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Zelensky Says Russian Retreat Shows Annexation Is A ‘Farce’ https://digitalarizonanews.com/zelensky-says-russian-retreat-shows-annexation-is-a-farce/ Image A photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service of President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday in Kyiv.Credit…Ukrainian Presidential Press Service, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine quickly sought to capitalize politically on the Russian retreat from the crucial rail hub of Lyman, saying that it showed that Moscow’s attempt to illegally annex much of the country was an “absolute farce.” On Friday, after Russian-appointed officials held discredited referendums in four partially occupied areas of Ukraine, the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, announced that the areas, including Donetsk Province, where Lyman is, would be absorbed into Russia and that its people would be Russian citizens “forever.” Mr. Putin claimed the residents in those provinces had voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation, but Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed the referendums as shams, as most of the citizens had fled the region and many of those left behind were forced to cast ballots at gunpoint. In his nightly address on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said Moscow’s propagandists had filmed a “pseudo-referendum” in Donbas — the mineral-rich region that includes Donetsk and Luhansk, and that Russia now claims to control. “Russia has staged a farce in Donbas. An absolute farce, which it wanted to present as an alleged referendum,” he said, adding that “now a Ukrainian flag is there.” He then vowed that there would be more Ukrainian flags flying over the Donbas during the coming week as Kyiv’s counteroffensive inches forward. “Our flag will be everywhere,” he said. There was no public comment on Saturday from Mr. Putin or his spokesman about the Russian army’s retreat, even as pro-war commentators and two of Mr. Putin’s closest allies sharply criticized the Defense Ministry for retreating from the city. The spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, told the Russian state news agency Tass that the troops in Lyman had made a tactical retreat to avoid being encircled and trapped. He said the Ukrainian forces had “significant superiority” in numbers and the Russians had withdrawn “to more advantageous lines.” Image A Ukrainian military truck near Lyman, Ukraine, on Tuesday.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times Russia’s retreat from Lyman on Saturday leaves its troops in the country’s east in an increasingly perilous position. The battle for the town was a continuation of Ukraine’s northeastern offensive in September, which routed Russian forces from cities, towns and dozens of villages and recaptured more than a thousand square miles of territory in the Kharkiv region. The lightning victory there severed most supply lines to Lyman, where Russian forces relied on a north-south rail line that is now mostly under Ukrainian control. With a prewar population of around 20,000 people, Lyman sits on the northeastern banks of the Siversky Donets, a meandering river that has served as a natural division between Russian and Ukrainian front lines since Russian forces captured the city in May. Now that Ukrainian forces have retaken the city, they will have a solid foothold on the northeastern side of the river that they can use to advance farther east, applying pressure on the Russian front lines that formed following their recent defeats around Kharkiv. The battle for Lyman was hard fought. In recent days and weeks Ukrainian forces closed in from the south and west. With bridges across the Siversky Donets under frequent shelling, Ukraine relied on boats to move troops and casualties to and away from the front. Dense forest near Lyman proved a confusing nightmare for both sides. Initially, recapturing the city was thought to be easy, according to Ukrainian commanders, but as days turned to weeks, Russian forces reinforced Lyman with troops that had fled from Kharkiv and elsewhere in Ukraine’s east, known as the Donbas. On Saturday, Russian authorities said its forces had retreated to a more advantageous position, effectively surrendering the town. Seizing the mineral-rich Donbas region for Russia has been one of President Vladimir V. Putin’s primary war aims since his forces invaded Ukraine in February. On Friday, he announced the official annexation of four regions in Ukraine — including the entirety of the Donbas and the two Kremlin-backed breakaway republics there that were formed in 2014. Mr. Putin has claimed that any attack on the annexed territory would amount to an attack on Russia, and he has threatened to escalate the war further, potentially with nuclear weapons. Natalia Yermak contributed reporting. The State of the War Annexation Push: After Moscow’s proxies conducted a series of sham referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk, President Vladimir V. Putin declared the four territories to be part of Russia. Western leaders, including President Biden in the United States, denounced the annexation as illegal. Retreat From Key City: Russian forces withdrew from the strategically important city of Lyman, in Donetsk Province, on Oct. 1. The retreat was a significant setback for Moscow, coming just a day after Mr. Putin declared the region to be Russian territory. U.S. Military Aid: The Pentagon seems to be preparing to overhaul how the United States and its allies train and equip the Ukrainian military, reflecting what officials say is the Biden administration’s long-term commitment to supporting Ukraine in the war. Russia’s Draft: The Kremlin has acknowledged that its new military draft is rife with problems, as protests have erupted across Russia, recruitment centers have been attacked and thousands of men have left the country. Image The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in August. The plant was taken by Russian forces in March but is run by Ukrainian engineers.Credit…David Guttenfelder for The New York Times The head of the United Nations’ nuclear agency called on Saturday for the release of the director general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, who has been detained by Russia, saying that his detention has “a very significant impact” on the safety of the Russian-controlled facility. The director general, Ihor Murashov, is responsible for nuclear and radiation safety, according to Energoatom, the Ukrainian national energy company. At around 4 p.m. Friday, a car carrying Mr. Murashov was stopped on the road leading to the plant, and he was blindfolded and taken to an unknown location, the company said. The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael M. Grossi, said in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Murashov’s detention “has an immediate and serious impact on decision-making in ensuring the safety and security of the plant.” The sudden arrest also put a psychological strain on the rest of the plant’s staff, he added. The nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, was seized by Russian forces in March but is run by Ukrainian engineers. Fighting nearby has raised international concern about an accident. Shelling has at times caused the plant to be disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid, which Ukraine’s energy minister has said put critical cooling systems at risk of relying solely on emergency backup power. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called in a statement for Russia to immediately release Mr. Murashov and urged the U.N. nuclear agency to take “decisive measures.” The I.A.E.A. has had two inspectors at the plant since September. It said in a statement on Friday that there had been a series of land mine explosions near the plant in recent days that was jeopardizing safety and security at the facility. The latest blast, the sixth reported in a week, damaged a low-voltage cable outside the fence perimeter, according to the agency. The explosion was close to a nitrogen-oxygen facility and indirectly damaged a voltage transformer at one of the reactors, the statement said. Earlier in the week, the agency said that the land mines appeared to have been set off by animals. Ukrainian and Russian military forces have accused each other of using the specter of nuclear disaster in brinkmanship in the war by making attacks near the plant. Mr. Grossi has repeatedly urged the establishment of a security zone in the area. The plant is in the Zaporizhzhia region, part of the slice of eastern and southern Ukraine that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia moved to illegally annex on Friday. Ukrainian officials have noted the fatigue and stress of Ukrainian control room employees, saying that Russian soldiers had subjected them to harsh interrogations, including torture with electric shocks, suspecting them of sabotage or of informing the Ukrainian military about activities at the plant. — Erin Mendell Image President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia displayed on Friday on a screen in Moscow as he addressed the sham annexation of four regions of Ukraine.Credit…Alexander Nemenov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, top Russian officials are making explicit nuclear threats and officials in Washington are gaming out scenarios should President Vladimir V. Putin decide to use a tactical nuclear weapon to make up for the failings of Russian troops in Ukraine. In a speech on Friday, Mr. Putin raised the prospect anew, declaring again that he would use “all available means” to defend Russian territory — which he has now declared includes four provinces of eastern Ukraine. Mr. Putin reminded the world of President Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 77 years ago, adding: “By the way, they created a precedent.” Senior American officials say they think the chances that Mr. Putin would employ a nuclear weapon remain low. They s...

Death Toll Rises To 66 In Florida After Hurricane Ian Rendered Some Communities 'unrecognizable,' Officials Say | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/death-toll-rises-to-66-in-florida-after-hurricane-ian-rendered-some-communities-unrecognizable-officials-say-cnn/ 01:51 – Source: CNN Man stays in houseboat during hurricane. See where he ended up CNN  —  Days after Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida, shell-shocked residents are still assessing the damage left behind by record-high storm surge, damaging winds and catastrophic flooding that left some areas of the Sunshine State unrecognizable. At least 66 people were killed by Ian in Florida as it swallowed homes in its furious rushing waters, obliterated roadways and ripped down powerlines. Four people were also killed in storm-related incidents in North Carolina, officials say. Nearly 900,000 customers in Florida still did not have power as of early Sunday morning, according to PowerOutage.us. More than 30,000 remained without power in North Carolina. The hurricane – expected to be ranked the most expensive storm in Florida’s history – made landfall Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 and had weakened to a post-tropical cyclone by Saturday, dropping rain over parts of West Virginia and western Maryland. While sunshine has returned to Florida, many there are contending with Ian’s sobering aftermath: a power grid that may take weeks to fix, destroyed homes, damaged landmarks, and lost loves ones. The devastation stretched from Florida’s coastal towns to inland cities like Orlando, but was felt most intensely in southwestern coastal communities, like Fort Myers and Naples. Crews had rescued and evacuated more than 1,070 people from flooded areas in southwest and central Florida and transported 78 people from a flooded elderly care facility as of Saturday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said in a news release. The US Coast Guard also carried out rescues, navigating through challenging post-storm conditions, Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson told CNN. “We’re flying and we’re operating in areas that are unrecognizable,” he said. “There’s no street signs. They don’t look like they used to look like. Buildings that were once benchmarks in the community are no longer there.” Many of the Ian-related deaths have been reported in southwestern Florida’s Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, where at least 35 people died. Local officials are facing criticism about whether mandatory evacuations in Lee County should have been issued sooner. Officials there did not order evacuations until less than 24 hours before the storm made landfall, and a day after several neighboring counties issued their orders. DeSantis on Saturday defended the timing of Lee County’s orders, saying they were given as soon as the storm’s projected path shifted south, putting the area in Ian’s crosshairs. The storm’s toll in Florida also includes 12 deaths in Charlotte County, eight in Collier County, five in Volusia County, three in Sarasota County and one each in Polk, Lake and Manatee counties, according to officials. President Joe Biden continued to pledge federal support for Florida, saying Hurricane Ian is “likely to rank among the worst … in the nation’s history.” The President and first lady Jill Biden are set to travel to Puerto Rico Monday to survey damage from Hurricane Fiona, then head to Florida Wednesday, according to a statement from the White House. After Hurricane Ian finished its devastating crawl over Florida, residents emerged, surveying damaged homes, picking up debris and maneuvering waterlogged roads. The Florida National Guard was working on search and rescue missions with local authorities throughout southwest and central Florida Saturday, pulling distressed residents from flooded areas and lifting some to safety via helicopter, according to the governor. People on Sanibel and Captiva islands found themselves cut off from the mainland after parts of a causeway were destroyed by the storm, leaving boats and helicopters as their only exit options. Groups of civilian volunteers were working to help residents leave Sanibel, where aerial imagery has shown many cottages that lined the island’s shores were wiped away. Sanibel Island resident Andy Boyle was on the island when the hurricane hit. He said he lost his home and two cars, but feels lucky to be alive. “A lot of people have very expensive, well-built homes on Sanibel and they felt with their multi-million dollar homes built like fortresses, they would be fine,” Boyle said. Boyle was riding out the storm at home when the dining room roof collapsed. “That’s when we started to get concerned,” he said. He described waving down National Guard aircraft the next day outside his house, and seeing the scenes of devastation around the island. “When you go to the east end of the island, there’s just a lot of destruction. The houses surrounding the lighthouse are all gone. When you go to the west end of the island, the old restaurants up there, they’re all gone. The street going to Captiva is now a beach,” Boyle said. The US Coast Guard plans to evacuate people from Lee County’s Pine Island during daylight hours Sunday, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Residents were also evacuated from the Hidden River area of Sarasota County after a compromised levee threatened to flood homes, the sheriff’s office said Saturday. Further complicating recovery is the lack of electricity and spotty communication in impacted areas. It could take up to a week from Sunday before power is restored in storm-damaged counties, said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of Florida Power & Light Company. And some customers may not be back on the grid for “weeks or months” because some buildings with structural damage will need safety inspections. Around 65% of all power outages in Florida from the storm had been resorted as of early Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. Florida is also working with Elon Musk and Starlink satellite to help restore communication in the state, according to DeSantis. “They’re positioning those Starlink satellites to provide good coverage in Southwest Florida and other affected areas,” DeSantis said. Emergency responders in Lee County will be among those receiving Starlink devices. Fort Myers councilmember Liston Bochette told CNN the city was hit hard, with “major issues” with in the city’s water, power and sewage systems. In Charlotte County, residents are “facing a tragedy” without homes, electricity or water supplies, said Claudette Smith, public information officer for the sheriff’s office. “We need everything, to put it plain and simple. We need everything. We need all hands on deck,” Smith told CNN Friday. “The people who have come to our assistance have been tremendously helpful, but we do need everything.” Hurricane Ian may have caused as much as $47 billion in insured losses in Florida, according to an estimate from property analytics firm CoreLogic – which could make it the most expensive storm in the state’s history. After walloping Florida, Ian made its second landfall in the US near Georgetown, South Carolina, Friday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane, and began lashing the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas with ferocious wind and rainfall. In North Carolina, the four storm-related deaths include a man who drowned when his truck went into a flooded swamp; two people who died in separate crashes; and a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator in a closed garage, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office. No deaths have been reported in South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said Saturday. The storm has flooded homes and submerged vehicles along South Carolina’s shoreline. Two piers – one in Pawleys Island and another in North Myrtle Beach – partially collapsed as high winds pushed water even higher. Edgar Stephens, who manages the Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, stood yards away as a 100-foot section from the pier’s middle crashed into the ocean. Stephens said the Cherry Grove Pier is a staple for community members and tourists alike. “We’re a destination, not just a fishing pier,” Stephens said. Read More Here

