Biden Warns World Would Face Armageddon If Putin Uses A Tactical Nuclear Weapon In Ukraine
Biden Warns World Would Face ‘Armageddon’ If Putin Uses A Tactical Nuclear Weapon In Ukraine https://digitalarizonanews.com/biden-warns-world-would-face-armageddon-if-putin-uses-a-tactical-nuclear-weapon-in-ukraine/
Joe Biden has warned the world could face “Armageddon” if Vladimir Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon to try to win the war in Ukraine.
The US president made his most outspoken remarks to date about the threat of nuclear war, at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, saying it was the closest the world had come to nuclear catastrophe for sixty years.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” he said.
“We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” Biden said, referring to the Russian president. “He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.”
Putin and his officials have repeatedly threatened to use Russia’s nuclear arsenal in an effort to deter the US and its allies from supporting Ukraine and helping it resist the all-out Russian invasion launched in February. One fear is that he could use a short range “tactical” nuclear weapon to try to stop Ukraine’s counter-offensive in its tracks and force Kyiv to negotiate and cede territory.
If Russia did use a nuclear weapon, it would leave the US and its allies with the dilemma of how to respond, with most experts and former officials predicting that if Washington struck back militarily, it would most likely be with conventional weapons, to try to avert rapid escalation to an all-out nuclear war. But Biden said on Thursday night: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”
“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have the threat of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” the president said. “We are trying to figure out what is Putin’s off-ramp? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself where he does not only lose face but significant power?”
US intelligence agencies believe that Putin has come to see defeat in Ukraine as an existential threat to his regime, which he associates with an existential threat to Russia, potentially justifying, according to his worldview, the use of nuclear weapons.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin understood that the “world will never forgive” a Russian nuclear strike.
“He understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable any more to preserve, so to speak, his life, and I’m confident of that,” Zelenskiy said.
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Warnock Calls Allegations Made Against Walker disturbing
Warnock Calls Allegations Made Against Walker ‘disturbing’ https://digitalarizonanews.com/warnock-calls-allegations-made-against-walker-disturbing/
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Sen. Raphael Warnock offered his first remarks Thursday on the campaign troubles dogging Herschel Walker, his Republican opponent for the U.S. Senate, including damaging allegations that the staunchly anti-abortion advocate paid for a former girlfriend to undergo the procedure in 2009.
“What we are hearing about my opponent is disturbing,” Warnock told Yahoo News following a rally in his hometown of Savannah. “And I think the people of Georgia have a real choice about who they think is ready to represent them in the United States Senate.”
Walker, a former football star and Heisman Trophy winner who was hand-picked to run for U.S. Senate by former President Donald Trump, has denied he ever paid for a woman to get an abortion, but, according to the Daily Beast, the unidentified woman claims to be the mother of one of Walker’s four children.
Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker campaigns Sept. 7, 2021, in Emerson, Ga. Georgia voters will see at least one fall debate between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. (AP Photos/Bill Barrow, File)
With abortion rights now playing a central role in the midterm elections, and control of the U.S. Senate once again hanging on the possible outcome in Georgia, Warnock used the first stop of a three-day “Working for Georgia” bus tour to make his position on abortion clear.
“I believe in a woman’s right to choose,” Warnock said to a crowd of about 100 supporters gathered in a parking lot across the street from a Baptist church just two blocks from where he grew up. “I have a profound reverence for life. That’s why I voted to expand Medicaid. … I also have a deep reverence for choice.”
“A patient’s room is too small for the patient, her doctor and the United States government,” he added.
One month out from midterm election day, multiple polls show a potential shift in the Georgia electorate following this week’s news. In a SurveyUSA poll released Wednesday, Walker, who had previously been polling neck and neck with the senator in recent weeks, now trails Warnock by 12 points — 50% to 38%. The poll, which was conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 4, partly before the abortion story came out and partly after shows that any shifts in momentum in what had been a tight race could prove significant.
“Senator Warnock won his election last year by less than 100,000 votes,” Atlanta-based political strategist Fred Hicks told Yahoo News in an email. “At this stage, any poll that shows a 3% or higher performance for Senator Warnock would represent an increase in his share of the vote from last year.”
“There’s a bedrock number of people who are going to vote Democrat or Republican, no matter what,” he added. “This election is going to expose exactly what the floor is for Republicans in Georgia.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock walks holding hands with his son, Caleb, left, and his daughter, Chloe, to a dedication ceremony naming a street in Warnock’s honor in his hometown of Savannah, Ga, on Thursday, Oct. 6., 2022. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
Another InsiderAdvantage/FOX 5 poll of likely voters, which was conducted Tuesday evening, the night the Daily Beast published its first story on Walker and the abortion, shows Warnock with just a 3-point lead — 47% to 44%.
In response to the allegations that Walker paid for a woman to have an abortion, many national Republicans have doubled down on their support for the former football great, seeing him as vital to their prospects of wresting back the Senate from Democratic control.
“When the Democrats are losing, as they are right now, they lie and cheat and smear their opponents,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said Tuesday in a statement.
“That’s what’s happening right now,” Scott continued. “They know they are on the verge of losing the Senate, and they know that Herschel Walker is winning, so they have cranked up the smear machine.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) walks out of the Senate Chambers during a nomination vote in the U.S. Capitol Building on August 01, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Conservative commentator and former National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch used more pointed language in her support for Walker. Though she is also anti-abortion, Loesch said Walker may have paid one “skank” for an abortion, but Warnock wants to use “all of our monies to pay a whole bunch of skanks for abortions.”
“I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles,” Loesch said in a clip posted to Twitter. “I want control of the Senate.”
Asked if, given that dynamic, he felt he was running against Walker or the entire Republican Party, Warnock, a senior pastor since 2005 at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, stuck to a positive message.
“I feel like I’m running for the people of Georgia,” Warnock told Yahoo News, “all the people of Georgia — Democrats and Republicans and the folks who are Independents.”
Democratic U.S. Senatorial incumbent Raphael Warnock speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at the Cobb County Civic Center on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)
While most Georgia Republicans have formed in lock-step to support the party’s nominee, some have been careful not to embrace Walker too tightly, especially given the latest allegations against him.
Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp pledged support to the GOP ticket in the state Tuesday, but made no mention of Walker.
“The governor is laser-focused on sharing his record of results and vision for his second term with hardworking Georgians and raising the resources necessary to fund the advertising, ground game and voter turnout operation needed to ensure Republican victories up and down the ballot on Nov. 8,” Kemp spokesman Cody Hall told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Walker’s top GOP primary rival, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, said in May he personally couldn’t vote for Walker given allegations of domestic violence made against him by a former spouse.
“Anybody who has put their hands on women like he has and has been unaccountable, has not taken responsibility for his actions — says he wrote a book, but then he won’t come clean on the rest of it — he hasn’t earned my vote,” Black told AJC in reference to Walker’s explanation Thursday morning in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt when he was asked if he had paid for a woman’s abortion.
U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock fist bumps a supporter as he leaves a Labor Day picnic organized by the AFL-CIO on September 5, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Nationally, most Americans support abortion rights. An AP-NORC poll from July found that 63% of U.S. adults said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% thought it should be illegal in all or most cases.
Ultimately, however, abortion rights may be a lesser concern for most voters than deciding the partisan control of the Senate.
“The folks who are pushing or fueling the Walker campaign, whether it’s by word or by deed, are simply trying to control power,” Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright told Yahoo News. “Herschel Walker just happens to be the vehicle that they’re using to get to that place.”
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Cover thumbnail photo by Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File
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Meadville Man Charged In Capitol Riots Claimed 2nd Amendment Rights Were Violated. He Lost
Meadville Man Charged In Capitol Riots Claimed 2nd Amendment Rights Were Violated. He Lost https://digitalarizonanews.com/meadville-man-charged-in-capitol-riots-claimed-2nd-amendment-rights-were-violated-he-lost/
As soon as he appeared in U.S. District Court in Erie on Sept. 30, newly charged with tripping a police officer during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Mikhail E. Slye claimed his constitutional rights had been violated.
Slye, of Meadville, immediately objected to a federal magistrate judge’s order that barred him from possessing a gun while he is out on an unsecured bond of $10,000.
Slye’s lawyer, an assistant federal public defender, argued in an oral motion that the prohibition violated Slye’s Second Amendment rights.
Slye has lost his argument.
He fell short in a ruling that honed in on his case and found that the Constitution failed to support his interpretation of the right to bear arms.
The decision, issued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Erie, demonstrated how arguments about the Constitution are playing out in the cases of defendants accused of storming the Capitol over claims about their rights and those of President Donald Trump as he denied his electoral defeat.
In Slye’s case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo said in his written decision, “the dispositive question” was whether the prohibition against Slye possessing a gun while free on bond “is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
“The Court believes it is,” Lanzillo said.
“The historical fact remains that pretrial detention and its attendant restrictions on constitutional rights have existed since the early days of the Republic,” he also said.
Slye dubbed ‘JackTheTripper’ on website
Slye, 32, is charged with using a bike rack to intentionally trip a U.S. Capitol Police officer during the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He is accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers, and interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, both felonies. He also is charged with six misdemeanors.
An FBI agent arrested Slye in Meadville on Sept. 30. Later that day he had an initial appearance, via video, before Lanzillo, who is seated at the federal courthouse in Erie. Lanzillo made sure Slye understood the charges, and Lanzillo set bond at $10,000, unsecured, as Slye awaits prosecution in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Slye had his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Erie because he was arrested in Crawford County, which falls under the Erie federal court’s jurisdiction.
The evidence against Slye includes surveillance video and videos posted on the internet, according to the criminal complaint, unsealed following his arrest. The FBI in the complaint cited a website called seditionhunters.org, which posts videos and photographs of the riots to to provide information on suspects. Seditionhunter.org dubbed an unknown subject “JackTheTripper” — the person the FBI ultimately identified as Slye, according to the complaint.
The charges against Slye include no allegations that he violated firearms regulations at the Capitol. In a video interview taken of him and several other people outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — a video that the FBI in the criminal complaint also cited as evidence that he was at the riots — Slye makes no mention of the Second Amendment.
Twenty-six minutes into the video, Slye says he is at the Capitol “because I am sick of looking at it through a screen. You don’t know what the truth is unless you see it in 3D.”
Firearms an issue, though release is not
Slye is one of the more than 870 people charged in the riots, including more than 70 from Pennsylvania.
Slye is one of four defendants charged in the Capitol riots to have their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Erie because they were arrested in northwestern Pennsylvania. Another defendant is from Venango, in northern Crawford County, and the two others are from Kane, in McKean County.
At Slye’s initial appearance in federal court — similar to an arraignment — he did not need to make an argument that he should stay out of prison on bond while awaiting prosecution. According to court records, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Erie did not request that Slye be detained, as long as his bond conditions were similar to those that Lanzillo set for other defendants in the Capitol riots who had their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Erie.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo, seated in Erie, handled the initial appearance of Meadville resident Mikhail E. Slye, charged in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Those conditions included the prohibition of possessing firearms while out on bond, Lanzillo said in his opinion in Slye’s case. He said federal pretrial services maintains that the firearm prohibition “is necessary to protect the safety of its officers who are responsible for supervising defendants on pretrial release,” including officers who are “required to enter the homes and workplaces” of those defendants.
Slye fails in citing U.S. Supreme Court decision
In arguing against the firearm prohibition, Slye’s lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Aaron Sontz, cited a new U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned a New York firearms law. The law required a person to demonstrate “proper cause” or “special need” to get a license to carry a gun.
In a 6-3 ruling in the case, called New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court on June 23 struck down the law as an unconstitutional restriction on the Second Amendment.
High court decision:Supreme Court’s landmark guns ruling prompts race to test Second Amendment’s limits
In looking at Slye’s case in the context of the Bruen decision, “historical reflection leads to a different outcome,” Lanzillo said in his six-page ruling. He said Slye’s case involves a defendant on pretrial release. Releasing defendants on bond, with restrictions, has been an element of the criminal justice system in the Unites States since the federal Judiciary Act of 1789 established the right to bail in many cases, according to Lanzillo’s opinion.
“The fact remains that history recognized detention as a restriction that could be imposed upon a person who was accused, but not convicted of a crime,” Lanzillo said.
If the courts are allowed to detain a person without bond, thus temporarily depriving a defendant of a wide range of constitutional rights, Lanzillo said, “it would be illogical to conclude” that the courts lack “the authority to impose far less restrictions, such as ordering his release on bond with firearms restrictions.”
Lanzillo also said, “Although regulations concerning pretrial release or detention have varied significantly during the 233 years since the Judiciary Act of 1789, all have, in one form or another, authorized restrictions on the right of a criminal defendant to possess firearms.”
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Jan. 6 riots: Newly charged Meadville man loses Second Amendment claim
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Kanye West Tells Tucker Carlson That His Trump Support 'threatened' His Life And Career
Kanye West Tells Tucker Carlson That His Trump Support 'threatened' His Life And Career https://digitalarizonanews.com/kanye-west-tells-tucker-carlson-that-his-trump-support-threatened-his-life-and-career/
Kanye West, who has been embroiled in controversy this week after wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week, apparently isn’t backing down anytime soon.
On Thursday, the rapper — whose legal name is Ye — found a kindred spirit on the conservative Fox News network. He appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” for a sit-down conversation filmed in West’s office in Los Angeles; the interview’s second part will air Friday.
West and Carlson touched on everything from the consequences of West supporting former President Donald Trump to abortion (“I’m pro-life”) to his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. West even managed to mention musician Lizzo and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Sporting a beard, a black hoodie, a cap emblazoned with “2023” and a lanyard with an ultrasound of a fetus, West told Carlson that he found the divisive “White Lives Matter” shirt entertaining.
“I thought the shirt was a funny shirt,” he said. “I thought that the idea of me wearing it was funny.”
He said he discussed the controversial apparel with his dad, whom he said was a former member of the Black Panther Party. West said his father noted that it was just a “Black man stating the obvious.” He then reiterated that “the answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is because they do. It’s the obvious thing,” echoing a similar sentiment he posted Wednesday on Instagram.
His Paris Fashion Week outfit wasn’t the first time West has taken heat for his clothing. During the 2016 election, the rapper was regularly seen wearing the red “Make America Great Again” hat associated with Trump. Early in Thursday’s interview, West told Carlson that the accessory made him a target.
“My so-called friends-slash-handlers around me told me if I said that I liked Trump that my career would be over, that my life would be over,” he said. “They said stuff like, ‘People get killed for wearing a hat like that.’ They threatened my life. They basically said that I would be killed for wearing the hat.”
