Trump Reacts To January 6 Committee Subpoena Like A Guy Who Knows The Walls Are Closing In
Trump Reacts To January 6 Committee Subpoena Like A Guy Who Knows The Walls Are Closing In https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-reacts-to-january-6-committee-subpoena-like-a-guy-who-knows-the-walls-are-closing-in/
The January 6 committee has used its public hearings over the last several months to lay out, in painstaking detail, the lengths to which Donald Trump tried to overturn the election, unleashed a mob on the US Capitol when things didn’t go his way, and did nothing to stop the violence that, despite what his allies may claim, he absolutely loved watching play out. Those public presentations culminated yesterday in a unanimous vote to subpoena the ex-president to testify under oath before the panel; vice chair Liz Cheney also said the committee now has “sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals.” How’s Trump taking it all? Not well!
Over the course of a classically unhinged but long-winded-even-for-him letter to the committee, Trump did not indicate whether he would actually comply with the subpoena. He did, however, double down on his favorite election lies and cast himself as a victim of terrible injustice in a whopping 14-page attack on the committee’s work.
Not surprisingly, the first sentence of the missive, addressed to chairman Bennie Thompson, reads: “THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” Things then further devolve from there. Trump attacks the committee for not investigating his baseless claims of voter fraud, despite the fact that nearly every Trump administration employee they spoke to said there was none. He repeats the lie that he beat Joe Biden, despite yesterday’s hearing revealing that he knew he didn’t. He blames Nancy Pelosi, once again, for not stopping the violence that he caused. And for reasons that he really should unpack with a therapist, he criticizes the panel and “the Fake News Media” for not mentioning the crowd size at his rally that preceded the attack, writing: “It was indeed one of the largest crowds I have ever spoken before, a very wide swath stretching all the way back to the Washington Monument.“ Naturally, the letter is littered with references to “Radical Left Democrats,” “Russia, Russia, Russia,” “Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2,” “No Collusion!,” “Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,” “illegal Spying on my Campaign,” “Hacks and Thugs,” and “Antifa.”
As for the question of whether Trump will actually comply with the subpoena, legal experts have put the odds at slightly less than Donald Trump Jr. being awarded next year‘s Nobel Prize for quantum physics. As Politico notes, “the former president appears unlikely to take the legal risk of testifying at a time when multiple criminal inquiries are pursuing evidence of Trump’s and his allies’ efforts to subvert the 2020 election. He has previously declined efforts to testify in congressional inquiries related to his conduct, including the 2021 impeachment inquiry about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and select committee members are skeptical that the former president will comply with their subpoena.”
On Thursday, Representative Jamie Raskin basically called the ex-president a little bitch for what will likely be his refusal to show up.
In other, more perilous Trump legal news…
The January 6 committee does not have the power to bring charges—but the Justice Department, which is also investigating Trump’s actions, does. And it’s not looking good! Per The Washington Post:
A former top aide to Vice President Mike Pence returned before a grand jury Thursday to testify in a criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election after federal courts overruled President Donald Trump’s objections to the testimony, according to people familiar with the matter. In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that former Pence chief of staff Marc Short probably possessed information important to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that was not available from other sources, one of those people said.
Trump appealed, but the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to postpone Short’s appearance while the litigation continues, the people said, signaling that attempts by Trump to invoke executive privilege to preserve the confidentiality of presidential decision-making were not likely to prevail.
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Social Security COLA 2023 Live Online Today: Increase Benefits And Adjustment | SSA Latest News
Social Security COLA 2023, Live Online Today: Increase, Benefits And Adjustment | SSA Latest News https://digitalarkansasnews.com/social-security-cola-2023-live-online-today-increase-benefits-and-adjustment-ssa-latest-news-2/
2023 Social Security COLA live: latest news
White House highlights SS payments
Earlier this morning the official White House twitter account shared information over the new payments being made to Americans.
‘Seniors are about to see their Social Security checks go up on average by $140 every month,” it wrote.
‘And, for the first time in a decade, Medicare costs are going down as Social Security benefits are going up.’
Mixed bag of COLA across federal retirees
For the second year in a row, federal retirees will see the largest annual increase in benefits payments in decades, as the Social Security Administration announced Thursday that the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2023 will be 8.7%. Not all federal retirees will get the full 8.7%, however, prompting renewed calls for parity between the federal government’s retirement systems.
Social Security cost-of-living increases are calculated based on the annual change in the third quarter consumer price index for workers. The Civil Service Retirement System also calculates enrollees’ annual annuity increases on that basis, meaning retirees enrolled in CSRS will see an 8.7% increase to their annuity payments in 2023, the largest COLA since 1981.
Erich Wagner looks at the increase for Gov ex.
How will I know that I have to pay social security?
It’s a question that we’re hearing a lot.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) will send a benefit statement each year in January to beneficiaries called Form SSA-1099. This form shows the total amount of benefits you received from Social Security in the previous year. With it, you will be able to “complete your federal income tax return to find out if your benefits are subject to tax.”
Additionally, the SSA allows beneficiaries to report their incomes quarterly to avoid a surprise at the end of the year. This may be beneficial to those on a fixed income, as coming up with additional funds can be quite difficult.
We bring you more on when social security becomes taxable and other useful info.
SOCIAL SECURITY
How can you check your COLA notice online and when will I see the increase in my Social Security checks?
The Social Security Administration announces annually its cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to benefits so that they keep pace with inflation. With prices rising at a clip not seen in four decades many beneficiaries will be anxious to see what the boost to their monthly checks will be in 2023.
While the agency mails out letters throughout the month of December, but they request not to contact them until January, the first month when beneficiaries will see payments with the higher amount, as the notice could take time to reach you.
However, you may not need to wait for the mail to know how much your payments will increase based on the 2023 COLA. Most beneficiaries can access the notice online.
Only three COLAs have been bigger than 2023’s
Since it was first implemented in 1975, the Social Security Administrations’s cost-of-living adjustment has only been larger than in 2023 on three occasions, all over 40 years ago. In 1979, it was 9.9 percent; in 1980, a record 14.3; and in 1981, it was 11.2.
You can take a look at each year’s COLA on the SSA website.
MEDICARE PREMIUMS
Medicare Premiums Part A: How much will it cost and what will be the impact of COLA 2023 on it?
The Social Security Administration announced its fourth largest COLA increase since they began in 1975 increasing the average amount that a beneficiary receives each month by over $140. While inflation is still taking a bite out of household finances, Medicare premiums in general are set to decrease next year.
While the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries do not have to pay any premiums for Part A coverage, one of four parts of the government subsidized healthcare program, those that are required to pay will see a slight increase in 2023 to buy into this portion of Medicare. Deductibles and coinsurance amounts will also rise somewhat next year. Here’s a rundown the costs you can expect.
2023 COLA based on CPI-W beats inflation for index based on elederly spending habits
There has been a push to change the way that the annual automatic increase, if any, is calculated through the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The Social Security Administration currently uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).
This broad basket of goods and services that consumers spend their money on is said not to reflect properly what seniors are spending their money on and causing retirees to lose purchasing power.
There have been calls for the Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of age and older (CPI-E) to be used instead. While the data hasn’t been published yet, the 8.7 percent COLA announced Tuesday beat the August-to-August CPI-E by a full percentage point according to Jaime Hopkins from the Carson Group.
Despite record 8.7% COLA for 2023, “Still more work to do to help seniors”
The Social Security Administration announced a historic 8.7 percent COLA increase for benefits in 2023. The extra money each month will help recipients cope with inflation to a degree when it arrives with January’s payments.
However, there are concerns that more needs to be done especially in the case of seniors to make the COLA more responsive to the expenses they face that aren’t used in the current calculation.
The current COLA uses inflation figures from the CPI-W, a broad basket of consumer goods and services. There are calls to use the CPI-E which targets goods and services that “would more accurately measure spending patterns of seniors.”
The Senior Citizens League reported recently that since the early 2000s, those on Social Security have lost forty percent of their purchasing power.
Without SSA COLA beneficiaries would lose purchasing power
Prices continually rise over time but Social Security benefits didn’t always adjust to the increased cost of living recipients faced on a daily basis. Prior to 1975 it took an Act of Congress to give benefits a boost.
Since then monthly checks paid out by the Social Security Administration have been adjusted automatically each year to reflect general inflation being experienced by consumers for goods and services.
Social Security Administration announces historic 8.7% COLA 2023 increase
The Social Security Administration has announced a nearly 9% cost-of-living adjustment, the biggest increase since 1981, affecting the benefits received by over 70m Americans.
Welcome to AS USA 2023 COLA increase updates
Hello and welcome to AS USA’s live blog on the 2023 Social Security COLA increase for Friday, 14 October.
The Social Security Adminstration announced the 2023 Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for social security benefits, for programs like Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance. Other government pension and benefits programs will also be affected by the 8.7% increase.
The COLA offered for next year is historic in size after inflation has plagued markets for basic commodities consumed by most households, including food, shelter, utilities, and gasoline.
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Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Rachel Maddow https://digitalarkansasnews.com/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-rachel-maddow/
The Ezra Klein Show
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Oct. 14, 2022, 2:48 p.m. ET
Every Tuesday and Friday, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation about something that matters, like today’s episode with Rachel Maddow. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcripts of our episodes are made available as soon as possible. They are not fully edited for grammar or spelling.
What Rachel Maddow Has Been Thinking About Offscreen
The MSNBC anchor discusses the radicalization of Fox News, the past 14 years in wild news cycles and the G.O.P.’s hard-right turn.
[MUSIC]
EZRA KLEIN: I’m Ezra Klein. This is “The Ezra Klein Show.”
Rachel Maddow’s nightly show on MSNBC debuted on September 8, 2008. You read that date now and it’s clear what a hinge moment that was between political eras. Before that, you have the 9/11 era, the George W. Bush era, the era of politicians constantly wearing and fighting over flag pins on their lapels.
By the time Maddow’s show hits the air, though, Barack Obama is weeks away from winning the presidency. Lehman Brothers is days away from collapsing. American politics is on the cusp of reorganization. Maddow helmed that 9:00 p.m. slot for 14 years. Her show really defined an era of liberal cable news. MSNBC’s whole lineup was reoriented to work around her style, to try to learn her lessons.
And let me risk understatement by saying a hell of a lot happens over the course of that 14 years that Rachel Maddow is in that chair. And she is, that whole time, a pretty serious observer and even, at times, shaper of it. And so I want to talk to her about the ways that American politics and media changed over that time, what she saw, and why she thinks it happened.
And now as she steps back — she’s taken her show to once a week. She signed up to do a lot of other kinds of content, including a new podcast about a really remarkable moment in our history, called “Ultra,” that we talk about here. I wanted to get a sense of why she’s become so interested now in what the past can tell us about the present and particularly about the future.
As always, my email for guest suggestions, for thoughts on the episode, for things we should read, or watch, or hear, or just not miss, ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
[MUSIC]
Rachel Maddow, welcome to the show.
RACHEL MADDOW: Ezra, it’s great to see you, my friend.
EZRA KLEIN: You were the very first guest on this show in its original version back in — I just looked at this — February of 2016.
RACHEL MADDOW: We were such children then. We were so naive.
EZRA KLEIN: We were young. What we didn’t know. What we didn’t know. How are you?
RACHEL MADDOW: I’m good. I am — I have a different job now. I mean, I have some of the same job. But my job has changed. And the thing that I’m crashing on right now is this podcast that I’ve been working on for a few months. And I’m absolutely insane.
I’ve pulled multiple all-nighters. It’s all I can think about. I’m totally crazed. I feel like I’m learning something for the first time, even though I’ve done this kind of thing before. I feel like I’m in a universe that is completely pulling me over.
EZRA KLEIN: I mean, I know you’ve dominated nightly cable news for roughly 15 years.
But congratulations, I mean, podcasts are a whole different league. It’s really hard. It’s a whole different thing.
RACHEL MADDOW: Yeah, the word dominated there has just been redefined in an interesting way, too.
EZRA KLEIN: So that’s a great bridge, because I want to talk about how the world changed over the course of “The Rachel Maddow Show.” So you began that show in September of ’08. And I wanted to talk through how some of the events and actors that when we go in the Wayback Machine to then, that were dominating things then — to stick with that word — have changed politics and affect us now.
And I want to begin with the Iraq War. What role do you think the Iraq War plays in our politics now? How does it shape what we’re still in?
RACHEL MADDOW: I think that the Iraq War has already settled into a universally acknowledged cautionary tale. That certainly it had a partisan divide and it had a lot of emotion behind it, but the folks who argued for the Iraq War, I think, would almost universally be acknowledged in U.S. politics, left, right and center, that those people were wrong. And enough of them have publicly repented that I think that even if you polled them, they would admit that the country believes it was wrong. Certainly there are still some “die-hards,” to coin a phrase.
But because of that, the way that works, I think, in general, in politics, is when you’ve got something that people really advocated for, that turned out terribly, and then everybody acknowledged after the fact that was a bad idea, that ought to be a cause for a little bit of a realignment.
It ought to be a cause for looking back at the premises that were wrong that led the people who earnestly advocated for that war to advocate for it. And I don’t think that we’ve had that kind of course correction. But I do think that we’ve laid the groundwork for it by at least all agreeing that we shouldn’t have done it.
EZRA KLEIN: In a way, though, you make me wonder, saying that, if we did have the realignment. And I’d offer two thoughts on that. One, do you think Donald Trump takes over the Republican Party from the Bush family without the Iraq War being this wedge he uses?
And, two, thinking about Joe Biden pulling out of Afghanistan. I mean, Joe Biden who voted for the Iraq War and was understood in that period as a Democratic hawk. In certain ways, I wonder if more realignment has happened than sometimes we even give credit for.
RACHEL MADDOW: I think with the Trump side of it, he was sticking his finger in the wind and realizing, oh, that could be used. I mean, you look back at his record of comments about the Iraq War and it’s not like he had been a Cassandra on that, right? He had —
EZRA KLEIN: Right. totally.
RACHEL MADDOW: — always just gone along with whatever everybody already feels. And so I sort of feel like his using that issue against establishment Republicans and the Bush era Republicans is just another example of him finding something in the wild that he could use for his own purposes. It helps us diagnose that problem more than he does catalyze it.
On the Biden side of it, it’s interesting because Biden’s history on Iraq is nuanced, right? So he’s for the Iraq War for sure, is definitely seen, as you said, as a bit of a Democratic hawk. But then is also seen as an expert on the Iraq conflict, and spends lots and lots and lots of time in Iraq, and gets very invested, in part, through his son Beau, but gets very invested in Iraq War veterans issues as well.
And so he ends up sort of being deeply steeped in the factual record of what happened in a way that I think gives him credibility to, essentially, acknowledge that it was wrong, that we shouldn’t have done it, and to take steps to end the war in Afghanistan so that it doesn’t trail indefinitely into the future.
So it’s interesting. I mean, I think Biden — the thing that is encouraging to me about Biden is that I feel like he earnestly engaged with the issue, including what were the mistakes of it. And that as poorly as the withdrawal from Afghanistan went, I think his determination to get out of Afghanistan was informed by how much work he did around Iraq.
EZRA KLEIN: So your show began on September 8. We were looking back at this. Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15.
RACHEL MADDOW: Thank you very much.
EZRA KLEIN: I forgot how close those two epochal events in American history were.
RACHEL MADDOW: It was really a lot of work that first week.
EZRA KLEIN: I can imagine.
RACHEL MADDOW: I had to collapse Lehman Brothers, launch the show.
EZRA KLEIN: So a lot of sabotaging of the U.S. housing market. How do you think about the role that the financial crisis played in shaping American politics after that?
