Tyrus: People Were Behind Him Because He Was Different
Tyrus: People Were Behind Him Because He Was Different https://digitalarkansasnews.com/tyrus-people-were-behind-him-because-he-was-different/
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Tyrus discussed with Greg Gutfeld and guests the reasoning behind why voters backed Trump and how Trump is the “disrupter in chief” on “Gutfeld!”
GREG GUTFELD: MARTHA’S VINEYARD EXPOSES LIBERAL HYPOCRISY
TYRUS: I’m begging you to be thoughtful. Round it all out for us. You know what? DeSantis may be the perfect Republican, but I like the disrupter in chief. I like the fact that he didn’t trust anyone because most politicians are dirty. When he said drain the swamp, he didn’t say the Democratic swamp and he punked. Let’s be real. And the reason why they privately didn’t like him was, and not publicly is because he had the transcripts. He wasn’t afraid to go, are you questioning me? Well, didn’t you do this and didn’t you ask me for money? And this year, because he didn’t need any of them. He would. People were behind him because he was different, because he was not a politician. The problem is we have too many politicians in the government and we need more people who are walking in like we got to clean this place up.
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Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of The Federal Reserve's Expected Interest Rate Hike
Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of The Federal Reserve's Expected Interest Rate Hike https://digitalarkansasnews.com/stock-futures-rise-ahead-of-the-federal-reserves-expected-interest-rate-hike/
Stock futures were slightly higher on Wednesday morning as traders look ahead to the upcoming interest rate hike announcement from the Federal Reserve.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 42 points, or 0.14%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.15% and 0.13%, respectively.
Stocks fell Tuesday on the first day of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 313.45 points, or 1.01%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.13% and 0.95% respectively.
Yields also jumped Tuesday. The 2-year U.S. Treasury note yield surged as high as 3.99%, its highest level since 2007. The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly touched 3.6%, the most since 2011.
Investors expect that on Wednesday, the central bank will deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike to tame high inflation. A higher-than-expected consumer price index reading in August and hawkish comments on rate hikes from Fed leaders have weighed on stocks, with more pressure likely ahead as the central bank continues to fight inflation.
“We’ll never truly know whether the equity market lows are in for the year without successfully testing the June lows,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management in a Tuesday note. “To be sure, the recent technical weakness in stock prices must now contend with the resolve of monetary policy makers in their fight against inflation.”
He added that third-quarter earnings season may also add headwinds for stock prices if they show further margin erosion for U.S. companies.
Investors will also be watching for earnings from Lennar, KB Homes, General Mills and Steelcase Wednesday. Existing home sales will also be released Wednesday morning.
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CNBC Pro screened the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF on FactSet for stocks that could outperform. One stock that made the list has jumped over 40% this year so far, and analysts say it has further upside of more than 70%.
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— Weizhen Tan
Fed should prioritize soft landing, says Lazard’s Temple
Even though the Federal Reserve is set to deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike this week – tripling the pace of tightening – they should be careful not to throw the economy into a recession, said Ron Temple, head of U.S. Equity at Lazard Asset Management.
“Inflation is unacceptably high, and investors, politicians, and consumers are anxious, but patience is a virtue,” said Temple. “Monetary policy works with long and variable lags.”
He added that key drivers of inflation are already falling.
“The Fed should avoid the temptation to overreact to recent data and keep their eyes on the goal of achieving the softest landing possible,” he said.
—Carmen Reinicke
Stitch Fix share falls following report of revenue loss
Shares of Stitch Fix fell about 1.5% in post-market trading. The online styling company reported revenue losses in the fourth quarter after the bell Tuesday.
Stitch Fix reported a loss of 89 cents per share on a net revenue of $481.9 million, which is down 16% from the same period a year ago. Net revenue for the first quarter of 2023 is expected to be down approximately 20% from the same quarter a year prior, the company said in a release detailing its performance.
“Today’s macroeconomic environment and its impact on retail spending has been a challenge to navigate, but we remain committed to working through our transformation and returning to profitability,” said CEO Elizabeth Spaulding.
Full-year revenue was down 1.4% compared to the prior year.
— Alex Harring
Stock futures open flat ahead of key Fed decision
Stock futures opened flat Tuesday evening as Wall Street awaits the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s interest rate decision Wednesday. The central bank is expected to deliver another 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike to calm inflation.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 20 points, or 0.06%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.10% and 0.15%, respectively.
—Carmen Reinicke
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Judge Orders New Bankruptcy Officials In Alex Jones Case
Judge Orders New Bankruptcy Officials In Alex Jones Case https://digitalarkansasnews.com/judge-orders-new-bankruptcy-officials-in-alex-jones-case/
Citing a “lack of candor,” including over the Infowars fabulist’s lavish spending, the judge ordered substantive changes to his company’s oversight.
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Video evidence of an Infowars episode was shown to the jury during Alex Jones’s trial for defamation damages on Tuesday.Credit…Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media, via Associated Press
Published Sept. 20, 2022Updated Sept. 21, 2022, 12:07 a.m. ET
WATERBURY, Conn. — A federal bankruptcy judge in Houston ordered new personnel to oversee the bankruptcy of Alex Jones’s Infowars late on Tuesday, citing an ongoing lack of transparency, including over Mr. Jones’s lavish personal spending.
Judge Christopher Lopez dismissed Mr. Jones’s attorney and chief restructuring officer in the bankruptcy of Free Speech Systems, Infowars’ parent company, and expanded the duties of a Department of Justice-appointed trustee already monitoring the case. The judge authorized the trustee to hire additional legal and other help, specifying that any new hires must have “no connection to any of these cases,” he said, citing a need to investigate “insider relationships.”
“There has to be greater transparency in this case,” Judge Lopez said during the hearing on Tuesday, pointing to concerns with spending and other disclosures on the part of the company, which is run by Mr. Jones. “Without transparency, people lose faith in the process,” he added, referring to the federal bankruptcy system.
The lawyer and restructuring officer were together attempting to reorganize the company as part of the bankruptcy. In dismissing them, the judge did not fault their work, but rather cited a “lack of candor” on the part of the company, whose moves are dictated by Mr. Jones.
Mr. Jones put Free Speech Systems into bankruptcy in late July and has said he owes $54 million to PQPR, an entity owned and operated directly and indirectly by Mr. Jones and his parents. He filed the bankruptcy partly in response to ongoing litigation against him by the family members of 10 Sandy Hook victims, who say the bankruptcy is a gambit to prevent them from collecting what promise to be heavy financial damages in the cases.
Understand the Cases Against Alex Jones
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A united front. Alex Jones, a far-right conspiracy theorist, is the focus of a long-running legal battle waged by families of victims of a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. Here is what to know:
Defamation lawsuits. The families of 10 Sandy Hook victims sued Mr. Jones in four separate lawsuits. The cases never made it to a jury; Mr. Jones was found liable by default in all of them because he refused to turn over documents, including financial records, ordered by the courts over four years of litigation.
Mr. Jones’s line of defense. The Infowars host has claimed that his right to free speech protected him, even though the outcome of the cases was due to the fact that he failed to provide the necessary documents and testify.
Three new trials. A trial in Austin, Texas this July was the first of three that will determine how much Mr. Jones must pay the families of the Sandy Hook victims. The other two are scheduled for September, but are on hold after Mr. Jones put the Infowars parent company, Free Speech Systems, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, halting all pending litigation.
Compensatory and punitive damages. On Aug. 4, a jury in the Texas trial awarded the parents of one of the children killed in the mass shooting more than $4 million in compensatory damages, which are based on proven harm, loss or injury. A day later, jurors decided Mr. Jones must pay the parents $45.2 million in punitive damages, which aim to punish especially harmful behavior and tend to be granted at the court’s discretion.
The families filed four separate defamation lawsuits against Mr. Jones after he spent years spreading lies that the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., was a government pretext for gun control and that their relatives were actors in the plot. People who believed Mr. Jones’s false claims have tormented the families online, confronted them on the street and threatened their lives.
Mr. Jones lost all four cases last year. Judges in Texas and Connecticut ruled him liable by default after he refused to comply with discovery orders. The families’ victories in those lawsuits set the stage for three trials for damages, after two of the cases were combined. In the first, in August, a jury awarded Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of the Sandy Hook victim Jesse Lewis, 6, compensatory and punitive damages of nearly $50 million. The second is in progress in Superior Court in Waterbury, Conn., resulting from a lawsuit filed by the families of eight other victims.
Mr. Jones is in Connecticut and is expected to testify in the damages trial this week. On Tuesday, Judge Lopez cited Mr. Jones’s spending of $80,000 for “security” for his trip to Connecticut as one of the questionable expenses prompting his decision to impose additional oversight. Mr. Jones has also run up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, according to his court filings.
“This was a monumental step in increasing the transparency around a bankruptcy that Jones and his proxies have until now been keeping in the dark,” said Avi Moshenberg, who is representing the Sandy Hook families in a separate lawsuit against Mr. Jones.
In a filing to the bankruptcy court in late August, the families accused Mr. Jones of funneling assets from his business to himself and his relatives. The Sandy Hook families said in the filing that Mr. Jones had siphoned nearly $62 million from his business into financial vehicles benefiting himself and his family beginning in 2018, when the Sandy Hook families first filed suit.
Mr. Jones’s $54 million debt to PQPR is fictional, the families’ lawyers said in the August filing, calling the claim “a centerpiece of Jones’s plan to avoid compensating the Sandy Hook families.”
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Shinzo Abe: Man Sets Himself Alight In Protest At State Funeral For Killed Japan PM
Shinzo Abe: Man Sets Himself Alight In Protest At State Funeral For Killed Japan PM https://digitalarkansasnews.com/shinzo-abe-man-sets-himself-alight-in-protest-at-state-funeral-for-killed-japan-pm/
A man has set himself alight near the Japanese prime minister’s office, apparently in protest against next week’s state funeral for the country’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
The man, who has not been named, was initially unconscious and sustained burns over his entire body after the incident in Tokyo on Wednesday morning, less than a week before the controversial send-off for Abe, who was shot dead in July.
Opposition to the 27 September state funeral has grown since Abe’s death triggered revelations about the governing Liberal Democratic party’s ties to the Unification church, whose members are colloquially known as Moonies.
Media reports said the protester, who is in his 70s, regained consciousness and told police that he had doused himself in oil before setting it alight. A note in which he said he “strongly opposed” the funeral was found near the scene.
Kyodo news agency and other outlets said police were called to the scene around 7am after reports that someone was “engulfed in flames”. Media reports said a police officer who extinguished the flames was also injured.
Tetsuya Yamagami, who is suspected of shooting Abe dead on 8 July with a homemade gun, has reportedly told investigators he had targeted the politician because of his ties to the Unification church.
Yamagami said his family had been plunged into poverty 20 years ago when his mother, a church member, donated large sums of money to the organisation.
Abe was not a member of the church, but sent a congratulatory video message to an affiliate’s event last year. A recent survey by the ruling party of its 379 lawmakers found that nearly half had had some form of interaction with the Unification church.
The church, founded in South Korea in 1954 by the self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon, was encouraged to establish a presence in Japan by Abe’s grandfather and postwar prime minister, Nobusuke Kishi, as a counter to communism and trade unionism. The organisation, known for its mass weddings, has been accused of pressuring believers into making donations they can’t afford – claims it has denied.
Revelations of ties between Liberal Democratic party (LDP) lawmakers and the church have dominated the domestic news agenda for weeks and hardened opposition to the use of taxpayer money to pay for Abe’s funeral.
The scandal has also damaged the prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who announced his support for a state funeral within days of Abe’s death. A Mainichi Shimbun poll conducted at the weekend showed support for Kishida at 29%, down six percentage points from late August.
