimmer that stood out to Zello was sophomore Joshua Layos.  “Josh has been with the team since middle school,” Zello said, “He’s a homeschooler. Something I really like about Tempe Prep is we have homeschoolers come and swim with us. It has just been really awesome to watch him grow.” Layos swam the 200 individual medley, the 200 freestyle relay, the 100 breaststroke and the 400 freestyle relay. Layos swam both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay alongside Joseph Cady, Nick Murray and Brian Mause. They won the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:46.69 and they won the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:19.87. “For the 200 free relay, I felt better and I think my kicks were better than they usually are,” Layos said, “My flipturn was faster and I had much better underwaters.” Tempe prep continued to dominate the meet in the girls 100 freestyle and both boys and girls 500 freestyle. “We had a lot of new swimmers trying new events,” Zello said. “My goal was to fill the 500 which we got done and is not something that we’ve gotten done this season. It’s all about trying new things.”   Taking the lead for the girls both in and out of the water was captain Naomi Palmer, who swam in the 200 medley relay, the 50 freestyle, the 100 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay. “My relays felt pretty good,” Palmer said, “I’ve been swimming breaststroke for the medley relay which has felt pretty good. I have consistently been dropping time and I feel like I have really been pushing myself. My 100 free was pretty strong., I think I could have done better but I thought my turns were tight and it was overall a strong swim from start to finish.”  Palmer and her 400 freestyle relay team – Autumn Evdokimo, Sofie Youngs and Lilly Henderson – ended the meet by winning the relay with a time of 4:56.62.  The Buffaloes (0-3) will host Coronado at McClintock Pool at 4 p.m. Thursday. The Knights will have their next meet against Northland Preparatory Academy, Scottsdale Christian Academy and Phoenix Country Day School at Phoenix Country Day at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Read More Here

They Have Come To Take It: Blake Masters, Don Bolduc And The Militant Right https://digitalarizonanews.com/they-have-come-to-take-it-blake-masters-don-bolduc-and-the-militant-right/ Cameron Joseph and the team at VICE News have a story out this week documenting the numerous times U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona Blake Masters has argued for the need to install ideologically friendly generals atop the United States military. The VICE report comes on the heels of Joe Biden’s condemnation of the more extreme elements of the Republican party as “semi-fascist,” a label some have already observed is well suited to such a highly politicized view of the military. Masters has attempted a sort of pivot since winning the nomination, including the removal of his most outrageous language on both abortion and the 2020 election from is campaign website. But the VICE report is damning, noting that “Masters called for the wholesale firing of the generals at least seven times between August 2021 and March 2022…” These instances included tweets, campaign videos and comments made in public forums like Twitter Spaces. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In New Hampshire, Republican voters just nominated the kind of general Masters appears to have in mind as their nominee for the Senate. Don Bolduc has endorsed a range of conspiracies from the Big Lie to the supposed presence of microchips in mRNA covid vaccines. It’s worth highlighting the fact that Bolduc celebrated his nomination holding a Spartan shield, decorated with arrows stuck into it. Spartan imagery—particularly that associated with the mythologized images made famous by the movie “300”— has become a hallmark of the American far right’s broader fetishization of militarism. At the beginning of her time in Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene wore a face mask embroidered with “Molon Labe,” the ancient Greek phrase attributed to the Spartan King Leonidas that means “come and take them.” “Come and take it” has been a hallmark of Second Amendment activism for some time — in Texas the reference is more often made, not to Leonidas, but to the 1835 Battle of Gonzales and the now ubiquitous flag that bears the slogan. More recently, the Greek expression of the sentiment has been popularized among QAnon adherents as one of many symbols of their fight against a supposedly menacing state. Sam Adler-Bell has done an excellent job of highlighting the threat of violence running through Blake Masters’ campaign. Adler-Bell notes that Masters has said that people should consider using “any political power” available to them in their struggle against their political opponents. If there is doubt that “any power” includes that of political violence, Masters had this to say of non-violence: “You can recite an eloquent poem about pacifism right before they line you up against the wall and shoot you.” This is language that conscripts everyone, down to the most everyday rightwing voter, into a fight. It isn’t just that Blake Masters and others like him view the military as something that should, rightfully, be under the control of them and their ideological allies. It is that the whole of politics is militarized. It is important to stress that this fusion of politics and militarism cuts both ways. Masters’ comments show how many of the far right see the military as something to be subjugated to their political worldview. We can recall Trump’s frequent references to “my generals.” But Bolduc, Greene and others also show how the far-right views itself as engaged in something like warfare and how far-right actors see themselves as warriors in an increasingly less figurative sense. Jan. 6, 2021 offers one such example of where this thinking can lead. As the title of The Atlantic’s Sophie Gilbert’s review of HBO’s “Four Hours at the Capitol” puts it, “January 6 wasn’t a riot. It was war.” In his victory speech, Bolduc proclaimed, “we have taken their arrows!” He gestured to the rounded shield, its Spartan lambda displayed upside down, continuing on to say “we are now going to rally around the circle: unity, freedom, liberty.” The implications here are profoundly worrying. They’re barely implications at all. Part of what has been made clear in the wake of Trump’s attempted subversion of democracy and the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol is that many simply believe that these efforts were thwarted by the presence of too few MAGA loyalists in key positions. Masters’ calls for “purges” and the recklessly confrontational rhetoric of other extremists like Bolduc and Greene suggest that, for them, the key to succeeding next time is to make sure that those positions, from county-level election officials to military brass, are filled with their kind of people — or, as Trump would say, “my generals.” Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. Read More Here