RACHEL MADDOW: I feel like we’ve never gotten out of it. I mean, we have, plainly, in factual terms. But I feel like mindset-wise, we’ll never trust the economy. People of our generation will never trust the economy the way we did before then. It had felt before then, with various financial calamities, that they’d been one-offs, that they’d been historical moments, that the thing sort of worth saving the newspaper from that day for.
And since the collapse in 2008, it just feels like when we’re not in a moment of economic collapse, we’re just in an interregnum. And what’s the next one going to be? Do you feel that way at all? I mean, I —
EZRA KLEIN: The economy is either always about to collapse, collapsing or we just collapsed. We’re just recovering from the collapse. There’s a feeling for me that I don’t know — you mentioned our generation. And I can’t tell if it’s just that I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s and things were a little — that that was unusually calm.
Because I have this feeling that I can’t decide if it’s after 2001 and 9/11 or it’s starting in roughly 2008, but a speeding up of history, a speeding up of the things that — I think about it this way — that the history books won’t skip over. That they will have chapters on. But then I look back at the 20th century and a lot happened then.
It just mostly happened before I was paying attention. So I can’t tell if my sense of normal is what is actually abnormal or this has been an abnormally fast time of economics, and geopolitics, and plagues, and crazy happenings in American politics.
RACHEL MADDOW: I think that — we have a saying in our family. Susan’s father used to say something before he died. He said, as you get older, you realize that it’s basically just shorts, Christmas tree, shorts, Christmas tree...
Arkansas Officials Break Ground On I-49 Expansion In Barling
Arkansas Officials Break Ground On I-49 Expansion In Barling https://digitalarkansasnews.com/arkansas-officials-break-ground-on-i-49-expansion-in-barling/
The 13.6-mile extension will connect Barling and Alma. It’s estimated to cost $800 million, most of which will go towards building a bridge over the Arkansas River.
BARLING, Ark — Thursday, Oct. 13, was a historic day many Arkansans have been looking forward to for a long time. Officials broke ground on the Interstate-49 extension from Barling to Alma.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) says it hopes the 13.6-mile extension will be done by the end of the decade.
“The real construction starts early 2024, so you figure roughly five to six years to build 13 miles of interstate is a tall task, but we can do it,” said Dave Parker, public information officer for ARDOT.
Parker says the project is estimated to cost $800 million as of right now, but almost half of the total cost will go towards building a bridge over the Arkansas River.
“That number will likely go up in the next five to six years due to inflation, supply costs and that sort of thing. But right now, the total project cost is $800 million,” Parker explained.
ARDOT says funding for this project is coming from the November 2020 Issue 1 money, which allows the permanent absence of sales tax and will fund most of this project. Issue 1 amended the state constitution to make a 0.5% sales tax permanent, authorized by Issue 1 of 2012, with revenue directed to state and local transportation, including highways, roads, and bridges. The sales tax was temporarily authorized by voters in 2012 and is set to expire in 2023.
In the future, this project will boost the economy in the River Valley which will bring the region to new heights.
“It’s going to be an attraction not only for people in the United States who come this way, but people from around the world are going to get the chance to experience the amazing quality of life we have here in Arkansas,” said Fort Smith Mayor George McGill.
“Just from a commercial standpoint you know being able to get supplies in an out of here in a quicker way, having the new river bridge that’s tremendous, yeah commerce is going to take off,” Parker said.
Mayor McGill says this project will put his city in the center of the heartland and believes the next 10-15 years will be transformative.
“It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “Again, with the things that are on the drawing board the potential of the air forces forming a military sales mission coming here, the rapid growth of business and industry here. It’s going to open up the corridors of the United States and the world.”
ARDOT says crews will immediately start working on the first mile and a half on this project.
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Suspect 15 Taken Into Custody After 5 Shot Dead 2 Injured In Raleigh Neighborhood North Carolina Officials Say
Suspect, 15, Taken Into Custody After 5 Shot Dead, 2 Injured In Raleigh Neighborhood, North Carolina Officials Say https://digitalarkansasnews.com/suspect-15-taken-into-custody-after-5-shot-dead-2-injured-in-raleigh-neighborhood-north-carolina-officials-say/
A 15-year-old suspect was taken into custody after a “long standoff” with police in connection with a shooting that killed five people and left two others injured Thursday evening in Raleigh, North Carolina, officials said.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper called the shooting spree, “the nightmare of every community.”
The shooting unfolded in a neighborhood northeast of central Raleigh and prompted warnings for residents to stay inside. One of the fatally wounded was an off-duty police officer, Mayor Mary-Anne Baldwin said.
In a news conference Friday morning, Raleigh police chief Estella D. Patterson said the suspect was taken into custody after an effort by a coalition of local safety agencies, and he is in critical condition.
He was not identified.
No information regarding a motive or the suspect’s background were shared as the investigation is ongoing.
Patterson said the victims who were killed ranged in age from 16 to 52.
They were identified as: Nicole Connors, 52, Susan Karnatz, 49, Mary Marshall, 35, off-duty Raleigh police officer Gabriel Torres who was on his way to work, 29, and a 16-year-old white male. NBC affiliate WRAL of Raleigh reported the teen victim was James Roger Thompson.
In addition to the deceased, two people were injured in the shooting: Raleigh Police Officer Casey Clark, 33, who was treated and since released from the hospital, and Marcille Gardner, 59, who remains in critical condition.
An off-duty officer was killed as police responded to a shooting in an east Raleigh, N.C., neighborhood Thursday afternoon.WRAL
“Tonight terror has reached our doorstep,” Cooper told reporters Thursday evening. “The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed.”
Baldwin said: “We have to end this mindless gun violence that is happening across our country. There are too many victims. We have to wake up.”
Patterson said Friday morning the crime scene was “expansive” and stretched over two miles.
Police responded to a call about a person shot shortly after 5 p.m. in the 6000 block of Osprey Cove Drive. Patterson said the shootings unfolded in the streets of the neighborhood, then the suspect fled towards the Neuse River Greenway, where more victims were shot.
The police department advised residents in the leafy neighborhood known as Hedingham to remain indoors. Aerial video from NBC affiliate WRAL showed a large police presence.
A witness named Robert Anderson told NBC’s “TODAY” that he saw the gunman from his back deck.
“He had a camouflage shirt, camouflage pants, black boots, he also had a backpack that looked like it was filled to the brim,” he said in an interview aired Friday.
“He was walking, and when I tell you he was walking, it was like nothing had happened,” Anderson explained. “He was just walking looking straight forward, he had his gun on his side and it was pointed downwards and he was just walking.”
Another witness who spotted the apparent gunman told WRAL that she saw neighbors trying to help the off-duty officer, who was inside a car bleeding.
The witness told the station that she saw the gunman run from the scene and disappear into a nearby park. He was wearing black boots and appeared to be a teenager, she said.
“He looked like a baby,” she told WRAL, adding: “I just don’t even have the words to explain. This is not OK.”
CORRECTION (Oct. 14, 2022, 10:10 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the age of one of those injured. The victim in critical condition is 59, not 50.
Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Marlene Lenthang
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Lindsey Pipia
contributed
.
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Russia's War In Ukraine | CNN https://digitalarkansasnews.com/russias-war-in-ukraine-cnn-4/
See new ‘kamikaze’ drones used by Russia in attacks on Ukraine
02:41 – Source: CNN
Russian forces have launched hundreds of missile strikes in Ukraine over the past week, most of them at civilian targets, a senior US military official said Friday.
President Vladimir Putin said he has no regrets about the missile barrage. He added there was no need for more massive strikes “at least for now.”
Russia’s Rostov region is to receive Kherson residents after Moscow announced evacuations from the occupied region in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Russia continues to face international backlash. European lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to declare Russia a “terrorist” regime. Meanwhile, a new intelligence analysis shows Western sanctions are hurting Russia’s ability to replenish military supplies in Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces continue to advance in the north and have made some gains in the southern part of the country in Kherson, a senior US military official said Friday.
“We have seen gains in the north now, really the line of advance for the Ukrainians, just north of the city of Mylove, and then extending essentially to the north and west with a number of small towns and villages that the Ukrainians have been able to clear of the Russians,” the official said.
The US has also seen some “incremental gains” in the central part of the country, “so not a lot of advancement, but some,” the official said. “We’re talking kilometers.”
Because Ukrainian forces have gotten closer to Russian forces along this central axis, they are relying less on guided multiple launch rocket systems, or GMLRs, to counter Russians, the official said.
“It’s also placed a good portion of that battle space under standard artillery, not GMLRs,” the official continued. “They can range the Russian targets they want to hit with standard artillery.”
Gains in Kherson prompt evacuations: Meanwhile, Russia said Thursday its forces would help evacuate residents of occupied Kherson to other areas.
The announcement by Russia’s deputy prime minister came shortly after Moscow-backed officials in the region appealed for help moving residents out of harm’s way. It’s the latest indication that Russian forces are struggling in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Here’s a look at where things stand on the ground:
The Ukrainian military says it has destroyed a significant amount of Russian weaponry in a strike against a railway hub in the eastern region of Luhansk.
It also said the Russian had suffered substantial losses in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk.
But in its operational update Friday, the General Staff made no mention of fighting around Bakhmut in Donetsk, where Russian forces appear to have made some gains in recent days.
But the General Staff did say that Russia “continues to focus its efforts on attempts to implement its plans to reach the administrative border of Donetsk region.”
The General Staff said that “according to preliminary information, in the area of the railway station in the town of Antratsyt [Luhansk] our soldiers destroyed a significant part of the enemy’s weapons and military equipment transported by rail. The amount and nature of damage is being specified.”
CNN is unable to confirm the attack.
More on Ukraine’s counteroffensive: In recent weeks, Ukraine has targeted Russian supply lines in Luhansk as it seeks to build on its successful offensive in neighboring Kharkiv.
In other areas, according to the General Staff, some 150 Russian soldiers had been killed and about 100 injured by Ukrainian attacks in Khlibodarivka (Donetsk region), Tokmak (Zaporizhzhia region) and Tokarivka (Kherson region).
The General Staff claimed that in the city of Kherson, Russian forces had seized 13 barge-type vessels for the transportation of personnel and equipment across the Dnipro River. Ukrainian long-range rocket attacks have made most bridges across the river impassable.
It also claimed that three S-300 units had been destroyed. S-300 missiles have been causing devastating damage in central Ukraine, especially in Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv.
A passenger train and cars travel on the Kerch bridge in Crimea, on October 9.
(Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)
The Russian government has announced plans to complete repairs to the Crimea bridge by July 1, 2023, according to a decree published on the government’s portal.
The road and rail bridge was badly damaged in an explosion last weekend. Russia has blamed Ukraine’s security services for the attack, allegedly carried out with a bomb concealed inside a truck.
The decree, signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, states that the Nizhneangarsktransstroy Company has been appointed as the sole contractor for the restoration and reconstruction of the Crimean bridge.
The decree said “the deadline for concluding state contracts for the performance of work specified [is] July 1, 2023,”
Police officers and soldiers inspect a shopping area following a Russian missile attack on October 13, in Kupiansk, Ukraine.
Carl Court/Getty Images
Russian forces have launched hundreds of missile strikes in Ukraine over the past week, most of them at civilian targets, a senior US military official said Friday.
“Since the attack at the Kerch Strait bridge last week, we’ve seen the Russians continue to retaliate. The use of precision guided munitions in a very imprecise way has continued over the course of the week,” the official said. “I think it’s fair to say we’re in the hundreds in terms of the number of missiles that the Russians have launched against Ukrainian targets.”
The official said Russians are mainly targeting civilians, especially civilian infrastructure including “electricity or bridges or otherwise.”
“They have been used at civilian targets either indiscriminately or certainly in a deliberate way as it relates to infrastructure targets like electricity or bridges or otherwise,” the official said.
A local resident cleans debris in his apartment after a residential building was hit by a missile strike in Konstantinovka, Ukraine, on October 14.
Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Putin’s deadly onslaught: Viewed as retaliation for the bridge blast, the wave of deadly missile attacks began Monday and caused major damage to power systems across Ukraine, forcing people to reduce consumption to avoid blackouts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that there is no need for more “massive” strikes against Ukraine “at least for now.” He also said he had no regrets for his actions.
Russia continues to face international backlash for the war and global outrage at its targeting of civilians. European lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Thursday to declare Russia a “terrorist” regime.
Russia is desperately searching for ways around Western sanctions in order to resupply its military, a top US official said in an exclusive CNN interview on Friday. Meanwhile, Russia’s stockpiles of advanced weapons are rapidly dwindling in Ukraine and it can’t secure the parts to replace them.
Here’s what Wally Adeyemo, the deputy secretary of the US Treasury, told CNN’s Kevin Liptak:
Russia’s equipment shortfalls are forcing Moscow’s battlefield decisions: “They have to make critical choices about what they can do on the battlefield because they don’t have the tanks they need, they don’t have the equipment they need to make helicopters, they don’t have the semiconductors they need to launch precision missiles into Ukraine.”
Western sanctions have exacerbated problems for Russia’s troubled military: “Russia is running out of troops, they’re running out of ammunition. They’re running out of tanks and other materials.” The West’s sanctions and export controls “make it harder for them to reinforce their troops and to get the things they need,” he added.
Moscow is using proxy companies and Russian elites to try to evade sanctions, but China isn’t much help: “China can’t provide Russia with what China doesn’t have. And China doesn’t produce the most advanced semiconductors. Those are produced by our allies and partners. So Russia is searching for these things. The reason they’re using their intelligence services and front companies to try and get them is because the countries they would naturally turn to don’t have them.”
More background: CNN reported earlier Friday that Western sanctions have sharply curtailed Russia’s ability to replenish the munitions it is using in Ukraine, according to a new analysis from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The details of the analysis were shared in a presentation with senior finance officials from nearly 30 nations Friday, who gathered at the Treasury Department for an update from Adeyemo, among other US officials.
The battlefield is “complicated but controlled” as Ukrainian forces push ahead with their counteroffensive to take back parts of the country seized by Russia in the early days of Moscow’s invasion, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Thursday.
Take a look at where the state of control stands in Ukraine:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow would shut down corridors established for the export of Ukrainian grain if they are used to carry out “terrorist attacks.”
“If it turns out that humanitarian corridors are used for terrorist attacks, this will put the grain agreement into question,” Putin told reporters in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Putin on Friday suggested a link between the safe corridors and the recent attack on the Kerch bridge in Crimea, claiming that it’s possible the explosives for the attack were sent by sea from Odesa.
Some background on the grain deal: Since July, ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports in Odesa have been allowed to navigate a safe corridor through the Black Sea as part of a UN-brokered agreement between Kyiv and Moscow after five months o...
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS To Launch 26-City National Tour
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET CHRISTMAS To Launch 26-City National Tour https://digitalarkansasnews.com/million-dollar-quartet-christmas-to-launch-26-city-national-tour/
The heartwarming holiday musical, Million Dollar Quartet Christmas, will launch a 26-city national tour beginning Saturday, November 12, 2022 in Oklahoma City, OK. The tour reunites members of the original Million Dollar Quartet team, including Tony-nominated book writer Colin Escott, original orchestrator Chuck Mead, and director Scott Weinstein for this new musical holiday celebration.
A Million Dollar Quartet Christmas cast album will be released on Friday, October 28, 2022 distributed throughout North America by BFD/The Orchard. The 15-track cast recording, which is now available for preorder, includes all of the nostalgic chart-topping holiday hits from the musical as well as an additional 4 non-holiday bonus tracks. In celebration of the national tour announcement, two classic holiday tracks, “Run, Run Rudolph” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” can be streamed in advance of the album’s release here.