Earlier this month the government said the service at the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo would cost at least ¥1.7bn ($12m), with most of the money going on a huge security operation. A Kyodo news agency poll released on Sunday found that 60.8% opposed the ceremony, with 38.5% expressing support. More than 75% said the government was spending “too much” on the funeral.
Overseas guests are expected to include the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese. In all, about 6,000 people are expected to attend.
But many current and former leaders will not be in attendance, including Barack Obama, who in 2016 was accompanied by Abe when he became the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima.
The man who set himself alight on Wednesday is not the first to use self-immolation in a protest connected to Abe, a conservative whose legacy has inspired both warm tributes and fierce criticism.
In 2014, two men set themselves on fire in separate incidents to protest against the planned introduction of security laws that critics said marked a reckless departure from Japan’s postwar pacifism. One of the men died.
Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, resigned in 2020 citing poor health, but remained influential until he was shot dead while making an election campaign speech in the western city of Nara.
With Reuters
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Arbiter In Trump Docs Probe Signals Intent To Move Quickly
Arbiter In Trump Docs Probe Signals Intent To Move Quickly https://digitalarkansasnews.com/arbiter-in-trump-docs-probe-signals-intent-to-move-quickly/
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FILE – An aerial view of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2022. A federal judge has appointed Raymond Dearie, a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s home last month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
CORRECTS SPELLING OF FIRST NAME TO LINDSEY INSTEAD OF LINSEY AND CLARIFIES THAT KISE IS AT CENTER AND TRUSTY IS AT RIGHT – Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys Lindsey Halligan, left, Chris Kise, center, and James Trusty arrive at Brooklyn Federal Court, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department are to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Donald Trump’s attorneys Evan Corcoran and James Trusty walk past media at Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department are to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Protesters stand outside as Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers enter Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department are to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
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FILE – An aerial view of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 31, 2022. A federal judge has appointed Raymond Dearie, a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s home last month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
CORRECTS SPELLING OF FIRST NAME TO LINDSEY INSTEAD OF LINSEY AND CLARIFIES THAT KISE IS AT CENTER AND TRUSTY IS AT RIGHT – Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys Lindsey Halligan, left, Chris Kise, center, and James Trusty arrive at Brooklyn Federal Court, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department are to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Donald Trump’s attorneys Evan Corcoran and James Trusty walk past media at Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department are to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
Protesters stand outside as Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers enter Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department are to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The independent arbiter tasked with inspecting documents seized in an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home said Tuesday he intends to push briskly through the review process and appeared skeptical of the Trump team’s reluctance to say whether it believed the records had been declassified.
“We’re going to proceed with what I call responsible dispatch,” Raymond Dearie, a veteran Brooklyn judge, told lawyers for Trump and the Justice Department in their first meeting since his appointment last week as a so-called special master.
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Elton John Will Perform At The White House On Friday
Elton John Will Perform At The White House On Friday https://digitalarkansasnews.com/elton-john-will-perform-at-the-white-house-on-friday/
Celebrities are back at the White House after a pop-culture backlash during the Trump years.
WASHINGTON — Celebrities are back at the White House following a pop-culture backlash during the Trump years, when just about anyone considered high-wattage refused to show up.
Rocker Elton John is bringing his farewell tour to the South Lawn on Friday, the White House announced Tuesday, one week after singer James Taylor and hosts Jonathan and Drew Scott, of HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” helped celebrate a new health care and climate change law.
John is among a slew of entertainers who refused to perform for then-President Donald Trump.
Taylor sang and strummed his guitar to open last week’s event while the Scotts were among hundreds of people in the audience. They also joined second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, to film a snazzy video promoting the law’s climate change provisions.
Since taking office during a pandemic, which put a pause on too much togetherness, the 79-year-old Biden has also opened the White House to teen singer Olivia Rodrigo, to talk about young people and COVID-19 vaccinations, and the South Korean boy band BTS, to discuss Asian inclusion and representation.
Last year, the Democratic president resumed the tradition of hosting an in-person White House reception for the artists receiving honors from the Kennedy Center.
Actor Jennifer Garner accompanied first lady Jill Biden to West Virginia last year to visit a school-based COVID-19 vaccination site in Charleston. Garner also hosted a PBS “In Performance” special celebrating the holidays at the White House.
John’s concert is called “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme,” a reference to a poem by Irishman Seamus Heaney that Biden often quotes. The performance is part of a collaboration with A+E Networks and the History Channel that “will celebrate the unifying and healing power of music, commend the life and work of Sir Elton John and honor the everyday history-makers in the audience,” the White House said. Guests will include teachers, medical professionals, students, LGBTQ+ advocates and others.
John also has a gig scheduled for Saturday night at Nationals Park in Washington as part of a tour wrapping up his 50-plus-year career. He opened the final leg of his North American farewell series in Philadelphia in July.
The 75-year-old British singer is among celebrities who avoided the Trump White House, starting with the Republican’s 2017 inauguration. John had declined an invitation to play at Trump’s inaugural festivities, saying he didn’t think it was appropriate for someone with British heritage to play at the swearing-in of an American president.
Trump had included high praise for John in a few of his books and played John’s songs at his presidential campaign rallies, including “Rocket Man” and “Tiny Dancer.” Trump had also nicknamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man” because of Kim’s habit of test-firing missiles.
Country music singers Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood were among the more notable entertainers who performed to help usher Trump into office. Bigger names from other genres refused or weren’t considered.
Hollywood has always leaned heavily Democratic.
For the inauguration of Democrat Biden, singers Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks were among those who performed.
Aretha Franklin and Beyonce were among celebrities who turned out in a huge show of force for Democrat Barack Obama, from fundraising to his two inaugurations to performances inside the White House or on the grounds.
They disappeared under Trump, but are returning for Biden.
Biden relied on celebrities during his 2020 presidential campaign, when in-person schmoozing was largely suspended because of the coronavirus. A parade of movie and TV stars, pop icons and sports standouts stepped up to help Biden raise money and energize supporters.
Sir Elton — he was knighted in 1998 by Queen Elizabeth II — has sold over 300 million records worldwide, played over 4,000 shows in 80 countries and recorded one of the best-selling singles of all-time, his 1997 reworking of “Candle In The Wind” to eulogize Princess Diana, which sold 33 million copies.
He has scored over 70 top 40 hits, including nine No. 1s, and released seven No. 1 albums in the 3 1/2-year period from 1972 to 1975, a pace second only to that of the Beatles. John has five Grammy awards, a Tony award for “Aida,” and Academy Awards for songs from “The Lion King” and “Rocketman.”
He has played at the White House in the past.
John and Stevie Wonder performed together at a 1998 state dinner hosted by Democratic President Bill Clinton honoring British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They performed under a tent on the West Colonnade roof.
John was critical of Republican President George W. Bush, telling a British magazine in November 2004 that Bush and his administration “are the worst thing that has ever happened to America.”
But he was more diplomatic at a reception at the White House in December 2004 for a group of Kennedy Center honorees that included himself.
The rock legend said receiving the honor “is about the icing on the cake. … It’s incredible for someone who’s British to be given such an accolade from America, which has given me so much already in my career.”
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Pence Touts Accomplishments Praises Utahns In UVU Speech
Pence Touts Accomplishments, Praises Utahns In UVU Speech https://digitalarkansasnews.com/pence-touts-accomplishments-praises-utahns-in-uvu-speech/
By Harrison Epstein – Daily Herald | Sep 20, 2022
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Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech as part of the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in Orem. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
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Utah Valley University students protest after former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the university on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and his wife, Jeanette Herbert, greet former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, before the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Hundreds sit in the Noorda Center for Performing Arts Concert Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, for a speech by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech as part of the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Cade Bloomer, a Utah Valley University student and intern for the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, asks a question to former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Utah Valley University students protest former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the university on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and his wife, Jeanette Herbert, introduce Mike Pence before the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, right, and first lady Abby Cox listen to former Vice President Mike Pence during the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Former Vice President Mike Pence, left, confers with Justin Jones, executive director of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, during the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech as part of the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald
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Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech as part of the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in Orem. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Utah Valley University students protest after former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the university on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and his wife, Jeanette Herbert, greet former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, before the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Hundreds sit in the Noorda Center for Performing Arts Concert Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, for a speech by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech as part of the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Cade Bloomer, a Utah Valley University student and intern for the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, asks a question to former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022.
Utah Valley University students protest former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the university on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and his wife, Jeanette Herbert, introduce Mike Pence before the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, right, and first lady Abby Cox listen to former Vice President Mike Pence during the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, left, confers with Justin Jones, executive director of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, during the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022.
Former Vice President Mike Pence gives a speech as part of the Utah Valley University fall forum on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Pence was the first guest of the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy.
After a 30-minute speech peppered with applause breaks, laugh lines and policy perspectives, students attending former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at Utah Valley University on Tuesday were given an opportunity to ask a question.
With a preamble about Pence’s career, Cade Bloomer, a UVU student and intern for the Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy, asked the most straightforward question of the morning — “Are you running as a candidate in the 2024 presidential election?”
As soon as the laughter died down, Pence was just as direct in his answer. “Cade, I’ll keep you posted.”
Pence spoke at UVU as the first guest of the Herbert Institute. A former member of the U.S. House of Representative and governor of Indiana, Pence became the 48th vice president of the United States as the running mate of former President Donald Trump.
Speaking to a crowd of students, community members and plenty of elected officials, Pence outlined his vision for the country’s future with commentary on the political and social present.
As he did so, dozens of UVU students stood outside of the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts, holding signs admonishing the former vice president and the university for inviting him.
Puck Roth, one of the protest’s organizers and a member of the university’s Progressive Student Alliance, felt inviting Pence went against UVU’s values.
“UVU states it is a place for everyone but we are continuously having speakers like Mike Pence invited to UVU without the other side ever being invited,” Roth said. “When we are inviting people who actively are against the rights of others — that crosses the line of harm.”
According to Roth, people opposed to Pence’s visit have spoken to UVU’s dean of students and hope to still have a conversation with the President’s Cabinet.
Roth, in speaking to the Daily Herald and echoing the signs held by protestors, took aim at Pence’s stances on several issues including LGBTQ rights and abortion. Pence discussed those same policies inside the concert hall.
“In many ways, America today is almost unrecognizable from the days before the worst pandemic in 100 years struck our country. Today, America continues to reel from the aftermath of the COVID pandemic,” Pence said. He listed issues facing Americans — everything from border security and inflation to the national debt — before coming to his main point.
“This is a crisis that strikes at the very heart of our civilization because it includes the erosion of the nuclear family marked by declining marriage rates, rising divorce, plummeting birth rates, the proliferation of extreme ideology,” Pence said. “Americans came to understand it more during the COVID pandemic when kids were studying on a laptop in the kitchen. An ideology that’s affected our schools at every level, colleges, workplace and our culture.”
He later advocated for expanding school choice to allow students to attend public, private, parochial or charter schools, or opt for homeschooling, as the family sees fit.
The centering of conversation around families and children gave Pence room to praise Utahns for their “strong families” and commitment to community before saying “America must put families first.”
He also discussed Herbert’s efforts as governor to repair the state’s economy on the heels of the Great Recession and Utah’s “rich history of religious liberty.”
On abortion, the former vice president was brief and met with robust applause. “After 50 years, 50 years of heartbreak, 50 years of lives of incalculable value ended before they were born. Today at long last, Roe versus Wade has been sent to the ash heap of history where it belongs,” he said.
