September, 14, 2022 – Cronkite News – Arizona PBS https://digitalarizonanews.com/september-14-2022-cronkite-news-arizona-pbs/
Residency program in Arizona addresses teacher shortage, former U.N. ambassador works to get Brittney Griner released from Russian prison
Staff
News Reporter, Phoenix
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More Than 170 Arrested For Street Racing Throughout The Weekend In Tucson
More Than 170 Arrested For Street Racing Throughout The Weekend In Tucson https://digitalarizonanews.com/more-than-170-arrested-for-street-racing-throughout-the-weekend-in-tucson/
TUCSON, AZ — More than 170 people were arrested over the weekend following street racing takeovers in Tucson, according to police.
The first one was near South Alvernon Way and East Los Reales Road, less than two miles east of the Tucson International Airport. The second location was on private property near South Kolb Road and East Century Park Drive, approximately 2.5 miles east of the Pima Air and Space Museum.
Along with citations for traffic violations, law enforcement issued criminal summonses for trespassing, a class one misdemeanor, to drivers and spectators.
In accordance with Tucson City Code, nine vehicles were impounded for street racing, 124 adults were arrested, 53 juveniles arrested, and five guns were recovered.
Tucson Police Officers and Detectives are continuing to develop enforcement efforts in partnership with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the Arizona Department of Public Safety/AZ DPS GIITEM, and the affected property owners.
Those with information can call 88-CRIME and refer to TPD case number P2208310150.
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Patagonia Founder Gives Away Company: Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder
Patagonia Founder Gives Away Company: ‘Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder’ https://digitalarizonanews.com/patagonia-founder-gives-away-company-earth-is-now-our-only-shareholder/
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard announced Wednesday that he is giving away the outdoor-apparel company — an unorthodox move intended to help combat climate change and the environmental crisis.
In a letter posted to the company’s website, Chouinard wrote that ownership of the company, which was founded in 1973 and reportedly valued at about $3 billion, has been transferred to a trust that was created to protect the company’s values and mission as well as a nonprofit organization.
“Earth is now our only shareholder,” it said. “100% of the company’s voting stock transfers to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, created to protect the company’s values; and 100% of the nonvoting stock had been given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature.”
In addition, profits that aren’t reinvested back into the business will be distributed by Patagonia as a dividend to the Holdfast Collective to help address climate change, according to a news release. The company projects that it will pay out an annual dividend of about $100 million — an amount that could change depending on the health of the business.
“It’s been a half-century since we began our experiment in responsible business,” Chouinard, 83, said in the release. “If we have any hope of a thriving planet 50 years from now, it demands all of us doing all we can with the resources we have. As the business leader I never wanted to be, I am doing my part. Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source.”
“I am dead serious about saving this planet,” he added.
The decision, which was first reported by the New York Times, reflects Chouinard’s maverick approach to tying his business to conservation and political activism over his roughly five-decade career. In recent years, for instance, the company has lambasted President Donald Trump and members of his administration for scaling back public lands protections and went as far as suing Trump.
Then in 2021, Patagonia announced it would no longer sell its merchandise at a popular Wyoming ski resort after one of the owners hosted a fundraiser featuring Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and other Republicans who support Trump.
The company has also pursued more traditional forms of activism. Beyond making products with materials that cause less harm to the environment, for years Patagonia has donated 1 percent of its sales largely to grass-roots environmental nonprofits, and will continue to do so.
The company funded a 2014 documentary film called “DamNation,” which aimed to mobilize support for demolishing dams in order to revive wild fish populations.
In Wednesday’s letter, Chouinard explained that selling Patagonia or going public were both flawed options. While the company could have been sold and all the profits donated, there wasn’t a guarantee that a new owner would maintain the business’s values or ensure that all of its workers stayed employed. And taking the company public, Chouinard wrote, would have been a “disaster.”
“Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility,” he wrote.
Choosing to give away Patagonia is the latest step in the company’s lengthy experiment in responsible business, Chouinard wrote.
“If we have any hope of a thriving planet — much less a thriving business — 50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have,” he wrote. “This is another way we’ve found to do our part.”
Ryan Gellert, Patagonia’s CEO, said in a statement that the Chouinard family “challenged” him and a few others two years ago to develop a new structure for the company with two central goals: “They wanted us to both protect the purpose of the business and immediately and perpetually release more funding to fight the environmental crisis,” he said. “We believe this new structure delivers on both and we hope it will inspire a new way of doing business that puts people and planet first.”
Under the new arrangement, the Chouinard family will guide the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the philanthropic work carried out by the Holdfast Collective, according to the news release. The company’s leadership also will not change. Gellert will continue to serve as the company’s CEO while the Chouinard family remains on Patagonia’s board.
The other board members praised the transfer of ownership.
“Companies that create the next model of capitalism through deep commitment to purpose will attract more investment, better employees, and deeper customer loyalty,” Charles Conn, chair of the board, said in a statement. “They are the future of business if we want to build a better world, and that future starts with what Yvon is doing now.”
Board member Kristine McDivitt Tompkins said in the roughly 60 years she’s known Chouinard “his vision has never wavered.”
Could not be more proud to serve on the board of directors of @patagonia. As of now, Earth is our only shareholder — ALL profits, in perpetuity, will go to our mission to “save our home planet.” https://t.co/SLTTTbao4y
— Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (@ayanaeliza) September 14, 2022
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Monica Lewinsky Says Ken Starrs Death Brings complicated Feelings
Monica Lewinsky Says Ken Starr’s Death Brings ‘complicated Feelings’ https://digitalarizonanews.com/monica-lewinsky-says-ken-starrs-death-brings-complicated-feelings/
FILE – Monica Lewinsky attends the Cannes Lions 2015, International Advertising Festival in Cannes, southern France, on June 25, 2015. Lewinsky had a tempered, compassionate response to the death Tuesday of Ken Starr, the former independent counsel whose investigation of Bill Clinton helped reveal her affair with the president and, she once wrote, make her life a “living hell.” (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)
Monica Lewinsky on Tuesday responded to the death of former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr, who led the Whitewater investigation into former President Clinton and his relationship with the then-White House intern.
“As I’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about Ken Starr bring up complicated feelings… but of more importance, is that I imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him,” Lewinsky shared on Twitter Tuesday after news of Starr’s passing broke.
The Whitewater investigation was initially an examination of Clinton’s real estate dealings and work on the Whitewater Development Corporation, but later expanded to encompass Clinton’s relationship with then-intern Lewinsky.
The ordeal, which forced Lewinsky into the limelight, eventually made her a self-dubbed “anti-bullying activist.”
She was an executive producer of the 2021 HBO Max documentary “15 Minutes of Shame,” which looked at the culture of public shaming, and a producer for FX’s “American Crime Story: Impeachment,” which chronicles Lewinsky’s relationship with Clinton and the surrounding events, including the release of “The Starr Report.”
The prosecutor’s 1998 report to Congress shared explicit details of the relationship and argued that Clinton had lied to the American people about the affair, suggesting the lie may be grounds for impeachment.
Clinton was impeached, but then was acquitted in the Senate.
Starr wrote in a 2018 memoir, “I deeply regret that I took on the Lewinsky phase of the investigation. But at the same time, as I still see it twenty years later, there was no practical alternative to my doing so,” as quoted in The New York Times.
More than two decades after the Starr report was released, Starr joined former President Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. He died Tuesday in Houston, Texas, at age 76.
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Fetterman And Oz Agree To October Debate With Unusual Conditions
Fetterman And Oz Agree To October Debate — With Unusual Conditions https://digitalarizonanews.com/fetterman-and-oz-agree-to-october-debate-with-unusual-conditions/
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate, said Wednesday he would participate in one debate with Republican Mehmet Oz, who had made an issue of his opponent’s willingness to face him because Fetterman continues to recover from a serious stroke. The face-to-face meeting is scheduled for Oct. 25.
“We said from the start that we’d do a debate, which John reiterated very clearly again last week,” Rebecca Katz, senior adviser to the Fetterman campaign, said in a statement. “Enough distractions, it’s time to talk about the issues.”
But the campaigns are already sparring over terms of the debate, which would come two weeks before the general election, after Fetterman’s campaign asked for certain conditions to accommodate his continued recovery.
Oz has made Fetterman’s willingness to debate a central attack over the last several weeks, accusing the Democrat of either lying about the severity of his health or of being afraid to debate.
Fetterman suffered a near-fatal stroke days before the May primary, sidelining him from the campaign trail for most of the summer. He has eased back into some in-person activities, but has acknowledged that some of his communication processing is still shaky and has resisted any in-person media interviews.
Fetterman’s spokesman, Joe Calvello, said to “facilitate a seamless conversation,” Nexstar Television, which is hosting the debate in Harrisburg, has “agreed to provide live, real-time closed captioning that will appear on monitors visible to the candidates and throughout the duration of the debate.”
The Oz campaign responded later that the Republican would agree to the debate, but asked for specific conditions, including that the debate moderator explain that Fetterman is using closed captioning and to extend the debate from 60 minutes to 90 minutes to accommodate any delays.
“Doctor Oz looks forward to being in Harrisburg on October 25th to share his vision for a better Pennsylvania and America, and he is ready to expose Fetterman’s record as the most radical far-left senate candidate in America,” said Casey Contres, Oz’s campaign manager, in a statement. “Doctor Oz will continue to push for more and sooner debates. Pennsylvania voters should not have to wait until October 25th to hear from their candidates.”
Katz said the Oz campaign was trying to “move the goal posts” by requesting the debate be extended by 30 minutes.
“Oz agreed to a 60 minute Nexstar debate. Then we agreed to a 60 minute Nexstar debate. Now, suddenly 60 minutes isn’t good enough, and he’s demanding 90,” she said in a statement. “Let’s be real: If we agreed to 10 debates, Oz would be demanding 20. He’s going to keep trying to move the goal posts, because this is his only play.”
The Pennsylvania Senate race is considered one of the most high-stakes contests in the country: Democrats see it as their best chance at flipping a Republican seat and keeping control of the chamber and Republicans are desperate to hold it in their quest to win back the majority.
Fetterman’s campaign spent most of the summer trolling Oz on social media over his celebrity wealth and longtime residency in New Jersey, trying to paint him as out of touch with Pennsylvanians. More recently, Oz has hit back, attacking Fetterman over not having committed — until now — to a debate and his positions on crime-related issues.
Fetterman has held a lead in most public polls, but the race is expected to tighten as November nears. A new poll from Monmouth University released Wednesday found 47 percent of voters surveyed held favorable views of Fetterman compared to 36 percent who held positive views of Oz.
The poll also found that more voters would definitely or probably support Fetterman than Oz, 49 percent to 39 percent.
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Queen Elizabeth II Moved To Westminster Hall To Lie In State
Queen Elizabeth II Moved To Westminster Hall To Lie In State https://digitalarizonanews.com/queen-elizabeth-ii-moved-to-westminster-hall-to-lie-in-state/
Queen Elizabeth II‘s coffin was processed through central London on Wednesday from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the late monarch will lie in state for four days until her funeral on Monday.
Members of the public will be able to visit the queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall to pay their respects. Crowds had already gathered early Wednesday morning to view the procession, and a line had begun to form of people waiting to file past the queen’s coffin. The doors of the ancient hall on the bank of the River Thames were to open to the public from 5 p.m. local time.
Special Report: Procession of Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin to Westminster to lie in state 01:27:07
On person in the crowd, Sharon Stapleton, told CBS News she had “met lots of interesting different people you wouldn’t meet normally — all brought together and united in their grief for the queen, and excited about being able to go through and see her lying in state.”
“It’s been a long night. It’s been raining, very wet, a bit cold,” added Stapleton, who said she started waiting in the line at 9 p.m. Tuesday night. “But it’s worth every minute of it.”
Britain’s King Charles III, at left, William, Prince of Wales, background left, and Prince Harry, at right, walk behind the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during a procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall in London, September 14, 2022. Daniel Leal/AP
The most senior members of the royal family took part in the procession — a roughly 40-minute walk — from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, including the new monarch King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew. William, Prince of Wales and Harry, Duke of Sussex marched in a row behind the queen’s children.
Princes William and Harry walk side by side behind Queen Elizabeth’s coffin — like they did at Diana’s funeral 02:02
The procession included the tolling of the bells of Big Ben, the iconic clock tower in Parliament Square, and a gun salute at Hyde Park nearby.
As the procession passed, the gathered crowd broke out into applause at various points along the route.
A short service began after the coffin reached Westminster Hall, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which the royal family — including the Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex — attended.
The coffin rests on a raised platform that will be guarded around the clock for the full four-day lying in state period by members of various British military regiments assigned to royal protection duty.
Queen Elizabeth II through the years 76 photos
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'Car Guy' Biden Touts Electric Vehicles At Detroit Auto Show
'Car Guy' Biden Touts Electric Vehicles At Detroit Auto Show https://digitalarizonanews.com/car-guy-biden-touts-electric-vehicles-at-detroit-auto-show/
DETROIT (AP) — President Joe Biden, a “car guy” with his own vintage Corvette, showcased his administration’s efforts to promote electric vehicles during a visit Wednesday to the Detroit auto show.
Biden traveled to the massive North American International Auto Show to plug the huge new climate, tax and health care law that offers tax incentives for buying electric vehicles. He toured a mix of American-manufactured hybrid, electric and combustion vehicles from Chevrolet, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis on a closed-off convention center floor, and greeted union workers, CEOs and local leaders.
“You all know I’m a car guy,” Biden told a roaring crowd of autoworkers, adding that cars “just give me a sense of optimism — although I like the speed too.”