In Million Dollar Quartet Christmas rock ‘n’ roll newcomers, and soon to be legends, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley come together again to celebrate the holidays. Inspired by the true story of their December 1956 homecoming at Sun Records, this heartwarming rock n’ roll musical rings with sounds of the season and the chart toppers that made the Million Dollar Quartet famous. The gang is up to their usual antics as we journey through stories of Christmas past, present, and future in a joyful evening filled with nostalgic holiday hits including “Run Rudolph Run,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and more.
The cast of Million Dollar Quartet Christmas will include Alex Swindle as Elvis, Bill Scott Sheets as Johnny Cash, Brandon Fillette as Jerry Lee Lewis, Kurt Jenkins as Carl Perkins, Kathleen Macari as Dyanne, Matthew Mucha as Sam Phillips, Nathan Yates Douglass as Brother Jay, and Sean Preece as Fluke, along with understudies Dan Middleditch, Hunter Semrau, and Brynn Smith-Jenkins.
The design team for Million Dollar Quartet Christmas includes scenic design by dots, lighting design by Ryan J. O’Gara, sound design by Diego Garzón, costume design by Izumi Inaba, and prop design by Douglas Clarke. The production is general managed by Evan Bernardin Productions and booked by Broadway & Beyond Theatricals / BBT.
Million Dollar Quartet Christmas received its world premiere in 2021 at The Phoenix Theatre Company, ahead of a National Tour that same year.
For more information on the tour, please visit mdqchristmas.com.
2022 NATIONAL TOUR SCHEDULE
OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center
November 12, 2022
Oklahoma City, OK
Valentine Theater
November 15, 2022
Toledo, OH
N. Iowa Community College
November 17, 2022
Mason City, IA
Grand Theater
November 18, 2022
Wausau, WI
Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center
November 19, 2022
Cedar Falls, IA
Riverside Theater
November 20, 2022
Milwaukee, WI
The Sheid at ASU
November 22, 2022
Mountain Home, AR
Sangamon Auditorium
November 23, 2022
Springfield, IL
Smith Concert Hall
November 25, 2022
Huntsville, AL
The Brown Theatre
November 26, 2022
Louisville, KY
Adler Theatre
November 27, 2022
Davenport, IL
Lutcher Theatre
November 29, 2022
Orange, TX
Bologna Performing Arts Center
December 1, 2022
Cleveland, MS
Walton Arts Center
December 2-3, 2022
Fayetteville, AR
Peabody Auditorium
December 5, 2022
Daytona Beach, FL
The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center
December 6, 2022
The Villages, FL
Van Wetzel Hall
December 7, 2022
Sarasota, FL
Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
December 9-11, 2022
Charlotte, North Carolina
The Classic Center
December 12, 2022
Athens, GA
EJ Thomas Hall
December 14, 2022
Akron, OH
Genesee Theatre
December 15, 2022
Waukegan, IL
Victoria Theatre
December 16-18, 2022
Dayton, OH
Miller Auditorium
December 19, 2022
Kalamazoo, MI
Aronoff Center
December 20, 2022
Cincinnati, OH
Shubert Theatre
December 22, 2022
New Haven, CT
Zeiteron PAC
December 23, 2022
New Bedford, MA
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Pelosi Said Before Insurrection That She Would punch Trump If He Came To Capitol: Footage
Pelosi Said Before Insurrection That She Would ‘punch’ Trump If He Came To Capitol: Footage https://digitalarkansasnews.com/pelosi-said-before-insurrection-that-she-would-punch-trump-if-he-came-to-capitol-footage/
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that she would “punch [then-President Trump] out” if he came to the Capitol after his rally at the Ellipse.
CNN aired footage taken by filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, the Speaker’s daughter, on “Anderson Cooper 360” on Thursday, showing how multiple congressional leaders reacted to the day’s events.
Footage showed Pelosi remarking to her staff as Trump spoke at the Ellipse rally, which preceded the Capitol riot, that Trump should not come to the Capitol as Congress prepared to certify President Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
“If he comes, I’m gonna punch him out,” Pelosi said. “I’ve been waiting for this, for trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, and I’m gonna go to jail and I’m gonna be happy.”
The House select committee investigating the attack released some clips of the footage at its hearing on Thursday, but CNN aired a more expansive version of the recording.
At one point, a staff member tells Pelosi that the Secret Service told Trump that they do not have the resources to protect him at the Capitol, so he seemed to not be coming.
“Tell him if he comes here, we’re going to the White House,” Pelosi said after Trump told the attendees of his rally to walk to the Capitol and that he would join them.
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Passengers En Route To A 2020 Biden-Harris Campaign Event At TXST Begged For Help That Never Came.
Passengers En Route To A 2020 Biden-Harris Campaign Event At TXST Begged For Help That Never Came. https://digitalarkansasnews.com/passengers-en-route-to-a-2020-biden-harris-campaign-event-at-txst-begged-for-help-that-never-came/
SAN MARCOS — San Marcos’ current assistant police chief of administration had to go on unpaid leave for eight hours last December after he referred to supporters of a Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaign event as “tards” in an October 2020 text message as they begged police for help on Interstate 35.
The assistant chief, Bob Klett, was serving as interim chief of the San Marcos Police Department when he sent the message.
An internal memo sent to Klett from current Chief of Police Stan Standridge on Dec. 8, 2021, revealed the disciplinary action. The Caldwell/Hays Examiner received the information in September via a public records request and shared it with the Express-News.
The memo references an Oct. 30, 2020, incident in which a bus carrying members of the Biden-Harris campaign drove on I-35 in San Marcos en route to a campaign event at Texas State University. While on the interstate, the campaign bus was tailed and harassed by about 50 vehicles that were purported members of a “Trump Train” — supporters of then-President Donald Trump. The bus nearly crashed as a result of the Trump Train, according to a civil lawsuit filed in June 2021 on behalf of Biden campaign staffers.
The San Marcos Police Department refused to provide an escort or assistance for the campaign bus after the vehicles surrounded it, according to the lawsuit.
The Biden staffers contend in the lawsuit that when they called 911 and “begged” for help from San Marcos police, members of the department “privately laughed and joked about the victims and their distress, including by calling them ‘tards,’ making fun of a campaign staffer’s ‘hard’ breathing, and retorting they should just ‘drive defensively’ or ‘leave the train.’”
The Police Department never publicly revealed the identity of the officer who sent the “tards” comment.
According to the letter Standridge sent to Klett, a police commander texted Klett the afternoon of Oct. 30 and asked, “did Kamala show,” to which Klett responded, “no, just a couple other yards.” He then sent another text clarifying that he meant “tards,” short for retards.
The Biden-Harris campaign canceled the event at Texas State as a result of the I-35 incident.
Klett was interim police chief from September 2019 to November 2020, meaning he was in charge of the police response to the Biden bus incident.
Standridge wrote that Klett’s comments were not consistent with the mission and policies of the department.
“Your text message reflects unfavorably on the San Marcos Police Department and the City of San Marcos,” he wrote, adding that the message “caused professional harm to the agency and city.”
But Klett was suspended for just eight hours without pay Dec. 17, 2021, as a result of the incident, according to the letter. The suspension also was noted in his personnel file.
The Express-News has reached out to the city of San Marcos for comment.
John Paredes — counsel at The Protect Democracy Project Inc., one of the firms representing the campaign staffers in the Biden bus lawsuit — said that the new revelation is “a reminder that police are not allowed to simply turn a blind eye when faced with political election-related violence” that they could prevent.
“The Klan Act prohibits it just as much as it prohibits you and me from going and intimidating people for engaging in political campaigns,” Paredes said.
Protect Democracy, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and Washington, D.C.-based law firm Willkie, Farr and Gallagher have filed two lawsuits related to the Biden bus incident: one against the individuals who drove the Trump Train cars, and the other against the City of San Marcos and its police force.
Both lawsuits are in the discovery phase. A judge last week set a trial date for the case against the Trump Train drivers for December 2023, and a trial for the case against the city has been set for January 2024.
Annie Blanks writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. annie.blanks@express-news.net.
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Trump Has Been Subpoenaed, Biden Hasn https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-has-been-subpoenaed-biden-hasn/
It’s clear voters have a tough choice in the midterms. Both parties have serious flaws, ranging from fully embracing racism and espionage to not doing either of those things.
Look, I know the midterm elections are coming up, but I’ll be darned if I can figure out the difference between our two major political parties.
Take Thursday, for example. Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was subpoenaed by a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol.
At the same time, current Democratic President Joe Biden, on a West Coast trip that included a stop in Colorado to name a new national monument, stopped for chicken quesadillas at a Los Angeles restaurant.
Which is worse? I’ll be darned if I know.
Is espionage even that bad a thing?
Also Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from Trump in a classified records dispute that’s part of an espionage case focused on the former president. That sounds bad, but it begs other questions: Is espionage actually bad? Does it reflect poorly on Biden that he’s not the focus of an espionage case?
More from Rex Huppke: A foreign spy’s view on Mar-a-Lago search affidavit: ‘You’re taking the fun out of spying’
Maybe espionage is a good thing. I don’t have the answers. And that makes it hard to see what separates Democrats and Republicans.
Racism in 2022: Are we for or against?
On the one hand, Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville recently went on a racist tirade, saying Black people are “the people who do the crime,” and in the week that followed, not a public word of condemnation bubbled up from the elected members of the Republican Party.
On the other hand, leaked audio of three Democrats on the Los Angeles City Council engaged in a racist and crude conversation was met by immediate calls for their resignations from Democrats across the country, including President Biden. One council member, Nury Martinez, resigned Wednesday.
Is accepting flagrant racism in the year 2022 good, or is it better to emphatically reject it? You got me on that one. It’s a real head-scratcher.
GOP must rebuke racist remarks: Kanye West, Tommy Tuberville and the antisemitic, racist weekend
Tucker Carlson stuck with Kanye, but Democrats did not do that
Adding to the confusion, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, arguably the most influential media figure in Republican circles, spent a good part of last week propping up rapper and Trump supporter Kanye West, then went quiet as a mouse after West tweeted he was “going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”
On the flip side, no influential media figure in Democratic circles did that, so…puh-tay-toe, puh-tah-toe, right?
Supporting Alex Jones seems bad…
On Wednesday, a jury ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion to eight families of Sandy Hook shooting victims who for years were mercilessly harassed by Jones and his followers over the baseless claim the shooting was a hoax.
A sitting Republican congresswoman, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, came to Jones’ defense on Twitter, calling the verdict “a political persecution” and writing: “No matter what you think of Alex Jones all he did was speak words.”
Alex Jones finally faces consequences: Hateful lies have to come with a cost.
Charlie Kirk, head of the prominent Republican student organization Turning Point USA, also overlooked Jones’ years of verbal savagery, writing on Twitter that the verdict was about Democrats controlling speech: “This is about sending a message: If you upset the Regime, they will destroy you, completely and utterly, forever.”
…but Biden was once nice to his son
Defending Jones seems pretty horrendous, but earlier in the week, Fox News’ Sean Hannity aired a 2018 voicemail Biden left for his son, Hunter Biden, who was struggling with drug addiction. Biden said: “It’s Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You gotta get some help. I know you don’t know what to do. I don’t either.”
So members of one party were coddling a man whose rhetoric caused parents who lost children in a school shooting to suffer untold additional pain. BUT, the other party’s president was a kind and loving dad who tried to help his struggling son. A real toss-up there, if I’m being honest. It’s one of those “six of one, one-half-dozen of the other” situations.
Republican Party needs a rebrand: If the GOP is ready to rebrand amid Trump’s woes, here are my ideas for a post-MAGA party
Tricky to figure out the difference between Democrats and Republicans
It’s clear voters have a tough choice in the midterms. Both parties have serious flaws, ranging from fully embracing racism and espionage to not doing either of those things.
How in the heck are voters supposed to know which one is best?
More humor and satire from Rex Huppke:
Lizzo plays James Madison’s crystal flute while racists play dog whistles
Sen. Lindsey Graham mansplains abortion ban: ‘I picked 15 weeks.’ Got it, ladies?
What Trump and his wannabes did in one weekend should scare us all.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook: facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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Supermarket Giants Kroger And Albertsons Plan $25 Billion Merger
Supermarket Giants Kroger And Albertsons Plan $25 Billion Merger https://digitalarkansasnews.com/supermarket-giants-kroger-and-albertsons-plan-25-billion-merger/
The deal, an effort to bulk up against deep-pocketed rivals Walmart and Amazon, is likely to invite serious antitrust scrutiny from regulators.
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The combined annual revenue of Kroger and Albertsons is close to Walmart’s grocery sales.Credit…Carlos Bernate for The New York Times
Oct. 14, 2022Updated 12:25 p.m. ET
The grocery giant Kroger announced plans on Friday to acquire Albertsons in a deal that could reshape the supermarket landscape in the United States, uniting the country’s largest supermarket chains at a time when rising costs and competition from Walmart and Amazon squeeze the industry.
But the deal, which values Albertsons at about $24.6 billion including debt, is likely to invite intense scrutiny from regulators who are focused on the potential for large companies to affect prices, and have a history of blocking deals that may directly impact consumers. Even before the deal was announced Friday, consumer advocates had raised objections to its possibility.
The deal would bring together chains including Ralphs, Safeway and Vons, among a handful of others.
Kroger and Albertsons operate nearly 5,000 stores across the country, as well as pharmacies and gas stations. But their combined annual revenue of $209 billion last year falls short of Walmart’s annual grocery sales, of about $218 billion. Though Amazon is a smaller presence in the grocery business, it is also pressuring rivals as it reaches further into every corner of the retail market with its delivery services.
Both grocers are coming off pandemic highs. Their sales soared as homebound customers stocked up on food, but inflation is now cutting into their profit margins, and customers have returned to dining out and spending less on groceries. At the same time, Amazon and Walmart have invested in the digital and delivery parts of their businesses and used their scale to keep prices lower.
The deal will certainly face significant political and regulatory scrutiny, heightened by a global food security crisis that is compounded by significant inflation in food prices. Food prices in the United States rose more than 11 percent in September from a year earlier, as the cost of everything from fruits and vegetables to cereals and flour continued to rise.
Lina Khan, who heads the Federal Trade Commission, which is expected to review the deal, has expressed deep concern about the impact of corporate consolidation.
Kroger and Albertsons said they planned to sell stores to competitors, and would consider spinning off between 100 and 375 stores into a separate, stand-alone company. Analysts have pointed to a overlap between the two grocers, particularly on the West Coast, as a likely source of divestitures. For the Democrat-led agency to approved the deal, Kroger and Albertsons will need to convince its members that they create a viable competitor in parts of the country in which there is significant overlap.
But past efforts to carve out stores to form a new competitor haven’t worked. In 2014, the retailer Haggen in Bellingham, Wash., bought more than 100 stores that Albertsons had sold to win approval for its $9 billion merger with Safeway. A year later, Haggen filed for bankruptcy and blamed Albertsons for the breakdown of its business. Albertsons later bought back 33 of those stores from the bankrupt company.
“Part of the rationale for this deal is that we need to be bigger. Well, if you’re bigger and more significant, what does that mean to the markets where you’re dumping stores for some smaller guy who will not have the purchasing power that you claim you’re going to get from this deal?” said Bill Baer, who led the Justice Department’s antitrust division during the Obama administration.
“Divestiture is always a bright idea for merging parties, and it’s not always a very good idea for consumers.,” he added.
Albertsons shares fell on Friday, a sign that investors are skeptical that the deal will get past regulators. By late morning, the stock was trading below $27 a share, more than 21 percent below Kroger’s $34.10 a share offer price.
In announcing the deal, Kroger also sought to ease concerns about the impact on consumers by saying that it expects to save about $500 million in costs, which it plans to use to “reduce prices for customers.” Whether it follows through with those plans will likely be a key focus for regulators.
Though cost savings in acquisitions often come from layoffs, the grocers may also point to fact that their workforces are unionized as part of their discussions with regulators. The Biden administration has been a significant proponent of unions. Neither Walmart nor Amazon are unionized on a large scale.