During the final questions, Pence was asked about the events of Jan. 6, 2021. “Let me be clear, Jan. 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation, but thanks to the courage of law enforcement, capitol police, federal law enforcement — the violence was quelled. We reconvened the Congress the very same day and we fulfilled our duty under the Constitution.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters entered the U.S. Capitol Building, disrupting the counting of electoral votes in an effort to overturn the results of the general election, won by President Joe Biden. Alongside other chants and threats echoing through the Capitol and surrounding areas was one of “hang Mike Pence” — angry he did not use his role presiding over the count to overturn the vote. Pence told the UVU crowd he “couldn’t see” where he would have the power to alter results from states that had been cast and certified.
“There’s almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose which votes to count for the American president,” Pence said. “I thank you for the question, it’s an issue I expect I’ll be talking about for the rest...
Judge Asks Trump Lawyers If They Plan To Argue Seized Documents Were Declassified As Ex-President Claims
Judge Asks Trump Lawyers If They Plan To Argue Seized Documents Were Declassified As Ex-President Claims https://digitalarkansasnews.com/judge-asks-trump-lawyers-if-they-plan-to-argue-seized-documents-were-declassified-as-ex-president-claims/
‘(If) you decide not to advance a claim of declassification … as far as I’m concerned that’s the end of it,’ Judge Raymond Dearie told them
Author of the article:
Reuters
Karen Freifeld, Luc Cohen and Sarah N. Lynch
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is seen in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., Feb. 8, 2021. Photo by MARCO BELLO /REUTERS/FILE PHOTO
NEW YORK — The U.S. judge named to review documents seized by the FBI last month at Donald Trump’s Florida home pressed Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday to say whether they plan to assert that the records had been declassified by the former president, as he has claimed.
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Judge Raymond Dearie – serving as an independent arbiter, or special master, to vet the more than 11,000 seized documents and potentially recommend keeping some away from federal investigators – asked Trump’s lawyers why he should not consider records marked classified as genuinely classified.
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“If the government gives me prima facie evidence (a legal term meaning a fact presumed to be true unless disproved) that this is classified, and you decide not to advance a claim of declassification … as far as I’m concerned that’s the end of it,” Dearie told Trump’s lawyers in his first public hearing on the matter.
Dearie, a senior federal judge in Brooklyn who Trump’s lawyers recommended to serve as special master, did not issue a ruling.
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Roughly 100 of the documents seized in the court-approved Aug. 8 search at Trump’s home in the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach had classified markings. Trump’s attorney James Trusty told Dearie it is too early to say Trump had used his powers while still president to declassify the documents – a stance that Dearie suggested weakened the claim.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it,” the judge said.
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of Trump for retaining government records, some marked as highly classified including top secret, at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021. Trump has denied wrongdoing and has said without providing evidence that the investigation is a partisan attack.
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Trump has said in social media posts that he declassified the records, but his lawyers have skirted the issue in court.
The three statutes underpinning the search warrant used by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago make it a crime to mishandle government records, regardless of their classification status.
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Obstruction emerges as key focus in Trump documents probe
Dearie is tasked with recommending to Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the fight over access to the seized documents, which records may be protected by attorney-client confidentiality or an assertion of executive privilege, a legal doctrine under which a president can keep certain documents or information secret.
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Trump’s lawyers argued that now is not the time to present specific information regarding declassification and, in a letter filed ahead of the hearing, said it would force them to disclose a defense to any subsequent indictment – an acknowledgement that the investigation could lead to criminal charges.
Cannon’s order appointing Dearie as special master asked him to conclude his review by the end of November and to prioritize documents marked as classified. The process set out by Cannon called for a Trump lawyer to review the documents, a task for which members of his legal team may lack the necessary U.S. government security clearance.
Trusty asked Dearie to urge prosecutors to let more members of Trump’s team get proper clearance. Dearie said only those who truly need to see classified material should be granted access.
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Julie Edelstein, a prosecutor, told the hearing some of the documents are so sensitive that even some members of the Justice Department team have not been allowed to see them.
The Justice Department on Friday appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the portion of Cannon’s ruling allowing the special master to vet the records marked as classified and the judge’s restricting FBI access to them.
Trump’s legal team on Tuesday opposed the government’s request and calling the Justice Department’s investigation “unprecedented and misguided.”
The department opened its investigation after the National Archives, the U.S. agency responsible for preserving government records, tried to get missing government property returned by Trump and received 15 boxes with classified documents mixed in.
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Hurricane Fiona Slams Turks And Caicos As Category 3 Storm Heads For Bermuda
Hurricane Fiona Slams Turks And Caicos As Category 3 Storm, Heads For Bermuda https://digitalarkansasnews.com/hurricane-fiona-slams-turks-and-caicos-as-category-3-storm-heads-for-bermuda/
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Hurricane Fiona slammed into the Turks and Caicos Islands as a powerful Category 3 storm on Tuesday, dumping heavy rains and triggering floods on the Caribbean archipelago after cutting a path of destruction through the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
U.S. officials said the storm had claimed four lives in Puerto Rico. A fifth person was killed in Guadeloupe earlier in the week.
U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra declared a public health emergency for Puerto Rico on Tuesday night, freeing up federal funds and equipment to assist the island.
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The storm slammed Grand Turk, the Turks and Caicos’s biggest island on Tuesday morning, before hitting its main cluster of islands several hours later.
Strengthening with wind speeds of 125 mph (201 kmh), Fiona was heading north towards Bermuda on Tuesday night and was expected to strike as a Category 4 storm on Thursday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Canadian officials warned of powerful post-tropical conditions hitting Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Price Edward Island by Saturday.
Turks and Caicos Deputy Governor Anya Williams said power outages had hit five islands but no deaths had yet been reported.
“Shutting the country down early is what helped us save lives,” Williams told Reuters. She said her government was communicating with the British Royal Navy and U.S. Coast Guard, with the British Navy patrol vessel HMS Medway expected to arrive on Tuesday night to help with rescue efforts.
Jaquan Harvey, 37, a businessman who lives on Grand Turk, said wind drove rain water through the seams of the windows and doors as his house shook.
“It was very loud, like there were giants outside shouting and roaring,” Harvey said. “You could feel the pressure of the air as everything rattled.”
To the south, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico were stunned by the storm’s intensity and were struggling to cope with the aftermath.
Deanne Criswell, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), arrived in Puerto Rico – a U.S. territory – on Tuesday to assess the damage, agency officials said.
Officials said multiple FEMA teams, including two search and rescue units, were being deployed and several hundred FEMA personnel were already on the island.
PAINFUL ANNIVERSARY
Aerial view of the river Soco in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, in El Seibo, Dominican Republic, September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Jesus Frias
Hurricane Fiona was a painful reminder of Puerto Rico’s vulnerability. Tuesday marked the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm which killed about 3,000 people and destroyed its power grid.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans still live under tarpaulin roofs.
Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sunday afternoon, dumping up to 30 inches (76.2 cm) of rain in some areas and triggering catastrophic flooding.
Nearly 80% of Puerto Rico remained without power on Tuesday, according to Poweroutage.us. Officials said it would take days to reconnect the whole island of 3.3 million people.
“It knocked down many trees, there are downed poles and here in the house we got water where it had never happened before,” said Asbertly Vargas, a 40-year-old mechanic in Yauco, a town along the island’s southern coast.
Puerto Rico power provider LUMA Energy said it had restored electricity to 100,000 customers but that it would take days for full restoration.
On the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory with a population of about 40,000 about 700 miles (1,125 km) southeast of Florida, the government told residents to shelter in place until further notice, and ordered businesses to close.
Foreign governments issued travel alerts for the islands, a popular tourist destination.
Similar preparations were under way in the eastern Bahamas, which the storm could skirt on Wednesday.
It could mushroom into a Category 4 storm in coming days, reaching Canada’s Atlantic coast by late Friday, the NHC said.
Hurricanes are deemed “major” by the NHC once they reach Category 3 status, which is wind speeds of between 111mph and 129mph (178kmh-208kmh). A Category 4 storm has “catastrophic” wind speeds of between 130mph and 156mph. The most powerful Category 5 hurricane has wind speeds exceeding 157mph.
In the Dominican Republic, severe flooding limited road access to villages, forced 12,500 people from their homes and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Fiona was the first hurricane to score a direct hit on the Dominican Republic since Jeanne left severe damage in the east of the country in 2004.
As of Monday night, the country’s emergency center counted more than 1.1 million people without drinking water and more than 700,000 without electricity.
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Reporting by Ivelisse Rivera, Ezequiel Abiu Lopez and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Tim Reid and Brad Brooks; Writing by Tyler Clifford; Editing by Richard Chang and Stephen Coates
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Judge Hears Arguments On Preliminary Injunction To Remove Rep. Eastman From Ballot
Judge Hears Arguments On Preliminary Injunction To Remove Rep. Eastman From Ballot https://digitalarkansasnews.com/judge-hears-arguments-on-preliminary-injunction-to-remove-rep-eastman-from-ballot/
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna heard arguments from the Division of Elections and legal counsel for Rep. David Eastman and Randall Kowalke on a preliminary injunction filed by Kowalke’s lawyer — Savanah Fletcher of the Northern Justice Project — to remove Eastman from the November general election ballot.
Arguments by all three parties centered on the merits of the preliminary injunction filed to remove Eastman from the November ballot.
Eastman received a majority of votes in the Aug. 16 primary election for House District 27. The incumbent Republican legislator received 1,931 votes accounting for 52.06% of all votes cast in that district, nearly double the 974 votes that second-place finisher Stu Graham received, and more than twice what third-place finisher Brendan Carpenter received.
Before McKenna on Tuesday were arguments from all three sides concerning the motion to remove Eastman from the ballot. Fletcher led off the proceedings, stating that the injunction filed to remove Eastman from the November ballot — despite his majority of votes received during the primary — was a matter of public interest. Kowalke is a former member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly and a former constituent of Eastman’s. However, Eastman’s lawyer Joe Miller stated that Kowalke no longer lives within the newly-created House District 27. Kowalke’s case centers on the alleged irreparable harm that would be created by the inclusion of Eastman on the November ballot as an ineligible candidate, according to Fletcher.
Fletcher argued three main points: that Eastman’s membership in the Oath Keepers was clearly established by the dues he had paid the organization in 2009 for a lifetime membership, that the Oath Keepers advocate for the violent overthrow of the United States government, and that the Division of Elections failed to enforce their disloyalty clause by certifying Eastman’s candidacy.
“There’s really no indication that this group ceases to exist and they continue to follow this history of violent encounters with the federal government,” Fletcher said. “You can attribute these actions to the group, not to a few outside members.”
Fletcher argued that by the bylaws established by the Oath Keepers themselves, members engaged in violence against the government — such as the Bundy standoff in Oregon — would need to be removed. Fletcher said that the proper way to avoid disenfranchisement of Alaska voters in House District 27 was to remove Eastman from the November ballot.
“The state has been adamant that it does not need to enforce the disloyalty clause,” Fletcher said. “We’re now here in September with an ineligible candidate still on the ballot because they failed to do their duty.”
Eastman was first sworn into office in January 2017 and has had a scandal-marred term in office including censure by the house, removal from his own caucus, and as the only Alaska legislator to attend events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020 — although he denies taking part in any rally, only admitting to having witnessed former President Donald Trump’s speech preceding the violent attacks.
Joe Miller, the former Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 2010 who was defeated by a write-in campaign from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, argued that very little contained about the arguments made by Kowalke were legitimate. Miller took issue with the terminology used by Fletcher and said that none of the three affidavits offered provided direct evidence to the court. Miller also argued that allegations of Eastman’s support of white supremacy and anti-semitic causes were “outrageous.”
“This is not public interest litigation this is political advocacy,” Miller said. “These types of allegations that have been pulled out and now have been argued by counsel apparently in the latest pleading are frankly libelous and they’re malicious and frankly I’m surprised that they even got on the black and white before your honor. Outrageous, I think is the best way to describe them.”