While Biden has been taking credit for the recent boom in electric vehicle battery and assembly plant announcements, most were in the works long before the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law on Aug. 16. Biden’s 2021 infrastructure legislation could have something to do with it — it provides $5 billion over five years to help states create a network of EV charging stations.
In Detroit, Biden announced approval of the first $900 million in infrastructure money to build EV chargers across 53,000 miles of the national highway system in 34 states and Puerto Rico.
“The great American road trip is going to be fully electrified,” Biden said.
He also highlighted the law’s funding supporting infrastructure projects in Detroit and across Michigan.
“When you see these big projects in your home towns,” Biden said, “I want you to feel the way I feel: Pride. Pride in what we can do when we do it together.”
The president credited the United Auto Workers and other unions with supporting him in his 2020 bid for the White House. He highlighted how his administration has worked to promote union contracts for big projects, calling union workers the “most skilled” in the nation.
“The middle class built America, and unions built the middle class,” Biden said.
He made time for party politics, too. He praised Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is up for reelection in November, calling her “a great governor” who has utilized federal resources for her state to the fullest. Biden also participated in a Michigan Democratic Party fundraiser on behalf of her reelection campaign.
During a tour of the convention center floor, the Democratic president, who recently took a spin in his pine-green 1967 Stingray with Jay Leno for a segment on CNBC’s “Jay Leno’s Garage,” hopped into the driver seat of a bright orange Chevrolet Corvette Z06 — which starts at $106,000 and is not an EV —and fired up its engine, alongside GM CEO Mary Barra.
“He says he’s driving home,” she joked.
Biden then toured the new electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, marveling with Ford executive chairman Bill Ford at the model’s performance. “It’s amazing the speed,” Biden said, adding, “Does it have a launch button?” He also explored less-flashy vehicles, like Ford’s all-electric E-Transit van and F-150 truck.
Biden finally got behind the wheel of a Cadillac Lyriq all electric SUV, which starts at $63,000, briefly driving it down an aisle in the blue-carpeted hall. It marked a rare occasion to drive — albeit at little more than a walking pace — for the president, who typically is transported in armored U.S. Secret Service vehicles when out in public.
“Jump in, I’ll give you a ride to Washington,” he joked to reporters. “It’s a beautiful car,” he said, “but I love the Corvette.”
Under the new law, electric vehicles must be built in North America to be eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500. Batteries for qualifying vehicles also must be made in North America, and there are requirements for battery minerals to be produced or recycled on the continent. The credits are aimed at creating a U.S. electric vehicle supply chain and ending dependence on other countries, mainly China.
Passage of the measure set off a scramble by automakers to speed up efforts to find North American-made batteries and battery minerals from the U.S., Canada or Mexico to make sure EVs are eligible for the credit.
In April, Ford started building electric pickup trucks at a new Michigan factory. General Motors has revamped an older factory in Detroit to make electric Hummers and pickups.
Long before legislators reached a compromise on the legislation, each company announced three EV battery factories, all joint ventures with battery makers. A GM battery plant in Warren, Ohio, has already started manufacturing. A government loan announced in July will help GM build its battery factories.
Ford said last September it would build the next generation of electric pickups at a plant in Tennessee, and GM has announced EV assembly plants in Lansing, Michigan; Spring Hill, Tennessee; and Orion Township, Michigan. In May, Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, said it would build another joint venture battery factory in Indiana, and it has announced a battery plant in Canada.
Hyundai announced battery and assembly plants in May to be built in Georgia, and Vietnamese automaker VinFast announced factories in North Carolina in July. Honda and Toyota both announced U.S. battery plants after the act was passed, but they had been planned for months.
Biden has been talking for a long time about the importance of building a domestic EV supply chain, and that may have prodded some of the companies to locate factories in the U.S. But it’s also advantageous to build batteries near where EVs will be assembled because the batteries are heavy and costly to ship from overseas.
And auto companies are rolling out more affordable electric options despite battery costs. The latest came last week from General Motors, a Chevrolet Equinox small SUV. It has a starting price around $30,000 and a range-per-charge of 250 miles, or 400 kilometers. Buyers can get a range of 300 miles, or 500 kilometers, if they pay more.
The Equinox checks the North American assembly box. It will be made in Mexico. The company won’t say where the battery will be made but it is working on meeting the other criteria for getting the tax credit.
It will take more than government money to build enough charging stations to ease the public’s anxiety over running out of juice with an electric vehicle, said Christian Meunier, CEO of Stellantis’ Jeep brand. But the money Biden announced should bring more private investment, he said.
“There is momentum building. There will be a business case for private companies to invest more,” Meunier said on the floor of the auto show. “It’s going to exponentially grow.”
___
Krisher reported from Detroit. AP writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.
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4 Things To Keep In Mind When Parking In The Valley AZ Big Media
4 Things To Keep In Mind When Parking In The Valley – AZ Big Media https://digitalarizonanews.com/4-things-to-keep-in-mind-when-parking-in-the-valley-az-big-media/
The Valley of the Sun encompasses nearly 15,000 square miles—almost twice the size of Delaware, Rhode Island, and Connecticut combined. Because much of our Valley has limited public transportation options, most Phoenicians are dependent on our car to go to work, run errands or catch an event downtown. As a result, parking can become a frustrating problem.
READ ALSO: Here are the 10 best commuter cities near Phoenix
According to a 2019 study, there are 12.2 million parking spaces in the urbanized metro Phoenix area, covering approximately 10% of the total area. When trying to find parking fifteen minutes before a Suns’ game, though, it certainly doesn’t seem like it. In those frantic moments before tip-off—or when heading to any other destination in the Valley—here are a few parking laws to keep in mind:
Parker Bunch is a Member at The Cavanagh Law Firm.
There are limitations when parking on or near your own property. A recent bill passed in the house (H.B. 2395) prohibits a person from stopping, standing or parking a vehicle in a private driveway if any part of the vehicle blocks an area of the sidewalk. Violating that law may result in a $250 fine. It is legal to park on private property unless there are “no parking” signs visible from all directions. (No, you cannot remove the “no parking” signs and hide them in your trunk.) Additionally, a car cannot be parked on a public street or property for more than 72 continuous hours.
Observe colored curbs. Colored curbs are there to let you know there are limits on parking in that area. While it might be tempting to park next to a curb, turn on the hazard lights, and head into Footprint Center, law enforcement will likely disagree with you. As a result, it’s best to abide by the following curb color rules:
• Red curb: No parking, standing or stopping at any time.
• Yellow curb: Loading or unloading of cargo or material only.
• Green curb: Limited time parking only as indicated.
• Blue curb: Disabled person parking only with a valid placard or license plate.
Parking on freeways is not legal. Stopping, standing or parking on the highway is not allowed, regardless of whether the vehicle is attended or not. This Arizona parking law provision does not apply to stalled vehicles that require towing. If stopping is unavoidable, then try to park your vehicle so it is as visible as possible, with hazard lights on. Ideally, you want your vehicle to be able to be seen from at least 200 yards away. A vehicle parked on the highway can be ordered to be removed if it is determined to be an obstacle or hazard to traffic. The vehicle may also be removed in instances of theft, if it is left unattended, or due to the arrest of the driver or the inability for the vehicle to be moved to safety.
You must have a placard or specialty plate to park in handicap spaces. Handicap placards are issued to those that meet eligibility requirements. You’ll need to be certified by a health professional as mobility impaired. Fines and penalties can occur if there is evidence of misuse. Eligibility requirements are as follows:
• You can’t walk 200 feet without resting
• You’re restricted by lung disease
• You’re severely limited on walking due to an arthritic, neurological or orthopedic condition
These are just a few things to keep in mind when traveling around the Valley in your car. While violating parking laws isn’t likely to get you sent to Florence, you can be ticketed and/or towed, which can be costly. As a result, try to be mindful of posted signs indicating where you may or may not park and any limitations. And go Suns.
Author: Parker Bunch is a Member at The Cavanagh Law Firm. His practice focuses on insurance coverage and litigation, handling complex claims and coverage issues in both first and third-party claims.
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James C. Brown Obituary (2022) https://digitalarizonanews.com/james-c-brown-obituary-2022/
Obituary of James C. Brown
James C. Brown, MD, 93, died August 13, 2022 at the Casa de Luna Care Home in Tucson, Arizona under the compassionate care of the TMC Hospice team. Jim was born June 25, 1929 in Pulaski, New York, the fourth of six children born to Eva Ingersoll and W. Stanley Brown. In 1951, he earned his Bachelor s in English Literature at Hamilton College, where he excelled in sports, academics, music and campus leadership. He loved to humbly share self-deprecating stories downplaying his sports accomplishments. As a result, his family and friends have memorized the fateful football play 68 reverse pass when Jim threw a wobbly touchdown pass to his teammate Duck Foot Henderson, during a freezing rain storm. Indeed, there are many wonderful stories which will sustain his surviving family, Joan Brown, his devoted wife of 65 years, and their 5 children, Karen Lane (Tucson, husband Walter Lane, children Dylan and Emma), James C. Brown, Jr. (Phoenix, wife DeeAnna Brown, children Paige Balduzzi and James C. Brown, III), Kimberly Hathaway (North Carolina, husband Robert Hathaway, children Rachel, Noah and Benjamin), Mark Brown, MD (Texas, wife Ingrid Nystrom, children Nathan and Alexandra), and Kate Krenke (Queen Creek, husband Jason Krenke, children Delaney, Molly and Piper). In 1955, Jim graduated from University of Rochester College of Medicine and married Joan Staub prior to his commissioning in the US Army Medical Corps with a 2 year assignment to Germany. There, Jim and Joan began a marvelous and passionate journey highlighted by family, faith, friendships, and service to others. After Germany, the family returned to Canton, New York, where Jim served the small college community as a Family Practice Physician. Over the next 15 years, Jim performed more than 1,000 newborn deliveries, occasionally racing over impassable roads to the hospital or to patients homes on a snowmobile on wintery nights. During the day, he cared for patients in an office built adjacent to the family home and at the local hospital. In 1973, the family moved to Rochester, New York, where Jim entered a Radiation Oncology residency program at the age of 44. In 1976, this led to Jim s new position at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where family adventures and fun were highlighted by annual family houseboat trips to Lake Powell. Jim continued to compassionately care for patients suffering with cancer until 1991, when he retired from Good Samaritan to tend to his family, his golf game, and his love of music. All along the way, a faithful dog was by his side. Throughout his life, Jim was kind, loving, warm, compassionate, caring, gentle, fun, witty, gracious, loyal, athletic, self-effacing, selfless and service-oriented. His death saddens us, but we are buoyed by one another, the values he modeled for us, and the memories of a life so well lived. In lieu of flowers, please give to your favorite cause in Jim s memory. No formal memorial ceremony has been scheduled.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of James Brown, please visit Tribute Store
Published by Adair Funeral Homes – Avalon Chapel on Sep. 14, 2022.
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Election Chief On Mounting Threats To Poll Workers Ahead Of Midterms WSGW 790 AM & 100.5 FM
Election Chief On Mounting Threats To Poll Workers Ahead Of Midterms – WSGW 790 AM & 100.5 FM https://digitalarizonanews.com/election-chief-on-mounting-threats-to-poll-workers-ahead-of-midterms-wsgw-790-am-100-5-fm/
The nation’s top election security official broke down as she recounted the vitriol targeting election officials, including those in her home state of Washington. “It’s unnerving,” said Wyman, now the senior election lead at the nation’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“Threats like ‘we’re going to hang you.’ And ‘I hope somebody puts a bullet in your head,’” Kim Wyman told CBS News in her first TV interview since accepting her new role.
Less than 60 days before the midterm elections, officials are bracing for a range of potential physical security risks prompted by conspiracy-laden claims of voter fraud, the Capitol insurrection and violent rhetoric spreading beyond an outspoken fringe of election deniers into mainstream politics.
Six years ago, threats to election security were dominated by malicious cyber activity of foreign adversaries, like Russia. Now, the U.S. must turn inward to confront concerns about “insider threats” and an uptick in harassment, intimidation, and threats of physical violence directed at poll workers nationwide.
“The cybersecurity threats have not gone away,” said Ben Hovland, Commissioner for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). “But now there are personal threats, harassment, intimidating calls and emails, and the weaponization of information requests, reaching across the country.”
“What is concerning to me nowadays is the prospect of insider threats,” said Natalie Adona, incoming clerk recorder-elect for Nevada County, California. “People who are signing up for the specific purpose of attempting to mess things up.”
Insider threats
While U.S. officials are not currently aware of any “specific or credible” threats imminent to the 2022 elections, unofficial election audits spanning several states, warrants to seize voting equipment and the indictment of Tina Peters, Colorado’s Mesa County clerk — for facilitating a security breach of her own county’s election system — have intensified worries.
“People who go for these jobs – as elected officials or poll workers – have they bought into this stolen election lie? Now we have to worry about them coming in and attempting to be an insider threat,” said Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association. “That increases the likelihood of another Tina Peters.”
“We have seen a nationwide effort to recruit and train election deniers as poll workers,” said Rachel Orey, associate director of elections at the Bipartisan Policy Center, citing groups like “True the Vote,” “The Election Integrity Network,” and “U.S. Election Integrity Plan.” The latter has been sued by civil rights groups who claim members have violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by sending armed “agents” to interrogate voters in a door-to-door voter intimidation campaign. Attorneys for the group deny the allegations.
“Some of the threats we’ve seen — I have never seen them in all of my years of doing elections,” said Wyman, a 30-year veteran of elections.
In September 2021, that unease drove CISA to release its first “insider threats” guide, a 10-page playbook designed to help state and local election officials spot rogue activity among election workers, temporary or seasonal staff, volunteers, vendors and contractors.