Consumer protection groups raised concerns about the deal following reports of a possible merger on Thursday. The American Economic Liberties Project, a nonprofit that promotes antitrust legislation, criticized it as a “bad deal for consumers, workers and communities.”
“There is no reason to allow two of the biggest supermarket chains in the country to merge — especially with food prices already soaring,” Sarah Miller, the group’s executive, said in a statement on Thursday.
As part of their pitch to regulators, Kroger and Albertsons will likely try to convince them that their scale is needed to compete against big box stores like Aldi, Lidl — two European chains that have been expanding quickly in the United States — and Costco, as well as Amazon.
The agency, though, has not always allowed retailers to use Amazon as a boogeyman to help clear their deals. In 2015, the F.T.C. successfully sued to block a merger between the retailers Office Depot and Staples, even after they had positioned the deal as an effort to take on Amazon and lower prices.
A review process would likely include the F.T.C. talking with consumer advocates, competitors, suppliers and others. Regulators will also look to whether Kroger has promised that past acquisitions would lower prices, and whether those promises came to fruition. A review may also include formal requests for information about the companies’ plans or testimony from executives. That could take months, and the process can drag on companies and their employees as they grapple with uncertainty.
Kroger, based in Cincinnati and founded in 1883, operates 2,750 grocery stores across the United States under banners that include Ralphs, Dillons and Harris Teeter and has a market capitalization of about $32 billion. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, and founded in 1939, runs 2,200 supermarkets under names like Albertsons, Safeway and Vons and has a market capitalization of roughly $15 billion.
Kroger’s chairman and chief executive, Rodney McMullen, will remain in that role at the combined company, as will Kroger’s chief financial officer, Gary Millerchip.
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Oz Says He Wouldn't Talk To Patients The Way His Campaign Talked About Fetterman's Health | CNN Politics
Oz Says He Wouldn't Talk To Patients The Way His Campaign Talked About Fetterman's Health | CNN Politics https://digitalarkansasnews.com/oz-says-he-wouldnt-talk-to-patients-the-way-his-campaign-talked-about-fettermans-health-cnn-politics/
CNN —
Pennsylvania Republican Senate nominee Mehmet Oz again tried to distance himself from the mocking tone his campaign has taken with his Democratic opponent John Fetterman’s recovery from a near fatal stroke, telling NBC in an interview Friday that he would not talk to his own patients the way his campaign talked about the Democratic Senate nominee.
Oz has tried to walk a fine line between being the television doctor that is meant to have compassion for people dealing with health issues and the Republican candidate at a time when campaigns are mimicking former President Donald Trump’s no-holds-barred approach to politics.
Pennsylvania’s Senate contests is one of the most closely watched in the country, representing the best chance for Democrats to flip a Senate seat in November. Polls show a tightening race, with Oz closing the polling gap Fetterman opened over the summer. A CNN Poll of Polls average now shows Fetterman with the support of 50% of likely voters compared with 45% for Oz.
While Oz has personally expressed empathy for Fetterman’s May stroke and his months long recovery, one campaign aide said in August that Fetterman may not have had a stroke if he “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life,” another aide defended that statement by suggesting Fetterman couldn’t stand for more than 10 minutes and, in a mocking effort to get Fetterman to agree to a debate, the Oz campaign offered to “pay for any additional medical personnel he might need to have on standby.”
Asked directly whether Oz would speak to his own patients the way his campaign spoke about Fetterman, the Republican directly said, “No.”
This is not the first time Oz has tried to distance himself from the people he pays to communicate his message to the public, even brazenly saying those people may not speak for him.
“I can only speak to what I’m saying,” Oz said in a radio interview in late August.
“I have tremendous compassion for what John Fetterman is going through,” Oz said in the NBC interview with Dasha Burns. “Not only do I, as a doctor, appreciate the challenge, but I know this specific ailment because it is a specialty area of mine.”
Before running for Senate or hosting a nationally syndicated television show, Oz was regarded as a talented and driven cardiothoracic surgeon who regularly treated people with strokes.
Oz said he “accepted responsibility” for the way his campaign has talked about Fetterman’s health and that he has dealt “with issues as they come up.”
“But he has his own set of issues,” said Oz. “We should have had a debate already.”
Oz has tied to focus his critique of Fetterman’s health on transparency, urging the Democrat to release more medical information.
“When people ask me questions, and they often do, about his health condition, you know what I say, Dasha? I have no idea,” Oz said.
Fetterman has so far declined to release more than a June letter his doctor released attesting he was fit enough to run for Senate.
“I would say that if there is anything that changed, I absolutely would have updated that,” Fetterman said this week. “Other than the progress that I have made is evident.”
Fetterman spent two months off the campaign trail after his May stroke. When he returned, his speech was at times halting and he often smushed words together – something the Democrat himself acknowledged. Fetterman’s speech, however, has improved in recent months and he has picked up his campaign schedule. As he has since he returned to the campaign trail, the candidate continues to use closed captioning in interviews.
Oz and Fetterman have agreed to one debate in the key Senate contest – an October 25 meeting hosted by Nexstar Television.
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Syosset Native Elaine Chao To Congress: Impossible To Stay In Trump Administration After Riot
Syosset Native Elaine Chao To Congress: “Impossible” To Stay In Trump Administration After Riot https://digitalarkansasnews.com/syosset-native-elaine-chao-to-congress-impossible-to-stay-in-trump-administration-after-riot/
U.S. Secret Service reports from Jan. 6 are displayed as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Syosset native Elaine Chao said it was “impossible” to remain U.S. Transportation Secretary under ex-President Donald Trump after the U.S. Capitol riot, according to a newly released video of her congressional interview.
Chao, whose husband is U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), had resigned immediately after a mob of Trump supporters tried to disrupt Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, leaving six dead, as lawmakers were voting to certify President Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election.
“I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking,” she said in a short clip of her interview played Thursday by the congressional committee investigating the riot. “And it was something that … that I could not put aside. And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue given my personal values and my philosophy.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., right.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
She had previously told staffers in her resignation letter that the riot “has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.” She was one of many Trump staffers to quit in the waning days of his presidency and the first high level member of the administration to leave immediately after the riot. At the same time, Trump continued to push the false claims of fraud to his millions of supporters.
The House Jan. 6 committee also showed prerecorded interviews with other Cabinet members, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who said they believed that once the legal avenues had been exhausted, that should have been the end of Trump’s effort to remain in power.
Pompeo, who was interviewed by the panel since its last hearing in July, said in his videotaped testimony that he believed that once the Electoral College certified the vote, that was the end of the process for contesting the election.
“We should all comply with the law at all times, to the best of our ability — every one of us,” Pompeo said.
The latest revelations came as the committee took the extraordinary action of subpoenaing Trump on Thursday. He has not commented on the escalation of the investigation. But he had taken aim at Chao earlier this month.
In a post on his social media website Truth Social in which he criticized McConnell, Trump wrote that the senator “must immediately seek help and advise from his China loving wife, Coco Chow!” Critics, including some fellow Republicans, have blasted the comment as racist.
“I came as an immigrant to this country,” Chao said in her video testimony explaining her departure from the Trump administration. “I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so I was a — it was a decision that I made on my own.”
-With AP
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Good Morning News: Wheeler's Homeless Internment Camps Dark Brandon Arrives And Trump Flirts With Appearing Before Jan. 6 Panel
Good Morning, News: Wheeler's Homeless Internment Camps, “Dark Brandon” Arrives, And Trump Flirts With Appearing Before Jan. 6 Panel 🍿 https://digitalarkansasnews.com/good-morning-news-wheelers-homeless-internment-camps-dark-brandon-arrives-and-trump-flirts-with-appearing-before-jan-6-panel-%f0%9f%8d%bf/
The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
GOOD AFTERNOON, PORTLAND! Don’t pack away that thong just yet! Expect sunny skies with record-breaking October highs in the mid-80s this weekend. And now, here’s your daily NEWS thong.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• PREPARE THYSELF, INFIDEL, FOR THE IMMINENT ARRIVAL OF “DARK BRANDON! Translated for non-Trumpers: President Biden returns to Oregon today to attend a volunteer event with Democrats, pop by a reception for gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek on Saturday, and deliver a speech in Portland! DO NOT CAST YOUR EYES UPON HIM, FOOLS, LEST HE SMITE YOU WITH THE ALMIGHTY SWORD OF ANTIFA!
Service Disruption Reminder
President Joe Biden will be in Portland today and Saturday. MAX and bus service will be disrupted in Downtown Portland today through as late as 6 p.m. Saturday, due to security surrounding his visit.
— TriMet (@trimet) October 14, 2022
• According to a report from the WW, Mayor Wheeler is prepping to launch a plan that would criminalize unsanctioned camping across the city and force them into three large internment camps (which he’s blithely calling “campuses”)—despite the fact that houseless folk have different needs that for many could make living there impossible. Reminder to those rich people in the back: BEING HOMELESS IS NOT A CRIME. And to the rest of us: So many of us Portlanders are just one major medical bill away from being homeless ourselves. Hope you like “campus living!”
We call this the Sam Adams long game: https://t.co/NMviEnka1z
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) October 14, 2022
• Following the tragic crash that killed a popular Portland chef cyclist on SE Powell & 26th, hundreds of green-clad protesters created a human barricade to protect the bike lane on this dangerous street, calling on transportation agencies to reinstall the green bike boxes at the intersection. Our Isabella Garcia was there and files this report.
• BIG NEWS: Multnomah County Deputy District Attorneys will now consider immigration consequences when prosecuting noncitizens in an effort to avoid deportation when possible, according to District Attorney Mike Schmidt. In a nutshell, this means if an American citizen and a noncitizen get a traffic ticket, both will be required to pay a fine, and neither will lose their family.
The latest COVID-19 vaccine booster shots are now available for children between 5 and 11 years old in Oregon. https://t.co/Mbb3ZgJ3hP
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury) October 13, 2022
• Hey Brainy Pants! See how you score on this week’s challenging and hilarious POP QUIZ PDX! This week: the latest sports scandals, local rich villains, and… you asked for it, and got it… MONKEY TRIVIA.
• You won’t wanna miss the special one-night only screening of HUMP! 2022 on the big screen at Revolution Hall on Wednesday, October 26! Featuring the hottest (and sometimes hilarious) short flicks from horn-dogs just like YOU, it’s the sexiest event of the fall!
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Remember the January 6 committee? Well, they returned with a BANG yesterday, showing alarming new footage of Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders desperately trying to regain control over the nation’s capitol as domestic terrorists were swarming the building. The panel also voted UNANIMOUSLY to subpoena Donald Trump in order to answer questions before the committee—but get this! Some reports are saying that Trump is actually considering it—if he can do it LIVE in a public forum… an idea that is sending chills up his advisors’ spines.
Pelosi’s response to hearing Trump might march to the Capitol is definitely worth watching pic.twitter.com/wpUlvKoqwT
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 14, 2022
• Grocery giant Kroger is planning on buying its rival Albertsons for $24.6 billion which would make it one of the biggest grocery chains in the country.
• In yet another loss for Trump, the Supreme Court (including the members he bought and paid for) flatly refused to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, in which Trump wanted stop a special master from reviewing the stuff he stole from the White House.
Climate protesters threw cans of tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London. The gallery said the work was unharmed aside from “some minor damage to the frame.”https://t.co/Tsl6Kaeso0 pic.twitter.com/2at4dlqFtk
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 14, 2022
• The world’s biggest billionaire baby, Elon Musk, is threatening to yank Ukraine’s Starlink internet service—a crucial tool in the country’s war with Russia—because a Ukrainian diplomat told him to “fuck off.” (Hey Elon! My neighbor told you to “fuck off” as well! Better take away his Tesla.)
• And finally… sorry if any of this news stressed you out! BETTER WATCH THIS:
Watching this certainly reduced my stress levels! It’s the hands! pic.twitter.com/JRzZ2L4Xg9
— Dr Amir Khan GP (@DrAmirKhanGP) October 13, 2022
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From Meeting Hollywood Stars To Frustrating Lou Holtz: A Look At Hogs 8 Westward Trips Before BYU
From Meeting Hollywood Stars To Frustrating Lou Holtz: A Look At Hogs’ 8 Westward Trips Before BYU https://digitalarkansasnews.com/from-meeting-hollywood-stars-to-frustrating-lou-holtz-a-look-at-hogs-8-westward-trips-before-byu/
photo credit: Colorado State Athletics
For just the ninth time in school history, the Arkansas football team is heading far enough west to leave the Central Time Zone for a game.
The Razorbacks are set to take on BYU, an FBS independent preparing to join the Big 12 next year, in a non-conference matchup Saturday in Provo, Utah. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
It will be a unique setting, as LaVell Edwards Stadium is known for the iconic view from its perch 4,649 feet above sea level. Head coach Sam Pittman said while he’s driven by the venue on recruiting trips, no one on the team has ever coached or played there. He’s looking forward to the experience.
“We showed our team yesterday a picture of their stadium and things,” Pittman said. “Beautiful area of the country. Just different for us and that gives you a little bit more motivation, things of that nature, a lot of times. It’s new. Of course, I don’t know that that will affect the way we play or not, but certainly excited to go out there.”
Unfortunately for them, the last time the Razorbacks ventured out west — and the only other time they’ve played at an elevation like they’ll experience Saturday — is still fresh on Arkansas football fans’ minds. That game, a disappointing 34-27 loss at Colorado State, dropped Arkansas’ record to 2-5-1 when playing west of the Central Time Zone.
Best of Arkansas Sports combed through a lot of digital archives to tell the story of each of those previous eight matchups…
Oct. 22, 1938 — at No. 6 Santa Clara — L, 21-6
Location: San Francisco, Calif.
Coming off a 42-6 shellacking of Texas at Quigley Stadium in Little Rock, the Razorbacks returned to Fayetteville with a 2-2 record and quickly hit the road again for a trip out west.
Leaving Monday evening, the Arkansas football team and band took a special train dubbed “The Arkansas Traveler” that essentially did a weeklong loop that went through Dallas (where they met up with a group of fans from Fort Smith and Little Rock, including Governor Carl Edward Bailey), El Paso, Phoenix and Los Angeles before arriving in San Francisco.
According to the Northwest Arkansas Times, the trip included a one-day stop in Los Angeles, where Bob Burns — a comedian and actor originally from Greenwood — hosted the group at Paramount studios. They also spent two days in San Francisco, allowing for a day of sightseeing ahead of the game at Kezar Stadium.
On the field, it was a highly anticipated matchup. Santa Clara was ranked No. 6 in the AP Poll and had outscored Stanford, Texas A&M and Arizona by a combined 56-0 in its first three games. It was the continuation of the Broncos’ recent dominance, as they were the two-time defending Sugar Bowl champions and riding a 13-game winning streak in which they posted 10 shutouts in 11 of their previous game, allowing only a safety during that span.
The Razorbacks, meanwhile, had a vaunted passing attack that some experts believed could cause Santa Clara problems. They also showed they could be effective on the ground, as Neal Martin scored three rushing touchdowns in the first half of the aforementioned blowout win over the Longhorns.
“They had everything figured out a week ago — how they would defend against Arkansas passes and have everything under control,” wrote Bill Tobitt in the Oakland Tribune on Oct. 17, 1938. “But, by the medium of telegraph and radio, two wonderful modern inventions, Shaw since as learned that there’s a guy named Martin playing for the Razorbacks. Martin didn’t figure in Buck’s earlier scout reports — but he sure plays a prominent part in them now.”
Sure enough, Arkansas ended up out-rushing the Broncos 187-77. It also gained more first downs (10-6) and forced more fumbles (7-4), according to the UP. The Razorbacks were more efficient through the air, as well, completing 7 of 23 passes, but those completions gained just 78 yards.