Miller argued that the majority of the 38,000 members of the Oath Keepers were law-abiding citizens.
“The Oath Keepers have basically been drug through the media,” Miller said. “This is not a group of lawless people that are out there trying to overthrow the government.”
Miller also felt that Fletcher’s statement asserting that including Eastman on the November ballot would be a disenfranchisement of voters was “nothing further from the truth.” Miller noted that in order to become a member of the Oath Keepers, a person would have to have sworn a previous oath to the federal government.
“The fact is that just because there is some sort of opposition to the federal government, doesn’t make you an insurrectionist,“ Miller said. “You’re basically disenfranchising over half of that district.”
Miller said that although Eastman became a lifetime member of the Oath Keepers in 2009, he has never attended a meeting, a teleconference, or a rally held by the group. Miller then took issue with the timing of the lawsuit, arguing that the qualifications of a candidate are established at the time they take office.
“He (Trump) was president at the time. He was the head of the federal government and this idea that there was some sort of insurrection on Jan. 6 is legally defective,“ Miller said. “The people that were there on the 6th were there to preserve constitutional government.”
Miller continued that the burden of proof on the plaintiffs was to show that the Oath Keepers were currently involved in disloyalty or advocating for violence against the government.
“There is not a scintilla of evidence, even in the biased press,” Miller said.
Assistant Attorney General Lael Harrison argued for the Division of Elections that the timing of the request to remove Eastman from the ballot was improper and that alternate methods of challenging his candidacy existed without disrupting the entire ballot printing process — a process that Harrison argued could shake voters’ confidence in the division itself.
“Election security is of course a very deep topic of concern, I would say with the public on all sides at this time,” Harrison said. “Part of the reasons that we have these systems are security.”
Harrison stated that even if the assertions about Eastman, his membership in the Oath Keepers, and the violent intent of the organization were true, it would not be sufficient to keep him from running for office. Harrison said that the division reviewed records after receiving the complaint from Kowalke. Harrison said that the division was not arguing anything related to Eastman’s membership with the Oath Keepers, but focused on the role the division plays in the process and timeline of elections.
“We have not found based on that review sufficient reason sufficient evidence to remove Rep. Eastman from the ballot,” Harrison said. “The division’s concern is where we are in the process at this point.”
Harrison said that the greatest public interest was in orderly elections. Kowalke filed a complaint against Eastman’s candidacy and was provided a rejection letter for his complaint on June 20. Harrison said that it was over a month between when Kowalke received his letter and when his lawsuit was filed against Eastman and the Division of Elections. During that time, Harrison noted that the primary election was held.
“The process is not supposed to work where the court or the defendant tells the plaintiff what they want,” Harrison said. “The plaintiff sort of wants to have their cake and eat it too.”
McKenna said that he would work to have a decision on the preliminary injunction by Thursday, and was also working to determine a ruling on the motion to change the venue of the trial. The trial is currently set for December.
Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.
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COVID-19 In Arkansas: Deaths From COVID-19 Surpass 12000 In Arkansas
COVID-19 In Arkansas: Deaths From COVID-19 Surpass 12,000 In Arkansas https://digitalarkansasnews.com/covid-19-in-arkansas-deaths-from-covid-19-surpass-12000-in-arkansas/
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Department of Health released data Tuesday showing that the number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Arkansas has now surpassed 12,000.
Health officials reported 24 additional deaths attributed to COVID-19, increasing the number of people who died in the state since the beginning of the pandemic to 12,017.
The ADH data also showed 7,987 active cases of the virus, a decrease of 563 from the previous day. There were 635 new cases of the virus, raising the total cases to 947,211 since the pandemic began.
According to the latest figures, there was an increase of two hospitalizations in the last 24 hours to 296. The number of patients on ventilators went up by one in the last day to 20, while 47 people are in Arkansas intensive care units due to the virus, which saw no change from the prior day.
In the last 24 hours, 2,219 new COVID-19 vaccine doses were given to Arkansans. The number of Arkansans who are fully immunized rose to 1,664,974, with another 289,009 partially immunized.
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Obituaries In Fort Smith, AR | Times Record https://digitalarkansasnews.com/obituaries-in-fort-smith-ar-times-record-35/
Tucker Allison
Tucker Callan Allison, infant son of Derick and Erin (Callan) Allison, died Thursday, September 15, 2022, at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
A memorial service was held September 23rd at First United Methodist Church in Charleston, under the direction of Brotherton Brothers Funeral Home in Charleston.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, #1 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202.
To place an online tribute, please visit www.brothertonbrothersfuneralhomes.com.
Posted online on September 20, 2022
Published in Paris Express, Charleston Express
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European Businesses Are Rethinking Their Plans For A 'closed' China
European Businesses Are Rethinking Their Plans For A 'closed' China https://digitalarkansasnews.com/european-businesses-are-rethinking-their-plans-for-a-closed-china/
Foreign direct investment from Germany to China grew by about 30% in the first eight months of the year from a year ago, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
BEIJING — European businesses in China are revaluating their market plans after this year’s Covid controls further isolated the country from the rest of the world, said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
China’s stringent Covid policy has restricted international travel, and business activity — especially after a two-month lockdown this year in Shanghai.
The tough measures of the last two years initially helped China recover more quickly from the pandemic’s shock compared to other countries.
But the policy increasingly contrasts with a world that’s increasingly relaxing many Covid restrictions.
For European businesses, “we talk about a complete readjustment of our view on China over the last six months,” Wuttke told reporters at a briefing for the chamber’s annual China position paper, released Wednesday.
He said the lockdowns and uncertainty for businesses have turned China into a “closed” and “distinctively different” country that might prompt companies to leave.
So far, most companies haven’t left — only some very small ones, Wuttke said. But he pointed out the chamber isn’t able to survey businesses that decided not to enter China at all.
I’ve been here on and off 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like this, where all of a sudden ideological decision-making is more important than economic decision-making.
Joerg Wuttke
president, EU Chamber of Commerce in China
Foreign direct investment from the EU into China dropped by 11.8% in 2020 from a year earlier, according to the chamber’s position paper. More recent figures weren’t available.
“While there are still ‘a select group of high-profile multinational companies ready to make billion dollar splashes,’ the trend of declining FDI is unlikely to reverse while European executives are heavily restricted from travelling to and from China to develop potential greenfield projects,” the paper said.
China’s economy grew by 2.5% in the first half of the year, well below the official target of around 5.5%. Beijing indicated in late July the country might not reach that target.
Meanwhile, authorities have showed little sign of removing the so-called dynamic zero-Covid policy.
China has reduced quarantine time for international and domestic travelers. But sporadic lockdowns, whether of the tourist island of Hainan or the city of Chengdu, has kept business uncertainty elevated.
Wuttke said he expects the earliest China could open its borders is late 2023, based on the time needed to vaccinate enough of the population.
‘Ideology trumps the economy’
European businesses that have remained in China increasingly face an environment in which “ideology trumps the economy,” the chamber’s position paper said in its executive summary.
“I’ve been here on and off 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like this, where all of a sudden, ideological decision-making is more important than economic decision-making,” Wuttke said. “And maybe that’s also amplified by voices from the outside, America[n] sanctions, America cutting off China, so I can understand partly why self-reliance is so high on the agenda.”
He was referring to China’s push in the last few years to build up its own tech and other industries.
Meanwhile, among other measures, the U.S. has restricted its companies from supplying key components to Chinese tech companies such as Huawei.
Read more about China from CNBC Pro
The chamber did not specifically state what this ideology consisted of, but said China’s Covid policy embodies the country’s “move away from the rest of the world.”
The policy has not changed despite many lengthy, candid conversations with Chinese government officials, Wuttke said.
“I think these people, they are torn between what they see has to be done, could be done,” he said. “Then [there’s] a very stern, very clear directive from the top of, this is how it has to be, that’s the ideology. And how can you challenge ideology?”
Chinese President Xi Jinping said earlier this month that the country has “continued to respond to Covid-19 and promote economic and social development in a well-coordinated way,” according to a paraphrase of his remarks shared by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
While Xi said “China has entered a new development stage,” he maintained that “China’s door of opening-up and friendly cooperation will always be open to the world,” according to the release. His remarks came during his first trip abroad since the pandemic began – to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan – during which he met with leaders of several countries in the region.
Over the last few years, the Chinese leader has sought to rally the country around the ruling Communist Party and his plans for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Xi is set to consolidate his power at a major political meeting next month.
China’s big market
Foreign businesses already in China are generally staying put for now.
Even if China’s economy grows more slowly, its size and the low base “actually makes a convincing case [for foreign businesses], we’re still going to make it,” Wuttke said.
Some, especially German auto giants, are investing more.
For the first eight months of the year, foreign direct investment from Germany rose by about 30% from a year earlier — faster than the 23.5% pace recorded for the first seven months, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday.
However, the ministry did not release updated figures for investment from the U.S., which official data showed had grown by about 36% in the first seven months of the year.
Foreign businesses can still find specific areas of opportunity.
China is improving local market access, albeit in areas where locals already dominate or are “desperate” for foreign investment, Wuttke said. “Otherwise, frankly, I would stop producing this paper.”
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New Mexico Previously Bused Migrants During Trump Years
New Mexico Previously Bused Migrants During Trump Years https://digitalarkansasnews.com/new-mexico-previously-bused-migrants-during-trump-years/
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — When migrants overwhelmed cities and shelters in New Mexico in 2019, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham moved several dozen of them by bus from border communities to Denver, where Christian congregations volunteered to provide shelter and aid.
Fast forward to 2022 and there is little, if any, talk of transporting migrants away from the border by Lujan Grisham — or Republican nominee for governor Mark Ronchetti.
Lujan Grisham and Ronchetti declined this week to answer questions about whether they would approve any new efforts to transport migrants from the border region of New Mexico to other states and under what circumstances.
Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, has campaigned on promises to intervene against cross-border smuggling of migrants and illicit drugs by deploying soldiers and police to the state’s border with Mexico. He also has denounced recently enacted laws that provide public benefits to migrants.
“Governors in Texas, Arizona, and Florida are doing everything they can to bring attention to the border crisis created by Joe Biden and made worse by politicians like Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham,” said Ronchetti spokesman Ryan Sabel in an email.
Ronchetti, who lost an open race for U.S. Senate in 2020, campaigned alongside DeSantis at an August Rally in Carlsbad.
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Mary Trump On The 'Big Problems' If Donald Trump Is Indicted: 'We'd Probably Run Out Of Beer'
Mary Trump On The 'Big Problems' If Donald Trump Is Indicted: 'We'd Probably Run Out Of Beer' https://digitalarkansasnews.com/mary-trump-on-the-big-problems-if-donald-trump-is-indicted-wed-probably-run-out-of-beer/
Last month Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bunker was subjected to a search by the FBI. They had a lawful warrant to seek highly sensitive national security materials that Trump had taken illegally from the White House. He later refused to return the documents, hundreds of which were classified Top Secret, even after being subpoenaed.
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Trump made numerous false, bizarre, and often contradictory explanations for the documents being hoarded at his resort/home. He lied about having them, accused the FBI of planting them, and insisted that they were all unclassified by magic.
RELATED: WTF? Now Trump Says the FBI Was Looking for Hillary Clinton’s Emails at Mar-a-Lago
In the weeks since the search, the prospects of Trump being indicted have intensified. So much so that Trump, out of desperation and fear, recently made a thinly veiled threat if an indictment were to be handed down. After returning to the scene of the crime, he told right-wing radio talker, Hugh Hewitt that…
“I don’t think the people are going to stand for it. […] But I think if it happened, I think you’d have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before. I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it. […] I think they’d have big problems, big problems. I just don’t think they’d stand for it. They will not, they will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes.”