Some Bodies Found At Mass Burial Site In Izium Show 'signs Of Torture,' Ukraine Says https://digitalarizonanews.com/some-bodies-found-at-mass-burial-site-in-izium-show-signs-of-torture-ukraine-says/ Izium, Ukraine (CNN)Even the heavy rainfall couldn’t erase the smell of death in the pine forest in Izium on Friday afternoon, as Ukrainian investigators worked their way through a mass burial site found in the eastern Ukrainian city after its recapture from Russian forces. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said at least 440 “unmarked” graves were found in the city in recent days. The country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that some of the bodies found in Izium showed “signs of torture,” blaming Russia for what he called “cruelty and terrorism.” Izium was subject to intense Russian artillery attacks in April. The city, which sits near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, became an important hub for the invading military during five months of occupation. Ukrainian forces took back control of the city on Saturday, delivering a strategic blow to Russia’s military assault in the east. When CNN arrived to the mass burial site on Friday afternoon, officials were transporting body bags, including one that appeared to be holding something very small, into a refrigerated truck. Most graves at the burial site are individual graves, with wooden crosses placed at the head of the dirt mounds. Some with names and numbers handwritten on them. One had a number as high as 398. Another with the name of an 82-year-old man. One official at the site told CNN that investigations would have to determine when these people died. Further down in the forest lies what appeared to be a former military position, with tank positions dug deep into the ground. A policeman at the scene told CNN that the spot is a mass grave where 17 bodies were found. “Here are civilian bodies and military ones further along,” Igor Garmash, an investigator at the scene said of the specific part of the site he was examining, pointing to a location nearby. “Over 20 bodies have been examined and sent for further investigation,” he told CNN. Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications said on Thursday that some of the graves discovered at Izium were “fresh,” and that the corpses buried there were “mostly civilians.” Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a video statement from the site that “there is a whole family right next to me… This is a young family… The father was born in 1988, the wife was born in 1991, their little daughter was born in 2016.” He said local people told the investigators that the family had died in a Russian airstrike. “Also we saw here a mass burial of servicemen of the Ukrainian army. The way they were buried — you will see evidence that their hands were tied, they were killed at close range,” Lubinets said. An Izium resident living across the street from the mass burial site told CNN the Russians first hit a nearby city graveyard with an airstrike and then moved in. “They brought their special machines. They dug some trenches for their vehicles. We only heard how they were destroying the forest,” Nadezhda Kalinichenko told CNN. She said she tried not to go out during the time the city was under the Russian occupation because she was too scared. “When they left, I don’t know if there was fighting or not. We just heard a lot of heavy trucks one night a week ago,” she said. ‘Bloody brutal terror’ Zelensky said during his address on Thursday that Russia must be held accountable for deaths there, and in other cities where large numbers of bodies had been found. “Bucha, Mariupol and now, unfortunately, Izium… Russia leaves death everywhere. And must be responsible for it. The world must hold Russia to real responsibility for this war. We will do everything for this,” he added. The Governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that “the scale of the crimes committed by the invaders in Izium is enormous. This is bloody brutal terror.” Syniehubov said that “450 bodies of civilians with traces of violent death and torture were buried in a forest belt. It is difficult to imagine something like this in the 21st century, but now it is a tragic reality in Izium.” Syniehubov said that among the bodies exhumed on Friday “99 percent showed signs of violent death.” “There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around his neck. Obviously, these people were tortured and executed. There are also children among the buried,” he said. Meanwhile, Oleh Kotenko, Ukraine’s commissioner for missing persons, said in a Telegram post that search operations for the remains of “fallen heroes” were proceeding cautiously throughout the region. “The biggest problem is that some areas are still mined. Despite this, we continue to work, because we have to return each hero home so that the families can honor the memory of the soldiers who died for Ukraine in a dignified manner as soon as possible,” Kotenko said. Zelensky visited Izium on Wednesday and told journalists he was “shocked” by the number of “destroyed buildings” and “killed people” left in the wake of the Russian occupation. In his nightly address on Friday, Zelensky said exhumation of the bodies at the mass burial site was continuing and it was still “too early to speak about the total number of people buried there.” He added that investigations were taking place in all areas of the country that had been recaptured from Russian forces and that a number of civilians, including foreigners, who had been held captive in occupied cities and towns had been found alive. Among the foreigners rescued were seven students from Sri Lanka, he said. They were studying in Kupyansk Medical College but were captured by Russian soldiers back in March and held in a basement. “Only now, after the liberation of Kharkiv region, these people were rescued and are being provided proper medical care,” Zelensky said. A United Nations source has told CNN that a team from the UN’s human rights monitoring agency — the OCHR — would be going to Izium and areas around it as soon as possible. The War Crimes investigation team may follow after that, the source said. Their specific destination remains unclear at this time. Moscow was using Izium as a launching pad for attacks southward into the Donetsk region and Kupyansk, some 48 kilometers (30 miles) to the north of Izium, and as a rail hub to resupply its forces. Zelensky also thanked foreign governments for sending investigators and prosecutors to investigate alleged human rights abuses by occupying forces in Ukraine, adding that all occupied areas would eventually return. Ukrainian forces have been on a sustained military offensive, particularly in the country’s northeast and southern regions. Zelensky said on Tuesday that 8,000 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) of territory had now been liberated by Ukrainian forces so far this month, with roughly half the area still undergoing “stabilization” measures. Read More Here