Because of those numbers, the game felt closer than the final 21-6 margin indicated. The difference, it seems, was that Santa Clara’s four completions — out of 22 attempts — gained a whopping 164 yards.
“From the opening kick-off until the final gun barked, it was the wildest, thrill-filled game seen here in this year,” wrote Russell Newland for the Associated Press. “Some 25,000 fans stayed until the last play as the ball changed hands time after time on intercepted passes, punts and recovered fumbles.”
Santa Clara scored its touchdowns in the first, second and fourth quarters. The Razorbacks’ lone score was the first touchdown the Broncos had allowed in quite some time. It came early in the second quarter when Kay Eakin connected with Ralph Atwood, who had to dive over a couple of Broncos to get in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown.
The Razorbacks and their supporters then took a northern route back to Arkansas, traveling through Salt Lake City, Denver and Kansas City. They arrived back in Fayetteville early Tuesday morning.
Sept. 15, 1973 — at No. 1 USC — L, 17-0
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
It was another 35 years before the Arkansas football team headed west again. As if playing the No. 6 team wasn’t enough, this time the Razorbacks had No. 1 on the docket. USC was coming off a national championship and hadn’t lost any of its previous 17 games, while Arkansas was in the midst of a down stretch under legendary coach Frank Broyles.
Understandably, the Razorbacks were tabbed 26-point underdogs. They came out strong, though, and actually out-played the favored Trojans for most of the first half.
A pair of failed field goals — one missed and one blocked — prevented Arkansas from taking advantage of the hot start and USC went on a 16-play, 79-yard drive to score a touchdown with less than a minute left until halftime. The score remained 7-0 until midway through the fourth quarter, when the Trojans kicked a field goal and added another touchdown to give themselves some cushion.
It was an admirable showing by an Arkansas team made up of a large chunk of freshmen and sophomores — a group that eventually helped the Razorbacks go 10-2 and win the Cotton Bowl two years later in 1975.
“This is the first, and probably the last time you’ll find the coaching staff, players and the fans happy about a 17-0 loss,” wrote Ron Russell in The Courier News the following Monday. “Kind of like a blind date with a nice face.”
“As everyone knows, the forecast called for Arkansas to get beat by 35-7, and, as is generally known, when a writer predicts that, he means 49-7, but is afraid to go that far even with the sure bet for fear of getting pie in the typewriter. Well, Arkansas fooled ‘em.”
One of a few older players on the team did provide a highlight, knocking out USC’s future All-American running back Anthony Davis, who managed to return and finish with 114 yards on 24 carries — most of which came in the final 10 minutes.
“Danny Rhodes, the ‘papa’ for these young defenders, should be an All-American this year, as it was figured he would when Broyles signed him out of Lake Jackson, Texas,” Russell wrote. “Rhodes nearly decapitated Anthony Davis, running full speed ahead after two yards at midfield in the second quarter.
“Davis left the game. And Bud Campbell said ‘He really hit him hard,’ but if you were only listening on the radio, you’ll never know how hard.”
Dec. 25, 1978 — vs. No. 15 UCLA — T, 10-10
Location: Tempe, Ariz. (Fiesta Bowl)
Fresh off a magical first season under Lou Holtz, Arkansas football had national championship aspirations in 1978. However, back-to-back losses to Texas and Houston in the middle of the season dashed those hopes and the Razorbacks ended up in the Fiesta Bowl, which was played at Arizona State through 2006.
Even with the two losses, Arkansas was still ranked No. 8 and favored by 7 points against No. 15 UCLA. It looked like the Razorbacks weren’t going to have any issues covering that spread, jumping out to a 10-0 halftime lead behind a touchdown run by Roland Sales and field goal by Ish Ordonez.
Arkansas failed to score again, though. UCLA kicker Pete Boermeester, who missed a 25-yarder in the first quarter, got the Bruins on the board when he booted a 41-yard field goal midway through the third. He also added the game-tying extra point following quarterback Steve Bukich’s 15-yard touchdown scamper midway through the fourth quarter.
Terry Donahue, who was in the third season of what proved to be a legendary career with the Bruins, said after the game that he didn’t go for two because he felt there was plenty of time left to score again. Instead, the two teams played to a stalemate. Both coaches advocated for overtime afterward, but it was nearly two decades before college football got it.
“There ought to be a sudden death playoff in bowl games,” Holtz told the UPI. “This is the second bowl I’ve participated in that ended in a tie and I feel the same way now (as) I did then.”
The offensive MVP of the game was UCLA running back James Owens, who ran for 121 yards on 17 carries, while Arkansas defensive tackle Jimmy Walker earned defensive MVP honors with 13 tackles, including five tackles for loss.
Ben Cowins — who was suspended for the Orange Bowl the previous year — was limited to 89 yards on 24 carries for the Razorbacks and Jerry Eckwood chipped in 44 yards on eight carries.
Dec. 22, 1985 — vs. Arizona State — W, 18-17
Location: San Diego, Calif. (Holiday Bowl)
Two days before the Holiday Bowl, the Razorbacks were at practice and head coach Ken Hatfield decided to put some pressure on his freshman kicker.
A walk-on from Fredonia, Kan., Kendall Trainor had taken over the placekicking duties following a disastrous 15-13 loss to Texas in which Greg Horne missed three field goals and now his first bowl g...
Obituaries In Fort Smith, AR | Times Record https://digitalarkansasnews.com/obituaries-in-fort-smith-ar-times-record-72/
On April 1,1977, David Wesley Jr. age 45 of Las Vegas, Nevada, was born to David Woods Sr. and Emma (Woods) Hayes in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He departed this life on July 18, 2022.
David was educated in the Fort Smith Public School System. He loved all his family, always laughing, and telling jokes. David loved to travel, he had a desire to live and explore other cities across the United States. David achieved this goal, he lived in Denver, Colorado, then recently relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, a move he was extremely excited about.
Proceeding him in death, his stepfather Pastor William Hayes Sr., stepbrother Tony Hayes Sr., and stepsister Shirley Hayes-Oliver. He leaves to mourn, his father David Woods Sr. (Florence Woods) of Fort Smith, AR, and his mother Emma (Woods) Hayes of Warrenton, NC; two daughters Ecaterina Emma Woods of Tulsa, OK, Zia Marie Woods of Clarksville, TN; one brother, Roderick Woods (Kristi Woods) of Jacksonville, FL; six stepbrothers, Shaun Thomas of Fort Smith AR, Shannon Thomas of Fort Smith AR, William Hayes Jr. of Fort Smith AR, Herbert Hayes Sr. (Nina Hayes) of Dallas, TX, Louis Hayes of Fort Smith, AR, Master Sergeant (retired) Aaron Hayes (Shanell Hayes) of Houston, TX; eight stepsisters, Tera Cooper of Fayetteville, AR, Juanita Coleman of Plano, TX, Patricia Hayes Dye of Fort Smith, AR, Renee Johnson of Houston, TX, Aretha Hayes of Charlotte, NC, Frances Hayes of Richardson, TX, Lacretia Hayes of Dallas, TX, Rachel Brown of Allen, TX; four aunts, Maude West of Tacoma, Washington, Ann Henry of Fort Smith, AR, Nina Delt (Melvin Delt) of Fort Smith, AR, Carolyn Phillips of Colorado Springs, CO; one uncle, Minister Douglas Phillps (Lisa Phillips) of Fort Smith, AR, and a host of other relatives and friends.
Memorial Service for David Wesley Woods Jr. will be Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 11:00 AM at the New Life Church of God in Christ, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Posted online on October 14, 2022
Service Information
Memorial Service
New Life Church of God in Christ Fort Smith, Arkansas
October 22, 2022
at
11:00 AM
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Historical Society To Meet In Bayou Meto Community | Stuttgart Daily Leader
Historical Society To Meet In Bayou Meto Community | Stuttgart Daily Leader https://digitalarkansasnews.com/historical-society-to-meet-in-bayou-meto-community-stuttgart-daily-leader/
Bayou Meto Schoolhouse Lodge, 1178 Highway 276, Bayou Meto. (Photo courtesy of the Grand Prairie Historical Society)
Grand Prairie Historical Society will hold its autumn quarterly meeting in the community of Bayou Meto on Thursday, Oct. 20 beginning at 5:30 p.m., when hosts Eddie and Pat Lumsden will offer tours of Bayou Meto Schoolhouse Lodge on Highway 276 as guests arrive. It is the sole remaining rural school standing at its original location in Arkansas County and now serves as a waterfowling lodge. The restored building is listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places. A historical marker co-sponsored by Arkansas Historic Preservation Program stands on the grounds.
After touring the lodge, guests are welcome to assemble at the Bayou Meto United Methodist Church Community Building for a barbeque dinner which will be served beginning at 6:30 p.m. Following the dinner, an interesting program on the community’s history will be presented by Eddie Lumsden and Steve Stillwell. The Society will hold its quarterly business meeting to end the evening. All interested persons are cordially invited to attend.
Youth essay contest
The Society would like to remind youths aged 15-18 of its annual essay contest. The Society is soliciting essays of at least 800 words on any subject pertinent to Grand Prairie history. The winning entry will be published in the Grand Prairie Historical Bulletin. The author will receive a $250 check and will be honored at the Society’s January 2023 meeting. All essays should be submitted via email to grandprairiehistory@gmail.com no later than November 30. Please see the website www.grandprairiehistory.org for more information.
Participation
Contributions to the Society’s award-winning publication, the semi-annual Grand Prairie Historical Bulletin, are encouraged.
Society officers are Raeann Braithwaite, president; Gay Rusk, vice-president; Gena Seidenschwarz, secretary; and Carol Roberson, treasurer. Directors are Claudia Ahrens, Linda Fischer, Larry Fortune, Bill Shrum, Glenn Mosenthin, and Tommy Strabala. John Cover is an honorary director.
For more information on the Society’s activities, contact Raeann Braithwaite at 870-830-1425 or Glenn Mosenthin at 870-710-1240.
History-minded persons are invited to join the Society and enjoy four informative programs, four newsletters, and two journals yearly. Annual memberships cost $25 per household, with higher membership levels available. Dues are payable to Carol Roberson, Treasurer, P.O. Box 3621, Little Rock, AR 72203.
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Musk Says SpaceX Will Stop Funding Starlink Terminals In Ukraine; Russia To Transport Civilians From Kherson
Musk Says SpaceX Will Stop Funding Starlink Terminals In Ukraine; Russia To Transport Civilians From Kherson https://digitalarkansasnews.com/musk-says-spacex-will-stop-funding-starlink-terminals-in-ukraine-russia-to-transport-civilians-from-kherson/
U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan meets with Lithuanian officials to discuss Ukraine and NATO
U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan met with Lithuanian officials to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Sullivan met with Asta Skaisgiryte, Lithuania’s chief foreign policy advisor and his counterpart Kestutis Budrys, Lithuania’s chief national security advisor.
“They discussed their shared commitment to continuing to provide Ukraine with security assistance to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to maintain sanctions pressure to hold Russia accountable,” the White House said in a readout.
Sullivan also reiterated U.S. commitment to NATO’s collective defense and discussed plans for the 2023 NATO Summit, which Lithuania will host.
— Amanda Macias
Kherson plan is for ‘deportation,’ not ‘evacuation,’ Ukrainian official says
Calls by a Russian-installed official for residents to flee the Russian-occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine and go to Russia amount to “deportation,” a Ukrainian regional official said.
Vladimir Saldo, who was appointed head of the region by Moscow after Russian forces seized it early in the war in Ukraine, publicly asked for government help on Thursday in moving civilians out.
Saldo made his appeal following advances by Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine.
“We understand that there can be no evacuation, this is nothing more than deportation that Saldo calls for,” Serhiy Khlan, a member of Kherson’s regional council, told a briefing.
“This ‘evacuation’ announced by Saldo is an evacuation for collaborators and traitors in the region… they want to take these collaborators to Russia,” Khlan said.
Most of the Kherson region was seized in the first days of Russia’s invasion as it sent in troops from adjoining Crimea.
— Reuters
Putin says clash between NATO troops and Russia would mean ‘global catastrophe’; says he does not regret actions in Ukraine
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on the sidelines of the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA), in Astana, Kazakhstan October 13, 2022. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.
Vyacheslav Prokofyev | Sputnik | Reuters
A direct clash between Russia and NATO troops would result in a “global catastrophe,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said from a conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, warning against such an eventuality.
“I hope that those who are saying this are smart enough not to take such steps,” Putin said, according to Reuters.
Asked during a news conference at the same event whether he regretted any of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the Russian president said “no,” adding that Russia’s aim was not to destroy Ukraine.
Russian troops have been fighting in their neighboring country since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. Since then, Russia’s military has killed thousands of people, sent more than 11 million people out of Ukraine as refugees, internally displaced many more, destroyed billions of dollars worth of civilian, military, and critical infrastructure, and has been accused of committing numerous war crimes.
Moscow denies it has targeted civilians or civilian infrastructure.
— Natasha Turak
Putin threatens to close humanitarian corridors, says there is ‘no need’ to talk with Biden
Russian President Vladimir Putin will close humanitarian corridors used for Ukrainian grain transportation if they are used for “acts of terror,” he said while speaking at a press conference in Kazakhstan.
He added that he had not yet decided if he would attend the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in November, but said that there was “no need” for talks with American President Joe Biden.
— Natasha Turak
U.S., Germany to delivery anti-aircraft weaponry to Ukraine this month, Kyiv says
Anti-aircraft gunners of a special air defense unit of the National Guard of Ukraine are seen on a combat mission, Ukraine. August 24, 2022.
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyi/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Germany and the U.S. will send advanced anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine this month to help it defend itself against drone and missile attacks from Russia, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.
“There is a U.S. decision to supply us with a very well-known NASAMS system, the first few batches. Our specialists are already being trained. And they will be delivered this month,” Reznikov said on Ukrainian television.
NASAMS are ground-based, short to medium-range air defense systems built by U.S. arms giant Raytheon and Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. They are designed to take out unmanned and fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and cruise missiles among other things.
Reznikov said Germany would send Ukraine its IRIS-II air defense system this month.
— Natasha Turak
WHO records at least 620 attacks on vital health services in Ukraine, since the start of Russia’s invasion
A medical worker takes care a patient who was injured during a Russian cruise missiles strike on Thursday at a hospital in Vinnytsia, Ukraine July 15, 2022.
Maxym Marusenko | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, there have been at least 620 attacks on vital health services in the country, the World Health Organization’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care estimates.
The organization reports that healthcare facilities were damaged 538 times, ambulances were targeted in 82 cases and at least 154 attacks affected crucial medical supplies. The group also estimated that attacks on health services led to at least 100 deaths and 129 injuries.
The Kremlin has previously denied that it targets civilian infrastructure like hospitals, schools and apartment buildings.
— Amanda Macias
Turkey, Russia to act on Putin’s gas hub offer
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical work on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream pipeline were halted.
Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution center, adding that Turkey’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.
“Together with Mr. Putin, we have instructed our Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together,” Erdogan was quoted as saying. “They will conduct this study. Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully establish this distribution center there.”
“There will be no waiting,” Erdogan said in his first statement on the Russian proposal.
The Turkish leader made the comments on Thursday on his return from a regional summit in Kazakhstan where he met with Putin. His words were reported by Hurriyet newspaper and other media.
— Associated Press
Zelenskyy promises victory as Ukraine marks ‘Defenders Day’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, during marking the Defender of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 14, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked Ukraine’s Defenders Day holiday by promising victory over Russia and freedom for Ukraine.
In a video address delivered on hills outside the capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine’s armed forces for defending their country. He said everything that had been taken away from Ukraine would be returned, and no soldier left in captivity.
