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# Israel faces new calls for truce after killing of hostages raises alarm about its conduct in Gaza
By **WAFAA SHURAFA** and **SAMY MAGDY**
December 17, 2023. 7:21 PM EST
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**DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP)** - Israel's government faced calls for a cease-fire from some of its closest European allies on Sunday after a series of shootings, including the mistaken killing of three Israeli hostages, fueled global concerns about the conduct of the 10-week-old war in Gaza.
Israeli protesters are urging their government to renew negotiations with Gaza's Hamas rulers, whom Israel has vowed to destroy. Israel is also expected to face pressure to scale back major combat operations when U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visits Monday. Washington is expressing growing unease with civilian casualties even as it provides vital military and diplomatic support.
The war has flattened large parts of northern Gaza, killed thousands of civilians and driven most of the population to the southern part of the besieged territory, where many are in crowded shelters and tent camps. Some 1.9 million Palestinians - about 90% of Gaza's population - have fled their homes.
They survive off a trickle of humanitarian aid. Dozens of desperate Palestinians surrounded aid trucks after they drove in through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing some to stop before climbing aboard, pulling down boxes and carrying them off. Other trucks appeared to be guarded by masked people carrying sticks.
Israel said aid passed directly from Israel into Gaza for the first time Sunday, with 79 trucks entering from Kerem Shalom, where around 500 trucks entered daily before the war. Another 120 trucks entered via Rafah along with six trucks carrying fuel or cooking gas, said Wael Abu Omar, Palestinian Crossings Authority spokesman.
Aid workers say it's still far from enough. "You cannot deliver aid under a sky full of airstrikes," a spokesperson with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Juliette Touma, said on social media, while the agency estimated that more than 60% of Gaza's infrastructure had been destroyed in the war.
Telecom services in Gaza gradually resumed after a four-day communications blackout, the longest of several outages during the war that groups say complicate rescue and delivery efforts.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel "will continue to fight until the end," with the goal of eliminating Hamas, which triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel. Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people that day, mostly civilians, and captured scores of hostages.
Netanyahu has vowed to bring back the estimated 129 hostages still in captivity. Anger over the mistaken killing of hostages is likely to increase pressure on him to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more of the remaining captives for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel has been defensively striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson. The group has ramped up attacks against Israel, he added, killing civilians and soldiers and displacing more than 80,000 Israelis from their homes.
"Hezbollah - a proxy of Iran - is dragging Lebanon into an unnecessary war that would have devastating consequences for the people of Lebanon," Hagari said in a statement. "This is a war that they do not deserve."
Hagari said Israel will continue to protect its borders "until and unless a diplomatic solution is found and implemented."
## CALLS FOR A NEW CEASE-FIRE
In Israel on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called for an "immediate truce" aimed at releasing more hostages, getting larger amounts of aid into Gaza and moving toward "the beginning of a political solution."
France's Foreign Ministry earlier said an employee was killed in an Israeli strike on a home in Rafah on Wednesday. It condemned the strike, which it said killed several civilians, and demanded clarification from Israeli authorities.
The foreign ministers of the U.K. and Germany, meanwhile, called for a "sustainable" cease-fire, saying too many civilians have been killed.
"Israel will not win this war if its operations destroy the prospect of peaceful co-existence with Palestinians," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote in the U.K.'s Sunday Times.
The U.S. defense secretary is set to travel to Israel to continue discussions on a timetable for ending the war's most intense phase. Israeli and U.S. officials have spoken of a transition to more targeted strikes aimed at killing Hamas leaders and rescuing hostages, without saying when it would occur.
Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends, and that in exchange it will demand the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Hamas released over 100 of more than 240 hostages captured on Oct. 7 in exchange for the release of scores of Palestinian prisoners during a brief cease-fire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Israel has rescued one hostage.
The Israeli military said Sunday it had discovered a large tunnel in Gaza close to what was once a busy crossing into Israel, raising new questions about how Israeli surveillance missed such conspicuous attack preparations by Hamas.
## SHOOTINGS DRAW SCRUTINY
Military officials said Saturday that the three hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops had tried to signal that they posed no harm. It was Israel's first such acknowledgement of harming hostages in the war.
The hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas. An Israeli military official said the shootings were against the army's rules of engagement and were being investigated at the highest level.
Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields. But Palestinians and rights groups have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of recklessly endangering civilians and firing on those who do not threaten them, both in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, which has seen a surge of violence since the war began.
A shell struck the pediatric ward of a hospital in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza late Sunday, killing a girl, said Dr. Mohammed Abu Lihia, who works in the emergency department.
Footage shared by Gaza's Health Ministry showed a burst ceiling and wall in the Mubarak Hospital for Children and Maternity in the Nasser Hospital complex with bloodstains near children's cots and cribs on the third floor.
The doctor said he helped three others, two older adults and a child, escape the hospital. A videographer filming for The Associated Press said at least 5 people, including children, were wounded. The Israeli military didn't immediately comment.
Israel continues to strike positions across Khan Younis. Palestinians from the north fled there in the early weeks of the conflict.
Also Sunday, five people were killed and many injured after a reported Israeli airstrike hit near a U.N.-run school in Khan Younis where displaced Palestinians were sheltering. A cameraman with AP counted five bodies delivered to a hospital.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said two Christian women at a church compound in Gaza were killed by Israeli sniper fire.
Pope Francis called Sunday for peace, saying "unarmed civilians are being bombed and shot at, and this has even happened inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists but families, children and sick people with disabilities, nuns."
In discussions Saturday between the Israeli military and representatives of the church community, no one reported a strike on the church or civilians being wounded or killed, the military said. It said a review of its initial investigation had supported that.
The offensive has killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said Thursday in its last update before the communications blackout. It has said that thousands more casualties are buried under the rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but has said that most of those killed were women and children.
The plight of Palestinian civilians has gotten little attention inside Israel, where many are still deeply traumatized by the Oct. 7 attack and where support for the war remains strong.
Israel's military says 121 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza offensive. It says it has killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence. |
# Senate border security talks grind on as Trump invokes Nazi-era 'blood' rhetoric against immigrants
By **LISA MASCARO** and **STEPHEN GROVES**
December 17, 2023. 8:20 PM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Time slipping, White House and Senate negotiators struggled Sunday to reach a U.S. border security deal that would unlock President Joe Biden's request for billions of dollars worth of military aid for Ukraine and other national security needs before senators leave town for the holiday recess.
The Biden administration, which is becoming more deeply involved in the talks, is facing pressure from all sides over any deal. Negotiators insist they are making progress, but a hoped-for framework did not emerge. Republican leaders signaled that without bill text, an upcoming procedural would likely fail.
The talks come as Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner in 2024, delivered alarming anti-immigrant remarks about "blood" purity over the weekend, echoing Nazi slogans of World War II at a political rally.
"They're poisoning the blood of our country," Trump said about the record numbers of immigrants coming to the U.S. without immediate legal status.
Speaking in the early-voting state of New Hampshire, Trump, drew on words similar to Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kempf" as the former U.S. president berated Biden's team over the flow of migrants. "All over the world they're pouring into our country," Trump said.
Throughout the weekend, senators and top Biden officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have been working intently behind closed doors at the Capitol to strike a border deal, which Republicans in Congress are demanding in exchange for any help for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs. Mayorkas arrived for more talks late Sunday afternoon.
"Everyday we get closer, not farther away," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., as talks wrapped up in the evening.
Their holiday recess postponed, Murphy and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent, acknowledged the difficulty of drafting, and securing support, for deeply complicated legislation on an issue that has vexed Congress for years. Ahead of more talks Monday, it is becoming apparent any action is unlikely before year's end.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said senators don't want to be "jammed" by a last-minute compromise reached by negotiators.
"We're not anywhere close to a deal," Graham, whose staff has joined the talks, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Graham predicted the deliberations will go into next year. He was among 15 Republican senators who wrote to GOP leadership urging them to wait until the House returns Jan. 8 to discuss the issue.
Top GOP negotiator Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell also signaled in their own letter Sunday that talks still had a ways to go. Lankford said later that the January timeline was "realistic."
The Biden administration faces an increasingly difficult political situation as global migration is on a historic rise, and many migrants are fleeing persecution or leaving war-torn countries for the United States, with smugglers capitalizing on the situation.
The president is being berated daily by Republicans, led by Trump, as border crossings have risen to levels that make even some in Biden's own Democratic Party concerned.
But the Biden administration, in considering revival of Trump-like policies, is drawing outrage from Democrats and immigrant advocates who say the ideas would gut the U.S. asylum system and spark fears of deportations from immigrants already living in the U.S.
The White House's failure to fully engage Latino lawmakers in the talks until recently, or ensure a seat at the negotiating table, has led to a near revolt from leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
"It's unacceptable," said Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., chair of the Hispanic Caucus, on social media. "We represent border districts & immigrant communities that will be severely impacted by extreme changes to border policy."
Progressives in Congress are also warning the Biden administration off any severe policies that would bar immigrants a legal path to enter the country. "No backroom deal on the border without the involvement of the House, the House Hispanic Caucus, Latino senators is going to pass," said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Fox News.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, along with Mayorkas, heard from leading Latino lawmakers during a conference call with the Hispanic Caucus on Saturday afternoon.
The senators and the White House appear to be focused on ways to limit the numbers of migrants who are eligible for asylum at the border, primarily by toughening the requirements to qualify for their cases to go forward.
The talks have also focused removing some migrants who have already been living in the U.S. without full legal status, and on ways to temporarily close the U.S.-Mexico border to some crossings if they hit a certain metric, or threshold. Arrests of migrants have topped 10,000 on some days.
There has also been discussion about limiting existing programs that have allowed groups of arrivals from certain countries to temporarily enter the U.S. while they await proceedings about their claims. Decades ago, those programs welcomed Vietnamese arrivals and others, and have since been opened to Ukrainians, Afghans and a group that includes Cubans, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Haitians.
Meanwhile, Biden's massive $110 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other security needs is hanging in the balance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a dramatic, if disappointing, visit to Washington last week to plead with Congress and the White House for access to U.S. weaponry as his country fights against Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion.
Many, but not all, Republicans have soured on helping Ukraine fight Russia, taking their cues from Trump. The former president praised Putin, quoting the Russian leader during Saturday's rally while slamming the multiple investigations against him as politically motivated - including the federal indictment against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election that resulted in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
Ukraine's ambassador to the United States said Sunday she believes in "Christmas miracles" and won't give up hope.
Of Biden's package, some $61 billion would go toward Ukraine, about half of the money for the U.S. Defense Department to buy and replenish tanks, artillery and other weaponry sent to the war effort.
"All the eyes are on Congress now," the envoy, Oksana Markarova, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"We can just only pray and hope that there will be resolve there, and that the deal that they will be able to reach will allow the fast decisions also on the support to Ukraine," she said.
The House already left for the holiday recess, but Republican Speaker Mike Johnson is being kept aware of the negotiations in the Senate. |
# A gloomy mood hangs over Ukraine's soldiers as war with Russia grinds on
By **SAMYA KULLAB**
December 18, 2023. 12:03 AM EST
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**KYIV, Ukraine (AP)** - A gloomy mood hangs over Ukraine's soldiers nearly two years after Russia invaded their country.
Despite a disappointing counteroffensive this summer and signs of wavering financial support from allies, Ukrainian soldiers say they remain fiercely determined to win. But as winter approaches, they worry that Russia is better equipped for battle and are frustrated about being on the defensive again in a grueling war. Some doubt the judgment of their leaders.
Discontent among Ukrainian soldiers - once extremely rare and expressed only in private - is now more common and out in the open.
In the southern city of Kherson, where Ukraine is staging attacks against well-armed Russian troops on the other side of the Dnieper River, soldiers are asking why these difficult amphibious operations were not launched months ago in warmer weather.
"I don't understand," said a commander of the 11th National Guard Brigade's anti-drone unit who is known on the battlefield as Boxer. "Now it's harder and colder."
"It's not just my feeling, many units share it," said Boxer, who spoke on condition that only his battlefield name would be used.
Russia, which illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, controls about one-fifth of Ukraine. After 22 months of war the two countries are essentially in a stalemate along the 1,000 kilometer-long (620 mile-long) front line.
Russian forces aim to push deeper into eastern Ukraine this winter, analysts say, so that Russian President Vladimir Putin can cite this momentum as he campaigns for reelection, an outcome that is all but certain. Emboldened by recent gains on the battlefield, Putin said last week that he remains fully committed to the war and criticized Ukraine for "sacrificing" troops to demonstrate success to Western sponsors.
In the United States, which has already spent some $111 billion defending Ukraine, President Joe Biden is advocating for an additional $50 billion in aid. But Republican lawmakers are balking at more support - just as some lawmakers in Europe are on the fence about providing another $50 billion to Ukraine, after failing to deliver on promised ammunition.
"The reason the Ukrainians are gloomy is that, they now sense, not only have they not done well this year ... they know that the Russians' game is improving," said Richard Barrons, a former British army general. "They see what's happening in Congress, and they see what happened in the EU."
Ukraine may be on the defensive this winter, but its military leaders say they have no intention of letting up the fight.
"If we won't have a single bullet, we will kill them with shovels," said Serhii, a commander in the 59th Brigade that is active in the eastern city of Avdiivka and who spoke on condition that only his first name be used. "Surely, everyone is tired of war, physically and mentally. But imagine if we stop - what happens next?"
## BLEAK MOOD
The fatigue and frustration on the battlefield are mirrored in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, where disagreements among leaders have recently spilled out into the open.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month publicly disputed the assessment by Ukraine's military chief, Valery Zaluzhny, that the war had reached a stalemate. And the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has repeatedly lashed out at Zelenskyy, saying he holds too much power.
Disquiet in the halls of power appears to have filtered down to the military's rank and file, who increasingly have misgivings about inefficiency and faulty decision-making within the bureaucracy they depend on to keep them well-armed for the fight.
In the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, where momentum has slowed since the summertime counteroffensive, drones have become a crucial tool of war. They enable soldiers to keep an eye on - and hold back - Russian forces while they conduct dangerous and painstaking operations to clear minefields and consolidate territorial gains. But fighters there complain that the military has been too slow in training drone operators.
It took seven months to obtain the paperwork needed from multiple government agencies to train 75 men, said Konstantin Denisov, a Ukrainian soldier.
"We wasted time for nothing," he said. Commanders elsewhere complain of not enough troops, or delays in getting drones repaired, disrupting combat missions.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov insists Ukraine has enough soldiers and weaponry to power the next phase of the fight.
"We are capable and able to protect our people and we will be doing it," he told the Associated Press. "We have a plan and we are sticking to that plan."
## DEFENSIVE SHIFT
The limited momentum Ukraine's forces had during their summertime counteroffensive has slowed - from the forests in the northeast, to the urban centers in the east, to the slushy farmland in the south.
With Russia hoping to take the initiative this winter, Ukraine is mainly focused on standing its ground, according to interviews with a half dozen military commanders along the vast front line.
Despite wet, muddy ground that makes it harder to move tanks and other heavy weaponry around, the Russian army has bolstered its forces in the eastern Donetsk region, where it has recently stepped up offensive maneuvers.
"The main goal for the winter is to lose as few people as possible," said Parker, the Ukrainian commander of a mechanized battalion near Bakhmut who asked to go by his battlefield name to speak freely. Bakhmut is a city in eastern Ukraine that Russian forces took after months of heavy fighting.
"We have to be clear," Parker said. "It's not possible in the winter to liberate Donetsk or Bakhmut, because they have too many (fighters)."
Analysts say Ukraine may even be forced to cede patches of previously reclaimed territory this winter, though Russia is likely to pay a heavy price.
"If Russia keeps on attacking, the most likely outcome is that they'll make some very marginal territorial gains, but suffer enormous casualties in doing so," said Ben Barry, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
## DRONES AND MEN
Some Ukrainian commanders across the front line say they lack the fighters and firepower needed to keep Russia's seemingly endless waves of infantrymen at arm's length as they fortify defenses to protect soldiers. That places ever more importance on attack drones - a weapon, they say, that Russia is currently better equipped with.
Indeed, while Ukrainian soldiers have proven to be resourceful and innovative on the battlefield, Moscow has dramatically scaled up its defense industry in the past year, manufacturing armored vehicles and artillery rounds at a pace Ukraine cannot match.
"Yes they're ahead of us in terms of supply," said Boxer, the commander in Kherson, who credited Russian drones with having longer range and more advanced software. "It allows the drone to go up 2,000 meters, avoid jammers," he said, whereas Ukrainian drones "can fly only 500 meters."
This is poses a problem for his troops, who have been limited in their ability to strike Russian targets on the other side of the Dnieper River. To eventually deploy heavy weaponry, such as tanks, Ukraine first needs to push Russian forces back to erect pontoon bridges. Until they get more drones, this won't be possible, said Boxer.
"We wait for weapons we were supposed to receive months ago," he said.
To sustain the fight, Ukraine will also have to mobilize more men.
In the northeastern cities of Kupiansk and Lyman, Russian forces have deployed a large force with the goal of recapturing lost territory.
"They are simply weakening our positions and strongholds, injuring our soldiers, thereby forcing them to leave the battlefield," said Dolphin, a commander in the northeast who would only be quoted using his battlefield name.
Dolphin says he has been unable to sufficiently re-staff. "I can say for my unit, we are prepared 60%," he said. |
# Serbia's populists claim a sweeping victory in the country's parliamentary election
By **DUSAN STOJANOVIC**
December 17, 2023. 6:17 PM EST
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**BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)** - Serbia's governing populists claimed a sweeping victory Sunday in the country's parliamentary election, which was marred by reports of major irregularities both during a tense campaign and on voting day.
Acting Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that with half the ballots counted, the governing Serbian Progressive Party's projections showed it won 47% percent of the vote and expected to hold around 130 seats in the 250-member assembly. The main opposition Serbia Against Violence group won around 23%, Brnabic said.
The main contest in the parliamentary and local elections was between President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressives and the centrist coalition that sought to undermine the populists who have ruled the troubled Balkan state since 2012.
The Serbia Against Violence opposition coalition was expected to mount its biggest challenge for the city council in Belgrade, with analysts saying an opposition victory in the capital would seriously dent Vucic's hardline rule in the country.
Vucic, however, said his party was also leading in the vote in the capital, though he added that post-election coalition negotiations would determine who governs in Belgrade.
"This is an absolute victory which makes me extremely happy," a jubilant Vucic said at his party's headquarters in Belgrade. "We know what we have achieved in the previous period and how tough a period lies ahead."
The main opposition group disputed the election projections from the governing party, claiming there was vote-rigging and saying it would dispute the vote count "by all democratic means."
"People who do not live in Belgrade were brought in buses, vans and cars to vote as if they were citizens of Belgrade," opposition leader Miroslav Aleksic said, also charging that 40,000 identity documents were issued for people who do not live in the capital.
"We will use all available democratic means against the vote rigging in Belgrade and Serbia," he said. "What happened today cannot be something we can accept as the result of a democratic and fair election."
Turnout one hour before the polls closed was around 55%, about the same as during the last election in 2022 when Vucic scored a landslide victory. First official results are expected Monday.
Irregularities were reported by election monitors and independent media. One report alleged ethnic Serbs from neighboring Bosnia gathered to vote at a sports hall in Belgrade that wasn't an official polling station. Another report said a monitoring team was attacked and their car was bashed with baseball bats in a town in northern Serbia.
Observers from the independent Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability expressed "the highest concern" over cases of the organized transfer of illegal voters from other countries to Belgrade, the group said in a statement.
"The concentration of buses, minivans and cars was observed on several spots in Belgrade, transferring voters to polling stations across the city to vote," the group said.
CRTA also reported cases of voters being given money to vote for the governing party and the presence of unauthorized people at polling stations.
Authorities disputed that there was any wrongdoing. Brnabic, the premier, called the accusations "lies that are intended to spread panic."
Several right-wing groups, including pro-Russia parties and Socialists allied with Vucic, ran candidates for parliament and local councils in around 60 cities and towns as well as regional authorities in the northern Vojvodina province.
The election didn't include the presidency, but governing authorities backed by dominant pro-government media ran the campaign as a referendum on Vucic.
Although he wasn't formally on the ballot, the Serbian president campaigned relentlessly for the SNS, which appeared on the ballot under the name "Aleksandar Vucic - Serbia must not stop!"
Serbia Against Violence, a pro-European Union bloc, includes parties that were behind months of street protests this year triggered by two back-to-back mass shootings in May.