Several People In WWE Were Let Go Today https://digitalarizonanews.com/several-people-in-wwe-were-let-go-today/ Brandon Thurston at Wrestlenomics is reporting that there were several layoffs at WWE earlier today. Thurston wrote: “I’m told there were layoffs today to WWE’s marketing department. Multiple people at the VP level were let go. Possibly a part of a restructuring to that department. EVP Catherine Newman was hired this summer as the new head of marketing.” There were other company changes today. In their latest SEC filing, it was announced that Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini resigned from her position on the Board of Directors. The filing also officially announced that Michelle McKenna and JoEllen Lyons Dillon were elected to be on the Board. Scroll to Continue “Concurrent with the election of Mses. Dillion and McKenna, Erika Ayers Nardini has resigned from the Board,” WWE’s filing said. “With the recent acquisition of Barstool Sports by Penn Entertainment, Ms. Ayers Nardini’s time will be focused on the next chapter of this business and partnership. Ms. Ayers Nardini’s decision to resign from the Board was not due to any dispute or disagreement with [WWE], its management or any matter relating to [WWE’s] operations, policies or practices.” Read More Here

El Charro Celebrates 100 Years In Business During Hispanic Heritage Month https://digitalarizonanews.com/el-charro-celebrates-100-years-in-business-during-hispanic-heritage-month/ TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – Friday marked Mexican Independence Day and the second day of Hispanic Heritage Month. From September 15 to October 15, there are events all across Tucson to celebrate and honor Hispanic culture. Friday, the oldest, continuously operating Mexican restaurant in the country celebrated a major anniversary, 100 years in business. ″I think it’s an amazing testament to people who loved what they did. I think there’s two women involved, my great Tia Monica and my mom Carlotta who basically ran this company for the last 50 years each. They had two 50 year runs, we’re the new blood and it’s just been a wonderful response from this community,” said Ray Flores, CEO of Si Charro. It’s a massive milestone many businesses never see. From Flores’s Tia Monica starting as a caterer back in 1922, to the invention of the Chimichanga putting El Charro on the map, to now, it’s been a memorable journey. There have also been several bumps in the road along the way. ″For me the biggest challenge was going through COVID as a restaurant. I can’t imagine what she went through. She went through prohibition, she went through the great depression, she went through world wars. But I think COVID for us in most recent memory was an absolutely terrifying time for our family businesses,” Flores said. Flores says El Charro has mostly recovered from the pandemic and it’s thanks to their dedicated staff and the Tucson community that they were able to make it to 100 years. El Charro has also helped open the door for other local businesses to thrive. This Hispanic Heritage Month, Visit Tucson is highlighting many of these businesses through Viva Tucson. ″It’s a comprehensive campaign that really has a bunch of overarching events. More than 30 events are happening during the month to celebrate Hispanic heritage in Tucson,” explained Megan Evans, Director of Communications for Visit Tucson. It’s the first year for Viva Tucson and it focuses on Tucson’s deep-rooted Hispanic heritage. You’ll find a list of everything from mariachis, to folklorico dancers, to classic Mexican eats to help you celebrate all month long. ″The importance of having an event like Viva Tucson is that it really showcases what is integral to our identity here. Hispanic heritage is part of everything we do here. It’s part of the food, it’s part of the arts and culture, it’s part of the architecture,” Evans said. You can find a full list of Hispanic Heritage Month events here. Copyright 2022 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved. Read More Here

Migrants Flown To Martha’s Vineyard Say They Were Misled https://digitalarizonanews.com/migrants-flown-to-marthas-vineyard-say-they-were-misled/ The flights, arranged by Florida’s Republican governor, underscored how easily the fate of immigrants can be swept up in politics. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. A mother and daughter who were among the migrants flown from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard take in the view as the ferry leaves the island. Credit…Matt Cosby for The New York Times Sept. 16, 2022Updated 9:12 p.m. ET EDGARTOWN, Mass. — Migrants shipped to this elite vacation island by Florida’s Republican governor said on Friday that they had been misled about where they were being taken, prompting immigration lawyers to promise legal action as the group of Venezuelans were relocated temporarily to a federal military base. The lawyers said they would seek an injunction in federal court early next week to stop the flights of migrants to cities around the country, alleging that the Republican governor had violated due process and the civil rights of the migrants flown from Texas to the small island off the coast of Massachusetts. “They were told, ‘You have a hearing in San Antonio, but don’t worry, we’ll take you to Boston,’” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston. He said dozens of the migrants had told his team they only had been informed midair that they were going to land in tony Martha’s Vineyard rather than Boston. “They were also told there would be employment opportunities and immigration relief available to them if they boarded the plane,” Mr. Espinoza-Madrigal said. “That’s not only state interference with federal immigration matters, it’s also a violation of our clients’ civil rights.” Image Volunteers and migrants share a hug and say goodbye on Martha’s Vineyard just before the migrants are loaded onto buses.Credit…Matt Cosby for The New York Times The lawyers lobbed legal threats as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida vehemently defended his actions, saying the flights were voluntary and denying that the migrants had been misled, and the White House condemned the governor for using human beings as political pawns. “Luring asylum seekers under false pretenses and then abandoning them on the side of the road thousands of miles away is not the solution to a global challenge — in fact, those are the kinds of tactics that smugglers are arrested for,” said Abdullah Hasan, a White House spokesman. The drama underscored the decades-old shortcomings of a backlogged immigration system groaning under the weight of thousands of migrants fleeing persecution and