In the hours leading up to his interview with Carlson, West posted an Instagram video of the anchor visiting the new Yeezy office to try out unidentified beverages and to test the fashion entrepreneur’s new 3-D-printed shoes.
West’s chat with Carlson comes amid no shortage of controversy. On Monday, West turned heads when he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt, matching with conservative commentator Candace Owens in Paris. He weathered backlash from not only critics on Twitter, but also fashion world figures including Gigi Hadid, Jaden Smith and Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.
On social media, Hadid called West a “bully” for saying in an Instagram post that Karefa-Johnson “is not a fashion person” and for mocking the boots the editor wore to Paris Fashion Week.
Vogue then released a statement on Wednesday in support of Karefa-Johnson.
“She was personally targeted and bullied,” the magazine’s statement said. “It is unacceptable. Now more than ever voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today she once again spoke her truth in a way she felt best, on her terms.”
Talking with Carlson, West said the backlash “was a set-up.” But then he turned his feud with Karefa-Johnson into commentary on his “good friend” Lizzo and her body.
“When Lizzo loses 10 pounds and announces it, the bots…attack her for losing weight because the media wants to put out a perception that being overweight is the new goal, when it’s actually unhealthy,” West said. “If someone thinks it’s attractive, to each his own. It’s actually clinically unhealthy. And for people to promote that, it’s demonic.”
When Carlson asked the rap mogul to explain his stance on body diversity, West claimed that “it’s genocide of the Black race. They want to kill us in any way they can.”
Elsewhere in the interview, West spoke about Kardashian and her ties to the Clinton family. He claimed that “he didn’t know how close my own wife was to the Clintons,” presumably referring to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Carlson then asked whether the rapper felt pressure from his wife and her political connections.
“Yes, there was manipulation,” he said. “Me not saying I like Trump was a form of manipulation.”
The first segment of the two-part interview ended with West weighing in on his “potential” run for president in 2024 (he also ran in 2020), Musk (“he’s a great team player”), his contentious relationship with the Kushners and how he was “bullied by Hollywood” to “bite his tongue” about his support for Trump.
But West also suggested that his relationship with Trump could be complicated at times.
“For older white people, they’re quick to classify a Black person only by the fact that we’re Black. Even Trump, a person that we’d consider a friend of mine, when I went to the White House, I called him after that to get ASAP Rocky out of jail. And one of the things he said to me is, ‘Kanye, you’re my friend. When you came to the White House, my Black approval rating went up 40%.’
“And for politicians, all Black people are worth is an approval rating,” he added. “The Democrats feel that they don’t owe us anything. And Republicans feel that they don’t owe us anything. Blacks have never demanded something for our vote.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Bidens Saudi Trip Faces New Scrutiny After OPEC Oil Cut
Biden’s Saudi Trip Faces New Scrutiny After OPEC Oil Cut https://digitalarizonanews.com/bidens-saudi-trip-faces-new-scrutiny-after-opec-oil-cut/
Saudi Arabia’s decision to join its partners in announcing a cut to oil production on Wednesday is setting off fresh recriminations over President Biden’s trip to the kingdom this summer, which officials hoped would improve the Saudi relationship across a range of issues, including the global supply of oil.
Some officials in the Biden administration bristled in the aftermath of the cut declared by the OPEC Plus cartel, viewing it as a direct affront to the president that threatens to hurt Democrats’ standing in the 2022 midterm elections because it will drive gas prices up.
U.S. officials now are left grappling with how to respond to a potential price spike that could help finance Russia’s war in Ukraine, compound the major challenges facing the American and European economies, and give Republicans a powerful new argument on inflation.
One White House official called the OPEC decision a “disaster.” Another said administration officials viewed the move as a deliberate provocation designed to boost Republicans’ chances so close to the elections. Other officials said they did not interpret malice in the Saudi decision, but they viewed it as a shortsighted effort to maximize oil profits despite the economic and geopolitical consequences.
Biden said Thursday that the cartel’s decision didn’t undermine the point of his visit in July, but that it was still disappointing. “The trip was not essentially for oil. The trip was about the Middle East and about Israel and rationalization of positions,” he told reporters. “But it is a disappointment.”
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Biden’s advisers had all agreed to the trip over the summer. “There was consensus across the President’s senior national security team on the importance of this trip to advance U.S. national security interests,” she said in a statement.
But that didn’t assuage critics of the Saudi government.
“They’re spitting in the face of Joe Biden,” said Dean Baker, a White House ally and an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank. “Whoever thought this trip was a good idea has some explaining to do.”
Even before Biden flew to the Middle East in July and fist-bumped Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader, White House aides knew the trip would bring criticism. Biden had declared that human rights would be at the “center” of his foreign policy, and he said he would make the oil-rich monarchy a “pariah.” But the president also remained keenly aware of the burden soaring gas prices were having on middle-class Americans.
Biden’s top aides on Middle East and energy, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, pushed for the trip as a means to strengthen the relationship and improve Washington’s ability to project influence in the Middle East at a time when oil-rich states were exploring ties with Moscow and Beijing, according to U.S. officials and congressional aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. policy.
Administration officials had long been sharply divided on how to treat the oil-rich autocracy. Those favoring a cold-shoulder approach pointed to Saudi Arabia’s unpopular war in Yemen, Riyadh’s poor human rights record and the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as reasons to overhaul the relationship.
Many officials in senior roles at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development also said they felt they had room to maneuver, given the United States’ growth as an oil-producing energy superpower. Creating a clean break with former president Donald Trump’s remarkably close rapport with the kingdom also had broad appeal among Biden’s political appointees.
Some U.S. officials said concerns about the Saudi trip were shared by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, even though the top diplomat ultimately supported and participated in the visit.
“Secretary Blinken was fully supportive of the Administration’s engagement with our regional partners on the multiplicity of interests we have,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
McGurk and Hochstein’s support for the trip began to gain favor in the White House in September 2021, as the price of oil rose and resentment in the Gulf led the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to rebuff repeated U.S. requests to increase oil output, according to senior officials and congressional aides familiar with the matter. The decisive moment for the push to draw closer to the Saudis came when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, sending energy prices soaring and turning high gas costs, already a domestic political liability for Biden, into a geopolitical setback.
Some Democrats, already skeptical of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, seized on the OPEC Plus decision to criticize the trip.
“I think it’s time for a wholesale reevaluation of the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate foreign relations subcommittee on the Middle East, told CNBC.
One Democratic congressional aide close to administration officials, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S. policy, said: “This trip was hotly debated inside the administration, and I don’t know how one could argue now that it wasn’t a mistake.”
White House officials have strongly denied that the goal of the trip was to spur Saudi oil production. U.S. officials who favor the U.S.-Saudi relationship said critics misunderstood the objectives of the visit and overestimated Riyadh’s ability to reduce gas prices for average Americans. They also emphasized that Saudi Arabia is pumping 11.1 million barrels per day, a rate the country hadn’t sustained in the past.
But the OPEC Plus decision means that increased production will come to an end sooner than U.S. officials hoped.
Energy analysts also say Saudi Arabia faced financial pressures to cut production, since the price of oil fell close to $80 per barrel for about two weeks last month. U.S. officials argued to Saudi counterparts that the risks of letting the price fall below that point were minimal, but the Saudis would not budge, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations. Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The trip’s defenders also said it was justifiable because of the other objectives of the visit, which included bolstering a truce in the long-grinding civil war in Yemen. Aid groups say the truce, which was first agreed to in April, reduced violence as much as 60 percent. However, the warring sides recently failed to extend the six-month cease-fire, and U.S. officials now fear a “return to war,” Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, told reporters Wednesday.
On the trip, U.S. officials also worked to open Saudi airspace to flights serving Israel, and they pressed the United Arab Emirates to stop the construction of a Chinese military base — an effort that is ongoing.
Even the staunchest defenders of Saudi Arabia concede that the timing of the production cut was a major blow to the United States, and that it came despite the strenuous objections of U.S. diplomats who pressed their counterparts through the early hours of Wednesday morning to delay the decision.
Biden officials across a wide section of the administration — including the Energy Department, State Department and the National Economic Council — raced Thursday to draw up policy responses to the announcement. No obvious solutions are apparent. Energy officials have begun looking at a potential ban on American oil exports.
White House officials have also been exploring the possibility of easing sanctions on Venezuela to supplement some of the oil lost by OPEC’s cut to production. That is a long shot, however: The United States believes Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro needs to engage with the Venezuelan opposition before any sanctions are lifted.
Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said in a statement Wednesday that they will consult with Congress on additional mechanisms “to reduce OPEC’s control over energy prices” — suggesting that the U.S. policymakers could be interested in repealing a long-standing exemption to federal antitrust law that allows the consortium to effectively coordinate on prices. That measure, however, would require congressional approval and faces industry resistance, strongly reducing its likelihood of being implemented.
Yasmeen Abutaleb contributed to this report.
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Suspected Shooter In Dearborn Hotel Standoff In Custody; Clerk Dead Police Say
Suspected Shooter In Dearborn Hotel Standoff In Custody; Clerk Dead, Police Say https://digitalarizonanews.com/suspected-shooter-in-dearborn-hotel-standoff-in-custody-clerk-dead-police-say/
Dearborn — Police took a suspected gunman into custody Thursday night after a standoff at a hotel in which the suspect allegedly opened fire after a dispute with staff, killing one man, a hotel clerk.
The arrest of the 38-year-old suspect came after a nearly seven-hour standoff at the Hampton Inn hotel in downtown Dearborn.
“There was some type of dispute with the hotel staff … it revolved around money,” said Dearborn police Chief Issa Shahin about the incident at the hotel on Michigan Avenue. Shahin noted the victim was a 55-year-old hotel clerk from Riverview who was “just trying to do his job.”
“We spent the last seven hours negotiating with an individual armed with a rifle … at many times threatened officers, and it was quite tenuous,” the chief told reporters. “But fortunately, we were able to resolve that peacefully.”
Shahin said the suspect, who was not named Thursday, had a history of mental illness and drug abuse.
During his nearly nine-month tenure as police chief, Shahin noted that “far too often, we’re running into situations with people suffering from mental illness armed with firearms and the outcomes are often tragic. There’s a broader issue here.”
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud echoed those sentiments Thursday night.
“It’s about time that we had solutions,” he said.
The incident came just days after another shooting in which a mentally ill man was killed by Detroit police, prompting the city’s police chief to highlight the increase in violent incidents involving people with mental health issues and what he called the failures of the health system.
Porter Burks, 22, was fatally shot Sunday on Littlefield Street on Detroit’s west side after refusing officers’ demands that he drop a knife. Police said Burks had a long history of mental illness and run-ins with authorities. A crisis intervention officer was on the scene and officers pleaded with Burks to drop the weapon.
“We’ve done our investigation into Mr. Burks’ past, and we found … unfortunately, a system that has failed Mr. Burks on several different occasions over the last several years,” said Christopher Graveline, Detroit police director of professional standards and constitutional policing.
In Dearborn on Thursday, the police chief had initially called the hotel standoff “a waiting game.” Officers negotiated with the suspected shooter, who had barricaded himself on the third floor of the hotel, for hours.
Crisis negotiators were “tireless,” Shahin told reporters. “They were on the phone, doing their best to talk to him.”
Cpl. Dan Bartok, the public information officer with the Dearborn Police Department, said police responded to a call of shots fired at 1:09 p.m. Thursday. The shooting took place from the third floor, Bartok said. Police described the weapon used in the shooting as a long gun.
Police did not release details on the suspect or how long he had been at the hotel.
Shahin told reporters the shooting happened on the third floor and the suspect holed up in a room after officers started to approach him. Shortly before the suspect was in custody, authorities had punched out a third-floor window to rescue a guest.
During the standoff, Michigan State Police and Dearborn police officials warned people to stay away from the shooting scene.
“This is a dangerous situation, this person is still liable to shoot at people walking in this area,” MSP Lt. Michael Shaw said. “So I cannot say it enough. This is not a safe area, do not come down to downtown Dearborn.”
Warnings didn’t hold off the many people who turned out to see the activity. Some were drawn from workplaces or lured from stores to the scene on the street and the commotion. Soon, what started as a lively gathering of folks gawking at the mass of police along Michigan turned somber as more police vehicles and staff gathered as the standoff wore on, sirens sounding, police lights flashing.
Pedestrians at the busy strip mall across the street from the Hampton Inn were directed away from Michigan Avenue as they sought to see what was happening less than a half-block away. Each time, police yelled, “Get out of the line of fire!”
‘I’m scared for my community’
Sarah Azaz, 28, was at work at Cosmo salon on Michigan Avenue, interviewing a candidate for a job when she saw 30 police cars racing by. She ran out of the building to make sure her mom, Sue Azaz, at Biggby across the street was OK. Sue Azaz owns the coffee shop in the strip mall.
“I’m not scared, but I’m scared for my community,” Sue Azaz said.
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Hian Beydoun, 20, lives near the Hampton Inn. “It’s kind of like terrifying to think something so bad could happen so close to home, especially when you’re supposed to feel safe,” Beydoun said.
Kamal Mustafa, 55, lives a few blocks from the scene but was in east Dearborn when he heard police were responding to a shooting. His son attends Dearborn High School, about a mile away from the Hampton Inn.
“The first thing that came to my mind is somebody shooting in the school. So I just flew here,” he said.
Mustafa said students were sent home for the day.
Bobak Dehkordi, manager at Athletico’s on Michigan, said he closed the offices after clients canceled when the shooting shut down. He was giving SWAT team members and other authorities access to his restrooms during the standoff.
Dehkordi said he’s not seen anything this unusual in Dearborn.
“Not in this area. Not like this,” he said.
He said he served in the Iranian army: “So I’m used to combat.”
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Mailers Sent To Tempe Residents Claim Neighborhoods At-Risk For New Entertainment District
Mailers Sent To Tempe Residents Claim Neighborhoods At-Risk For New Entertainment District https://digitalarizonanews.com/mailers-sent-to-tempe-residents-claim-neighborhoods-at-risk-for-new-entertainment-district/
TEMPE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Phoenix and Tempe city officials are still at odds over the proposal to build residential housing in an entertainment district. Mailers were sent out to Tempe residents this week, saying their neighborhood was at-risk of the project. The news caught many caught off guard. Nick Bastian is among the Tempe residents who received a mailer. He’s lived in the area on and off for 50 years. “It said ‘take action now to keep planes from flying over your home,’” he said. “That seems a little disingenous to me. Nobody’s asking anybody to change flight patterns.”