The Serbian president toured the country and attended his party's rallies, promising new roads, hospitals, one-off cash bonuses and higher salaries and pensions. Vucic's image was on billboards all over the country, though he had stepped down as SNS party leader.
Serbia, a Balkan country that has maintained warm relations with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, has been a candidate for European Union membership since 2014, but has faced allegations of steadily eroding democratic freedoms and rules over the past years.
Both Vucic and the SNS denied allegations of campaign abuse and attempted vote-rigging as well as charges that Vucic as president violated the constitution by campaigning for one party.
Vucic called the Dec. 17 early vote only a year and a half after a previous parliamentary and presidential election, although his party holds a comfortable majority in parliament.
Analysts said Vucic is seeking to consolidate power after the two back-to-back shootings triggered months of anti-government protests, and as high inflation and rampant corruption fuel public discontent. Vucic has also faced criticism over his handling of a crisis in Kosovo, a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008, a move that Belgrade doesn't recognize.
His supporters view Vucic as the only leader who can maintain stability and lead the country into a better future.
"I think it's time that Serbia goes forward with full steam," retiree Lazar Mitrovic said after he voted. "That means that it should focus on its youth, on young people, education and of course discipline." |
# Chilean voters reject conservative constitution, after defeating leftist charter last year
By **MARÍA VERZA** and **PATRICIA LUNA**
December 17, 2023. 10:47 PM EST
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**SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)** - Voters rejected on Sunday a proposed conservative constitution to replace Chile's dictatorship-era charter, showing both the deep division in the South American country and the inability of political sectors to address people's demands for change made four years ago.
With nearly all votes counted late Sunday, about 55.8% had voted "no" to the new charter, with about 44.2% in favor.
The vote came more than a year after Chileans resoundingly rejected a proposed constitution written by a left-leaning convention and one that many characterized as one of the world's most progressive charters.
The new document, largely written by conservative councilors, was more conservative than the one it had sought to replace, because it would have deepened free-market principles, reduced state intervention and might have limited some women's rights.
The process to write a new constitution began after 2019 street protests, when thousands of people complained about inequality in one of Latin America's most politically stable and economically strongest countries.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Sunday night that his government won't try a third attempt to change the constitution, saying there are other priorities.
He admitted he wasn't able to "channel the hopes of having a new constitution written for everyone." On the contrary, he said, after two referendums, "the country became polarized, it was divided."
Javier Macaya, the leader of the conservative Independent Democratic Union party, recognized the defeat and urged the government not to raise the issue again.
"From a perspective of coherence and respect for democracy, we recognize the results," Macaya said.
Now, the constitution adopted during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet - which was amended over the years - will remain in effect.
That is what former President Michelle Bachelet had hoped for when she voted early Sunday.
"I prefer something bad to something worse," said Bachelet, who campaigned to reject the latest charter proposal.
One of the most controversial articles in the draft said that "the law protects the life of the unborn," with a slight change in wording from the current document that some warned could make abortion fully illegal. Chilean law currently allows abortions for three reasons: rape, an unviable fetus and risk to the life of the mother.
Another article in the proposed document that sparked controversy said prisoners who suffer a terminal illness and aren't deemed to be a danger to society at large can be granted house arrest. Members of the left-wing opposition said the measure could end up benefiting those who have been convicted of crimes against humanity during the Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
The charter would have characterized Chile as a social and democratic state that "promotes the progressive development of social rights" through state and private institutions. It was opposed by many local leaders who said it would scrap a tax on houses that are primary residences, a vital source of state revenue that is paid by the wealthiest.
It also would have established new law enforcement institutions and said irregular immigrants should be expelled "as soon as possible."
César Campos, a 70-year-old taxi driver, turned out early to support the new constitution. He viewed it as a vote against the left, whose ideas largely dominated the first, rejected draft.
"Boric wants everybody to be equal," Campos said of the president. "Why should anyone who studies or works their entire life have to share that?"
In 2022, 62% of voters rejected the proposed constitution that would have characterized Chile as a plurinational state, established autonomous Indigenous territories and prioritized the environment and gender parity.
In Santiago, the capital, talk before Sunday's vote often turned to security rather than the proposed charter. State statistics show an uptick in robberies and other violent crimes, a development that tends to benefit conservative forces.
"This whole process has been a waste of government money ... it's a joke," said government employee Johanna Anríquez, who voted against the new constitution, calling "it is very extremist."
"Let's keep the one we have and, please, let's get on with the work of providing public safety," Anríquez said.
There appeared to be little enthusiasm for Sunday's vote. Most citizens are exhausted after 10 elections of various types in less than 2½ years, but voting is compulsory in Chile.
Malen Riveros, 19, a law student at the University of Chile, said the fervor that was ignited by the 2019 street protests has been lost and for her, the choice on Sunday was between the bad or the worse.
"The hopes were lost with the passing of time," Riveros said. "People have already forgotten why we went into the streets." |
# Russia and Ukraine launch numerous drone attacks targeting a Russian air base and Black Sea coast
By **KARL RITTER**
December 17, 2023. 12:22 PM EST
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**KYIV, Ukraine (AP)** - Russia and Ukraine reportedly launched mass drone attacks at each other's territories for a second straight day Sunday, one of which apparently targeted a Russian military airport.
At least 35 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over three regions in southwestern Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a post on the messaging app Telegram.
A Russian air base hosting bomber aircraft used in the war in Ukraine was among the targets, according to a Russian Telegram channel critical of the Kremlin. The channel posted short videos of drones flying over low-rise housing in what it said was the Russian town of Morozovsk, whose air base is home to Russia's 559th Bomber Aviation Regiment.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of Russia's Rostov province, separately reported "mass drone strikes" near Morozovsk and another town farther west, but didn't mention the air base. Golubev said most the drones were shot down and and there were no casualties. He didn't comment on damage.
As of Sunday evening, Kyiv didn't formally acknowledge or claim responsibility for the drone attacks. A major Ukrainian newspaper, Ukrainska Pravda, cited an anonymous source in the security services as saying that Ukraine's army and intelligence services successfully struck the Morozovsk air base, inflicting "significant damage" to military equipment. It wasn't immediately possible to verify this claim.
Also Sunday morning, Ukraine's air force said it shot down 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched overnight by Russian troops in southern and western Ukraine, as well as one X-59 cruise missile launched from the country's occupied south.
A civilian was killed overnight near Odesa, a key port on Ukraine's southern Black Sea coast, after the remnants of a destroyed drone fell on his house, Ukraine's military said.
Stepped-up drone attacks over the past month come as both sides are keen to show they aren't deadlocked as the war approaches the two-year mark. Neither side has gained much ground despite a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in June.
Russian shelling on Sunday also killed an 81-year-old man in central Kherson, the southern Ukrainian city that was recaptured by Kyiv's forces last fall, according to the head of its municipal military administration.
Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged fire outside Terebreno, a Russian village just kilometers (miles) from the Ukrainian border, according to Telegram posts by Gov. Vasily Gladkov. He did not provide details, but insisted Russian authorities had the situation "under control."
According to Baza, a Telegram news channel set up by Russian journalists critical of the Kremlin, fighting between Russian troops and a "Ukrainian diversionary group" began around 11 a.m. near Terebreno, home to some 200 people, forcing residents to hide in shelters.
Ukraine's military security agency, the GUR, said on Sunday evening that Russia-based "armed opponents of the Kremlin regime" were responsible for what it called "armed clashes" near Terebreno. The online statement didn't say whether the GUR or other Ukrainian bodies had any involvement in or prior knowledge of the fighting.
Hours later, a 69-year-old woman was reported killed in a Ukrainian border village in the northern Sumy region, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Terebreno. According to the Ukrainian regional prosecutor's office, the woman died after a Russian shell flew into her home. It wasn't immediately clear whether her death was linked to the reported clashes.
Late on Sunday afternoon, a Ukrainian border force official reported in a video statement that multiple Russian "sabotage and reconnaissance" operatives had crossed into Ukraine's northern Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Andriy Demchenko said that Ukrainian border guards and territorial defense units succeeded in pushing them back into Russia.
While cross-border raids on Russian territory from Ukraine are rare, the Russian military said in May that it had killed more than 70 attackers, describing them as Ukrainian military saboteurs, in a 24-hour battle. Kyiv portrayed the fighting as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.
Ukraine's foreign minister, meanwhile, welcomed what he called a sea change in Germany's approach toward Kyiv's European Union membership bid.
In an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper, Dmytro Kuleba said that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has won "sincere and well-deserved admiration" among Ukrainians for his role in the EU's recent decision to open membership talks for Kyiv.
Ukraine has long faced strong opposition in its attempts to join the 27-member bloc from Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has repeatedly spoken of his desire to maintain close ties with Russia.
Scholz said that at an EU summit last week he proposed that Orbán leave the room to enable the summit to launch accession talks with Ukraine, something that the Hungarian leader agreed to do.
"What German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did at the summit to remove the threatened Hungarian veto will go down in history as an act of German leadership in the interests of Europe. The chancellor has this week won a lot of sincere and well-deserved admiration in the hearts of Ukrainians," Kuleba told Bild.
He also voiced hope that Scholz' actions would mark a "broader and irreversible shift" in Berlin's approach towards EU negotiations with Kyiv.
"When I campaigned in Berlin last May to grant Ukraine EU candidate status, my appeals to Germany to take the lead in this process mostly fell on deaf ears. 'Germany doesn't want to lead,' experts and politicians in Berlin told me. I am glad that German political decisions have changed since then," Kuleba said.
The Ukrainian government has long cast EU and NATO membership as key foreign policy goals, and the EU's decision to start accelerated negotiations gave Kyiv a major boost - although it could be years before it's able to join. NATO leaders, meanwhile, haven't set any clear timeline so far for Kyiv's membership bid, even as Moscow's all-out invasion of Ukraine led another of Russia's neighbors, Finland, to be accepted into the military alliance in April.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to build up military units near the Russian-Finnish border. The Kremlin leader declared, without giving details, that Helsinki's NATO accession would create "problems" for the Nordic country.
"There were no problems (between Russia and Finland). Now, there will be. Because we will create (a new) military district and concentrate certain military units there," he told Russian state television on Sunday morning. |
# Ukrainian drone video provides a grim look at casualties as Russian troops advance toward Avdiivka
By **EVGENIY MALOLETKA**
December 17, 2023. 4:38 AM EST
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**KYIV, Ukraine (AP)** - As Russian forces press forward with an attempt to capture the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, The Associated Press obtained aerial footage that gives an indication of their staggering losses.
A Ukrainian military drone unit near Stepove, a village just north of Avdiivka, where some of the most intense battles have taken place, shot the video this month.
It's an apocalyptic scene: In two separate clips, the bodies of about 150 soldiers - most wearing Russian uniforms - lie scattered along tree lines where they sought cover. The village itself has been reduced to rubble. Rows of trees that used to separate farm fields are burned and disfigured. The fields are pocked by artillery shells and grenades dropped from drones. The drone unit said it's possible that some of the dead were Ukrainians.
The footage was provided to the AP by Ukraine's BUAR unit of the 110th Mechanized Brigade, involved in the fighting in the area. The unit said that the footage was shot on Dec. 6 over two separate treelines between Stepove and nearby railroad tracks and that many of the bodies had been left there for weeks.
The AP verified the location by comparing the video with maps and other drone footage of the same area shot six days later by the 47th Mechanized Brigade.
Russian forces launched an offensive in Avdiivka in October. Though they have made some incremental gains, Western analysts say the push has resulted in thousands of casualties.
Russia launched Europe's biggest war since WWII, invading Ukraine in February 2022. |
# Russia's ruling party backs Putin's reelection bid while a pro-peace candidate clears first hurdle
December 17, 2023. 11:47 AM EST
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**MOSCOW (AP)** - Delegates from Russia's ruling party unanimously backed President Vladimir Putin 's bid for reelection at a party conference in Moscow on Sunday, state agencies reported, just a day after the Kremlin leader's supporters formally nominated him to run in the 2024 presidential election as an independent.
A little-known Russian presidential hopeful who calls for peace in Ukraine also inched closer towards formally registering as a candidate, securing a nomination from a group of more than 500 supporters in the Russian capital.
Dmitry Medvedev, United Russia's chairman and a former Russian president and prime minister, called on fellow party members to "mobilize all activists and supporters" in support of Putin before the vote, scheduled for March 15-17, according to reports by Russian state agencies.
In a speech at the conference, Medvedev referred to Putin as "our candidate," and asserted that his reelection for a fifth term as head of state "should be absolutely logical, legitimate and absolutely indisputable."
"We must mobilize all activists, all supporters in order to prevent any disruptions during the election campaign, stop any attempts to influence the course of the campaign from the outside, arrange provocations, disseminate false, harmful information or violate public order," Medvedev said.
Analysts have described Putin's reelection as all but assured, given the tight control he has established over Russia's political system during his 24 years in power. Prominent critics who could challenge him on the ballot are either in jail or living abroad, and most independent media have been banned within Russia.
On Saturday, a group including top officials from the United Russia party, prominent Russian actors, singers, athletes and other public figures formally nominated Putin to run as an independent.
The nomination by a group of at least 500 supporters is mandatory under Russian election law for those not running on a party ticket. Independent candidates also need to gather signatures from at least 300,000 supporters in 40 or more Russian regions.
Hours before United Russia delegates announced their endorsement of Putin on Sunday, a former journalist and mom-of-three from a small town in western Russia cleared the initial hurdle, according to Telegram updates by Sota, a Russian news publication covering the opposition, protests and human rights issues. Yekaterina Duntsova's candidacy was formally backed by a group of 521 supporters at a meeting in Moscow, Sota reported.
A former local legislator who calls for peace in Ukraine and the release of imprisoned Kremlin critics, Duntsova has spoken of being "afraid" following the launch of her bid for the presidency, and fears that Russian authorities might break up the supporters' meeting set to advance it.
According to Sota, electricity briefly went out at the venue where Duntsova's supporters were gathered, and building security initially refused to let some supporters into the venue, but the meeting was otherwise unimpeded.
The Kremlin leader has used different election tactics over the years. He ran as an independent in 2018 and his campaign gathered signatures. In 2012, he ran as a United Russia nominee instead.
At least one party - A Just Russia, which has 27 seats in the 450-seat State Duma - was willing to nominate Putin as its candidate this year. But its leader, Sergei Mironov, was quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti on Saturday as saying that Putin will be running as an independent and will be gathering signatures.
Under constitutional reforms he orchestrated, the 71-year-old Putin is eligible to seek two more six-year terms after his current term expires next year, potentially allowing him to remain in power until 2036. |
# Pope Francis' 87th birthday closes out a big year of efforts to reform the church, cement his legacy
By **NICOLE WINFIELD**
December 17, 2023. 12:35 PM EST
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**ROME (AP)** - Pope Francis turned 87 on Sunday, closing out a year that saw big milestones in his efforts to reform the Catholic Church as well as health scares that raise questions about his future as pope.
Francis celebrated his birthday with cake during a festive audience with children Sunday morning, and there were "Happy Birthday" banners in St. Peter's Square during his weekly noon blessing.
One early present came Saturday, when a Vatican tribunal handed down a mix of guilty verdicts and acquittals in a complicated trial that Francis had supported as evidence of his financial reforms. The biggest-name defendant, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to 5½ years in prison.
"It was quite a year for a pope who's obviously thinking about legacy and finishing up," said Christopher Bellitto, professor of history at Kean University in New Jersey.
Only seven popes are known to have been older than Francis at the time of their deaths, according to the online resource Catholic Hierarchy. Francis is fast closing in on one of them, Pope Gregory XII, perhaps best known for having been the most recent pope to resign until Pope Benedict XVI stepped down in 2013.
Gregory was 88½ when he voluntarily stepped down in 1415 in a bid to end the Western Schism, in which there were three rival claimants to the papacy. Francis has said he, too, would consider resigning if his health made him unable to carry on, but more recently he said the job of pope is for life.
Twice this year, however, Francis' less-than-robust respiratory health forced him to cancel big events: In spring, a bout of acute bronchitis landed him in the hospital for three days and made him miss the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum.
More recently, a new case of bronchitis forced him to cancel a planned trip to Dubai to participate in the U.N. climate conference. Francis had part of one lung removed as a young man and seems to be increasingly prone to respiratory problems that make breathing difficult and speaking even more so.
In between those events, he was hospitalized again in June for nine days for surgeons to repair an abdominal hernia and remove scar tissue from previous intestinal surgeries.
The hospitalizations have raised questions about Francis' ability to continue the globetrotting rigors of the modern-day papacy, which is increasingly dependent on the person of the pope, said David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University.
"It's a great improvement from the time when the pope was just a king in his throne surrounded by a royal court," he said. "But with such expectations can any pope govern into his 80s and even 90s and be effective?"
While Francis' health scares punctuated his 87th year, perhaps the biggest milestone of all, and one that is likely to shape the remainder of Francis' pontificate, was Benedict's Dec. 31 death.
Benedict largely stuck to his promise to live "hidden to the world" and allow Francis to govern unimpeded. But his death after 10 years of retirement removed the shadow of a more conservative pope looking over Francis' shoulder from the other side of the Vatican gardens.
His death has seemingly freed up Francis to accelerate his reform agenda and crack down on his right-wing opponents.
For starters, Francis presided over the first stage of his legacy-making meeting on the future of the Catholic Church. The synod aims to make the church more inclusive and reflective of and responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics. The first session ended with "urgent" calls to include women in decision-making roles in the church. The next phase is scheduled for October 2024.
"The effort to change the rigidly top-down nature of governance in Catholicism is the main reform project of the Francis papacy and its success or failure will likely be his chief legacy," said Fordham's Gibson. He said the jury was still out on whether it would succeed, since the transition period is "messy and absolutely exhausting."
"Will the sense of exhaustion overcome the inspiration that invigorates so many?" he asked.
Alongside the synod, Francis this year appointed an unusually progressive theologian as the Vatican's chief doctrine watchdog, and he has already begun setting a very new tone for the church's teachings that could have big effects on the church going forward.
Cardinal Victor Fernandez has issued decrees on everything from how to care for cremated ashes (in a defined and sacred place) to membership in Masonic lodges (forbidden) and whether transgender people can be godparents (they can).
At the same time, Francis has begun hitting back at his conservative critics, for whom Benedict was a point of reference for the past 10 years.
Francis exiled Benedict's longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, to his native Germany after a series of infractions culminating with a tell-all memoir published in the days after Benedict's death that was highly critical of Francis.
Then, he forcibly removed the bishop of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland, whose social media posts were highly critical of the pope. And most recently, he cut off the former Vatican high court judge, Cardinal Raymond Burke, after he warned that Francis' reform-minded synod risked dividing the faithful.
Natalia Imperatori-Lee, professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, said the pushback against Burke was less of a "smackdown" and would have little tangible effect, since he has plenty of wealthy backers in the U.S.
But she said it was part of an important year that had as its high point the synod, the conclusion of which will drive Francis at least for another year.
"I think the Pope is thinking about his legacy in a way he hasn't done before. Perhaps that has to do with Benedict's death, maybe it's more a matter of his own mortality becoming more real given his recent illnesses," she said. "The synod is a huge part of that legacy, obviously, and you can see his investment in having it succeed. I'm willing to bet that seeing part 2 of the synod to fruition is a huge motivator for him right now." |
# European diplomacy steps up calls for Gaza cease-fire
December 17, 2023. 9:48 AM EST
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**JERUSALEM (AP)** - Some of Israel's closest European allies pressed for a cease-fire in the war with Hamas on Sunday, underscoring growing international unease with the devastating impact of the conflict on Gaza's civilian population.
The concerted push by top European diplomats comes before a visit to Israel on Monday by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is also expected to put pressure on Israeli leaders to end the war's most intense phase and transition to a more targeted strategy against Hamas.
Western allies of Israel have increasingly expressed concern with civilian casualties and the mass displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians - nearly 85% of Gaza's population - though the U.S. has continued to provide vital military and diplomatic support to its close ally.
In a joint article in British newspaper The Sunday Times, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock called for a cease-fire and said "too many civilians have been killed. The Israeli government should do more to discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians, ensuring its campaign targets Hamas leaders and operatives."
"Israel will not win this war if its operations destroy the prospect of peaceful coexistence with Palestinians," they said. They said the cease-fire should take place as soon as possible, but also said it must be "sustainable."
At a news conference with her Israeli counterpart in Tel Aviv on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna also pushed for a cease-fire.