economic instability. And it demonstrated once again how easily the fate of immigrants can be swept up in a toxic political battle, especially in election season. A fleet of buses arrived at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown on Friday morning to ferry about 50 migrants — many of them dazed and a bit confused, but happy to be in the United States at last — to Joint Base Cape Cod, a temporary shelter. Many of the migrants described having traveled for more than two months from Venezuela as they made their way through half a dozen or more countries to reach the United States, where they have a legal right to seek asylum. Once in Texas, they said they had been offered transportation to Massachusetts — on flights arranged by Mr. DeSantis at Florida’s expense that were designed to grab headlines about what he calls lax border security just weeks before voting begins. Pedro Torrealba, from Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, said he was told the plane he had boarded was going to arrive at a shelter where there would be housing and work, something that proved not to be true. But for migrants like Mr. Torrealba and Luis, who declined to give his last name, the charter flight ended up being just what they wanted — a ticket away from the border while they wait for the slow-moving immigration system to determine whether they can stay for the long term. “I didn’t expect it to be like this, but I feel comfortable here,” said Luis, who had traveled two months from Caracas to reach Texas before being conveyed to Martha’s Vineyard. “I want to be here.” Mr. Torrealba, who worked as a trucker in Venezuela and barely made enough to feed his entire family, said he was pleased to have almost made it to a big American city where he can hopefully find work. “I feel really good,” he said. “Before we got here, I felt a little lost, because I didn’t know if I was going to get here. But now that I’m here, honestly, I don’t want to leave.” Many of the thousands of migrants arriving at the southern border each day are caught or surrender themselves to the Border Patrol. They are processed and then released with an order to come back for a hearing in months or even years. Most have relatives in America’s big cities: Miami, Los Angeles, New York or Washington, D.C. In the past, they often found bus or plane tickets to those places from friends or nonprofit groups. Now, they are escaping the border region by becoming props in an effort by Republican governors like Mr. DeSantis, Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona, to use immigration as a political weapon against Democrats. How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. It remains uncertain whether that effort will move voters in the fall. In 2018, former President Donald J. Trump and his allies alienated many swing voters by trying to make fear of immigrants a central campaign issue. Republicans lost control of the House. Inside the West Wing, aides to President Biden say they believe the ploy by the Republican governors has backfired. They say putting migrants on buses or planes, in some cases without telling them where they are headed, appears to voters as meanspirited and cruel. Mr. Biden on Thursday night accused the governors of “playing politics with human beings,” calling the busing “un-American” and “reckless.” But the buses filled with migrants appear likely to continue arriving in Democratic cities, fueled by record levels of migrants who are streaming toward the United States from countries racked by political and economic instability. Many recent border-crossers are fleeing the political corruption, inflation and economic collapse in Venezuela. A roaring labor market in the United States is helping to draw migrants north, along with the knowledge that Mr. Biden has relaxed some of the harshest restrictions that were put in place by Mr. Trump during his four years in office. The border is not “open,” as some Republicans insist; authorities have turned hundreds of thousands of migrants away using a pandemic-era rule known as Title 42. Image A bus pulls off the ferry from Martha’s Vineyard, carrying migrants to their next destination.Credit…Matt Cosby for The New York Times But the Biden administration has allowed more than 1 million migrants entry into the country while their asylum cases are processed — a message that has reached throughout the southern hemisphere. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, lashed out at the Republican governors again on Friday, telling reporters that the state officials and their party’s lawmakers in Congress are blocking real solutions to the nation’s immigration problems. “What have they done? They do these political stunts. They vote against our funding requests. They vote against policies to fix this broken system. Stunts aren’t solutions here,” she said. “All we’re seeing is from them are petty and dangerous stunts. This is dangerous. They’re putting children’s lives at risk.” Ms. Jean-Pierre declined to say whether the administration was considering any legal action to stop future such efforts by the Republican governors. Mr. DeSantis, Mr. Ducey and Mr. Abbott have been unapologetic about their headline-grabbing tactics, insisting that they are merely pointing out the hypocrisy of Democratic mayors who advocate compassion at the border but are geographically far from the surge of migrants and their impact on local areas. On Friday morning, the migrants and the volunteers who had helped settle them into their stay on the island erupted into applause and group hugs as the migrants departed St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown, Mass., where they had stayed the past two nights. All 48 migrants have left the island, officials said, but some have expressed interest in returning, and families on Martha’s Vineyard have volunteered to host. Mr. DeSantis told reporters in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Friday that the migrants on the flights had to sign a release form and had been given an informational packet. “That packet included a map for Martha’s Vineyard,” he said, “so it’s obvious that’s where they were going.” “It’s all voluntary,” Mr. DeSantis continued. After the Florida Legislature set aside $12 million to transport unauthorized immigrants out of state, Mr. DeSantis said his administration had sent officials to Texas to identify migrants entering the country who are planning to go to Florida, and offer them free transportation to sanctuary jurisdictions instead. “What we’re trying to do is profile, ‘OK, who do you think is trying to get to Florida?’” he said, adding: “If they end up coming to Florida, that’s going to impose a lot of costs on the community.” He said his administration had hired a contractor. “There’s a bunch of stuff that goes into creating the infrastructure” to identify and transport the migrants, he said. “There’s going to be buses and there’s likely g...