A young woman cries as she walks between portraits of dead servicemen during the opening of an open-air exhibition “Azov Regiment – Angels of Mariupol” in the centre of Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Defenders Day on October 14, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
“By defeating this enemy, we will respond to all enemies who encroached on Ukraine – on those who lived, who live and who will live on our land. This will be a victory for all our people. This will be a victory for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
“The world sees that Ukrainians do not lose their humanity under any circumstances. The enemy can strike at our cities, but never at our dignity,” Zelenskyy added, marking the Oct. 14 public holiday.
People visit the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv, to mark Ukraine’s Defenders Day on October 14, 2022.
Yuriy Dyachyshyn | AFP | Getty Images
A young man hugs a woman as she cries at the portraits of two dead servicemen during the opening of an open-air exhibition “Azov Regiment – Angels of Mariupol” in the centre of Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Defenders Day on October 14, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Supinsky | Afp | Getty Images
A young woman, relative of a dead serviceman, cries at his portrait during the opening of an open-air exhibition “Azov Regiment – Angels of Mariupol” in the centre of Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Defenders Day on October 14, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Supinsky | Afp | Getty Images
Visitors and relinives of dead servicemen look at their portraits during the opening of an open-air exhibition “Azov Regiment – Angels of Mariupol” in the centre of Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Defenders Day on October ...
10 Times The Avengers Changed The Status Quo Over The Years
10 Times The Avengers Changed The Status Quo Over The Years https://digitalarkansasnews.com/10-times-the-avengers-changed-the-status-quo-over-the-years/
The Avengers Assemble event will kick off Marvel’s next event while bringing an end to Jason Aaron’s five-year run on The Avengers. An event of this size often changes the status quo of Earth’s mightiest heroes. However, it also has the tendency to alter the course of events in the larger Marvel universe.
There have been many Marvel events led by the Avengers that have had a huge impact on the Marvel universe. The superhuman Civil War divided the Avengers while Avengers: Disassembled ended the classic formation of the team. Changes to the Avengers can have larger consequences for the rest of their superhero peers.
10/10 They Killed The Supreme Intelligence And Gutted The Kree Empire
The Avengers earned the title of Earth’s mightiest heroes thanks to their involvement in cosmic battles like the “Kree/Skrull War.” They decided to take action again during Operation: Galactic Storm when the Kree/Shi’ar war threatened Earth. The Avengers attempted to stop the Shi’ar’s planned destruction of the Kree homeworld, but they failed.
The Kree ruler known as the Supreme Intelligence is one of the most iconic Avengers villains. He manipulated the detonation of a Nega-Bomb that devastated Hala. This enraged the Avengers and they assassinated him. This effectively gutted the Kree empire and allowed the Shi’ar to take over. The Avengers’ failure and harsh retaliation shifted the course of galactic politics for years.
9/10 Avengers: Disassembled Tore The Team Apart Before They Were Rebuilt
Scarlet Witch lost control of her reality-altering powers, which led to a catastrophic attack on her teammates during the Avengers: Disassembled storyline. The loss of Wanda’s children and her ongoing battles with the possessive control of Chthon resulted in a mental break that tore the Avengers apart.
Heroes like Vision and Hawkeye died while Scarlet Witch attempted to regain control of her mind. Her actions effectively tore the team apart and ended the official roster of the Avengers. However, a breakout at one of the most effective comic book prisons called The Raft assembled the New Avengers together. The new team breathed life into the franchise after Disassembled tore it apart.
8/10 The Avengers Took Part In The Illuminati’s Secret Manipulations
While most of the Avengers were in the dark about his actions, Iron Man joined a secret society of Marvel heroes known as the Illuminati shortly after the “Kree-Skrull War.” They decided to unilaterally take the defense of Earth into their own hands. This kicked off events that would lead to the Skrull’s Secret Invasion of Earth.
Iron Man represented the Avengers in the Illuminati, though other members like Black Panther and Captain America later joined the secret society on their own terms. The Illuminati had a hand in a number of events that subtly altered the status quo of the Marvel universe. A final roster of the Illuminati/New Avengers later destroyed universal incursions which kicked off the Secret Wars.
7/10 The Avengers Were Inspired To Be Better Heroes After House Of M
The House of M event introduced a completely new reality where mutants reigned. Quicksilver had manipulated his sister Scarlet Witch into rewriting reality to give their father Magneto his dream of mutant superiority. Scarlet Witch attempted to give other heroes their greatest desires, though it didn’t always work out.
In the new reality, Spider-Man married Gwen Stacy and raised his family alongside his returned parents and loved ones like Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Hereoes like Ms. Marvel gained new popularity as the House of M’s greatest heroes. When the House of M reality was undone, Spider-Man was left traumatized while heroes like Ms. Marvel were inspired to become better Avengers.
6/10 A Rift Between Leaders During The Civil War Split The Avengers
The Superhuman Registration Act became a law after the New Warriors inadvertently caused a disaster in Stamford, Connecticut that cost hundreds of innocent lives. Iron Man agreed to support the SRA out of guilt for the heroes’ actions. However, Captain America vowed to fight against what he felt was an unconstitutional law.
The rift that formed between the Avengers greatest and most experienced leaders that had a huge impact on the world. They each formed teams of loyal heroes who fought in escalating conflicts that led to a few casualties. Captain America ultimately surrendered to end the violence, though the SRA continued and the rift between Avengers factions lasted well past the Civil War event.
5/10 The Dark Avengers Helped Enforce Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign
Some of the Avengers went on the run from the official team due to the SRA. This allowed one of Spider-Man’s villains that fans grew to love to sneak in and seize control. Norman Osborn achieved a high political position as the new leader of S.H.I.E.L.D./H.A.M.M.E.R. in Dark Reign. He also formed his own team of disguised villains that became known as the Dark Avengers.
With the public fully behind him as the Iron Patriot, Osborn led his Avengers on a series of missions to further extend his political power. The New Avengers continued to fight against the Dark Avengers, though they became vigilantes as the authorities hunted them down. Osborn and his Dark Avengers completely altered the status quo of the Marvel Universe until the Siege event.
4/10 The Heroic Age Put The Avengers In Charge Of Global Protection
After Osborn and his Dark Avengers fell during the Siege on Asgard, a new Heroic Age arrived. The recently returned Steve Rogers was put in charge of the new S.H.I.E.L.D. He buried the SRA that had kept some of his costumed friends on the run. He also rebuilt the world’s defenses by putting the Avengers in charge.
He formed a new team of Avengers to help rebuild their reputation after Osborn tarnished their name. He also put Luke Cage in charge of his own team while he gathered a few heroes to operate as the Secret Avengers. It was a bold new era for the Avengers that allowed them to be heroes with the full support of the government once again.
3/10 The Avengers Helped Reignite The Mutant Gene In Avengers Vs. X-Men
The Phoenix Force returned to Earth with unclear motives, which set two of Marvel’s most powerful teams against each other. The Avengers vs. X-Men event featured a number of huge moments that altered the course of both the Avengers and the X-Men. The Avengers hoped to stop the Pheonix Force for good while the X-Men believed it to be the cure to their approaching extinction.
Due to the actions of the Avengers, five mutants became powerful hosts of the Phoenix Force. Members of the Avengers helped prepare Scarlet Witch and Hope Summers to handle the Phoenix Force, and they managed to kickstart the mutant gene across the planet using their combined powers.
2/10 Earth Became Known As An Avengers World During The Infinity Event
Tony Stark and Steve Rogers started to work together on building a bigger and better Avengers team. They increased the roster exponentially and used a sophisticated strategic machine to help form new teams for specific threats. This allowed them to spread their reach first across the entire globe before extending into the galaxy with one of the strongest Avengers rosters.
The Avengers became involved in a galactic war against the beings known as the Builders. The Avengers began working alongside other universal forces to fight against the Builders during the Infinity event. This spread their reputation to the stars and delivered a warning to other species that Earth was now protected as an Avengers World.
1/10 The Avengers Helped Secure The Rule Of The Kree/Skrull Galactic Alliance
The Avengers had helped destabilize galactic politics in events like Operation: Galactic Storm. However, they helped secure the rule of the new Kree/Skrull alliance in the Empyre event. They fought against the threat of the Cotati Empire as the weakened Kree and Skrull forces rallied under a new ruler, Dorrek VIII/Hulkling of the Young Avengers.
Forces within the new galactic alliance attempted to discredit Hulkling and break apart the new alliance. However, the Avengers arrived to back up Hulkling and help lead the fight against the Cotati. This allowed the Kree/Skrull Alliance to flourish. It remains the ruling power in the universe thanks to the Avengers and their support of Hulkling’s rule.
NEXT: 10 Changes DC Should Make To The Status Quo
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High Court Rejects Trump Plea To Step Into Mar-A-Lago Case
High Court Rejects Trump Plea To Step Into Mar-A-Lago Case https://digitalarkansasnews.com/high-court-rejects-trump-plea-to-step-into-mar-a-lago-case/
Friday, October 14th 2022, 8:57 am
By: Associated Press
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump’s plea to step into the legal fight over the FBI search of his Florida estate.
The justices did not otherwise comment in turning away Trump’s emergency appeal.
Trump had pressed the court on an issue relating to classified documents seized in the search authorized by a federal judge of Mar-a-Lago.
The Trump team was asking the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.
The move Thursday appears to greatly reduce the potential impact of the special master process to the ongoing Justice Department criminal investigation into the classifed documents.
A federal appeals court had already restored the department’s access to the classified documents, which had been investigators’ primary goal. And the Supreme Court’s decision to stay out of the fray ensures that the special master will not have access to those same records as the FBI and Justice Department evaluate if criminal charges are merited.
A three-judge panel from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit last month limited the special master’s review to the much larger tranche of non-classified documents. The judges, including two Trump appointees, sided with the Justice Department, which had argued there was no legal basis for the special master to conduct his own review of the classified records.
But Trump’s lawyers said in their application to the Supreme Court that it was essential for the special master to have access to the classified records to “determine whether documents bearing classification markings are in fact classified, and regardless of classification, whether those records are personal records or Presidential records.”
The Justice Department said in a Supreme Court filing that Trump’s request had no merit.
The FBI says it seized roughly 11,000 documents, including about 100 with classification markings, during its search. The Trump team asked a judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, to appoint a special master to do an independent review of the records.
Cannon subsequently assigned a veteran Brooklyn judge, Raymond Dearie, to review the records and segregate those that may be protected by claims of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege. The Justice Department objected to Dearie’s ability to review the classified records, prompting the 11th Circuit to side with the department.
The department also is appealing Cannon’s entire ruling to the 11th Circuit.
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
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Tropical Storm Karl Hangs On To TS Status Hurricane Center Sets Eyes On East Atlantic Threat
Tropical Storm Karl Hangs On To TS Status, Hurricane Center Sets Eyes On East Atlantic Threat https://digitalarkansasnews.com/tropical-storm-karl-hangs-on-to-ts-status-hurricane-center-sets-eyes-on-east-atlantic-threat/
Tropical Storm Karl is inching toward Mexico’s coast Friday morning and could lose its tropical storm status before landfall. Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring a new threat in the eastern Atlantic.
As of the NHC’s 8 a.m. update, Karl was located about 90 miles north-northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, moving south-southeast at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds at 40 mph.
The storm, which will not impact Florida, is not expected to strengthen significantly before it reaches the Tabasco or Veracruz states of Mexico late Friday night or early Saturday. It will weaken once it makes landfall. The NHC is confident that Karl’s strength will likely not change before landfall but hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the storm becoming a depression before arriving on the coast.
Tropical Storm Karl 8 a.m. Friday 10/14/22 (The National Hurricaen)
Vertical wind shear is diminishing Karl Friday morning, but Karl is expected to hang onto its tropical storm status for the next day as it crawls toward Mexico. Karl is expected to produce 3 to 7 inches of rain, with up to 10 inches in some areas, across portions of Veracruz and Tabasco states in Mexico from Friday into Saturday night, according to the NHC.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Mexico from Alvarado to Sabancuy.
Meanwhile, the NHC is watching a tropical wave located several hundred miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands and is producing a broad area of showers and thunderstorms. The wave is in an ideal environment for slow tropical growth as it moves west at about 10 mph. The wave has a 20% chance of developing in the next five days and a 10% chance of developing in the next two days.
Although, the wave will likely face upper-level winds by next week diminishing its chances of becoming the next tropical storm.
If it does develop, the tropical storm would receive the name, Lisa.
Jpedersen@orlandosentinel.com
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Jan. 6 Takeaways: Subpoena For Trump Warnings For Democracy
Jan. 6 Takeaways: Subpoena For Trump, Warnings For Democracy https://digitalarkansasnews.com/jan-6-takeaways-subpoena-for-trump-warnings-for-democracy/
WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee took the extraordinary action of subpoenaing former President Donald Trump on Thursday as it issued a stark warning in its final public hearing before the midterm election: The future of the nation’s democracy is at stake.
The panel’s October hearing, just weeks ahead of the midterm election, focused on Trump’s state of mind on Jan. 6, 2021, as he egged on his supporters with false claims of election fraud, pushed to accompany them to the Capitol while lawmakers were counting the votes, and then stood by for hours as the mob violently breached the building.
The committee is set to shut down at the beginning of next year, and was making its final public arguments ahead of a report expected in December.
“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” said Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chairwoman and one of two Republicans on the nine-member committee. “And every American is entitled to those answers. So we can act now to protect our republic.”
A subpoena for Trump — but not Pence
The subpoena for Trump is a major escalation in the probe. After signaling for months that they may leave the former president alone, the unanimous 9-0 vote “for relevant documents and testimony, under oath” was definitive.
The committee had long debated whether to seek testimony from or subpoena Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence. Neither has spoken directly to the committee. While Trump has been hostile to the probe both in court and in public, Pence’s lawyers had engaged with the panel for several months with no clear resolution.
Pence could still be called or subpoenaed. But several of his closest aides have complied with the investigation, with several of them providing great detail about his movements and state of mind as he resisted Trump’s pleas to object to the certification of electoral votes that day and try to overturn their defeat.
In contrast, the committee showed several clips of Trump allies refusing to answer questions before the panel.
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, said the committee was “able to nail down every salient detail in pretty much every element of the offense” except for certain details about what Trump was doing and saying as the insurrection unfolded.
Pelosi and Schumer, in hiding
New video aired by the panel showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacting emotionally to the news that her colleagues were donning gas masks in the House chamber as rioters neared. She quickly went to work trying to secure and reopen the Capitol.
Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer were seen in unidentified secure locations and talking to security officials. The footage included a conversation between Pelosi and Pence, who was also in a secure location, discussing their return to the session to finish certifying Biden’s victory.
The footage was filmed by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, according to two people familiar with the video who requested anonymity to discuss it.
The two leaders are seen working to bring the National Guard to the Capitol amid an hourslong delay. At one point, Schumer said he was going to “call up the ‘effing secretary of DOD,” referring to the Defense Department.
“We have some senators who are still in their hideaways,” Schumer told defense officials on the phone. “They need massive personnel now.”
‘Consider whether we can survive’
The lesson of the committee’s investigation is that institutions only hold when people of good faith protect them without regard to political cost, Cheney said during the hearing.
“Why would Americans assume that our Constitution and our institutions in our Republic are invulnerable to another attack? Why would we assume that those institutions will not falter next time?” Cheney asked.
The warnings come as Trump is still refusing to acknowledge that he lost his reelection to Joe Biden and is considering another run in 2024 — and as many Republicans who deny Biden’s win are running in the midterm elections at all levels of government. Many states have replaced election officials who resisted Trump’s pressure campaign.
“Any future president inclined to attempt what Donald Trump did in 2020 has now learned not to install people who could stand in the way,” said Cheney, who lost her own Republican primary this August. “Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years.”