Boris Johnson: The Simpsons Producer Says Former PM Is A ‘character Right For Satire’ https://digitalarizonanews.com/boris-johnson-the-simpsons-producer-says-former-pm-is-a-character-right-for-satire/ The producer of The Simpsons has called Boris Johnson a “character right for satire”. Since its debut in 1989, the long-running animated series – created by Matt Groening – has parodied many famous faces, including Donald Trump, Paul McCartney, and Tony Blair. Al Jean, one of the show’s writers and executive producers, told PA that they would have liked to feature the former prime minister in the series but that it was “too late” following his resignation. Johnson resigned in July, bringing an acrimonious end to his nearly three-year premiership. Jean said: “He was definitely a character right for satire but we had our own issues in America”. He said he remains surprised by the number of celebrities who have agreed to feature on the series. Jean added, however, that there are still a few famous people who have eluded him so far. “Many of the ones that I’d say would be a dream are never going to be on, like John Lennon or Neil Armstrong,” he said. Donald Trump in the short ‘Donald Trump’s First 100 Days In Office’ (YouTube/Animation Domination on FOX) “We had tried to get a few US presidents, not recently, and they said no so that was the sort of like the Holy Grail we never found.” Jean did not give the names of which US presidents turned down the offer. The Simpsons has been running for 33 years. During that time, the creators have aired 34 seasons. Read More Here

Polls Put Lula On Brink Of Comeback Victory Over Bolsonaro In Brazil https://digitalarizonanews.com/polls-put-lula-on-brink-of-comeback-victory-over-bolsonaro-in-brazil/ Brazil’s former leftwing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is on the brink of an astonishing political comeback, with polls suggesting he is poised to defeat his far-right rival Jair Bolsonaro in Sunday’s election. Eve of election polls suggested Lula was within a whisker of securing the overall majority of votes that would guarantee him a first-round victory against Brazil’s radical incumbent, whose calamitous Covid response, assault on the Amazon and foul-mouthed threats to democracy have alienated more than half of the population. “I’m going to win these elections so I can give the people the right to be happy again. The people need, deserve and have the right … to be happy once more,” Lula, 76, told journalists on Saturday during a visit to São Paulo – one of the election’s three key battlegrounds, alongside the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. José Roberto de Toledo, a political columnist for the news website UOL, said Lula would undoubtedly come out on top when 156 million citizens voted in what is considered Brazil’s most important election in decades. Pollsters give the leftist veteran a 14-point lead over Bolsonaro, the hardline nationalist who retains the support of about a third of voters, including many evangelical Christians and members of Brazil’s largely white social elites. But Toledo feared Lula might fall just short of the 50% required to avoid a fractious runoff against Bolsonaro on 30 October, opening the door to a month of uncertainty and political violence. “I think what’s more likely is that there will be a second round,” Toledo said, warning of “terrible” consequences if that occurred, given the wave of attacks and murders that had marred the lead-up to the election. “If there’s a second round it will be much worse than it has been thus far. It would mean four weeks of gore,” Toledo warned, adding: “I hope I’m wrong.” If Lula does prevail, it would represent a once unthinkable political resurrection for a former factory worker and union leader who became Brazil’s first working-class president in 2002. Lula stepped down after two terms in 2010 with approval ratings close to 90%. But the following decade saw the Workers’ party (PT) he helped found embroiled in a tangle of corruption scandals and accused of plunging Brazil into a brutal recession. Lula’s apparently irremediable downfall was cemented in 2018 when he was jailed on corruption charges and barred from running in that year’s election, which Bolsonaro went on to win. Lula’s 580-day imprisonment seemed a melancholy end to a fairytale life that saw him rise from rural poverty to become one of the world’s most popular leaders. But Lula was freed in late 2019 and his convictions were quashed on the grounds that he was unfairly tried by Sérgio Moro, a rightwing judge who later took a job in Bolsonaro’s cabinet. Lula, who first sought the presidency in 1989, announced his sixth presidential run in May, vowing to beat Bolsonaro by staging “the greatest peaceful revolution the world has ever seen”. A Lula victory would represent the latest in a series of triumphs for a resurgent Latin American left, which saw the ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro claim power in Colombia in June and the former student leader Gabriel Boric elected Chile’s president last December. Since 2018, leftists have taken power across the region, from Argentina to Peru and Mexico. Lula supporters are thrilled by their leader’s rebirth and his pledges to wage war on poverty and hunger in a country where 33 million people struggle to eat. During his two terms, Lula won international plaudits for using a commodities boom to bankroll welfare programmes that helped tens of millions escape poverty. “After he left power everything went to shit,” said Iracy Batista, a 58-year-old homemaker who was among thousands of supporters at a recent Lula rally in Rio. “Lula’s one of the people, just like us … All Bolsonaro knows how to do is swear at people,” agreed her friend, Clélia Maria da Silva. Environmental and Indigenous activists are hopeful that Lula, who has pledged to fight deforestation and stamp out illegal gold mining, will halt the assault on the Amazon that has unfolded under Bolsonaro. “With Bolsonaro we die, with Lula we live,” said the Indigenous rights group Opi, which was co-founded by the recently murdered activist Bruno Pereira. Such optimism is tempered by nerves over how Bolsonaro, a former soldier notorious for admiring dictators such as Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet, will react if he loses. Some fear the Trump-admiring populist could try to incite turmoil similar to the 6 January insurrection in the US. Bolsonaro has repeatedly questioned Brazil’s electronic voting system and refused to confirm whether he will accept defeat. Steven Levitsky, a Harvard University Latin America specialist and the author of How Democracies Die, said he was troubled by the possibility of violence or upheaval in the coming days and weeks. “In the US, one factor that prevented us from sliding into an even deeper crisis is that the armed forces were unambiguously not going to intervene on Trump’s behalf. I think the military will also not intervene in Brazil, but it’s less certain,” he said. Challenged over whether he was plotting a coup during a televised debate on Thursday, Bolsonaro declined to respond. He has painted the election as a battle between the upstanding Christian right and the evil and corrupt heretic left and has claimed, without evidence, that Lula will close churches if elected. Benedita da Silva, a PT congresswoman and Lula ally, said such divisive rhetoric and an explosion of fake news meant it was crucial the election be decided now. “We can’t afford to drag this out any more … Are we going to have another month of agony and all this insanity that he provokes?” she asked. “This country’s democracy is at stake … it is our duty to win on 2 October.” For all the pre-election angst, Levitsky said there was also cause for optimism over the resilience of Brazil’s young democracy, reestablished in 1985 after 21 years of military rule. “People add Brazil to the list of cases of democratic back-sliding in recent years like the Philippines and Indonesia, El Salvador, India and Hungary. But it’s not,” he said. “Brazilians elected an autocrat – maybe the most egregiously autocratic of all the autocratic leaning presidents that have been elected in recent years. But so far Brazilian democracy has held … Four years after the election of Bolsonaro, Brazilian democracy is not dead. That’s good news.” Read More Here

TRUMP ON THE STUMP: Former President Rallies In Michigan https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-on-the-stump-former-president-rallies-in-michigan/ CLICK TO HEAR COMMENTS FROM MARQUETTE GOP DOREEN TALAKO https://media.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/1906/files/2022/10/doreen.mp3 Former President Donald Trump rallied in Michigan Saturday night, trying to drum up support for Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial, attorney general, and secretary of state candidates ahead of next month’s mid-term and statewide elections. A standing-room (and sitting-room) only crowd packed into Macomb Community College’s sports arena in downstate Warren for the 102-minute long speech. Trump touted his spending for a new Soo Lock, and for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in the speech. “Without me, you wouldn’t have had that money,” Trump said. “They didn’t want to give it to you, the Democrats. We fought for Michigan. We won for Michigan. And this November, we’re going to fight and win for Michigan once again.” Trump says Michigan Republicans need to mobilize on November to “sweep these three women (Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson) the hell out of office”. The Republican candidates, Tudor Dixon for governor, Matt DePerno for attorney general, and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state, are all trailing in the polls. “Frankly, your vote is the only thing that can stop it,” the former president pleaded. “So on November 8th, Michigan patriots have to shatter every record. Because they cheat like hell, these people. They cheat like hell.” And Trump was just getting started. “You have to defy every prediction,” he said. “You have to swamp the Gretchen Whitmer and the radical Democrats with a colossal Red Republican Wave.” Trump says everything costs more under Democratic President Joe Biden, and he highlighted that as a reason to vote Republican “in every single race on the entire ticket in November”. “Since I left office, the average Michigan family is paying over $107 per month for food,” Trump said. “Think of that. Seventy-eight dollars more per month for housing. Two hundred and 75 dollars more for transportation on a monthly basis.” The former president, as he has done in multiple other appearances across the country, teased a possible 2024 presidential election run. “I ran twice, and I won twice,” Trump said, referring to his 2016 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton and his 2020 race against Joe Biden that he still believes was stolen from him through widespread fraud. “And now, we just might have to do it again! First, we need a big Republican wave in November, And then, well, I’ll just say, you’ll be really happy (with his decision on a 2024 run).” The Radio Results Network was the only Upper Peninsula reporter on hand for the event, which also included speeches from Michigan Republicans and conservative advocates. Besides RRN News, the Upper Peninsula was also represented at Saturday night’s Republican rally by Marquette County Republican Party Chair Doreen Talako. “We all need to vote red, period,” Talako said. “We need to bring people to their senses and vote for Republicans. “We need to support these (statewide) candidates both financially and get out, and go door-to-door, and make phone calls. The only way we’re going to win is if we spread the word.” “Is there anything you’d rather be doing on a late Saturday night than going to a Trump rally,” Trump asked the cheering crowd. Talako answered with a big “no”. She says she has been at 15 Trump rallies, and added: “the energy level is always extremely high. Everybody has a good time here. There’s never any problems.” Besides the photos you see here, there are many more on our Radio Results Network Facebook page. Read More Here

Obituary: Lois ‘GLo’ Newton https://digitalarizonanews.com/obituary-lois-glo-newton/ Originally Published: October 2, 2022 12:10 a.m. Lois ‘GLo’ Newton 1930 – 2022 Lois “GLo” Newton, 91 years old, passed away on September 22, 2022. She was born on December 5, 1930 in Phoenix, Arizona. Lois is survived by her five children, Traci Crowley, Vicki Biggs, Tammy Hove, Tina Nixon and John Holgate. She enjoyed her seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. GLo’s passion was her gardening. She loved all flowers and was very knowledgeable of what to plant when. Often, our neighbors would stop in front of our house and look at the beautiful display of flowers and plants. GLo loved the Community Garden in Cottonwood, Arizona where she planted flowers for all to see. Lois’ Celebration of Life Service will be held on Friday, October 7, 2022 at noon at Living Water FourSquare Church, 1380 E. Mingus Avenue, Cottonwood, Az. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Community Garden. Make donations out to Living Water FourSquare Church, P.O. Box 4210, Cottonwood, Az. 86326 or donate to The Verde Valley Humane Society, 1520 W. Mingus Avenue, Cottonwood, AZ, 86326. Information provided by the family. Read More…

Obituary: Rick Bessett https://digitalarizonanews.com/obituary-rick-bessett/ Originally Published: October 2, 2022 midnight Rick Bessett On Sunday, September 18, 2022 our sweet dad, beloved husband, brother, grandfather, and patriarch Rick Bessett passed away peacefully at his Cottonwood, Arizona, home surrounded by family. Rick never met a stranger and his giant hugs and wicked sense of humor will be missed by everyone lucky enough to meet him. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 15, 2022 in the gymnasium of St. Pius X Catholic Church, 1800 N Camino Pío Décimo, Tucson, AZ 85715. Condolences may be conveyed at buelerfuneralhome.com. Information provided by the funeral home. Read More Here

Brazil Votes In Tense Lula-Bolsonaro Presidential Contest https://digitalarizonanews.com/brazil-votes-in-tense-lula-bolsonaro-presidential-contest/ BRASILIA, BRAZIL —  Brazilians are voting Sunday in the first round of their country’s most polarized election in decades, with leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva favored to beat right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Most polls have shown Lula with a solid lead for months, but Bolsonaro signaled he may refuse to accept defeat, stoking fears of institutional crisis or post-election violence. A message projected on Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue ahead of the vote read: “Peace in the Elections.” Most opinion surveys favor Lula, who was president from 2003-10, by 10-15 percentage points. If he wins more than 50% of valid votes, which several pollsters show within reach, that would clinch an outright victory, foregoing a second-round vote. A winner could be announced within hours after polling stations close at 5 p.m. Brasilia time (2000 GMT). If no candidate wins more than half of the votes, excluding blank and spoiled ballots, the top two finishers go to an Oct. 30 run-off, prolonging the tense campaign season. Bolsonaro has threatened to contest the result of the vote, after making baseless allegations of fraud, accusing electoral authorities of plotting against him and suggesting the military should conduct a parallel tally, which they declined to do. A decisive victory by Lula on Sunday could reduce the odds of a tumultuous transition. Critics of Bolsonaro say another month of his attacks on the democratic process could spur social unrest like the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Bolsonaro says he will respect the election result if voting is “clean and transparent,” without defining any criteria. Brazilians are also voting on Sunday for all 513 members of the lower chamber of Congress, a third of the 81 members of the Senate and state governors and legislatures. Though Lula leads the presidential race, the conservative coalition backing Bolsonaro is expected to hold a majority in both chambers of Congress. That could present challenges for the leftist to govern a country with rising hunger, high unemployment and an uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lula and Bolsonaro have both promised more generous welfare spending next year, adding to pressure on the federal budget and leading both to look at alternatives to current spending rules. The newly established autonomy of Brazil’s central bank and Lula’s choice of a centrist former rival as running mate have reassured some investors that he would not trigger a disruptive break in economic policy. Lula has vowed to make a sharp departure from Bolsonaro’s environmental policies after deforestation in the Amazon rainforest hit a 15-year high. Lula has pledged to combat logging, step up protection of the biome and local tribes, and make Brazil a protagonist in climate diplomacy. As in past elections, Brazil’s military has been mobilized to heighten security at some 477,000 polling stations, using electronic voting machines that allow for swift tabulation of results by the national electoral authority (TSE). Following Bolsonaro’s criticisms of Brazil’s voting systems, the TSE invited a record number of foreign election observers, including first-time missions from U.S. observers at the Carter Center and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). Read More Here