"An immediate truce is necessary, allowing progress to be made toward a cease-fire to obtain the release of the hostages, to allow access and the delivery of more humanitarian aid to the suffering civilian population of Gaza, and in fact to move toward a humanitarian cease-fire and the beginning of a political solution," she said.
Britain has previously called for "humanitarian pauses" in the conflict but stopped short of urging an immediate cease-fire. It abstained last week when the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly voted for a cease-fire.
France and Germany both supported the call for a cease-fire at the U.N., and French President Emmanuel Macron said at the beginning of November that Israel couldn't fight terrorism by killing innocent people.
The increase in diplomatic pressure comes as domestic calls are also likely to grow for renewed negotiations with Hamas, following the killing of three Israeli hostages by the military on Friday.
The air and ground war has flattened vast swaths of northern Gaza and driven most of the population to the southern part of the besieged territory, where many are packed into crowded shelters and tent camps. The offensive has killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets in all parts of Gaza. It has vowed to continue operations until it dismantles Hamas, which triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel has also vowed to return the estimated 129 hostages still held in Gaza.
A group of European lawmakers also called for a cease-fire in Gaza following their trip to the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt over the weekend to see how European aid is helping Palestinians in Gaza. The four are centrist members of the European Parliament from Sweden, France, and Ireland.
Abir Al Sahlani of Sweden that said a cease-fire is urgently needed to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
"We found out that no matter how much we are going to send, it doesn't matter, because there is no cease-fire and there is no security as long as there are bombs - Israeli bombs falling on the Palestinian people," Al Sahlani said.
"The only way is political pressure on both sides," she added, urging international players "to pressure, first and foremost, the (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government and (his) Likud (party) and his right-wing government to stop the bombing of civilians and respect and follow international humanitarian law." |
# Finland seeks jailing, probe of Russian man wanted in Ukraine over alleged war crimes in 2014-2015
December 17, 2023. 12:21 PM EST
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**HELSINKI (AP)** - Finnish police on Sunday sought a court order to imprison a Russian man who had been living under an alias in the Nordic country and is accused of committing war crimes against wounded or surrendered soldiers in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.
Yan Petrovsky, who had been living in Finland under the name Voislav Torden, is already in Finnish custody but authorities are asking that he be formally jailed while they conduct an investigation into his alleged crimes against Ukrainian soldiers. A court ruling on his imprisonment is expected on Monday.
Finland's Supreme Court has ruled that Petrovsky cannot be extradited to Ukraine, where he faces an arrest warrant, due to the risk of inhumane prison conditions there. Sunday's decision indicates Finnish authorities plan to investigate and possibly try the Russian in Finland, which has signed treaties allowing it to try international crimes.
Petrovsky is currently on the European Union's sanctions list against Russia for allegedly being a founding member of the far-right group Rusich that is suspected of terrorism crimes in Ukraine and is connected with Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, the Finnish news agency STT reported.
Petrovsky, who earlier resided in Norway, was taken into custody by Finnish authorities after he was caught at Helsinki Airport in July shortly before he was fly to Nice, France together with his family.
Media reports said he managed to enter Finland despite a EU-wide entry ban with the help of a new identity and his wife's student status in the Nordic country.
The National Bureau of Investigation - a unit of the Finnish police - provided the imprisonment request for Petrovsky, aged 36, to the Helsinki District Court on Sunday, STT said.
Citing his Finnish lawyer, STT said Petrovsky has denied all war crimes charges against him.
Finland's National Prosecution Authority on Friday said Petrovsky is suspected of war crimes "committed against wounded or surrendered Ukrainian soldiers during the armed conflict in Ukraine" in 2014-2015 before the start of Moscow's ongoing assault on Ukraine in February 2022.
"The crimes will be investigated by Finnish authorities, because the suspect cannot be extradited to Ukraine, and the case, as an international crime, falls under the jurisdiction of Finland," the Finnish prosecutors said in a statement. |
# A candidate for a far-right party is elected as the mayor of an eastern German town
December 17, 2023. 3:27 PM EST
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**BERLIN (AP)** - A candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany was elected Sunday as the mayor of the eastern town of Pirna, marking another milestone for the party.
Official results showed that Tim Lochner - who isn't a member of Alternative for Germany, or AfD, but ran on its ticket - won 38.5% of the vote in a three-way runoff. Candidates for the center-right Christian Democratic Union, Germany's main opposition party, and the conservative Free Voters took 31.4% and 30.1%, respectively.
Lochner's win in Pirna, which has about 40,000 inhabitants and is located between Saxony's state capital, Dresden, and the Czech border, marks the first time that an AfD candidate has been elected as an "Oberbuergermeister," the mayor of a significantly sized town or city.
AfD's first mayor anywhere in Germany was elected in August in the municipality of Raguhn-Jessnitz, in the neighboring eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. That came after the party's first head of a county administration, Robert Sesselmann, was elected in June in Sonneberg county, in another neighboring state, Thuringia.
The successes come before state elections next September in Saxony, Thuringia and a third eastern state, Brandenburg, in which AfD is hoping to emerge as the strongest party for the first time.
Recent national polls have shown the party in second place at 20% or more as discontent with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party government is running high. While it is strongest in the formerly communist east, it also performed well in regional elections in October in the western states of Hesse and Bavaria.
Pirna is located in a constituency that has elected AfD candidates in Germany's last two national elections. |
# UK parliamentarian admits lying about lucrative pandemic contracts but says she's done nothing wrong
By **JILL LAWLESS**
December 17, 2023. 8:36 AM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - A member of Britain's House of Lords has acknowledged that she repeatedly lied about her links to a company that was awarded lucrative government contracts to supply protective masks and gowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
Underwear tycoon Michelle Mone said that she had made an "error" in denying connections to the company PPE Medpro, and regretted threatening to sue journalists who alleged she had ties to the firm. Her husband, Doug Barrowman, has acknowledged he led the consortium that owns the company.
"I did make an error in saying to the press that I wasn't involved," Mone said in a BBC interview broadcast Sunday. "Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, and I regret and I'm sorry for not saying straight out, 'Yes, I am involved.'"
Mone admitted that she is a beneficiary of her husband's financial trusts, which hold about 60 million pounds ($76 million) in profits from the deal.
But she argued that the couple were being made "scapegoats" in a wider scandal about U.K. government spending during the pandemic.
"We've done one thing, which was lie to the press to say we weren't involved," she said, adding: "I can't see what we've done wrong."
The case has come to symbolize the hundreds of millions of pounds wasted through hastily awarded contracts for protective equipment. The U.K. government has come under heavy criticism for its so-called VIP lanes during the pandemic - where preferential treatment for public contracts was given to companies recommended by politicians.
Mone, founder of the Ultimo lingerie firm, was appointed to Parliament's unelected upper house in 2015 by then Prime Minister David Cameron, who is now the U.K. foreign minister. A year ago, she said that she was taking a leave of absence from Parliament to "clear her name" over the scandal.
She repeatedly denied reports that she used her political connections to recommend PPE Medpro to senior government officials. The newly established firm won contracts worth more than 200 million pounds ($250 million) during the height of the first COVID-19 wave in 2020.
Millions of surgical gowns that it supplied to U.K. hospitals were never used, after officials decided they weren't fit for use, and the government has since issued breach of contract proceedings. The National Crime Agency also is investigating allegations of fraud and bribery.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden defended the so-called VIP lanes - reserved for referrals from lawmakers and senior officials - and insisted there had been "no favors or special treatment" for government cronies.
"With any large allocation of government funds for large-scale procurement, there are going to be issues that arise subsequently," he told the BBC.
"You can see there is civil litigation happening, you can see there is a criminal investigation happening. So, if there is fraud, the government will crack down." |
# Ex-Jesuit's religious community in Slovenia ordered to dissolve in one year over widespread abuse
December 17, 2023. 7:37 AM EST
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**ROME (AP)** - The Vatican has decided to shut down a Slovenian-based female religious community founded by a controversial ex-Jesuit artist accused by some women of spiritual, psychological and sexual abuses.
The archdiocese of Ljubljana, Slovenia said in a statement Friday that the Loyola Community would have one year to implement the Oct.20 decree ordering its dissolution. The reason given was because of "serious problems concerning the exercise of authority and the way of living together."
The dissolution of the community was the latest chapter in the saga of the Rev. Marko Rupnik, a once-famous Jesuit artist and preacher whose mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the world.
He had founded the Loyola Community in the 1980s with a nun. But recently, former members of the community came forward to say he had spiritually, sexually and psychologically abused them. In 2020, he was declared excommunicated by the Vatican for committing one of the gravest crimes in the church's canon law; using the confessional to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity.
Pope Francis recently reopened a canonical investigation into their claims, reversing the Vatican's previous decision to shelve the case because the statute of limitations had expired. Earlier this year, the Jesuits kicked him out of the order because he refused to enter into a process of reparations with the victims. |
# Church of England blesses same-sex couples for the first time, but they still can't wed in church
By **JILL LAWLESS**
December 17, 2023. 9:35 AM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - Church of England priests offered officially sanctioned blessings of same-sex partnerships for the first time on Sunday, though a ban on church weddings for gay couples remains in place amid deep divisions within global Anglicanism over marriage and sexuality.
In one of the first ceremonies, the Rev. Catherine Bond and the Rev. Jane Pearce had their union blessed at St John the Baptist church, in Felixstowe, eastern England, where both are associate priests.
The couple knelt in front of Canon Andrew Dotchin, who held their heads as he gave "thanks for Catherine and Jane, to the love and friendship they share, and their commitment to one another as they come before you on this day."
The church's national assembly voted in February to allow clergy to bless the unions of same-sex couples who have had civil weddings or partnerships. The words used for the blessings, known as prayers of love and faith, were approved by the church's House of Bishops on Tuesday and used for the first time on Sunday.
The compromise was struck following five years of discussions about the church's position on sexuality. Church leaders offered an apology for the church's failure to welcome LGBTQ people, but also endorsed the doctrine that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Clergy won't be required to perform same-sex blessings if they disagree with them.
The blessings can be used in regular church services. The church's governing body has also drawn up a plan for separate "services of prayer and dedication" for same-sex couples that would resemble weddings, but it has not yet been formally approved.
Public opinion surveys consistently show that a majority of people in England support same-sex marriage, which has been legal since 2013. The church didn't alter its teaching on marriage when the law changed.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said he won't personally bless any same-sex couples because it's his job to unify the world's 85 million Anglicans. Welby is the spiritual leader of both the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion of which it is a member.
Several Anglican bishops from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific said after the February decision that they no longer recognize Welby as their leader. |
# Over 60 people have drowned in the capsizing of a migrant vessel off Libya, the UN says
By **SAMY MAGDY**
December 17, 2023. 7:38 AM EST
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**CAIRO (AP)** - A boat carrying dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe capsized off the coast of Libya, leaving more than 60 people dead, including women and children, the U.N. migration agency said.
The shipwreck, which took place overnight between Thursday and Friday, was the latest tragedy in this part of the Mediterranean Sea, a key but dangerous route for migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Thousands have died, according to officials.
The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration said in a statement late Saturday that the boat was carrying 86 migrants when strong waves swamped it off the town of Zuwara on Libya's western coast and that 61 migrants drowned, according to survivors.
"The central Mediterranean continues to be one of the world's most dangerous migration routes," the agency wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The European Union's border agency said in a statement Sunday that its plane located the partially deflated rubber boat Thursday evening in Libya's search and rescue zone.
"The people were in severe danger because of adverse weather conditions, with waves reaching heights of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet)," the agency, known as Frontex, said.
Alarm Phone - a hotline for migrants in distress - said in a tweet that some migrants onboard reached out to the volunteer group who in turn alerted authorities including the Libyan coastguard, "who stated that they would not search for them."
A spokesman for the Libyan coast guard was not immediately available for comment.
Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, even though the North African nation has plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
More than 2,250 people died on the central European route this year, according to Flavio Di Giacomo, an IOM spokesperson.
It's "a dramatic figure which demonstrates that unfortunately not enough is being done to save lives at sea," Di Giacomo wrote on X.
According to the IOM's missing migrants project, at least 940 migrants were reported dead and 1,248 missing off Libya between Jan. 1 and Nov. 18.
The project, which tracks migration movements, said about 14,900 migrants, including over 1,000 women and more than 530 children, were intercepted and returned to Libya this year.
In 2022, the project reported 529 dead and 848 missing off Libya. Over 24,600 were intercepted and returned to Libya.
Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the country's lengthy borders, which it shares with six nations. The migrants are crowded onto ill-equipped vessels, including rubber boats, and set off on risky sea voyages.
Those who are intercepted and returned to Libya are held in government-run detention centers rife with abuses, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture - practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to U.N.-commissioned investigators.
The abuse often accompanies attempts to extort money from the families of the imprisoned migrants before allowing them to leave Libya on traffickers' boats to Europe. |
# The jungle between Colombia and Panama becomes a highway for migrants from around the world
By **CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN**
December 17, 2023. 9:22 AM EST
**MEXICO CITY (AP)** - Once nearly impenetrable for migrants heading north from Latin America, the jungle between Colombia and Panama this year became a speedy but still treacherous highway for hundreds of thousands of people from around the world.
Driven by economic crises, government repression and violence, migrants from China to Haiti decided to risk three days of deep mud, rushing rivers and bandits. Enterprising locals offered guides and porters, set up campsites and sold supplies to migrants, using color-coded wristbands to track who had paid for what.
Enabled by social media and Colombian organized crime, more than 506,000 migrants - nearly two-thirds Venezuelans - had crossed the Darien jungle by mid-December, double the 248,000 who set a record the previous year. Before last year, the record was barely 30,000 in 2016.
Dana Graber Ladek, the Mexico chief for the United Nation's International Organization for Migration, said migration flows through the region this year were "historic numbers that we have never seen."
It wasn't only in Latin America.
The number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean or the Atlantic on small boats to reach Europe this year has surged. More than 250,000 irregular arrivals were registered in 2023, according to the European Commission.
A significant increase from recent years, the number remains well below levels seen in the 2015 refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people landed in Europe, most fleeing wars in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. Still, the rise has fed anti-migrant sentiment and laid the groundwork for tougher legislation.
Earlier this month, the British government announced tough new immigration rules aimed at reducing the number of people able to move to the U.K. each year by hundreds of thousands. Authorized immigration to the U.K. set a record in 2022 with nearly 750,000.
A week later, French opposition lawmakers rejected an immigration bill from President Emmanuel Macron without even debating it. It had been intended to make it easier for France to expel foreigners considered undesirable. Far-right politicians alleged the bill would have increased the number of migrants coming to the country, while migrant advocates said it threatened the rights of asylum-seekers.
In Washington, the debate has shifted from efforts early in the year to open new legal pathways largely toward measures to keep migrants out as Republicans try to take advantage of the Biden administration's push for more aid to Ukraine to tighten the U.S. southern border.
The U.S. started the year opening limited spaces to Venezuelans - as well as Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians - in January to enter legally for two years with a sponsor, while expelling those who didn't qualify to Mexico. Their numbers dropped somewhat for a time before climbing again with renewed vigor.
Venezuelan Alexander Mercado had only been back in his country for a month after losing his job in Peru before he and his partner decided to set off for the United States with their infant son.
Venezuela's minimum wage was the equivalent of about $4 a month then, while 2.2 pounds (a kilogram) of beef was about $5, said Angelis Flores, his 28-year-old wife.
"Imagine how someone with a salary of $4 a month survives," she said.
Mercado, 27, and Flores were already on their way when in September the U.S. announced it was granting temporary legal status to more than 470,000 Venezuelans already in the country. Weeks later, the Biden administration said it was resuming deportation flights to the South American nation.
Mercado and Flores hiked the well-trod trail through the jungle, managing to push through in three days. Flores and their son, in particular, got very sick. She believes they were infected by the contaminated water they drank along the way.
"There was a body in the middle of river and the 'zamuros', those black birds, were eating it and picking it apart ... all of that was running in the river," she said.
For Mercado and Flores, the journey accelerated once they left the jungle. In October, Panama and Costa Rica announced a deal to speed migrants across their countries. Panama bused migrants to a center in Costa Rica where they were held until they could buy a bus ticket to Nicaragua.
Nicaragua also seemed to opt for speeding migrants through its territory. Mercado said they crossed on buses in a day.
After discovering that Nicaragua had lax visa requirements, Cubans and Haitians poured into Nicaragua on charter flights, purchasing roundtrip tickets they never intended. Citizens of African nations made circuitous series of connecting flights through Africa, Europe and Latin America to arrive in Managua to start travelling overland toward the United States, avoiding the Darien.
In Honduras, Mercado and Flores were given a pass from authorities allowing them five days to transit the country.
Adam Isacson, an analyst tracking migration at the Washington Office on Latin America, said that Panama, Costa Rica and Honduras grant migrants legal status while they're transiting the countries, which have limited resources, and by letting migrants pass legally the countries make them less vulnerable to extortion from authorities and smugglers.
Then there are Guatemala and Mexico, which Isacson called the "we're-going-to-make-a-show-of-blocking-you countries" attempting to score points with the U.S. government.
For many that has meant spending money to hire smugglers to cross Guatemala and Mexico, or exposing themselves to repeated extortion attempts.
Mercado didn't hire a smuggler and paid the price. It was "very difficult to get through Guatemala," he said. "The police kept taking money."
But that was just a taste of what was to come.
Standing outside a Mexico City shelter with their son on a recent afternoon, Flores recounted all of the countries they had traversed.
"But they don't rob you as much, extort you as much, send you back like when you arrive here to Mexico," she said. "Here the real nightmare starts, because as soon as you enter they start taking a lot of your money."
Mexico's immigration system was thrown into chaos on March 27, when migrants held in a detention center in the border city Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, set mattresses on fire inside their cell in apparent protest. The highly flammable foam mattresses filled the cell with thick smoke in an instant. Guards did not open the cell and 40 migrants died.
The immigration agency's director was among several officials charged with crimes ranging from negligence to homicide. The agency closed 33 of its smaller detention centers while it conducted a review.
Unable to detain many migrants, Mexico instead circulated them around the country, using brief, repeat detentions, each an opportunity for extortion, said Gretchen Kuhner, director of IMUMI, a nongovernmental legal services organization. Advocates called it the "politica de desgaste" or wearing down policy.
Mercado and Flores made it all the way to Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, where they were detained, held for a night in an immigration facility in the border city of Reynosa and then flown the next morning 650 miles (1046 kilometers) south to Villahermosa.
There they were released, but without their cell phones, shoelaces and money. Mercado had to wait for his brother to send $100 so they could start trying to make their way back to Mexico City through an indirect route that required them to travel by truck, motorbike and even horse.
In late November, they had just made it back to Mexico City again. This time Mercado was unequivocal: They would not leave Mexico City until the U.S. government gave them an appointment to request asylum at a border port of entry.
"It is really hard to make it back here again," he said. "If they manage to send me back again I don't know what I would do." |
# Teenager Alex Batty returns to Britain after being missing for 6 years and then turning up in France
By **JILL LAWLESS**
December 16, 2023. 5:26 PM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - British teenager Alex Batty flew back to the U.K. on Saturday, six years after he left home on what was meant to be a two-week family vacation in Spain.
Batty never returned from that holiday to his grandmother and guardian in Oldham, near Manchester. Her frantic appeals found no trace of him - until he turned up this week, walking along a road in southern France in the middle of the night.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle of Greater Manchester Police said Batty had arrived in England on a flight from Toulouse.
He said police "are yet to fully establish the circumstances surrounding his disappearance" and whether there should be a criminal investigation.
Now, 17, Alex told French officials he had been living a nomadic lifestyle in Spain, Morocco and France with his mother and grandfather as part of a "spiritual community." He said the family moved from place to place, grew their own food, meditated and contemplated reincarnation and other esoteric subjects.
When his mother said she wanted to move the family to Finland, Alex decided to leave, French prosecutor Antoine Leroy told reporters on Friday.
He was spotted by a delivery driver walking alone in the rain and dark with a flashlight, a rucksack and his skateboard. The driver, Fabien Accidini, offered him a lift, and Alex told him about his life and how he had walked for four days, traveling by night, through the remote and rugged Pyrenees.
Accidini said the boy told him "that he had been kidnapped by his mother" years ago. He added "that he'd been in France for the past two years in a spiritual community that was a bit strange with his mother who is also a bit strange."
"He'd had enough. He said, 'I am 17. I need a future.' He didn't see a future for him there."