Ex-Trump Official Criticizes Probe Into Misconduct Claims | News Channel 3-12
Ex-Trump Official Criticizes Probe Into Misconduct Claims | News Channel 3-12 https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ex-trump-official-criticizes-probe-into-misconduct-claims-news-channel-3-12/
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — A former Trump official who heads the Inter-American Development Bank is criticizing an external investigation into an anonymous complaint that he carried on an intimate relationship with a subordinate. The probe’s findings have not been made public, but Mauricio Claver-Carone said in a statement Tuesday that it did not substantiate the “false and anonymous allegations.” He also harshly criticized the manner in which the probe was conducted by a law firm. The probe was launched by the bank’s board after it received an email in March detailing possible misconduct by Claver-Carone.
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Arkansans Volunteer To Get More People Registered To Vote
Arkansans Volunteer To Get More People Registered To Vote https://digitalarkansasnews.com/arkansans-volunteer-to-get-more-people-registered-to-vote/
Local election workers hope to see even more people head to the polls for this year’s election following National Voter Registration Day.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Volunteers all over the country spent their day helping people get registered to vote to celebrate National Voter Registration Day.
Local election workers hoped to see an even bigger turnout at this year’s election after students at UA Little Rock filled out the forms on Tuesday to become registered voters.
The Pulaski County Circuit Clerk, Terri Hollingsworth said that a college campus is one of the best places to register more people.
“We need their participation in this in this democracy,” Hollingsworth said.
She urged everyone who’s eligible to get out and register to vote but wanted to remind people that not all they need to do.
“I really want them to go and vote. That’s the main thing,” she explained.
Hollingsworth said that Pulaski County currently has about 235,000 registered voters, but not all of them are active.
“Those are the folks that haven’t voted in a federal election in about two election cycles. So we do we need those folks to definitely re-register and make sure they come back on board because we need their voice,” she said.
People registered in the system who haven’t voted recently will receive cards in the mail, encouraging them to update their information.
Over at the Pulaski County Election Commission Office, workers had a lot to do before election day— but this year, they faced at least one less challenge.
“Due to COVID, in 2020, we had a lot of poll workers who didn’t feel comfortable working at the polls and being in contact with a lot of people. So we did have to recruit quite a few new workers to come in,” Pulaski County Election Coordinator, Amanda Dickens explained.
Dickens said that they won’t have a problem filling in those spots this year.
“We haven’t had that need for poll workers, not that we’re not accepting applications. And we are placing new people as they are applying at different polling locations. But we just don’t have that dire need that we did in 2020,” she said.
Dickens said that if you have any changes like a new address or name, it’s best to update those before election day, to make things run more smoothly.
“That way when you go to your polling location, you will be on that poll book,” she added.
If you missed any voter registration events today, you can find a voter form on the Pulaski County Election Commission’s website.
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Celebrities Coming Back To White House After Trump Drought
Celebrities Coming Back To White House After Trump Drought https://digitalarkansasnews.com/celebrities-coming-back-to-white-house-after-trump-drought-2/
WASHINGTON (AP) — Celebrities are back at the White House following a pop-culture backlash during the Trump years, when just about anyone considered high-wattage refused to show up.
Rocker Elton John is bringing his farewell tour to the South Lawn on Friday, the White House announced Tuesday, one week after singer James Taylor and hosts Jonathan and Drew Scott, of HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” helped celebrate a new health care and climate change law.
John is among a slew of entertainers who refused to perform for then-President Donald Trump.
Taylor sang and strummed his guitar to open last week’s event while the Scotts were among hundreds of people in the audience. They also joined second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, to film a snazzy video promoting the law’s climate change provisions.
Since taking office during a pandemic, which put a pause on too much togetherness, the 79-year-old Biden has also opened the White House to teen singer Olivia Rodrigo, to talk about young people and COVID-19 vaccinations, and the South Korean boy band BTS, to discuss Asian inclusion and representation.
James Taylor sings during an event about the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Andrew Harnik
Last year, the Democratic president resumed the tradition of hosting an in-person White House reception for the artists receiving honors from the Kennedy Center.
Actor Jennifer Garner accompanied first lady Jill Biden to West Virginia last year to visit a school-based COVID-19 vaccination site in Charleston. Garner also hosted a PBS “In Performance” special celebrating the holidays at the White House.
John’s concert is called “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme,” a reference to a poem by Irishman Seamus Heaney that Biden often quotes. The performance is part of a collaboration with A+E Networks and the History Channel that “will celebrate the unifying and healing power of music, commend the life and work of Sir Elton John and honor the everyday history-makers in the audience,” the White House said. Guests will include teachers, medical professionals, students, LGBTQ+ advocates and others.
John also has a gig scheduled for Saturday night at Nationals Park in Washington as part of a tour wrapping up his 50-plus-year career. He opened the final leg of his North American farewell series in Philadelphia in July.
The 75-year-old British singer is among celebrities who avoided the Trump White House, starting with the Republican’s 2017 inauguration. John had declined an invitation to play at Trump’s inaugural festivities, saying he didn’t think it was appropriate for someone with British heritage to play at the swearing-in of an American president.
Trump had included high praise for John in a few of his books and played John’s songs at his presidential campaign rallies, including “Rocket Man” and “Tiny Dancer.” Trump had also nicknamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man” because of Kim’s habit of test-firing missiles.
Country music singers Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood were among the more notable entertainers who performed to help usher Trump into office. Bigger names from other genres refused or weren’t considered.
Hollywood has always leaned heavily Democratic.
For the inauguration of Democrat Biden, singers Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks were among those who performed.
Aretha Franklin and Beyonce were among celebrities who turned out in a huge show of force for Democrat Barack Obama, from fundraising to his two inaugurations to performances inside the White House or on the grounds.
They disappeared under Trump, but are returning for Biden.
Biden relied on celebrities during his 2020 presidential campaign, when in-person schmoozing was largely suspended because of the coronavirus. A parade of movie and TV stars, pop icons and sports standouts stepped up to help Biden raise money and energize supporters.
Sir Elton — he was knighted in 1998 by Queen Elizabeth II — has sold over 300 million records worldwide, played over 4,000 shows in 80 countries and recorded one of the best-selling singles of all-time, his 1997 reworking of “Candle In The Wind” to eulogize Princess Diana, which sold 33 million copies.
He has scored over 70 top 40 hits, including nine No. 1s, and released seven No. 1 albums in the 3 1/2-year period from 1972 to 1975, a pace second only to that of the Beatles. John has five Grammy awards, a Tony award for “Aida,” and Academy Awards for songs from “The Lion King” and “Rocketman.”
He has played at the White House in the past.
John and Stevie Wonder performed together at a 1998 state dinner hosted by Democratic President Bill Clinton honoring British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They performed under a tent on the West Colonnade roof.
John was critical of Republican President George W. Bush, telling a British magazine in November 2004 that Bush and his administration “are the worst thing that has ever happened to America.”
But he was more diplomatic at a reception at the White House in December 2004 for a group of Kennedy Center honorees that included himself.
The rock legend said receiving the honor “is about the icing on the cake. … It’s incredible for someone who’s British to be given such an accolade from America, which has given me so much already in my career.”
___
Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington and AP News Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Students Register On National Voter Registration Day
Students Register On National Voter Registration Day https://digitalarkansasnews.com/students-register-on-national-voter-registration-day/
FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) – Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day, and the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith hosted a registration event in the student union. Over 30 students came out to vote.
Esther Suarez is a sophomore at UAFS. She’s also the president of “Ideal Woman”, it’s a newly-founded organization at the university. She said it’s very important for women to feel like they can use their voices.
“Women need to be proud of the fact that we do get the right, we do have that voice, and I think voting is really important to do,” said Suarez.
Rhett Williams is a junior at UAFS. He’s majoring in history and wants to get a doctorate in political science. He registered to vote at UAFS on Tuesday.
“We need to go out to vote for whatever opinion you believe in, whether it be left or right, you go out and try to make a difference for your political opinion,” said Williams.
The director of elections in Washington County, Jennifer Price, said a lot of residents registered to vote in 2020, but a lot of people have moved into the county since then.
“So, we want to get those voters registered to vote. It’s really important,” said Price.
Price encourages everyone to double check to make sure you’re registered to vote in your area.
“Go and verify your voter registration before election day and definitely before that October 11 deadline. So, if there’s any question of eligibility we can get that taken care of,” said Price.
Price said if you aren’t registered to vote or it you fail to transfer your voter registration from one county to another, your ballot won’t count. Sample ballots are also something you need to pay attention to. They should be available in about two weeks.
You’ll be able to look at what you’re going to vote on and who you’re going to vote for. Price said it’s critical voters view the sample ballots when they’re available due to redistricting.
“It’ll give you a chance to look over it so that on election day when you go vote, you know which candidates you are looking for and which offices are not going to be eligible to vote for,” said Price.
You can find out if you’re registered to vote in your county here. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 11. Election Day is Nov. 8.
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Fayetteville City Council Recap: Sept. 20, 2022 https://digitalarkansasnews.com/fayetteville-city-council-recap-sept-20-2022/
Flyer file photo
On the agenda…
Reallocating CDBG-CV funding.
Renaming Archibald Yell Boulevard.
Approving a contract for pre-approved home designs.
Approving the annual millage levy.
Rezoning 3.10 acres southeast of 18th Street.
Rezoning 0.70 acres on Taylor Street.
Rezoning 0.20 acres on University Avenue.
Rezoning 0.60 acres on University Avenue.
Rezoning 2.09 acres southeast of Smokehouse Trail.
Rezoning 0.39 acres on Wedington Drive.
Rezoning 0.20 acres on Spring Street.
» Download the agenda
Meeting info
A meeting of the Fayetteville City Council began at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022 inside City Hall in Room 219. The meeting is also available on Zoom and is broadcast live on the city’s YouTube channel.
Listed below are the items up for approval and links to PDF documents with detailed information on each item of business.
Roll call
Present: Sonia Harvey, D’Andre Jones, Mark Kinion, Mike Wiederkehr, Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Sloan Scroggin, Sarah Bunch, Teresa Turk, Holly Hertzberg
Absent: None
» View current attendance records
City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports and Discussion Items
1. Nominating Committee Report
– Pass 8-0
The new members are listed below:
HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION
Christine Myres – One unexpired term ending June 30, 2025
Julie Preddy – One unexpired term ending June 30, 2025
AIRPORT BOARD
Richard Rost – One unexpired business representative term ending Dec. 31, 2023
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS ADIVSORY BOARD
Mark Plassmeyer – One unexpired resident At large term ending March 31, 2024
FAYETTEVILLE ARTS COUNCIL
Alexandra Vasile – One unexpired arts And culture citizen at large term ending June 30, 2023
TOWN AND GOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Jack Avery – One citizen at large term ending Sept. 30, 2024
Consent
Consent items are approved in a single, all-inclusive vote unless an item is pulled by a council member at the beginning of the meeting.
1. Approval of the Aug. 16, 2022 City Council Meeting Minutes.
– Pass 8-0
2. Recognizing Additional Revenue for Parking Facilities and Services (Details): A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $100,000.00 recognizing additional revenue and associated expenses for certain parking facilities and services.
– Pass 8-0
3. LC Joint Adventures, LLC to Creamer Pilot Services, LLC Agreement (Details): A resolution to approve the agreement for assignment of a lease for airport property located at 4560 S. School Ave. from LC Joint Adventures, LLC to Creamer Pilot Services, LLC.
– Pass 8-0
4. Arkansas Department of Transportation (Details): A resolution to approve a payment of $48,511.28 to the Arkansas Department of Transportation for the construction of a side path along Wedington Drive at the intersection of Interstate 49, and to approve a budget adjustment.