Secret Service revelations
The committee has obtained more than 1.5 million pages of documents from the Secret Service in recent weeks. They revealed some of that information in the hearing, including an email from within the agency on Dec. 11, 2020, the day the Supreme Court rejected one of Trump’s attempts to undermine the vote.
“Just fyi. POTUS is p—-d — breaking news —- Supreme Court denied his law suit. He is livid now,” one anonymous Secret Service email said.
Multiple emails showed that the agency had ample warnings of violence in the weeks and days ahead of the insurrection.
An alert received by the agency on Dec. 24 said multiple online users were targeting members of Congress and “instructing others to march into the chambers,” said California Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the panel.
California Rep. Pete Aguilar, another Democratic member, said the committee “will be recalling witnesses and conducting further investigative depositions” based on the Secret Service material. The agency has not turned over text messages it said were deleted.
Aguilar also warned that the committee is reviewing testimony regarding potential obstruction of some witnesses. The committee has said in the past that some witnesses were intimidated against speaking.
Cabinet officials
The committee showed prerecorded interviews with Cabinet members, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who said they believed that once the legal avenues had been exhausted, that should have been the end of Trump’s effort to remain in power.
Pompeo, who was interviewed by the panel since its last hearing in July, said in his videotaped testimony that he believed that once the Electoral College certified the vote, that was the end of the process for contesting the election. “We should all comply with the law at all times, to the best of our ability — every one of us,” Pompeo said.
Chao, who is married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnel, said she decided to resign after the insurrection because it was “impossible for me to continue given my personal values and my philosophy.”
At the same time, Trump continued to push the false claims of fraud to his millions of supporters.
“President Trump knew the truth. He heard what all his experts and senior staff was telling him,” said Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the committee’s other Republican. “His intent was plain: ignore the rule of law and stay in power.”
Criminal referrals
Cheney addressed one of the committee’s remaining questions at the beginning of the meeting, saying the panel “may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.” At the end of the hearing, she mentioned the possibility again, saying it has “sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals.”
Members of the committee have long suggested they may suggest charges for Trump or others based on their own evidence. While such a referral would not force any action, it would place political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland as the department has pursued its own investigations surrounding Jan. 6. And the committee has yet to share any transcripts from its more than 1,000 interviews.
Still, “we recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution,” Cheney said.
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Republican Kris Kobach Aims To Rebrand In Kansas AG Race
Republican Kris Kobach Aims To Rebrand In Kansas AG Race https://digitalarkansasnews.com/republican-kris-kobach-aims-to-rebrand-in-kansas-ag-race/
TOPEKA, Kan. — (AP) — Kris Kobach, the Kansan with a national reputation as a hardline provocateur on immigration and voter ID laws, is trying to rebrand himself as a calmer, steadier voice in his comeback bid for elective office.
Republicans hope the candidate for Kansas attorney general is a “new” Kobach. Many of them say he’s staying more on message with a better organized campaign after losing the 2018 race for Kansas governor and a 2020 U.S. Senate primary. Both of those losses were chalked up to disorganized campaigns and Kobach being too abrasive even for very Republican Kansas voters.
The former Kansas secretary of state built a national profile — and created lasting political foes — as the go-to adviser for state and local officials wanting to crack down on illegal immigration. But his platform this year doesn’t mention immigration. The signature prop of his campaign for governor four years ago was a Jeep painted with a U.S. flag design and equipped with a replica machine gun, and it’s nowhere to be seen this year.
“There’s been some learning, trial and error, over time, and I think Kobach as a candidate has grown and become more disciplined,” said Moriah Day, a Republican and gun-rights activist who once worked for Kobach in the secretary of state’s office. “There are certainly advisers and others who have pushed hard for that discipline, and some of them have been together for a few cycles now.”
Kobach’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 election is Chris Mann, who is making his first run for elective office. While Republicans have won 80% of statewide down-ballot races over the past 50 years, both parties see the Kobach-Mann contest as a toss-up because of Kobach’s political baggage.
Some of the baggage comes from Kobach advocating strict immigration laws years before Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 and upsetting not only immigrant rights advocates but GOP-leaning business and agricultural groups.
Kobach also pushed the idea that droves of people could be voting illegally and championed a tough prove-your-citizenship rule for new Kansas voters, only to see the federal courts strike it down and order the state to pay voting rights attorneys $1.4 million.
Kobach served as co-chairman of Trump’s short-lived presidential advisory commission on “election integrity” and promoted Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud. At the time, The Associated Press reported that Kobach oversaw an election system in Kansas that threw out at least three times as many ballots in the 2016 election as any similarly sized state did, fueling concerns about massive voter suppression should its practices become the national standard.
Then there was his brand in his 2018 and 2020 races, the fighter who was even willing to take on GOP leaders. While Republicans across the U.S. have embraced a combative persona in Trump and other candidates, and Trump carried Kansas twice by wide margins, the state’s voters more often have favored candidates with more of an aw-shucks demeanor.
The Jeep with the machine gun became a symbol of how Kobach seemed not to care that he annoyed or angered some voters. He mocked what he called the “snowflake meltdown” the first time he rode it in a parade in 2018.
Some are skeptical that Kobach has changed in any substantive way, and say he is not always on message. For example, his comments during campaign appearances sometimes veer into his plan to slowly and quietly maneuver to ban abortion.
Kansas voters in August decisively rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have cleared the way for the Republican Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure. Kobach backed the measure, which was GOP lawmakers’ response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision declaring access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights.
Kobach advocates amending the state constitution to elect Supreme Court justices rather than have governors appoint them. Eventually new, more conservative justices would overturn the 2019 ruling, he argues.
Backers argue that Kobach’s views on abortion are well-known enough that he can’t backpedal now.
But he’s pitching a proposal that faces big political hurdles, and some Republicans fear that talking about abortion will keep moderate Republicans and independents riled and boost Democratic turnout. Kobach has said he’ll defend existing abortion restrictions as attorney general, but his critics worry that he’ll hunt for new ways to curb access if he’s elected.
“I thought we had a representative form of government, but it looks like Kris Kobach will certainly be willing to subvert the wishes of the voters when he has a chance,” said former Kansas House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican and western Kansas farmer.
Democrat Mann, 46, was a police officer in his early 20s in the northeastern Kansas city of Lawrence, where he now lives. An on-duty accident involving a drunken driver ended his career in uniform and he then served as a prosecutor in nearby Kansas City, Kansas, as a state securities regulator and on the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
“I’m not in this to chase the spotlight or to grab attention like my opponent, and that’s all he’s going to do,” Mann said during an interview.
Kobach, 56, said he’s learned from past campaigns and is delegating more tasks. For this year’s race, he hired Axiom Strategies, a prominent Kansas City-area GOP firm, and his chief consultant is a conservative state senator, J.R. Claeys, in good standing with top Kansas Republicans.
And that Jeep with the replica machine gun from four years ago?
“That was a different time,” Kobach said, chuckling, noting that four years ago was “right in the middle” of Trump’s high-drama administration.
Kobach’s lower-key campaign appeals to William Hendrix, a 21-year-old Topeka resident who is treasurer for a local Young Republicans group. He predicted that as attorney general, Kobach would “cool down on the campaign-trail rhetoric.”
“He’ll see the limitations of the office and also at the same time, what he can do with what he has,” Hendrix said.
But Kobach also might appear more measured than in the past because if he loses this year, “it really could be, possibly, the end,” said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka.
Patrick Miller, an associate University of Kansas professor of political science, wondered whether Kobach seems less provocative because the attorney general’s race can’t command the same kind of attention his 2018 and 2020 races did.
“All of that attention given to him in 2018 was an invitation for him to be very flamboyant as a politician,” Miller said. “Maybe losing had an effect on that and maybe he’s more cautious. Maybe, he’s more calculating.”
Kobach has promised to spend each breakfast thinking about potential lawsuits against the Democratic president’s administration and during one Topeka event urged the crowd to chant, “Sue Biden.”
The candidate himself goes back and forth on whether there’s a new Kobach. He says there is a little truth in the GOP buzz but some exaggeration, too.
“I’m still my old self in the sense that I stick to my guns,” Kobach said. “I don’t back down.”
____
Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Britains Finance Minister Fired After His Policies Shocked The Economy
Britain’s Finance Minister Fired After His Policies Shocked The Economy https://digitalarkansasnews.com/britains-finance-minister-fired-after-his-policies-shocked-the-economy/
LONDON — British Prime Minister Liz Truss was propelled into high office by her bold promises to supercharge the country’s flagging economy with big tax cuts for corporations, investors and high earners.
It is not going well. Her premiership and government are reeling, as markets — and members of her own party — wonder how she can simultaneously slash taxes and maintain social programs without deep borrowing.
On Friday, the architect of her growth plan, Kwasi Kwarteng, announced he had been asked to resign as chancellor of the exchequer, Britain’s title for the finance minster.
Kwarteng was fired after his policies caused the currency to tank and the central bank to step in to calm markets. Jeremy Hunt, a former cabinet minister, was appointed as the new chancellor.
In a letter posted on Twitter, Kwarteng wrote that Truss had asked him to quit. “You have asked me to stand aside as your Chancellor. I have accepted,” he wrote. “It is important now as we move forward to emphasise your government’s commitment to fiscal discipline.”
Kwarteng, a free-marketeer and zealous Brexiteer, lasted just a month in the top economic job. He flew home to London from Washington earlier on Friday, as British newspapers tracked his flight. He had been attending a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, his first appearance as chancellor at a major economic summit.
Truss is scheduled to give a news conference on Friday afternoon, during which she is expected to announce she will scrap parts of her unfunded package of tax cuts.
In her letter to Kwarteng, Truss wrote “I deeply respect the decision you have taken today.” This language struck many as slightly bizarre, since she asked him to resign.
It was just three weeks ago, accompanied by bold headlines, that the chancellor announced the government’s new “Growth Plan,” which would be propelled by the “biggest package of tax cuts in generations.”
Those proposed cuts are quickly being cut.
Last week, Kwarteng said the government would ax its plan to lower the top income-tax rates paid by high-earning Britons.
Well-to-do Brits pay a top rate of 45 percent on annual income over £150,000 ($168,000). Truss wanted to cut the top rate to 40 percent starting in April 2023.
Kwarteng argued that reducing the top rate, which was higher than countries like Norway, Italy and the United States, would “attract the best and the brightest to the U.K. workforce, helping businesses innovate and grow.”
There was a howl of protest — and Kwarteng caved. Truss may also announce on Friday whether she will reverse promises to cut taxes for corporations and for investors.
The calamity played out quickly.
A source at the prime minister’s office at Downing Street told the BBC on Friday that Truss thought the chancellor was “doing an excellent job” and that the two were in “lockstep.”
The chancellor had told reporters Thursday that he was “not going anywhere,” despite the market turbulence he conceded was caused in part by the government’s announcement of its fiscal plan.
Asked if he and his boss, the prime minister, would have their jobs in a month’s time, the chancellor replied, “Absolutely, 100 percent.”
Truss was creamed in the weekly prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, and then gave a disastrous performance later in the day in a private meeting with lawmakers serving on backbenches, some of whom gave briefings to journalists after that made it sound pretty dire.
One lawmaker told the Financial Times “the mood was honestly funereal, horrendous. I was shocked at how brutal it was.”
Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said in a briefing note on Friday that it was more likely than not that Truss would be ousted before the next election, which has to occur by January 2025 at the latest.
He said that a group of Conservative Party lawmakers were plotting to remove her from office by Christmas, with some floating the idea of a “moderate dream ticket” of Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, two aspirants in the last party leadership contest.
“Although some MPs say the plan to remove Truss would make the Conservatives look even more ridiculous than they are at the moment, a growing number believe it may be the only way to prevent a Labour landslide in 2024,” he wrote.
Under the current rules of the Conservative Party, there can’t be a further leadership contest for a year. But those rules could be changed.
The Bank of England on Friday was scheduled to end a highly unusual intervention that saw it buying government bonds with the aim of stabilizing the markets, which were spooked following the Sept. 23 new policy announcement. The bank was particularly worried about some pension funds.
Britain will soon have its fourth chancellor in under four months. Kwarteng lasted just 38 days in the job. The only chancellor to serve less time in the post, Iain Macleod, died of a heart attack after 30 days in 1970.
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Stocks Try For Another Rally As Big Banks Report Earnings | CNN Business
Stocks Try For Another Rally As Big Banks Report Earnings | CNN Business https://digitalarkansasnews.com/stocks-try-for-another-rally-as-big-banks-report-earnings-cnn-business/
Nightcap‘s” Jon Sarlin that homebuyers will still be facing steep housing costs and shoppers may need to cut down on their upcoming holiday shopping. For more, watch the full Nightcap episode here.” data-details=”” data-duration=”02:40″ data-editable=”settings” data-fave-thumbnails=”{“big”:{“uri”:”https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/221013142133-nightcap-clip-1-inflation-thumb-16×9.jpg?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill”},”small”:{“uri”:”https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/221013142133-nightcap-clip-1-inflation-thumb-16×9.jpg?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill”}}” data-featured-video=”true” data-headline=”Consumer prices surge and mortgage rates hit 20-year high” data-live=”” data-medium-env=”prod” data-show-ads=”true” data-show-name=”” data-show-url=”” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_410855e2154988b6364802d52cb6036b-h_0a43b085942bffa45185a25f36e1e8ff@published” data-video-id=”business/2022/10/13/nightcap-inflation-housing-fed-clip-orig-no.cnn” data-vr-video=””
Consumer prices surge and mortgage rates hit 20-year high
02:40 – Source: CNN
Stocks were up again after rising sharply Thursday.
The next test for the markets: Bank earnings. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley reported their quarterly finances Friday. It was a mixed bag.
And a pair of economic reports on retail sales and consumer sentiment gave investors insight into whether inflation and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are keeping Americans from spending.
A man walks past a Citigroup Citibank Park Avenue branch in New York, NY, January 13
(Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/AP)
Citigroup reported a 25% drop in year-over-year net income on Friday as the bank increased its loan loss reserves and activity in investment banking slumped.
“Banking was the business most adversely impacted by the macro environment with reduced deal flows and a lower appetite for M&A,” said Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser in the company’s statement, adding that “the backdrop for wealth management was difficult.”
Big banks have been slammed this year as the US faces a potential recession, which would lead to major loan losses and an accelerated slowdown in mergers and acquisitions.
Out of all the big bank stocks, Citi’s shares have tumbled the most – down 32% year-to-date.
There were some bright spots in the company’s third quarter report. The bank reported stronger-than-expected revenue, bringing in $18.51 billion in revenue versus the $18.25 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv, a 6% increase since last year.
Personal banking revenue soared 10% year over year to $4.33 billion.
But the bank reported just $631 million in investment banking revenue for the third quarter, a steep decline of more than 60% year over year.
Citigroup’s Fraser will speak about earnings live at 11 a.m. ET.
Anyone who’s watched “Sesame Street” probably knows the classic song about how one object in a group differs from the rest. “One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn’t belong.”
Well, Morgan Stanley (MS) was the one that didn’t belong Friday.
Shares of the investment bank fell 3% in early trading after the bank reported earnings and revenue that missed analysts’ forecasts. Meanwhile, shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) and US Bancorp (USB) were all higher after they each reported reasonably solid results.
So to quote another “Sesame Street” song, “it’s not easy being green” if you’re Morgan Stanley’s stock.
US stocks opened higher in the wake of a massive comeback Thursday that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average surge 1,500 points from peak to trough and the S&P 500 post its widest trading range since March 2020.
Investors also considered mixed third-quarter earnings results from big banks. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo stock soared after they beat revenue expectations. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, meanwhile, both announced profit misses.