Wyman says that while municipalities have dealt with insider threats “long before the 2020 election,” CISA has redoubled its efforts “to remind them that insider threats can come on many different levels.”
The information war still poses “biggest challenge” to election officials
After Washington State commissioners in at least three counties nixed “Albert sensors” — a cybersecurity tool designed to alert local governments about potential hacking attempts — Wyman immediately called the election officials in her native state.
“I talked them through why we have the sensors,” Wyman said. “If we see an IP address in a foreign nation that’s hitting every single election office that has an Albert sensor, that’s an indicator that that’s a threat actor trying to get into those systems. And we can alert those election officials to be able to secure their systems.”
Winning the information war remains “the biggest challenge” to election officials, today, according to Wyman.
A majority of Americans think there was either no voter fraud in the 2020 election or that it was limited to a few isolated incidents, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll last month. But this is not true of Republicans: six in 10 continue to believe there was widespread fraud and irregularities in 2020.
Public officials like Joseph Kirk say renewed skepticism offers an “opportunity to educate” voters. The election supervisor who has overseen contests in Bartow County, Georgia, for 15 years is drafting a “code of conduct” for poll workers to clarify policies and processes in place to address violations of state or federal law.
After California recall proponents pushed their way into county offices in Nevada County to film election workers in late 2021, election officials installed four cameras to offer public livestreams of ballot processing.
In Arizona’s bellwether, Maricopa County, public officials were chased to their cars by droves of election deniers — some armed — in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Now, they offer 2-3 tours of their election facility every week.
Bulletproof glass, magnetometers and fencing
Election officials in Maricopa County have installed perimeter fencing, tinted glass windows and a private security to its tabulation center following the crush of violent threats that accompanied an unofficial election audit peddling “the big lie.” County Police Sheriff Paul Penzone has suspended personal time off for police officers during the week of the election to ensure sufficient staffing.
Philadelphia’s new election warehouse and ballot processing center is fortified with bulletproof glass, magnetometer-lined entrances and gated security. The upgrades follow the arrests of two heavily armed Virginia men outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in November 2020. While mail-in ballots were being counted inside, authorities found two loaded semi-automatic Beretta pistols, one semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle, and ammunition in their vehicle, a silver Hummer truck adorned with a Q-Anon stickers.
Some election officials worry that election facilities located in buildings repurposed to be polling places may fall short of security demands.
“My office is an old state patrol barracks,” Kirk told CBS News. “This is not a building that was designed to be a very secure building. My polling places – community buildings – are located in places where security was not the first thing in mind. I’m not sure how to temporarily secure those spaces in a way that allows folks to still feel welcome.”
CISA has assembled a resource pamphlet geared toward helping election officials access resources to secure voting locations and election facilities, and the agency has hired more than 150 physical security specialists to date who regularly screen public buildings – including election offices and polling sites – for vulnerabilities.
“The only problem with these assessments is that some of our small and medium sized counties don’t have the budget to implement all of the recommendations,” Crane said. “That’s why we’ve tried to push the federal and state government for increased funding for election security.
Cost of better security
The Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan policy institute, estimates that approximately $300 million is needed for key measures to keep election offices and workers physically secure over the next five years.
“The demands and costs that are being applied to election officials are only going up,” said David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. “There is new state legislation that requires things like training of poll watchers, 24/7 surveillance of drop boxes, etc., and all that costs money and requires staff. We haven’t invested nearly enough. The last investment from the federal government for elections was $75 million in the last budget. That is literally one quarter for [every] eligible voter in the United States.”
Justice Department officials who have appeared before Congress have pointed to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program for available funds, but a department spokesperson told CBS of News that as of the last reporting period — June 30, 2022 — the Justice Department had not allocated a single dollar to election security.
More than a year after Attorney General Merrick Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force to investigate threats to election and poll workers, the unit has faced scrutiny for producing just one conviction and a handful of charges. Last month, the department reported more than 1,000 probes of harassing and threatening messages directed at election workers.
“I’m one of the few cases that has been charged by the FBI,” Stephen Richer said of the threat against him. In August, a Missouri man was indicted for leaving a voicemail threatening to kill the Maricopa County Recorder warning that “other people from other states are watching your a**.” Richer says he’s reported a slew of additional threats against his colleagues online — including on LinkedIn.
“We need more consequences for bad behavior,” Adona told CBS News. The California official also believes law enforcement guidance on reporting threats has been too vague. She noted that federal law enforcement has urged officials to share every “problematic” incident, leaving officials guessing as to what meets the reporting threshold.
“It feels like the people who do the harassing, intimidating and threatening by and larg...
Trump Told Jordans King He Would Give Him The West Bank Shocking Abdullah II Book Says
Trump Told Jordan’s King He Would Give Him The West Bank, Shocking Abdullah II, Book Says https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-told-jordans-king-he-would-give-him-the-west-bank-shocking-abdullah-ii-book-says/
President Trump once offered what he considered “a great deal” to Jordan’s King Abdullah II: control of the West Bank, whose Palestinian population long sought to topple the monarchy.
“I thought I was having a heart attack,” Abdullah II recalled to an American friend in 2018, according to a new book on the Trump presidency being published next week. “I couldn’t breathe. I was bent doubled-over.”
The unreported offer to Abdullah is among the startling new details about Trump’s chaotic presidency in the book, “The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021” by Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, and Susan Glasser, staff writer for the New Yorker.
The book, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the latest in a long-running series of deeply-reported, behind-the-scenes books featuring, or written by, Trump insiders, with some claiming that they tried to curb the 45th president’s worst instincts.
Baker and Glasser write that their book is based on reporting they did for their respective outlets “as well as about 300 original interviews conducted exclusively for this book.” They added: “We obtained private diaries, memos, contemporaneous notes, emails, text messages, and other documents that shed new light on Trump’s time in office.”
The husband-and-wife journalists also conducted two interviews with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Club and residence.
One theme that emerges in the book is a growing Trump fixation with attacking his perceived enemies and an increasing concern among top officials in his administration that they must prevent Trump’s lawlessness and erratic demands.
Several top officials “were on the verge of quitting en masse,” according to the book, citing an October 2018 message Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, wrote to a top aide over the encrypted app Signal.
Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke “all” wanted to quit, Nielsen wrote, according to the book.
At the time, Trump was fearful of losing control of Congress and eager to appeal to his base of supporters. Fox News was focusing attention on a caravan of migrants moving through central America toward the southern border — referring to it as an “invasion,” the book notes. Trump, in response, urged Nielsen to “harden the border even to the point of pushing her to take action she had no authority to take,” according to the book.
Nielsen and Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, even agreed that they would both resign in protest if Trump resumed family separations at the southern border. In fall 2018, she wrote to an aide, “The insanity has been loosed.”
Those officials ultimately left the administration, but not in unison over one single issue.
“The people who were most fearful of his reign were those in the room with him,” Baker and Glasser write.
In November 2018, Democrats swept to power in the House, winning the majority.
While he was in the White House, Trump also tried to use his office to punish — demands his own aides saw as illegal and tried to stop, according to the book.
Trump not only tried to block a merger between CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, and the telecommunication giant AT&T, over his anger about the network’s coverage of him, but also tried to prevent a government contract from going to a company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. (Bezos owns The Washington Post). “He’d do anything to get Bezos,” a senior Trump official told the book’s author.
Trump also targeted former intelligence officials James R. Clapper Jr. and John Brennan, demanding more than 50 times that they be stripped of security clearance. And when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked one of his policies, Trump told Nielsen he wanted to eliminate the court altogether. “Let’s just cancel it,” he told her, according to the book, adding, “get rid” of the judges and using a profanity.
Trump ordered that legislation be drafted and sent to Congress as soon as possible, they write. Nielsen, according to the book, “did what she and so many other administration officials did when Trump issued nonsensical demands — ignored it and hoped it would go away.”
Trump, who is eyeing another presidential run, also ruled out picking his former vice president Mike Pence as his running mate, telling Baker and Glasser, “It would be totally inappropriate.”
Pence’s refusal to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election, despite Trump’s false claim that the election was rigged, sparked a fissure between the two men. Trump, seething over what he considered a betrayal by Pence, told the authors, “Mike committed political suicide by not taking votes that he knew were wrong.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes for Joe Biden, several of the president’s supporters chanted “hang Mike Pence.”
The offer to Abdullah of the West Bank — which is bordered by Israel and Jordan, and which Trump had no control over — came in January 2018. Trump thought he would be doing the Jordanian king a favor, not realizing that it would destabilize his country, according to the book.
A previous excerpt of the book published in August in the New Yorker described how Trump once told a top adviser that he wanted “totally loyal” generals like the ones who had served Adolf Hitler — unaware that some of Hitler’s generals had tried to assassinate the Nazi leader several times.
Trump complained to Kelly, then his chief of staff and a retired Marine Corps general, “why can’t you be like the German generals?” When Kelly asked which generals he meant, Trump replied: “The German generals in World War II.”
“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said, according to the book.
Trump didn’t believe him, the book says. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” Trump insisted.
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Review | A Trump Portrait That Raises Questions About The Medias Role In His Rise
Review | A Trump Portrait That Raises Questions About The Media’s Role In His Rise https://digitalarizonanews.com/review-a-trump-portrait-that-raises-questions-about-the-medias-role-in-his-rise/
No president has ever been as obsessed with the media as Donald Trump. His top Twitter insult was “fake news,” which he never tired of directing at the “failing New York Times.” So consumed was he by his hatred of The Washington Post and its owner, Jeff Bezos, that he sought to deny Amazon federal contracts and access to the U.S. Postal Service. Trump tried for months to kill a merger that involved another detested media company, CNN, and even encouraged Rupert Murdoch to buy CNN’s parent company (at the fire-sale price his efforts had produced).
The obsession was mutual — and highly profitable, for the targets of Trump’s ire and admiration alike. Trump threw invective at mainstream media outlets, but readers, subscribers, viewers and advertisers all threw dollars at them. Digital subscriptions to the Times and The Post soared during Trump’s presidency. The combined viewership of CNN, MSNBC and Fox more than doubled between 2015 and 2020. The biggest beneficiary, of course, was Murdoch’s conservative media empire. While the bottom feeders of right-wing media feasted on the detritus, Fox News became the closest thing to state TV the United States has ever had. In a single year, Trump tweeted about stories on its shows 657 times.
This last gem comes from “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021” by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (he of the Times, she of the New Yorker). Given Trump’s decision to stuff his post-presidency residence with classified documents, not to mention the potential for a 2024 run, the book is exquisitely timed. A well-paced and engagingly written narrative, “The Divider” shows off the best of big-resource journalism in the Trump era. Yet it also makes vivid some of the shortcomings of the industry that Trump repeatedly exploited.
A new Trump book is worth reading only if its argument or its revelations break new ground. The thesis of Baker and Glasser’s book is unoriginal, if accurate: Trump posed a unique threat to American democracy. The threat was lessened by his ineptitude, the incompetence of many he relied on and the resistance of many others — some principled, some partisan, some self-preserving. But the threat was magnified by the anti-democratic swing of the GOP he exploited, the creakiness of the constitutional order he challenged and his increasing mastery of the loyalty-test politics he excelled at.
Trump’s assault on American democracy was also assisted, let us be honest, by the American media — and not just the right-wing sources that glorified his presidency and radicalized his voters. Trump would not have gotten into the White House at all were it not for the mainstream media routines that made classified messages on Hillary Clinton’s private email server the biggest character issue of the campaign. (The irony is too thick to cut.)
Even after Trump took power, journalists struggled to restrain old instincts: to broadcast every tweet, to focus on political fluff rather than policy substance, to give “both sides” equal say. Only with time and increased understanding of Trump’s intentions did we see meatier investigations of his finances, policies and manipulations, and how they were abetted by his increasingly cultish party. Baker and Glasser compare Trump to the velociraptors in “Jurassic Park” that gradually figure out how to corner their new human prey (the prey in this case being American democracy). The metaphor is apt for journalists as well. Under unprecedented attack, those covering Trump had to learn while hunting.
“The Divider” is, in many ways, a marker of how much journalism has adapted. It displays some of the old instincts: Notwithstanding its more than 650 pages of text, it has little to say about the policies pursued by Trump and his fellow Republicans, or about the political organizations that backed or battled his party or lobbied Washington during his presidency (the National Rifle Association, for example, is not mentioned once). Many anecdotes and backstories seem to be there only because Baker and Glasser know them. Still, the book is the most comprehensive and detailed account of the Trump presidency yet published, and it would not have been possible, as Baker and Glasser write in their acknowledgments, without the diligence and fortitude of their colleagues in the press corps “who worked to cover the Trump administration while being denigrated as ‘enemies of the people.’”
To this rich factual context, Baker and Glasser add fresh and frequently alarming stories, based in part on more than 300 interviews they conducted. If their argument treads familiar Trump-book ground, “The Divider” delivers new revelations aplenty. The biggest of the scoops provide vivid new details about Trump’s ever more dictatorial behavior. In a chapter titled “My Generals,” Baker and Glasser describe how Trump was so frustrated with his military commanders for refusing his various strong-arm orders that he asked Chief of Staff (and retired general) John Kelly why his generals couldn’t be more like Adolf Hitler’s during World War II. When Kelly retorted that those generals had tried to kill Hitler, Trump replied, “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him” — as if that was what should be remembered about the Nazi regime.