At the center of the issue are 1,600 residential units planned for the development of the entertainment district. The City of Phoenix is pointing out an intergovernmental agreement signed by the two cities in 1994. In the agreement, the City of Tempe promised not to introduce incompatible land uses, including residential areas, under the airport flight path.
The City of Phoenix Aviation Department released a statement regarding the dispute.
Tempe Mayor Corey Woods says there are specific standards the builder has to meet before any construction begins. In addition, anyone who would live in the units would be notified before signing a lease. “We think that is factually incorrect. It talks about you’re not allowed to have single-family housing in that corridor, you can’t put up individual houses in single-family neighborhoods,” he explained. “If the buildings are built with the proper sound standards and at appropriate height, there should be no issue why a flight path would have to be changed or diverted to go over neighborhoods.”
Meanwhile, Tempe residents like Bastian say the city desperately needs more housing. “I just think with proper disclosure, a lot of this can go away, and if this deal is done right, it can bring a lot of economic activity to our city,” he said. The application for rezoning the area will be heard next month. Mayor Woods says he’s meeting with the City of Phoenix next week to discuss the next steps.
Copyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
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Video Shows Ukraine Counteroffensive As Russia Faces Problems With Mobilization | CNN
Video Shows Ukraine Counteroffensive As Russia Faces Problems With Mobilization | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/video-shows-ukraine-counteroffensive-as-russia-faces-problems-with-mobilization-cnn/
Russia’s defense ministry says they have already mobilized 200,000 men, many now undergoing basic training. New video released on social media shows problems within the mobilization including recruits sleeping on yoga mats and drinking heavily. CNN’s Fred Pleitgen reports.
02:38 – Source: CNN
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Trump Says UF Will regret Decision To Hire Ben Sasse As President
Trump Says UF Will ‘regret’ Decision To Hire Ben Sasse As President https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-says-uf-will-regret-decision-to-hire-ben-sasse-as-president/
Thursday’s news that Republican U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska would likely become the next president of the University of Florida further fueled speculation of fissures in the relationship between former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Great news for the United States Senate, and our Country itself. Liddle’ Ben Sasse, the lightweight Senator from the great State of Nebraska, will be resigning,” Trump wrote in a pair of posts on his social media site, Truth Social. “The University of Florida will soon regret their decision to hire him as their President … We have enough weak and ineffective RINOs in our midst.”
If Sasse is confirmed for the job, which is expected, he will be leaving office two years into his second six-year term.
Trump’s ire was predictable, given Sasse has been a prominent critic of the former president and who voted to convict him of inciting an insurrection during the U.S. Senate impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Trump’s commentary on UF’s next possible president came shortly after praise of Sasse from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office. In a statement Thursday, DeSantis’ office said that “as a successful former university president, national leader, and deep thinker on education policy, Ben Sasse has the qualifications and would be a good candidate.”
The statement from DeSantis’ office did not address an emailed question asking whether the governor was consulted about the pick prior to the announcement. It’s been clear, however, that DeSantis has exerted increasing control over the state’s universities while in office. That control led to questions about the independence of the University of Florida, specifically, from his administration in a series of high-profile controversies over the past year.
DeSantis and Trump were once close allies but are now considered the top contenders for the GOP nomination for president in 2024.
Other reaction from Florida politicians included former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who congratulated Sasse on Twitter, writing: “Ben Sasse is brilliant, a consensus builder and will be a great leader of a great University. Ben and family, welcome to Florida!”
Meanwhile, others took the opportunity to bring up how Florida recently passed a new state law shielding much of the search process for university presidents from public view. The University of Florida’s search committee named Sasse as the sole finalist for the role, and have not revealed the names of any other candidates it interviewed.
“Remember when the Florida Legislature said making the presidential search process for universities private & inaccessible to the public would lead to better candidates? I give you the results,” wrote Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, on Twitter.
Sasse, who was once rumored to be considering a presidential run, has said he sees massive opportunity at the University of Florida and is excited to leave politics behind for a while.
“I’m excited, frankly, about the opportunity to step away from politics and onto a team of big-cause, low-ego people who want to build stuff and serve students and plan for the future,” he told the Tampa Bay Times. “I just think that Gator Nation is going to have a massive global impact.”
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Kanye West On White Lives Matter Shirt Gabriella Karefa-Johnson And His Political Views
Kanye West On ‘White Lives Matter’ Shirt, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, And His Political Views https://digitalarizonanews.com/kanye-west-on-white-lives-matter-shirt-gabriella-karefa-johnson-and-his-political-views/
Getty Images
On Thursday night, Tucker Carlson sat down for an exclusive interview with Kanye West on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
During the episode, Kanye slammed the media and weighed in on the controversy surrounding his “White Lives Matter” shirt.
He told Carlson, “We are in a battle with the media. Like, the majority of the media has a godless agenda, and their jokes are not working. This whole like ‘Oh, Ye’s crazy’ and all these things, they don’t work because the media has, you know, they’ve also watched travesties happen, just even specifically to me, and just watch it and act like it wasn’t happening. And they stay quiet about it.”
West called out the media for promoting obesity, predicting the media would criticize singer Lizzo if she lost weight. When asked why the media would promote unhealthy lifestyles, Kanye argued, “It’s the genocide of Black people.”
Earlier this week, Kanye had everyone talking after he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt at his Yeezy fashion show in Paris.
Kanye told Tucker that his father approved of his fashion choice because he was sharing his opinion. He stressed that white lives “do” matter.
Kanye expressed his belief that some people, like Kris Jenner’s boyfriend Corey Gamble and Vogue contributing editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, are “made in the laboratory.”
According to Kanye, these influencers are told how to act and what to say by their handlers, who tell them what to be afraid of.
As for Gabriella and Gigi Hadid bashing him for his “White Lives Matter” shirt, Kanye called it a “set-up.”
Kanye alleges that they got approval from Anna Wintour to criticize him.
Kanye raised eyebrows when he commented on the Black Lives Matter movement. Earlier this week, he wrote on Instagram, “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now [it’s] over. You’re welcome.”
Kanye is no stranger to controversy; he has been open about his views about former President Donald Trump.
He admitted, “My so-called friends/handlers around me told me if I said that I liked Trump that my career would be over. That my life would be over. They said stuff like people get killed for wearing a hat like that. They threatened my life. They basically said that I would be killed for wearing the hat. I had someone call me last night and said anybody wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt is going to be green-lit. That means they are going to beat them up if they wear it. I’m like, you know, okay, green-light me, then.”
Kanye argued that Trump “wanted the best for this country.”
While he was in Paris, Kanye made a “pro-life” statement by wearing a lanyard, including a “photo of a baby’s ultrasound.”
Kanye said he doesn’t care about people’s reactions to the lanyard. He stressed, “I care about the fact that there are more Black babies being aborted than born in New York City at this point. That 50% of Black death in America is abortion. I really don’t care about people’s response to that. I perform for an audience of one and that is God.”
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” airs on Fox News Channel.
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Talking With Tucker Carlson Kanye West Doubles Down On 'White Lives Matter' Backlash
Talking With Tucker Carlson, Kanye West Doubles Down On 'White Lives Matter' Backlash https://digitalarizonanews.com/talking-with-tucker-carlson-kanye-west-doubles-down-on-white-lives-matter-backlash/
Rapper Kanye West, who has been embroiled in controversy this week after wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week, apparently isn’t backing down anytime soon.
On Thursday, the rapper — whose legal name is Ye — found a kindred spirit on the conservative Fox News network. He appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” for a wide-ranging conversation that touched on everything from West’s support for former President Donald Trump to abortion to his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.
Sporting a full beard, a black hoodie, a cap emblazoned with “2023″ and a lanyard with an ultrasound of a fetus, West told Carlson that he found the divisive shirt entertaining.
“I thought the shirt was a funny shirt. I thought that the idea of me wearing it was funny,” he said.
He said he discussed the controversial apparel with his dad, whom he said was a former member of the Black Panther Party. West said his father noted that it was just a “Black man stating the obvious.”
His Paris Fashion Week outfit wasn’t the first time West has taken heat for his clothing. During the 2016 election, the rapper was regularly seen wearing the red “Make America Great Again” hat associated with Trump. Early in Thursday’s interview, West told Carlson that the accessory made him a target.
“My so-called friends-slash-handlers around me told me if I said that I liked Trump that my career would be over, that my life would be over,” he said. “They said stuff like, ‘People get killed for wearing a hat like that.’ They threatened my life. They basically said that I would be killed for wearing the hat.”
In the hours leading up to his interview with Carlson, West posted an Instagram video of the conservative anchor visiting the new Yeezy office to try out unidentified beverages and to test the fashion entrepreneur’s new 3-D-printed shoes.
West’s chat with Carlson comes amid no shortage of controversy. On Monday, Ye turned heads when he sported a “White Lives Matter” shirt, matching with conservative commentator Candace Owens in Paris. He received backlash from not only fans on Twitter but fashion world figures including Gigi Hadid, Jaden Smith and Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson.
On social media, Hadid called West a “bully” for saying in an Instagram post that Karefa-Johnson “is not a fashion person” and mocking the boots the editor wore to Paris Fashion Week.
Vogue then released a statement on Wednesday in support of Karefa-Johnson.
“She was personally targeted and bullied,” the magazine’s statement said. “It is unacceptable. Now more than ever voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today she once again spoke her truth in a way she felt best, on her terms.”
West shrugged off the backlash Wednesday, though, writing on Instagram: “Here’s my latest response when people ask me why I made a tee that says white lives matter… THEY DO.”
Beyond his Paris Fashion Week headlines, West has been publicly accusing the family of ex-wife Kim Kardashian of kidnapping his daughter “Chicago on her birthday so she could remember her father not being there.” That prompted his former sister-in-law Khloé Kardashian to say she’s had enough.
“You know exactly where your children are at all times and YOU wanted separate birthdays,” she said in a comment to one of his Instagram posts. “I have seen all of the texts to prove it. And when you changed your mind and wanted to attend, you came.”
His accusations come after it seemed that he wanted to mend his relationship with the Kardashians. Last week, the Grammy winner said he changed his Instagram profile picture to an image of the family’s matriarch, Kris Jenner, “with thoughts of peace and respect.” A week before that, he said he regretted the stress he caused his ex-wife, who filed for divorce in 2021.
“This is the mother of my children, and I apologize for any stress that I have caused even in my frustration, because God calls me to be stronger,” the rapper said to ABC News’ Linsey Davis in an interview for “Good Morning America.” “But also, ain’t nobody else finna be causing no stress either.”
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Dust Storm Warning Issued October 6 At 5:16PM PDT Until October 6 At 5:45PM PDT By NWS Phoenix AZ KESQ
Dust Storm Warning Issued October 6 At 5:16PM PDT Until October 6 At 5:45PM PDT By NWS Phoenix AZ – KESQ https://digitalarizonanews.com/dust-storm-warning-issued-october-6-at-516pm-pdt-until-october-6-at-545pm-pdt-by-nws-phoenix-az-kesq/
The National Weather Service in Phoenix has issued a
* Dust Storm Warning for…
Northwestern Imperial County in southeastern California…
Riverside County in southern California…
* Until 545 PM PDT.
* At 515 PM PDT, a wall of dust was along a line extending from 17
miles south of Desert Center to near Salton Sea Beach to near Fish
Creek Wash, moving northwest at 10 mph.
HAZARD…Less than a quarter mile visibility with strong wind in
excess of 40 mph.
SOURCE…Doppler radar.
IMPACT…Dangerous life-threatening travel.
* This includes the following highways…
CA Route 78 between mile markers 1 and 13.
CA Route 111 between mile markers 39 and 65.
CA Route 86 between mile markers 38 and 67.
Locations impacted include…
Salton City, North Shore, Salton Sea Beach, Desert Shores, Bombay
Beach, Fish Creek Wash, Slab City, Niland, Winona, Imperial Hot
Mineral Springs and Coolidge Springs.
Dust storms lead to dangerous driving conditions with visibility
reduced to near zero. If driving, avoid dust storms if possible. If
caught in one, pull off the road, turn off your lights and keep your
foot off the brake.
BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION
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Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here
If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.
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Shooting Suspect Surrenders At Dearborn https://digitalarizonanews.com/shooting-suspect-surrenders-at-dearborn/
Law enforcement, including Michigan State Police and ATF agents, swarmed downtown Dearborn early Thursday afternoon after reports of an armed gunman at the Hampton Inn, where Dearborn police said there was a dispute with hotel staff over money.
At least one person had been injured in the gunfire, police said, and the shooter surrendered at about 8:30 p.m.
Into the evening, authorities were still asking the public to stay clear of Michigan Avenue and Military Street, which they said was “active and dangerous.” Earlier in the day, a few frightened employees of nearby businesses had sheltered in place.
Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin gave few details but said there was a lone suspect armed with a “long gun.” The chief added that the man was barricaded in one of the hotel rooms, and the authorities were “actively negotiating” a surrender without additional injuries and hope to resolve the standoff peacefully.
“It’s scary,” Alaa Samad, with nearby Moose’s Martini Pub, said, adding his employees called him to tell him they couldn’t get into the eatery and heard gunshots. “Everyone is here, state police, Dearborn police. My staff is panicking. You never expect something like this over here.”
At 7:20 p.m., the sound of breaking glass disrupted the eerie quiet on usually busy Michigan Avenue, which police closed to traffic soon after the shooting started A fire truck had raised and swiveled its ladder to a third-floor window, which first responders shattered.
In semi-darkness, illuminated by the flashing blue and red lights of two dozen emergency vehicles, the figure of what appeared to be a man emerged from the window opening and was spirited away from the front of the hotel. Police earlier had said that they believed the shooter was at the rear of the hotel.
Nearly an hour later, a police spokesman said that the man had been a hotel guest but not a hostage. The rescued man, who was not injured, had been in an area of the hotel that the officers were unable to evacuate earlier during their sweep of the building soon after the incident began, the spokesman said.
Police continued to negotiate with the shooter, and “we firmly believe we are making progress,” the spokesman said at about 8 p.m.
Police said they were enlisting high-tech tactics, both to negotiate with the shooter and to keep tabs on his location and behavior. Their tools included cellphones, robots, and drones, “to do everything we can for a peaceful resolution.”
The chief made an appeal through evening TV broadcasts, urging the suspect to turn himself in.
Authorities, however, continued to decline to identify the gunman or to describe the status of the negotiations with him, in part because “we know he has access to TV” in the hotel room and that broadcasting those details could disrupt the negotiations, said Cpl. Dan Bartok, communications officer for the Dearborn police.
“We don’t believe he’s a local resident,” Bartok said, adding, “We have family members on scene and part of our negotiations is involving them.” Bartok said he did not know where the gunman’s relatives were from, but noted: “They didn’t fly in.”