Alex's mother Melanie Batty is wanted by British police in connection with the boy's disappearance. French officials say she may be in Finland, and Alex's grandfather, David Batty, is believed to have died about six months ago.
The tale has generated intense interest in Britain, with a photo of a blond, 11-year-old Alex splashed across newspapers and news websites. The teenager's grandmother, Susan Caruana, appealed for the family to be given time and space.
"I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found safe and well," she said in a statement issued through British police.
"The main thing is that he's safe, after what would be an overwhelming experience for anyone, not least a child. I would ask that our family are given privacy as we welcome Alex back, so we can make this process as comforting as possible."
Boyle, the British police officer, said detectives would be speaking to Alex "at a pace that feels comfortable to him."
"No matter what, we understand that this may be an overwhelming process," he said. "He may now be six years older than when he went missing, but he is still a young person." |
# British man pleads not guilty in alleged $99 million wine fraud conspiracy
December 16, 2023. 4:31 PM EST
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NEW YORK (AP) - A British man pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom Saturday in connection with an alleged $99 million, Ponzi-like fraud involving high-priced fine wine and duped investors.
Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited Friday to New York from Morocco, where he was arrested in 2022 after using a bogus Zimbabwean passport to enter that country, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace's office said.
Burton was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court on Saturday and pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. He is detained without bail pending his next court hearing on Jan. 22.
"These are all allegations, and we will defend them vigorously," Burton's lawyer, John Wallenstein, said. "We're going to wait for the discovery and examine the evidence very carefully."
Prosecutors said Burton and another British man, James Wellesley, 56, ran a company called Bordeaux Cellars, which they said brokered loans between investors and wealthy wine collectors that were secured by their wine collections. They solicited $99 million in investments from residents of New York and other areas from 2017 to 2019, telling them they would profit from interest on the loans, authorities said.
But prosecutors alleged the operation was a scam. They said the wealthy wine collectors did not exist, no loans were made, and Bordeaux Cellars did not have custody of the wine securing the loans. Instead, officials said, Burton and Wellesley used loan money provided by investors for themselves and to make fraudulent interest payments to other investors.
"With the successful extradition of Burton to the Eastern District of New York, he will now taste justice for the fine wines scheme alleged in the indictment," Peace said in a statement. "This prosecution sends a message to all perpetrators of global fraud that you can run from law enforcement, but not forever."
Wellesley is in the United Kingdom facing extradition proceedings, officials said. It was not immediately clear if he has a lawyer who could respond to the allegations. |
# Author receives German prize in scaled-down format after comparing Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos
December 16, 2023. 4:22 PM EST
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**BERLIN (AP)** - The Russian-American writer Masha Gessen received a German literary prize Saturday in a ceremony that was delayed and scaled down in reaction to an article comparing Gaza to Nazi German ghettos.
The comparison in a recent New Yorker article was viewed as controversial in Germany, where government authorities strongly support Israel as a form of remorse and responsibility after Adolf Hitler's Germany murdered up to 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
Gessen, who was born Jewish in the Soviet Union, is critical of Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
Reaction to the article comes as German society grapples with the fallout from the Israel-Hamas war, with both pro-Palestinian protests and pro-Israel demonstrations taking place in past weeks. German leaders have repeatedly stressed their support for the country's Jews and for Israel as they have denounced antisemitic incidents.
Gessen was originally due to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought on Friday in the city hall of Bremen, in northwest Germany, but the sponsoring organization, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Senate of the city of Bremen withdrew from the ceremony.
It took place instead in a different location Saturday with about 50 guests crowded into a small event room and with police security, the German news agency dpa reported.
In Gessen's article, titled "In the Shadow of the Holocaust," the author explores German Holocaust memory, arguing that Germany today stifles free and open debate on Israel.
Gessen also is critical of Israel's relationship with Palestinians, writing that Gaza is "like a Jewish ghetto in an Eastern European country occupied by Nazi Germany."
"The ghetto is being liquidated," the article added.
The ghettos in German-occupied countries during World War II were open-air prisons where Jews were killed, starved and died from diseases. Those who didn't perish there were rounded up and transported to death camps where they were murdered, a process called "liquidation."
The Böll Foundation, affiliated with Germany's Green party, called the comparison "unacceptable." A jury decided in the summer to award Gessen, an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the foundation said it wasn't canceling the award itself.
Gessen was not available for comment, a New Yorker spokesperson said, but the writer defended the article in an interview with Politico.
"I think it is possible to be very upset about that comparison," Gessen told Politico. "I also think that in this circumstance, it is morally necessary and politically necessary to make this very, very upsetting comparison."
The award is to honor people who contribute to public political thought in the tradition of Hannah Arendt, the German-born American political theorist who explored totalitarianism. |
# In pivotal moment, Notre Dame Cathedral spire gets golden rooster weathervane, a symbol of a phoenix
By **THOMAS ADAMSON**
December 16, 2023. 1:28 PM EST
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**PARIS (AP)** - Notre Dame Cathedral got its rooster back Saturday, in a pivotal moment for the Paris landmark's restoration.
The installation by a crane of a new golden rooster, reimagined as a dramatic phoenix with licking, flamed feathers, goes beyond being just a weathervane atop the cathedral spire. It symbolizes resilience amid destruction after the devastating April 2019 fire - as restoration officials also revealed an anti-fire misting system is being kitted out under the cathedral's roof.
Chief architect Philippe Villeneuve, who designed this new rooster, stated that the original rooster's survival signified a ray of light in the catastrophe.
"That there was hope, that not everything was lost. The beauty of the (old) battered rooster... expressed the cry of the cathedral suffering in flames," Villeneuve said. He described the new work of art, approximately half a meter long and gleaming in the December sun behind Notre Dame Cathedral, as his "phoenix."
Villeneuve elaborated on the new rooster's significance, saying: "Since (the fire) we have worked on this rooster (the) successor, which sees the flame carried to the top of the cathedral as it was before, more than 96 meters from the ground... It is a fire of resurrection."
In lighthearted comments, the architect said that the process of design was so intense he might have to speak to his "therapist" about it.
Before ascending to its perch, the rooster - a French emblem of vigilance and Christ's resurrection - was blessed by Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich in a square behind the monument. The rooster - or "coq" in French - is a emotive national emblem for the French because of the word's semantics - the Latin gallus meaning Gaul and gallus simultaneously meaning rooster.
Ulrich placed sacred relics in a hole inside the rooster's breast, including fragments of Christ's Crown of Thorns and remains of St. Denis and St. Genevieve, infusing the sculpture with religious importance.
The Crown of Thorns, regarded as Notre Dame's most sacred relic, was among the treasures quickly removed after the fire broke out. Brought to Paris by King Louis IX in the 13th century, it is purported to have been pressed onto Christ's head during the crucifixion. A sealed tube was also placed in the sculpture containing a list the names of nearly 2,000 individuals who contributed to the cathedral's reconstruction, underscoring the collective effort behind the works.
Amid the rooster benediction ceremony, Notre Dame's new restoration chief, Philippe Jost, also detailed pioneering measures taken to safeguard the iconic cathedral against future fires - in rare comments to the press.
"We have deployed a range of fire protection devices, some of which are very innovative in a cathedral, including a misting system in the attics, where the oak frame and in the spire are located," Jost said. "And this is a first for a cathedral in France."
French President Emmanuel Macron, who last week visited the site to mark a one-year countdown to its re-opening, announced that the original rooster will be displayed in a new museum at the Hôtel-Dieu. This move, along with plans to invite Pope Francis for the cathedral's reopening next year, highlights Notre Dame's significance in French history and culture.
The rooster's installation, crowning a spire reconstructed from Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's 19th-century design, is a poignant reminder of its medieval origins as a symbol of hope and faith.
Its longstanding association with the French nation since the Renaissance further adds to its historical and cultural significance, marking a new chapter of renewal and hope for Notre Dame and the French people. |
# Russia and Ukraine exchange drone attacks after European Union funding stalled
By **KARL RITTER** and **ELISE MORTON**
December 16, 2023. 1:56 PM EST
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**KYIV, Ukraine (AP)** - Russia and Ukraine each reported dozens of attempted drone attacks in the past day, just hours after Hungary vetoed 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) of European Union funding to Ukraine.
Ukraine's air force said Saturday that Ukrainian air defense had shot down 30 out of 31 drones launched overnight against 11 regions of the country.
Russia also said Friday evening that it had thwarted a series of Ukrainian drone attacks.
Russian anti-aircraft units destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones over the Crimean Peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal, and has used it as a staging and supply point during the war.
Earlier, Russia's Defense Ministry said that six drones had been shot down in the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.
In Ukraine's partially occupied southern Kherson region, the Russia-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, reported on Telegram that Russian anti-aircraft units had downed at least 15 aerial targets near the town of Henichesk. Saldo said later Saturday that a Ukrainian missile attack on a village in the Russia-held part of the region had killed two people.
Meanwhile, shelling wounded two people in Ukrainian-held parts of the Kherson region, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said Saturday.
Stepped-up drone attacks over the past month come as both sides are keen to show they aren't deadlocked as the war approaches the two-year mark. Neither side has gained much ground despite a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in June, and analysts predict the war will be a long one.
On Friday, EU leaders sought to paper over their inability to boost Ukraine's coffers with a promised 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) over the next four years, saying the funds will likely arrive next month after some more haggling between the bloc's other 26 leaders and the longtime holdout, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Instead, they wanted Ukraine to revel in getting the nod to start membership talks that could mark a sea change in its fortunes - although the process could last well over a decade and be strewn with obstacles placed by any single member state.
Also on Saturday, Russia returned three Ukrainian children to their families as part of a deal brokered by Qatar, according to the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, and Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
Lubinets voiced hope last week that a coalition of countries formed to facilitate the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia - the National Coalition of Countries for the Return of Ukrainian Children - will be able to come up with a faster mechanism to repatriate them. More than 19,000 children are still believed to be in Russia or in occupied regions of Ukraine. |
# Cambodia welcomes the Metropolitan Museum of Art's plan to return looted antiquities
By **MAYSOON KHAN** and **SOPHENG CHEANG**
December 16, 2023. 12:55 AM EST
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**PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)** - Cambodia has welcomed the announcement that New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art will return more than a dozen pieces of ancient artwork to Cambodia and Thailand that were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquities trafficking network out of Southeast Asia.
This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the United States and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval.
Fourteen Khmer sculptures will be returned to Cambodia and two will be returned to Thailand, the Manhattan museum announced Friday, though no specific timeline was given.
"We appreciate this first step in the right direction," said a statement issued by Cambodia's Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. "We look forward to further returns and acknowledgements of the truth regarding our lost national treasures, taken from Cambodia in the time of war and genocide."
Cambodia suffered from war and the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and 1980s, causing disorder that opened the opportunity for its archaeological treasures to be looted.
The repatriation of the ancient pieces was linked to well-known art dealer Douglas Latchford, who was indicted in 2019 for allegedly orchestrating a multiyear scheme to sell looted Cambodian antiquities on the international art market. Latchford, who died the following year, had denied any involvement in smuggling.
The museum initially cooperated with the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan and the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations on the return of 13 sculptures tied to Latchford before determining there were three more that should be repatriated.
"As demonstrated with today's announcement, pieces linked to the investigation of Douglas Latchford continue to reveal themselves," HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Erin Keegan said in a statement Friday. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art has not only recognized the significance of these 13 Khmer artifacts, which were shamelessly stolen, but has also volunteered to return them, as part of their ongoing cooperation, to their rightful owners: the People of Cambodia."
This isn't the first time the museum has repatriated art linked to Latchford. In 2013, it returned two objects to Cambodia.
The Latchford family also had a load of centuries-old Cambodian jewelry in their possession that they later returned to Cambodia. In February, 77 pieces of jewelry made of gold and other precious metal pieces - including items such as crowns, necklaces and earrings - were returned to their homeland. Other stone and bronze artifacts were returned in September 2021.
Pieces being returned include a bronze sculpture called The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Seated in Royal Ease, made sometime between the late 10th century and early 11th century. Another piece of art, made of stone in the seventh century and named Head of Buddha, will also be returned. Those pieces are part of 10 that can still be viewed in the museum's galleries while arrangements are made for their return.
"These returns contribute to the reconciliation and healing of the Cambodian people who went through decades of civil war and suffered tremendously from the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge genocide, and to a greater strengthening of our relationship with the United States," Cambodia's Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, Phoeurng Sackona, said in her agency's statement.
Research efforts were already underway by the museum to examine the ownership history of its objects, focusing on how ancient art and cultural property changed hands, as well as the provenance of Nazi-looted artwork. |
# The West supports Ukraine against Russia's aggression. So why is funding its defense in question?
By **LAURIE KELLMAN**
December 15, 2023. 2:02 PM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy issued a warning to allies as he hopscotched continents urging them to support his war-scarred country as it defends itself against the Russian invasion.
Moscow's "real target," he said in Washington, "is freedom."
That idea functioned as a rallying cry as the West lined up behind Ukraine at the start of the war. But 21 months later, support for Ukraine has become complicated, especially when it comes to spending government money. Zelenskyy headed home Friday without billions in aid proposed in the U.S. and the EU, with those plans pushed into limbo.
Here's how it all unfolded:
## THE ASK
Zelenskyy received a hero's welcome around the world from the start of the war, but now he's having to make in-person appeals for aid as his country fights, he said this week, "for our freedom and yours."
"It's very important," he said in Washington, "that by the end of this year we can send very strong signal of our unity to the aggressor and the unity of Ukraine, America, Europe, the entire free world."
The risk of inaction, he says: emboldening Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"If there's anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it's just Putin and his sick clique," Zelenskyy told an audience of military leaders and students at the National Defense University in Washington.
He underscored the urgency in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, saying the winter posed additional challenges after a summer counteroffensive affected by enduring shortages of weapons and ground forces.
"Winter as a whole is a new phase of war," Zelenskyy said in an exclusive interview this month in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.
## TANGLED SUPPORT IN THE U.S.
Close to half of the U.S. public thinks the country is spending too much on aid to Ukraine, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Those sentiments, driven primarily by Republicans, help explain the hardening opposition among conservative GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are rebuffing efforts from President Joe Biden to approve more aid for Ukraine.
Republicans have linked Ukraine's military assistance to U.S. border security, injecting one of the most divisive domestic political issues - immigration and border crossings - into the middle of an intensifying debate over wartime foreign policy.
Zelensky's visit to Washington this week - where he appeared at a news conference with Biden and was squired around Capitol Hill by leading lawmakers - did nothing to change that. Congress left town for the holidays on Thursday without a deal to send some $61 billion to Ukraine.
## A HOLDOUT IN EUROPE
There were two questions before the EU on Friday: Whether to advance Ukraine's future membership in to the bloc, and whether to approve a 50 billion-euro ($54 billion) financial aid package that Ukraine urgently needs to stay afloat.
Hungary's Viktor Orban left the room, effectively abstaining on the first question. Zelenskyy led a round of celebration for his war-ravaged country, tweeting thanks to "everyone who helped" the EU take the step.
But Orban wasn't done.
He reappeared hours later to veto the proposal for wartime aid to Ukraine to prop up its war-weakened economy. He was the only member to vote against the package.
"Summary of the nightshift: veto for the extra money to Ukraine," Orban wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He also suggested that he had plenty of time to block Ukraine's drive to join the EU down the road.
## WHAT'S NEXT?
In the U.S., Senate negotiators and the Biden administration were still racing to strike a compromise before the end of the year. The Democratic-led Senate planned to come back next week in hopes of passing the package. But the Republican-led House showed no such inclination.
U.S. aid to Ukraine hasn't dried up, but it's complicated. The Pentagon and State Department on Dec. 6 said the U.S. is sending a $175 million package of military aid to Ukraine, including guided missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), anti-armor systems and high-speed anti-radiation missiles, the Pentagon and State Department said.
The EU hasn't given up either. French President Emmanuel Macron said later that there were other ways the EU could send aid to Ukraine. But he urged Orban to "act like a European" and support Zelenskyy's country,
European Council President Charles Michel said leaders would reconvene in January to try to break the deadlock. |
# Village council member in Ukraine sets off hand grenades during a meeting and injures 26
December 15, 2023. 3:16 PM EST
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**KYIV, Ukraine (AP)** - A village council member in western Ukraine detonated three hand grenades during a meeting Friday, critically injuring himself and at least two dozen other people, authorities said.
A video posted on social media showed a man entering a room where the village council of Keretsky was meeting to discuss and approve the community's budget.
The man, who was preliminary identified as Serhii Batryn, a council member who belongs to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, took three grenades from his pockets, removed the pins and threw the weapons on the floor in front of him.
Transcarpathian region police said in an official statement that 26 people were injured, six of them critically. The man who set off the grenades suffered grave injuries and medics worked to save his life, police said.
There was no immediate word on a possible motive or if the attack was somehow connected to Russia's war in Ukraine. |
# The EU's drip-feed of aid frustrates Ukraine, despite the promise of membership talks
By **RAF CASERT**
December 15, 2023. 12:11 PM EST
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**BRUSSELS (AP)** - Drop by drop, Ukraine is being supplied with aid and arms from its European allies, at a time when it becomes ever clearer it would take a deluge to turn its war against Russia around.
On Friday, EU leaders sought to paper over their inability to boost Ukraine's coffers with a promised 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) over the next four years, saying the check will likely arrive next month after some more haggling between 26 leaders and the longtime holdout, Viktor Orban of Hungary.
Instead, they wanted Ukraine to revel in getting the nod to start membership talks that could mark a sea change in its fortunes - never mind that the process could last well over a decade and be strewn with obstacles from any single member state.
"Today, we are celebrating," said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
Ukrainian government bookkeepers are unlikely to join in. Kyiv is struggling to make ends meet from one month to the next and to make sure enough is left to bolster defenses and even attempt a counterattack to kick the Russians out of the country.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is traveling the world - Argentina, United States, Norway and Germany in just the past week - to make sure the money keeps flowing.
After the close of the summit on Friday, the most the EU could guarantee was that funds would continue to arrive in Kyiv in monthly drips of 1.5 billion euros at least until early next year.
Orban, the lone EU leader with continuing close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claims war funding for Ukraine is like throwing money out of the window since victory on the battlefield is a pipe dream.
"We shouldn't send more money to finance the war. Instead, we should stop the war and have a cease-fire and peace talks," he said Friday, words that are anathema in most other EU nations.
Since the start of the war in February 2022, the EU and its 27 member states have sent $91 billion in financial, military, humanitarian, and refugee assistance.
All the other leaders except Hungary, however, said they would work together over the next weeks to get a package ready that would either get approval from Orban or be approved by sidestepping him in a complicated institutional procedure.
"I can assure you that Ukraine will not be left without support. There was a strong will of 26 to provide this support. And there were different ways how we can do this," said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. A new summit to address that is set for late January or early February.
In the meantime, Ukraine will have to warm itself by the glow from the promise of opening membership talks, announced on Thursday.
"It will lift hearts," said Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, "where there are people tonight in bomb shelters and tomorrow morning defending their homes, this will give them a lot of hope." |
# Albania returns 20 stolen icons to neighboring North Macedonia
By **LLAZAR SEMINI**
December 15, 2023. 4:06 PM EST
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**TIRANA, Albania (AP)** - Albania on Friday returned 20 icons to neighboring North Macedonia that were stolen a decade ago, Albania's Culture Ministry said.
The return marked the final stretch on a long, 10-year road with "much inter-institutional and international cooperation," said Albania's Culture Minister Elva Margariti. It also showed Albania's commitment to "the fight against trafficking of the cultural inheritance objects," she said.
A handover ceremony was held at the National Historic Museum in the Albanian capital of Tirana. No further details were provided about the icons.
Later, the cargo arrived at the National Museum in North Macedonia's capital, Skopje, where they were unpacked and briefly presented to the public. They will be kept for up to 45 days in a special chamber to avoid damage from atmospheric pressure changes, after which experts will start their restoration.
North Macedonia's Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and head of the Orthodox Church, Archbishop Stefan joined the ceremony.
In 2013, Albanian authorities in Tirana seized more than 1,000 stolen religious and secular pieces of art dating from the 15th to the mid-20th century and arrested two men suspected of planning to sell them abroad.
The icons, frescoes and other pieces were taken from churches and cultural centers in southeastern Albania and in the neighboring North Macedonia.
North Macedonian Culture Minister Bisera Kostadinovska thanked Albanian authorities.