As explosive as this new quote is, we’ve long known how Trump feels about Hitler-like power. Yet Baker and Glasser uncover many other episodes that make clear — well before Jan. 6, 2021 — how shockingly far he was willing to go to stay in office. The authors reveal a set of exchanges between Trump and Attorney General William Barr that suggest the president was truly serious about his tweet threats to lock up election rival Joe Biden. “That pissed me off,” Barr tells the authors, which is a bit like finally getting upset with your juvenile-delinquent kid when he disables the brakes in his teacher’s car.
Another revealing story concerns Trump’s strenuous attempts to get the Food and Drug Administration to approve a coronavirus vaccine before Election Day. The scale of the “bombardment” was unprecedented — meetings with and repeated phone calls from the president and his underlings, who accused the independent agency of “sabotaging the election effort.” Trump failed, of course, but not without damaging public confidence in the vaccine. If he hadn’t, he might still be president.
The fact that Trump ultimately lost makes it easy to look back with confidence that everything turned out as it should have. But, as Baker and Glasser say, recycling a quote about Waterloo used by Kelly, “it was a close-run thing.”
Reading that line, one can’t help but wonder if it would have been less close-run if Baker and Glasser had shared all the troubling facts they knew before the 2020 election. When a New Yorker piece based on “My Generals” ran in mid-August, there was criticism that the authors had kept some of the most explosive disclosures under wraps to make “The Divider” more newsworthy and potentially lucrative.
Evaluating this charge is hard, because Baker and Glasser rarely cite their own interviews and never say when any of them were conducted. So it’s not clear what information they could have made public before November 2020. But the concern is certainly valid. Journalism is a business, and journalists need to make a living. But they also have a responsibility to inform citizens before those citizens enter the election booth, and it’s deeply troubling when they seem to be holding back relevant information for commercial reasons.
Good journalism is indispensable in a democracy, and it needs defense now more than ever. “The Divider,” with its devastating portrait of a demagogue who still dominates his party, shows why. It also suggests that journalism needs to have a serious conversation about its role and responsibilities in today’s fraught politics. In this all-hands-on-deck moment, we need journalists focused on the horizon and shouting quickly and clearly about icebergs ahead.
Jacob S. Hacker is a professor of political science at Yale University and the co-author (with Paul Pierson) of “Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality.”
Trump in the White House, 2017-2021
By Peter Baker and Susan Glasser
Doubleday. 725 pp. $32
A note to our readers
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U.S. Senate Republicans Pan Democrats On Crime Say Theyll Introduce Their Own Bill Iowa Capital Dispatch
U.S. Senate Republicans Pan Democrats On Crime, Say They’ll Introduce Their Own Bill – Iowa Capital Dispatch https://digitalarizonanews.com/u-s-senate-republicans-pan-democrats-on-crime-say-theyll-introduce-their-own-bill-iowa-capital-dispatch/
WASHINGTON — A small group of U.S. Senate Republicans sought to draw attention to U.S. crime rates Wednesday, saying they plan to introduce a bill that would direct more resources to state and local police departments as well as require the Government Accountability Office to study the amount of time it takes crime labs to process rape kits.
“We are offering solutions to combat this violent crime wave that is plaguing our nation and our cities,” said Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn during an afternoon press conference.
Blackburn was joined by fellow Republican Sens. Mike Braun of Indiana, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and John Kennedy of Louisiana. Grassley, Johnson and Kennedy are up for reelection in November’s midterm elections in which Republicans are seeking to make Democrats’ record on crime a major issue.
The yet-to-be released bill, Blackburn said, would create a grant program for local and state police departments to hire more officers and detectives to focus on violent crimes as well as increase resources for police departments to address drug crimes.
Funding for federal law enforcement as well as grants for state and local police departments are typically handled through Congress’ annual appropriations process, not one-off bills such as the one the Republicans detailed. And it was unclear Wednesday if the legislation the Republicans plan to introduce at some point would garner the bipartisan support needed to get past the chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster, especially with little time left in the legislative session before lawmakers leave to campaign.
The most recent federal spending package, enacted in March with broad bipartisan support, appropriated $3.88 billion for grants from the U.S. Department of Justice to local and state law enforcement agencies, a 15% increase over the prior fiscal year’s bill, and $575 million for the Office on Violence Against Women grants, the highest funding level ever for that program.
The funding package also included $201 million for State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance and Community Oriented Policing Services, a program intended to improve relationships between police departments and the communities they serve. That represented a 31% boost in funding over the previous year’s level.
Crime details
The GOP senators on Wednesday, in pushing for their future bill, recounted graphic details from numerous crimes, including the names of victims, before chastising Democratic lawmakers for their approach to police funding and police accountability.
Hagerty called on President Joe Biden to take unilateral action to address crime throughout the country, suggesting he’d like the White House to do something akin to so-called Operation Legend during the Trump administration.
That effort sent law enforcement personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Marshals Service to Kansas City, Missouri, and several other cities during the summer of 2020 to address violent crime.
The initiative was hailed by then-President Donald Trump, who was in the final months of what would become a failed reelection campaign that led to a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump refused to accept his electoral loss.
Hagerty on Wednesday urged Biden, the current president, to follow Trump’s example on federal law enforcement operations.
“We’ll work on it through legislation, but the president has the ability to step up right now, to help us address this,” Hagerty said. “We’re calling on him to do that.”
Kennedy of Louisiana said he believed the pathway to reducing crime will be through hiring more police officers, “to stop the retirements among our police officers” and to improve police morale.
He did, however, say that violent police should be held accountable — an issue Democrats have been calling on all police departments to address for years.
“I want to choose my words carefully. No one supports police abuse,” Kennedy said. “Do we have some bad cops? Sure. And when a cop intentionally breaks the law himself or herself and hurts somebody else, they should be punished, and in most cases they are.”
“But on the other hand, cops are not guilty until proven innocent,” Kennedy added.
Crime rates
Crime statistics vary throughout the United States with rates for various crimes rising at different levels in different cities or states, but on average violent crimes increased during 2020 compared to 2019, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Violent crime rates increased by more than 5% with the murder rate increasing by 29% and aggravated assault rates increasing by 12%, though the center’s analysis of 2020 crime statistics show rape rates decreased by 12% and robbery rates decreased by 10%.
Murders within cities rose by about 30% while murders in suburban and rural areas increased by about 20%, according to the Brennan Center’s analysis.
Property crimes, on average, decreased during 2020 by 8% with both burglary and larceny rates dropping, though motor vehicle theft increased by 11%.
“Despite politicized claims that this rise was the result of criminal justice reform in liberal-leaning jurisdictions, murders rose roughly equally in cities run by Republicans and cities run by Democrats,” according to the Brennan Center’s analysis, which it released in July. “So-called ‘red’ states actually saw some of the highest murder rates of all.”
The analysis notes that crime data “makes it difficult to pin recent trends on local policy shifts and reveals the basic inaccuracy of attempts to politicize a problem as complex as crime. Instead, the evidence points to broad national causes driving rising crime.”
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.
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Election Chief On Mounting Threats To Poll Workers Ahead Of Midterms
Election Chief On Mounting Threats To Poll Workers Ahead Of Midterms https://digitalarizonanews.com/election-chief-on-mounting-threats-to-poll-workers-ahead-of-midterms/
The nation’s top election security official broke down as she recounted the vitriol targeting election officials, including those in her home state of Washington. “It’s unnerving,” said Wyman, now the senior election lead at the nation’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“Threats like ‘we’re going to hang you.’ And ‘I hope somebody puts a bullet in your head,'” Kim Wyman told CBS News in her first TV interview since accepting her new role.
Less than 60 days before the midterm elections, officials are bracing for a range of potential physical security risks prompted by conspiracy-laden claims of voter fraud, the Capitol insurrection and violent rhetoric spreading beyond an outspoken fringe of election deniers into mainstream politics.
Six years ago, threats to election security were dominated by malicious cyber activity of foreign adversaries, like Russia. Now, the U.S. must turn inward to confront concerns about “insider threats” and an uptick in harassment, intimidation, and threats of physical violence directed at poll workers nationwide.
“The cybersecurity threats have not gone away,” said Ben Hovland, Commissioner for the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). “But now there are personal threats, harassment, intimidating calls and emails, and the weaponization of information requests, reaching across the country.”
“What is concerning to me nowadays is the prospect of insider threats,” said Natalie Adona, incoming clerk recorder-elect for Nevada County, California. “People who are signing up for the specific purpose of attempting to mess things up.”
Insider threats
While U.S. officials are not currently aware of any “specific or credible” threats imminent to the 2022 elections, unofficial election audits spanning several states, warrants to seize voting equipment and the indictment of Tina Peters, Colorado’s Mesa County clerk — for facilitating a security breach of her own county’s election system — have intensified worries.
“People who go for these jobs – as elected officials or poll workers – have they bought into this stolen election lie? Now we have to worry about them coming in and attempting to be an insider threat,” said Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association. “That increases the likelihood of another Tina Peters.”
“We have seen a nationwide effort to recruit and train election deniers as poll workers,” said Rachel Orey, associate director of elections at the Bipartisan Policy Center, citing groups like “True the Vote,” “The Election Integrity Network,” and “U.S. Election Integrity Plan.” The latter has been sued by civil rights groups who claim members have violated the Ku Klux Klan Act by sending armed “agents” to interrogate voters in a door-to-door voter intimidation campaign. Attorneys for the group deny the allegations.
“Some of the threats we’ve seen — I have never seen them in all of my years of doing elections,” said Wyman, a 30-year veteran of elections.
In September 2021, that unease drove CISA to release its first “insider threats” guide, a 10-page playbook designed to help state and local election officials spot rogue activity among election workers, temporary or seasonal staff, volunteers, vendors and contractors.
Wyman says that while municipalities have dealt with insider threats “long before the 2020 election,” CISA has redoubled its efforts “to remind them that insider threats can come on many different levels.”
The information war still poses “biggest challenge” to election officials
After Washington State commissioners in at least three counties nixed “Albert sensors” — a cybersecurity tool designed to alert local governments about potential hacking attempts — Wyman immediately called the election officials in her native state.
“I talked them through why we have the sensors,” Wyman said. “If we see an IP address in a foreign nation that’s hitting every single election office that has an Albert sensor, that’s an indicator that that’s a threat actor trying to get into those systems. And we can alert those election officials to be able to secure their systems.”
Winning the information war remains “the biggest challenge” to election officials, today, according to Wyman.
A majority of Americans think there was either no voter fraud in the 2020 election or that it was limited to a few isolated incidents, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll last month. But this is not true of Republicans: six in 10 continue to believe there was widespread fraud and irregularities in 2020.
Public officials like Joseph Kirk say renewed skepticism offers an “opportunity to educate” voters. The election supervisor who has overseen contests in Bartow County, Georgia, for 15 years is drafting a “code of conduct” for poll workers to clarify policies and processes in place to address violations of state or federal law.
After California recall proponents pushed their way into county offices in Nevada County to film election workers in late 2021, election officials installed four cameras to offer public livestreams of ballot processing.
In Arizona’s bellwether, Maricopa County, public officials were chased to their cars by droves of election deniers — some armed — in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Now, they offer 2-3 tours of their election facility every week.
Bulletproof glass, magnetometers and fencing
Election officials in Maricopa County have installed perimeter fencing, tinted glass windows and a private security to its tabulation center following the crush of violent threats that accompanied an unofficial election audit peddling “the big lie.” County Police Sheriff Paul Penzone has suspended personal time off for police officers during the week of the election to ensure sufficient staffing.
Philadelphia’s new election warehouse and ballot processing center is fortified with bulletproof glass, magnetometer-lined entrances and gated security. The upgrades follow the arrests of two heavily armed Virginia men outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in November 2020. While mail-in ballots were being counted inside, authorities found two loaded semi-automatic Beretta pistols, one semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle, and ammunition in their vehicle, a silver Hummer truck adorned with a Q-Anon stickers.
Some election officials worry that election facilities located in buildings repurposed to be polling places may fall short of security demands.
“My office is an old state patrol barracks,” Kirk told CBS News. “This is not a building that was designed to be a very secure building. My polling places – community buildings – are located in places where security was not the first thing in mind. I’m not sure how to temporarily secure those spaces in a way that allows folks to still feel welcome.”
CISA has assembled a resource pamphlet geared toward helping election officials access resources to secure voting locations and election facilities, and the agency has hired more than 150 physical security specialists to date who regularly screen public buildings – including election offices and polling sites – for vulnerabilities.
“The only problem with these assessments is that some of our small and medium sized counties don’t have the budget to implement all of the recommendations,” Crane said. “That’s why we’ve tried to push the federal and state government for increased funding for election security.
Cost of better security
The Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan policy institute, estimates that approximately $300 million is needed for key measures to keep election offices and workers physically secure over the next five years.
“The demands and costs that are being applied to election officials are only going up,” said David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. “There is new state legislation that requires things like training of poll watchers, 24/7 surveillance of drop boxes, etc., and all that costs money and requires staff. We haven’t invested nearly enough. The last investment from the federal government for elections was $75 million in the last budget. That is literally one quarter for [every] eligible voter in the United States.”
Justice Department officials who have appeared before Congress have pointed to the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program for available funds, but a department spokesperson told CBS of News that as of the last reporting period — June 30, 2022 — the Justice Department had not allocated a single dollar to election security.
More than a year after Attorney General Merrick Garland established the federal Election Threats Task Force to investigate threats to election and poll workers, the unit has faced scrutiny for producing just one conviction and a handful of charges. Last month, the department reported more than 1,000 probes of harassing and threatening messages directed at election workers.
“I’m one of the few cases that has been charged by the FBI,” Stephen Richer said of the threat against him. In August, a Missouri man was indicted for leaving a voicemail threatening to kill the Maricopa County Recorder warning that “other people from other states are watching your a**.” Richer says he’s reported a slew of additional threats against his colleagues online — including on LinkedIn.