The chief added that no local schools need to be on lockdown. However, nearby DuVall Elementary School said on its website that while its staff and students were safe, it had been on a “soft lockdown” and was “not allowing anyone into the school at this time.”
More:Lawyer: Porter Burks’ family will sue Detroit police officers
Meanwhile, a state police helicopter flew over the hotel after the incident began. But state police spokesman Lt. Michael Shaw said the chopper was called off and replaced with aerial drone surveillance, “because helicopters can make shooters nervous.”
In addition, squad cars blocked streets, and officers in full tactical gear took positions at every corner near the hotel.
“We had thought it was just like a car accident because those are typical around here,” said Hiam Beydoun, 20, who was doing homework in the area. A bank branch is near the hotel. “But we came out and we saw that there were like a lot more cops, there’s no cars, and they were starting to block things off.”
Beydoun added that she assumed it was a bank robbery, but then heard it was an active shooter.
Meanwhile, witnesses said they heard gunfire and feared the victim may be dead because they saw a body bag.
It was unclear exactly where the gunman was in the multi-level hotel or whether all the guests and staff had been safely evacuated. Officials also did not say whether the armed suspect had taken any hostages or whether anyone was still in danger.
Tysons Corner, Virginia-based Hilton, which owns the Hampton chain, said the Dearborn hotel is “independently owned and operated,” but the company was “making every effort to connect with the property’s management team to understand the details on the ground.”
We have an active police situation at the Hampton Inn in West Dearborn, located at 22324 Michigan Ave.
PLEASE AVOID the area of Michigan Avenue between Military and Monroe.More details to come.
— City of Dearborn MI (@Dearborngov) October 6, 2022
News of the shooter became public just after 2 p.m. with a state police tweet that a suspect had fired a gun.
State police said that troopers and officers were working to clear the entire area around the hotel.
By 3 p.m., state police tweeted again urging people to stay clear of the Hampton Inn at 22324 Michigan Ave. In addition, the city of Dearborn tweeted that more details would be forthcoming, but for the moment, people should avoid the area.
“This is a very fluid situation,” Shaw said. “We don’t want people to come out here and get caught up in this, especially if this circumstance would change. So again, just stay away from downtown Dearborn.”
► Stay connected and stay informed. Subscribe to the Detroit Free Press today.
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Dozens Of Children Among At Least 36 People Killed In Child Care Center Massacre In Thailand | CNN
Dozens Of Children Among At Least 36 People Killed In Child Care Center Massacre In Thailand | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/dozens-of-children-among-at-least-36-people-killed-in-child-care-center-massacre-in-thailand-cnn/
Bangkok, Thailand CNN —
Thailand recoiled in horror Thursday after at least 36 people were killed, at least 24 of them children, in a massacre at a child care center in northeastern Thailand believed to be the country’s deadliest incident of its kind.
Authorities immediately launched a manhunt for the suspected attacker, later identified by Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) as Panya Kamrab, a 34-year-old former policeman. According to Thai Royal Police, he was suspended from police duty earlier this year relation to drug possession charges.
Among the dozens of victims are Panya’s wife and stepson, whom investigators say he killed before taking his own life.
His 2-year-old stepson was enrolled at the nursery that he attacked Thursday, but was not present while the attack was carried out, according to a local police chief.
“(Panya) went to look for his two-year-old son, but the boy was not there … so he started shooting as well as stabbing people at the nursery,” police spokesperson Maj. General Paisan Luesomboon told CNN.
Panya then “managed to get into a room where 24 kids were sleeping together,” killing all but one of them.
“He also used a knife to stab both children and staff at the center,” Paisan said.
One of the center’s teachers described a horrific scene to local media, explaining that the attacker entered the center around noon, while two other staff members were having lunch.
“I suddenly heard the sound just sounded like fire crackers. So I looked back [and] the two staffs just collapsed on the floor,” the teacher said.
“Then he pulled another gun from his waist…I didn’t expect he would also kill the kids,” they said.
The teacher also said that the attacker was also carrying a second gun, as well as a knife, which he used to fatally stab another teacher, who was eight months pregnant.
One eyewitness told Reuters she believed the attacker was coming to pick up his child. When he arrived to the center, he “didn’t say anything,” and “shot at the door while the children were sleeping,” she said.
Most of the deaths were the result of “stabbing wounds,” Paisan told CNN.
A teacher also told Reuters that the attacker had mainly used a knife.
“It all went down really fast. He was slashing the knife, he didn’t use the gun, he kept slashing in there. It’s all by a knife,” she said.
Police General Damrongsak Kittiprapas said that the attacker “mainly used a knife” to kill the children.
“Then he got out and started killing anyone he met along the way with a gun or the knife until he got home,” said Damrongsak. “We surrounded the house and then found that he committed suicide in his home.”
The massacre took place at the Child Development Center in Nong Bua Lamphu province’s Uthaisawan Na Klang district, according to a statement from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who called the incident “shocking” and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
The province, located approximately 540 kilometers (around 335 miles) northeast of Bangkok, is a largely peaceful and quiet area, and is not known for violence.
Prayut will travel to the province on Friday to meet with families of the victims, according to a statement from his office.
Thai Royal police said Panya was due to receive a verdict in his ongoing case over alleged possession of methamphetamine, on Oct. 7.
In an earlier undated search of his residence, police found a tablet of Yaba in his house, they also said. Yaba is a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, which is a tablet usually crushed and smoked, known locally as “crazy medicine.”
Charges of possessing the “Category 1” drug led to his suspension from police duty in January.
Gun ownership in Thailand is relatively high compared with other countries in Southeast Asia.
There were more than 10.3 million civilian owned firearms in Thailand, or around 15 guns for every 100 people, according to 2017 data from the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS). Approximately 6.2 million of those guns are legally registered, according to SAS.
Thailand ranks as the Southeast Asian country with the second-highest gun homicides after the Philippines, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s 2019 Global Burden of Disease database.
In a statement, UNICEF said it was “shocked” by the tragedy and sent its condolences to the families affected.
It condemned the attack, saying: “No child should be a target or witness of violence any where, anytime,” adding, “Early childhood development centers, schools and all learning spaces must be safe havens for young children to learn, play and grow during their most critical years.”
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss said in a tweet that she was “shocked to hear of the horrific events,” and said that her “thoughts are with all those affected and the first responders.”
“The UK stands with the Thai people at this terrible time,” she said.
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Zone Read: Welcome To Fall, Let’s Ball https://digitalarizonanews.com/zone-read-welcome-to-fall-lets-ball/
(Up) Front and Center
“Zone Read” didn’t have to wait until kickoff last Friday night to come away impressed with the Liberty Lions.
There are high school teams who take the field hoping to win, and there are teams who take the field knowing they’re going to win.
Liberty fits the latter in every way, shape, and form.
.@LibertyFBLions looked every bit the part of an Open Division Championship contender, handing Saguaro their third loss, 26-17 tonight in Scottsdale.
Hard to find any weaknesses on the Lions: sound, disciplined, athletic, well-coached. @Sports360AZ #FridayNight360AZ pic.twitter.com/ES1yWc8l4M
— Eric Sorenson (@EricSports360AZ) October 1, 2022
There are no visual weaknesses. Head coach Colin Thomas and his staff excel in the details – it’s evident in all three phases. Liberty also has the swag of a team who knows they can dominate anyone.
After dispatching Saguaro on their home field behind a stingy defense and an extremely efficient Navi Bruzon, the Lions next business trip to the east Valley takes them Chandler for a matchup against 5-0 Basha, a team they took out 38-20 in the first round of Open Division Playoffs last year.
LAY OUT FOR IT YOUNG MAN! After a @mgardner2023 fumble recovery, @navibruzon drops a pin point perfect pass to @PrinceZombo2 to extend the Lion lead! And then the celly with the fans. PAT no good again. #FridayNight360AZ@LibertyFBLions 19@saguarofootball 10
HALFTIME pic.twitter.com/VsjoHv1j3a
— Devon Henry (@devonhenry77) October 1, 2022
Different year, different team but the Bears know full well what to expect this weekend, as well as the lessons learned from 2021, particularly at the line of scrimmage. Basha gave up 10 sacks, including 4.5 to Oregon commit My’Keil Gardner in the lopsided loss.
“They have more of a business-minded approach,” Basha head coach Chris McDonald explained to the “Zone Read” of his more experienced offensive line. “I think we have a pretty good o-line this year. I don’t want to say we had a bad o-line last year…I just think we’re more mature [this year]. I feel like part of our struggles last year against Liberty can fall on me. I abandoned the run game too early. That’s one thing I learned.”
McDonald believes his returning players learned, the hard way, how to handle adversity and “the rollercoaster ride of the football game” as he put it last December. It showed on September 3rd in southern California when Basha erased a 21-0 first quarter deficit to take down national power Los Alamitos 33-28 which has ignited their perfect start thus far.
While the Bears haven’t faced the stiffest of competition, blowout wins over Mountain Ridge, Tucson Salpointe Catholic, Mesa Mountain View, and Cactus all served as nice appetizers to this week’s main course.
McDonald didn’t downplay the importance of Friday and, quite honesty, why would he?
“These kids have been looking forward to this game, let me just put it like that,” he said with conviction. “They’re not disrespectful towards Liberty at all because, let’s be honest, Liberty kicked our butts the last time we played, and it left a really bad taste in our mouth.”
No music. Basha getting right after it to get ready for Liberty week pic.twitter.com/CR9PKXh8CZ
— Richard Obert (@azc_obert) October 3, 2022
McDonald continued.
“I don’t want to say we had this game circled on a calendar because we don’t even have a calendar up. We didn’t circle anything, ‘ya know (laughing)? I think they’re embracing the challenge because they know what type of football team Liberty is.”
Don’t paint me shocked if we see the trilogy between these two 6A heavyweights in the next two months.
Left Lane, Hammer Down
Maybe you could say the third time (well, sort of) was the charm for Desert Mountain head coach Conrad Hamilton.
After getting his head coaching feet wet at North Canyon, serving as head coach, and later associate head coach, at Chaparral, one of the top defensive minds in Arizona landed back in north Scottsdale, just eight miles east down Shea Boulevard with the Wolves.
Hamilton’s rapid re-build has nothing been nothing short of astounding – increasing DMHS’s win total from three in 2019 (his first year), to four in 2020, to 12 last fall, including a 5A Northeast Region Championship and narrow loss to eventual state champion Horizon in the playoff semi-finals.
1st varsity TD in a 30-26 win vs our rival #classof2026 @DMWolvesFB @braedonbowman @AceJustin1 @JUSTCHILLY @CodyTCameron @gridironarizona pic.twitter.com/bfokegrNtb
— Ryan McDonough (@RMcDonough2026) September 25, 2022
Fast forward to 2022 and the Wolves are rolling again, sitting at a perfect 5-0 entering their showdown with north Scottsdale neighbor Notre Dame Prep this week. DM, with a shrinking enrollment of around 1900, has already knocked off a pair of 6A schools, Chaparral, coincidentally, and Mesa Mountain View, despite a varsity roster which sits at just 43 players.
However, it was his time in Tempe which he believes groomed him for the consistent success he’s established at Desert Mountain.
“I think my biggest growth spurt [in coaching] was going to Arizona State, being Todd Graham’s senior defensive analyst,” Hamilton said in a recent interview with the “Zone Read.” ”
His time at ASU seemed to revitalize his passion for leading a high school program both on and, more importantly, off the field.
“I really, really wanted to be a head coach, not just to say I run my own program,” he explained. “I want to touch kids’ lives. I want to impact people on a daily basis, not just from a football standpoint, but as a leader, as a mentor at the school.
“I learned a lot about leadership and mentorship under Todd Graham.”
From the jump their personalities matched. To play for both requires discipline, commitment, and selflessness both on the field, as well as in the classroom. In short, putting the team before yourself as an individual.
Their styles aren’t for everyone but Hamilton credits Graham’s model at ASU as a blueprint of sorts when taking over at Desert Mountain.
“I couldn’t wait to coach again because I thought that [structure] was something that was missing to add to my understanding of the X’s and O’s, I’m pretty good at that,” the former New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons cornerback said. “Then hiring the right guys here to help put this [program] all together. It just seemed like a good fit.”
Hamilton’s military background (his dad served in the Air Force for 30 years), blue collar approach could be viewed as an odd pairing in the mostly affluent north Scottsdale and Fountain Hills communities which feed into Desert Mountain, but he knew Desert Mountain needed him, as much as he needed them.
“Most high schoolers, growing boys, they need structure, they need discipline,” he continued. “They needed a coach here, whether it was me or somebody else, to have a vision for the program holistically…there were pieces here. They were just missing tying a lot of things together, I think.”
Weight room lol pic.twitter.com/mXjrigdjck
— Jack freeburg 6’1 175 (@Jackfreeburg1) October 5, 2022
As mentioned, Desert Mountain’s small roster presents several in-season limitations for Hamilton and his staff. The Wolves don’t have the numbers for a junior varsity team so, according to Hamilton, the physicality of game prep practices are limited to preserve health throughout the grind of the regular season. DM also pulls up younger players in the program to add depth to their special teams. Every aspect of the week is examined with great detail to ensure the best possible outcome on Friday nights.
Hamilton hasn’t had much to complain about through the first half of the regular season.
“We’re worried about us at the end of the day,” he said. “We feel like we have a good team. Our guys are really focused this year.”
The focus was all on Hamilton after the Wolves back-to-back wins over Chaparral and Mountain View.
Best coach in the state @coachconrad41 pic.twitter.com/SkuhE2ATQD
— Jack freeburg 6’1 175 (@Jackfreeburg1) September 16, 2022
“That was big to have fun with the boys,” Hamilton said when asked about his impromptu post-game dance party. “Coach still kind of has that young, youthful spirit. Anything to make those guys smile. We bark at them a lot during the week. We have high expectations for them on the field and off.”
Somewhere Todd Graham has to be smiling.
A Trojan(‘s) Horse
Desert Mountain isn’t the only north Valley program doing more with less, in terms of sheer numbers.
4-1 Paradise Valley has already doubled their 2021 win total, despite only carrying 33 varsity players.
Thankfully for long-time PV head coach Greg Davis, one of those 33 is starting quarterback Jaiden McDaniel, who missed almost his entire junior season after suffering a broken collarbone.
A four-year player in the Trojans’ program, the 6-foot, 195-pounder is one of the main reasons why PV is averaging 41 points per game and, outside of a 34-32 season-opening loss at 4-1 Central, have rolled through their last four opponents entering their bye week.