News Live: Telangana CM KCR Unveils Mahatma Gandhi Statue At Gandhi Hospital In Hyderabad https://digitalarizonanews.com/news-live-telangana-cm-kcr-unveils-mahatma-gandhi-statue-at-gandhi-hospital-in-hyderabad/ Home National News Live: Telangana CM KCR unveils Mahatma Gandhi statue at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad updated: Oct 02 2022, 13:10 ist Track live news updates from India and from the rest of the world right here with DH. 13:09 Congress has become only a brother-sister party: JP Nadda Nation is paramount for us. At the same time, if it has the ability to take local aspirations along, it is in the Bharatiya Janata Party and no other party is like it. All parties have shrunk, Congress has become only a brother-sister party.We are fortunate that we are the biggest party in the world. BJP is a party of ideas, we did not change colors for the chair. Our aim is- Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and everyone’s effort. 12:40 One terrorist killed in the encounter that started at the Baskuchan area of Shopian, Kashmir One terrorist killed in the encounter that started at the Baskuchan area of Shopian. Search operation going on. Further details shall follow.Killed terrorist identified as Naseer Ahmad Bhat of Nowpora Baskuchan Shopian, linked with LeT terror outfit. Incriminating materials, arms & ammunition incl AK rifle recovered. He was involved in several terror crimes & recently escaped from an encounter: ADGP Kashmir 12:39 Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanti 12:11 Telangana CM KCR unveils Mahatma Gandhi statue at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad 11:22 Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav pay floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi 11:21 Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s aide Deepak Tinu brought in private vehicle by police to Mansa’s CIA staff office escaped from custody early today Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s aide Deepak Tinu, brought in private vehicle by police on remand from Kapurthala jail to Mansa’s CIA staff office escaped from custody early today. Accused Deepak had to be probed in connection with Siddhu Moosewala murder case: Mansa Police 11:20 A threat email warning of a bomb on an IndiGo flight was received at Mumbai airport yesterday. During the inspection of the flight, nothing was found. Further investigation underway: Mumbai Police 10:11 Injured arrives hospital in Kanpur after a tractor-trolley overturned and fell into a pond near a village in Kanpur district 10:10 Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his birth anniversary, at Rajghat in New Delhi Credit: PTI Photo 10:09 Delhi Dy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his birth anniversary, at Rajghat in New Delhi Credit: PTI photo 10:07 Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his birth anniversary, at Rajghat in New Delhi Credit: PTI Photo 10:06 Vice-chairman of Gandhi Smriti Vijay Goel pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his birth anniversary, at Rajghat in New Delhi Credit: PTI Photo 10:04 Rahul Gandhi visits Khadi Village Industries at Badnavalu in memory of Bapu. 10:03 Encounter has started at the Baskuchan area of Shopian. Police and security forces are on the job. Further details shall follow: J&K Police 09:35 Rahul Gandhi offers floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi statue at Khadi Gramodyog, Karnataka 09:30 EAM S Jaishankar performs aarti, takes part in Navratri festivities in Gujarat 09:22 Day 25 of Bharat Jodo Yatra under way Day 25 of #BharatJodoYatra is Gandhi Jayanti as well. Today morning @RahulGandhi is at a Khadi Cooperative in Badanavalu village near Mysuru, that started production in 1932. The Mahatma came to this village in 1927 and in 1932 as well, and helped establish the cooperative. pic.twitter.com/pXMHQhKWeL — Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 2, 2022 09:19 India records 3,375 new Covid19 cases; active caseload at 37,444 09:06 We’re deeply concerned by China’s aggressive, escalatory, and destabilising military activities in the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III 08:47 UN chief Guterres urges people to shun violence on Mahatma Gandhi’s 153rd birth anniversary 08:44 Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve opens for tourists for the season 2022-23 from today 08:25 President Droupadi Murmu pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi 08:12 Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi 08:09 Rahul Gandhi offers tributes to Mahatma Gandhi 08:07 08:06 PM Modi pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on birth anniversary Paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi on #GandhiJayanti. This Gandhi Jayanti is even more special because India is marking Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. May be always live up to Bapu’s ideals. I also urge you all to purchase Khadi and handicrafts products as a tribute to Gandhi Ji. pic.twitter.com/5icVnnRwwd — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 2, 2022 08:02 At least 127 dead in Indonesia football match violence At least 127 people died at a football stadium in Indonesia late Saturday when fans invaded the pitch and police responded with tear gas, triggering a stampede, officials said. Read more 08:01 Trump likely to announce 2024 presidency bid within weeks Former President Donald Trump “wants his old job back” and will announce within weeks his run for the presidency in 2024. Trump is eager to get back to the White House, and wants to announce his 2024 run in the coming weeks. Read more Read More Here

As Brazil Goes To Vote, Will It Be A Return Of Jair Bolsonaro’s Right-Wing Govt Or Will Left Wing Lula Make A Comeback? https://digitalarizonanews.com/as-brazil-goes-to-vote-will-it-be-a-return-of-jair-bolsonaros-right-wing-govt-or-will-left-wing-lula-make-a-comeback/ Brazil’s hotly contested presidential election is in its final stage as Latin America’s biggest economy, which also figures frequently among the world’s 10 largest economies, is looking towards a shift from a far-right government to a left-wing leader. Wading into the politically-charged atmosphere in Brazil, superstar footballer Neymar Jr signalled his support for current President Jair Bolsonaro (67) in the country’s upcoming elections on Sunday (October 2). However, the gesture was criticised by many even as Bolsonaro posted the video on Twitter and thanked Neymar for his endorsement in a race he seems to be trailing in. – Reeleição Hexa. – Valeu, @neymarjr ! Brasil acima de tudo! Deus acima de todos! 2⃣2⃣ pic.twitter.com/RCdW6tEEN3 — Jair M. Bolsonaro 2⃣2⃣ (@jairbolsonaro) September 29, 2022 As Bolsonaro and former two-term leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or Lula da Silva (75) battle it out, concerns over the loss of faith in institutions and the principles of democracy loom large. Bolsonaro’s comments during the election campaign were very similar to those of former US President Donald Trump and like him, it does not seem that he will accept defeat easily. He has discredited opinion polls that have mostly predicted the return of Lula da Silva, and blamed Brazil’s Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). What do the opinion polls indicate? Since Bolsonaro won the elections in 2018, the country has seen many changes. Even before he first came to power, Brazil was facing a period of economic downturn, concerning for a country pegged as one of the fastest growing economies globally not too long ago. According to World bank’s data, unemployment has been growing, and the GDP has only improved in 2021 after slow growth in the preceding 10 years. Further blows came in the form of the coronavirus pandemic that took around 600,000 lives in Brazil — the second highest death count in the world after the US. According to a Reuters report, when questioned about this in 2021, Bolsonaro said, “In which country did people not die? Tell me!” He added, “Look, I didn’t come here to be bored.” He was also criticised for his anti-vaccine stance as he gave bizarre statements about the effects of the jab, including one that those taking it would be “turning into crocodiles”. “In the Pfizer contract it’s very clear: ‘we’re not responsible for any side effects.’ If you turn into a crocodile, it’s your problem,” #Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said in explaining why he does not want to get a #CovidVaccine https://t.co/xcAJWpl4K1 pic.twitter.com/G4yPIw6297 — AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 18, 2020 According to the Financial Times’s Brazil correspondent, Michael Pooler, in terms of policy, Bolsonaro is pro-business, favours independence of the central bank, and to his credit has successfully undertaken the pensions system’s overhaul. Interestingly, a policy of increase of monthly welfare payments for low-income families led to a slight improvement in his poll numbers, reported Reuters. An attempt on his life in 2018 when campaigning further boosted his profile, according to a BBC report. With his frequent invocations of God and religion, and description of him surviving the attack as being “born again” in his own words, fervent supporters view him almost like a religious figure. While he enjoys support among Christians and higher-income groups, indigenous groups have criticised him for allegedly favouring businesses that undertook deforestation of the Amazon forest. Bolsonaro has also made disparaging comments about women and minority groups. When a female legislator in Brazil accused him of being a rapist, Bolsonaro said, “I wouldn’t rape you because you don’t deserve it.” Of gay men, he said he “would be incapable of loving a homosexual son” and described having a daughter as a “weakness”. He has also said, “If I see two men kissing in the street, I will hit them.” Lula, for his candidacy, wants a firmer hand on the state oil and gas company Petrobras, clean energy transition, and welfare spending, given his left-wing credentials and former presidency as part of the “pink wave” – a period when leftist South American leaders in the 2000s were heading major economies around the same time in the region. While he enjoys support in particular regions and among lower-income groups, Lula was accused of being part of the “carwash” corruption scandal, said to have cost $800 million to the state. In 2021, charges against Lula were annulled by the Supreme Court. In this fierce competition, last month, while celebrating the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s independence from Portugal, Bolsonaro told his supporters that the elections can only end in him winning, him being killed, or being arrested — and that he would never go to jail. Concerns over the results On October 2, the first round of voting will see Brazilians choose from all participating candidates. If no one wins more than 50 per cent of the votes, as is expected, then a final round will be held on October 30 that will see a direct fight between the two candidates with the highest vote shares from the first round. This is where concerns have been raised. Polls at the moment show Bolsonaro having around 20 to 22 per cent of the votes, with Lula having at least a 10 to 12 per cent lead. Bolsonaro has said that he will reject the results unless he outright wins the first round. He has also cast doubts on the EVMs used for voting, without providing any basis for these allegations. Bolsonaro’s earlier comments on dictatorship in Brazil, which went on till the mid-80s, are also being brought back now. “You’ll never change anything in this country through voting. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, things will only change when a civil war kicks off and we do the work the [military] regime didn’t. Killing some 30,000 …. Killing them! If a couple of innocents die, that’s OK”, he said in 1999, The Guardian reported. A familiar story Though Brazil’s situation and candidates are unique, the broad aspects of populist leaders, an ideological divide, corruption, and the people’s preference for a “tell-it-like-it-is” strong leader whose statements are followed with full devotion, are all too common. According to a Gallup poll, two-thirds of Brazilians do not have faith in the electoral system, while a similar number believe that the government is corrupt. The effects of such beliefs have been seen in the US, where a riot was mobilised at the Capitol building when the election results were not believed by Trump and his supporters in 2021. In India, too, political parties have questioned EVMs despite repeated assurances by the Election Commission, showing a lack of faith in the process. Experts say that Brazil might not necessarily see a civil war erupt, given the lack of support for Bolsonaro in the establishment, but the situation has still raised an alarm for those watching the backslide of democracy worldwide. Read More Here