“We need more consequences for bad behavior,” Adona told CBS News. The California official also believes law enforcement guidance on reporting threats has been too vague. She noted that federal law enforcement has urged officials to share every “problematic” incident, leaving officials guessing as to what meets the reporting threshold.
“It feels like the people who do the harassing, intimidating and threatening by and large are able to get away from it,” she added. “I...
Landmark Theatres Enters Long-Term Lease With New Jersey Closter Plaza Theatre
Landmark Theatres Enters Long-Term Lease With New Jersey Closter Plaza Theatre https://digitalarizonanews.com/landmark-theatres-enters-long-term-lease-with-new-jersey-closter-plaza-theatre/
EXCLUSIVE: The arthouse chain has inked a lease agreement for the five-screen former CMX Market Cinemas in Closter, New Jersey, located at 130 Vervalen Street in Closter Plaza. The new Landmark Closter Plaza will open on Friday, Sept. 30.
Landmark Closter Plaza Landmark
Landmark is upgrading the venue with the installation of new recliners in the auditoriums. At the concession stand, offerings will be expanded to include new items like caramel popcorn, vegan cookies, and gourmet chocolate bars, alongside traditional movie theatre favorites, including Coca-Cola products and popcorn with real butter.
“Closter is the latest of several acquisitions that Landmark has made this summer. This location positions us in another key market within a community destination center, enabling us to expand our brand offering in time for an exciting holiday film season,” Landmark Theatres President Kevin Holloway tells Deadline.
Michael Fant, EVP for Landmark Theatres negotiated the deal on behalf of Landmark.
“A quality cinema experience is essential to Closter Plaza’s retail curation and to Edens’ mission to engage and enrich communities. Therefore, we are thrilled to announce our new partnership with Landmark Theatres,” said Elizabeth Furnelli, Managing Director and Northeast Regional Lead, retail real estate owner Edens. “Multiple generations of people have shared their movie-going memories with us. The community will be pleased to know that Edens is committed to continuing the legacy of this place with access to premier arthouse and first-run films, as well as an elevated food and beverage program.”
Landmark Theatres recently opened new locations in Scottsdale, AZ and Annapolis, MD. Before the end of the year, two more theatres are slated to open: a 10-screen venue in the Chicago suburb, Glenview and the 7-screen Landmark Pasadena in CA, with more locations to be announced. Currently the chain counts 178 screens in 24 markets.
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Five Hurt In Car Crash On Carefree Highway [Phoenix AZ]
Five Hurt In Car Crash On Carefree Highway [Phoenix, AZ] https://digitalarizonanews.com/five-hurt-in-car-crash-on-carefree-highway-phoenix-az/
Image from Jared Murry on unsplash.com
Several Hospitalized in Vehicle Accident on Interstate 17
PHOENIX, AZ (September 14, 2022) – Early Saturday morning, five people sustained injuries in a car crash on Carefree Highway.
The incident happened on September 3rd just after 3:00 a.m., per initial reports.
Furthermore, officers responded to the area of Carefree Highway just east of Interstate 17.
According to Phoenix police, a driver traveling west on the highway near 23rd Lane lost control of the vehicle.
Consequently, it crossed the median and crashed into the side of the eastbound lanes.
The crash resulted in two kids suffering injuries and being taken to a hospital. Also, paramedics transported the driver to the hospital together with a woman and an infant.
Meanwhile, Carefree Highway was shut down to allow officers to investigate. The cause of the crash was not yet determined, an active investigation is ongoing.
It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure the safety of their passengers and everyone around them. When behind the wheel, always abide by all traffic laws and follow the conditions of the road. Drive defensively and always be aware of the unique risks of operating a vehicle. Do not resort to speeding and taking shortcuts as these frequently lead to an accident that can completely change a person’s life.
Let the experienced lawyers at Sweet James help you win your car accident injury claim. With their extensive experience in the legal field, you can never go wrong with Sweet James. Their attorneys and professional legal team have dealt with cases dealing with personal injury, car accidents, and wrongful death. Call (800) 975-3435 today for a free consultation with an expert legal professional. You can also contact them 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week by email, online chat, and text message. Click here to request a police report.
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Judge Unseals More Of Trump Mar-A-Lago FBI Affidavit Latest News
Judge Unseals More Of Trump Mar-A-Lago FBI Affidavit – Latest News https://digitalarizonanews.com/judge-unseals-more-of-trump-mar-a-lago-fbi-affidavit-latest-news/
Trump reels off familiar list of complaints as legal woes mount
Former President Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to claim that he and his supporters are unfairly the targets of the Justice Department and FBI.
In one post he wrote: “Dozens of amazing Patriots who stand for America, including wonderful young people, are being targeted and harassed by the Department of ‘Justice’ and FBI. Is this payback for Liz Cheney being ANNIHILATED by 40 points and DESTROYING what was left of the Unselect Committee’s credibility?”
He followed that, with the claim: “Our Country is being destroyed by the Radical Left Democrats—stock market crash, no southern border, rampant crime, military failure, and much more. Meanwhile, all they want to do is take vengeance on the 45th President, me, and those who support me. We will never back down. Make America Great Again!”
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 22:45
Melania Trump launches range of $45 Christmas ornaments
Melania Trump may not have always loved the festive season while living in the White House, but that hasn’t stopped her from launching a line of $45 Christmas ornaments engraved with her signature.
The former first lady says she is “filled with hope” and is “inspired by the American experience and spirit” as she launched the line, which also has corresponding Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
Graeme Massie reports.
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 22:20
Biden insists US economy ‘going to be fine’ despite falling stock market and continued inflation
President Joe Biden says that Americans shouldn’t worry about Tuesday’s stock market drop, arguing things are “going to be fine” despite continued reports of higher-than-expected inflation.
“The stock market doesn’t necessarily reflect the state of the economy, as you well know,” Mr Biden told reporters in Delaware. “The economy is still strong. Unemployment is low. Jobs are up. Manufacturing is good. I think we’re going to be fine.”
Josh Marcus reports.
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 21:50
Trump leads horrified conservative reaction to FBI taking Mike Lindell’s phone
Former president Donald Trump has lashed out at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and claimed the US is now a “police state” after his supporter Mike Lindell apparently had his phone seized by federal agents.
The former president, on his Twitter-like social media platform Truth Social, said Mr Lindell was “raided” by the federal agency.
Sravasti Dasgupta reports.
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 21:20
Republicans ‘going down the wrong road’ with abortion ban says Fox News anchor
Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier warned Republicans on Tuesday that they are “going down the wrong road” heading into the midterm elections after Sen Lindsey Graham introduced a proposal for a national 15-week abortion ban.
In an appearance alongside John Roberts on the programme America Reports on Tuesday afternoon, Baier sounded the alarm that the party’s attempts to limit and criminalise access to abortion has the potential to upend their efforts to retake the US House and Senate in November.
Abe Asher reports.
Fox News anchor says Republicans ‘going down the wrong road’ with abortion ban
Sen Lindsey Graham introduced a 15-week national abortion ban proposal on Tuesday
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 20:50
What we know about the FBI seizure of Mike Lindell’s phone
MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell makes a lot of outrageous claims related to the 2020 election, but this one was serious.
On Tuesday, the millionaire businessman and prominent 2020 election denier said he had his phone seized by the FBI in Minnesota while driving through a fast-food pickup window, which the agency later confirmed.
Here’s everything you need to know about what happened.
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 20:20
Psaki says Trump is handing the Democrats the midterms
Former Biden White House Secretary Jen Psaki made her first appearance as an MSNBC commentator, arguing that Democrats are becoming increasingly engaged in the midterms the more former President Donald Trump inserts himself into the race.
Ms Psaki appeared on Alex Wagner Tonight on Tuesday.
Jen Psaki says Trump is handing the Democrats the midterms in first MSNBC appearance
‘The anger is among the members of the Democratic Party, which is the party in power, which is so rare for that to be the case’
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 19:50
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 19:35
Trump supporter in clown wig arrested at Dairy Queen for threatening to ‘kill all Democrats’
A supporter of former President Donald Trump wearing a clown was arrested at a Dairy Queen in Pennsylvania on Saturday after threatening to “kill all the Democrats.”
The Murrysville Star reported Jan Stawovy, 61, was reportedly carrying three loaded handguns with 62 rounds of ammunition when he was arrested by police.
Abe Asher has the story.
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 19:15
Voters in 27 states have election deniers on their ballots who could decide 2024 election
As primary races come to a close heading into November’s general elections, Americans in at least 27 states will see candidates on their ballots who have denied the outcome of the 2020 presidential race, according to a new report.
Alex Woodward reports.
Voters in 27 states have election deniers on their ballots who could determine 2024
November ballots in more than half the US will include candidates running for governor, secretary of state and attorney general who have rejected 2020 election results
Oliver O’Connell14 September 2022 18:45
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U.S. Senators Introduce Bill To Designate Russia State Sponsor Of Terrorism
U.S. Senators Introduce Bill To Designate Russia State Sponsor Of Terrorism https://digitalarizonanews.com/u-s-senators-introduce-bill-to-designate-russia-state-sponsor-of-terrorism/
U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) speak during an interview with Reuters, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
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WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Democratic and Republican U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday that would designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, a label pushed for by Ukraine but opposed by President Joe Biden’s administration.
“The need for this measure is more pressing now than ever before,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of the bill’s sponsors, told a news conference, citing the killings of civilians and other “brutal, cruel oppression” in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, another bill sponsor, said the designation would send a strong signal of support for Ukraine to Kyiv but also to U.S. allies, while imposing stiff penalties on Russia like allowing it to be sued in U.S. courts for its actions in Ukraine and tightening sanctions.
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It was not immediately clear when or whether the measure might come up for a vote. But the two senators have been advocating for the designation for months, visiting Kyiv in July to promote it. read more
They have been joined by other lawmakers in voicing support for the idea. Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in July the designation was “long overdue.”
Biden has said he does not plan such a designation for Russia. Administration officials say they do not feel that the designation is the most effective way to hold Russia accountable and that it could hinder deliveries of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news briefing that the administration was discussing with lawmakers measures “analogous” to those that would be imposed on Russia’s economy by the designation. read more
“We have to take into account the consequences, intended and unintended” by such a designation, he said. “We are engaging with Congress on tools that would continue to have analogous implications for the Russian economy, for the Russian government, that would not have those unintended consequences.”
Moscow has told Washington that diplomatic ties would be badly damaged and could even be broken off if Russia were added to the State Sponsor of Terrorism list, which currently includes Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Syria.
Blumenthal and Graham’s bill includes a provision that would allow a U.S. president to waive the designation for national security reasons after certifying to Congress that Russia is no longer supporting acts of international terrorism.
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Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis; Editing by Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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One Killed In Pedestrian Crash Near Craycroft Road [Tucson AZ]
One Killed In Pedestrian Crash Near Craycroft Road [Tucson, AZ] https://digitalarizonanews.com/one-killed-in-pedestrian-crash-near-craycroft-road-tucson-az/
Image by Basil Samuel Lade on Unsplash.com
Hit-and-Run Collision near 22nd Street and Craycroft Road Results in One Fatality
TUCSON, AZ (September 14, 2022) – Late Sunday evening, a hit-and-run pedestrian crash left one person dead.
The crash happened on September 11th, near the intersection of 22nd Street and Craycroft Road.
According to Tucson Police Department, a man was walking in the area when he was fatally struck by a vehicle. The driver of the vehicle failed to stop and render aid to the victim, instead they fled the scene. Due to the impact of the collision, the pedestrian sustained serious injuries and later died.
Meanwhile, police have not release anymore details about the hit-and-run crash near Craycroft Road. However, further information will be released as soon as it is made available to the public.
No words can mend the broken hearts and sorrow felt during this delicate moment. The Sweet James law firm sends their deepest condolences and sympathies to the family and friends of the victim. May you find strength and comfort in the difficult days ahead.
Losing a loved one in a pedestrian accident leaves a lasting impact on those left behind. Reach out to Sweet James today. Let their experienced attorneys and professional legal team help you during this trying time. They have 20 years of experience in the field, and they have helped families and individuals win their personal injury, pedestrian accident, and wrongful death cases. They will fight by your side to achieve justice and maximum compensation. Call their office today at (800) 975-3435 to arrange a free strategy session. Their legal team is also available via email, online chat, and text message. If you are a family member of the victim involved in this accident, they may be able to help you obtain the police report. To request a police report, click here.
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D. J. Humphries Cardinals Ready For Chandler Jones Reunion
D. J. Humphries, Cardinals Ready For Chandler Jones Reunion https://digitalarizonanews.com/d-j-humphries-cardinals-ready-for-chandler-jones-reunion/
D.J. Humphries knows Chandler Jones, as a friend, a former teammate, and certainly as a pass rusher, the left tackle having gone up against Jones countless times in practice for six seasons.
Humphries knows Jones. Jones knows Humphries. And yet, Humphries understands that isn’t the extent of the toolbox between the two Sunday, when the Cardinals go to Las Vegas to play the Raiders – Jones’ new team.
“Every year he comes up with something new and something he is trying,” Humphries said after practice Wednesday. “Every offseason I’m trying and testing something new. He’ll definitely have something new I don’t know about and vice versa. It’ll be an interesting scenario for us.”
The Cardinals are desperate for a win, but so are the Raiders. It’d be naïve to think Jones – who did not record a sack in the Raiders’ opening loss — won’t be highly motivated to wreck the offense of his former team.