In 2013, North Macedonian experts recognized the icons when Albanian television stations broadcast Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama inspecting icons seized by police. Skopje officially put in a request for their return in 2018.
In 2022, the two governments signed the agreement for their return during a joint Cabinets' meeting in Skopje, the first of its kind in the region.
Many icons and other artworks in Albania are believed to have been looted from churches and other places, especially during the anarchy of 1997 in Albania, when many in the country - among some of the continent's poorest people - lost their life savings in failed pyramid schemes.
Over the past two decades, more than 10,000 religious artifacts have been stolen from North Macedonia's churches, including precious icons painted in the stylized Byzantine tradition. Thieves removed sections of altar screens, crosses, lamps and Bibles.
Icons recovered from Albania are the first to be returned so far.
Both Albania and North Macedonia have launched full membership negotiations with the European Union. |
# 'I didn't change my number': Macron still open to dialogue with Putin if it helps to bring peace
By **SAMUEL PETREQUIN**
December 15, 2023. 11:15 AM EST
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BRUSSELS (AP) - French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he would still consider talking with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin if it helps creating a sustainable peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Macron and Putin enjoyed a good working relationship before Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. In weeks preceding the start of hostilities, Macron's diplomatic efforts failed to stop the war but he then kept open a line of communication with the Russian president for months.
Their diplomatic and personal links deteriorated badly as the war dragged on. Earlier this year, Macron weighed the possibility of stripping Putin of France's highest medal of honor.
Putin was asked Thursday during his year-end news conference by a journalist from the French channel TF1 about his views on France and Macron.
Putin said: "At some point the French president stopped the relationship with us. We didn't do it, I didn't. He did. If there's interest, we're ready. If not, we'll cope."
Speaking in Brussels at the end of a summit where EU leaders decided to open membership negotiations with war-torn Ukraine, Macron said he remained open to dialogue with Putin on finding a peaceful solution if the Russian leader reaches out to him.
"I didn't start the war unilaterally, breaking the treaties I'd agreed to. And it wasn't France that decided to commit war crimes in the north of Ukraine, making discussions virtually impossible," Macron said. "Well, we have to be serious, so I have a very simple position. I haven't changed my number."
Macron added that if Putin shows a will to kick-start a dialogue that can build a lasting peace, France is ready to help.
"If President Putin has a willingness to engage in dialogue and serious proposals to move forward and emerge from the conflict and build a lasting peace, that is to say one that respects international law and therefore Ukrainian interests and sovereignty, I'll take the call," Macron said.
Putin said this week there would be no peace until Russia achieves its goals, which he says remain unchanged after nearly two years of fighting. |
# Moldova and Georgia celebrate as their aspirations for EU membership take crucial steps forward
By **EMMA BURROWS**
December 15, 2023. 12:49 PM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - Moldova and Georgia celebrated after European Union leaders buoyed their aspirations to join the 27 member nation bloc by removing key hurdles on their long path toward membership.
Lawmakers in both the Moldovan and Georgian parliaments waved EU flags and played the bloc's anthem at Friday's opening of their parliamentary sessions, following Thursday's surprise announcement to open membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and to grant candidacy status to Georgia. The announcement came despite strong opposition from Hungary and the fact that Ukraine and Georgia are partially occupied by Russia which also has troops deployed in Moldova's Transnistria region.
Thousands of Georgians gathered in the country's capital Tbilisi to celebrate.
"The EU and integration with Europe is important for us. Not only will it be a security guarantee for us and enable the country to get stronger economically, but it is important for other values too including sports and culture, among others," said Erekle Sarishvili, a student who took part in the rally. "We, the young generation, have fought for this result but we also need to remember the older generations that have brought Georgia here."
Moldova's President Maia Sandu invited citizens to a pro-European gathering scheduled for Sunday in the capital Chisinau to herald what she described as a "historic step for the destiny of our country."
Moldova's pro-Western Prime Minister Dorin Recean echoed Sandu, saying "Moldova is European" and "our future is in the EU."
Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili congratulated the nation, saying that "this historic victory belongs to you, to our undefeated, unbroken, freedom loving Georgian people."
By opening membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova and by offering Georgia candidate status, the EU has sent "a very important message to Russia," Natia Seskuria, director of the Regional Institute of Security Studies in the Georgian capital Tbilisi said.
Although the path to full membership could take decades, the move "has a lot of symbolism," she said, because if the countries had been rejected "it would be another sign for Russia that they can basically do whatever they want."
Both Moldova and Georgia were part of the Soviet Union for decades and both have struggled to emerge from Moscow's shadow. On Friday, the Kremlin responded with irritation to the news.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move was "absolutely politicized" and that it was driven by the bloc's "desire to annoy Russia further and antagonize these countries towards Russia."
Peskov said membership talks could take "years and decades," adding "such new members could destabilize the EU."
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moldova has faced a long string of crises, including a severe energy shortage after Moscow dramatically reduced gas supplies last winter, skyrocketing inflation, and anti-government protests by a Russia-friendly political party.
In February, Moldovan President Maia Sandu also accused Moscow of plotting to overthrow the government to put the nation "at the disposal of Russia," and to derail it from its course toward EU membership. Russia denied the accusations.
Debris from rocket fire has also landed several times in Moldova as a result of fighting in neighboring Ukraine. Tensions also soared in the country in April last year after a string of explosions in Transnistria - a Russia-backed separatist region of Moldova where Russia bases about 1,500 troops.
Russia also has forces in Georgia after the two countries fought a short war in 2008 that ended with Georgia losing control of two Russia-friendly separatist regions. In November, Russian troops shot and killed a Georgian civilian in South Ossetia, one of the breakaway regions, prompting condemnation from Georgian authorities.
Seskuria, from the Regional Institute of Security Studies, said EU membership has been a "generational dream for Georgians." Although it's Georgia's "biggest success" so far toward EU membership, Seskuria cautioned that there's still a "long way ahead" and warned Georgia needs to deliver on the kind of progress the EU is seeking for the country to fulfill strict membership criteria.
That applies for all three countries which need to tackle corruption and organized crime while strengthening the rule of law.
Membership talks could also heighten tensions in Georgia where Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia's pro-EU president, has long been a vocal supporter of joining the bloc, putting her at odds with the ruling Georgian Dream party which is widely seen as being pro-Russian by the Georgian opposition.
Speaking shortly after the EU leaders' meeting, Zourabichvili said "Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova are the examples of what it means to fight for freedom, to fight for Europe, for those common values that we share with Europe and stay true to them."
Zourabichvili has criticized a foreign agent registration bill which protesters in Tbilisi earlier this year said was inspired by a similar law in Russia used to silence critics of the Kremlin.
Opponents of Georgian Dream say the party's founder, former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who amassed a fortune in Russia, has continued calling the shots in the former Soviet republic of 3.7 million people even though he currently doesn't hold a government job.
Georgian Dream has repeatedly denied any links to Russia or that it leans toward Moscow. |
# Shops in 2 Dutch cities start selling legally grown cannabis in an experiment to regulate pot trade
By **MIKE CORDER**
December 15, 2023. 10:54 AM EST
**BREDA, Netherlands (AP)** - A paradox at the heart of the Netherlands' permissive pot policy went up in smoke Friday in two Dutch cities as "coffeeshops" began selling the country's first legally cultivated cannabis as part of an experiment to regulate the trade.
The experiment could mark the beginning of the end for a long-standing legal anomaly - you can buy and sell small amounts of weed without fear of prosecution in the Netherlands, but growing it commercially remains illegal.
"This is really a very, very big step in the right direction," Derrick Bergman, chairman of the Union for the Abolition of Cannabis Prohibition, said as he sat in the De Baron cannabis cafe in the southern Dutch city of Breda.
Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers visited earlier to launch the new policy. The plan for the experiment dates back to 2017 and is seen as as a way of providing "quality-controlled" weed to coffeeshops - places that are allowed to sell marijuana - and shutting out illegal growers.
"By regulating the sale of cannabis, we have a better insight into the origin of the products and the quality," Kuipers said. "In addition, we can better inform consumers about the effects and health risks of cannabis use."
Bart Vollenberg, who grows cannabis for the experiment, called it a "happy day for the Netherlands."
"The most significant advantage is that it is not criminal activity, and it becomes transparent," he said. "You can test the weed in the laboratory. With all the knowledge and skills of Dutch horticulture, we can start improving the quality of the weed now. No longer need to make all kinds of twists and turns in illegality."
A trailblazer in decriminalizing pot since the 1970s, the Netherlands has grown more conservative. Amsterdam, long a magnet for marijuana smokers from around the world, has been closing coffeeshops in recent years and has banned smoking weed on some of the cobbled streets that make up its historic center.
Across the nation, there are 565 coffeeshops. That is down from around 2,000 "in the real heyday," Bergman said.
Meanwhile, other countries around the world and some U.S. states have taken steps to legalize the recreational use of cannabis.
"We are finally taking a small place on the international stage back again," Bergman said. "It's not like we're back full on. It's a small experiment."
Friday marked the first day of what the government calls the "closed coffeeshop chain experiment." The initial phase is scheduled to last a maximum of six months and could then be rolled out to 11 municipalities across the Netherlands.
"During the startup phase, growers, coffeeshop owners, transporters and supervisors will gain experience with the supply and sale of regulated cannabis and its supervision, secure transport and the use of the track and trace system," the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport said in a statement.
Coffeeshops in Breda and nearby Tilburg are allowed to have a maximum of 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of weed from legal growers in stock at a time.
Breda Mayor Paul Depla said the initial experiment in his city and Tilburg would help detect any "growing pains" in the system.
"It is also a great opportunity to see how cooperation within the closed chain between legal growers, coffeeshop owners and all other authorities involved works," he said.
The Trimbos Institute, a Dutch organization that raises awareness about mental health and the use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco, is involved in the experiment and promoting measures to prevent cannabis use.
"We think it's important that people who use cannabis are well informed about the risks and options for help," spokeswoman Harriëtte Koop said in an email.
For longtime campaigner Bergman, an upside of the new policy is that smokers can now easily see who grew the cannabis they are using and let friends know whether it's any good.
"It's a relief that the weed is quite good," he said, smiling as he lit his marijuana cigarette in a small puff of thick white smoke.
There is a downside, Bergman added. He looked at a plastic beaker in a plastic bag holding the new legally grown weed and a much smaller plastic container for illegal pot.
"The new system produces much more plastic waste," he noted. |
# The EU struggles to unify around a Gaza cease-fire call but work on peace moves continues
By **LORNE COOK**
December 15, 2023. 8:52 AM EST
**BRUSSELS (AP)** - As the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to mount, a number of European Union leaders sought on Friday to use growing concern about Israel's military offensive against Hamas to convince their partners to rally around a united call for a ceasefire.
"The killing of innocent civilians really needs to stop," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. He said the EU must unite "if we want to play a serious role in that conflict, and I think we have to because we will be wearing the consequences if things go further in a bad direction."
More than 18,700 Palestinians have now been killed, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, since Hamas rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Hamas killed about 1,200 people - mostly civilians - and took about 240 hostages.
The EU is the world's biggest provider of aid to the Palestinians and has been trying to use its diplomatic leverage as a 27-nation bloc to encourage peace moves. But despite being Israel's largest trading partner, the EU has mostly been ignored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Beyond this, the members have long-been divided over Israel and the Palestinians. Austria and Germany are among Israel's most vocal supporters. Their leaders went to Israel to show solidarity after the assault. Spain and Ireland often focus on the plight of the Palestinian people.
Hamas, for its part, is on the EU's list of terrorist groups.
Since its attack, the bloc has struggled to strike a balance between condemning the Hamas attacks, supporting Israel's right to defend itself and ensuring that the rights of civilians on both sides are protected under international law.
At the United Nations on Tuesday, an increasing number of EU members voted for a resolution calling for a ceasefire - a total of 17 - and fewer abstained. Still, Austria and the Czech Republic voted against.
"We now have a clear majority of countries here in the European Union calling for a cease fire. I think that's the view of the people of Europe as well," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said. "There's no possible justification or excuse for what's happening there."
But Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was less categorical. "In (the) U.N. we were not united as a European Union. But we will hear the worries and like we always do try to work out the compromises," she told reporters at the EU's summit in Brussels.
The EU is more united around what should happen once the fighting stops for good.
Mindful that resentment and conflict in the wider Middle East and Gulf regions have been fueled by decades of Israeli-Palestinian tensions, the bloc is exploring ways to realize a long-held EU ideal - two states living peacefully side by side.
The EU has for years tried to promote the idea of an Israeli and a Palestinian state with borders set mostly as they were in 1967 - before Israel captured and occupied the West Bank and Gaza - with some land swaps agreed between them. Both would have Jerusalem as their shared capital.
Top EU officials concede that their international peace efforts so far haven't been effective. This is the fifth war between Israel and Hamas, and the number of deaths in Gaza far exceeds the combined tally of those killed in the previous four, which is estimated to be around 4,000.
An internal discussion paper on the way ahead - a text seen by The Associated Press - insists that the EU must develop a "comprehensive approach." Officials believe a "whole of Palestine" approach that has Gaza as part of a future Palestinian state remains the most viable option.
The capability of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank but not Gaza, is "of key importance for the viability and legitimacy" of a two-state solution. It noted that Arab states will only get involved if their efforts lead to "a genuine peace process that results in the two-state solution."
EU efforts, the document said, should focus on support for an international conference, only "not as a singular event but as part of a peace process plan." Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers should be separately invited to EU meetings "to maintain the dialogue with both."
But in the region, talk of a two-state solution conjures up images of years of diplomatic failures, and for many in mourning it's simply too early to talk about peace. |
# EU releasing 5 billion euros to Poland by year's end as new government works to restore rule of law
December 15, 2023. 6:34 AM EST
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**BRUSSELS (AP)** - The European Union will by year's end transfer to Poland the first 5 billion euros in funding that was frozen over democratic backsliding under the previous government, the new Polish prime minister and the European Commission president said Friday.
The money is part of a larger tranche that was held up due to laws passed by the previous national conservative government that eroded the independence of judges - something that the EU deemed to be a violation of the democratic separation of powers.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) was arriving symbolically in time for Christmas. The money is aimed at helping EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, and reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
"This is not just a gift. This is serious money earmarked for our energy sovereignty and we will try to spend this money very quickly and wisely," he said at a news conference alongside EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of a summit of the 27 member states.
The money will start to flow due to pledges by Tusk's government to restore the rule of law but more steps have to be taken before it is all released. Tusk and his coalition partners won Poland's national election pledging to restore rule of law and democratic values.
"We know that the rule of law is very important. It is about our place in Europe. It is about our common values," Tusk said.
He added that Polish lawyers, prosecutors, judges and citizens "never agreed to Poland without the rule of law. And everyone in their capacity was trying to address this issue."
Von der Leyen expressed her satisfaction.
"I welcome your commitment to put the rule of law at the top of your government agenda and your determination to address all the concerns that have been expressed over the last years by the European Court and by the Commission," she said. |
# Prince Harry claims vindication in court victory as judge finds British tabloid hacked his phone
By **BRIAN MELLEY**
December 15, 2023. 2:19 PM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - Prince Harry's phone was hacked by journalists and private investigators working for the Daily Mirror who invaded his privacy by snooping on him unlawfully, a judge ruled Friday, delivering an historic victory for the estranged royal who broke from family tradition to take on the British press.
Phone hacking was "widespread and habitual" at Mirror Group Newspapers, and executives at the papers covered it up, Justice Timothy Fancourt said in his 386-page ruling handed down in the High Court.
The newspapers were ordered to pay the Duke of Sussex 140,000 pounds ($180,000) for using unlawful information gathering in 15 of the 33 newspaper articles examined at trial.
Harry said the ruling was "vindicating and affirming" and should serve as a warning to other news media that used similar practices, an overt reference to two tabloid publishers that face upcoming trials in lawsuits that make nearly identical allegations.
"Today is a great day for truth, as well as accountability," Harry said in a statement read by his lawyer outside court. "I've been told that slaying dragons will get you burned. But in light of today's victory and the importance of doing what is needed for a free and honest press, it is a worthwhile price to pay. The mission continues."
Fancourt awarded the duke damages for the distress he suffered and a further sum to "reflect the particular hurt and sense of outrage" because two directors at Trinity Mirror knew about the activity and didn't stop it.
"They turned a blind eye to what was going on and positively concealed it," Fancourt said. "Had the illegal conduct been stopped, the misuse of the duke's private information would have ended much sooner."
Harry, 39, the alienated younger son of King Charles III, had sought 440,000 pounds ($560,000) as part of a crusade against the British media that bucked his family's longstanding aversion to litigation and made him the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court in over a century.
His appearance in the witness box over two days in June created a spectacle as he lobbed allegations that Mirror Group had employed journalists who eavesdropped on voicemails and hired private investigators to use deception and unlawful means to learn about him, other family members and associates.
"I believe that phone hacking was at an industrial scale across at least three of the papers at the time," Harry asserted in the High Court. "That is beyond any doubt."
But Harry had little proof of his own to back his allegations.
The Mirror's lawyer showed him examples of stories that mirrored those published previously in competing papers and even stories that had come from Buckingham Palace and, in one instance, a story from an interview the prince himself had given to mark his 18th birthday.
Harry repeatedly insisted there was no way the papers could have landed their scoops legitimately.
The judge said Harry had a tendency in his testimony "to assume that everything published was the product of voicemail interception because phone hacking was rife within Mirror Group at the time."
Fancourt said Mirror Group was "not responsible for all of the unlawful activity directed at the duke" by the press, but found it had eavesdropped on his messages as early as 2003 and when hacking was "extensive" at the newspapers from 2006 to 2011.
Mirror Group welcomed the judgment for providing the "necessary clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago," Chief Executive Jim Mullen said.
"Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologize unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation," Mullen said in statement.
Attorney Philippa Dempster, who wasn't involved in the case, said hundreds of people who had articles written about them decades ago that contained private information from questionable sources may now be inspired to bring a claim against the newspapers.
"This is a landmark victory for the privacy rights of individuals and marks another clear line in the sand for press standards," Dempster said. "It shows that the courts are willing to reach back into the past, sift through evidence and hold those who practiced the so-called 'dark arts' of the press to account."
The case is the first of three lawsuits Harry has filed against the tabloids over allegations of phone hacking or some form of unlawful information gathering. They form the front line of attack in what he says is his life's mission to reform the media.
Harry's beef with the news media runs deep and is cited throughout his memoir, "Spare." He blames paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and he said intrusions by journalists led him and his wife, Meghan, to leave royal life for the U.S. in 2020.
Harry alleged that Mirror Group used unlawful means to produce nearly 150 stories on his early life between 1996 and 2010, including his romances, injuries and alleged drug use. The reporting caused great distress, he said in sometimes emotional testimony, but was hard to prove because the newspapers destroyed records.
Of the 33 articles at the center of the trial, Mirror denied using unlawful reporting methods for 28 and made no admissions concerning the remaining five.
Fancourt previously tossed out Harry's hacking claims against the publisher of The Sun. He is allowing Harry and actor Hugh Grant, who has made similar claims, to proceed to trial on allegations that News Group Newspapers journalists used other unlawful methods to snoop on them.
Another judge recently gave Harry the go-ahead to take a similar case to trial against the publisher of the Daily Mail, rejecting the newspaper's efforts to throw out the lawsuit. Harry is joined in that litigation by Elton John, actors Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost and others.
Attorney Michael Gardner, who was not involved in the case, said the judgment will get the attention of other publishers facing trial, particularly after the judge called out higher-ups who were aware of the unlawful activity.
"Overall, the media organizations that Harry is still suing will be worried that this will give him a lift and strengthen his determination to pursue them," Gardner said. "To the extent that Harry's other cases could implicate individuals at other media groups, then clearly there will be concerns there."
Phone hacking by British newspapers dates back more than two decades to a time when unethical journalists used an unsophisticated method of phoning the numbers of royals, celebrities, politicians and sports stars and, when prompted to leave a message, punched in default passcodes to eavesdrop on voicemails.
The practice erupted into a full-blown scandal in 2011 when Rupert Murdoch's News of the World was revealed to have intercepted messages of a murdered girl, relatives of deceased British soldiers and victims of a bombing. Murdoch closed the paper.
Newspapers were later found to have used more intrusive means such as phone tapping, home bugging and obtaining flight information and medical records.
Mirror Group Newspapers said it has paid more than 100 million pounds ($128 million) in other phone hacking lawsuits over the years, but denied wrongdoing in Harry's case. It said it used legitimate reporting methods to get information on the prince.