Putin Has Left The World No Other Option But Regime Change https://digitalarizonanews.com/putin-has-left-the-world-no-other-option-but-regime-change/ Vladimir Putin must go. His demented Kremlin speech Friday, during a ceremony in which he feebly asserted Russia was annexing portions of Ukraine, made the strongest case for the necessity of regime change in Moscow that any world leader has yet to make. But it has been clear the Russian dictator must be removed from office for a long time now. It has been clear because Putin’s actions and rhetoric demonstrate day in and day out that Ukraine can never be secure as long as he remains in office. It has been clear because none of Russia’s neighbors can be secure with a megalomaniacal lunatic next door who speaks of Russian empire and constantly threatens to rewrite the borders of sovereign states. It has been clear because the world can’t be stable as long as the man who controls the planet’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons is one whose power is unchecked at home, who shows such contempt for both international law and human decency, and whose ambitions are so untethered to reality. Justice also requires that Putin leave office. He is a serial war criminal, one of the worst the world has seen in the modern era. He has laid waste to a sovereign nation. He is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands. He has embraced the language and practice of genocide. His armies have committed war crimes. Mass graves attest to his brutality. What is more, his crimes are not limited to the human suffering he has unleashed upon Ukraine. Other violations of fundamental laws and myriad atrocities can be traced to decisions he has made—from Russia’s leveling of Grozny in Chechnya to Russia’s active support for and participation in horrors in Syria; from the invasion of Georgia to Putin’s murderous campaign against dissidents within his own country. Putin, for years, has provided evidence not only to international prosecutors but to every sentient being on the planet that he is not a legitimate leader. He does not deserve to be swathed in the protections normally accorded to foreign heads of state. He has no more claim on them than did past monsters—from Hitler to Saddam to Gadhafi, from Pol Pot to Milosevic. The dead of Bucha and Melitipol or Izyum make that case with their absence. So do the victims of Russian torture, of bombed hospitals, schools and train stations, of mass kidnapping, and of unceasing terror being visited by Russian missiles, artillery and troops upon innocents—victims of the misfortune of living next door to one of history’s most repulsive miscreants. No one could listen to Putin’s rambling Friday rant and draw any conclusion other than the fact that the longer Putin remains in office, the greater the damage he will do. Russian President Vladimir Putin with Ukrainian regional separatist leaders attends the annexation ceremony of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Sept. 30, 2022 in Moscow, Russia. Contributor/Getty Images If the absurd spectacle of a “signing ceremony” asserting Russian control of Ukrainian territory featuring Kremlin stooges and nationalistic chants did not chill observers to the bone, then Putin’s belligerent language condemning “the enemy” in the West and his intimations that he might be within his rights to use nuclear weapons certainly should. He mocked international law. He condemned U.S. “satanism.” He called on Ukraine to negotiate but said that the fate of “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson” was not on the table, that they would be parts of Russia “forever.” When President Joe Biden said of Putin in May, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” it was followed by a swift “clarification” from the White House that the president “was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.” But as we have gradually come to learn, Biden’s seemingly spontaneous comments on crucial issues of international policy to which he has devoted decades of study—whether they concern Putin or Taiwan—are not gaffes. They instead are expressions of common sense, acknowledgements of reality that diplomats may wish were unspoken, that cannot be the “official” policy of the U.S., but that are signs that the president understands clearly the reality on the ground and U.S. interests. That is good because tiptoeing around the threat posed by Putin, hoping that accommodating him would lead to moderation in his behavior certainly has not worked. Indeed with every respectful, restrained response to Putin’s aggression or abuses, we have only seen an escalation of his offenses. The “measured” responses to his aggression of the Bush or the Obama years did not work. Nor did the slavering obsequiousness of former President Donald Trump. Indeed, the ostpolitik of Angela Merkel and the vacillations of French President Emmanuel Macron and other European leaders have actually aided and empowered Putin. No doubt Putin’s allies—like the talking heads at Fox News, the leaders of the MAGA caucus on Capitol Hill, and Putinistas across Europe—will warn that to even speak of the need to remove Putin from office will provoke him, perhaps even lead him to unleash nuclear weapons in Ukraine or against the West. How do we know that? Because that was the response to Biden’s moment of public honesty and realism on this issue. Many others, including some well-respected foreign policy experts, suggested we should not “corner” Putin with a public stance demanding his removal. Some of those experts correctly observe that the U.S. has a checkered history seeking regime change. They argue that there are no good alternatives to Putin, and so getting rid of him might produce an even worse outcome, whether that is the chaos associated with a leadership void or a more dangerous leader. But go back and listen to his Friday speech. It makes clear that we are well past the point where the dangers of his remaining in power are greater than the dangers that might be caused by his fall. Further, removing the world’s autocrats and thug heads of state has actually not generally produced worse successors. That was certainly true in the cases of Hitler, Mussolini, Milosevic, Pol Pot, and many others. “ …tiptoeing around the threat posed by Putin, hoping that accommodating him would lead to moderation in his behavior certainly has not worked. ” Next, acknowledging that Putin must go is not the same as making regime change a matter of public policy. For governments it can (and largely should) remain an unexpressed goal. That said, certain sanctions imposed on Russia should remain in place until Russia changes key policies and positions that are indelibly associated with Putin, which in effect will mean until Putin is gone. Certain defensive postures of the west should remain in place until the threat from Russia has abated. We can do more than we currently are to help covertly support Russia’s opposition, especially those whose values align with ours. Perhaps most importantly, we can ensure that any sort of lasting Russian victory in Ukraine is not an option and that Putin’s terms will never be met, his aggression never rewarded. With such policies, we can actively encourage the people of Russia to recognize that their country will not have a future as long as Putin remains in power. Putin is assisting on this front. By undertaking a massive military conscription campaign, one that may call up as many as 1 million troops, who will then be under-equipped, under-trained, and likely victims of a war they did not seek against neighbors who are not in any ways their enemies, he has already lit the fuse on a potential national backlash. Millions and millions of Russians will increasingly feel the pain and loss associated with Putin’s war in ways that they did not before, in ways that Russian propaganda cannot hide or dress up. Protests in Russia are already growing bolder. Celebrities and business leaders are speaking out more clearly. How long will it be before the security services that surround and protect Putin begin to see the fact that he is a threat to their well-being, to their lives, to the futures of their families? Accepting the reality that Putin must go is just common sense at this point. Recognizing that reality, we should embrace policies that encourage the conditions that will make it come to pass. We should also prepare for the consequences of such a change and make sure to send Moscow the message that Russia’s neighbors and the community of nations welcome a more responsible Russia—while also making clear that we are ready to defend ourselves against one that makes the mistake of continuing (or making worse) Putin’s policies. As for making the case to the Russian people that they must act, we need not do that. Putin, with speeches like Friday’s and self-inflicted catastrophes like Ukraine, is already doing that far more persuasively than we could hope to do. Read More Here

City Council May Adopt New Rental Curbs https://digitalarizonanews.com/city-council-may-adopt-new-rental-curbs/ Short-term rentals will soon be required to register with the city to stay in business in Scottsdale. Armed with a recently enacted state law, City Council is set to vote on an ordinance on Oct. 25 that would go into effect Christmas Eve requiring the name, address, phone number and email address for the owner or owner’s agent, the rental’s rental address and proof of compliance with transaction privilege tax license requirements. The city could deny a license on very narrow grounds, such as the applicant’s failure to provide required information or providing false information. The city could also deny a license if the owner or designee is a registered sex offender or has committed a felony with a deadly weapon or one resulting in death or serious injury. Prior to the first rental, the owner must inform adjacent single-family homeowners or units on the same building floor in a multi-family setting. In order to suspend a license, “We have to go to court three times to find a property in violation of an ordinance that was established to protect public health and safety, such as for a nuisance party,” Scottsdale Assistant City Manager Brent Stockwell said. The city could also levy fines if the owner does not verify renters are not sex offenders, does not display the city regulatory licensing number on advertisements or doesn’t respond to emergencies to within one hour of notification. Suspensions are for one year but can be shortened to six months if the owner has taken “substantial and significant steps to prevent the re-occurrence of the actions that led to the suspension,” according to the proposed ordinance. “It’s not trying to be punitive here, it’s trying to create a situation where we can have the right actions happen in our community most of the time,” Stockwell said. There are also extreme violations that would only need one verified instance to allow for a suspension. Those include a violation resulting in a felony by the owner, serious injury or death due to reckless conduct, allowing adult-oriented businesses or maintaining a sober living home. “Those one-strike-and-you’re-out things are for very serious things that the owner knowingly and kind of willingly did it and was found responsible for,” Stockwell said. The license will cost $250. SB 1168, which paved the way for the ordinance, “says a city may set a fee not to exceed the actual cost of issuing the license or $250, whichever is less,” Stockwell said, explaining: “Our city treasurer’s office went through an extensive process and is recommending setting the fee at $250 because it is lower than the actual anticipated cost to the city to actually issue the license. “In estimating the cost we considered the cost of additional licensing, the licensing system we use, the centralized data base we have to create, the city incurred credit card fees, digital equipment, such as computer servers and the staffing cost to review.” The city can still track short-term rental properties that do not register for a license through their online advertisements, Stockwell warned. Under the proposed ordinance, properties that operate without a license can be cited and receive a $1,000 fine and an administrative penalty of $1,000 for each month they fail to apply for a license. Based on a question from Councilman Tom Durham, Stockwell noted that every person staying in a short-term rental will have to be vetted to ensure compliance with the sex-offender ban. Durham said that also would help ensure there aren’t more than the allowable number of people staying in the home. Councilwoman Linda Milhaven said she saw a need for additional outreach as well as clarification of some key portions of the ordinance before it is passed. “For example, for the sex offender (stipulation),” she explained, “it says the review should be done within 24 hours of the booking date. Is that the date they make the reservation, is that the date they get the deposit, or is the booking date the date of the stay? It could be interpreted as any of the three.” Councilwoman Solange Whitehead said she was disappointed the ordinance does not do enough to help neighborhoods or conscientious short-term rental owners by getting rid of the “bad actors.” But something has to be done, she said. “Clearly, without laws and without penalties and without doing something different, we’re not going to get compliance,” Whitehead said. She also referred to Durham’s question about requiring everybody staying in the home to be listed. “When you rent a home, a single-family home or a condominium long-term, absolutely you require a list of every single person who will occupy that premise so I would like to definitely see that,” she said. Councilwoman Betty Janik wanted to see casitas added to the short-term rental category but Stockwell said that cannot happen because that would effectively turn a single-family residence into a multi-family designation. City resident David Mason applauded the ordinance. “It protects residents and its provisions help toward managing the growth of short-term rentals already threatening the meaning and character of Scottsdale,” Mason said. He encouraged things like penalizing the property instead of the owner so a change of ownership does not wipe out the complaints against a particular property. He also suggested multiple legal violations discovered during a police officer’s visit to a property should be counted as individual violations instead of one. However, SB 1168 says all violations identified in a single trip count as one violation. Several people also expressed concern about the proposed ordinance. Not everyone was happy with the proposed ordinance. Peter South is the owner of itrip Vacations, which manages short-term rentals. He is also a short-term rental owner and a member of the Arizona Responsible Tourism Board. “Some of these regulations are great but I want to point out a few that are a real undue burden on owners around town,” South said. “(One) of them is background checks. I mean this is a real difficult requirement from both a technology and a privacy rights issue. “I’m also concerned about the violation system, we are all for getting rid of bad houses but we’re concerned that frustrated neighbors might call the police and harass the people coming to this town. That poses a real risk to this town and having harassing of local businessmen. That’s who we are, we’re local business owners.” He also raised concerns with the requirement that there can be no more than six adults and their related, dependent children in a single home. “People come to these houses because they want multi-family experiences, whether it’s reunions or weddings or kids’ sports. They want to be under one roof,” South said. The proposed ordinance can be viewed by going to scottsdaleaz.gov and searching for short-term rentals. Feedback can also be left there. Read More Here

Students Protest Legislature’s School Policies https://digitalarizonanews.com/students-protest-legislatures-school-policies/ Students at six Arizona high schools, including two in Chandler, walked out of their classrooms on Sept. 29 to protest what they call anti-gay and anti-trans laws passed earlier this year by the Republican-controlled state Legislature. The six schools all have chapters of the student-led Support Equality AZ Schools and their leaders urged members and other students to walk out at Chandler High, Hamilton High, Desert Vista in Ahwatukee, South Pointe in Phoenix, Cactus Shadows in Cave Creek and Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy. An estimated 150-to-200 students appeared to walk out of Chandler High, which was about double what organizers hoped for. Hamilton High School junior Dawn Shim, one of the organizers, told the Chandler Unified Governing Board a day earlier, “When you allow school [administration] to divulge information about students to their parents, that can be incredibly harmful, especially for LGBTQ students who are in an unsafe environment.” The laws that the Legislature passed last spring that organizers are calling anti-gay and anti-trans include giving parents the right to inspect any document about their child that is at school. So, if a student confided to a counselor they were questioning their sexual orientation, and that was written down, a parent could demand to see it. The students also protested laws forcing transgender athletes to compete according to their biological sex and a near ban on gay publications in school libraries. “It only takes one affirming adult in the lives of an LGBTQ youth to reduce the risk of suicide and I refuse to be a part of taking that away from our students,” Chandler Unified board member Lindsay Love said after voting no on the state-mandated policy changes. “When LGBTQ youth are outed to parents who are not affirming, they face the threat of violence and are often kicked out of the home and forced into homelessness. LGBTQ youth represent only 8% of the youth population, but make up around 40 to 45% of the homeless population in Maricopa County, placing them at disproportionate risk of being sex trafficked.” Kanix Gallo, is a Chandler High sophomore helped the lead the walkout at that school and confronted a heckler as she led students to AJ Chandler Park, simply looking at him after he said, “Jesus has a plan for you.” Kanix said the biggest problem is the restriction on library materials. “They’re calling all these bills, parental rights bills, and so they don’t sound too harmful,” she said. “But when you look into the bill, they do sound a lot more harmful.” Hayden Nguyen, a senior at Gilbert Classical Academy, is part of the statewide leadership of Support Equality AZ Schools, said, “It’s going to be almost impossible for people to talk to their school counselors in order to, you know, enter the their preferred pronouns and gender … without being outed to their parents.” The organizers at the Chandler High walkout said they were happy with how many students participated. “Everyone really came through,” sophomore Oliver Milicoliver. “It really shows the solidarity that a lot of people have in the schools.” “The more the numbers, the more it shows how much we care,” said sophomore Salem Babington. “And I think that’s really important. And we’re very grateful for all the people coming out here and showing their support for our cause.” There have been similar walkouts in New York, Virginia and Texas. “I’m we’re really surprised because we had no idea they were coordinating these things,” Kanix said. “But the bill that is forcing teachers to out trans students is popping up everywhere right now. And all the students around this shows that we all see how bad it is. “We are actually currently talking to some of those organizations that did walkouts in different states to talk to them and be like, ‘Hey, do you want to coordinate a nationwide walkout?’” Dawn, the Hamilton High student who helped organize the walkouts, said she’s gotten positive feedback from elected leaders, but little action. “We met with a lot of legislators,” she said. “And we realized that this treatment option that receiving from our school boards right now is across the line for all of the boards that we see across Arizona and across our state is the lack of action. “Or even if there is action, they tell us, we’re very brave, and they appreciate what we’re saying,” Dawn added. “But they don’t take positive action. That actually is measurable and has goals. That is what we want to see. And the reason why we’re walking out is to tell other organizers across Arizona, as well as our legislators, that we’re here, we know what’s going on, and we’re going to do something.” Read More Here