Kliff Kingsbury knows this. The Cardinals coach declined to say if Humphries had ever gotten the best of Jones in practice over the years, because “I don’t want to piss Chandler off.” But he also praised his former defensive star, saying Jones embraced him when he became coach and played so well on the field.
The two traded texts in recent days, with Kingsbury saying he told Jones “don’t hold it against me when we chip you and edge you with a back or a tight end every single play.”
Kyler Murray knows this too. He and Jones, their lockers directly across from each other, developed a friendship over their three years together. Both had fun taking good-natured shots at the other on social media and in press conferences.
But Murray would prefer, being a quarterback and all, to keep Jones under the same “don’t touch the QB” rules Jones had to abide by when the two were teammates.
“It’ll be weird,” Murray said. “Different seeing in in a new uniform. But at the end of the day, he’s got one job, I’ve got one job.
“I’m going to do my best to avoid him. I don’t plan on seeing too much of him.”
Murray noted “I’ll always have love for Chan” and Jones indeed was respected and liked in the locker room. His decision to sign with the Raiders – three years, up to $17 million per season – took some time but it was clear he wasn’t going to come back to Arizona.
The Cardinals are trying to find their own pass rush, but the Raiders also were sackless as a team and Jones will pair with Maxx Crosby to harass Murray this weekend.
That’s where Humphries comes in. The tempo with which he will battle Jones will be different, no matter how heated a matchup might have been a time or two at training camp. Game speed is different.
It’s interesting too that Humphries and Jones both tend to play upbeat. That won’t change for Humphries, although he insisted his job won’t be affected by his relationship with Jones.
“Once I get between the lines it’s numbers,” Humphries said. “It’s ‘I gotta block that dude whether I know him or not. He’s not on my team.’ Also, I’m not one of those people who can play angry. Playing angry does nothing for me. It doesn’t make me play better. It probably makes me play worse actually.
“I’m the guy who laughs in the middle of blocks, in the middle of plays. I’m having a great time. But most of the time, the guys I am close with, they are really good. There is only so much hanging out I can do, right? I’ve got to get him the (expletive) outta here because he’s coming off the ball.”
Humphries grinned as he said it. These are the matchups to relish over the season.
What’s funny is that Jones once told Humphries in a practice, “You’ll never go against someone in a game like me.” The theory was that being able to slow or stop Jones would prep him against anyone.
Now Humphries will see if that will work against Jones himself.
“I would be wrong to not credit Chandler with a lot of my growth and success over the last six years,” Humphries said. “I know how much he helped me grow as a player and build confidence in even knowing I can go against pretty much any rusher in this league because I was going against him every day.”
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Lin-Manuel Miranda Others Seek Puerto Rico Silver Lining | NewsRadio WINA
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Others Seek Puerto Rico Silver Lining | NewsRadio WINA https://digitalarizonanews.com/lin-manuel-miranda-others-seek-puerto-rico-silver-lining-newsradio-wina/
FILE – Wilfredo Negron stands on the rooftop of one of his properties securing the zinc roof in preparation for the current hurricane season on July 13, 2020, in Corozal, Puerto Rico. Five years after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico and exposed the funding problems the Caribbean island has long faced, philanthropists warn that many of those issues remain unaddressed, just like the repairs still needed for the American territory’s physical infrastructure. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File) Photo: Associated Press
By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Five years after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico and exposed the funding problems the Caribbean island has long faced, philanthropists warn that many of those issues remain unaddressed, just like the repairs still needed for the American territory’s physical infrastructure.
The Category 4 storm, with winds reaching 155 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour), killed dozens immediately on Sept. 20, 2017 and researchers estimate thousands more died in the aftermath due to the lack of permanent shelter and power. According to a Hispanic Federation report released Wednesday, Hurricane Maria did an estimated $90 billion in damage to the island.
“It was just such a scary moment,” said “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who helped mobilize millions in aid for Puerto Rico. “But one of the silver linings has been the coalition building between the diaspora and residents on the island that was really formed out of those challenges.”
That coalition building was sorely needed, because Puerto Rico and its residents have an unusual image problem in philanthropy, said Hispanic Federation President and CEO Frankie Miranda. International nonprofits generally left it out of donations given to the neediest populations because it is part of the United States, while American nonprofits often left it out of programs by earmarking donations only for the 50 states.
That long-running problem was intensified by what critics say was former President Donald Trump’s administration’s slow response to Hurricane Maria, which extended the impact of the storm, including the longest blackout in American history.
“It was about fairness,” said Frankie Miranda, adding that some federal recovery funds are only getting to Puerto Rico now. “It was about equity. We were not getting the fair share for people on the island compared to other disasters happening in the United States. So we needed to act.”
Frankie Miranda will lead a delegation from the Hispanic Federation — including Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is not related — to Puerto Rico on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of Hurricane Maria and survey what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done.
For Lin-Manuel Miranda, the storm was personal. He had family on the island who he couldn’t reach because phone service was knocked out. He remembered learning that his uncle survived the storm from a photo on Facebook showing his uncle volunteering help.
However, his most successful initial fundraising campaign was not planned. Lin-Manuel Miranda, known for being level-headed and upbeat almost as he is known for his creativity, got mad about Trump’s reaction to the suffering he saw in Puerto Rico.
“You’re going straight to hell, @realdonaldtrump,” he tweeted, along with a link to the Hispanic Federation’s fund for Puerto Rico.
The reaction was fast and intense. Donations skyrocketed, eventually topping more than 200,000 separate gifts, as did attention for the victims of the hurricane. The next day, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s photo and tweet was on the front page of the New York Daily News next to Trump.
“I didn’t anticipate any of that,” he said. “But, anger can be a galvanizing force. And the widespread frustration with that president’s inability to engage with reality, sort of galvanized a lot of donations. That was the biggest moment in terms of fundraising.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda then worked to keep the momentum going. “I burned up my Rolodex to make that almost like praying,” he said, as he sought donations. “And then I burned up my Twitter DMs for people I didn’t know. The first six months it basically became our entire lives. I just put everything else in our lives on hold.”
Initially, the focus was on the “really nitty gritty things, like food, water, basic recovery supplies.” Then, he began to expand the scope of the aid, eventually bringing a production of “Hamilton” to the island as a fundraiser.
Proceeds from those shows helped launch the Flamboyan Arts Fund, which helps preserve and support the arts in Puerto Rico with support from major nonprofits, including Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Mellon Foundation.
“We realized that the arts never get included in recovery efforts,” the “In the Heights” star said. “Yet, when you think about this tiny part of the world 100 miles across and how much it has given to the arts — it’s absurd how much Puerto Rican artists have enriched global culture. The No. 1 artist in the world, Bad Bunny, is from the island. So we need to protect Puerto Rican culture and Puerto Rican art on the island.”
Working with the Hispanic Foundation, Lin-Manuel Miranda also helped support the Puerto Rican coffee industry, long a point of pride for the island because it could count popes and royalty among its customers.
“Coffee plants aren’t sunflowers — they don’t grow back in a season,” he said, adding that about 85% of the coffee crop was wiped out by Hurricane Maria. “We talked to anybody who was in the coffee business, in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, to figure out how to jumpstart this and also empower coffee growers. And now, at the five-year mark, coffee is back and exceeding pre-Hurricane Maria levels in terms of production.”
Sara Lomelin, CEO of Philanthropy Together, a nonprofit that uses grassroots giving to diversify donations, said she worried that the underfunding of Puerto Rico by major donors would return once the emergencies caused by Hurricane Maria had passed.
“Everybody responds to disasters because you are seeing the direct effect,” Lomelin said. “What people forget is that when there is a disaster like Hurricane Maria or the wildfires in California or the pandemic, is that you can’t just put a Band-Aid on it. These things take years. And the problem is people move to the next disaster or move to the next issue after a couple of weeks or months and they forget the problem is still there.”
However, she said the current mix of medium-term and long-term donations in Puerto Rico gives her hope and that attention tied to the anniversary and Hispanic Heritage Month, which starts on Sept. 15, will provide momentum. “I love that the Hispanic Federation has these initiatives right now, where they are focusing on long-term things that need to happen,” she said. “I do believe that disasters can be the perfect time for people to get organized.”
Lomelin said that works best when donors listen to the communities receiving the funds. And that’s something that Hispanic Federation’s Frankie Miranda believes in and has invested more than $50 million in the island so far.
“There is so much that philanthropy can do,” he said. “But we also can be advocates so that organizations in Puerto Rico continue to be part of a participatory process, ensuring that the funds go to the neediest cases. Puerto Rico needs to remain on the philanthropy map for all of these major institutions.”
____
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
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FBI Seizes My Pillow CEO Mike Lindells Cellphone At A Hardees
FBI Seizes My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell’s Cellphone At A Hardee’s https://digitalarizonanews.com/fbi-seizes-my-pillow-ceo-mike-lindells-cellphone-at-a-hardees/
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The FBI has seized My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell’s cellphone while he was at a Hardee’s, the loyal Trump ally said in a video Tuesday evening.
On his internet show, “The Lindell Report,” the stolen election proponent said that “cars pulled up in front of us, to the side of us, and behind us,” while at a Hardee’s drive-thru “and I said ‘those are either bad guys or the FBI,” Lindell said. “Well it turns out they were the FBI.”
Lindell told CNN that he was questioned about Tina Peters, a Mesa County, Colorado, clerk who is facing charges connected to a scheme that allegedly allowed an unauthorized person access to voting machines.
The FBI told Mike Lindell not to say anything. LOL pic.twitter.com/rQ657D6b6B
— Grace C (@gc22gc) September 14, 2022
“What they’ve done is weaponize the FBI, it’s disgusting,” Lindell said on his internet show. “And they told me not to tell anyone, here’s an order not to tell anyone,” as he holds up a document. “Yea I won’t…well I am.”
Still committed to the “Big Lie,” Lindell, one of the most prolific conspiracy theories in the U.S., recently hosted a weekend-long convention in Springfield called the “Moment of Truth Summit” from Aug. 20-21.
Former President Trump, who is under investigation himself, echoed Lindell’s statements that the FBI has been weaponized.
Some of the most surprising news surrounding the FBI seizing Lindell’s phone was the fact that Hardee’s still existed. People all across social media were surprised to learn that Hardee’s was still in operation, yet alone people were eating there.
The fast food establishment saw this incident as an opportunity to remind people that they still exist, while also taking a shot at the pillow salesman in a tweet shared Wednesday morning.
Now that you know we exist… you should really try our pillowy biscuits.
— Hardee’s (@Hardees) September 14, 2022
An FBI spokesperson confirmed to CNN that “without commenting on the specific matter, I can confirm that the FBI was at that location executing a search warrant authorized by a federal judge.”
Mike Creef, Staff Writer
Mike Creef is a fighter for equality and justice for all. Growing up bi-racial (Jamaican-American) on the east coast allowed him to experience many different cultures and beliefs that helped give him a well-rounded worldview. After playing a year of college basketball, he moved to Tulsa, OK in 2008 to pursue training at bible college. He quickly fell in love with serving the people of the city as well as city engagement. He has worked and volunteered in both the public and private sectors and currently enjoys writing to inspire and challenge people to see that there is more that unites us than divides us.
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GOP Voters Choose Trump-Aligned Candidates https://digitalarizonanews.com/gop-voters-choose-trump-aligned-candidates/
New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc smiles during a primary night campaign gathering, Tuesday Sept. 13, 2022, in Hampton, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha) Reba Saldanha
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New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc speaks on the radio program, “John Fredericks Show,” during a primary night campaign gathering, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Hampton, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha) Reba Saldanha
FILE – Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., listens during a hearing March 14, 2022, in Manchester, N.H. Republican candidate Don Bolduc, staunchly conservative, retired Army general is favored to win New Hampshire’s Republican Senate nomination and face potentially vulnerable Hassan. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) Charles Krupa
New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc, center left, poses with supporter Mike Egan of Manchester, N.H., during a primary night campaign gathering, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Hampton, N.H. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha) Reba Saldanha
New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc, shakes hands with campaign volunteers after voting, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
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New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc shakes hands with campaign volunteers while arriving with his dog “Victor” before voting, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
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A bin of “I Voted Today” stickers rests on a table at a polling place, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
Voters walk past campaign volunteers at a polling place, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
Voters walk past campaign volunteers at a polling place, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
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New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc carries his ballot before casting his vote, with his dog “Victor”, while voting, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
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New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc places a “I Voted Today” sticker on the harness of his dog “Victor” after casting his vote, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Stratham, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
Voters cast their ballots, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, at a polling station in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District Candidate Matt Mowers greets campaign volunteers, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, during a campaign stop at a polling station in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District Candidate Matt Mowers smiles while waiting to greet voters, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, during a campaign stop at a polling station in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
Voters cast their ballots, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, at a polling station in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District Candidate Matt Mowers smiles while talking with voters and campaign volunteers, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, during a stop at a polling station in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District Candidate Matt Mowers rests on a campaign sign while talking with voters and campaign volunteers, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, during a stop at a polling station in Derry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Charles Krupa
Published: 9/14/2022 3:37:18 PM
Modified: 9/14/2022 3:36:48 PM
The Republican candidates most loyal to former President Donald Trump will face off against incumbent Democrats trying to retain their seats in Washington.
Retired Army Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc will face potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbent Maggie Hassan in November – setting up another test of whether a fierce conservative can appeal to more moderate general election voters.
Bolduc has said he believes Trump won the 2020 election and has espoused conspiracy theories about vaccines. The former president never endorsed Bolduc, but called him a “strong guy, tough guy.”
That has some in Bolduc’s own party questioning whether he can broaden his appeal beyond the GOP base in November enough to beat Hassan in a race that could help determine Senate control.