– Pass 8-0
5. Ezest Solutions, LLC d/b/a Dumpster Dudez of Northwest Arkansas (Details): A resolution to approve an agreement with Ezest Solutions, LLC d/b/a Dumpster Dudez of Northwest Arkansas for the hauling and disposal of solid waste in the City of Fayetteville.
– Pass 8-0
6. Water Leak and Sewer Overflow Damage Claims (Details): A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $100,000.00 to appropriate additional funds for water leak and sewer overflow damage claims that may occur in 2022.
– Pass 8-0
7. Water and Sewer Division Minor Equipment (Details): A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the amount of $25,000.00 to appropriate funds for minor equipment purchases by the Water and Sewer Division that may occur in 2022.
– Pass 8-0
8. State Drug Crime Enforcement and Prosecution Grant (Details): A resolution to authorize acceptance of a state Drug Crime Enforcement and Prosecution grant for state funding of the Fourth Judicial District Drug Task Force in the amount of $91,319.00, and to authorize Mayor Jordan to sign all necessary documents to receive the grant funds.
– Pass 8-0
9. AXON Enterprise, Inc. (Details): A resolution to approve a ten-year service agreement with AXON Enterprise, Inc. and authorize the purchase of body worn cameras, taser conducted energy weapons, interview room video recorders, and digital mobile video recorder systems in the total amount of $4,186,494.72 pursuant to a Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract, for use by the Police Department, and to approve a budget adjustment.
– Pass 8-0
Unfinished Business
1. Reallocate CDBG-CV funding for Covid-19 Outreach, Testing and Protection (Details)
A resolution to approve a budget adjustment in the total amount of $557,298.00 to reallocate CDBG-CV funding for covid-19 outreach, testing and protection.
– Pass 7-0
Background:
This item was pulled from Consent by Councilmember Kinion.
Sept. 6 Discussion:
Councilmember Scroggin said he would be recusing from this discussion and vote. Scroggin said he’s on the board of the Community Clinic, which would receive nearly $74,000 in funding under this proposal.
Natasha Coleman, chair of the Community Development and Assistance Programs Advisory Board, said the board met and requested this item be pulled to allow for more discussion about the resolution.
Three people spoke and asked the council to vote against the resolution. They said the money would be better spent on programs that focus on housing for low-income residents who are affected by the pandemic.
Turk said she wants to make sure the city doesn’t lose the funding by waiting too long to accept it. “That’s a lot of money to potentially lose,” said Turk.
Yolanda Fields, the city’s community resources director, said if the item is tabled, she’ll check with HUD to make sure there’s enough time to reallocate the funding before it’s too late.
The council voted 7-0 to table the item until Sept. 20.
Sept. 20 Discussion:
Fields said the Community Development and Assistance Programs Advisory Board discussed the issue at their Sept. 16 meeting, and voted unanimously to recommend approval of the proposal.
Decision:
The council voted 7-0 to approve the resolution. Scroggin recused because he’s on the board of the Community Clinic, which will receive funds from this proposal.
2. Amend §157.02 Development (Details)
An ordinance to amend §157.02 Development in Chapter 157 Notification and Public Hearings of the Unified Development Code to require public notification of administrative items and variances considered by the Planning Commission.
Background:
Administrative items and development variances reviewed by the Planning Commission are not currently listed in the city code section which identifies items that require public notification. City staff recommend updating the law to require notification for those items. The change would have a two-fold benefit, staff said. It would provide clear expectations for applicants, and it also ensure that the public receives notice when variances or alternative standards are requested.
Sept. 6 Discussion:
Councilmember Kinion said he hasn’t had time to look at this ordinance, so he’d like to leave it on the first or second reading tonight.
Turk said she’d like to amend the ordinance to require expand the public notice rules and possibly leave public notice signs up until the issue is completely resolved at the City Council level.
Staff said they’ll discuss Turk’s idea and come back with some suggestions later in the year about several issues that need to be thought out, including how the signs will be updated between Planning Commission and City Council meetings to reflect new information, who will pay for the updated signs, etc.
The council left the ordinance on the first reading. The discussion will continue on Sept. 20.
Sept. 20 Discussion:
There was no public comment.
Decision:
The council advanced the ordinance to the third reading, and voted 8-0 to approve it.
→ CURRENT ITEM
3. Rename Archibald Yell Boulevard to Nelson Hackett Boulevard (Details)
A resolution to rename Archibald Yell Boulevard to Nelson Hackett Boulevard.
– Pass 8-0
Background:
This item is presented alongside another item on the agenda to place an historical marker in honor of Nelson Hackett.
Hackett labored as a personal servant at a grocery store south of where the Bank of Fayetteville stands today on the downtown square. He eventually fled Fayetteville in 1841 in search of freedom. His escape set off an international dispute that eventually helped ensure Canada would remain a safe haven for people who were fleeing enslavement in the United States.
Hackett fled to Canada, which had recently abolished slavery and was under British rule at the time. He was accused of theft by a man who claimed to own him in Fayetteville. While abolitionists called on Canada to give Hackett his freedom, supporters of slavery insisted that he be returned to the United States. Eventually, Arkansas Gov. Archibald Yell formally requested that Hackett be returned to Fayetteville, and when that request was granted, Hackett was publicly whipped, tortured and sold back into slavery in Texas. The British government eventually passed laws that made similar extraditions much more difficult in an effort to prevent setting a precedent that encouraged slave owners to make accusations of offenses in order to reclaim enslaved people from the U.S.
The city’s Black Heritage Preservation Commission voted to recommend the council change the name of Archibald Yell Boulevard to Nelson Hackett Boulevard, and to recommend adding an historical marker on the square in honor of Hackett.
» See our Aug. 8 story for more information
Sept. 6 Discussion:
Before the meeting, Councilmember Mike Wiederkehr also proposed an alternative name of “Henderson Boulevard” in honor of Ebeneazor Henderson and his daughter Clara Henderson. The two were the founders and teachers of Henderson School, wh...
Sheriff Investigates DeSantis' Migrant Flight As Attorneys Sue Claiming Trip Was Manipulative
Sheriff Investigates DeSantis' Migrant Flight As Attorneys Sue, Claiming Trip Was Manipulative https://digitalarkansasnews.com/sheriff-investigates-desantis-migrant-flight-as-attorneys-sue-claiming-trip-was-manipulative/
A Texas sheriff said Monday he was opening a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant flight to Martha’s Vineyard as the stunt continues to draw criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans and DeSantis defends what he calls a protest of border policies.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced the probe on Monday night, saying that his office believes the migrants who were shuttled to the Massachusetts island on Sept. 14 were lured under false pretenses, which DeSantis denies.
“What infuriates me the most about this case is that here we have 48 people that are already on hard times, right?” Salazar said at a press conference. “They are here legally, in our country. At that point, they have every right to be where they are. And I believe that they were preyed upon.”
Immigration attorneys working with some of the asylum-seekers told ABC News that the migrants were given misleading information, including brochures, about benefits they could receive in Massachusetts.
A civil rights group representing at least three of the affected migrants on Tuesday filed a class-action lawsuit against DeSantis and other Florida officials, claiming their clients were lured under false pretenses as part of a “political stunt.”
The governor has defended the migrant drop-off as a protest of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies as border encounters remain at a record high. DeSantis has repeatedly insisted the migrants volunteered to be taken to Martha’s Vineyard from Texas.
“Why wouldn’t they want to go, given where they were?” he said during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Monday night. “They were in really, really bad shape.”
What potential violations are being investigated?
Salazar said Monday that his office believes a Venezuelan migrant was paid a “bird-dog fee” to lure roughly 50 migrants to be taken to Martha’s Vineyard, where they would be promised work and a better life.
“There’s a high possibility that the laws were broken here in the state of Texas in Bexar County,” Salazar said.
But he declined to reveal any specific statutes he thinks may have been violated at the federal, state or local level.
Migrants stand outside St. Andrew’s Church in Edgartown, Massachusetts, Sept. 14, 2022.
Ray Ewing/Vineyard Gazette via Reuters
He also didn’t identify any suspects.
“We do have the names of some suspects involved that we believe are persons of interest in this case at this point, but I won’t be parting with those names,” he said. “To be fair, I think everybody on this call knows who those names are already but suffice it to say we will be opening this case.”
“We’re going to discover what extent the law can hold these people accountable,” he added.
Attorneys say DeSantis brochures were misleading
Lawyers representing the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard via two chartered planes told ABC News that the information given to them before the journey was misleading because the migrants aren’t technically refugees. These people are seeking asylum but have not yet attained that status, the attorneys said.
Millions of Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014, hoping to escape political turmoil and economic strife. U.S. relations are strained with the country – which has for years been under punishing U.S. sanctions levied in opposition to the country’s president — and Venezuelans are typically exempt from being quickly expelled under Title 42, a Trump-era policy used to quickly expel migrants because of the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ivan Espinoza-Marigal, a leading lawyer representing many of the migrants, told ABC that most of the migrants’ current status is under humanitarian parole and therefore they are not eligible for the benefits described in the pamphlet they received.
“Only people who have already been granted refugee status are eligible,” American Immigration Council Policy Director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick told ABC News. “Asylum seekers do not receive any federal assistance and cannot receive work authorization until at least six months after applying for asylum.”
DeSantis has pointed to the brochures given out by a vendor working with the state of Florida to transport the migrants as proof they weren’t duped about where they were going or what would be available to them once they arrived.
“They all signed consent forms to go,” he told Hannity. “And then the vendor that is doing this for Florida provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha’s Vineyard, it had the numbers for different services on Martha’s Vineyard and then it had numbers for the overall agencies in Massachusetts that handles immigration and refugees.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks after the primary election for the midterms during the “Keep Florida Free Tour, ” in Tampa, Fla., Aug. 24, 2022.
Octavio Jones/Reuters, FILE
Rachel Self, an immigration attorney helping migrants who arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, said the map on the brochures was “cartoonishly simple” and contained information on how migrants could change their address with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) when they relocated.
“This is especially troubling as anyone with even the most basic understanding of the immigration proceedings knows that USCIS was not the agency with whom the migrants would have to record their addresses and has nothing to do with their cases in any way,” Self said.
Typically, migrants granted humanitarian parole and looking to file an asylum claim have mandatory court hearings scheduled in locations where they have said they have family or at courts closest to where they were processed by immigration authorities. That means that migrants who went unknowingly or under false pretenses to Martha’s Vineyard are at risk of missing those court dates, which may result in them being fast-tracked for deportation.
“The brochure is full of lies for this particular group of people. Material misrepresentations made in furtherance of the unlawful scheme,” Self, one of the attorneys, told ABC News.
Class-action lawsuit filed against DeSantis
The group Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) filed a federal civil rights class action lawsuit on Tuesday against DeSantis, Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue “and their accomplices” over what the attorneys called a “fraudulent and discriminatory” plan to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard without the appropriate resources in place.
The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of at least three affected people whom they claim were “targeted and induced” to board the planes under false pretenses. They allege in the suit that DeSantis and others focused on migrants who were released from shelters and promised them job opportunities, schooling for their children and immigration assistance.
The attorneys say in the suit that the migrants were not told they were going to Martha’s Vineyard until right before landing. The lawsuit claims that once the planes landed, the people who had worked get the migrants on board “disappeared” and left them to realize it was all a ruse.
“Defendants manipulated them, stripped them of their dignity, deprived them of their liberty, bodily autonomy, due process, and equal protection under law, and impermissibly interfered with the Federal Government’s exclusive control over immigration in furtherance of an unlawful goal and a personal political agenda,” the group said.
The complaint also alleges that the money spent to transport the plaintiffs was improperly utilized from the federal Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund, which is only authorized for COVID-19-related uses.
LCR is seeking “compensatory, emotional distress, and punitive damages.”