Another great win for me and my boys last night proud of how far we’ve come…we still got more to prove @FBCoachDavis @PvhsJ #paradisevalleyfootball pic.twitter.com/RV4skMrSMN
— Jaiden McDaniel (@Vincent_Jaiden1) September 24, 2022
McDaniel’s success doesn’t come as a complete surprise, considering the commitment he made last summer to help ensure his final season was a special one.
“[Last] off-season I got straight to work, I got a personal trainer,” McDaniel said to the “Zone Read.” “I got a quarterback coach who helped me a lot. I ate the right foods. I leaned down, and cut down on my weight I took the time and really learned the game of football better than I could ever know.”
Back in the lab getting right for next year https://t.co/NmA1qkaaRD
— Jaiden McDaniel (@Vincent_Jai...
Elon Musks Revived Twitter Deal Could Saddle Banks With Big Losses
Elon Musk’s Revived Twitter Deal Could Saddle Banks With Big Losses https://digitalarizonanews.com/elon-musks-revived-twitter-deal-could-saddle-banks-with-big-losses/
Volatility in high yield, loan markets might force Morgan Stanley, Barclays, others to sell $13 billion in Twitter debt at discount
Twitter will become a private company if Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover bid is approved. The move would allow Musk to make changes to the site. WSJ’s Dan Gallagher explains Musk’s proposed changes and the challenges he might face enacting them. Illustration: Jordan Kranse
Updated Oct. 6, 2022 8:28 pm ET
Banks that agreed to fund Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter are facing the possibility of big losses now that the billionaire has shifted course and indicated a willingness to follow through with the deal, in the latest sign of trouble for debt markets that are crucial for funding takeovers.
The $44 billion deal, which Mr. Musk had been trying to walk away from, would be paid for in part with some $13 billion of debt seven banks including Morgan Stanley Bank of America and Barclays PLC agreed to provide when the takeover was sealed in April.
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Will Abortion Be Enough To Save Democrats In November?
Will Abortion Be Enough To Save Democrats In November? https://digitalarizonanews.com/will-abortion-be-enough-to-save-democrats-in-november/
This weekend, when I ran into the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile, she told me that she was not super optimistic about the midterm elections—a message she had shared in a recent meeting with top White House aides about how to mobilize the Party’s voters. “Democrats have to defy history,” she later told me. “It’s tough. That’s my worry.” There was, however, one issue that gave Brazile some hope: the backlash to the Supreme Court’s decision this summer to throw out Roe v. Wade, the abortion-rights decision from 1973. It has resulted in a brewing voter rebellion neatly summed up in a T-shirt that Brazile recently saw, which read “Roe, Roe, Roe to Vote.” She has taken to singing the slogan like a refrain.
By Monday evening, the revelation of an alleged abortion paid for by Herschel Walker, the vocally anti-abortion Republican Senate nominee in Georgia, threatened to stop the G.O.P. from reclaiming one of the state’s two Senate seats, a potential blow to the Party’s hopes of capturing the chamber. The Walker abortion story, published by the Daily Beast, swiftly escalated into something more than a tale of Republican hypocrisy on an issue that Democrats hope to use against many G.O.P. candidates in November. After Walker denied paying for the abortion or even knowing the woman in question, she responded by disclosing that she had also had a child by Walker. (“Totally, totally untrue,” he said, of both claims.) One of Walker’s sons, himself an outspoken conservative, publicly bashed his father as an abusive liar. National and state Republicans, though, publicly stuck with Walker, a former football player turned hard-right Christian activist whose entrée to politics has been facilitated by his decades-old ties to Donald Trump.
Just as in 2020, control of the Senate, which is currently deadlocked at 50–50, may well come down to Georgia, lending the Walker abortion scandal a national resonance that it might not otherwise command. Democrats are attacking Republican candidates on the issue of abortion in many other races this fall—if nowhere quite so dramatically as in the Walker case. “Democrats stake their House majority on abortion,” Politico reported this week, citing that the Party has spent some eighteen million dollars on abortion-themed ads for about four dozen battleground seats. In an exhaustive analysis of more than three hundred of this season’s campaign ads, for the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, Kyle Kondik also found that “abortion dominates Democratic advertising.” Many of the ads he watched attacked Republican candidates for supporting a national ban on abortion, or for opposing exceptions that would allow abortions to protect the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.
The Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg is one of those who believes in the “Roe, Roe, Roe” theory for Democrats in 2022. “In terms of over-all national mood, it’s been a game changer,” she told me, of the Supreme Court’s June abortion decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. “Dobbs changed everything.” Greenberg said she’s seen two types of attacks that are working for Democrats: hits on specific candidates, such as Walker, whose own words on abortion are being used against them, and more general calls to action, particularly in Republican-dominated states where legislatures are moving to restrict access to abortion. In those races, it’s easier to make the argument that women’s rights are directly on the ballot in November.
Rallying to save abortion rights has given Democrats, and particularly younger women, a push to vote this fall, at a time when other indicators for the Party have not been looking good. The Democratic strategist Tom Bonier points to a spike in new registrations since the Supreme Court ruling. “Substantially more women, especially younger women, have registered to vote since the Dobbs decision,” he told me—a notable data point, given that people who newly register close to an election tend to vote at a higher rate. Bonier found that there are more women registering than men so far this year, and also an expanding gender gap in new registrations in forty-six states, a change he called “unique.” The trend applies even in conservative states, such as Idaho, where Bonier has noted that young women are out-registering young men by twenty percentage points since Dobbs, and in Kansas, where abortion-rights supporters scored a major upset this summer by defeating a ballot measure that would have banned abortion with few exceptions.
There is, however, clearly a limit to how much the abortion issue can deliver for Democrats. Polls suggest that Joe Biden remains a highly unpopular President, if somewhat less unpopular than he was at his lowest point, over the summer. Republicans have seized on higher crime rates and concerns about immigration in ads aimed at motivating their voters to turn out. And Democrats, although they lead among voters who prioritize other issues such as climate change and health care, are behind in surveys that ask voters focussed on the economy and the country’s highest-in-decades inflation rate whom to trust. The Economist’s G. Elliott Morris, summing up a new survey from the magazine and YouGov, called this an “Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?” problem, given how much the economy tends to dominate American voters’ concerns.
The main impact of the abortion issue at this point may well be that it got Democrats back in the game in an election that was looking like it would be a blowout for Republicans as recently as a few months ago. “Without Dobbs,” Greenberg said, “we’d have an election just about inflation.”
The stakes for getting it wrong, however, are fantastically high. Something more than just control of the House or Senate is at stake in these midterm elections, in the ongoing age of Trump. On Thursday, the Washington Post published an analysis showing that a majority of Republican nominees for the Senate, House, and key statewide races have adopted the former President’s 2020-election denialism as their own—a finding with profoundly worrisome consequences not just for the next Presidential election or the balance of power in Washington but for American democracy. Many of the two hundred and ninety-nine election deniers identified by the Post, in fact, are already all but assured election, for seats that are safely Republican—a hundred and seventy-four of them, by the Post’s count. They will constitute pro-Trump shock troops in Congress and in state capitals for a Republican Party remade in Trump’s image.
Many of the G.O.P.’s candidates in marquee races around the country seem determined to conduct politics in Trump’s inflammatory, divisive fashion. They’re not adopting only election denialism as their own but the whole constellation of Trumpist provocation. In one ad, the Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake—whom Trump has endorsed—smashes television sets with a sledgehammer and lights a face mask on fire with a blow torch. She promises to finish Trump’s wall. Seemingly unaware of the irony, Lake, a former television journalist, trashes the “corporate media” for warning that Trump’s attacks on the 2020 election were “extremely dangerous to our democracy.”
Also on the Arizona ballot this fall is Blake Masters, a Trump-supported Senate candidate whose ad “Invasion!” is a direct homage to Trump’s false claims during the 2018 midterms about an “invasion” at the southern border by a “caravan” of migrants. In it, Masters demands that the government build Trump’s wall and “lock this border down.” He warns that, “if we don’t do these things right now,” in a phrase ripped right from Trump’s rally playlist, “we’re not gonna have a country.”
Perhaps Masters forgot that Trump and the G.O.P. lost the House in 2018 with that message. Or perhaps, as with Trump’s 2020 defeat, he simply prefers to wish away an unpleasant political reality.
But both history and an awful lot of the evidence are on the Republicans’ side in 2022. The wishful thinking might well be on the Democratic side this time around. “Dems can win,” Brazile wrote me in an e-mail, on Thursday, but not unless voters are clear on the consequences. “To the extent this is a referendum on Biden and Washington, Dems lose,” she said. The only way it works out otherwise is for the electorate to grasp that democracy itself is on the ballot.
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Trump-Biden Feud Dominating US Midterm Campaigns https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-biden-feud-dominating-us-midterm-campaigns/
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on October 3, 2022. (AFP)
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It is widely felt that the US midterm congressional elections on Nov. 8 are not just about the election of 435 members of the House of Representatives and 35 members of the Senate, but also a replica of the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump two years ago.
They are the ruthless continuation of a fierce rivalry between two presidents. On the one hand, Trump is recycling his old presidential themes, emphasizing that Biden and the Democrats are making the US vulnerable to foreign influence and are weakening America by making it a socialist country. On the other hand, Biden and the Democrats are accusing the Republicans and Trump of racism and extremism, including often employing the word “fascism” to denote the dangers of right-wing politics in America.
There is no moderation in the election campaigns. America is as divided as ever, with Biden and Trump trying to denounce and trounce each other. This is not a good sign for American democracy. It leads to vicious methods of campaigning and an unwillingness to compromise.
Visibility is a critical aspect of this congressional contest. Trump will try to be the most visible person in the race. He wants to renew his presidential campaign through the voting on new members of Congress that he has backed. He is using this campaign as a barometer to test his popularity ahead of a potential run for the presidency in 2024. According to a Republican consultant: “If 70 percent of the candidates whom Trump endorsed… for the Republican nomination for the offices they are contesting, including those who were nominated for the offices of governors of states, for sure, Trump will consider himself the natural candidate for the Republican ticket in the presidential election of 2024.”
Biden is less visible and is limiting his appearances to offering support for a very few candidates. The reason for this is that Biden has been making many gaffes, giving the impression to many that he may not be in sound mental and physical health. Biden is also not very popular. Therefore, most Democratic candidates will not want to associate themselves with him.
Trump will use language that could amount to charging the Democrats and Biden with treason. Nevertheless, Biden will refer to Trump as someone who violated the US Constitution by keeping sensitive national security documents in his private residence. This will insinuate that Trump must face justice and be put on trial.
This is not a good sign for American democracy, as it leads to vicious methods of campaigning and an unwillingness to compromise
Maria Maalouf
It is expected that the rivalry between Biden and Trump will continue after the elections in November and its ferocity will depend on the outcome of the midterms. It is also important to recall the phenomenon in American politics known as “the October surprise.” This means that a big, unexpected event can occur in the few days or weeks prior to the elections that could create a totally new reality. There are few predictions regarding what the game changer could be this time. Several analysts are saying that something dramatic, such as the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, could be the creator of a new reality ahead of the midterms. This is still a remote possibility.
Biden is trying to portray himself as a leader who has made significant contributions to American politics, such as with the passing of legislation supporting the rebuilding of infrastructure in America and boosting the country’s scientific and technological advantage. Trump will tout the fact that he is still very popular and will renew the charge that the 2022 election result was not legitimate.
Interestingly, absent from this Biden-Trump animosity are their deputies. Former Vice President Mike Pence has not involved himself in many of the races, while the incumbent Kamala Harris has not been campaigning strongly. This gives Trump the chance to sharpen his attack on Biden personally. Such shrewd political propaganda is being utilized by Trump to send a message to the American electorate that he is practically a candidate in this race.
Trump wants to reclaim his political mandate in this current race for Congress. He insists that his speeches are drawing large crowds, even overshadowing the candidates he is soliciting votes for. He is spreading the narrative that he is so concerned about the deteriorating situation inside America that he wants everyone to be aware of the damage Biden and the Democrats have been doing to the country.
What is unique about this Biden-Trump confrontation is that neither are talking about the regular victories and losses typical of any political race in the US. Instead, they are addressing the American people as if calamities will befall them if the other’s candidates are elected. While Biden and Trump are intensifying and perpetuating their hostility toward each other, the millions of dollars Americans are spending on the elections are provoking and endorsing such a political feud.
• Maria Maalouf is a Lebanese journalist, broadcaster, publisher and writer. She has a master’s degree in political sociology from the University of Lyon. Twitter: @bilarakib
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News’ point of view
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Tiffany Smiley https://digitalarizonanews.com/tiffany-smiley/
Joseph O’Sullivan | Crosscut.com
Patty Murray entered the U.S. Senate in 1993, has won re-election four times, has spent 15 years in national Democratic leadership and has chaired powerful committees on the budget and veterans affairs – currently the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
In approaching the Nov. 8 general election that will determine if she gets a sixth term, Murray, 71, has emphasized the recent string of policy victories that she and fellow Democrats have eked out under President Joe Biden with the barest U.S. House majority and an evenly split Senate where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has cast a tie-breaking vote 26 times in the past two years.
There was the 2021 COVID aid package, known as the American Rescue Plan; the CHIPS Act, intended to boost American manufacturing of computer parts, the slowdown of which during the pandemic caused supply chain problems for automobiles; and, most recently, the Inflation Reduction Act. This last one contains the most ambitious measures ever taken by the U.S. government to fight climate change. Another part of that legislation capped prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare and limited insulin copays for them to $35 monthly.
“I think we showed that Democrats in the toughest of circumstances, a 50-50 Senate, showed that we are willing to sit down and move our country through a better place,” Murray said in an interview from her apartment in Washington, D.C., the same week the Senate voted to approve a short-term budget and spending agreement.
Yet it is many of those same pieces of legislation that Murray’s opponent, Tiffany Smiley, brings up as the reason to unseat the longtime incumbent.
If she is successful in doing so, Smiley will have defeated perhaps the most prominent and powerful elected Washington Democrat and one of the most senior Democratic officials in the nation.
Smiley, a 41-year-old former nurse, left that young career abruptly at 23 to become a veterans’ advocate after her husband returned from the Iraq invasion injured and blinded.
As she’s traveled the state since declaring her candidacy last spring, Smiley has condemned the Democratic spending packages – which added federal dollars atop multiple COVID aid packages approved by Trump in 2020 – as a prime factor in a heated and discombobulated economy that has seen prices for gas, groceries and other goods rise dramatically.