The Dow gained 249 points, or 0.8%, on Friday morning.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9%.
The Nasdaq Composite was 1% higher.
A Wells Fargo bank branch in Washington, D.C., in July 2021.
(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/AP)
Wells Fargo CFO Mike Santomassimo said Friday that the bank is seeing “historically low delinquencies and high payment rates” from both consumers and business customers. But it doesn’t expect that to last.
“We are closely monitoring risks related to the continued impact of high inflation and increasing interest rates, as well as the broader geopolitical risks,” said Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf in the company’s earnings statement. “While we do expect to see continued increases in delinquencies and ultimately credit losses, the timing remains unclear.”
Santomassimo elaborated on the company’s outlook on a call with journalists Friday, as reported by Reuters. He said that the bank will continue to “right size” its mortgage lending business due to lower volumes, although he gave no indication of how many jobs might be at risk in that unit.
Wells Fargo set aside $784 million for loan losses in the quarter, which reduced its net income to $3.5 billion from $5.1 billion a year earlier. The company also took $2 billion in accruals primarily related to a variety of historical matters, including litigation, customer remediation, and regulatory issues. The fact that its income would have risen without the accruals helped lift its shares 3% in premarket trading.
A person shops in a Home Depot store on September 13 in Huntington Park, California.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Monthly retail sales data released Friday were unchanged from the previous month, after rising by a revised 0.4% in August. The report reflects how American consumers, who are battling decades-high inflation, have pulled back on their purchasing amid aggressive rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Economists had predicted a 0.2% monthly increase, according to estimates from Refinitiv.
On an annual basis, sales were up 8.2% from September 2021, the Census Bureau reported.
The report showed that consumers pulled back their spending last month on cars, furniture, electronics, building materials, sporting goods and gas stations.
The retail sales data is not adjusted for inflation, which in September not only continued to remain at high levels but also lodged itself into more areas of the economy. The Consumer Price Index released Thursday showed that prices increased 0.4% from August and were up 8.2% for the 12 months ended in September, outpacing wage gains and leaving many US shoppers to rely on credit cards even for essentials.
The typical American household spent $445 more a month in September to buy the same goods and services they purchased a year ago, according to Moody’s Analytics.
“Inflation is costly,” said Ryan Sweet, senior director at Moody’s.
An ‘open house’ flag is displayed outside a single family home on September 22 in Los Angeles, California.
(Allison Dinner/Getty Images)
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon made waves in a CNBC interview earlier this week when he made gloomy comments about the global economy and potential recession for the United States. But the bank’s chief financial officer isn’t too worried about the possibility of a major housing meltdown leading to another downturn.
During a conference call with reporters Friday morning following the bank’s earnings release, JPMorgan Chase CFO Jeremy Barnum said in response to a question from CNN Business that he is “not expecting a big crash” in housing along the lines of what happened during the Great Recession of the late 2000s.
The bank’s home lending revenue plunged 34% from a year ago, due primarily to the super spike in interest rates leading to a slowdown in demand for mortgages.
“This is not surprising given the dramatic change in mortgage rates,” he said, adding that in the “very recent past, we were celebrating fantastic results.”
In other words, the housing market is cyclical and the bank isn’t too concerned about the ebbs and flows. Barnum also noted that, unlike in 2008, lending standards have tightened. And the fact that real estate prices have surged so much in recent years means that existing homeowners have a healthy financial cushion.
Dimon alluded to this as well in response to another question about his recession worries.
“It’s clear that the US consumer is very strong and spending money,” he said. “Even if we go into a recession, we’re going in with a healthy consumer.”
Investment banking powerhouse Morgan Stanley was hurt by the massive market volatility in the third quarter. The E-Trade owner reported steep declines in earnings and revenue for the past three months, missing Wall Street’s forecasts.
Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) fell nearly 3% on the news. CEO James Gorman said in the earnings release that the bank was impacted by the “uncertain and difficult environment” and “challenging markets.”
Morgan Stanley, unlike rivals such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC), which also reported earnings Friday morning, has far less of a presence in consumer banking to fall back on during tumultuous times for the stock market.
But Morgan Stanley did get a boost from bond trading, thanks to surging Treasury yields following the Federal Reserve’s series of massive interest rate hikes.
A day after soaring stock futures are rising, buoyed by strong earnings from JPMorgan.
Dow futures were up 125 points or 0.5%.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%.
Nasdaq futures was 0.1% higher.
People walk along Park Avenue near a JPMorgan Chase bank branch in New York on January 13.
(Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/AP)
JPMorgan Chase reported a net profit of $9.7 billion, or $3.12 a share, in the third quarter. That was down 17% from a year ago...
Entergy Arkansas: Stay Safe With 'around The House' Maintenance Tips | Stuttgart Daily Leader
Entergy Arkansas: Stay Safe With 'around The House' Maintenance Tips | Stuttgart Daily Leader https://digitalarkansasnews.com/entergy-arkansas-stay-safe-with-around-the-house-maintenance-tips-stuttgart-daily-leader/
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – As the leaves turn and cooler weather approaches, experts agree now is the best time to perform improvements and check areas around your home that may need maintenance. Entergy Arkansas encourages customers to stay safe and consider following some safety tips when working inside and outside their home.
Starting with interior safety, it’s important to have a professional inspect and clean your furnace and fireplace to ensure both are within good standards. Fallen leaves, animal nests and other debris can cause the smoke from your fireplace to vent into your home rather than outside your home, which could cause a fire.
Your HVAC unit will work more efficiently when it’s well-maintained, so replace dirty air filters inside and remove debris from the unit outside.
As Daylight Saving Time comes to an end Nov. 6, now is a great time to check the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. All homes should contain a carbon monoxide detector to help identify the colorless and odorless gas that can cause serious illness or death.
Getting in the seasonal spirit may mean lighting a few scented candles but remember to never leave a burning candle unattended. A small sputter or an errant flame can cause a fire in an instant.
If you are using a space heater to stay warm, be sure to only use it when you are at home to monitor its activity. Space heaters consume more energy than other heating systems and are a fire hazard, so keep them at least three feet away from rugs, furniture and anything flammable.
When performing maintenance activities that require a ladder inside or out, be sure to wear proper footwear, position the ladder on a flat surface, and have someone nearby to spot you.
Keep in mind when cleaning up fallen leaves and broken limbs brought down by brisk autumn breezes to stay away from power lines, and always consult with a professional for trimming trees. If trimmings fall onto power lines, assume downed wires are energized and report them to 1-800-ENTERGY.
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Kelsey Lamb “Too Much History” Song Review https://digitalarkansasnews.com/kelsey-lamb-too-much-history-song-review/
Kelsey Lamb is no doubt an up-and-coming singer songwriter to keep your eye out for. Her last release was “Heartbreak Away” which was an inspiring love story released in August of 2022. She takes a deeper dive into what love stories can sometimes look like in her new single, “Too Much History”.
It’s hard to not be immediately drawn into this soulful and sad song with the first lyrics of the song being “It was probably bound to happen / and then one night it did / too many friends in common / askin’ where you been / and I thought it’d be harmless runnin’ into you / and damn you look better than I remember / but I guess you always do”. Pairing the lyrics with Lamb’s pure, but also soulful voice, creates an emotional song that most can likely relate to. It’s easy to hear the pain and emotion in her voice in the story that she tells through this song. It feels like the perfect song to listen to while the seasons change to fall and winter.
Lamb is no stranger to country music. Born and raised in Little Rock, AR, she has been performing since she was ten years old. Since moving to Nashville and stepping further into the music industry, Lamb has opened for Kenny Rogers, performed with Alan Thicke on the Kenny Rogers’ “The Toy Shoppe Tour” and with Thicke again at B.B. Kings in NYC in 2016. Not only is she a rising-star in the music industry, but Lamb has also been making a name for herself in movies. You can find her in Hallmark’s “Christmas in Homestead” and “Traces”. Songs have also been featured in movies, such as the single “Warning Sign” in the Lifetime Original Movie, “Bad Stepmother”.
Love can be complicated, messy, and, sometimes, sad. Lamb connects with her audience by sharing real and raw feelings that can come with loving someone. Somehow she manages to create the feel of understanding, inclusivity, and relatability in her songs while sharing a powerful story. Influenced by the likes of Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Thomas Rhett, and more, Lamb continues to share songs that tell her story and connect with her listeners.
Do you like going to concerts? You can get $20 OFF your first order at SeatGeek! Use promo code: THENASHNEWS at checkout.
To hear more of country music’s best new releases, head to our Playlists Page and follow The Nash New Releases playlist on Spotify. For the latest in country music news follow The Nash News on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, and don’t miss our brand new newsletter!
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Women’s apparel perfect for country music festivals, concerts and tailgates!
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Wisconsin Gov. Evers, Trump Pick Michels To Debate https://digitalarkansasnews.com/wisconsin-gov-evers-trump-pick-michels-to-debate/
SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press
Oct. 14, 2022Updated: Oct. 14, 2022 5 a.m.
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1of3FILE – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during an event attended by President Joe Biden at Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee on Sept. 5, 2022. Evers and Republican challenger Tim Michels, locked in a tight race with implications on the 2024 presidential race in the battleground state, were scheduled to meet Friday, Oct. 14 for their one and only debate. AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)Susan Walsh/APShow MoreShow Less
2of3FILE – Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels speaks as he appears with former President Donald Trump at a rally in Waukesha, Wis., on Aug. 5, 2022. Michels and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, locked in a tight race with implications on the 2024 presidential race in the battleground state, were scheduled to meet Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, for their one and only debate.Morry Gash/APShow MoreShow Less
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Republican challenger Tim Michels, locked in a tight race with implications on the 2024 presidential race in the battleground state, were scheduled to meet Friday for their one and only debate.
Evers has cast himself as the only block against a Republican-controlled Legislature. Michels, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, calls himself a political outsider as he largely self-finances his run.
Evers has tried to make the race a referendum on abortion rights, while Michels has largely focused on crime.
Michels, who co-owns the state’s largest construction firm, argues that Evers has failed to improve schools, control crime or open the state fast enough during the COVID-19 pandemic. Evers contends that democracy itself is on the line in the race and a Michels victory would result in massive changes most voters would oppose.
Recent polls have shown the race to be about even.
The winner will be in position to determine how elections will run in the 2024 presidential race. Republicans have pushed for a wide array of changes, all blocked by Evers, after Trump narrowly lost the state in 2020. They did not call for the changes after Trump won Wisconsin by a nearly identical margin in 2016.
Michels has said he would sign bills making it more difficult to vote absentee. He also wants to disband the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The hour-long debate i s sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. The election is Nov. 8.
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Post Politics Now: Warnock And Walker To Square Off In Highly Anticipated Debate In Georgia
Post Politics Now: Warnock And Walker To Square Off In Highly Anticipated Debate In Georgia https://digitalarkansasnews.com/post-politics-now-warnock-and-walker-to-square-off-in-highly-anticipated-debate-in-georgia/
Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker. (Photographer: Megan Varner/Getty)
Updated October 14, 2022 at 7:59 a.m. EDT|Published
October 14, 2022 at 6:59 a.m. EDT
Today, Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, the former football star, face off in one of the most anticipated debates in the midterm elections — a race that could tip the balance of party control in the U.S. Senate. The evening encounter in Savannah, Ga., is the latest in a string of debates in marquee Senate races, including one Thursday night in Wisconsin that quickly turned personal between Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is promising to respond Friday morning to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The panel voted Thursday to subpoena him. President Biden is in California, where he will hold an event focused on prescription drug prices.
Your daily dashboard
6:10 p.m. Eastern (3:10 p.m. Pacific): Biden delivers remarks on lowering costs for American families. Watch live here.
7:20 p.m. Eastern (4:20 p.m. Pacific): Biden travels to Portland, Ore. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters on board Air Force One. Listen live here.
10:10 p.m. Eastern (7:10 p.m. Pacific): Biden participates in a grass-roots volunteer event with the Oregon Democrats.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Noted: ‘There are no editors anymore,’ Biden says in critique of press
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President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) headlined a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Thursday night in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Among his comments to donors, according to our colleague Tyler Pager: a lament about the technological changes fracturing society and making it harder to discern what’s true and what isn’t.
“There are no editors anymore,” Biden said. “The ability of newspapers to have much impact is de minimis.”
Spotted at the fundraiser, per Tyler: DCCC Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), Ted Lieu (Calif.), Brad Sherman (Calif.) and Dina Titus (Nev.), plus Tom Ford “milling about outside.”
Analysis: Jan. 6 hearing shows Trump knew he lost, while claiming otherwise
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Former president Donald Trump’s communications director recounted popping into the Oval Office roughly a week after the 2020 election to find a morose Trump watching TV: “Can you believe I lost to this f—ing guy?” Trump lamented, referring to then-President-elect Joe Biden.
The Post’s Ashley Parker writes that the likely final hearing of the Jan. 6 panel painted a portrait of an American president who, with the help from a cabal of right-wing allies, embarked on a premeditated plan to refuse to cede power regardless of the election results and who — despite privately acknowledging that he’d lost to Biden — ultimately executed that plan to deadly effect on Jan. 6, 2021. Per Ashley:
The latest: Biden to sign executive order on drug prices during California swing
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President Biden will sign an executive order Friday, instructing the Department of Health and Human Services to explore actions it could take to lower prescription drug prices.
The order is part of an effort by Biden to highlight his administration’s efforts to strengthen Medicare and Social Security and reduce costs amid soaring inflation. During an ongoing visit to California, the president will also tout the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug costs for seniors.
On our radar: It’s debate night in Georgia
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The political world will focus on Savannah, Ga., on Friday night when Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) shares a stage with Republican challenger Herschel Walker for one of the most anticipated debates of the midterm election season.
It will be the first meeting of the two candidates since stories surfaced that Walker, who opposes abortions in all cases, allegedly paid for a woman to undergo the procedure in 2009 and subsequently pushed for the same woman to have another one two years later. The story was first reported by the Daily Beast.
On our radar: Trump says he’ll respond to Jan. 6 committee this morning
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The Jan. 6 committee unanimously voted to subpoena testimony from former president Donald Trump on Oct. 13. (Video: The Washington Post)
Former president Donald Trump is pledging to respond Friday morning to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
“I will be putting out my response to the Unselect Committee of political Hacks & Thugs tomorrow morning at 8:00. Thank you!” Trump said in a late-night posting Thursday on Truth Social, his social media network.
Earlier Thursday, the committee issued a subpoena seeking testimony and documents from Trump, a challenge with little historical precedent that members said was a necessary final act before the panel concludes its work.
Insight: The Senate debate in Wisconsin turns personal
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A debate Thursday in Wisconsin quickly turned to personal attacks between the two Senate candidates, with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) starting off the hour-long session by characterizing his Democratic opponent as offering “hollow left-wing rhetoric” and questioning whether he has accomplished anything at all.
Mandela Barnes, the Democratic nominee for Senate and Wisconsin’s first Black lieutenant governor, minimized Johnson’s success in the private sector.
Johnson’s “biggest achievement in business was … saying ‘I do.’ He married into his business,” Barnes said. (Johnson spent much of his career working at a company founded by his wife’s brother and eventually became the firm’s chief executive.)
Noted: Secret Service knew of Capitol threat more than a week before Jan. 6
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The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack presented new evidence on Oct. 13, showing the Secret Service was aware of threats. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
The Secret Service had warnings earlier than previously known that supporters of President Donald Trump were plotting an armed attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to records revealed in a congressional hearing Thursday.
The Post’s Carol D. Leonnig reports that Secret Service agents in charge of assessing the risks around the protests had been tracking online chats on pro-Trump websites and noted that rallygoers were vowing to bring firearms, target the Capitol for a siege and even kill Vice President Mike Pence. Per Carol:
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