At the start of the trial, Mirror Group apologized "unreservedly" for one instance when it admitted to hiring a private investigator for a story about Harry partying at a nightclub in February 2004. Although the article, headlined "Sex on the beach with Harry," wasn't among those at issue in the trial, Mirror Group said he should be compensated 500 pounds ($637).
Harry brought the case along with three other claimants, including two members of Britain's longest-running TV soap opera, "Coronation Street."
The judge found all had legitimate claims but he tossed out cases brought by actor Nikki Sanderson and Fiona Wightman, the former wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse, because they were filed too late. He awarded actor Michael Turner 31,000 pounds ($40,000).
The trial was a test case against Mirror Group and the verdict could influence the outcome of hacking claims made by the estate of the late singer George Michael, former Girls Aloud member Cheryl and former soccer player Ian Wright.
Harry's case is also not resolved. He could receive additional compensation over the remaining 115 articles that were not examined at trial.
The judge told the parties to work out an agreement on those or they would have to go to trial again. |
# Denmark widens terror investigation that coincides with arrests of alleged Hamas members in Germany
By **JAN M. OLSEN**
December 15, 2023. 10:17 AM EST
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**COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)** - Denmark is holding two people in custody and four others are the target of a terrorism investigation, a prosecutor said Friday, in a case that coincided with an arrest in the Netherlands and several in Germany of alleged Hamas members.
Authorities in Germany said three people arrested there were suspected of preparing for attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe. Danish authorities said that one person was arrested in the Netherlands, but it wasn't clear if there were any ties to the Hamas investigation in Germany.
Denmark hasn't cited an alleged Hamas link in its investigation. The two people being held in Denmark were ordered to remain in pretrial detention until Jan. 9. Danish media identified them as a man in his 50s and a 19-year-old woman.
Danish intelligence agency PET on Thursday announced the arrests of three people on suspicion of plotting to carry out "an act of terror." One of them, identified by Danish media as a 29-year-old man, was released, prosecutor Anders Larsson said early Friday after a night-long custody hearing at a Copenhagen court.
Larsson also said that four other people were held in "pretrial custody in absentia," but he didn't say whether authorities knew their whereabouts or if an active search for them was underway. Without elaborating, he said there was "still someone at large."
None of the suspects can be identified because of a court order, and the custody hearing was held behind "double closed doors" - meaning no details were available about the case, which is shrouded in secrecy.
German prosecutors allege that the three men detained in Germany on Thursday were tasked with finding a previously set-up underground Hamas weapons cache in Europe. "The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe," they said.
On Friday, a judge ordered the three men detained in Berlin to be held in custody pending a possible indictment for being members of a foreign terrorist organization, prosecutors said. A fourth suspect in the German case was taken into custody on Thursday in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.
German prosecutors alleged the suspects "have been longstanding members of Hamas and have participated in Hamas operations abroad." They said the suspects were closely linked to the leadership of Hamas' military wing, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Earlier this month, the EU's home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, warned that Europe faced a "huge risk of terrorist attacks" over the Christmas holiday period amid the Israel-Hamas war.
In Brussels, where she attended a European Union summit, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen mentioned the Danish, German and Dutch cases but declined to tie them together. She said the wider picture for security in Europe was worrying.
"We have seen how ships are attacked in the Red Sea off Yemen," she told a press conference in reference to a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels that slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel.
"Individually, these incidents are serious and worrying, but together they paint a picture of something bigger. That we are facing a more serious and complex threat picture," she said. "It is very, very serious." |
# Hungary's Orbán says he won't hesitate to slam the brakes on Ukraine's EU membership
By **JUSTIN SPIKE**
December 15, 2023. 1:42 PM EST
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**BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)** - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday his country will have plenty of opportunities in the future to interrupt Ukraine's process of joining the European Union, a day after the right-wing leader's stunning turnaround allowed an EU summit to move forward on bringing the war-torn country into the bloc.
Orbán had spent weeks vigorously declaring that his country would not consent to the EU beginning talks with Ukraine on its eventual membership, arguing such a decision would be catastrophic and that Kyiv was unprepared to begin the process.
But in a dramatic reversal in Brussels on Thursday, Orbán left the room where the leaders of the EU's 27 member nations were debating the measure and allowed a unanimous vote of 26 to approve the start of accession talks for Kyiv.
In an interview Friday with Hungarian state radio, Orbán said that EU leaders told him he would "lose nothing" by dropping his veto since he'd have chances in the future to block Ukraine's accession if he chose to - something he vowed to do if it appeared Hungary's interests were at risk.
"Their decisive argument was that Hungary loses nothing, given that the final word on Ukraine's membership has to be given by the national parliaments, 27 parliaments, including the Hungarian one," Orbán said.
"I made it clear that we will not hesitate for a moment if the financial and economic consequences of this bad decision will be paid by the Hungarians. Those who made this decision should be the ones who pay," he said. "If necessary, we will slam the brakes."
The decision by EU leaders to move forward on Ukraine's membership - a process that could take many years - was met with jubilation in Kyiv, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcoming the agreement as "a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe."
But the results of Thursday's summit were mixed as Orbán blocked a 50-billion-euro ($54-billion) package of financial aid that Ukraine desperately needs to stay afloat, a major blow to Zelenskyy after he failed this week to persuade U.S. lawmakers to approve an additional $61 billion for his war effort.
Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said EU leaders would reconvene in January in an effort to break the deadlock.
It was not the first time Orbán had derailed EU plans to provide funding to Ukraine. The nationalist leader is widely considered to be Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in the EU, and has been accused by his critics of promoting Moscow's interests over those of his EU and NATO allies.
Orbán has advocated for an immediate end to the fighting and pushed for peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, though he has not detailed what such a step would entail for Ukraine's territorial integrity.
On Friday, Orbán accused his EU partners of seeking to prolong the war, and said providing more money for Kyiv was "an immediate violation of (Hungary's) interests."
"The situation in Ukraine is bad, so no more money should be sent to the war," he said. "The war should be stopped and there should be a cease-fire and peace talks. Instead, now they want to give money to keep the war going." |
# Hague court rejects bid to ban transfer to Israel of F-35 fighter jet parts from Dutch warehouse
December 15, 2023. 9:48 AM EST
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**THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)** - A Dutch court on Friday rejected a request by a group of human rights and humanitarian organizations to order a halt to the transfer to Israel of parts for F-35 fighter jets.
The organizations went to court Dec. 4 arguing that delivery of parts for the aircraft makes the Netherlands complicit in possible war crimes being committed by Israel in its war with Hamas. The parts are stored in a warehouse in the Dutch town of Woensdrecht.
In a written statement, the Hague District Court said the judge who heard the civil case concluded that the government of the Netherlands "weighed the relevant interests" before agreeing to the delivery of parts.
Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld told the court that the Dutch government decided to continue transferring F-35 parts to Israel even after the deadly Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas triggered the Israel-Hamas war.
"The warning that the fighter jets can contribute to serious breaches of the laws of war does not, for the (Dutch) state, outweigh its economic interests and diplomatic reputation," Zegveld said.
Government lawyer Reimer Veldhuis told the judge hearing the civil case that a ban on transfers from the Netherlands would effectively be meaningless as "the United States would deliver these parts to Israel from another place."
Zegveld said she would appeal the decision.
She said "human rights are put behind or after or lower than political foreign policy interests. That is amazing given what's happening in Gaza." |
# Declared missing as a child, British teenager lives off-grid for 6 years, then pops up in France
By **JILL LAWLESS** and **JOHN LEICESTER**
December 15, 2023. 2:50 PM EST
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**LE PECQ, France (AP)** - The vehicle's headlights silhouetted the exhausted teenager walking alone in the rain in deepest rural France, with a skateboard tucked under his arm.
"I said to myself, 'That's strange. It's 3 am in the morning, it's raining, he's all by himself on the road between two villages," delivery driver Fabien Accidini recounted.
From there, the story gets stranger still. The youngster, it turned out, was Alex Batty, a 17-year-old from Britain who had been missing since 2017.
British and French authorities confirmed on Friday that the teenager found by Accidini this week was the boy who vanished at age 11, when his mother and grandfather took him on what was meant to be a two-week family holiday in Spain.
Instead, it turned out to be a six-year odyssey through Morocco, Spain and southwest France, living an off-the-grid life.
Until this week. Batty suddenly popped back up on the radar on Wednesday. That's when Accidini found him alone on the remote French road and delivered him to the safe keeping of French police.
The youngster told French investigators that he, his mother and her father had moved from house to house, carrying their own solar panels, growing their own food, living with other families, meditating and contemplating reincarnation and other esoteric subjects.
"It was a nomadic life," said police officer Lea Chambonnière. "The only constants, the only things they carried with them, were the solar panels and their vegetable plants."
The teenager decided to put an end to his roaming, parting ways with his mother after she told him she wanted them to move again - to Finland, said French prosecutor Antoine Leroy. He and Chambonnière, a commander in the gendarmerie, spoke at a news conference in the southwestern French city of Toulouse.
"When his mother indicated that she intended to leave for Finland with him, this young man understood that this journey had to stop," the prosecutor said.
He said he couldn't employ the term 'sect' to describe how the mother, grandfather and Batty lived. "The term he uses himself is 'spiritual community,'" he said.
"He was never locked up," he added. "But he was always obliged to live in these conditions."
Until he decided to go his own way. Batty walked for four nights - resting during the days - and fed himself with "different things that he found in fields or gardens" before the delivery driver picked him up, the prosecutor said. Batty told police he'd been aiming for Toulouse, hoping authorities there would return him to the United Kingdom to be reunited with his grandmother, who had custody of him before he vanished as a child.
The prosecutor said they'll be reunited in the U.K. this weekend.
"I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found safe and well," the grandmother, Susan Caruana, said in a statement released by British police.
She said they spoke by video call and "it was so good to hear his voice and see his face again. I can't wait to see him."
The mother, Melanie Batty, has probably left for Finland, the prosecutor said. The grandfather, David Batty, is thought to have died about six months ago, he said. Both are sought by British police in connection with the youngster's disappearance.
After failing to return to the U.K. from the 2017 trip to Spain, the trio spent about two years in Morocco before traveling back via Spain to southwestern France, where they appear to have spent the last two years roaming in the region of the Pyrenees mountains.
But Batty "does not know exactly where he was, which is very surprising," the prosecutor said. "We will dig a bit."
The delivery driver who found him spotted the teen alone in the rain and dark with a flashlight, a rucksack and his skateboard. He stopped "and asked if he was OK, what he was doing there, if he needed help and if he wanted me to drop him in a village," Accidini told French broadcaster BFMTV.
Initially, Batty was suspicious, giving a false name, Zac, but he was also "very, very tired," Accidini said. So he climbed aboard and they got chatting while Accidini finished his deliveries.
"Once he felt reassured, he gave me his real name and told me that he had been kidnapped by his mother five years ago," Accidini said. The teen added "that he'd been in France for the past two years in a spiritual community that was a bit strange with his mother who is also a bit strange, a bit loopy."
"He'd had enough. He said, 'I am 17. I need a future.' He didn't see a future for him there."
Batty used Accidini's mobile phone to send a message to his grandmother. Accidini showed it to BFM.
It read: "Hello grandma it is me Alex i am in France Toulouse i really hope that you receive this message i love you i want to come home." |
# Migrant dies and another is in critical condition after boat partially deflates in English Channel
By **PAN PYLAS**
December 15, 2023. 8:06 AM EST
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**LONDON (AP)** - A boat carrying more than 60 migrants encountered difficulty Friday as it attempted to make the dangerous crossing across the English Channel from France, and authorities said one person died and another was hospitalized in critical condition after a rescue operation.
French maritime authorities said in a statement that the boat carrying the migrants had partially deflated and that the individual who died was unconscious when rescue ships arrived. They said another person was in critical condition and flown by helicopter to a hospital in the French port of Calais.
Rescue vessels picked up 66 people in all, including the person who died, after the boat in distress was spotted around five miles (8 kilometers) off the coast of Grand-Fort-Philippe at around 12:30 a.m. local time. The U.K. coastguard said it sent a helicopter to assist the French authorities coordinating the operation.
The French coast around Calais has long been a jumping-off point for people fleeing conflict and poverty around the world seeking to reach Britain, often via dangerous and sometimes deadly sea journeys across one of the world's busiest shipping channels.
More than 29,000 migrants have arrived in the U.K. this year after crossing the Channel, the second highest annual total to date since records began in 2018.
Though sharply down from last year's 46,000, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to "stop the boats" and is currently trying to win approval from lawmakers for a controversial plan to send some asylum-seekers to Rwanda.
Following confirmation of the latest death in the Channel, Britain's interior minister, James Cleverly, said the government "must and will do more."
"The incident in the Channel last night is a horrific reminder of the people-smugglers' brutality," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A bill that Cleverly is steering through Parliament seeks to overcome a ruling by the U.K. Supreme Court that the plan to send migrants who arrive from across the English Channel to Rwanda - where they would stay permanently - is illegal.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill faces criticism both from centrists in the governing Conservative Party who think it skirts with breaking international law, and from lawmakers on the party's right, who say it doesn't go far enough to ensure migrants who arrive in the U.K. without permission can be deported.
The main opposition Labour Party which is far ahead in opinion polls ahead of a general election next year, has promised to ditch the plan that it has derided as a "gimmick." The party says the British government's priority should be breaking up the smuggling gangs that facilitate migrant boat crossings and promoting greater cooperation across Europe.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the U.K. based Refugee Council, said these "appalling deaths" were all to common and added urgency to the need to "put in place safe routes so people don't have to take dangerous journeys across the world's busiest shipping lane."
"Instead, the government is pushing ahead with its unworkable and unprincipled Rwanda plan as well as shutting down existing safe ways to get to the U.K.," he said. |
# The Vatican's 'trial of the century,' a Pandora's box of unintended revelations, explained
By **NICOLE WINFIELD**
December 15, 2023. 12:10 AM EST
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**VATICAN CITY (AP)** - Verdicts are expected Saturday for a cardinal and nine other defendants in the most complicated financial trial in the Vatican's modern history: a case featuring a Hollywood-worthy cast of characters, unseemly revelations about the Holy See and questions about Pope Francis ' own role in the deals.
The trial had initially been seen as a showcase for Francis' reforms and his willingness to crack down on alleged financial misdeeds in the Vatican, which long had a reputation as an offshore tax haven.
But after 2 1/2 years of hearings, no real smoking gun emerged to support the prosecution's hypothesis of a grand conspiracy to defraud the pope of millions of euros (dollars) in charitable donations.
Even if some convictions are handed down, the overall impression is that the "trial of the century" turned into something of a Pandora's box of unintended revelations about Vatican vendettas, incompetence and even ransom payments that ultimately cost the Holy See reputational harm.
## WHAT WAS THE TRIAL ABOUT?
After a two-year investigation that featured unprecedented police raids in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican prosecutors in 2021 issued a 487-page indictment accusing 10 people of numerous financial crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, extortion, corruption, money laundering and abuse of office.
The main focus involved the Holy See's 350 million euro investment in a luxury London property. Prosecutors allege brokers and Vatican monsignors fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions, and then extorted the Holy See for 15 million euros ($16.5 million) to cede control of the property.
The original London investigation spawned two tangents that involved the star defendant, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of Francis' top advisers and a onetime papal contender.
Chief prosecutor Alessandro Diddi is seeking prison sentences from three to 13 years for each of the 10 defendants, as well as the confiscation of some 415 million euros ($460 million) in damages and restitution.
## HOW DOES THE CARDINAL FIT IN?
Becciu wasn't originally under investigation in the London deal since he had been transferred from the Vatican secretariat of state to the saint-making office before the key London transactions occurred.
But he became enmeshed after prosecutors began looking into other deals, including 125,000 euros in Vatican money that he sent to a diocesan charity in his native Sardinia.
Prosecutors alleged embezzlement, since the charity was run by his brother. Becciu argued that the local bishop requested the money for a bakery to employ at-risk youths, and that the money remained in the diocesan coffers.
Becciu is also accused of paying a Sardinian woman, Cecilia Marogna, for her intelligence services. Prosecutors traced some 575,000 euros in transfers from the Vatican to her Slovenian front company.
Becciu said he thought the money was going to be used to pay a British security firm to negotiate the release of a Colombian nun who had been taken hostage by Islamic militants in Mali in 2017. Marogna, who is also on trial, denied wrongdoing.
## THE MYSTERIOUS MONSIGNOR PERLASCA
No figure in the trial was as intriguing as Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, who ran the office that managed the Vatican's sovereign wealth fund, with estimated assets of 600 million euros (around $630 million).
It was Perlasca who signed the contracts in late 2018 giving operative control of the London property to London broker Gianluigi Torzi, another defendant who is accused of then extorting the Vatican for 15 million euros to get the property back.
Because of his intimate involvement in the deal, Perlasca was initially a prime suspect. But after his first round of questioning, he fired his lawyer, changed his story and began cooperating with prosecutors.
Perlasca escaped indictment and was even allowed to be listed as an injured party, enabling him to possibly recover damages.
Only during the course of the trial did it emerge that Perlasca had been manipulated into changing his story to turn on Becciu, his former boss.
## THE MYSTERIOUS WOMEN WHO COACHED HIM
In a trial that had plenty of surreal twists, perhaps none was as jaw-dropping as when a controversial figure from the Vatican's past emerged as having had a starring role in coaching Perlasca to change his testimony.
Public relations specialist Francesca Chaouqui had previously served on a papal commission tasked with investigating the Vatican's murky finances. She is known in Vatican circles for her role in the "Vatileaks" scandal of 2015-2016, when she was convicted by the same tribunal of conspiring to leak confidential Vatican documents to journalists and received a 10-month suspended sentence.
Chaouqui openly nurtured a grudge against Becciu because she blamed him for supporting her Vatileaks prosecution. She apparently saw the investigation into the London property as a chance to settle scores.
And so it emerged in late 2022, when Perlasca was being questioned on the stand, that Chaouqui had engaged in an elaborate plot with a Perlasca family friend to persuade the prelate to turn on Becciu.
"I knew that sooner or later the moment would come and I would send you this message," Chaouqui wrote Perlasca in a text message that was entered into evidence. "Because the Lord doesn't allow the good to be humiliated without repair. I pardon you Perlasca, but remember, you owe me a favor."
Diddi, the prosecutor, hasn't said what, if any, charges are pending for anyone involved in the Perlasca testimony saga.
## THE POPE'S OWN ROLE
Francis made clear early on that he strongly supported prosecutors in their investigation. But the trial produced evidence that his involvement went far beyond mere encouragement.
Defense lawyers discovered that the pope had secretly issued four decrees during the investigation to benefit prosecutors, allowing them to conduct intercepts and detain suspects without a judge's warrant.
Lawyers cried foul, arguing such interference by an absolute monarch in a legal system where the pope exercises supreme legislative, executive and judicial power violated their clients' fundamental rights and robbed them of a fair trial.
Diddi argued the decrees served as a "guarantee" for the suspects.
In addition, witnesses testified that Francis was very much aware of key aspects of the deals in question, and in some cases explicitly authorized them:
- The former head of the financial intelligence agency who is on trial said Francis explicitly asked him to help the secretariat of state negotiate the exit deal with Torzi;
- Becciu testified Francis had approved spending up to 1 million euros to negotiate the nun's freedom;
- Becciu's onetime secretary, who is on trial, said Francis was so pleased with the outcome of the Torzi negotiation that he paid for a celebratory group dinner at a fancy Roman fish restaurant.
In a religious hierarchy where obedience to superiors is a foundational element of a vocation, defense lawyers argued their underling clients merely obeyed orders from the pope on down. That included negotiating the exit strategy with Torzi, who was previously unknown to the Vatican but was brought into the deal by a friend of Francis.
"Torzi was introduced by Giuseppe Milanese, who was a friend of the pope's, so why wouldn't we trust him?" said Massimo Bassi, a lawyer for another of the defendants.
Milanese wasn't charged. Torzi denied wrongdoing. |
# Ukraine's a step closer to joining the EU. Here's what it means, and why it matters
By **ANGELA CHARLTON**
December 14, 2023. 9:43 PM EST
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**BRUSSELS (AP)** - Ukraine got a green light Thursday to start sped-up talks on joining the European Union. That's a big boost for war-ravaged Ukraine and a loud message to Vladimir Putin - but it could be years before the country actually becomes a member of the EU.