“How long do we have to wait for prices to come down?” said Smiley, who has released a campaign ad on prices. “Is she trying to bankrupt us here?” On top of that, she’s pointed to Biden’s recent order wiping out some student debt, saying, “Any hope for doing something about inflation was totally wiped out (by) student loan forgiveness.”
Smiley has her work cut out for her. Washingtonians haven’t elected a Republican to the Senate since Slade Gorton won the state’s other senate seat in 1994.
The August primary was an 18-way contest in which the top two vote-getters advanced, but Murray and Smiley were considered the only serious candidates. Murray took 52% of the vote, with other Democratic candidates scooping up another couple percentage points. And Smiley received 34%, with a handful of other Republicans getting another 7% of the vote.
A Crosscut/Elway Poll of likely voters fielded last month was consistent with that result, pegging Murray at 50%, Smiley at 37% and 12% undecided.
“Smiley would have to get all the undecideds and convert a few Murray voters to pull it off at this point,” said pollster Stuart Elway.
Still, many Republicans have found in Smiley a candidate they like. The newcomer to politics has raised a good deal of funding to spread her campaign message, despite still lagging behind Murray.
As of mid-July, Smiley had raised $7.1 million and had $2.3 million on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission, far outraising Murray’s 2016 GOP challenger, Chris Vance. Still, by mid-July, Murray had raised $14.5 million with $6.6 million on hand.
If she manages an upset of the incumbent, Smiley will succeed where five other Republicans failed.
A product of Bothell, Murray served in the state Legislature before winning her 1992 Senate race by beating then-Republican representative Rod Chandler after Democratic Sen. Brock Adams declined to run again amid a harassment scandal. Murray’s 2016 campaign arrived with the ascension of Trump. In that race Murray defeated Vance, a former Republican chair who disavowed Trump even before the election, and who this year is running for the state Legislature as an independent.
The race in Washington comes as Republicans seek to claw back the U.S. Senate and reverse the Biden agenda, a fierce contest that is playing out largely in a handful of other states, such as Pennsylvania and Georgia. Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to keep control of the chamber, and perhaps even gain a seat or two, which might make it easier to advance their priorities.
In an interview from the Tri-Cities as she campaigns across the state, Smiley criticized Biden’s order in late August that the federal government forgive some student loan debt, but wouldn’t commit to fully repealing it. But, she said, “I would like to make sure that
does not go on the back of taxpayers of Washington state, for sure.”
Likewise, Smiley criticized the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed in August on a party-line vote, but did not commit to fully repealing it. “I certainly will stop the extra spending in its tracks and insure that we lower energy costs.”
Smiley, who grew up in rural Washington and lives in Pasco, is relatively new to electoral politics, though she did some outreach for Trump on the 2020 campaign trail. “I spoke for veterans, on behalf of veterans,” she said. “I did a few Zooms.”
But she has said – and did again in an interview – that Joe Biden is the legitimately elected president. This of course is contrary to what Trump and many other Republicans contend, though there is no evidence of widespread election fraud and dozens of court challenges across the nation arguing otherwise have been dismissed by the courts.
Abortion has also become a major campaign issue, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this summer stripping away federal protections on the procedure. Murray has cut a campaign ad on the issue, and in her interview vowed to codify Roe v. Wade’s
protections through Congress.
Some Republicans have been pushing for more forceful restriction on abortion, with Smiley’s would-be Republican colleague Sen. Lindsay Graham recently introducing a bill that would make abortions illegal at 15 weeks. Smiley says she would not support such a plan, saying she believes it should be left up to individual states to decide. “I am personally pro-life,” she said. “But I oppose a federal abortion ban.”
Murray has made the federal rollback of abortion protections a major part of her campaign, along with the challenges to democratic norms represented by Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and stay in power.
“It is so important in this time in our nation’s history that Washington state has a voice in the policies and decisions that are made in our country,” she said, adding: “I am determined to go back there and be that voice for Washington state again.”
Murray was accused of misusing that voice last month after she claimed in a tweet that “Republicans plan to end Social Security and Medicare if they take back the Senate.” She was referring to a plan presented by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), chair of the National
Republican Senatorial Committee. That plan was rejected by Republican leadership in the Senate, and fact-checkers deemed Murray’s statement an effort to “conjure up a nonexistent GOP plan regarding Social Security and Medicare.”
But in her interview, Murray didn’t back down, saying: “I don’t want to see it taken away, I don’t want to see Mitch McConnell get the majority.”
“I’ve heard Republicans and pundits say, ‘Oh, don’t worry when it comes to Roe being overturned, and Donald Trump is not going to overturn an election,” she said, adding: “So I’m not into listening to them.”
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First Proud Boys Leader Pleads Guilty To Jan. 6 Seditious Conspiracy
First Proud Boys Leader Pleads Guilty To Jan. 6 Seditious Conspiracy https://digitalarizonanews.com/first-proud-boys-leader-pleads-guilty-to-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy/
A lieutenant of longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio became the group’s first member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Thursday, deepening the government’s case against an organization accused of mobilizing violence to prevent the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Jeremy Bertino, 43, of Belmont, N.C., becomes a potential key witness for the Justice Department against Tarrio and four other Proud Boys leaders, some of whom had ties to influential supporters of President Donald Trump. The five Proud Boys defendants are set to face trial in December on charges including plotting to oppose by force the presidential transition, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.
At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly in Washington, Bertino pleaded guilty to that count and to one count of illegal possession of firearms as a formerly convicted felon, punishable by 51 to 63 months in prison at sentencing under advisory federal guidelines, prosecutors said.
From December 2020 to January 2021, Bertino “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with” the Proud Boys leaders “and other persons known and unknown, to oppose by force the authority of the Government of the United States and to delay by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of power,” the two-page charging document alleges.
In a sign of the sensitivity and potential importance of Bertino’s testimony, prosecutors agreed that if he provides “substantial cooperation,” they would seek leniency at sentencing and could enter Bertino into a Justice Department witness protection program.
Bertino held a place in the top inner circle of Proud Boys leaders accused of conspiring to impede Congress with angry Trump supporters as lawmakers met to confirm the election results. Bertino’s home in North Carolina was searched in March at the same time that Tarrio was arrested on charges that he and at least four others “directed, mobilized and led” a crowd of 200 to 300 supporters onto Capitol grounds. Many in that crowd are accused of leading some of the earliest and most aggressive attacks on police and property.
At the time of the search, Bertino allegedly possessed two pistols, a shotgun, bolt-action rifle and two semiautomatic AR-15 style rifles with scopes. Bertino was convicted in 2004 of first-degree reckless endangerment in New York state, a felony, and sentenced to five years of probation with a period of local jail time, according to court filings.
Bertino’s testimony could implicate Tarrio, a former aide to GOP strategist Roger Stone, and co-defendant Joe Biggs, a former employee online Infowars show host Alex Jones. Stone and Jones are two prominent right-wing figures who promoted Trump’s incendiary and baseless assertions that the election was stolen.
Stone remained in contact with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and in Washington in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, coordinated post-election protests and privately strategized with figures such as former national security adviser Michael Flynn and ‘Stop the Steal’ organizer Ali Alexander, The Post has reported.
Stone also communicated via encrypted texts after the 2020 election with Tarrio as well as Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of a second right-wing extremist group, the Oath Keepers, accused of playing an outsized role in planning for and organizing violence at the Capitol. Rhodes was on trial Thursday for seditious conspiracy in the same courthouse where Bertino pleaded.
Tarrio and Rhodes were part of a Signal chat group titled “F.O.S.” — or Friends of Stone, and the pair met in an underground parking garage next to the Capitol the evening before Jan. 6 with leaders of two pro-Trump grass roots groups.
Jones, meanwhile, promoted a Nov. 20, 2020, podcast by Tarrio in which he suggested in an expletive-laden call that Trump supporters infiltrate the Biden inauguration and turn it into a “circus, a sign of resistance, a sign of revolution.” That podcast, which featured Tarrio co-defendants Ethan Nordean and Biggs, a former Infowars employee, was first reported by online news site the Daily Dot and viewed by The Post.
Rhodes, Tarrio, Nordean and Biggs have pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy and other charges. Stone, who has not been charged, has categorically denied involvement in the Jan. 6 breach. He has previously told The Post, “Any claim, assertion or implication that I knew about, was involved in or condoned the illegal acts at the Capitol on Jan. 6 is categorically false and there is no witness or document that proves otherwise.”
An attorney for Alexander said he testified to a federal grand jury this summer after being assured he was not a target of the investigation. Jones’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before Bertino, all four of 14 people hit with the historically rare charge of seditious conspiracy in the Capitol riots who have pleaded guilty were affiliated with the Oath Keepers.
Tarrio and Bertino were not present in Washington on Jan. 6, the only two of more than 870 federally charged defendants who were not. But prosecutors alleged that Bertino was in direct contact with Tarrio, who oversaw events from Baltimore, and Nordean, who was in charge in Washington, according to a 10-count indictment against the pair and earlier charging papers.
Released videos show Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio meeting Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes the day before the attack on the Capitol. (Video: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia)
For instance, Bertino was Nordean’s guest in a Parler-linked video on Dec. 31 in which Bertino called Proud Boys “soldiers of the right wing” at war, and Nordean said that Americans must “desensitize” themselves to violence.
On Dec. 30 and 31, according to his indictment, Tarrio exchanged messages with an individual who sent him a plan called “1776 Returns” to occupy “crucial buildings” in Washington, including the House and Senate. His indictment stated that the individual messaged Tarrio, the “revolution is [sic] important than anything,” to which Tarrio replied, “That’s what every waking moment consists of … I’m not playing games.”
On Jan. 4, according to his indictment, Tarrio posted a voice message to a “Ministry of Self Defense” leaders group of Proud Boys, stating, “I didn’t hear this voice note until now, you want to storm the Capitol.” After the Capitol was breached, Tarrio wrote in a Telegram group chat, “We did this,” prosecutors said.
That night, Bertino — previously identified as “Individual A” or “Person 1” in charging papers — messaged Tarrio “1776,” exulting with a profanity, and Tarrio replied “The Winter Palace,” according to the indictment. Prosecutors allege it is a reference to a Proud Boys planning document that had a section called “Storm the Winter Palace,” referring to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the former imperial palace in St. Petersburg that was raided by Bolsheviks, CNN first reported.
Bertino also suggested to Tarrio that the election result could be invalidated if lawmakers failed to vote by midnight, an argument that echoed the effort by Trump’s own lawyers to deny Biden’s victory.
Bertino has been on the radar screen of both the FBI and a House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6. Bertino told the House panel that membership “tripled” after Trump famously urged the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during a 2020 presidential debate, according to a video clip of his interview played in a House hearing in June.
Social media posts, video recordings from Jan. 6 and earlier charging papers by the FBI also indicate that Nordean and Proud Boys leaders were motivated to confront police that day in part by what they perceived to be an insufficient response to the stabbing of Bertino outside Harry’s Bar in downtown Washington after a pro-Trump demonstration the previous month.
In a Proud Boys live-stream video taken at the Capitol shortly before it was stormed, Nordean can be seen shouting at police through a bullhorn, “You took our boy in, and you let our stabber go” — an apparent reference to Tarrio’s arrest and the dismissal of charges against another man initially accused of being involved in a Dec. 12 melee. On Jan. 4, Nordean shared a post of a photograph of himself and Bertino captioned, “And fight we will,” and included a link to his podcast “Rebel Talk with Rufio,” in which he and Bertino discussed the stabbing.
At least two other Proud Boys defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct Congress’s joint proceeding on Jan. 6 and agreed to cooperate with the government, Matthew Greene, 34, of Syracuse, N.Y., and Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, N.C.
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Riot Plea: Proud Boys Member Admits To Seditious Conspiracy
Riot Plea: Proud Boys Member Admits To Seditious Conspiracy https://digitalarizonanews.com/riot-plea-proud-boys-member-admits-to-seditious-conspiracy/
WASHINGTON (AP) — A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Thursday to plotting with other members of the far-right Proud Boys to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, making him the first member of the extremist group to plead guilty to a seditious conspiracy charge.
Jeremy Joseph Bertino, 43, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the role that Proud Boys leaders played in the mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal prosecutor said. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly agreed to release Bertino pending a sentencing hearing, which wasn’t immediately scheduled.
Bertino also pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully possessing firearms in March 2022 in Belmont, North Carolina. Kelly accepted his guilty plea to both charges during a brief hearing after the case against Bertino was filed Thursday.
Justice Department prosecutor Erik Kenerson said estimated sentencing guidelines for Bertino’s case recommend a prison sentence ranging from four years and three months to five years and three months. The Civil War-era seditious conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Ënrique” Tarrio and four other group members also have been charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a coordinated attack on the Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Donald Trump.
Far-right Proud Boys member Jeremy Joseph Bertino, second from left, joins other supporters of President Donald Trump who are wearing attire associated with the Proud Boys as they attend a rally at Freedom Plaza, Dec. 12, 2020, in Washington. Bertino pleaded guilty on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, to plotting with other members of the Proud Boys to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election, making him the first member of the extremist group to plead guilty to a seditious conspiracy charge. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez, File)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Luis M. Alvarez
Bertino’s cooperation could ratchet up the pressure on other Proud Boys charged in the siege.
A trial for Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola is scheduled to start in December. The charging document for Bertino’s case names those five defendants and a sixth Proud Boys member as his co-conspirators.
A trial is going on now in Washington for the seditious conspiracy case against the founder of the Oath Keepers and other members of the antigovernment militia group for their participation in the Jan. 6 attack.
More than three dozen people charged in the Capitol riot have been identified by federal authorities as leaders, members or associates of the Proud Boys. Two — Matthew Greene and Charles Donohoe — pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote.
Proud Boys members describe the group as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.” They have brawled with antifascist activists at rallies and protests. Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling it as a hate group.
Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president and a member of the group’s national “Elders Council.” Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, is a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Rehl was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola is a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.
Video testimony by Bertino was featured in June at the first hearing by the House committee investigating Jan. 6. The committee showed a clip of Bertino saying that the group’s membership “tripled, probably” after Trump’s comment at a presidential debate that the Proud Boys should “stand back and stand by.”
Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on Jan. 6, but authorities say he helped put into motion the violence that day. Police arrested Tarrio in Washington two days before the riot and charged him with vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church during a protest in December 2020. Tarrio was released from jail on Jan. 14 after serving his five-month sentence for that case.
The indictment in Tarrio’s case alleges that the Proud Boys held meetings and communicated over encrypted messages to plan for the attack in the days leading up to Jan. 6. On the day of the riot, authorities say Proud Boys dismantled metal barricades set up to protect the Capitol and mobilized, directed and led members of the crowd into the building.