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Voters At Mastriano Rally, Featuring Donald Trump Jr., Seek Return To Conservative Ways https://digitalarizonanews.com/voters-at-mastriano-rally-featuring-donald-trump-jr-seek-return-to-conservative-ways/ At a Franklin County legislative breakfast in fall 2019 in the banquet room of The Orchards, someone shouted “Mastriano for governor!” as the recently-elected state senator wrapped up an address he gave as one of the event’s multiple participants. Three years later, a few hundred people gathered in the back lot of the popular Chambersburg restaurant at a rally to support Mastriano’s run for Pennsylvania governor. A CBS/YouGov poll released this week said 44% of 1,194 registered voters in Pennsylvania supported Mastriano, compared to 55% who said they support his Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro. Other recent polls also show the state senator trailing the state’s attorney general. But confidence for a Mastriano win abounded among speakers at the rally late Friday afternoon, including Donald Trump Jr. The eldest son of the former president shook hands with Mastriano, a retired Army colonel and Franklin County resident, in the fading September afternoon. “I smell victory,” Mastriano said at the start of his speech, to cheers. His speech focused on the ways he said he would be better for Pennsylvanians and the role his win could play in changing the trajectory of the commonwealth. Mastriano gained notice around the state and nationally through his criticism of COVID-19 regulations. “We remember, so there is going to be heck to pay in a few months as a result of these failures,” he said after discussing rules that affected nursing homes. He called out his opponent’s job as top law enforcement official in Pennsylvania, saying crime has increased under his watch and the state’s rankings for homicides, overdose deaths and fentanyl deaths have worsened. He added he will get “authorization for special prosecutors” to rein in crime in Philadelphia and other high-crime locales. Mastriano criticized the passage of undocumented immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. He said Pennsylvania will no longer be a sanctuary state that protects undocumented immigrants on “day one” of his governorship. Antietam 160th:For 4.5 million Americans, our ugliest day signaled a first step to freedom In addition, he said he would: Ensure police get enought funding “to get the job done.” End the carbon tax, open state lands to development, and “drill and dig like there’s no tomorrow.” Two big election issues did not play big roles in Mastriano’s speech. Despite the role abortion is expected to play in the midterm elections following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade, Mastriano did not talk about the issue. His wife, however, alluded to it in saying that her husband supports “a woman’s right to be born.” In part of his speech about women’s rights, Mastriano discussed keeping transgender women out of women’s sports and out of girls’ bathrooms at schools. If elected governor, he said he will sign executive orders on these things on his first day. Despite being a key supporter of former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Mastriano did not make the issue part of his speech. What did voters say? Jerry Howe became familiar with Mastriano within the last year or two, particularly through hearing about him from co-workers in his department in the Borough of Chambersburg. He said he follows state and national politics for his children and grandchildren. He described being unhappy with the current state of the country, and he thinks Mastriano will take things back to how they were when he was growing up. The border, foreign policy and taxation are “highly important” to him on a national level. He said education should go back to the “basic tenets” like he grew up with. “We can be outnumbered here in the middle of the state by Pittsburgh and Philly, so we need everybody in the middle of the state to get out and vote and hopefully things shake out for the best,” Howe said. Previously:Pa. prosecutor refuses to investigate Mastriano for alleged campaign finance violations This was the first political rally Ray Miller said he has attended. He said read things he liked about Mastriano and “knew he would be a good candidate.” Asked to describe any specific issues that would influence his vote, he said, “Republicans have got to stand up and be recognized in this election and 2024. We’ve got to take things back and get them under control.” Still, he said, members of both parties have got to work together. Marlene Knode, Chambersburg, began volunteering for Mastriano’s campaign before Mastriano was elected for the first time in a special election for a state senate seat in 2019. “I’m really concerned about the future of our country, and schools my grandchildren will attend, and abortion and the state of the law. I agree with Doug on everything.” Asked if she would trust the outcome of the election, no matter the winner, she said she would “after it’s verified” and any possible issues are addressed. Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com. Read More Here