Here's a look at what Thursday's decision means, and why joining the EU is especially important, and especially hard, for Ukraine.
## WHAT IS THE EU AND HOW DO YOU JOIN?
The European Union was born after World War II as a trading bloc with a bold ambition: to prevent another war between Germany and France. The six founding members were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Since then, the EU has steadily expanded to contain 27 democratic nations, many from the former communist bloc in Eastern Europe, inspired by the idea that economic and political integration among nations is the best way to promote prosperity and peace.
This notably led to the creation of the shared euro currency in 1999, the continent's open borders, and trailblazing rules to reduce carbon emissions and regulate tech giants.
To join the EU, candidate countries must go through a lengthy process to align their laws and standards with those of the bloc and show that their institutions and economies meet democratic norms. Launching accession talks requires approval by consensus from the current member nations.
## WHY JOINING IS IMPORTANT TO UKRAINE
Ukraine is one of several countries that have long wanted to join the EU, seeing it as a path to wealth and stability. While the EU is not a military alliance like NATO, membership in the bloc is seen by some as a rampart against Russian influence.
Ukraine officially applied for EU accession less than a week after Russia invaded in February 2022. Its capital, Kyiv, faced the threat of capture, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government faced the threat of collapse.
The start of membership talks less than two years later is only one step in a long journey. But it sends a strong signal of solidarity with Ukraine just as U.S. support for Ukraine's military is faltering and a Ukrainian counteroffensive is stalled - and as Putin appears increasingly emboldened.
And it offers a ray of hope for Ukraine even as EU members failed Thursday to agree on a more immediate boost in the form of 50 billion euros ($55 billion) in aid to keep the Ukrainian economy afloat.
## WHY UKRAINE'S MEMBERSHIP JOURNEY IS ROCKY
EU officials had said talks couldn't officially begin until Ukraine addresses multiple issues including corruption, lobbying concerns and restrictions that might prevent national minorities from studying and reading in their own language. While EU officials say Ukraine has made progress on these issues in recent months, it still has a long way to go.
Every EU country has gradually agreed to support Ukraine's bid - except Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin's greatest ally within the EU. Orban maintains that Ukraine isn't ready to even start talking about EU membership. In a surprise move, Orban stepped aside Thursday and abstained from the vote to allow Ukraine's membership talks to begin.
It is just a beginning, and many steps remain.
Debt crises, waves of migration and Brexit had all contributed to the bloc's skittishness toward expanding its ranks in recent years. So, too, did the growth of Euro-skeptic political forces in many member countries.
But the urgency created by Russia's invasion and Ukraine's request for expedited consideration upended the EU's go-slow approach to adding new members and reversed years of "enlargement fatigue."
Thursday's decision also has an impact on other would-be members, who feel the EU is showing favoritism.
## WHO ARE THE OTHER CANDIDATES?
Turkey applied for membership in 1987, received candidate status in 1999, and had to wait until 2005 to start talks for actual entry. Only one of more than 30 negotiating "chapters" has been completed in the years since, and the whole process is at a standstill as a result of various disputes.
Several countries in the Balkans, meanwhile, have become discouraged by the bloc's failure to live up to its lofty membership promises.
North Macedonia submitted its entry bid in 2004. Even after subsequently changing its name to settle a longstanding dispute with EU member Greece, the country is still waiting for membership talks to begin because Bulgaria threw up a hurdle related to ethnicity and language.
Bosnia remains plagued by ethnic divisions that make reform an almost impossible challenge. The commission said last month that it should only start membership talks after more progress is made. It expressed concern about the justice system and other rights failures in the Bosnian Serb part of the country.
Serbia and Kosovo refuse to normalize their relations and stand last in the EU's line. |
# Rights expert blasts Italy's handling of gender-based violence and discrimination against women
December 14, 2023. 1:42 PM EST
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**ROME (AP)** - Violence and discrimination against women in Italy is a "prevailing and urgent concern," a European expert on human rights said Thursday in a scathing report that comes amid a national outcry over a gruesome murder of a young woman allegedly by her ex-boyfriend.
Dunja Mijatovic, commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, faulted Italy across multiple areas, lamenting that Italian courts and police sometimes revictimize the victims of gender-based violence and that women have increasingly less access to abortion services. She also noted Italy's last-place in the EU ranking for gender equality in the workplace.
The report followed a visit by Mijatovic to Italy in June and focused also on the country's handling of migrants and press freedom. But the section of her report on women comes amid a national reckoning on gender-based violence following the latest case that has grabbed headlines for a month.
Giulia Cecchettin, a 22-year-old who was about to graduate with a bioengineering degree, was found dead, her throat slit, in a ditch in a remote area of the Alpine foothills on Nov. 18. She had disappeared along with her ex-boyfriend a week earlier after meeting him for a burger.
Filippo Turetta, 21, was later arrested in Germany, and is being held in an Italian jail pending an investigation to bring charges. Turetta's lawyer has said he admitted to the crime under prosecutors' questioning.
Cecchetin was among 102 women murdered through mid-November this year in Italy, more than half by current or former intimate partners, according to the Interior Ministry.
While Italy has made some progress and passed notable legislation to punish perpetrators of violence against women, courts interpret sex crimes differently and there are uneven, regional disparities in access and funding to shelters and other services for victims of domestic violence, the report said.
"There is an urgent need to combat sexism and prejudice against women among law enforcement, prosecution and judicial authorities, which contribute toward the low prosecution and conviction rates in cases of violence against women and impunity for perpetrators," the report said.
It called for better training of personnel to improve treatment of victims and prevent them from being revictimized.
In it's official response, the Italian government said the report was incomplete and in some cases incorrect, stressing that new prevention initiatives and funding are under way. It also noted provisions of its five-year strategic plan to address gender equality.
Italy ranks 13th in the European Union's Gender Equality Index, under the EU average and the worst score for any major European economy. The index ranks EU countries on certain benchmarks in economic, political, education and health-based criteria. In the criteria of gender equality in the workplace, Italy ranks last altogether.
Motherhood in general and the COVID-19 pandemic in particular have exacerbated the gender gap in the workplace, with 38% of women changing their employment status for family reasons, compared to 12% of men, the report said.
The gender pay gap is also widening, particularly in the private sector where women earn up to 20% and in some cases 24% less than their male counterparts, the report said.
Mijatovic blamed a deeply rooted culture of "entrenched stereotypes" about women, their negative portrayal in media and "sexist hate speech" in public debate as part of the problem. In its response, the Italian government strongly protested the assertion, noting above all the number of women in public office, starting with Premier Giorgia Meloni, Italy's first female head of government.
On sexual and reproductive health, the commissioner lamented that women in Italy have uneven access to abortion, which has been legal since 1978. She cited bureaucratic obstacles, regional disparities and widespread conscientious objection by doctors who refuse to terminate pregnancies. |
# Finland to close again entire border with Russia as reopening of 2 crossing points lures migrants
By **JARI TANNER**
December 14, 2023. 12:53 PM EST
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**HELSINKI (AP)** - Finland's government has decided to seal again, effective Friday, the Nordic country's entire eastern frontier due to a continuing influx of migrants at the two crossing points on the border with Russia that were reopened on a temporary basis early Thursday.
Interior Minister Mari Rantanen told reporters that a decision by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's Cabinet earlier this week to temporarily reopen the southeastern Vaalimaa and Niirala crossing points today was meant as a trial to see whether the migrant "phenomenon" still exists at the border.
The Finnish Border Guard reported that dozens of migrants without proper documentation or visas had arrived at the two checkpoints by late Thursday. The number of migrants was predicted to increase rapidly at Vaalimaa and Niirala checkpoints, prompting the Finnish government's to react quickly and close them as of 8 p.m. Friday until Jan. 14, Rantanen said.
At the end of November, Orpo's government opted to close the entire 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border for at least two weeks over concerns that Moscow was using migrants to destabilize Finland in an alleged act of "hybrid warfare."
Finnish authorities say that nearly 1,000 migrants without proper visas or valid documentation had arrived at the border since August until end-November, with more than 900 of them in November alone. The numbers are much higher than usual.
Finland accuses Russia of deliberately ushering migrants - most of whom are seeking asylum in Finland - to the border zone, which is normally heavily controlled by Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, on the Russian side. The Kremlin has denied that Russia is encouraging migrants to enter Finland and has said that it regrets the Finnish border closures.
There are eight crossing points for passenger and vehicle traffic on the Finland-Russia land border, and one rail checkpoint for cargo trains. As of Friday evening, only the rail checkpoint will remain open between the two countries.
Earlier December, Finnish authorities said the vast majority of the migrants who arrived in November hailed from three countries: Syria, Somalia and Yemen.
Finland, a nation of 5.6 million people, makes up a significant part of NATO's northeastern flank and acts as the European Union's external border in the north. |
# Storm drenches Florida and causes floods in South Carolina as it moves up East Coast
December 17, 2023. 7:27 PM EST
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**GEORGETOWN, S.C. (AP)** - An intense late-year storm barreled up the East Coast on Sunday with heavy rains and strong winds that shattered rainfall records, forced water rescues from flooded streets and washed out holiday celebrations.
Authorities rescued dozens of motorists stranded by floodwaters in South Carolina's waterfront community of Georgetown, Georgetown County spokesperson Jackie Broach said. More than 9 inches (22.9 centimeters) of rain fell in the area situated between Charleston and Myrtle Beach since late Saturday.
"It's not just the areas that we normally see flooding, that are flood-prone," Broach said. "It's areas that we're not really expecting to have flooding issues... It's like a tropical storm, it just happens to be in December."
The tide in Charleston Harbor hit its fourth highest level on record and was "well above the highest tide for a non-tropical system," according to the National Weather Service.
Rising sea levels driven by human-caused climate change mean even relatively weak weather systems can now produce storm surges previously associated with hurricanes, said Meteorologist Jeff Masters, co-founder of the Weather Underground. In South Carolina that's worsened by natural subsidence along the coast.
By 2050, Charleston is expected to see another 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of sea level rise, Masters said.
"In Charleston, this is the sixth time this year already that they've had a major coastal flood. Most of those would not have been major flooding 100 years ago, because the sea level has risen that much," he said.
The storm was forecast to gain strength as it tracked along the Georgia and Carolina coasts, producing heavy rain and gusty winds before sweeping into New England by Monday morning, the weather service said. Wind gusts of 35 mph to 45 mph (56 kph to 72 kph) could bring down trees, especially on saturated ground.
There were numerous road closures in Charleston and across South Carolina's Lowcountry, while stranded cars littered streets.
There were no reports of injuries or deaths in Georgetown County, Broach said. Gusty winds were strong enough to topple some signs and trees. Outdoor holiday decorations were tossed about, she said.
Water rescues also took place on Kiawah and Seabrook islands, according to media outlets.
Charleston International Airport had more than 3 inches (8 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours - almost five times the prior record set in 1975, according to the National Weather Service.
Farther up the coast, minor to moderate coastal flooding was expected Sunday, according to the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, North Carolina.
There were more than 31,000 power outages in South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us, along with over 14,000 in North Carolina and more than 11,000 in Florida.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of a possible 2 to 4 inches (5.1 to 10.2 centimeters) of rain, powerful winds and potential flooding in parts of the state. Flood watches were in effect in many locations in New York City, and high wind warnings were activated around the city and Long Island.
"We will get through this storm, but preparation is the key," New York Mayor Eric Adams said. City officials told residents to expect several hours of rain and possible delays during Monday morning's commute.
Colder air behind the storm will trigger lake-effect snow across the Great Lakes toward the Appalachians and upstate New York into Tuesday, the weather service said.
The storm dumped up to 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) of rain across Florida, inundating streets and forcing the cancellation of boat parades and other holiday celebrations.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and minor flooding advisories for a wide swath of the state, from the southwest Gulf Coast to Jacksonville. Major airports remained open, however, at the start of the busy holiday travel season.
"Today is not the day to go swimming or boating!" Sheriff Carmine Marceno of Lee County, on Florida's southwestern coast, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Coastal advisories were issued for much of Florida as strong winds churned waters in the Gulf and along the north Atlantic coast.
The storm could be good news for residents in southwest Florida who have been facing water restrictions and drought conditions heading into what normally is the region's dry season.
The weather service also warned of 2 to 4 inches (5.1 to 10.2 centimeters) of rain in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, with the heaviest expected late Sunday night, and possible urban and small stream flooding and at least minor flooding to some rivers through Monday.
Forecasters also warned of strong winds in coastal areas, gale-force winds offshore, and moderate coastal flooding along Delaware Bay and widespread minor coastal flooding elsewhere.
The weather service said there is a slight risk of excessive rainfall over parts of New England through Monday morning, with the potential for flash flooding. Northern New England is expected to get the heaviest rain Monday through Tuesday morning. |
# How much gerrymandering is too much? In New York, the answer could make or break Dems' House hopes
By **ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE**
December 17, 2023. 10:37 AM EST
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**ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)** - New York's highest court last week gave Democrats a chance to redraw the state's congressional districts, a major victory as the party tries to win control of the U.S. House next year.
Now the question is how far the state's Democrat-dominated Legislature will try to push the boundaries in crucial battleground districts to give their party an advantage, and how far the courts will let them.
The process will be closely watched for any sign of partisan gerrymandering - drawing lines that give one party an unfair advantage - which is forbidden by state law. And Republicans are expected to challenge the results in court as they try to retain their slim House majority.
But experts say it's unclear where the state's highest court will land on determining what's too partisan.
"There's no hard and fast definition or bright line to define partisan gerrymandering," said New York Law School professor Jeffrey Wice, who focuses on redistricting. "There really is no bright line to know when a plan becomes too much of a partisan gerrymander. That's often based on a panel of experts and the decision of judges."
Part of the uncertainty in New York comes from a decision by the state's highest court last year, when it threw out congressional maps drawn by Democrats that were criticized for oddly shaped lines that crammed the state's Republican voters into a few super districts.
In that ruling, the court focused more on questions over the procedural steps Democrats took to draw the lines and spent only a few paragraphs on whether the districts violated the state's gerrymandering prohibition.
It instead upheld lower court rulings that found "clear evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt that the congressional map was unconstitutionally drawn with political bias" and that "the 2022 congressional map was drawn to discourage competition and favor democrats," based on testimony and analysis of previous maps.
The court then appointed a special master to draw a new set of congressional lines for the last election, which along with strong GOP turnout and dissatisfaction with Democratic policies, led to Republicans flipping seats in the New York City suburbs and winning control of the House.
After the election, Democrats sued to toss the court-drawn maps, arguing that the state's bipartisan redistricting commission should get another chance to draft congressional lines. The court agreed in a decision last week.
The new maps will be first left to the commission, before the Legislature has a chance to approve or alter the lines.
Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor with an extensive background on redistricting and government, said he thinks Democrats might err on the side of caution to avoid another long legal fight before the election.
"My guess is they're going to be more careful," Briffault said. "They certainly would be wise to be more careful and not be too aggressive because they will surely be sued."
Democrats had already targeted the state as a battleground for the House next year. The party has set its sights on six seats it wants to flip in New York, with those potential pickups reversing or even exceeding the expected loss of at least three districts in North Carolina after a Republican gerrymander there.
At the same time, redistricting litigation is ongoing in several other states, including Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, where Democrats are hoping to make gains. Democrats also are expected to gain a seat in Alabama, where districts were revised after federal judges ruled that the original map enacted by Republican state officials had illegally diluted the voting power of Black residents.
"The parties are fighting these battles district by district in courtrooms across the country that are aimed at giving Democrats a better chance at the starting gate," said Wice. "Each court victory counts in a major way."
The New York redistricting commission has been tasked with submitting a map to the state Legislature by Feb 28. But Republicans are already crying foul.
"For all their rhetoric about defending democracy, we see what occurred here in New York," said John Faso, a former congressman who is advising other Republicans on redistricting. "The Democrats don't want to win districts at the polls. They want to win them in the backrooms of Albany." |
# Florida Republican Party suspends chairman and demands his resignation amid rape investigation
By **BRENDAN FARRINGTON**
December 17, 2023. 4:02 PM EST
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**TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)** - The Republican Party of Florida suspended Chairman Christian Ziegler and demanded his resignation during an emergency meeting Sunday, adding to calls by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other top officials for him to step down as police investigate a rape accusation against him.
Ziegler is accused of raping a woman with whom he and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, had a prior consensual sexual relationship, according to police records.
"Christian Ziegler has engaged in conduct that renders him unfit for the office," the party's motion to censure Ziegler said, according to a document posted on the social media platform X by Lee County GOP Chairman Michael Thomason.
Ziegler tried to defend himself during the closed-door meeting, but the party board quickly took the action against him, Thompson said.
"Ziegler on soap box trying to defend himself, not working," Thompson posted before confirming the votes.
The party's executive committee will hold another vote in the future on whether to remove Ziegler.
The Sarasota Police Department is investigating the woman's accusation that Ziegler raped her at her apartment in October. Police documents say the Zieglers and the woman had planned a sexual threesome that day, but Bridget Ziegler was unable to make it. The accuser says Christian Ziegler arrived anyway and assaulted her.
Christian Ziegler has not been charged with a crime and says he is innocent, contending the encounter was consensual.
The accusation also has caused turmoil for Bridget Ziegler, an elected member of the Sarasota School Board, though she is not accused of any crime. On Tuesday the board voted to ask her to resign. She refused.
The couple have been outspoken opponents of LGBTQ+ rights, and their relationship with another woman has sparked criticism and accusations of hypocrisy.
In addition to DeSantis, Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Florida's Republican House and Senate leaders have all called for Christian Ziegler's resignation. |
# An order blocking enforcement of Ohio's abortion ban stands after the high court dismissed an appeal
December 16, 2023. 1:19 PM EST
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**COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)** - The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed the state's challenge to a judge's order that has blocked enforcement of Ohio's near-ban on abortions for the past 14 months.
The ruling moves action in the case back to Hamilton County Common Pleas, where abortion clinics asked Judge Christian Jenkins this week to throw out the law following voters' decision to approve enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
The high court on Friday said the appeal was " dismissed due to a change in the law."
The justices in March agreed to review a county judge's order that blocked enforcement of the abortion restriction and to consider whether clinics had legal standing to challenge the law. They ultimately denied Republican Attorney General Dave Yost's request that they launch their own review of the constitutional right to abortion, leaving such arguments for a lower court.
The clinics asked Jenkins on Thursday to block the abortion ban permanently on the heels of the amendment Ohio voters approved last month that ensures access to abortion and other reproductive health care.
A law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in April 2019 prohibited most abortions after the first detectable "fetal heartbeat." Cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
The ban, initially blocked through a federal legal challenge, briefly went into effect when the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was overturned last year. It was then placed back on hold in county court, as part of a subsequent lawsuit challenging it as unconstitutional under the state constitution.
Yost's office referred to a statement from Dec. 7 that "the state is prepared to acknowledge the will of the people on the issue, but also to carefully review each part of the law for an orderly resolution of the case."
The abortion providers asked the lower court that initially blocked the ban to permanently strike it down. They cited Yost's own legal analysis, circulated before the vote, that stated that passage of the amendment would invalidate the state's six-week ban, stating, "Ohio would no longer have the ability to limit abortions at any time before a fetus is viable." |
# A Black woman was criminally charged after a miscarriage. It shows the perils of pregnancy post-Roe
By **JULIE CARR SMYTH**
December 16, 2023. 1:01 PM EST
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**COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)** - Ohio was in the throes of a bitter debate over abortion rights this fall when Brittany Watts, 21 weeks and 5 days pregnant, began passing thick blood clots.
The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor's office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph's Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.
The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts' water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face "significant risk" of death, according to records of her case.
That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That's a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Her case was sent last month to a grand jury. It has touched off a national firestorm over the treatment of pregnant women, and especially Black women, in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump elevated Watts' plight in a post to X, formerly Twitter, and supporters have donated more than $100,000 through GoFundMe for her legal defense, medical bills and trauma counseling.
Whether abortion-seekers should face criminal charges is a matter of debate within the anti-abortion community, but, post-Dobbs, pregnant women like Watts, who was not even trying to get an abortion, have increasingly found themselves charged with "crimes against their own pregnancies," said Grace Howard, assistant justice studies professor at San José State University.
"Roe was a clear legal roadblock to charging felonies for unintentionally harming pregnancies, when women were legally allowed to end their pregnancies through abortion," she said. "Now that Roe is gone, that roadblock is entirely gone."
Michele Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of "Policing The Womb," said those efforts have long overwhelmingly targeted Black and brown women.