___
For full coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Urban Wildlife Conservation https://digitalarizonanews.com/urban-wildlife-conservation/
On Saturday, October 8, 2022 the public is invited to join the City of Phoenix, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Audubon Society for a celebration of Urban Wildlife Conservation Day. The free community event is a chance for volunteerism, family fun, and local food. Mayor Kate Gallego will also be signing an Urban Bird Treaty (UBT) to support bird conservation.
Location: Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area, 2439 S Central Avenue. Phoenix AZ, 85004
Schedule of events:
7 a.m. – Salt River clean-up activity starts (no registration needed)
8 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Community activities
2nd Annual ‘Walk for the Wild’
Audubon Native Plant Sale
Nature Tent with fun presentations
Story Walk for kids
Community partner booths
Food trucks – Pupusas Transitenas and Kona Ice
Performances by Native American flute musician Ed Kabotie
9 a.m. – Mayor Gallego, USFWS, and Audubon Southwest sign Urban Bird Treaty
UBT partnerships work on bird habitat conservation, bird hazard reduction, and community engagement in bird-related conservation, education, science, and recreation, especially for diverse and underserved communities. The partnerships provide these communities with opportunities to connect with nature through bird related activities.
Phoenix is known for its sprawling structure, diverse neighborhoods, and unique landscape. Over 300 bird species are known to breed in Arizona and many of them face a tenuous future due to water uncertainties and climate shifts.
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Ohio Elections Chief Announces New Public Integrity Unit
Ohio Elections Chief Announces New Public Integrity Unit https://digitalarizonanews.com/ohio-elections-chief-announces-new-public-integrity-unit/
Published Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022 | 2:27 p.m.
Updated 18 minutes ago
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s Republican elections chief on Wednesday announced a new public integrity unit in response to what he called Americans’ “crisis of confidence” in the electoral process even while acknowledging the state’s reputation for secure voting.
The unit, taking effect next week, will consolidate and highlight the Ohio secretary of state’s investigative work and eventually have one or more dedicated investigator, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a statement. Those investigators won’t start until after the General Election, however.
He referenced a growing national trend “that indicates a crisis of confidence in the electoral process.”
That crisis is largely a concern of Republican voters and stems from lies told by former President Donald Trump about election fraud in the campaign won by Joe Biden.
Numerous federal and local election officials in both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even Trump’s own attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the election fraud the former president alleges.
For his part, LaRose initially said the 2020 election was secure and accurate, but as last spring’s primary neared — which LaRose won, defeating a 2020 election skeptic — he began to echo some of Trump’s talking points.
LaRose claimed there were problems in other states and touted his office’s work to combat voter fraud. Trump endorsed LaRose, a longtime supporter.
LaRose said his new division will help his office more efficiently and thoroughly do work it already does, such as voting system certification and investigation of election law violations, including a team dedicated at looking into rare cases of voter fraud or suppression and campaign finance violations, said LaRose, who is seeking a second term in November.
“Our elections are being scrutinized like never before, and any lack of absolute confidence in the accuracy and honesty of those elections weakens the very foundation of our democracy,” LaRose said in a statement.
He also referred to Ohio’s “strong national reputation for secure, accurate, and accessible elections.”
LaRose’s announcement follows a decision in Florida in which lawmakers and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis created a police force dedicated to pursuing voter fraud and other election crimes.
Democrats called LaRose’s news a waste of taxpayer dollars aimed at bolstering his political aspirations. LaRose’s name is often mentioned as a possible 2024 U.S. Senate candidate.
In a referral of 11 individuals for possible election fraud in August, LaRose identified just a single case of possible illegal voting, said party spokesperson Matt Keyes, making the new office “a taxpayer-funded solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
In fact, in a series of referrals since 2019, LaRose identified at least 548 cases of potential election fraud violations it referred to prosecutors, his office said. LaRose has acknowledged that cases of election fraud are a tiny fraction of overall votes cast in Ohio.
Chelsea Clark, LaRose’s Democratic opponent, questioned the timing of the announcement. She also noted LaRose’s efforts to keep his other opponent, independent candidate Terpeshore Maras, off the ballot. Clark called out LaRose for a “history of politicizing these investigations to punish opponents.”
Maras is a conservative podcaster who embraces Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. Last month, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled her eligible to run for Ohio secretary of state this fall.
In August, LaRose’s office had upheld a judge’s decision that a number of Maras’ petition signatures were invalid, and invalidated her candidacy, a move overturned by the state Supreme Court.
Maras dismissed the move as pre-election posturing.
If elected, she wouldn’t need such a unit, because “everyone employed in our office already has some delegated part in ensuring each Ohioan has a single secure vote that is properly counted – nothing more and nothing less,” Maras said.
___
Associated Press writer Kantele Franko in Columbus contributed to this report.
___
This story was first published on October 5, 2022. It was updated on October 6, 2022 to make clear that since 2019, the Secretary of State’s office identified at least 548 cases of potential election fraud violations that it referred to prosecutors.
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Obituary: Floyd Joseph Kuhn https://digitalarizonanews.com/obituary-floyd-joseph-kuhn/
Floyd Joseph Kuhn passed away peacefully at home with his wife, Linda, by his side on September 29, 2022. His cause of death was lung cancer. He was born August 4, 1938 in Garrison, ND to Elizabeth Fix Peterson and Fred Gohl. He was adopted at age six by Annie (Fix) and Joseph Kuhn in Stanton, ND. Floyd married Linda Boehrnsen on Thursday, April 26, 1962 in Dickinson, ND. They moved to Bozeman, MT in June of 1963 and have lived there since.
Floyd spent two summers during his high school years working on the George Antonsen Ranch west of Bozeman. He then served in the U.S. Marine Corps from Nov. 1957 to Nov. 1960. He worked for Husky Oil until he moved to Bozeman. Floyd then worked for Ivan Richardson at East End Chevron, Lowell Klatt at Klatt’s Conoco, and then spent 1971 through retirement in 1999 with Western Telecommunications, Inc.
Floyd was an outdoor man enjoying hunting, fishing, camping, agate hunting, gardening, and bowling. He was a former member of the Elks Club, and in later years was a member of and worked at the Bozeman Senior Center.
He is survived by his wife, Linda; daughters, Lynelle Sing (Sid) of Florida and Shelly McMullen (Joey) of Bozeman; son, David Kuhn of Belgrade, MT; four grandchildren, Chase Haggberg (Steph) of Tucson, AZ, Rich McMullen (Whitney) of Tallahassee, FL, Alyssa (Wacy) Slaugh of Vernal, UT, and Jenna McMullen (Josh Bennington) of Bozeman; and five great-grandchildren, Liam and Crew Haggberg of Tucson, AZ, Eleanor and Maeve McMullen of Tallahassee, FL, and Paislee Slaugh of Vernal, UT. A great-grandson, Bennington, will arrive later this month. His siblings include numerous brothers and sisters from both his birth and adoptive families.
Floyd was preceded in death by his grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles.
He requested cremation and no services except a Celebration of Life at the Bozeman Lodge on Saturday, October 15 from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M., where beverages and dessert will be served.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Bozeman Senior Center or Enhabit Hospice.
Arrangements are in the care of Dokken-Nelson Funeral Service. www.dokkennelson.com [dokkennelson.com]
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Fashion Square Mall Renovations Possible Flight Path Changes
🌱 Fashion Square Mall Renovations + Possible Flight Path Changes https://digitalarizonanews.com/%f0%9f%8c%b1-fashion-square-mall-renovations-possible-flight-path-changes/
Good morning, everybody! I’m back with your fresh copy of the Scottsdale Daily. Here are all the most important things to know about what’s happening locally.
But first, today’s weather:
A stray afternoon t-storm. High: 92 Low: 72.
Find out what’s happening in Scottsdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Here are the top three stories today in Scottsdale:
Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall will be undergoing another renovation. This time, the mall’s interior and exterior will be getting an upgrade. The renovations are focused on the south wing of the mall. The upgrades will expand the luxury wing’s valet service, restaurant options, and retail space. Click the following link for the project’s renderings. (ABC15)
The Scottsdale Police Department is currently searching for two female suspects that robbed a man with Down syndrome. The incident occurred near 90th Street and Shea Boulevard on Sept. 25. The two women stole the man’s wallet and cleared out his entire account using Square. The victim’s bank refunded the money. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact the department. (AZ Family)
Scottsdale’s new Coyotes stadium is disrupting flight patterns in the city. Some residents were notified of the changes through a flyer in their mailbox. The residents were shocked to discover that their homes might be in a flight path soon. The paths will send low-flying aircraft over the residents’ homes. (ABC15)
Patch deal of the day:
Find out what’s happening in Scottsdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Wine lover alert. We found this amazing deal from Splash Wines — an 18-bottle curated selection of reds and whites for fall — for just $69.99. Shipping isn’t cheap at $39.95, but that still comes out to just over $6 per bottle. Splash Wines has a money-back guarantee if you don’t like the wine and 4.6 out of 5 rating on TrustPilot. So: recommended.
(The Patch Deals team scours the web for deals we think our subscribers will like. We may earn a commission on products purchased. All promotions are as of publication and could change.)
Today in Scottsdale:
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical JR. At Desert Stages Theatre (7:30 PM)
Flamenco Intimo At Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (8:00 PM)
From my notebook:
Is the current housing market making you feel a little overwhelmed? Consider this list of the latest properties in the Scottsdale area to hit the market. Click to view the full list of properties that includes prices, photos, and property dimensions. (Scottsdale Patch)
The Halloween Spook-Trackula will be at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park through Oct. 31. Click to get tickets today! (McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park via Facebook)
The City of Scottsdale is currently hiring. Click to view the complete list of open positions and apply today. (City of Scottsdale)
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Alrighty, you’re all good for today! I’ll catch up with you bright and early tomorrow morning with a new update.
— Helen Eckhard
About me: Helen Eckhard is a marketing assistant at Lightning Media Partners. She is a self-professed logophile who is currently pursuing her master’s degree in library science. Outside of work, you can find Helen constructing crossword puzzles, knitting, or devising increasingly crafty ways to kill off characters in her mystery novels.
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Deadly Loophole? Semi-Truck Crash Highlights Gap In CDL Oversight
Deadly Loophole? Semi-Truck Crash Highlights Gap In CDL Oversight https://digitalarizonanews.com/deadly-loophole-semi-truck-crash-highlights-gap-in-cdl-oversight/
CHANDLER, AZ — August 29, 2018 is the anniversary that Howard and Pearl Frankel never want to celebrate but would never dare to miss.
It’s the day their daughter, Kimberly, and two young grandchildren, Solomon, 5, and Tova, 3, were killed in a crash after a semi-truck veered across both directions of traffic on Interstate 10 and incinerated their car.
“I was on the floor screaming,” said Pearl, of the day it happened. “I didn’t want to live. I kept saying, should have been me, should have been me, not them. Should have been me.”
What makes it worse: The truck’s driver never should have been behind the wheel.
How was a semi-truck driver with a history of seizures able to use CDL license? Dave Biscobing looks into this crash and its further implications, tonight on ABC15 tonight at 10.
“Would you like to be on the road and have somebody come at you who shouldn’t be in a vehicle and kill you or a family member,” Howard told ABC15 in a joint interview with his wife. “He’s a bomb who’s going to blow somebody up.”
Records show the driver was Bradley Cooley — a man with a history of seizures – who’s now accused of forging documents about his health history to keep his Commercial Driver’s License or CDL.
The Frankels believe the case highlights a gap in state and federal oversight of CDLs.
People with epilepsy are generally prohibited from holding a CDL, which is considerably more restrictive than a regular driver’s license. But in Arizona — and most other states — drivers are expected to self-report if they’ve had a seizure. Doctors and other medical professionals are not required to notify transportation officials.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, only six states have mandatory reporting laws for physicians.
When asked if that’s enough oversight in Arizona, both Frankel’s answered at the same time, “More has to be done.”
Cooley is facing three criminal charges for allegedly forging multiple documents to keep his CDL over the years, court records show.
But he is not facing charges specifically for the deadly crash.
A judge denied a Department of Public Safety search warrant following the crash, records show. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office also didn’t have enough evidence to prove Cooley suffered a seizure before the crash.
“The judge determined that the evidence presented did not provide probable cause to support the warrant, so it was not issued,” according to a statement from MCAO. “There is no way to know if the warrant would have provided any additional evidence to support other criminal charges, so it is not possible to answer your question about whether this decision hampered MCAO’s ability to file other charges.”
The criminal charges Cooley is now facing were not filed until 2021.
That’s because of the persistence and pressure from the Frankels. The couple obtained Cooley’s medical records and CDL applications through a civil lawsuit and presented them to prosecutors.
MCAO didn’t directly answer an emailed question from ABC15 about whether there would be a case without the Frankels providing the evidence.
But the office acknowledged the couple’s effort in their statement.
“This family’s loss is unimaginable, and they have understandably worked very hard to do everything they could to ensure there would be accountability,” the statement said.
This is a mediation memo filed in the Frankel’s civil lawsuit. It outlines the couple’s position and evidence in the case.
ABC15 reviewed the medical records obtained by the Frankels.
The documents show that on multiple occasions Cooley denied having seizures or epilepsy during medical evaluations to keep his CDL and didn’t list anti-seizure medications he was prescribed and taking.
Cooley’s defense attorney did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.
But during a settlement conference in August, Cooley said that he “didn’t know what happened that day.”
He also said that he wants to try and get his CDL back.
“At some point in time, yes,” Cooley said. “That’s what I’ve done my whole life.”
The Frankels believe his answer is exactly why “more needs to be done.” They believe medical professionals should be required to notify officials when a patient has epilepsy.
“So it doesn’t happen to another family,” Pearl Frankel said. “So they don’t go through what we went through. What we are still going through.”
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Over 160 Ranked Wrestlers Are Headed To Super 32 FloWrestling
Over 160 Ranked Wrestlers Are Headed To Super 32 – FloWrestling https://digitalarizonanews.com/over-160-ranked-wrestlers-are-headed-to-super-32-flowrestling/
Super 32 is a little over a week away, and this year’s field is as deep as ever. Eight different #1 ranked wrestlers will be in action, and six different weights will have both #1 and #2. Check out the full list of top-twenty ranked wrestlers below which includes over 160 ranked athletes.