Sun Devil Coaching Candidates, High School Open Division Teams, More… https://digitalarizonanews.com/sun-devil-coaching-candidates-high-school-open-division-teams-more/ I traveled to Tucson Saturday night to see how second-year head coach Jedd Fisch is progressing. Sure, bottom-feeder Colorado was the opponent, but my Wildcat season ticket holding friends have been pleased with Fisch and they gush about the brand of football that the Wildcats have been playing. Fisch moved to 3-2 with a 43-20 victory(CU can’t tackle to save their lives).  Even before the game started, there was a buzz in the stadium about a high-profile recruit in the house. Four-star prospect RB Jayden Limar from Lake Stevens, Washington, visiting the Wildcats program tonight. He committed to Notre Dame earlier this year. pic.twitter.com/7Lo9r5UwQj — Brad Cesmat (@bradcesmat) October 2, 2022 (Photo credit Michael Rincon Photography) The next four games Arizona has Oregon at home, at Washington, USC in Tucson, and at Utah. Can they get to six wins and become bowl eligible? The offense is fun through air. Lot of options for quarterback Jayden de Laura. At Arizona State, the interim tag for Shaun Aguano won’t come off unless he gets to five or six victories. I like Shaun and believe that with the right staff(not just assistant coaches) he could have the interim tag removed. He’s trying to install discipline into a roster that doesn’t know if he’s going to be the voice for them next year. That is not an easy job for a coach.Tough penalties and mistakes(onside kick early block midway through the fourth quarter) were part of the night at USC. It was a strange game. Watching it back, the Sun Devils had opportunities till the end, but errors, bad breaks,  shortage of talent and discipline kept ASU from pulling off the upset of the Trojans. In terms of potential candidates for the Sun Devil job other than Aguano. Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham had a good night vs Stanford. Lot of dots are connecting Dillingham top the job. If Oregon keeps winning, I would think he’d be in the favorite position.  Please don’t waste my time or your time by floating Urban Meyers name. Great for web clicks, not reality for the job… Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Ruhle would be a strong candidate but he’s still employed. That may change in the coming weeks. Panther fans are reportedly getting restless with Ruhle. The Cardinals indirectly could help the Sun Devils coaching search with a win on Sunday,… Deion Sanders. Soooo, if Deion were interested and able to get the head coaching job at Arizona State, the Sun Devils 2023 season opener against Southern Utah would be on Prime Time…. Interesting to see what the NCAA did to Air Force football this week for violations during COVID. I think this is important for Sun Devil fans to know. https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/9/29/media-center-air-force-football-committed-recruiting-violations.aspx Longbow Golf club operator Bob McNichols closed out his run with the popular Mesa course on Friday, selling to Thompson Golf Group. I’ve known Bob for many years, and he’s done so much to grow the game in the junior, high, school, college, and adaptive levels. I played Longbow on Wednesday(not well), but it’s always a good stop. I have a feeling that Bob won’t be too far away from the game… My Open Division high school football teams in the first week of October in no particular order -Liberty, Chandler, Hamilton, Basha, Casteel, Desert Mountain, Centennial, Saguaro. Now, how many more losses could Saguaro take before they are out? What about a school like Highland?  Casteel hosts Chandler this week. If the Colts win one of their Premiere Region matchups against Basha, Hamilton, or Chandler they should be in.  Basha v Liberty this Friday is the place to be… Philadelpia Eagles come to the Valley next Sunday. Will they be on the Super Bowl teams? Former Cardinal Seth Joyner, now doing TV in Philly, will be with me on Monday’s show… Will Kyler outrush Baker Sunday?… Read More Here

Brazil Elections 2022: It https://digitalarizonanews.com/brazil-elections-2022-it/ Brazil is set to vote today to choose their president, a third of the federal senators, and all members of chamber of deputies, along with 27 governors and state legislatures. In the presidential race incumbent far-right president Jair Bolsonaro– often called the ‘Trump of the Tropics’- and former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are the two front-runners so far. The elections come at a time when Brazil’s economy is still reeling under the impact of the Covid pandemic exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here’s everything you need to know about Brazil elections 2022: How does the election work in Brazil? Voting is compulsory in Brazil for everyone literate and aged between 18 and 70. People aged 16 to 17 or older than 70 or who cannot read or write can their votes if they wish to. If no candidate in the presidential elections receives over 50 per cent votes, there will be runoffs on October 30. Read more: Brazil President, in UK, fumes at fuel prices. It’s an election pitch Who are the presidential candidates in Brazil? Current president Jair Bolsonaro who took office in January 2019 after being a deputy for the state of Rio de Janeiro for 27 years is running for elections this time as well. During his term, Jair Bolsonaro has cut taxes, increased support for the military, loosened gun ownership laws, and weakened environmental regulations. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former union leader, is running for the president position for the sixth time and is said to be leading pre-election polls. He has also been the president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010. Read more: Bolsonaro ‘less civilized, bad copy of Trump’: Brazil leader amid elections What are the main issues in Brazil ahead of elections? Brazil has been severely impacted by the Covid pandemic making economic management one of the major issues in these elections in addition to public health. The country is also in the midst of increasing inflation owing to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. ABOUT THE AUTHOR When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, “What is the purpose of journalism in society?” Read More Here

GoLocalProv | News | Whitcomb: They’re Not Overpaid; Media Herd Mentality; Socialist Sunshine State https://digitalarizonanews.com/golocalprov-news-whitcomb-theyre-not-overpaid-media-herd-mentality-socialist-sunshine-state/ Sunday, October 02, 2022 Robert Whitcomb, Columnist View Larger + Robert Whitcomb, columnist No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE — SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were: Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. ‘’No Man is an Island,’’ by John Donne (1572-1631), English poet, scholar and Anglican priest “I’ve always loved the autumn. Trees bleed amber, the sun moves south to sink into the river. For several of these seasons you were here…. I can hardly claim to be alone. nevertheless, of all whom autumn’s new russet brocades are draping, none is you.’’ — From “Riverside Park,’’ by Rachel Hadas (born 1948) “It was another Vermont house, white, of course, with long and narrow windows like New England faces.’’ — John Knowles, in his 1959 novel A Separate Peace View Larger + PHOTO: Karen Wargo Fall foliage brings out a range of emotions, from a sense of calm and acceptance of the passage of time, to being exhilarated by the colors, to sadness. It can also bring out anger if you’re stuck in a leaf-peeper traffic jam in the countryside. Maybe you’d better stay home and put bulbs in the ground. Raises Are Right GOPQ Rhode Island gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus has predictably bashed Gov. Dan McKee’s proposal, which he’s partly walked back on, to increase the salaries of department directors by as much as 43 percent. There haven’t been increases in pay for these posts since 2015. But Mr. McKee should have done more research on how to implement pay raises for cabinet officers. His idea was that base salaries would rise to $200,000 from $140,000 for the director of the state Department of Health, and to $160,473 from $135,000 for the folks running the departments of Business Regulation, Behavioral Healthcare, Environmental Management and Human Services. View Larger + GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Ashley Kalus PHOTO: GoLocal Ms. Kalus denounced the plan for the raises, telling NBC 10 News: “58% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. And to put it in context, we’re in Providence right now, the median household income is $49,000 a year. He’s talking about $60,000 raises in some cases. It’s completely out of touch with what’s going on.’’ But in fact, people running large, complex and frequently crisis-embroiled state agencies are usually underpaid considering the nature of these usually thankless jobs. They’d be paid far more for doing jobs of similar complexity and importance in the private sector. By the way, it may be a sign of our civic values that the highest paid state employee last year was University of Rhode Island men’s basketball coach David M. Cox, who earned $715,188.  He’s since been fired. His successor, Ryan “Archie” Miller, is set to receive  $9.5 million in a five-year contract. URI football coach James M. Fleming took in a measly $274,007 last year. I’m sure we’ll eventually find out how much income Ms. Kalus, who seems to have some degree of residency in Illinois, Florida and Rhode Island (the foundation for a presidential campaign?), took in for managing a since-canceled COVID testing and vaccination contract between the Ocean State and her Doctors Test Centers. View Larger + Governor McKee surrounded by the press after signing cannabis legislation PHOTO: GoLocal Press Poverty Timothy Buckley, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s chief of staff, is right when he complains that the shrinkage of the corps of news-media people is worsening the herd-mentality problem in journalism. Reporters who have survived the slashing of journalistic resources in the past two decades are too few and too busy to do what they should be doing: looking at a wide and ever-changing range of topics and being leery of the conventional wisdom (which in my experience is usually wrong). And Mr. Buckley noted to Commonwealth Magazine that the news-resource crisis leads to less analysis and nuance in coverage overall. Consider the recent 30-day closure of the MBTA Orange Line for repairs was presented as though it could be as catastrophic as a hurricane. Smaller outlets followed the big ones, most notably The Boston Globe and public radio, in seeing the shutdown as perhaps, in The Globe’s phrase, “a new circle of hell.’’  In fact, the shutdown, during which the T offered commuters alternative options – mostly buses – caused much less disruption than the apocalyptic warnings had suggested.   Another result of the shrinkage of what used to be usually called “the press corps’’ (not so many presses anymore!) is that far fewer things are watched. It’s easier to just report on what everyone else is covering, taking the lead from the big boys. And yet, as Bill Kreger, a long-departed editor of mine at The Wall Street Journal, once told me: “What may turn out to be the biggest story of the year may start out as three paragraphs at the bottom of page 11.’’ We need far more local news outlets, be they print or online. But the old ad-based business model continues to falter. xxx In a  happier report on the news business, my GoLocal colleague Rob Horowitz reports that the use of social media as a source for news has stalled, and for good reason. He writes: “It is the case that some of the plateauing of social media as a source for news is a result of a general slowing in the growth of the use of social media generally. But that is only part of the story.  The increased awareness of the amount of disinformation and misinformation available on and spread through social media has resulted in social media becoming a less trusted source of news than other media platforms.  This distrust is a major reason for the curbing of social media’s growth as a source for news.  {Russia and other malign dictatorships have long used social media as a tool for undermining their foes and propping up the likes of people like Trump who are likely to collaborate with them.} A Reuters Institute study found that the “levels of trust in news on social media, search engines, and messaging apps is consistently lower than audience trust in information in the news media more generally.’’ Good. Hit this link: More Socialism for Sunshine State You might hear fewer complaints in Florida about “socialism’’ for a while as federal aid pours into the Sunshine State in the wake of Hurricane Ian. (A few people might remember that, as a new Florida congressman in 2013, now GOPQ Gov. Ron DeSantis voted against a federal relief package for New York and New Jersey in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which hit the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states in late 2012, killing more than 100 Americans.) That was then….  Anyway, much of the help for Florida will go to assist rich folks,  many of whom are self-proclaimed “conservatives,’’ who tend to live where people most want to live in the Sunshine State – along the water. (Poorer folks usually live inland, in depressing towns many of which evoke a sort of flat Appalachia.) The closer you get to the water, the higher the real estate prices and the more danger of destruction. Sounds paradoxical but it really isn’t because of the financial protection afforded by public policies in disasters. When will the Feds and coastal states get serious about rigorously discouraging people from having homes in flood zones as ocean levels rise? To do that would require confronting the politically powerful residents and developers there. When Mother Nature damages or destroys such properties taxpayers get some of the bill to fix or replace them. I wonder what will happen to the overwhelmed and very fraud-vulnerable property-insurance sector in Florida as tens of billions of dollars of claims roll in over the next month. Insurers have been leaving the state in recent years amidst warnings of more global-warming-induced storms and floods threatening its too densely developed coasts. And will GOPQ Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s legislature be forced to raise taxes to keep the state’s own insurance program, and thus the real-estate-development bonanza, going? For decades, people have flocked to coasts, as they have to scenic but increasingly fire-prone forest areas in parts of the West. We need to think more about how much we’re willing to pay so that people can stay there. Hit this link for maps of population growth in Florida. Meanwhile, in such states as Michigan and Vermont, authorities are starting to make infrastructure upgrade and expansion plans to absorb what may become millions of climate refugees from the South and West over the next couple of decades. Hit this link: And this link for an amusing and useful look at how concentrations of wealth affect the quality of life in such localities as Palm Beach and Martha’s Vineyard: Cleansing Every now and then, we need recessions, though they can be painful for many. They put the brakes on inflation and inflationary expectations and in some industries, such as restaurants, make it easier to hire. Recessions, of course, are caused in part by higher interest rates engineered by the Federal Reserve Board aimed at reducing demand and, thus, price pressures. A recession cleans out much speculative froth. Some of the benefits of recessions can include lower prices across the board, higher savings rates, a stronger dollar making it cheaper to travel abroad, and being able to buy more stocks at cheaper prices (and await the market recovery). And petrostate dictatorships such as Ru...