Similar themes played out in New Hampshire’s two Congressional Districts as pro-Trump Bob Burns won the Republican nomination to face five-term incumbent Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster and KarolineLeavitt, who worked in the Trump White House’s press office, will take on Rep. Chris Pappas. Leavitt topped chief rival Matt Mowers, a more experienced Republican with ties to the former president.
Leavitt said she was “sending a strong and clear message to the Washington, D.C., establishment, and our Democratic opponent that our votes cannot be bought, our conservative voices cannot be silenced.”
Pappas wasted little time going on the offensive against Leavitt, saying, “I will fight with everything I’ve got to stop extreme politicians like Karoline from hijacking our democracy.”
But as it turns out, these are the candidates the Democrats actually helped to win.
In the days leading up to the election, the Senate Majority PAC, which supports Democrats, ran ads calling moderate State Senate President Chuck Morse a “sleazy politician” and tied his campaign to lobbyists, which ultimately helped Bolduc.
Earlier in the election cycle, Democrats Serve PAC, spent nearly $100,000 to run cable TV ads to boost the conservative credentials of Republican candidate Bob Burns, who touted his pro-Trump and anti-abortion stances during his second bid for Congress. Democrats viewed him as a weaker general election candidate against Kuster than moderate Republican Keene Mayor George Hansel, who enjoys the backing of Gov. Chris Sununu.
Former Vice President Mike Pence was on his way to New Hampshire to participate in a fundraiser for Bolduc on Wednesday. Democrats were quick to call both Pence and Bolduc “anti-choice extremists,” who want a nationwide abortion ban.
Bolduc’s victory was another setback for Sununu, who endorsed Morse, a mainstream Republican. Sununu called Morse “the candidate to beat Sen. Hassan this November and the candidate Sen. Hassan is most afraid to face.”
By contrast, Sununu called Bolduc a conspiracy theorist and suggested he would have a tougher time in the general election. Bolduc wasn’t bothered by Sununu’s criticism, calling the governor “a Chinese communist sympathizer.”
Bolduc had campaigned longer than the other candidates in the race and narrowly beat Morse by a few thousand votes, which amounted to a margin of about 1%.
“Our campaign overcame the odds and millions of dollars in spending from outside special interest groups because we built a true bottom-up grassroots campaign,” Bolduc tweeted Wednesday morning. “Throughout the primary, I have felt the concerns of the voters, and heard time and again we need to send an outsider to Washington.”
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Anti-Immigrant Party Helps Defeat Swedens Government
Anti-Immigrant Party Helps Defeat Sweden’s Government https://digitalarizonanews.com/anti-immigrant-party-helps-defeat-swedens-government/
GOTHENBURG, Sweden — A loose coalition of right-wing parties has narrowly defeated Sweden’s center-left government in a general election, a victory that promises to upend Swedish politics and the country’s reputation as a haven for progressive, pluralistic ideals.
Victory for the right came after strong support for the Sweden Democrats, a once-fringe anti-immigrant party that will now be the second-largest party in the legislature and the strongest voice from the right.
The SD, led by 43-year-old lawmaker Jimmie Akesson, and the Moderate, Christian Democrat and Liberal parties won 176 seats, according to the latest tally, giving them a three-seat lead over the Social Democrats of Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and their Left, Center and Environment allies. Andersson conceded Wednesday evening ahead of the final results. It could still take weeks to form a government.
The closely watched election has already reshaped Sweden’s political discourse, pushing anti-immigrant and tough-on-crime rhetoric into the political mainstream and deepening fears here about the polarization — or “Americanization” — of Swedish politics.
The European far right has welcomed the SD’s strong showing. “Everywhere in Europe, people aspire to take their destiny back into their own hands!” tweeted Marine Le Pen, France’s far-right firebrand, earlier this week.
The result could also shape Sweden’s standing on the world stage as the country works with partners to respond to the war in Ukraine, seeks NATO membership and takes up the rotating presidency of the European Union in 2023.
“When you are holding on to power with one seat, it’s a cause of instability,” said Eric Adamson, a Stockholm-based project manager at the Atlantic Council’s Northern Europe office. “This may make it harder for Sweden to take on a leadership role in northern Europe, in the E.U. or in NATO.”
The SD gained support by taking a tougher stance against crime, particularly against the rising rates of gun violence in Sweden, and publishing a 30-point plan aimed at making Sweden’s immigration rules among the most restrictive in the E.U. They want to be able to reject asylum seekers based on religion, for instance, or based on gender or sexual identity.
A decade ago, Sweden’s liberal immigration policies were not a major political issue. The influx of migrants to Europe in 2015 started to change this. At that time, Sweden took more than 150,000 asylum seekers, including many newcomers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In the years since, concerns about immigration and their integration have come to the fore.
The Social Democrats maintain that they have reduced asylum claims by making it harder for migrants to get into the country and apply, stepped up the deportation of asylum seekers whose applications had been rejected and insisted that Sweden should receive no more asylum seekers than other E.U. countries. Party leaders also pledged to dilute the numbers of “non-Nordic” immigrants in areas where large numbers of immigrants live, promising an end to “Somalitowns,” “Chinatowns” and “Little Italies.”
Even a few years ago, the Sweden Democrats’ ascent would have seemed far-fetched.
Formed in 1988 by right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis, the Sweden Democrats did not manage enough votes to win seats in parliament until 2010. After that breakthrough, leaders began to exclude the most extreme members from the party.
Other parties and the media have kept their distance from the SD, refusing to talk to it or give it a platform. But support for the party grew rapidly over the past dozen years, culminating in its election showing Sunday.
Boycotted for so long by the mainstream media, the party has developed its own online news sites and is extremely effective on social media such as Facebook and YouTube.
The Moderates, the largest of the center-right parties, once shunned the SD. But it eventually opted to establish ties, with the aim of upending the political status quo and unseating the Social Democrats.
“If you want a government that is not based on the Social Democrats you need to cooperate with the SD,” said Anders Borg, a former finance minister for the Moderates. “I cannot see any other viable election strategy other that finding a way of cooperating with them.”
“In Sweden,” he said, “we isolated the SD and yet they grew to 20 percent as a lot of ordinary voters drifted towards them. At the same time, the SD has moved away from a fringe position towards being a more ordinary political party.”
Whether the SD is now an “ordinary party” is up for debate. Though the party has distanced itself from its neo-Nazi roots and has stepped away from some of its previous positions, its platform remains exclusionary.
Members want to end immigration from outside Europe and return Muslims to their countries of origin. A month before the election, an SD spokesman tweeted a photo of a subway train in the party’s blue and yellow colors with the words: “Welcome aboard the repatriation express. Here’s a one-way ticket. Next stop, Kabul!”
“They don’t include Islam in Swedishness,” said Andrej Kokkonen, a professor of politics at Gothenburg University who studies anti-immigrant parties. “You don’t get to be a Swede and a Muslim at the same time.”
Sweden Democrat voters tend to live in small towns and rural areas, and most are men, according to Ann-Cathrine Jungar, a professor at Sodertorn University who studies populist radical right parties.
They are less educated than the average voter, Jungar said, but many are small-scale entrepreneurs. The party has also attracted votes from the traditional working class and is increasing its support among the young.
“These voters have lower trust in the media — they believe there is biased information on their core issue of immigration,” Jungar said. “The SD use the populist rhetoric that there is a ‘left-liberal establishment,’ an elite that doesn’t understand the people.”
The party has cultivated links with Trump supporters and the alt-right in the United States, she said: “Previously it was the Moderates who had contacts with the Republicans, but now it is the SD who has taken over and the Moderates are connected with the Democrats.”
“There is concern here that we are becoming more like America with polarization and intense rhetoric,” said Adamson, of the Atlantic Council. “Where every battle becomes an existential one.”
Rauhala reported from Brussels
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Dow Falls In Choppy Trading Nasdaq Holds On To Slight Gain
Dow Falls In Choppy Trading, Nasdaq Holds On To Slight Gain https://digitalarizonanews.com/dow-falls-in-choppy-trading-nasdaq-holds-on-to-slight-gain/
Stocks slip in final hour
The stock market weakened in afternoon trading, with the Dow’s losses extending past 200 points. The Nasdaq, which had held above the flatline for most of the day, also turned negative.
— Jesse Pound
Nasdaq clings to gains in afternoon trading
With just over an hour left in the trading session, the Nasdaq Composite is holding on to a gain of 0.2% for the day.
The S&P 500 is down about 0.1%, and has held above the 3,920 level during several dips intraday.
The Dow, which has spent most of the day swinging in a 300-point range, was last down about 100 points.
— Jesse Pound
CFRA’s Sam Stovall expects the June low will hold
CFRA’s Sam Stovall expects that the June low will hold in spite of a hot inflation report that renewed investor fears of greater interest rate hikes for longer.
Stocks are now digesting the likelihood of a more rapid pace of tightening from the Federal Reserve, which is broadly expected to hike rates by 75 basis points next week, as well as weaker gross domestic product growth in 2022, according to a Wednesday note from CFRA.
Gross domestic product is currently expected to grow by 1.8% in the third quarter, down from 2% previously, read the note. It’s expected to jump 1.4% in the fourth quarter, down from expectations of 1.6%.
That’s going to add pressure to earnings per share growth in the S&P 500, which has already seen estimates trimmed to 6.9% in 2022, down from 8.9%, read the note.
Still, Sam Stovall said: “Despite the possibility of an additional near-term decline in prices, we still think the June low will hold.”
— Sarah Min
Investors Intelligence bullish newsletter editors had edged higher in latest week
Going in to Tuesday’s August CPI report, the number of bullish investment newsletter editors surveyed by Investors Intelligence had risen to 32.4% from 29.7% the week before.
The reading two weeks ago was close to the mid-June number of 26.5% that accompanied the bear market low in the S&P 500, and the fewest since early 2016.
Bearish newsletter editors dropped to 28.2% last week from 29.7% the prior week, while the percentage who forecast a correction also retreated, falling to 39.4% from 40.6%.
The so-called “bull-bear spread” widened to +4.2 from 0.0 the week before. Higher bull-bear spreads can sometimes serve as a contrarian signal for more risk, while lower readings are associated with less risk.
— Scott Schnipper
Netflix rises to session highs, advertising plans in focus
Shares of Netflix jumped to session highs following a Wall Street Journal report that the streaming giant projects advertising-supported tier would reach 40 million viewers by the third quarter of 2023.
Netflix announced plans to create an ad-supported subscription plan earlier this year as subscriber growth slowed and even reversed. The company is partnering with Microsoft to build the product, which has not launched yet.
Shares of Netflix were last up 2.9%.
— Jesse Pound
Energy stocks outperform
Energy is the top performing sector in the S&P 500 as oil prices perked up on Wednesday.
Shares of Coterra Energy and APA have jumped more than 7% each. Devon, EOG and ConocoPhillips are also among the top performers in the S&P 500.
Overall, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund is up 3.4%, easily outpacing the broader market.
— Jesse Pound
Rails stocks dip as strike fears mount
Rail stocks moved lower on Wednesday after a labor union that represents railroad workers said its members voted against a tentative contract agreement aimed at preventing a potential labor strike.
Workers have threatened to halt work if their demands aren’t met for vacation, sick days and several other quality-of-life issues.
The Dow Jones U.S. Railroads Index slumped 3.4%, with shares of CSX Corporation, Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern down 2.3%, 4.4% and 2.5%, respectively.
— Samantha Subin
Major averages hold onto slight gains in aftermath of massive sell-off
Stocks are holding on to modest gains in midday trading. The Nasdaq Composite is in the lead, with a gain of about 0.6%.
Notable movers include Moderna, up 6.6%, and Starbucks, up more than 5%. Tesla has also added a healthy 3.8% on the session.
“Stocks are trying to stabilize, but the whole tape is on edge after the Tues decimation, and few people have much confidence in an immediate rebound,” Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge said in a note.
— Jesse Pound
These are the stocks hitting fresh lows
A slew of stocks notched fresh 52-week lows early in Wednesday’s trading session.
That included Meta Platforms, which fell about 1.5% and stooped to levels not seen since March 2020. Chipmaker Nvidia also hit a fresh low back dating back to March 2021.
These are some other stocks that made 52-week lows:
Paramount trading at lows not seen since July 2020
CarMax trading at lows not seen since May 2020
Whirlpool trading at lows not seen since July 2020
Tyson Foods trading at levels not seen since August 2021
Qorvo trading lows not seen since April 2020
Western Digital trading at lows not seen since November 2020
Dow Inc trading at lows not seen since November 2020
Mohawk Industries trading at lows not seen since October 2020
Whirlpool trading at lows not seen since July 2020
Church & Dwight trading at lows not seen since March 2021
Charter Communications trading at lows not seen since March 2020
Lumen Technologies trading at lows not seen since November 2020
Eastman Chemical trading at lows not seen since October 2020
International Paper Company trading at lows not seen since October 2020
LyondellBasell trading at lows not seen since November 2020
Digital Realty Trust trading at lows not seen since March 2020
Meanwhile, shares of Corteva moved slightly higher to trade at an all-time high back to its spin-off from DowDuPont in May 2019.
— Christopher Hayes, Samantha Subin
2-year yield moves higher as market prices in more rate hiking
The 2-year Treasury yield is rising, along with market expectations for what level the Federal Reserve will take its fed funds rate to before it stops raising rates.
The terminal rate is the point where the Fed is expected to end its rate hiking. In the futures market, expectations for where that level will be went from just under 4% ahead of Tuesday’s consumer inflation report to 4.38% Wednesday morning.