Lawyer Told Archives Last Year That Trump Had No Classified Material https://digitalarizonanews.com/lawyer-told-archives-last-year-that-trump-had-no-classified-material/ Politics|Lawyer Told Archives Last Year That Trump Had No Classified Material https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/politics/archives-trump-classified-clippings.html A lawyer representing the former president told the National Archives that boxes taken from the White House contained material like newspaper clippings. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Patrick Philbin, a former top White House lawyer, is said to have indicated last year that Mr. Trump had taken only nonclassified material in boxes from the White House.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times Sept. 16, 2022Updated 9:44 p.m. ET The National Archives has told the Justice Department that a lawyer representing former President Donald J. Trump indicated to the archives last year that boxes Mr. Trump had taken to his Mar-a-Lago home from the White House included only nonclassified material like newspaper clippings, according to a person briefed on the matter. The message was relayed to the National Archives last September by Patrick Philbin, a former top White House lawyer who was representing Mr. Trump’s post-presidency office, to the top lawyer at the archives, Gary Stern, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Philbin indicated to Mr. Stern that the information was based on what Mr. Trump’s final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, believed to be the contents in the boxes, the people said. Mr. Stern memorialized his own description of the exchange in an email, one of the people said. It is unclear when the archives told the Justice Department about the conversation. But it is part of the evidence gathered by investigators showing how Mr. Trump’s representatives gave government officials misleading information about what Mr. Trump had taken with him when he left the White House. Roughly four months after Mr. Philbin’s conversation with Mr. Stern, Mr. Trump returned 15 boxes of material he had taken from the White House to the archives. Officials at the archives soon determined that the boxes contained more than 150 documents marked as classified, igniting intense concern at the Justice Department and helping to set off the criminal investigation that led F.B.I. agents to swoop into Mr. Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, last month seeking to recover more. In all, the government has recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mr. Trump since he left office: that first batch of documents returned in January, another set provided by Mr. Trump’s aides to the Justice Department in June and about 100 seized by the F.B.I. in the search. Mr. Trump and the Justice Department are in the midst of a court fight over the classified documents found in the search. A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department not to use those documents in its criminal investigation pending a review by an independent arbiter of whether the material is protected by executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The Washington Post first reported on Friday that Mr. Philbin had told the archives that there were no sensitive or classified materials in the boxes. Image Mark Meadows, as Mr. Trump’s final White House chief of staff, was involved in the president’s chaotic exit from office.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times Mr. Trump had told advisers a version of what Mr. Meadows is said to have told Mr. Philbin, that the boxes contained news clippings and personal effects, according to people familiar with the events. Aides to Mr. Trump had told others that there were only 12 boxes of material, which is what Mr. Meadows is also said to have relayed to Mr. Philbin. A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not respond to a message seeking comment. A spokeswoman for Mr. Philbin declined to comment. Mr. Meadows went to Mar-a-Lago and discussed the boxes of material with Mr. Trump during the summer of 2021, as archives officials were trying to get the materials sent to them. Mr. Philbin was trying to facilitate the return while avoiding being drawn further into the dispute, according to two people familiar with the events. In a statement, Ben Williamson, a spokesman for Mr. Meadows, said, “Mr. Meadows did not personally review the boxes at Mar-a-Lago and did not have a role in examining or verifying what was or wasn’t contained within them.” Last year, the National Archives, concerned that it did not have all the presidential records from Mr. Trump’s administration, tried for months to have Mr. Trump hand over any documents that had been taken to Mar-a-Lago. After a lengthy back-and-forth, Mr. Trump early this year handed over the 15 boxes, which in addition to the classified documents included news clippings, other presidential records, gifts, clothing and random objects. The National Archives alerted the Justice Department to the fact that classified documents had been held outside secure channels. The archives and the Justice Department remained skeptical that Mr. Trump had returned all the presidential records taken from the White House, setting off another lengthy bout with Mr. Trump’s lawyers. Even after Mr. Trump’s lawyers returned another set of classified documents in June — and after one of the lawyers signed a document confirming that all the material the Justice Department had been seeking had been returned — investigators came to believe that more sensitive material remained at Mar-a-Lago. In August, federal agents carried out a court-authorized search at Mar-a-Lago that turned up additional government material, including documents relating to some of the country’s most closely guarded secrets. Read More Here