106 – #1 Christian Castillo, Valiant College Prep, AZ
106 – #2 Jayden Raney, Union County High School, KY
106 – #3 Seth Mendoza, Mt. Carmel High School, IL
106 – #7 Keanu Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic, PA
106 – #8 Aaron SEIDEL, Northern Lebanon, PA
106 – #12 Tyler Dekraker, Blair Academy, VA
106 – #14 Abram Cline, Granite Hills High School, CA
106 – #15 Matthew Dolan, Spring Mills High School, WV
106 – #17 Davis Motyka, Wyoming Seminary, PA
106 – #18 Rocklin Zinkin, Buchanan High School, CA
106 – #19 Lincoln Sledzianowski, Bishop McCort, PA
106 – #20 Carter Pearson, Southeast Polk High School, IA
113 – #1 Anthony Knox, SJV, NJ
113 – #2 Bo Bassett, Bishop McCort, PA
113 – #7 Nathan Desmond, Bethlehem catholic, PA
113 – #10 (120) Leo DeLuca, Blair Academy, NJ
113 – #11 Brandon Morvari, Simley High School, MN
113 – #12 Moses Mendoza, Gilroy High, CA
113 – #13 Nathan Carrillo, St. John Bosco High School, CA
113 – #14 Edwin Sierra, Poway, CA
113 – #15 Sebastian Degennaro, Jensen Beach High School, FL
113 – #16 Louie Gill, Reynolds, PA
113 – #17 Dru Ayala, Fort Dodge Senior High School, IA
113 – #18 Jake Knight, Bettendorf High School, IA
113 – #20 (120) Adrian DeJesus, DePaul, NJ
120 – #1 Jax Forrest, Bishop McCort, PA
120 – #2 Luke Lilledahl, Wyoming Seminary, MO
120 – #3 Alan Koehler, Prior Lake, MN
120 – #4 Kale Petersen, Green County, IA
120 – #5 Marcus Blaze, Perrysburg High school, OH
120 – #6 Gauge Botero, Faith Christian Academy, PA
120 – #7 Jake Crapps, Cass High School, GA
120 – #8 Vinny Kilkeary, Greater Latrobe, PA
120 – #11 Jordyn Raney, Union County High School, KY
120 – #12 Cooper Hilton, Apex, TN
120 – #14 Draegen Orine, Wyoming Seminary, MO
120 – #16 Noah Nininger, Staunton River High School, VA
120 – #17 Jackson Blum, Lowell, MI
126 – #1 Nathanael Jesuroga, Southeast Polk High School, IA
126 – #2 Benjamin Davino, St Charles East, IL
126 – #4 Caden Horwath, Davison High SChool, MI
126 – #5 Mason Gibson, Bishop McCort, PA
126 – #6 Braeden Davis, Dundee High School, MI
126 – #7 Luke Stanich, Roxbury, NJ
126 – #8 Aden Valencia, Ann Sobrato High School, CA
126 – #9 Tyler Knox, St. Johns Prep, MA
126 – #12 Drew Gorman, Buford HS, GA
126 – #14 Max Gallagher, Bayport Blue Point, NY
126 – #15 Drew Heethuis, Detroit Catholic Central, MI
126 – #16 JJ McComas, Stillwater High School, OK
126 – #17 Dillon Campbell, Legacy Christian Academy, OH
126 – #19 Adrian Meza, Valiant College Prep, AZ
126 – #20 Logan Frazier, Crown Point HS, IN
132 – #1 Nasir Bailey, Rich Township High School, IL
132 – #2 Sergio Lemley, Mount Carmel, IN
132 – #4 Cael Hughes, Stillwater High School, OK
132 – #5 Grigor Cholakyan, St. John Bosco, CA
132 – #6 Kyler Larkin, Valiant College Preparatory, AZ
132 – #7 Brock Mantanona, Palm Desert High School, CA
132 – #8 Maddox Shaw, Thomas Jefferson High School, PA
132 – #9 Vincent Robinson, Home wood Flossmoor, IL
132 – #10 Alessandro Nini, Christian Brothers Academy, NJ
132 – #12 Dalton Perry, Central mountain, PA
132 – #13 Landon Robideau, STMA, MN
132 – #14 Zan Fugitt, Nixa, MO
132 – #15 Tyson Charmoli, St. Francis High School, MN
132 – #16 Omar Ayoub, Dublin Coffman, OH
132 – #17 Daniel Zepeda, Gilroy High, CA
132 – #18 Jaxon Joy, Wadsworth, OH
132 – #19 (113) Brogan Tucker, St Paris Graham, OH
132 – #19 (138) Dario Lemus, Clovis, CA
132 – #19 Greyson Clark, Kaukauna High School, WI
132 – #20 (138) Luke Simcox, Central Mountain, PA
138 – #1 Ryder Block, Waverly Shell Rock, IA
138 – #2 PJ Duke, Minisink Valley, NY
138 – #5 Pierson Manville, State College Area High School, PA
138 – #6 Kollin Rath, Bethlehem Catholic, PA
138 – #7 Vince Bouzakis, Team Greco, PA
138 – #8 Eligh Rivera, Lake Highland Prep (LHP), FL
138 – #9 Anthony Evanitsky, Wyoming Area, PA
138 – #12 Cameron Catrabone, Williamsville North, NY
138 – #13 Julian George, Christian Brothers Academy, NJ
138 – #15 Gabriel Bouyssou, Scituate, RI
138 – #16 Logan Paradice, Baylor, GA
138 – #18 Carter McCallister, Rock Bridge High School, MO
145 – #3 Mac Church, Waynesburg, PA
145 – #5 Koy Buesgens, New Prague, MN
145 – #6 Joel Adams, Millard South High School, NE
145 – #7 Dylan Gilcher, Detroit Catholic Central, MI
145 – #9 Collin Gaj, Quakertown, PA
145 – #10 Sam Cartella, Western Reserve Academy, OH
145 – #11 Cooper Haase, Osceola High School, FL
145 – #13 (152) Kael Voinovich, Stillwater High School, OK
145 – #13 WESTON DALTON, Pueblo East High School, CO
145 – #14 Cross Wasilewski, Delbarton, NJ
145 – #16 Leo Contino, Buchanan high school, CA
145 – #17 Jeremiah Price, Surry Central High School, NC
145 – #19 Casper Stewart, Batavia, NY
145 – #19 (152) Kody Routledge, Edmond North, OK
145 – #20 ETHAN MOJENA, LAKE HIGHLAND PREP, FL
145 – #18 Q’Veli Quintanilla, University High School, WA
152 – #2 LaDarion Lockett, Stillwater High School, OK
152 – #6 Alessio Perentin, Delbarton, NJ
152 – #7 Latrell Schafer, Veterans High school, GA
152 – #8 Ty Watters, West Allegheny high school, PA
152 – #9 Zach Hanson, Lakeville North, MN
152 – #16 Laird Root, Poway, CA
152 – #18 Jacob Bostelman, Ponderosa High School, CO
152 – #20 Keagan Judd, Sherando, VA
152 – #17 Max Norman, Dobyns-Bennett, TN
152 – #12 Nick Kunstek, Blair academy, PA
160 – #3 Nicco Ruiz, St John Bosco, CA
160 – #5 Joey Blaze, Perrysburg High school, OH
160 – #9 Andrew Christie, Bishop McDevitt, PA
160 – #11 Noah Torgerson, STMA, MN
160 – #12 Dominic Frontino, Shippensburg, PA
160 – #13 Zane Licht, Lodi High School, WI
160 – #14 Carter Schubert, Wyoming Seminary, NY
160 – #19 Shawn Taylor, West Allegheny, PA
160 – #10 Ethan Birden, Dublin Coffman High School, OH
160 – #2 Joseph Sealey, Wyoming Seminary, FL
160 – #16 Max Magayna, Columbus Catholic, IA
170 – #1 Rocco WELSH, waynesburg central, PA
170 – #4 Louie Cerchio, Delbarton, NJ
170 – #5 Lucas Condon, Poway High School, CA
170 – #6 Noah Mulvaney, Arrowhead, WI
170 – #8 Harvey Ludington, Brick Memorial High School, NJ
170 – #9 Daschle Lamer, Crescent Valley, OR
170 – #12 Bryce Burkett, Watertown-Mayer, MN
170 – #13 Jed Wester, STMA, MN
170 – #16 Dylan Newsome, Bishop Hartley, OH
170 – #17 Chris Moore, Mchenry, IL
170 – #20 (182) Adam Waters, Faith Christian Academy, PA
170 – #20 Grant MacKay, Laurel, PA
170 – #19 Dominic Federici, Wyoming Seminary, PA
182 – #1 Brayden Thompson, Lockport High School, IL
182 – #5 AJ Heeg, Stillwater, OK
182 – #6 Tate Naaktgeboren, Linn-Mar High School, IA
182 – #7 Ryder Rogotzke, Stillwater,MN, MN
182 – #9 Orlando Cruz, Crown Point High School, IN
182 – #12 Justin Rademacher, West Linn, OR
182 – #13 Matthew Furman, Canon McMillan, PA
182 – #16 Diego Costa, Yucaipa HS, CA
182 – #17 Cole Han-Lindemyer, Farmington High School, MN
182 – #18 Kingsley Menifee, Fauquier High School, VA
182 – #19 CJ Walrath, Burlington Notre Dame, IA
182 – #8 Timothy McDonnell, Fountain Valley High School, CA
182 – #4 Gabe Arnold, Iowa City High, IA
195 – #3 Aeoden Sinclair, Milton High School, WI
195 – #4 Jude Correa, Wyoming Seminary, NH
195 – #6 Camden McDanel, Teays Valley High School, OH
195 – #7 Rune Lawrence, Frazier, PA
195 – #8 Remy Cotton, Davison, MI
195 – #10 Michael Dellagatta, St. Joes Montvale, NJ, NJ
195 – #12 Dreshaun Ross, Fort dodge senior high, IA
195 – #13 Vincenzo Lavalle, Edge, NJ
195 – #15 Brian Burburija, Countryside High School, FL
195 – #16 Soren Herzog, Simley High School, MN
195 – #20 Joey Novak, New Prague, MN
220 – #5 Hayden Walters, Oregon, OR
220 – #10 Dylan Russo, Olentangy Liberty High School, OH
220 – #19 Nicholas Sahakian, St John Bosco High School, CA
220 – #20 Mark Marin, Clovis High School, CA
285 – #4 Aden Attao, Borah High School, ID
285 – #6 Parker Ferrell, Christiansburg High School, VA
285 – #7 Matthew Moore, Mesa Ridge, CO
285 – #9 Max Acciardi, Paramus catholic, NJ
285 – #16 Aidan Fockler, Massillon Perry High School, OH
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High School Basketball: Bishop Gorman Duncanville Centennial Cardinal Hayes IMG Academy And AZ Compass Prep Headline 10th Annual Hoophall West MaxPreps
High School Basketball: Bishop Gorman, Duncanville, Centennial, Cardinal Hayes, IMG Academy And AZ Compass Prep Headline 10th Annual Hoophall West – MaxPreps https://digitalarizonanews.com/high-school-basketball-bishop-gorman-duncanville-centennial-cardinal-hayes-img-academy-and-az-compass-prep-headline-10th-annual-hoophall-west-maxpreps/
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the field for the 2022 Hoophall West on Thursday. The 10th edition of the event is set to be held from Wednesday, Dec. 7 through Saturday Dec. 10 at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Top matchups include Cardinal Hayes (Bronx, N.Y.) vs. Duncanville (Texas) on Thursday, IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) vs. Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.), AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) vs. Wasatch Academy (Mt. Pleasant, Utah) and Cardinal Hayes vs. Perry (Gilbert, Ariz.) on Friday and Centennial (Corona, Calif.) vs. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), IMG Academy vs. AZ Compass Prep and Wasatch Academy vs. Long Island Lutheran on Saturday.
Additional top 50 prospects expected to be featured include Mikey Williams of San Ysidro, Cody Williams of Perry, Jared McCain of Centennial, Khani Rooths, Jamier Jones and Amari Allen of IMG Academy, Mercy Miller and Dusty Stromer of Notre Dame, Rayvon Griffith of AZ Compass Prep, K.J. Lewis of Duncanville, John Mobley Jr., Jason Richardson and Chris Nwuli of Bishop Gorman, Treyvon Maddox of Gray Collegiate Academy (West Columbia, S.C.) and Tee Bartlett of Coronado (Henderson, Nev.).
In total, teams from nine states will participate in Hoophall West this season. Arizona participants are joined by teams from California, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New York, South Carolina and Utah.
Check out the full schedule listed below:
Photo: Darin Sicurello
Five-star Oregon pledge Mookie Cook and AZ Compass Prep will be among the teams to watch at Hoophall West.
Wednesday, Dec. 7 (Girls)
Thursday, Dec. 8
7 p.m. — Cardinal Hayes vs. Duncanville
Friday, Dec. 9
4:30 p.m. — IMG Academy vs. Long Island Lutheran
6 p.m. — AZ Compass Prep vs. Wasatch Academy
7:30 p.m. — Brophy College Prep vs. St. Mary’s
9 p.m. — Cardinal Hayes vs. Perry
Saturday, Dec. 10
3 p.m. — Long Island Lutheran vs. Wasatch Academy
4:30 p.m. — Bishop Gorman vs. Centennial
6 p.m. — AZ Compass Prep vs. IMG Academy
8 p.m. — Perry vs. San Ysidro
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Hunter Biden Could Be Charged With Tax Crimes https://digitalarizonanews.com/hunter-biden-could-be-charged-with-tax-crimes/
Hunter Biden in South Carolina on 13 August
The FBI has gathered enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and making a false statement to buy a gun, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
President Joe Biden’s son has been under federal investigation since 2018.
The decision on whether to file criminal charges now rests with the US Attorney in Delaware.
A lawyer for Hunter said he had not been contacted by federal agents. He has repeatedly denied breaking the law.
The US Department of Justice has declined to comment.
According to the Washington Post, federal agents began investigating Mr Biden in 2018, and initially centred on finances related to his overseas businesses and consulting.
Over time, the investigation began to focus on whether he properly reported his income and made false statements on paperwork used to purchase a firearm in 2018.
In a statement sent to CBS, a lawyer for the president’s son said that he expected the Department of Justice to “diligently investigate and prosecute” those who leaked information about the investigation.
“As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defence,” the statement from lawyer Chris Clark said.
“That is the job of the prosecutors. They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticised for doing their job.”
Mr Clark added that he has had no contact “whatsoever” with any federal investigators. He said any information from agents, which was cited by the Washington Post which first reported the story, was “inherently biased, one-sided, and inaccurate”.
Hunter Biden has long been a target of scrutiny by former President Donald Trump and his political allies, who have alleged that his business dealings in China and Ukraine indicate a pattern of corruption.
While the younger Biden has admitted to a troubled life and a previous “massive drug addiction”, both he and President Biden have denied that he engaged in illegal activity.
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