GoLocalProv | Politics | “Is It Too Late To Turn The Political Tide?”—The Sunday Political Brunch October 2, 2022 https://digitalarizonanews.com/golocalprov-politics-is-it-too-late-to-turn-the-political-tide-the-sunday-political-brunch-october-2-2022/ Sunday, October 02, 2022 Mark Curtis, MINDSETTER View Larger + President Joe Biden, “where’s Jackie?” As of this coming Tuesday, there are just 35 days until Election Day. That’s not a lot of time, especially if polls show you or your cause are running behind. Politics, like many things in life, is often about trends. And there is precious little time left to change those trends or even turn them around. Let’s “brunch” on that this week. “Gas Price Watch” – Last week, I was able to fill my tank for $3.49 a gallon. Well, this past Saturday, I was on fumes and found a real bargain at $3.29 a gallon. Wow, progress? Well, yes, in West Virginia, but then I came to hear the trend nationally is going the other way. AAA reports the national average for gas is $3.76 a gallon and rising. In the next five weeks, how much can prices really drop? Is it enough to switch your vote? Bad economic trends do not help incumbents, but they are even worse for the party in power historically. And right now, Democrats hold the White House, the Senate, and the U.S. House. Gas was $2.39 on Inauguration Day 2021. This is a big concern in the midterms, with margins in both chambers very close to begin with. GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE — SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST “Where’s Jackie?” – It was clearly the most talked about political event of the week. At a White House ceremony honoring the Congressional Hunger Task Force, President Biden paid tribute to a bipartisan group of lawmakers who helped, calling out a few by name. He even shouted out to Rep. Jackie Wilorski (R) Indiana. The problem was Wilorski was killed with two aides in a car accident last month in Indiana. This was just jarring and awkward. “Pipeline Takes the Pipe” – I often weigh in on the doings of Sen. Joe Manchin (D) West Virginia, as he is clearly the most powerful member of the Senate. But he doesn’t always win in the end. This past week, Manchin lost out on a key project for his Mountain State. Manchin voted for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 after he was promised permitting for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline would be included in the bill. The MVP, as it is known, runs 300-plus miles from south of Morgantown, WV, to southeast of Roanoke, VA. The world’s largest natural gas reserves lie below that soil. “Pipeline Perils” – What happened? Simply put, Manchin got squeezed. Environmentalist Democrats in his own party, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) Vermont, rebelled. Republican enemies, mad that Manchin supported the Inflation Reduction Act, did not want to reward him with the pipeline. One side issue, and it is a big one, is that many of our European allies are beings starved for energy by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war with Ukraine. Therefore, some call the natural gas pipeline a national security issue. According to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R) West Virginia, who told me, “The more we liquefy natural gas we can send to Europe, the less they are going to depend on Putin and other regimes, or Iran, and other places to provide the resource.”. So, look for the pipeline to return later this year, perhaps in the Defense Re-Authorization Bill. “Will the Government Really Shut Down?” – I have covered at least a half-dozen federal government shutdowns in my career, while I worked in DC, and in other parts of the country. This year neither party benefits if the incumbents go off the rails and it leads to a shutdown. With the Senate tied 50-50, and VP Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker, Democrats don’t need a shutdown. And with Republicans needing a net gain of six seats to take control of the U.S. House, they do not need a government shutdown either. The temporary Continuing Resolution will fund the government through mid-December, and they’ll solve the rest of this AFTER Election Day. Not a surprise, it got done Friday. “January 6th Commission Delay” – This past Wednesday, we were supposed to see the final hearing of the House January 6th Committee investigating the 2021 Capitol riots. I’ve found these hearings riveting and insightful. But citing concerns with Hurricane Ian, the hearing was postponed. “In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings,” the panel’s chair Rep. Bennie Thompson and the vice-chair Rep. Liz Cheney said in a joint statement Tuesday. “We’re praying for the safety of all those in the storm’s path.” “Call Me Skeptical” – One of the reasons cited was that it would be unseemly for images of a highly politicized Congressional hearing, competing with video of people in a perilous life or death weather situation in Florida. That would be tone-deaf, and I buy some of it. But are there political motives, too? These hearings have been very polarizing. Are Democrats worried that if they stir up too much anti-Trump sentiment, will it backfire in November? Quite honestly, from a tactical standpoint, many Republicans look at the raid on Mar-a-Lago as a positive for the Trump side. They believe the FBI raid on a former Republican president, directed by the current Democrat-run Justice Department, makes Trump a sympathetic figure. In some quarters, that plays well. It’s political theatre on both sides, but it can have an impact. “The Politics of Hurricanes” – In my career, I have covered twenty-two tropical storms and hurricanes, on scene. Oddly enough, five of those were in New England, where they are more common than you would think. The other seventeen were when I lived in Florida. The one constant, from a political standpoint, is how the government responds. If you lead a high-quality response, voters will remember. If you botch it, voters won’t forget. I say this because with five weeks until Election Day, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Florida, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R) are locked in competitive reelection races. If the emergency response goes poorly, it could cost them their job at the polls. “Let’s Protect our Military Personnel” – I am so disturbed about the three-plus decades of people drinking cancer-causing water at Marine Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Military members, family, and base staff who were there from 1953 to 1987 report a whole host of cancers and other illnesses. There are lawsuits galore seeking damages. Mark Curtis, Ed.D., is Chief Political Reporter for the seven Nexstar Media TV stations serving West Virginia, its five neighboring states and the entire Washington, DC media market. He is also a MINDSETTER contributing political writer and analyst for www.GoLocalProv.com and its affiliates. 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12News Honored With 12 Southwest Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards https://digitalarizonanews.com/12news-honored-with-12-southwest-rocky-mountain-emmy-awards/ Team 12 was honored with a dozen Rocky Mountain Emmy’s in categories including Weather Programs, Continuing Coverage and Promotion Campaign. PHOENIX — 12News was recognized with 12 2022 Southwest Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Southwestern Rocky Mountain region serves Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and southeastern California. 12News was recognized with the following awards:  1. Continuing Coverage: “No Justice for Sammy” (Adriana Loya) 2. Breaking or Spot news, Multiple Reports: “Phoenix Police Ambushed: 9 Officers Shot” 3. Promotion Campaign: “Tokyo Olympic Station Brand Campaign” 4. Environment/Science (Long Form Content): “Scorched Earth: A 12News Special” 5. Weather Content: “12News: Here Comes the Monsoon!” 6. Crime News (No Production Time Limit): “Something is Broken (William Pitts) 7. Live Sports Program: “12Sports Tonight” 8. Live Sports Program: “Friday Night Fever” 9. Anchor Weather: Krystle Henderson 11. Live News Producer: Kacie Bataller 12. News Special: “Abuse of Force” (Katie Wilcox, Bianca Buono, Roberto Duarte and Carlos Chavez) The ceremony was held Saturday night at the Chateau Luxe.   MORE: Subscribe to 12News on YouTube  Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone. I-Team Learn more about other 12News investigations by subscribing to the 12News YouTube channel and watching our I-Team playlist.  More ways to get 12News On your phone: Download the 12News app for the latest local breaking news straight to your phone.   On your streaming device: Download 12News+ to your streaming device   The free 12News+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like “Today in AZ” and “12 News” and our daily lifestyle program, “Arizona Midday”—on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.   12News+ showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona.  On social media: Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.  Get to know 12News At 12News, we listen, we seek, we solve for all Arizonans. 12News is the Phoenix NBC affiliate owned by TEGNA Inc.  12News is built on a legacy of trust.  We serve more than 4.6 million people every month on air, on our 12News app, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and 12News.com.  We are committed to serving all of the Valley’s communities, because we live here, too.   12News is the Official Home of the Arizona Cardinals and the proud recipient of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Emmy Award for Overall Excellence.  Stay connected by downloading the 12News app, available on Google Play and the Apple Store.  Catch up on any stories you missed on the show on the 12News Youtube channel. Read content curated for our Spanish-speaking audience on the Español page. Or see us on the 12News Plus app available on Roku or Amazon Fire.  Read More…

AP News Summary At 1:39 A.m. EDT https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-139-a-m-edt/ 130 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match MALANG, Indonesia (AP) — Panic at an Indonesian soccer match left 130 dead, most of whom were trampled to death after police fired tear gas to dispel riots. Around 180 more are being treated for injuries. Riots broke out after the game ended Saturday evening with host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang city losing to Persebaya of Surabaya 3-2. The rioting spread outside the stadium where at least five police vehicles were toppled and set ablaze. Riot police responded by firing tear gas — which is banned at soccer stadiums by FIFA — that sent hundreds of fans running for the exits. The premier league game is already one of the deadliest sports events in the world. East Java’s police chief says more deaths are likely. Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia has pulled troops out from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. The city of Lyman was a key transportation hub for the Russian front line. A day earlier Moscow had annexed as part of Russia. Kyiv has retaken vast swaths of territory beginning in September. With Lyman recaptured, Ukraine can now push further into the occupied Luhansk region, one of the four regions that Russia annexed Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate all regions from Russian control. Allies aim for risky Russian oil price cap as winter nears WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials celebrated at the start of September when top allies agreed to back an audacious, never-before-tried plan to clamp down on Vladimir Putin’s access to cash. The countries would pay only cut-rate prices for Russian oil. That would deprive Putin of money to keep prosecuting his war in Ukraine, but also ensure that oil kept gushing out of Russia and kept global prices low. But nearly a month later, the organization made up of some of the world’s leading economies, the Group of Seven, is still figuring out how to execute their plan and gather participants. Florida deaths rise to 47 amid struggle to recover from Ian FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Rescuers have evacuated stunned survivors cut off by Hurricane Ian on Florida’s largest barrier island, and the state’s death toll has risen sharply amid recovery efforts. Hundreds of thousands of people are still sweltering without power in the state, days after Ian’s rampage from Florida to the Carolinas. Florida now has 47 confirmed deaths. Ian was one of the strongest U.S. hurricanes on record when the Category 4 monster smashed ashore at midweek. Many storm victims were left isolated with limited cellphone service and lacking basic amenities like water and power. As of Saturday night, nearly 1 million customers in Florida still had not had electricity restored. Pine Island residents recount horror, fear as Ian bore down PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Emergency responders are seeking to evacuate residents from the largest barrier island off Florida’s Gulf Coast, and survivors there spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds. A volunteer group, Medic Corps, was flying residents off Pine island by helicopter on Saturday. The bridge to Pine Island was heavily damaged by the hurricane, leaving it reachable only by boat or air. Some residents said they hadn’t seen anyone from outside the island for days and spoke of being trapped in flooded homes as boats and other debris crashed around their houses in the storm surge. Some feared they wouldn’t make it. Chinese billionaire Richard Liu settles US rape allegation MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — JD.com founder Richard Liu has agreed to settle a lawsuit from a former University of Minnesota student who alleges he raped her after a night of dinner and drinks in 2018. Attorneys for Richard Liu and the woman, Jingyao Liu, released a joint statement Saturday night saying the case was settled. They did not disclose a settlement amount, but said the incident resulted from a misunderstanding and they agreed to settle their differences. Richard Liu was arrested on suspicion of felony rape in August 2018. Prosecutors never filed charges, saying the case had “profound evidentiary problems.” He stepped down as JD.com’s CEO this year amid increased government scrutiny of China’s technology industry. Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuela’s government has freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives imprisoned for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens that the Biden administration has ever carried out. It amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as he looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his opponents and follows months of secretive talks, including repeated visits to Venezuela over the last year by Washington’s top hostage negotiator. Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case WASHINGTON (AP) — The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the riot were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president. But those orders never came. Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday. Brazil holds historic election with Lula against Bolsonaro RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — More than 120 million Brazilians will vote Sunday in a highly polarized election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years. The race pits far-right President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Recent polls have given da Silva a commanding lead, pointing to a chance that he may be able to win the first round outright, without need for a run-off. Da Silva would have to get more than 50% of the votes cast Sunday, topping the total vote for Bolsonaro and the other nine candidates. GOP attacks Georgia’s Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans are using the defeat of a voting suit brought by a group founded by Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams to attack her legitimacy as a voting rights advocate. They say a judge’s rejection on Friday of the last remaining claims in a suit brought by Fair Fight Action shows that Abrams was wrong all along to claim that she lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race to Republican Brian Kemp because of voter suppression by Kemp. But Abrams is far from backing down from her position, and says she won a number of victories that made elections fairer. Her advocacy has also helped make voting rights a defining issue for Black voters in Georgia. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For Related Stories: Hurricane Ian Read More Here

Trump Goes After Gretchen Whitmer, Thanks Ginni Thomas At Michigan Rally – MsnNOW https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-goes-after-gretchen-whitmer-thanks-ginni-thomas-at-michigan-rally-msnnow/ Trump goes after Gretchen Whitmer, thanks Ginni Thomas at Michigan rally  msnNOW Read More Here

Archives: Records From Trump White House Staffers Remain Missing https://digitalarizonanews.com/archives-records-from-trump-white-house-staffers-remain-missing/ WASHINGTON —  The National Archives and Records Administration informed lawmakers that a number of electronic communications from Trump White House staffers remain missing, nearly two years since the administration was required to turn them over. The nation’s record-keeping agency, in a letter Friday to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said that despite an ongoing effort by staff, electronic communications between certain unidentified White House officials were still not in their custody. “While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” Debra Steidel Wall, the acting U.S. archivist, wrote in a letter to Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat. The letter went on to specify that the National Archives would consult with the Justice Department about how to move forward and recover “the records unlawfully removed.” It has been widely reported that officials in President Donald Trump’s White House used non-official electronic messaging accounts throughout his four years in office. The Presidential Records Act, which says that such records are government property and must be preserved, requires staff to copy or forward those messages into their official electronic messaging accounts. The agency says that while it has been able to obtain these records from some former officials, a number remain outstanding. The Justice Department has already pursued records from one former Trump official, Peter Navarro, who prosecutors accused of using at least one “non-official” email account — a ProtonMail account — to send and receive emails while he worked as the president’s trade adviser. The legal action in August came just weeks after Navarro was indicted on criminal charges after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The House committee has jurisdiction over the Presidential Records Act, a 1978 law that requires the preservation of White House documents as property of the U.S. government. The request is the latest development in a monthslong back-and-forth between the agency and the committee, which has been investigating Trump’s handling of records. The letter on Friday also comes nearly two months after the FBI recovered more than 100 documents with classified markings and more than 10,000 other government documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Lawyers for Trump had provided a sworn certification that all government records had been returned. Maloney and other Democratic lawmakers on the panel have been seeking a briefing from the National Archives but haven’t received one due to the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation into the matter. Read More Here