Troopers Discover Nearly 300 Pounds Of Meth During Traffic Stops Near Tucson https://digitalarizonanews.com/troopers-discover-nearly-300-pounds-of-meth-during-traffic-stops-near-tucson/ TUCSON, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Two traffic stops led to Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers arresting two men with loads of meth, including one driver who was hauling over 250 pounds of the drug, near Tucson earlier this week. On Wednesday, a trooper pulled over 61-year-old Jesus R. Enriquez, who was driving on Interstate 10 near Marana. The trooper searched Enriquez’s sedan and discovered nearly 31 pounds of meth hidden in compartments. Just a couple of hours later, a trooper pulled over 23-year-old Carlos D. Celaya near Red Rock. During the stop, the trooper noticed suspicious activity and decided to search Celaya’s sedan. Inside the sedan, the trooper found 266 pounds of meth in total. Dozens of bags of meth were wrapped up and stuffed in duffel bags. Another photo shows bags stuffed inside a compartment carved inside the car. Enriquez and Celaya were both booked on felony drug charges. Troopers busted two men hauling meth near Tucson on Wednesday.(Arizona Department of Public Safety) Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved. Read More Here

Phoenix, AZ Will Be Among The Fastest Growing Cities By 2060 https://digitalarizonanews.com/phoenix-az-will-be-among-the-fastest-growing-cities-by-2060/ Results from the 2020 census reveal some notable changes in population distribution over the last decade. The U.S. population grew by about 7% from 2010 to 2020, or by about 20 million people. Over the same period, more than 80% of U.S. metro areas reported population growth. While it remains to be seen whether the broad trend of urbanization will continue into the future, a new report from Washington D.C.-based economic and demographic data firm Woods & Poole Economics, Inc. projects that the population of several U.S. metro areas is likely to swell by over 50% in the coming decades. Population change is the end result of two factors: migration and natural change. Migration is the net change of people moving to and from an area, while natural change is the number of births less the number of deaths. Accounting for these factors and anticipating future trends, the population of the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro area in Arizona is projected to grow from 5,021,500 in 2022 to 8,398,600 in 2060. The 67.3% projected population growth in the metro area is the 17th highest of all 384 U.S. metro areas. Economic opportunity is one of the most common reasons people move within the United States. Over the same period, employment in Phoenix is projected to grow by 84.1% by 2060, while personal income per capita is projected to grow from $58,567 in 2022 to $333,030 in 2060. All data in this story is from Woods & Poole Economics, Inc., Washington D.C. Copyright 2022. Rank Metro area Change in population, 2022 to 2060 Total population, 2022 Projected population, 2060 1 The Villages, FL +223.2% 139,900 452,100 2 St. George, UT +118.1% 195,200 425,700 3 Austin, TX +97.4% 2,398,400 4,733,500 4 Cape Coral, FL +92.0% 803,000 1,541,400 5 Las Vegas, NV +90.5% 2,335,600 4,450,000 6 Greeley, CO +89.0% 346,600 655,000 7 Bend, OR +83.6% 208,500 382,900 8 Provo, UT +82.7% 709,600 1,296,600 9 Myrtle Beach, SC +81.9% 519,200 944,700 10 Port St. Lucie, FL +80.1% 511,300 920,600 11 Raleigh, NC +79.8% 1,474,600 2,651,400 12 Naples, FL +78.5% 392,600 700,700 13 Mcallen, TX +76.3% 895,000 1,578,200 14 Fayetteville, AR +76.0% 570,100 1,003,300 15 Orlando, FL +75.3% 2,737,800 4,800,100 16 Boise City, ID +68.8% 807,700 1,363,100 17 Phoenix, AZ +67.3% 5,021,500 8,398,600 18 Dallas, TX +63.3% 7,874,000 12,859,600 19 Midland, TX +62.6% 175,700 285,700 20 Houston, TX +62.2% 7,310,900 11,857,500 21 Daphne, AL +61.9% 243,000 393,200 22 Kennewick, WA +60.7% 312,700 502,500 23 Coeur D’Alene, ID +60.5% 182,400 292,600 24 Charleston, SC +60.3% 824,400 1,321,300 25 Hilton Head Island, SC +59.3% 225,300 358,900 26 Charlotte, NC +58.4% 2,738,800 4,339,400 27 San Antonio, TX +58.3% 2,637,500 4,176,000 28 Sebastian, FL +58.0% 165,600 261,700 29 Riverside, CA +56.8% 4,716,700 7,396,000 30 Ocala, FL +56.8% 390,500 612,100 31 Nashville, TN +56.1% 2,039,400 3,182,500 32 Punta Gorda, FL +55.6% 197,100 306,700 33 Lakeland, FL +55.5% 764,200 1,188,600 34 Laredo, TX +54.9% 271,600 420,600 35 Prescott Valley, AZ +54.5% 245,000 378,500 36 College Station, TX +54.4% 275,100 424,700 37 Sioux Falls, SD +53.5% 285,700 438,400 38 Atlanta, GA +53.4% 6,223,700 9,549,300 39 Jacksonville, FL +52.9% 1,658,800 2,536,200 40 Reno, NV +51.6% 504,000 764,100 Read More…

Hightower Playing Well In Return As Lumberjacks Football To Host Hawks In Home Opener Saturday https://digitalarizonanews.com/hightower-playing-well-in-return-as-lumberjacks-football-to-host-hawks-in-home-opener-saturday/ ERIC NEWMAN Sun Sports Editor Kamdan Hightower didn’t take long to make his return to the Lumberjacks felt by teammates and opponents. The Northern Arizona defensive back, after missing all but two games of the 2021 fall season with a leg injury, has started in both of the team’s games this season and leads the defense with 17 tackles. He played in the shortened spring season but couldn’t compete in what was set to be his first full campaign in the fall. Finally experiencing the beginning of his first full season as a redshirt freshman, he has become an instantly productive player in the defensive backfield. “It means so much to me — as an athlete this is what we do, what we focus on. So I was able to learn a lot being off