ABC News has contacted DeSantis’ office and the Florida Department of Transportation for comment on the lawsuit.
What DeSantis’ team is saying
Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ communications director, responded to the investigation by the Bexar Sheriff’s Office in a social media post on Monday.
“Immigrants are more than willing to leave Bexar County after being enticed to cross the border and ‘to fend for themselves.’ [Florida] provided an opportunity in a sanctuary state [with] resources, as expected – unlike the 53 who died in an abandoned truck in Bexar County in June,” Fenske wrote on Twitter.
DeSantis during his appearance on Hannity called the accusations that migrants were deceived “nonsense.”
He has promised additional operations to send migrants to so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions,” saying last week that he intends to use $12 million from the state’s relocation program for more transports.
“Those migrants were being treated horribly by Biden. They were hungry, homeless, they had no opportunity at all. The state of Florida — it was volunteer — offered transport to sanctuary jurisdictions,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Tuesday as he doubled down on his comments made to Hannity.
Lawmakers weigh in
Members of congressional leadership on Tuesday waded into the ongoing discourse surrounding DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s moves last week to ship migrants to various cities across the U.S.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries lambasted both men during a Tuesday news conference at the Capitol, arguing that the GOP governors needed to “stop behaving like human traffickers.” (Abbott and DeSantis have defended their actions as showing the cost and scope of caring for migrants — in reaction to Biden and Democrats’ border policies.)
But Jeffries said, “They are putting politics over people in the most egregious way possible.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed support for the Republicans’ actions, saying he “thought it was a good idea” to send the immigrants to blue states.
Though not by name,...
Tropical Wave 'one To Watch' For Impacts To Florida
Tropical Wave 'one To Watch' For Impacts To Florida https://digitalarkansasnews.com/tropical-wave-one-to-watch-for-impacts-to-florida/
TEMPERATURES TO SKYROCKET. SPEAKING OF HOT, THINGS ARE HEATING UP. WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON HURRICANE FIONA. WE ARE NOT TOO CONCERNED. HERE’S THE LATEST. STAYING WINDS OF 115 MILES PER HOUR. SEE THE CIRCULATION DRIFT AWAY. THIS IS GOING TO GRADUALLY INTENSIFY, AS WE HEAD OFF TO THE EAST, WINDS OF 40 MILES PER HOUR. WE ARE NOT TOO WORRIED ABOUT THIS BUT WE ARE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON THIS, AND HAS A HIGH CHANCE OF DEVELOPING. HERE IS THE LONG-RANGE MODELS THAT ARE SHOWING WITH HAPPENING, AND MOVES INTO THE WESTERN CARIBBEAN WHERE IT CAN INTENSIFY. THE MODELS BRING IT INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO. WE HAVE LOTS OF TIME TO TRACK IT.
Tropical wave ‘one to watch’ for impacts to Florida
WESH 2 meteorologists are keeping a close eye on one of two tropical disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical Storm Gaston is located in the Central Subtropical Atlantic has an 80% chance of formation but is expected to be short-lived tropical and will have no impact on land. However, a second tropical disturbance located several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands is one that may have an impact on Florida.”This could become a tropical depression later this week as it drifts into the Caribbean,” WESH 2 Meteorologist Kellianne Klass said. “The GFS and Euro are both showing this storm strengthening as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico next week. Watching midweek through the end of the workweek as a rough timeline. What we need to watch is the exact path of this storm. The latest GFS run moves the storm closer to Central Florida, whereas the previous run has it farther away.”The disturbance is given a 60% chance of development in the next 48 hours and a 80% chance of development in the next five days. Meanwhile, Hurricane Fiona is drifting through the Atlantic as a major Category 3 storm. KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE WATCH IS ISSUEDStay tuned to WESH 2 News, WESH.COM, or NOAA Weather Radio for storm updates.Prepare to bring inside any lawn furniture, outdoor decorations or ornaments, trash cans, hanging plants, and anything else that can be picked up by the wind.Understand hurricane forecast models and cones.Prepare to cover all windows of your home. If shutters have not been installed, use precut plywood.Check batteries and stock up on canned food, first-aid supplies, drinking water, and medications.The WESH 2 First Warning Weather Team recommends you have these items ready before the storm strikes.Bottled water: One gallon of water per person per dayCanned food and soup, such as beans and chiliCan opener for the cans without the easy-open lidsAssemble a first-aid kitTwo weeks’ worth of prescription medicationsBaby/children’s needs, such as formula and diapersFlashlight and batteriesBattery-operated weather radioWHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE WARNING IS ISSUEDListen to the advice of local officials. If you are advised to evacuate, leave.Complete preparation activitiesIf you are not advised to evacuate, stay indoors, away from windows.Be alert for tornadoes. Tornadoes can happen during a hurricane and after it passes over. Remain indoors, in the center of your home, in a closet or bathroom without windows.HOW YOUR SMARTPHONE CAN HELP DURING A HURRICANEA smartphone can be your best friend in a hurricane — with the right websites and apps, you can turn it into a powerful tool for guiding you through a storm’s approach, arrival and aftermath.Download the WESH 2 News app for iOS | AndroidEnable emergency alerts — if you have an iPhone, select settings, then go into notifications. From there, look for government alerts and enable emergency alerts.If you have an Android phone, from the home page of the app, scroll to the right along the bottom and click on “settings.” On the settings menu, click on “severe weather alerts.” From the menu, select from most severe, moderate-severe, or all alerts.PET AND ANIMAL SAFETYYour pet should be a part of your family plan. If you must evacuate, the most important thing you can do to protect your pets is to evacuate them too. Leaving pets behind, even if you try to create a safe space for them, could result in injury or death.Contact hotels and motels outside of your immediate area to see if they take pets.Ask friends, relatives and others outside of the affected area whether they could shelter your animal.
ORLANDO, Fla. —
WESH 2 meteorologists are keeping a close eye on one of two tropical disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean.
Tropical Storm Gaston is located in the Central Subtropical Atlantic has an 80% chance of formation but is expected to be short-lived tropical and will have no impact on land.
However, a second tropical disturbance located several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands is one that may have an impact on Florida.
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
30 minutes until a new WINDSAT pass of #Invest98… and with dry air north and south of it, I’m curious to see what the pass shows;
— Eric Burris (@EricBurrisWESH) September 20, 2022
“This could become a tropical depression later this week as it drifts into the Caribbean,” WESH 2 Meteorologist Kellianne Klass said. “The GFS and Euro are both showing this storm strengthening as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico next week. Watching midweek through the end of the workweek as a rough timeline. What we need to watch is the exact path of this storm. The latest GFS run moves the storm closer to Central Florida, whereas the previous run has it farther away.”
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The disturbance is given a 60% chance of development in the next 48 hours and a 80% chance of development in the next five days.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Fiona is drifting through the Atlantic as a major Category 3 storm.
KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE WATCH IS ISSUED
Stay tuned to WESH 2 News, WESH.COM, or NOAA Weather Radio for storm updates.
Prepare to bring inside any lawn furniture, outdoor decorations or ornaments, trash cans, hanging plants, and anything else that can be picked up by the wind.
Understand hurricane forecast models and cones.
Prepare to cover all windows of your home. If shutters have not been installed, use precut plywood.
Check batteries and stock up on canned food, first-aid supplies, drinking water, and medications.
The WESH 2 First Warning Weather Team recommends you have these items ready before the storm strikes.
Bottled water: One gallon of water per person per day
Canned food and soup, such as beans and chili
Can opener for the cans without the easy-open lids
Assemble a first-aid kit
Two weeks’ worth of prescription medications
Baby/children’s needs, such as formula and diapers
Flashlight and batteries
Battery-operated weather radio
WHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE WARNING IS ISSUED
Listen to the advice of local officials. If you are advised to evacuate, leave.
Complete preparation activities
If you are not advised to evacuate, stay indoors, away from windows.
Be alert for tornadoes. Tornadoes can happen during a hurricane and after it passes over. Remain indoors, in the center of your home, in a closet or bathroom without windows.
HOW YOUR SMARTPHONE CAN HELP DURING A HURRICANE
A smartphone can be your best friend in a hurricane — with the right websites and apps, you can turn it into a powerful tool for guiding you through a storm’s approach, arrival and aftermath.
Download the WESH 2 News app for iOS | Android
Enable emergency alerts — if you have an iPhone, select settings, then go into notifications. From there, look for government alerts and enable emergency alerts.
If you have an Android phone, from the home page of the app, scroll to the right along the bottom and click on “settings.” On the settings menu, click on “severe weather alerts.” From the menu, select from most severe, moderate-severe, or all alerts.
PET AND ANIMAL SAFETY
Your pet should be a part of your family plan. If you must evacuate, the most important thing you can do to protect your pets is to evacuate them too. Leaving pets behind, even if you try to create a safe space for them, could result in injury or death.
Contact hotels and motels outside of your immediate area to see if they take pets.
Ask friends, relatives and others outside of the affected area whether they could shelter your animal.
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San Francisco Residents Tourists Already Seem Sick Of Dreamforce
San Francisco Residents, Tourists Already Seem Sick Of Dreamforce https://digitalarkansasnews.com/san-francisco-residents-tourists-already-seem-sick-of-dreamforce/
Sep. 20, 2022
Crowds congregate at downtown San Francisco’s Moscone Center for Dreamforce 2022, held by Salesforce.
Joshua Bote/SFGATE
For all of the celebrity cameos (Lenny Kravitz! Matthew McConaughey! “Saturday Night Live’s” Alex Moffat!) and hopeful downtown San Francisco restaurateurs and hotel operators, Dreamforce — the titanic conference held by corporate tech giant Salesforce — is a pain in the rear for nearly everyone else in San Francisco, tourists and residents alike.
Beyond the clogged roads and sidewalks in downtown San Francisco, Dreamforce makes explicit Salesforce’s domineering presence in the city. Not only does it take up massive physical space; for a few days a year, it proves to be a massive imposition for everyone else living in, working in and visiting downtown San Francisco.
And even though a plurality of people on Twitter posting about Salesforce appear enthused about attending (and there are many, many people recirculating pictures of co-CEO Marc Benioff in Ariana Grande-esque bunny ears), there are plenty of others who are less than enamored by the whole affair.
Below, the best tweets poking fun at Dreamforce 2022 so far, from SantaCon comparisons to the Lenny Kravitz of it all.
This is like no professional event I’ve ever seen. The audience’s fervor for a multi-billion dollar company’s circus like they’re seconds away from singing hymns together, a Silicon Valley cult gathering. I’m fascinated beyond belief!
— Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes) September 20, 2022
I don’t think I’ve seen downtown San Francisco this packed in 3 years. Dreamforce really dreamforcing.
— santi pochat.eth (@sapochat) September 20, 2022
microdose exploring hell by walking through downtown sf during dreamforce
— paddington stan account (@adriyoung) September 20, 2022
At what point is Dreamforce the best Xennial music festival. https://t.co/VJ9aJSvNRr
— Mr. Nick Beaudrot (@nbeaudrot) September 20, 2022
There are two times a year you do not want to be in SF. Dreamforce and SantaCon
— #Performance (@not_runspired) September 20, 2022
uffda I had to come to SF the week of DreamForce didn’t I
— well organized butlerian jihadi militia (@RKladar) September 20, 2022
Dreamforce runs Tuesday through Thursday at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. And if you don’t want to brave the crowds, it’s also streaming online through Salesforce Plus.
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Beyond Meat Executive Charged With Biting Man In Fight
Beyond Meat Executive Charged With Biting Man In Fight https://digitalarkansasnews.com/beyond-meat-executive-charged-with-biting-man-in-fight-2/
FAYETTEVILLE, AR (AP) — A top executive at plant-based food company Beyond Meat has been charged with felony battery after a fight outside a college football game in which he was accused of biting a man’s nose.