AP Top News At 12:48 A.m. EDT https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-top-news-at-1248-a-m-edt/ 129 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match MALANG, Indonesia (AP) — Panic at an Indonesian soccer match Saturday left 129 dead, most of whom were trampled to death after police fired tear gas to dispel riots, making it one of the deadliest sports events in the world. Riots broke out after the game ended Saturday evening with host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang city losing to Persebaya of Surabaya 3-2. Disappointed after their team’s loss, thousands of supporters of Arema, known as “Aremania,” reacted by throwing bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials. Fans flooded the Kanjuruhan Stadium pitch in protest and demanded that Arema management explain why, after 23 years of undefeated home games, this match ended in a loss, witnesses said. Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. Russia’s withdrawal from Lyman complicates its internationally vilified declaration just a day earlier that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine — an area that includes Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own. “The Ukrainian flag is already in Lyman, Donetsk region. Allies aim for risky Russian oil price cap as winter nears WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials celebrated in early September when top allies agreed to back an audacious, never-before-tried plan to clamp down on Vladimir Putin’s access to cash as he wages war on Ukraine. The idea sounded simple enough: The countries would pay only cut-rate prices for Russian oil. That would deprive Putin of money to keep prosecuting his war in Ukraine, but also ensure that oil continued to flow out of Russia and helped to keep global prices low. A month later, the Group of Seven, representing some of the world’s leading economies, is still figuring out how to execute the plan — a far more complex task than it might seem at first blush — and the Dec. Florida deaths rise to 47 amid struggle to recover from Ian FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Rescuers evacuated stunned survivors on a large barrier island cut off by Hurricane Ian and Florida’s death toll climbed sharply, as hundreds of thousands of people were still sweltering without power days after the monster storm rampaged from the state’s southwestern coast up to the Carolinas. Florida, with nearly four dozen reported dead, was hit hardest by the Category 4 hurricane, one of the strongest to make landfall in the United States. Flooded roadways and washed-out bridges to barrier islands left many people isolated, amid limited cellphone service and a lack of basic amenities such as water, electricity and the internet. Pine Island residents recount horror, fear as Ian bore down PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Paramedics and volunteers with a group that rescues people after natural disasters went door to door Saturday on Florida’s devastated Pine Island, offering to evacuate residents who spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds. The largest barrier island off Florida’s Gulf Coast, Pine Island has been largely cut off from the outside world. Ian heavily damaged the only bridge to the island, leaving it only reachable by boat or air. For many, the volunteers from the non-profit Medic Corps were the first people they have seen from outside the island in days. Chinese billionaire Richard Liu settles US rape allegation MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chinese billionaire and JD.com founder Richard Liu agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a former University of Minnesota student who alleged he raped her in her Minneapolis apartment after a night of dinner and drinks with wealthy Chinese executives in 2018, attorneys for both sides announced Saturday. Richard Liu, who stepped down as the CEO of Beijing-based e-commerce company JD.com this year amid increased government scrutiny of China’s technology industry, has denied raping the woman, Jingyao Liu. In a joint statement released Saturday night, attorneys for both sides said: “The incident between Ms. Jingyao Liu and Mr. Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare softening of hostile relations, Venezuela freed on Saturday seven imprisoned Americans in exchange for the United States releasing two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years on narcotics convictions. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives held for nearly five years, follows months of back channel diplomacy by senior U.S. officials — secretive talks with a major oil producer that took on greater urgency after sanctions on Russia put pressure on global energy prices. The deal amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as the socialist leader looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case WASHINGTON (AP) — The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group, are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the siege on Jan. 6, 2021, were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president — orders that never came. Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power from the Republican incumbent to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters. Brazil holds historic election with Lula against Bolsonaro RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — More than 120 million Brazilians will vote Sunday in a highly polarized election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world’s fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years. With polls opening at 8 a.m. Brasilia time, the race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva. Recent opinion polls have given da Silva a commanding lead — the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found that 50% of respondents who intend to vote for a candidate said they would vote for da Silva, against 36% for Bolsonaro. GOP attacks Georgia’s Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit ATLANTA (AP) — When Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost the Georgia governor’s race to Republican Brian Kemp four years ago, she didn’t go quietly. She ended her campaign with a nonconcession that acknowledged she wouldn’t be governor, while spotlighting her claims that Kemp had used his post as secretary of state to improperly purge likely Democratic voters. Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, a group focused on fair elections, which within weeks filed a wide-ranging federal lawsuit alleging “gross mismanagement” of Georgia’s elections. That lawsuit sputtered out Friday with Fair Fight losing its last remaining arguments, more than a year after the judge had tossed most earlier claims. Read More Here

AP Top Political News At 12:03 A.m. EDT | Federal News Network https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-top-political-news-at-1203-a-m-edt-federal-news-network/ Allies aim for risky Russian oil price cap as winter nears Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives GOP attacks Georgia’s Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit Supreme Court poised to keep marching to right in new term US Army misses recruiting goal; other services squeak by UN says detained Iranian-American was allowed to leave Iran Archives: Records from Trump WH staffers remain missing Cha-ching! Biden… READ MORE Allies aim for risky Russian oil price cap as winter nears Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives GOP attacks Georgia’s Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit Supreme Court poised to keep marching to right in new term US Army misses recruiting goal; other services squeak by UN says detained Iranian-American was allowed to leave Iran Archives: Records from Trump WH staffers remain missing Cha-ching! Biden embraces his election-year fundraising role Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case Jimmy Carter celebrating 98 with family, friends, baseball Copyright © 2022 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area. Read More Here

Matt Gaetz Votes No On Relief Money As Florida Deals With Death, Hurricane Damage https://digitalarizonanews.com/matt-gaetz-votes-no-on-relief-money-as-florida-deals-with-death-hurricane-damage/ Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a Florida native and lawmaker, voted against a measure to open the Federal Emergency Management Agency up to millions of dollars in disaster relief. Gaetz was one of several House Republicans on Friday who voted against a resolution to allow FEMA to use up to $15 million in the Disaster Relief Fund, Newsweek reported. The bill eventually passed in both the House as well as the Senate and it awaits President Joe Biden’s approval. The vote comes in the same week that Hurricane Ian killed dozens of Florida residents, flooded communities and destroyed homes and businesses. Gaetz and other GOP lawmakers added their names to a letter that said they’d “do what is necessary” to stop funding the Biden Administration, according to the news site. “Any legislation that sets the stage for a ‘lame duck’ fight on government funding gives Democrats one final opportunity to pass that agenda,” the letter said. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) walks down the House steps on Friday, September 30, 2022. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Gaetz is no stranger to voting against hurricane relief as the lawmaker didn’t vote in favor of a $15 billion relief package as Hurricane Irma – where at least 92 people died in the contiguous United States – approached Florida in 2017, the Miami Herald reported. Gaetz did, however, pass a separate $7.5 billion hurricane relief bill earlier that week. The $15 billion package was linked to a deal between Democrats and former President Donald Trump to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government until December 2017. “Only Congress can find a way to turn a natural disaster into a trillion new dollars in spending authority,” Gaetz said at the time of the $15 billion package. Read More Here

Indonesia: More Than 120 Dead In Football Stampede https://digitalarizonanews.com/indonesia-more-than-120-dead-in-football-stampede/ By George Wright BBC News Image source, AFP via Getty Images Image caption, Police fired tear gas, leading to a crowd stampede and cases of suffocation At least 129 people have died in a stampede at an Indonesian football match, officials say, in one of the world’s worst stadium disasters. The stampede happened after police tear-gassed rioting supporters. About 180 were injured in the crush after Arema FC lost to bitter rivals Persebaya Surabaya in East Java. The country’s chief security minister said that the number of spectators exceeded the stadium’s capacity by around 4,000 people. President Joko Widodo has ordered that all matches in Indonesia’s top league must be stopped until an investigation has been concluded. Videos show fans running on to the pitch after the final whistle. Police then fired tear gas, leading to a crowd stampede and cases of suffocation, said Nico Afinta, police chief in East Java. “It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” he said, adding that two police officers were among the dead. “We would like to convey that… not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 who entered the pitch,” he said. Fleeing fans “went out to one point at the exit. Then there was a build-up, in the process of accumulation there was shortness of breath, lack of oxygen”, he added. Videos on social media show fans clambering over fences to escape. Separate videos appear to show lifeless bodies on the floor. Image source, EPA Image caption, Police tried to stop fans invading the pitch Fifa, the world’s governing football body, states that no “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police at matches. The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had launched an investigation, adding that the incident had “tarnished the face of Indonesian football”. Violence at football matches is not new in Indonesia, and Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are long-time rivals. Persebaya Surabaya fans were banned from buying tickets for the game because of fears of clashes. But Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD posted on Instagram that 42,000 tickets had been sold for the match at the Kanjuruhan stadium, which has a capacity of 38,000. President Widodo called for this to be the “last soccer tragedy in the nation” after ordering that all Liga 1 games should be paused pending an investigation. Image source, EPA Image caption, Damaged police vehicles lay on the pitch inside Kanjuruhan stadium The stampede is the latest in a long line of disasters at stadiums. In 1964, a total of 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier in Lima. In the UK, 97 Liverpool fans were crushed to death in 1989 at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. Read More Here

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After Hurricane Ian Took Everything, One Hard-Hit Block Banded Together https://digitalarizonanews.com/after-hurricane-ian-took-everything-one-hard-hit-block-banded-together/ SAN CARLOS ISLAND, Fla. — Nearly everyone at Joe Fernandez’s place lost everything in the storm. Many lived in the RV parks and mobile home communities clustered along Main Street on this small patch of land between Fort Myers and Estero Island. The water to the north is known as Hurricane Bay, and for one terrifying stretch this week the line between land and sea blurred. Ian, one of the most fearsome hurricanes to ever hit the country, turned this patch of southwest Florida into an epicenter of devastation. And it left many who live here with no place to go. No place but Joe Fernandez’s. The motor sport shop became a shelter first, then a food pantry. By Friday night, it turned into a place to process, to grieve. A place to find strength and fellowship. Most at the impromptu gathering didn’t evacuate, and they swapped stories of survival over cans of hard seltzer and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Their accounts are harrowing and hard to fathom: Twenty people huddled in a small apartment on the second floor of one of just a few two-story buildings while water climbed the steps. The sight of boats lifted from the nearby marina slamming onto houses in the storm surge. The sound of trapped residents pounding on windows as their homes flooded. Close calls and heroic rescues. “This was some ‘Walking Dead’ type of apocalypse,” Fernandez, 32, said. “This is what it feels like.” Every disaster tests the mettle of a community, and while authorities dealt with the gargantuan task of rescuing the stranded and finding the dead, many residents were forced to help each other. All along Ian’s destructive path, people banded together, sharing generators, fuel and medicine, emptying their cupboards and warming freezers for collective cookouts. Often, in the wake of such catastrophes, fraying nerves and petty crimes receive outsize attention. But reports of fights at the gas pump or a looted store overshadow a much more common characteristic of a hurricane’s aftermath: the tightening threads of a neighborhood’s social fabric. Residents swap insurance tips and help each other clear debris; they knock on doors and pass out water. And this sort of camaraderie is even more important in vulnerable areas. Places home to the elderly or people without the means to evacuate. When a massive storm like Ian hits, neighbors in places like San Carlos Island are almost always the first responders. San Carlos Island doesn’t have the glitzy, towering beach resorts like some of its neighbors. It’s home to snowbirds, service industry workers and a large commercial shrimping industry. Patrons of its waterside tiki bars can dock their boats outside and drink barefoot, and those that live there year-round are on a first-name basis. A hurricane separated the island from mainland Florida in the 1920s and it’s now considered part of the town of Fort Myers Beach, which has emerged as a ground zero in Ian’s aftermath. Fernandez has run Alls In Custom fixing up boats and bikes on the island for five years. He’s originally from Cuba, and he and his older brother, Yunior, left the island as children during the 1994 exodus. They were among the thousands who departed on rafts and boats after Fidel Castro said anyone who wanted to leave the island was free to flee. The siblings were apprehended about a dozen miles from Key West and held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. They’ve now spent more time in the United States than they did in Cuba, and Fernandez treats his San Carlos neighbors like extended family. Leaving the island was never a question — even in the thick of the storm. Yunior recalled driving to his brother’s home when they lost contact and trying to convince him to join him at a safer spot inland. He refused. “Any other person would’ve been like, ‘Let’s go,’” Yunior, 37, said. “But he was like just, ‘Do me a favor, bring back propane, bring back water. I’m gonna stay here and feed my friends.’” As the floodwaters receded, Fernandez had a sense the community would need to rely on each other. The shop where he modified speedboats, four-wheelers and motorcycles with shimmering paint jobs and ornate designs was ruined by nearly 10 feet of floodwater. But he had a couple generators. He set them up and began inviting people over. Utilizing what wasn’t ruined in the storm, he put together a phone charging station and a couple hoses, providing residents two essentials services they had lost when the power and water went out: a way to check in on friends and a place to shower. He cracked open his freezer and began cooking sausage, chicken and fish. Hot meals had also been in short supply. “I don’t care about the material stuff — I don’t know how I’m going to get it back, but …” he said, trailing off. Soon enough his neighbors began to emerge — navigating through cracked streets and piles of debris to come together around his grill. They hugged. Once in a while someone cracked a joke, a bid to find some much needed comedic relief. But little by little, the reality of their ordeal began to sink in. “All my people are accounted for,” Mike Smith said, pausing to blink back tears. “But it’s setting in, man.” The 46-year-old tallied his losses: the boat where he slept, the boat where he fished, his truck with $3,000 in tools for the contracting business he had just started. “These guys are all my adopted family, I guess you can say,” he said, looking around. “Everybody here lost everything, literally lost everything.” A few feet away, Christian Day worked the grill. It was a familiar spot for Day, a chef at an upscale restaurant in a Marriott nearby, but unusual conditions. For one, he didn’t have any spices. Another neighbor named Erika walked down the road to her home, where she, Day and more than a dozen other people, several cats and a dog rode out the storm together. She returned with three jars: “Salt, pepper and Erika’s essence,” she said. “Same as in Emeril’s essence, except I’m not paying five bucks for it.” Day described struggling through the ripping water in the middle of the storm and helping haul open a door to save someone trapped in a laundry room. The friends and neighbors squeezed together in patio chairs around a kitchen table and hoped their second-story refuge was high enough. Later, when Day returned to his home off Main Street, he found a boat crashed through his living room. A runaway boat hit Deborah Barton’s house, too, but that’s all she knows. She hasn’t been able to find her fifth-wheel RV since. “It’s either under the boat or in the mangroves,” she said. Barton, 54, works at a bar on the island and has lived here for 23 years. She doesn’t have much of her own to give, but has been passing out water and canned goods to those who need them more. There are a lot of snowbirds on the island, she said, “but it’s also full of locals.” “Servers, bartenders, everybody that lives down here, that’s what you’re seeing right now,” Barton said. “We all pull together and try to help each other no matter what.” *** Several people at the cookout noted that they had not yet seen law enforcement or emergency response teams in their neighborhood, although rescue helicopters buzzed overhead, likely conducting missions in Sanibel Island, west of Fort Myers Beach, which was cut off from the mainland when Ian collapsed the only connecting bridge. “We don’t count on the government, we hope the government comes through, but honestly, they’re rescuing people from Sanibel,” Barton said. “They’re pulling bodies out of the water. That’s their first priority, they’re still rescuing.” She was in group texts with other locals, everyone checking in with one or two words: Alive. Alive. Homeless, alive. An urban search and rescue team eventually arrived Saturday. Fernandez didn’t seem surprised that authorities went to other areas first: “You realize anything that’s tourism, it’s getting aid, it’s getting helped,” he said. “This is where everything gets stuck.” People came and went on Friday, bringing gas and browsing the makeshift market set up on shelves in front of his shop. They carried dry socks, big cans of black beans, packets of ramen, tampons and hydrogen peroxide. Fernandez’s dogs — three pit bulls and a Rottweiler — picked at scraps from the grill. His parrot, Marcos, wore the week’s stress most visibly, squawking and ruffling patchy feathers. Sitting on a salvaged picnic table, Fernandez called out to people passing by, inviting them in for roast pork. “These people,” he said, “they need something to lean on.” Read More Here