The 2-year yield topped 3.80% Wednesday, the highest since November, 2007. The yield was at 3.78% in mid-morning trading. The 2-year closely reflects Fed policy moves.
Treasury yields quickly ramped up after Tuesday’s report of the August consumer price index, which showed inflation rising instead of falling.
BMO’s Ben Jeffery said the 2-year and 3-year yields have been rising with the market’s expectations of a higher terminal rate.
“That’s definitely why we have the 2-year yields at 3.8%, versus 3.5% a few days ago,” said Jeffery.
— Patti Domm
U.S. oil futures move back toward $90 per barrel
Oil prices advanced Wednesday, making back losses from the prior session that saw broad-based selling across assets.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, advanced 2.18%, or $1.90, to $89.16 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude added 1.85%, or $1.72, to trade at $94.89 per barrel. U.S. natural gas prices advanced 5.6% to $8.748 per million British thermal units.
The International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for 2022 oil demand growth Wednesday. The firm now expects this year’s demand growth to be 2 million barrels per day, down 110,000 barrels per day from prior forecasts.
But the Paris-based agency said the recent decline in fuel prices is also beginning to support demand, according to early indicators.
— Pippa Stevens
Twilio announces layoffs
Twilio is laying off 11% of its workforce as part of a broader restructuring plan, the company announced Wednesday.
The company, which reported 7,867 employees at the end of 2021, has been aiming for profitability in 2023.
Several major tech companies have announced layoffs or slowed hiring over the summer, as recession fears and the drop in the stock market have made companies tighten their belts.
Shares of Twilio were up 1.5% in early trading.
— Jesse Pound, Ashley Capoot
Stocks open slightly higher
Stocks rose modestly at 9:30 a.m., with the Dow gaining less than 100 points. However, the major averages drifted back toward the flatline in the opening minutes of trading.
— Jesse Pound
U.S. 10-year yield trades near key level where it could break higher
Treasury yields continue their inflation-driven move higher, with the benchmark 10-year moving toward a key technical level.
The 10-year yield touched 3.48% earlier Wednesday, just a shade below the 3.5% level that would put it just above this year’s high, set in June. The 10-year was at 3.43% in morning trading.
Bank of America strategists say if 3.5% is broken, the next levels could be 3.69%, 3.88% and possibly 3,98% to 4.05%.
Katie Stockton, founder of Fairlead Strategies, said the 10-year broke above another key level this week.
“10-year Treasury yields have extended higher above long-term resistance (~3.25%), leaving a breakout pending this Friday’s close. If confirmed, the breakout would support upside follow-through toward secondary resistance near 4.00%, more likely in 2023,” she wrote.
— Patti Domm
A 4% one-day decline historically points to better gains, Jeff Hirsch says
A one-day decline of 4% or more may be brutal, but history shows that it can point to better gains in the following session and over the long-term, according to Jeff Hirsch at the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
The probability of a rebound on Wednesday after the previous session’s sell-off is roughly 66%, according to a Tuesday note from Hirsch.
“Since 1950, S&P 500 has declined 4% or more in a single day...
Mother Of Three Children Who Drowned In Brooklyn Arrested And Charged With Second-Degree Murder | CNN
Mother Of Three Children Who Drowned In Brooklyn Arrested And Charged With Second-Degree Murder | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/mother-of-three-children-who-drowned-in-brooklyn-arrested-and-charged-with-second-degree-murder-cnn/
CNN —
The 30-year-old mother of three children found unresponsive on the Coney Island shoreline in Brooklyn has been arrested and charged in their deaths, a law enforcement official told CNN Thursday.
Erin Merdy has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder, three counts of depraved indifference to human life, and three counts of murder with the victims under 11 years old, the official said.
The children died by drowning early Monday and their deaths are considered homicides, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said.
Relatives called police after Merdy allegedly told them “the babies are gone” and “the kids are gone.” When questioned by detectives, Merdy told them she had been “dreaming of walking the kids in the water,” according to the law enforcement official.
Merdy was processed Wednesday and remains in a hospital for further psychological evaluation, the official said.
All three children were pronounced dead at a hospital after first responders conducted life-saving measures, including CPR, Chief of Department Kenneth Corey told reporters Monday.
Their mother was questioned by police and then hospitalized after they found her Monday morning in Brighton Beach, adjacent to Coney Island, a law enforcement official said.
The children were discovered after police got a 911 call at 1:40 a.m. Monday from someone who was concerned a “family member may have harmed her three small children,” Corey said. The caller asked police to check on the woman’s Coney Island apartment.
At the apartment a man who identified himself as the father of one of the children said he was also concerned, Corey added. The man told police he believed the woman and three children were at a boardwalk on Coney Island.
Officers canvassed beaches, streets and a local hospital. Then another 911 call came in directing officers to a specific location – Brighton 6th Street and Riegelmann Boardwalk in nearby Brighton Beach. The caller reported a woman who was despondent, according to police spokesperson.
Police found the woman and other family members with her. The children were not there.
The search continued via ground, air and harbor units. Around 4:42 a.m., officers found the children unconscious on the shoreline at West 35th Street in Coney Island, Corey said.
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Logistics Property Co. Buys 38 Acres In Mesa For AZ Big Media
Logistics Property Co. Buys 38 Acres In Mesa For – AZ Big Media https://digitalarizonanews.com/logistics-property-co-buys-38-acres-in-mesa-for-az-big-media/
The Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport is the heart of the growing southeast valley. Another 38 acres of land in Mesa was purchased by developer Logistics Property Co. for $20.1 million. SVN’s Director of Retail and Sales Investments Rommie Mojahed and Advisor Lindsey Dulle represented the seller in the sale transaction.
READ ALSO: Here’s what AZRE Forum experts say to watch in commercial real estate
In a recent statement regarding the 67 acres just sold off Ellsworth and Pecos roads, the City of Mesa’s Economic Development Director, Bill Jabjiniak stated, “Mesa’s Gateway area is booming with the arrival of new advanced manufacturing companies in the aerospace, electric vehicles, semiconductor, medical device, and other important technology sectors.”
Lindsey Dulle
Rommie Mojahed
Mojahed and Dulle represented the seller, Pecos 205, LLC. The land went to market back in December 2021 and opened escrow in February 2022. “Lindsey and I are happy for the sellers and grateful for the opportunity,” said Mojahed. This location backs up to the Mesa Gateway airport, which is also surrounded by an economically driven growth area. The immediate area includes top employers such as Gulfstream, Amazon, MarWest Commercial, Facebook, Legacy Sports Complex, Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus, and the upcoming Skybridge Arizona Development which is projected to bring in over 17,000 direct and indirect jobs. Mojahed continued to state, “This trade area has experienced tremendous growth and we are happy to be a part of it.”
“This new development is a nice fit for the Pecos Advanced Manufacturing Zone just south of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport,” Mesa Economic Development Director Bill Jabjiniak said. “We are seeing tremendous activity in an area of the city that continues to attract manufacturers in industries such as aerospace and aviation, electric vehicles, semiconductors, and many other high-tech sectors.” The buyer, Logistics Property Co., was represented by Paul Sieckowski with Colliers.
SVN advisor Mojahed stated, “I grew up in the east valley, so I love working in this area.” This is such a hot market. More and more developers and investors are seeing the considerable opportunity to invest and take advantage of capital gain and opportunity zone incentives.” Mojahed also represented the seller in the recent sale to Cobblestone, which already has 36 locations in the State of Arizona. This new site will be coming soon nearby off Ellsworth and Pecos roads.
For more information on the other development opportunities in the east valley, you can reach Rommie Mojahed at [email protected] in Phoenix, AZ.
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PolitiFact – No, This Isn’t A Trump Speech From 2022 https://digitalarizonanews.com/politifact-no-this-isnt-a-trump-speech-from-2022/
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No, this isn’t a Trump speech from 2022
If Your Time is short
The speech in this video was delivered in December 2020, when Donald Trump was still president.
Former President Donald Trump’s voice is distorted in a widely viewed video published Sept. 8 on Facebook. He appears standing behind a lectern bearing the presidential seal, and he’s flanked by a flag with the seal and an American flag.
A description of the video in the post says it shows a “statement by Donald J. Trump, the president of the United States – Sept. 8, 2022.”
But that’s wrong.
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
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Trump is no longer president, but he was when he delivered the speech in the video on Dec. 2, 2020. The remarks came after his failed re-election bid and included unfounded and false allegations of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election that year.
We rate claims that this speech was delivered in 2022 Pants on Fire!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.
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What's Left As Jan. 6 Panel Sprints To Year-End Finish
What's Left As Jan. 6 Panel Sprints To Year-End Finish https://digitalarizonanews.com/whats-left-as-jan-6-panel-sprints-to-year-end-finish-2/
With only three months left in the year, the House Jan. 6 committee is eyeing a close to its work and a final report laying out its findings about the U.S. Capitol insurrection. But the investigation is not over.
The committee has already revealed much of its work at eight hearings over the summer, showing in detail how former President Donald Trump ignored many of his closest advisers and amplified his false claims of election fraud after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Witnesses interviewed by the panel — some of them Trump’s closest allies — recounted in videotaped testimony how the former president declined to act when hundreds of his supporters violently attacked the Capitol as Congress certified Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lawmakers say there is more to come. The nine-member panel — seven Democrats and two Republicans — interviewed witnesses through all of August, and they are hoping to have at least one hearing by the end of the month. Members met Tuesday to discuss the panel’s next steps.
Because the Jan. 6 panel is a temporary, or “select,” committee, it expires at the end of the current Congress. If Republicans take the majority in November’s elections, as they are favored to do, they are expected to dissolve the committee in January. So the panel is planning to issue a final report by the end of December.
Here’s what’s left for the committee in 2022:
More hearings
The panel’s Democratic chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, said after the private members’ meeting Tuesday in the Capitol that the committee’s goal is to hold a hearing Sept. 28, but that members were still discussing whether it would happen at all.
“We’ll we’re still in the process of talking,” Thompson said. “If it happens, it will be that date. We’re not sure at this point.”
Members of the committee had promised more hearings in September as they wrapped up the series of summer hearings. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chairwoman, said the committee “has far more evidence to share with the American people and more to gather.”
“Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break,” Cheney said at a July 21 hearing that was held in prime time and watched by 17.7 million people. “We have considerably more to do.”
It’s unclear if the hearing would provide a general overview of what the panel has learned or if they would be focused on new information and evidence. The committee conducted several interviews at the end of July and into August with Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, some of whom had discussed invoking the constitutional process in the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office after the insurrection.
New witnesses testify, panel seeks more information
The panel has already interviewed more than 1,000 people, but lawmakers and staff are still pursuing new threads. The committee recently spoke to several of the Cabinet secretaries, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in July and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in August.
The committee also wants to get to the bottom of missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 5-6, 2021, which could shed further light on Trump’s actions during the insurrection, particularly after earlier testimony about his confrontation with security as he tried to join supporters at the Capitol. Thompson said Tuesday that the committee has recently obtained “thousands” of documents from the Secret Service.
The committee has also pursued an interview with conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, who’s married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Lawmakers want to know more about her role in trying to help Trump overturn the election. She contacted lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin as part of that effort.
How to obtain testimony from Trump and Pence
Members of the committee are still debating how aggressively to pursue testimony from Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Some have have questioned whether the committee needs to call Pence, who resisted Trump’s pressure to try and block Biden’s certification on Jan. 6. Many of his closest aides have already testified, including Greg Jacob, his top lawyer at the White House who was with him during the insurrection as they hid from rioters who were threatening the vice president’s life. Jacobs characterized much of Pence’s thought process during the time when Trump was pressuring him.
The panel has been in discussions with Pence’s lawyers for months, without any discernible progress. Still, the committee could invite Pence for closed-door testimony or ask him to answer written questions.
The calculation is different for the former president. Members have debated whether they should call Trump, who is the focus of their probe but also a witness who has fought against the investigation in court, denied much of the evidence and floated the idea of presidential pardons for Jan. 6 rioters. Trump is also facing scrutiny in several other investigations, including at the Justice Department and over the classified documents he took to his private club.
Subpoenas to House Republicans
Another bit of unfinished business is the committee’s subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
In May the panel subpoenaed McCarthy, R-Calif., and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama. The panel has investigated McCarthy’s conversations with Trump the day of the attack and meetings the four other lawmakers had with the White House beforehand as Trump and some of his allies worked to overturn his election defeat.
The five Republicans, all of whom have repeatedly downplayed the investigation’s legitimacy, have simply ignored the request to testify. But the Jan. 6 committee seems unlikely to meet their defiance with contempt charges, as they have with other witnesses, in the weeks before the November elections. Not only would it be a politically risky move, but it is unclear what eventual recourse the panel would have against its own colleagues.
Final report
The committee must shut down within a month after issuing a final report, per its rules. But lawmakers could issue some smaller reports before then, perhaps even before the November elections. Thompson said earlier this summer that there may be an interim report in the fall.
The release of the final report will likely come close to the end of the year so the panel can maximize its time. While much of the findings will already be known, the report is expected to thread the story together in a definitive way that lays out the committee’s conclusions for history.
Legislative recommendations
The committee is expected to weigh in on possible legislative changes to the Electoral Count Act, which governs how a presidential election is certified by Congress.
A bipartisan group of senators released proposed changes over the summer that would clarify the way states submit electors and the vice president tallies the votes. Trump and his allies tried to find loopholes in that law ahead of Jan. 6 as the former president worked to overturn his defeat to Biden and unsuccessfully pressured Pence to go along.
The Jan. 6 panel’s final report is expected to include a larger swath of legislative recommendations.
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