the field in terms of leadership aspects and learning the game. But it is so much fun to finally be back on the field,” Hightower said. Lumberjacks coach Chris Ball said Hightower started to look like his old self — the hard-hitting graduate from Scottsdale Chaparral High School who returned an interception for a touchdown in his first game with the Lumberjacks — this spring period. He has provided an excellent addition to a veteran defense. “He’s extremely smart. His football IQ is off the chain. He gets people lined up, he studies tape, he knows what the opponent’s trying to do. And he’s got good size, great feet and he’s becoming a physical football player. He’s just the total package,” Ball said. It took a few moments in his first practices and games to be comfortable again, but Hightower appears to be fully present, both physically and mentally. “Obviously coming off a season of not playing too much, the nerves were a little high,” Hightower said. “But once I was able to get out there and get a few hits in and get a drive in, I felt good. It felt natural again. I feel great now.” Northern Arizona running back Draycen Hall (26) carries the ball during a against Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 10. NAU Athletics, courtesy Home opener Made it to NAU football today, as the Lumberjacks prepare for their home opener against North Dakota this weekend. pic.twitter.com/NY9yOZQEiC — Eric Newman (@enewmanwrites) September 14, 2022 Following a 10-3 win at Sam Houston last week, Northern Arizona will host North Dakota for its home opener Saturday. North Dakota is ranked 22nd in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25, giving Northern Arizona a chance to earn its first win over a ranked opponent since 2018. Sam Houston, which is making its transition to FBS and thus couldn’t be ranked in the FCS poll, was the 2021 spring FCS champion and likely would have been in contention for a national title this year, though. So, a road win at that powerhouse felt like a ranked victory — though it didn’t show up that way on paper. “I think it’s just the first step, and we keep improving from here,” center Jalen Hooper said. “It’s something that hasn’t happened in a long time, and I think it shows that we’re going in the right direction as a program.” Now, after taking down the Bearkats, Ball placed the score 17-10 on the walls of the locker room. The number symbolizes a lot to the returning roster. It was the result of Northern Arizona’s loss at Northern Colorado in 2021, a game removed from a historic win against the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson. The score symbolizes that the players can’t start celebrating too early. “It’s a reminder of one of our failures from last season,” Hooper said. “We went out and beat a Pac-12 team and got too high, and we lost to a team we shouldn’t have. It’s a reminder that just because we won one big game, we aren’t just going to win every single game now, so we have to keep preparing like we did the week before.” “We always talk about adversity, and how most people think of it in a negative context. But sometimes when you get a big win, being able to handle success is also adversity. So now that’s kind of our attitude, like not being complacent and building on top of what we did last week,” Hightower added. Even though they aren’t thinking too much about the win over the Bearkats anymore, there were some positives to take into Saturday’s game in the Walkup Skydome. One was the rushing production, especially late in the game. Northern Arizona totaled just 69 yards on the ground, but much of the movement came at a crucial time. With 5:30 left to play, up 10-3, the Lumberjacks had the ball on their own 1-yard line. They moved the ball — finishing with 34 rushing yards on the drive — and kept the clock running to be able to kneel out the game in the final seconds. Northern Arizona’s lone touchdown also came on a short run up the middle by quarterback RJ Martinez. Though the final numbers weren’t up to the standard the Lumberjacks expected, they were able to push forward for important gains at the goal line and in fourth-and-short situations consistently. Much of that production came from the offensive line, which is at its healthiest in a few seasons. “We have a lot of chemistry up front because a lot of us have been playing next to each other for a long time, and I think even the guys behind us are ready,” Hooper said. With Hooper at center, veterans PJ Poutasi and Jonas Leader played the inside guard spots. And redshirt freshmen Caiden Miles and Andrew Mason were productive at the two tackle positions. “They did a great job — which allowed us to keep Jonas and PJ in the middle at guard. We thought if those guys would hold up at tackle on the outside, we would be able to keep those guys inside the whole game,” Ball said. “We didn’t run the ball great, but at the end we were able to keep those two guys inside and be able to move the football when we needed to. Those two young tackles, they are going to be great players; we are really pleased with where they are at.” Now the Lumberjacks, out for the chance to boast a winning record for the first time since a 3-2 finish to the 2021 spring season, have to put everything together against North Dakota. “The whole team since January has been working on finishing. We lacked that last season, and we are trying to change that this year,” Hooper said. Kickoff between the Lumberjacks and Hawks is set for 1 p.m. Get local news delivered to your inbox! 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