AP News Summary At 10:34 P.m. EDT https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-1034-p-m-edt/ 129 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match MALANG, Indonesia (AP) — Panic at an Indonesian soccer match after police fired tear gas to stop brawls left 129 dead, mostly trampled to death. Police said Sunday that several brawls between supporters of the two rival soccer teams were reported inside the stadium after the Indonesia premier league game ended with Persebaya beating Arema 3-2. East Java’s police chief says the fighting prompted riot police to fire tear gas, causing panic among supporters. Hundreds ran to an exit gate in an effort to avoid the tear gas. Some suffocated in the chaos and others were trampled. More than 300 have been rushed to nearby hospitals for their injuries. But many of them died on the way and during a treatment. Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia has pulled troops out from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. The city of Lyman was a key transportation hub for the Russian front line. A day earlier Moscow had annexed as part of Russia. Kyiv has retaken vast swaths of territory beginning in September. With Lyman recaptured, Ukraine can now push further into the occupied Luhansk region, one of the four regions that Russia annexed Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate all regions from Russian control. Death toll escalates in Florida to 47 from Hurricane Ian FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Authorities in Florida have confirmed several more deaths that now raise the state’s death toll from Hurricane Ian to at least 47 fatalities, hiking the global toll to at least 54 dead. A list of the dead compiled by medical examiners in the state and made public reported numerous drowning deaths, victims found submerged or floating in storm waters and deaths by other means. Ian slammed into the southwest Gulf Coast of Florida as a major Category 4 hurricane earlier in the week before crossing the peninsula over the Atlantic Ocean and then striking the U.S. Southeast coast as a Category 1 hurricane. Four storm-related deaths were reported in North Carolina and three in Cuba. Pine Island residents recount horror, fear as Ian bore down PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Emergency responders are seeking to evacuate residents from the largest barrier island off Florida’s Gulf Coast, and survivors there spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds. A volunteer group, Medic Corps, was flying residents off Pine island by helicopter on Saturday. The bridge to Pine Island was heavily damaged by the hurricane, leaving it reachable only by boat or air. Some residents said they hadn’t seen anyone from outside the island for days and spoke of being trapped in flooded homes as boats and other debris crashed around their houses in the storm surge. Some feared they wouldn’t make it. Ian shows the risks and costs of living on barrier islands SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Experts say that Hurricane Ian is shining a spotlight once again on the vulnerability of the nation’s barrier islands and the increasing cost of people living on them. Florida’s Sanibel Island was hard hit by the storm. Homes were destroyed. Two people have been confirmed dead. And Sanibel’s lone bridge to the mainland collapsed. Barrier island communities like Sanibel anchor tourist economies that provide crucial tax dollars. But the cost of rebuilding them is often high because they’re home to many high-value properties. Jesse Keenan is a real estate professor at Tulane University. He questions whether such communities can keep rebuilding as hurricanes become more and more destructive from climate change. Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s nuclear power provider says Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant hours after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory. In a possible attempt to secure Moscow’s hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including the area around the nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday that Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.” Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuela’s government has freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives imprisoned for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens that the Biden administration has ever carried out. It amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as he looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his opponents and follows months of secretive talks, including repeated visits to Venezuela over the last year by Washington’s top hostage negotiator. Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case WASHINGTON (AP) — The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the riot were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president. But those orders never came. Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday. Supreme Court poised to keep marching to right in new term WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday at a time of diminished public confidence and justices sparring openly over the institution’s legitimacy. The court seems poised to push American law to the right on issues of race, voting and the environment. Back in June, the conservative majority overturned nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion rights. Now, the court is diving back in with an aggressive agenda that appears likely to split the six conservative justices from the three liberals. Joining the nine-member court is new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black woman. GOP attacks Georgia’s Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans are using the defeat of a voting suit brought by a group founded by Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams to attack her legitimacy as a voting rights advocate. They say a judge’s rejection on Friday of the last remaining claims in a suit brought by Fair Fight Action shows that Abrams was wrong all along to claim that she lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race to Republican Brian Kemp because of voter suppression by Kemp. But Abrams is far from backing down from her position, and says she won a number of victories that made elections fairer. Her advocacy has also helped make voting rights a defining issue for Black voters in Georgia. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More Here

Ex-US Prez Trump Likely To Announce His 2024 Presidential Run Within Weeks https://digitalarizonanews.com/ex-us-prez-trump-likely-to-announce-his-2024-presidential-run-within-weeks/ Former President Donald Trump “wants his old job back” and will announce within weeks his run for the presidency in 2024. Trump is eager to get back to the White House, and wants to announce his 2024 run in the coming weeks. Stating this, Kellyanne Conway, his 2016 campaign manager and close ally, said she had advised him to wait until after the midterms in November, according to Business Insider. . Speaking on Friday with CBS News, Conway was asked whether Trump would announce his candidacy after the midterm elections and before Thanksgiving. “Well, he would like to,” said Conway, as per CBS News. “He’s as active as anybody in these midterm elections. That’s important to the calculus also, Catherine, because we have the most ironic, if not unprecedented situation right now,” Conway continued. “We have a president, a current president, whose party doesn’t really want him to campaign with them.” Trump will assess the timing of his announcement after the midterms, which take place on November 8, Conway said. “I will tell you why he wants to run for president,” she said. “Donald Trump wants his old job back.” In July, Conway described Trump as “champing at the bit” to announce his third presidential bid. Speaking to CBS News, she said she advised him to wait until right after the midterms. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also said he lobbied the former president not to announce a 2024 presidential run before the midterms. “My point to him has always (been), ‘Let’s go win ’22,'” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol in July. That same month, a top Republican strategist told Insider that a pre-midterm announcement from Trump would be a “train wreck for the party” and “a complete mess.” Meanwhile, how Democrats, who aren’t named Joe Biden, are running for president – without running for president. Joe Biden plans to seek reelection in 2024, even though voters are souring on him. Democrats aren’t expected to primary Biden, but questions linger about a backup plan. Would-be candidates have been seeking the national spotlight. President Joe Biden has been clear that he plans to run for a second term in 2024. His political team is even getting ready for a spring reelection announcement, according to the Washington Post. But that hasn’t stopped the “will he really?” chatter, particularly after a New York Times poll found that 61 per cent of Democrats said they hoped someone other than Biden would be their nominee in 2024, largely because of his age and job performance. Democratic insiders are questioning whether Biden, 79, can mount a vigorous campaign in 2024 – especially if former President Donald Trump decides to run again. Despite the doubts, Biden is not expected to face a primary challenge given that it would alienate other people in the party as well as the donor class, said Mark Jones, Rice University (Houston, Texas) political science professor and Baker Institute fellow, the Insider said. “The norm is that you do not challenge a sitting president from your party,” Jones said. “That’s a major political faux pas. It either isn’t done, or if it is done it’s done more for political ambition – not to actually win, but to put the spotlight on yourself for other reasons.” A key factor helping Biden’s staying in power is Trump. The New York Times poll found that Biden would be favoured to win in another contest against Trump. “The belief is that if Biden beat Trump before, he can beat him again,” Jones said. If a Democrat were to try to primary Biden – and weaken him in the process – then that person would be blamed if a Republican, even Trump, were to win in 2024. But none of these factors rule out politicians’ making under-the-radar moves. If Biden somehow reverses his plans, that’ll mean the party will need to find a backup. Some ways that candidates begin to test the field through “invisible primaries” are by campaigning for other Democrats to build loyalty, particularly in swing districts. They also may appear at events in potential early voting states and offer noncommittal responses about whether they’ll support Biden in 2024, said Shawn Donahue, a University at Buffalo (New York) assistant professor of political science. Other ways are through grabbing headlines through weighing in on national debates, holding leadership roles in the party, and raising huge sums particularly from out-of-staters. In the case of governors interested in the White House, they’ll need to crush the opposition if they’re up for reelection this year, in November, the Insider said. “There will be a host of people who want to be waiting in the wings so the moment Biden says he’s not running they can sort of jump in,” Jones said. Even if Biden doesn’t change his mind, 2028 isn’t much further off. There are 15 politicians who are taking actions or gaining interest that might position them for a 2024 White House run if Biden changes his mind. And this includes the three top contenders, VP Kamala Harris, Florida Governor Gavin Newsom and senator Elizabeth. –IANS ashe/shs (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Subscribe to Business Standard Premium Exclusive Stories, Curated Newsletters, 26 years of Archives, E-paper, and more! First Published: Sun, October 02 2022. 08:03 IST Read More Here

AP News Summary At 9:32 P.m. EDT https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-932-p-m-edt-2/ 129 dead after fans stampede to exit Indonesian soccer match MALANG, Indonesia (AP) — Panic at an Indonesian soccer match after police fired tear gas to stop brawls left 129 dead, mostly trampled to death. Police said Sunday that several brawls between supporters of the two rival soccer teams were reported inside the stadium after the Indonesia premier league game ended with Persebaya beating Arema 3-2. East Java’s police chief says the fighting prompted riot police to fire tear gas, causing panic among supporters. Hundreds ran to an exit gate in an effort to avoid the tear gas. Some suffocated in the chaos and others were trampled. More than 300 have been rushed to nearby hospitals for their injuries. But many of them died on the way and during a treatment. Russia withdraws troops after Ukraine encircles key city KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia has pulled troops out from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. It was the latest victory for the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin. The city of Lyman was a key transportation hub for the Russian front line. A day earlier Moscow had annexed as part of Russia. Kyiv has retaken vast swaths of territory beginning in September. With Lyman recaptured, Ukraine can now push further into the occupied Luhansk region, one of the four regions that Russia annexed Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military have vowed to keep fighting to liberate all regions from Russian control. Ian leaves dozens dead as focus turns to rescue, recovery FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Dozens of Florida residents left their flooded and splintered homes by boat and by air as rescuers continued to search for survivors in the wake of Hurricane Ian. In South Carolina and North Carolina, authorities were surveying the damage on Saturday from Ian’s blow. The death toll from the storm grew to nearly three dozen, with deaths reported in Cuba, Florida and North Carolina. The storm has since weakened as it rolled into the mid-Atlantic, but not before it washed out bridges and piers. It also hurdled massive boats into buildings onshore and sheared roofs off of homes, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. Pine Island residents recount horror, fear as Ian bore down PINE ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Emergency responders are seeking to evacuate residents from the largest barrier island off Florida’s Gulf Coast, and survivors there spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds. A volunteer group, Medic Corps, was flying residents off Pine island by helicopter on Saturday. The bridge to Pine Island was heavily damaged by the hurricane, leaving it reachable only by boat or air. Some residents said they hadn’t seen anyone from outside the island for days and spoke of being trapped in flooded homes as boats and other debris crashed around their houses in the storm surge. Some feared they wouldn’t make it. Ian shows the risks and costs of living on barrier islands SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Experts say that Hurricane Ian is shining a spotlight once again on the vulnerability of the nation’s barrier islands and the increasing cost of people living on them. Florida’s Sanibel Island was hard hit by the storm. Homes were destroyed. Two people have been confirmed dead. And Sanibel’s lone bridge to the mainland collapsed. Barrier island communities like Sanibel anchor tourist economies that provide crucial tax dollars. But the cost of rebuilding them is often high because they’re home to many high-value properties. Jesse Keenan is a real estate professor at Tulane University. He questions whether such communities can keep rebuilding as hurricanes become more and more destructive from climate change. Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s nuclear power provider says Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant hours after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory. In a possible attempt to secure Moscow’s hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including the area around the nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday that Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.” Venezuela swaps 7 jailed Americans for Maduro relatives WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuela’s government has freed seven Americans imprisoned in the South American country in exchange for the release of two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro’s wife who had been jailed for years by the United States on drug smuggling convictions. The swap of the Americans, including five oil executives imprisoned for nearly five years, is the largest trade of detained citizens that the Biden administration has ever carried out. It amounts to an unusual gesture of goodwill by Maduro as he looks to rebuild relations with the U.S. after vanquishing most of his opponents and follows months of secretive talks, including repeated visits to Venezuela over the last year by Washington’s top hostage negotiator. Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case WASHINGTON (AP) — The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center. Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the riot were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president. But those orders never came. Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday. Supreme Court poised to keep marching to right in new term WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday at a time of diminished public confidence and justices sparring openly over the institution’s legitimacy. The court seems poised to push American law to the right on issues of race, voting and the environment. Back in June, the conservative majority overturned nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion rights. Now, the court is diving back in with an aggressive agenda that appears likely to split the six conservative justices from the three liberals. Joining the nine-member court is new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black woman. GOP attacks Georgia’s Abrams on voting as judge rejects suit ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans are using the defeat of a voting suit brought by a group founded by Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams to attack her legitimacy as a voting rights advocate. They say a judge’s rejection on Friday of the last remaining claims in a suit brought by Fair Fight Action shows that Abrams was wrong all along to claim that she lost the 2018 Georgia governor’s race to Republican Brian Kemp because of voter suppression by Kemp. But Abrams is far from backing down from her position, and says she won a number of victories that made elections fairer. Her advocacy has also helped make voting rights a defining issue for Black voters in Georgia. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Read More Here