Doug Ramsey was also charged with making a terroristic threat after the attack Saturday in a parking garage outside a University of Arkansas football game in Fayetteville.
Beyond Meat said Tuesday it has suspended Ramsey indefinitely.
According to a police report, Ramsey was angered when another driver inched in front of him in a traffic lane and made contact with the front passenger wheel on Ramsey’s Ford Bronco SUV.
The police report alleges that Ramsey got out of his vehicle and punched through the back windshield of the other driver’s car. The driver told police he got out of his car and Ramsey pulled him close and began punching him. Ramsey also bit the tip of the other driver’s nose, ripping the flesh, according to the police report.
The driver and witnesses told police that Ramsey threatened to kill the other man. Occupants of both vehicles got out and separated the two men.
Washington County court records show Ramsey was released Sunday on a $11,085 bond. A court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 19. Court officials were unable to provide the name of an attorney for Ramsey on Tuesday.
Ramsey, 53, spent more than 30 years at Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods before joining Beyond Meat as chief operating officer late last year. He held top leadership positions at Tyson, including president of its poultry division and president of its global McDonald’s business.
At Beyond Meat, he has guided partnerships with fast food companies including McDonald’s, Panda Express and KFC.
Beyond Meat said Jonathan Nelson, its senior vice president for manufacturing operations, will oversee the company’s operations on an interim basis.
Beyond Meat shares hit a 52-week low of $15.97 Tuesday before closing at $16.03. The company’s shares have tumbled more than 75% since the start of this year.
The El Segundo, California-based company has struggled as customers dealing with soaring grocery bills have bypassed its higher-priced products. McDonald’s also recently ended a U.S. trial of its McPlant meatless burger — developed with Beyond Meat — without confirming future plans for the product.
Beyond Meat laid off 4% of its workforce in August.
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Beyond Meat Executive Charged With Biting Man In Fight
Beyond Meat Executive Charged With Biting Man In Fight https://digitalarkansasnews.com/beyond-meat-executive-charged-with-biting-man-in-fight/
A top executive at plant-based food company Beyond Meat has been charged with felony battery after a fight outside a college football game in which he was accused of biting a man’s nose.
Doug Ramsey was also charged with making a terroristic threat after the attack Saturday in a parking garage outside a University of Arkansas football game in Fayetteville.
Beyond Meat said Tuesday it has suspended Ramsey indefinitely.
According to a police report, Ramsey was angered when another driver inched in front of him in a traffic lane and made contact with the front passenger wheel on Ramsey’s Ford Bronco SUV.
The police report alleges that Ramsey got out of his vehicle and punched through the back windshield of the other driver’s car. The driver told police he got out of his car and Ramsey pulled him close and began punching him. Ramsey also bit the tip of the other driver’s nose, ripping the flesh, according to the police report.
The driver and witnesses told police that Ramsey threatened to kill the other man. Occupants of both vehicles got out and separated the two men.
Washington County court records show Ramsey was released Sunday on a $11,085 bond. A court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 19. Court officials were unable to provide the name of an attorney for Ramsey on Tuesday.
Ramsey, 53, spent more than 30 years at Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods before joining Beyond Meat as chief operating officer late last year. He held top leadership positions at Tyson, including president of its poultry division and president of its global McDonald’s business.
At Beyond Meat, he has guided partnerships with fast food companies including McDonald’s, Panda Express and KFC.
Beyond Meat said Jonathan Nelson, its senior vice president for manufacturing operations, will oversee the company’s operations on an interim basis.
Beyond Meat shares hit a 52-week low of $15.97 Tuesday before closing at $16.03. The company’s shares have tumbled more than 75% since the start of this year.
The El Segundo, California-based company has struggled as customers dealing with soaring grocery bills have bypassed its higher-priced products. McDonald’s also recently ended a U.S. trial of its McPlant meatless burger — developed with Beyond Meat — without confirming future plans for the product.
Beyond Meat laid off 4% of its workforce in August.
___
AP Writer Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Prosecutor: No Criminal Charges Against Fort Smith City Administrator Over Historical Monument Controversy Talk Business & Politics
Prosecutor: No Criminal Charges Against Fort Smith City Administrator Over Historical Monument Controversy – Talk Business & Politics https://digitalarkansasnews.com/prosecutor-no-criminal-charges-against-fort-smith-city-administrator-over-historical-monument-controversy-talk-business-politics/
Sebastian County Prosecutor Daniel Shue said Tuesday (Sept. 20) he would not file criminal charges against Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken regarding the Flags over Fort Smith Historical Monument.
Fort Smith Attorney Joey McCutchen requested Shue to charge Geffken with a misdemeanor for violating Arkansas’ Historical Monument Protection Act in a letter Sept. 16.
“The City has made it clear that it refuses to reinstall this monument without a Court order despite the Arkansas History Commission rejecting its waiver request. This is a clear violation of the Historical Monument Protection Act which expressly prohibits the removal, alteration, or rededication of historical monuments,” McCutchen noted in the letter.
In his letter Tuesday, Shue said that the only action that could possibly violate the Act would be the City’s failure to replace the Flags over Fort Smith display between Sept. 14 and Tuesday. However, Shue added that his office has historically not weighed into pending civil cases unless instructed to do so by a court. Judge Gunner Delay will hold a hearing in the pending civil case Sept. 27.
In regards to misdemeanor charges against Geffken, Shue said three things would have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt: A knowing violation of the subchapter; the value of the property is more than $500; and the damage or repair cost to the monument is more than $100.
“No evidence has been presented to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office establishing the value of the property or the damage or repair cost to the historical monument. The matter would have to be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation to develop these facts,” Shue said.
He also pointed out that the court made the finding in its Jan. 28 order that the initial removal of the flag display prior to the enactment of the Act did not violate the act.
In April 2020, the city removed seven flags in the display because of age and condition. The display represented the flags flown over Fort Smith since 1699, including The French Fleur-De-Lis flag; the Spanish Cross of Lorraine flag; the French tricolor flag; the U.S. flag with 15 stars; the U.S. flag with 20 stars; the U.S. flag with 24 stars; and the Confederate States of America flag depicting a circle of seven stars with red and white stripes. Brass markers identifying each flag were on the base of the flag poles.
McCutchen filed suit June 3, 2021, in Sebastian County Circuit Court seeking a declaratory judgment that the city violated the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act when it removed the historical flag display, which was erected in October 2001. The city noted in correspondence with the Arkansas History Commission that it did not want to replace the Confederate Flag because “many people in our community find historical associations with the Confederacy emotionally charging and potentially provocative.”
Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge Gunner DeLay ruled that the city seek a waiver from the Arkansas History Commission for any plan to dispose of the previous display items. On Sept. 8 the Arkansas History Commission denied the city’s waiver request, but included in the action the option for the city to appeal the decision.
Colby Roe, an attorney with the Fort Smith law firm Daily & Woods who represented the city, said in response to McCutchen’s request to take legal action against Geffken that the commission did reject the waiver “but did not order the City reinstall the subject display.”
“Both the judge’s ruling and the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws prevent prosecution for the removal of the flag in 2020,” Shue wrote in his letter.
McCutchen said Tuesday that since the City’s waiver request was rejected by the Arkansas History Commission, he believes the City is now knowingly violating the Act.
“We respect Mr. Shue’s decision not to pursue criminal charges at this time with the civil case still pending and a hearing set on Sept. 27,” McCutchen said. “Since Judge Delay has already heard the evidence in this case, we agree with Mr. Shue that Judge Delay is in a better position to determine the respective rights and responsibilities of the parties.”
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Celebrities Coming Back To White House After Trump Drought
Celebrities Coming Back To White House After Trump Drought https://digitalarkansasnews.com/celebrities-coming-back-to-white-house-after-trump-drought/
WASHINGTON — Celebrities are back at the White House following a pop-culture backlash during the Trump years, when just about anyone considered high-wattage refused to show up.
Rocker Elton John is bringing his farewell tour to the South Lawn on Friday, the White House announced Tuesday, one week after singer James Taylor and hosts Jonathan and Drew Scott, of HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” helped celebrate a new health care and climate change law.
John is among a slew of entertainers who refused to perform for then-President Donald Trump.
Taylor sang and strummed his guitar to open last week’s event while the Scotts were among hundreds of people in the audience. They also joined second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, to film a snazzy video promoting the law’s climate change provisions.
Since taking office during a pandemic, which put a pause on too much togetherness, the 79-year-old Biden has also opened the White House to teen singer Olivia Rodrigo, to talk about young people and COVID-19 vaccinations, and the South Korean boy band BTS, to discuss Asian inclusion and representation.
Last year, the Democratic president resumed the tradition of hosting an in-person White House reception for the artists receiving honors from the Kennedy Center.
John’s concert is called “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme,” a reference to a poem by Irishman Seamus Heaney that Biden often quotes. The performance is part of a collaboration with A+E Networks and the History Channel that “will celebrate the unifying and healing power of music, commend the life and work of Sir Elton John and honor the everyday history-makers in the audience,” the White House said. Guests will include teachers, medical professionals, students, LGBTQ+ advocates and others.
John also has a gig scheduled for Saturday night at Nationals Park in Washington as part of a tour wrapping up his 50-plus-year career. He opened the final leg of his North American farewell series in Philadelphia in July.
The 75-year-old British singer is among celebrities who avoided the Trump White House, starting with the Republican’s 2017 inauguration. John had declined an invitation to play at Trump’s inaugural festivities, saying he didn’t think it was appropriate for someone with British heritage to play at the swearing-in of an American president.
Trump had included high praise for John in a few of his books and played John’s songs at his presidential campaign rallies, including “Rocket Man” and “Tiny Dancer.” Trump had also nicknamed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man” because of Kim’s habit of test-firing missiles.
Country music singers Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood were among the more notable entertainers who performed to help usher Trump into office. Bigger names from other genres refused or weren’t considered.
Hollywood has always leaned heavily Democratic.
For the inauguration of Democrat Biden, singers Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks were among those who performed.
Aretha Franklin and Beyonce were among celebrities who turned out in a huge show of force for Democrat Barack Obama, from fundraising to his two inaugurations to performances inside the White House or on the grounds.
They disappeared under Trump, but are returning for Biden.
Biden relied on celebrities during his 2020 presidential campaign, when in-person schmoozing was largely suspended because of the coronavirus. A parade of movie and TV stars, pop icons and sports standouts stepped up to help Biden raise money and energize supporters.
Sir Elton — he was knighted in 1998 by Queen Elizabeth II — has sold over 300 million records worldwide, played over 4,000 shows in 80 countries and recorded one of the best-selling singles of all-time, his 1997 reworking of “Candle In The Wind” to eulogize Princess Diana, which sold 33 million copies.
He has scored over 70 top 40 hits, including nine No. 1s, and released seven No. 1 albums in the 3 1/2-year period from 1972 to 1975, a pace second only to that of the Beatles. John has five Grammy awards, a Tony award for “Aida,” and Academy Awards for songs from “The Lion King” and “Rocketman.”
He has played at the White House in the past.
Elton joined Stevie Wonder for a joint performance at a 1998 state dinner hosted by Democratic President Bill Clinton honoring British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They performed under a tent on the West Colonnade roof.
John was critical of Republican President George W. Bush, telling a British magazine in November 2004 that Bush and his administration “are the worst thing that has ever happened to America.”
But he was more diplomatic at a reception at the White House in December 2004 for a group of Kennedy Center honorees that included himself.
The rock legend said receiving the honor “is about the icing on the cake. … It’s incredible for someone who’s British to be given such an accolade from America, which has given me so much already in my career.”
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Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington and AP News Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.
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