Even before Roe was overturned, studies show that Black women who visited hospitals for prenatal care were 10 times more likely than white women to have child protective services and law enforcement called on them, even when their cases were similar, she said.
"Post-Dobbs, what we see is kind of a wild, wild West," said Goodwin. "You see this kind of muscle-flexing by district attorneys and prosecutors wanting to show that they are going to be vigilant, they're going to take down women who violate the ethos coming out of the state's legislature." She called Black women "canaries in the coal mine" for the "hyper-vigilant type of policing" women of all races might expect from the nation's network of health-care providers, law enforcers and courts now that abortion isn't federally protected.
In Texas, for example, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton mounted an aggressive and successful defense against a white Texas mother, Kate Cox, who sued for permission to skirt the state's restrictive abortion law because her fetus had a fatal condition.
At the time of Watts' miscarriage, abortion was legal in Ohio through 21 weeks, six days of pregnancy. Her lawyer, Traci Timko, said Watts left the hospital on the Wednesday when, coincidentally, her pregnancy arrived at that date - after sitting for eight hours awaiting care.
It turned out the delay was because hospital officials were deliberating over the legalities, Timko said. "It was the fear of, is this going to constitute an abortion and are we able to do that," she said.
At the time, vigorous campaigning was taking place across Ohio over Issue 1, a proposed amendment to enshrine a right to abortion in Ohio's constitution. Some of the ads were harshly attacking abortions later in pregnancy, with opponents arguing the issue would allow the return of so-called "partial-birth abortions" and pregnancy terminations "until birth."
The hospital did not return calls seeking confirmation and comment, but B. Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, said Mercy Health-St. Joseph's was in a bind.
"These are the razor's edge decisions that health care providers are being forced to make," she said. "And all the incentives are pushing hospitals to be conservative, because on the other side of this is criminal liability. That's the impact of Dobbs."
Watts had been admitted to the Catholic hospital twice that week with vaginal bleeding, but she left without being treated. A nurse told the 911 dispatcher that Watts returned no longer pregnant on that Friday. She said Watts told her, "the baby's in her backyard in a bucket," and that she didn't want to have a child.
Timko said Watts insists she doesn't recall saying the pregnancy was unwanted; it was unintended, but she had always wanted to give her mother a grandchild. Her lawyer believes Watts may have meant that she didn't want to fish what she knew was a dead fetus from the bucket of blood, tissue and feces that she'd scooped from her overflowing toilet.
"This 33-year-old girl with no criminal record is demonized for something that goes on every day," she told Warren Municipal Court Judge Terry Ivanchak during Watts' recent preliminary hearing.
Warren Assistant Prosecutor Lewis Guarnieri told Ivanchak that Watts left home for a hair appointment after miscarrying, leaving the toilet clogged. Police would later find the fetus wedged in the pipes.
"The issue isn't how the child died, when the child died," Guarnieri told the judge, according to TV station WKBN. "It's the fact the baby was put into a toilet, was large enough to clog up the toilet, left in that toilet, and she went on (with) her day."
In court, Timko bristled at Guarnieri's suggestion.
"You cannot be broadcasting any clearer that you just don't get it," she said in an interview, suggesting Watts was scared, anxious and traumatized by the experience. "She's trying to protect Mama. She doesn't want to get her hair done. She wants to stop bleeding like crazy and start grieving her fetus, what she's just been through."
As chief counsel to the county's child assault protection unit, Assistant Trumbull County Prosecutor Diane Barber is the lead prosecutor on Watts' case.
Barber said she couldn't speak specifically about the case other than to note that the county was compelled to move forward with it once it was bound over from municipal court. She said she doesn't expect a grand jury finding this month.
"About 20% of the cases get no-billed, (as in) they do not get indicted and the case does not proceed," she said.
The size and stage of development of Watts' fetus - precisely the point when abortion crossed from legal to illegal in most cases - became an issue during her preliminary hearing.
A county forensic investigator reported feeling "what appeared to be a small foot with toes" inside Watts' toilet. Police seized the toilet and broke it apart to retrieve the intact fetus as evidence.
Testimony and an autopsy confirmed that the fetus died in utero before passing through the birth canal. In regard to abuse, the examination identified "no recent injuries."
Ivanchak acknowledged the case's complexities.
"There are better scholars than I am to determine the exact legal status of this fetus, corpse, body, birthing tissue, whatever it is," he said from the bench. "Matter of fact, I'm assuming that's what ... Issue 1's all about: at what point something becomes viable."
Timko, a former prosecutor, said Ohio's abuse-of-corpse statute is vague. It prohibits treating "a human corpse" in a way that would "outrage" reasonable family or community sensibilities.
"From a legal perspective, there's no definition of 'corpse,'" she said. "Can you be a corpse if you never took a breath?"
Howard said clarity on what about Watts' behavior constituted a crime is essential.
"For rights of people with the capacity for pregnancy, this is huge," she said. "Her miscarriage was entirely ordinary. So I just want to know what (the prosecutor) thinks she should have done. If we are going to require people to collect and bring used menstrual products to hospitals so that they can make sure it is indeed a miscarriage, it's as ridiculous and invasive as it is cruel." |
# Hypothetical situations or real-life medical tragedies? A judge weighs an Idaho abortion ban lawsuit
By **REBECCA BOONE**
December 14, 2023. 8:10 PM EST
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**BOISE, Idaho (AP)** - An attorney for Idaho asked a judge on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit seeking clarity about the medical exemptions to the state's broad abortion bans, saying it was based on hypothetical situations rather than current facts.
But an attorney for the four women and several physicians who sued says their claims aren't hypothetical at all, but real-life tragedies happening in doctors' offices and homes across the state.
Similar lawsuits are playing out around the nation, with some of them, like Idaho's, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of doctors and pregnant people who were denied access to abortions while facing serious pregnancy complications.
"The physicians go to work every day not knowing if they will be able to provide the necessary care to their patients," Marc Hearron, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told 4th District Judge Jason Scott.
The women and doctors suing aren't asking the court to recognize a right to abortion in the state constitution, Hearron said. Instead, they want the judge to find that pregnant people are entitled to the fundamental rights that are specifically listed in the Idaho Constitution - including the right to enjoy and defend their own life and the right to secure their own safety.
James Craig, a division chief with the Idaho Attorney General's office, told the judge that the Idaho Supreme Court has already upheld the state's abortion bans. That should make the ruling in this case easy, Craig said, urging the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
The four women named in the case were all denied abortions in Idaho after learning they were pregnant with fetuses that were unlikely to go to term or survive birth, and that the pregnancies also put them at risk of serious medical complications. All four traveled to Oregon or Washington for the procedures.
Craig suggested that since they were no longer facing the pregnancy complications, they should be challenging the state's law in the Legislature, not the courts. The possibility of similar problems happening again is hypothetical, he said, and hypothetical situations don't meet the legal standard needed for this kind of lawsuit.
"They're representing hypothetical fact - hypothetical future scenarios - and asking the court to rule," Craig said. "In that respect, no, they don't have the right to a declaratory judgement."
The judge said he would likely rule on the motion to dismiss next month.
Jennifer Adkins, one of the plaintiffs, said afterward it was infuriating to be dismissed as a "hypothetical."
"It's easier for them to pretend that we don't exist, to ignore the trauma and tragedy that we have been through as a family," she said of the state's attorneys and officials.
The hypothetical became real for Adkins in April. She and her husband John were thrilled to welcome a second baby when she found out she was pregnant just after Valentine's Day. But during a routine 12-week ultrasound, their joy came crashing down. Their baby had a rare condition called Turner syndrome, making survival until birth highly unlikely.
Adkins' doctors also told her the pregnancy put her at risk of developing mirror syndrome, a rare and potentially life-threatening obstetric disorder.
"I remember thinking, 'The other shoe has dropped. Here we are, and it's happening to me of all people,'" Adkins said.
The couple decided an abortion was necessary to protect Adkins' health and their family. The next several days were spent securing an appointment in Portland, Oregon, and trying to figure out how to cover the cost of flights, a hotel and the procedure itself - knowing covering the full price tag would mean they couldn't pay their mortgage.
"I'm a sixth generation Idahoan. I want to stay here," said her husband John Adkins. "But it makes you question whether or not the state will allow you to, because we had to flee in order to be safe. When we left for Oregon, we felt like we were criminals."
Adkins and the other three women suing the state have become the public faces of what some medical professionals say is an increasingly common tragedy in Idaho: Patients with high-risk pregnancies and fetuses that are dying or severely ill, forced to choose between carrying to term or leaving the state for an abortion.
"We find joy every day in raising our son, but we still have this tragedy in our family and this loss of a baby that we really wanted," she said. "We should be preparing to have Christmas with our newborn baby right now, and we're not."
John Adkins is angry at the lawmakers and state leaders who passed the abortion bans, and said he believes they all knew the laws were putting some families at risk.
"We are casualties that they're comfortable with," he said. "To allow them to have this fig leaf of hypotheticals and all that nonsense? They know what they're doing."
Lawmakers passed one of the abortion bans as a trigger law in March of 2020, when most of the physicians in the state were focused on the pandemic that had just begun sweeping through Idaho. At the time, any suggestion that the ban could harm pregnant people was quickly brushed off by the bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Todd Lakey, who said during one debate that the health of the mother "weighs less, yes, than the life of the child."
The trigger ban took effect in 2022 shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, Idaho's roster of obstetricians and other pregnancy-related specialists has been shrinking.
Of the nine maternal fetal medicine specialists practicing in Idaho before the bans, four have already left the state and another intends to retire at the end of 2023, according to the lawsuit. Two rural Idaho hospitals have closed their labor-and-delivery centers, with one directly attributing the closure to physicians' resignations over Idaho's restrictive abortion bans.
"The health care system is being quite disrupted," said Dr. Julie Lyons, a family physician and one of the doctors bringing the lawsuit. "It happens in my clinic, where there is fear among the nurses I work with about treating an ectopic pregnancy even though treating an ectopic is legal. But nobody believes that."
Now it takes longer for patients to get treated, Lyons said, and medical costs are increasing because everyone is worried about being prosecuted.
"We're over-ordering tests, over-ordering ultrasounds to try to protect ourselves," Lyons said. "We don't want to have any possible way that a doctor could be scrutinized and sent to jail." |
# Why have thousands of United Methodist churches in the US quit the denomination?
By **Associated Press**
December 15, 2023. 8:02 PM EST
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The United Methodist Church has been undergoing a major upheaval as more than 7,000 congregations across the country, one quarter of the total, decided whether to leave the denomination or remain United Methodist. This splintering resulted from a long-simmering debate over theological differences and the role of LGBTQ people in the church.
## WHY IS THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH SPLINTERING?
For decades, the denomination has been mired in intractable debates over theology and the role of LGBTQ people in the church. The UMC bans same-sex marriage and openly LGBTQ clergy.
But amid increased defiance of those bans in many U.S. churches, several conservatives decided to launch the separate Global Methodist Church. Progressives who remain in the UMC are expected to advocate for removing the bans at the denomination's next General Conference, in the spring of 2024.
## WHEN DID CONGREGATIONS START LEAVING?
The departures began in 2019 but ramped up during this year's just-completed round of regular and special meetings of the denomination's annual conferences, or regional governing bodies.
## WHAT TRIGGERED THE START OF THE CHURCH DEPARTURES?
In 2019, a special legislative General Conference voted to tighten United Methodist rules banning same-sex marriage and ordaining LGBTQ clergy. It also gave a five-year window for churches to leave with their property after making some payments. Conservative churches ended up departing in large numbers because they saw the UMC as not enforcing its own rules.
## WHICH CHURCHES ARE LEAVING?
Some regional conferences have lost hundreds of churches, including large ones. The issue isn't only dividing conferences. In some cases, the divisions go right through the pews of individual churches, separating Methodists who have long worshipped together.
## WHERE ARE THEY GOING?
Many departing congregations are joining the Global Methodist Church, a conservative denomination that launched more than a year ago. Others are joining smaller denominations, going independent or weighing their options. Other churches in Europe and Africa are also joining the GMC. |
# One fourth of United Methodist churches in US have left in schism over LGBTQ ban. What happens now?
By **PETER SMITH**
December 15, 2023. 5:55 PM EST
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A quarter of U.S. congregations in the United Methodist Church have received permission to leave the denomination during a five-year window, closing this month, that authorized departures for congregations over disputes involving the church's LGBTQ-related policies.
This year alone, 5,641 congregations received permission from their regional conferences to leave the denomination as of Thursday, according to an unofficial tally by United Methodist News. In total, 7,658 have received permission since 2019. Thursday marked the last scheduled regional vote, according to the news service, when the Texas Annual Conference authorized four congregations' departures.
The vast major are conservative-leaning churches responding to what they see as the United Methodists' failure to enforce bans on same-sex marriage and the ordaining of openly LGBTQ persons.
The new year is expected to bring more changes.
The first denomination-wide legislative gathering in eight years, slated for spring 2024, will consider calls to liberalize policies on marriage and ordination. It will also debate rival proposals, either to decentralize the international church - which has at least as many members outside the United States as in - or provide overseas congregations with the same exit option their U.S. counterparts had.
The schism marks a historic shift in a denomination that was until recently the third largest in the United States, and perhaps the closest to the mainstream of American religious culture - its steeples prominent in rural crossroads and urban squares, scenes of countless potluck suppers, earnest social outreach, and warm yet decorous worship.
Many departing congregations have joined the more conservative Global Methodist Church, with others joining smaller denominations, going independent or still considering their options.
United Methodist rules forbid same-sex marriage rites and the ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," but progressive Methodist churches and regional governing bodies in the U.S. have increasingly been defying these rules.
Conservatives have mobilized like-minded congregations to exit. The Global Methodist Church has declared its intention to enforce such rules.
"We are sad about losing anybody," said New York Area Bishop Thomas Bickerton, president of the United Methodists' Council of Bishops. "There's also - at the end of the year - grief and trauma, parishioners that have said goodbye to friends, pastors who have had relationships over the years that have ended."
He depicted the debates in the church as difficult, and said some who urged churches to disaffiliate used "falsehoods."
"This whole disaffiliation process has in large measure not been about human sexuality, it's been about power, control and money. That's surprising and disappointing," Bickerton said. "It's time for this denomination to pivot" to focusing on mission rather than disaffiliation votes.
The United Methodists reported having 30,543 U.S. churches as of 2019 and 6 million U.S. members as of 2021. It had at least one church in 95% of U.S. counties, more than any other religious group, according to the 2020 Religion Census, produced by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
There's no immediate estimate on how many individual members are leaving the UMC, since some members of departing congregations are joining other UMC churches, but the departing churches include some of the largest in their states. UMC officials are already preparing historic budget cuts to denominational agencies in anticipation of lower revenue from fewer churches.
The UMC also reports having 7 million members overseas as of 2019, the majority in Africa, where more conservative sexual mores are common.
In 2019, a special legislative gathering of Methodists voted to strengthen longstanding bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination. The votes came from a coalition of conservatives in the U.S. and overseas, particularly from fast-growing African churches. At the same time, that conference offered a five-year window for U.S. churches to leave under somewhat favorable terms, such as being able to keep their properties while compensating the denomination for certain costs.
That measure was expected to be used by progressive congregations dissenting with the letter of the church law, and a handful did take the church up on its offer. But in the end, the vast majority of departing congregations reflect conservative dismay over what they saw as the denomination's failure to discipline those defying church law, as well as other liberal trends.
In the legislative General Conference, scheduled for April and May in Charlotte, North Carolina, efforts to lift bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination are expected to have a strong chance, given the departure of many conservative votes.
The delegates will also consider a decentralization plan favored by progressives - which, among other things, would enable U.S. and overseas churches to set separate standards for ordination and marriage - and another sought by conservatives enabling overseas churches to leave under the same provisions that U.S. churches had.
The Rev. Keith Boyette, who is the Global Methodist Church's top executive, said it has registered about 4,100 U.S. churches so far - former UMC churches as well as new ones organized by former United Methodists whose congregations voted to stay in the UMC. It has been organizing in other countries where United Methodist churches or individuals left that denomination, he said, such as Bulgaria, Slovakia, Kenya, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It's unclear how many U.S. churches are going independent, but "the fact that so many churches have aligned indicates their commitment to wanting to be part of a connectional system," Boyette said.
The Rev. Scott Field, president of the conservative Wesleyan Covenant Association, which has advocated for churches leaving the UMC, said congregations' experiences varied in regional conferences, depending on what financial and other conditions they have required of churches. "It's been punitive in some and it's worked seamlessly in others," he said.
Under the slogan, "Fair for some, fair for all," the group will be advocating for overseas churches to have the same option to leave.
Field predicted "an African wave" of churches seeking to leave.
Several African bishops, however, issued a statement in 2022 denouncing efforts to get churches to leave as false and destructive.
Field also predicted many U.S. churches, despite missing the 2023 deadline, may try to exit under other church law provisions.
"We'd like every congregation, whether it's a liberationist church or a solidly evangelical church, to end up where they'd like to be," Field said. "It makes no sense for our United Methodist Church to attempt locking the gate."
Jan Lawrence, executive director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, said the personal toll of the schism is deep.
She knew members of a church that had an acrimonious break after it chose to disaffiliate. "It really broke relationships," she said.
She expressed hope that the 2024 General Conference will open ordination and marriage rites to LGBTQ persons - realizing a decades-long goal for the network.
"Those churches that are disaffiliating and joining the Global Methodist Church, I hope they find what they're looking for and they're able to thrive as a new denomination," she said. "I don't know anyone that doesn't want everybody to live into what they believe God is calling them to do."
Bickerton said he particularly laments the departure of many churches that are longtime, rural-area fixtures.
"When Methodism came to the United States, it went to where the people were. It was carried in the saddlebags of the circuit riders," he said.
A return to informal ministry may be needed to maintain a presence in many regions, he said.
"The hallmarks of United Methodism is a theology based on grace, hope, joy, love and justice," he said. "Where do we send people strategically so that message can be heard?" |
# Ohio Senate clears ban on gender-affirming care for minors, transgender athletes in girls sports
By **SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON**
December 13, 2023. 6:51 PM EST
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**COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)** - A Republican-backed proposal that would drastically affect how LGBTQ youth in Ohio live their everyday lives cleared the state Senate on Wednesday, despite adamant opposition from parents, medical providers and education professionals who call it cruel and potentially life threatening.
State senators, by a vote of 24-8, approved a multifaceted bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors and block transgender student athletes from participating in girls and women's sports. A lone Republican, Sen. Nathan Manning of Northeast Ohio, joined Democrats in a "no" vote.
The GOP-dominated House agreed to some Senate-made changes to the bill Wednesday evening and sent the measure to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's desk for final approval. DeWine has not said whether he will sign it. He previously had expressed doubts about the sports restrictions, saying such decisions were best made by individual sports organizations.
DeWine's spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said the governor's office would not comment on the legislation until it has thoroughly reviewed it.
Under the legislation, minors in Ohio would be prohibited from taking puberty blockers and undergoing other hormone therapies or receiving gender reassignment surgery that would further align them with their gender identity.
An amendment added this week changes a provision that would have forced children receiving gender affirming care to stop treatment or leave the state to obtain it. The latest version of the bill allows for any minor who is an Ohio resident currently receiving care to see that care through.
Since 2021, more than 20 states have enacted laws restricting or banning such treatments, despite the fact that they have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations. Most of these states face lawsuits, but courts have issued mixed rulings.
The nation's first law, in Arkansas, was struck down by a federal judge who said the ban on care violated the due process rights of transgender youth and their families. Courts have blocked enforcement in three states while such legislation is currently allowed or set to go into effect soon in seven other states.
The proposal also would require public K-12 schools and universities to designate separate teams for male and female sexes, and would explicitly ban transgender girls and women from participating in girls and women's sports.
At least 20 states have passed some version of a ban on transgender athletes playing on K-12 and collegiate sports teams statewide. Those bans would be upended by a regulation proposed by President Joe Biden's administration that is set to be finalized early next year. The rule, announced in April, states that blanket bans violateTitle IX, the landmark federal gender-equity legislation enacted in 1972.
The proposal would make it more difficult for schools to ban, for example, a transgender girl in elementary school from playing on a girls basketball team. But it would also leave room for schools to develop policies that prohibit trans athletes from playing on more competitive teams if those policies are designed to ensure fairness or prevent sports-related injuries.
Supporters say Ohio's transgender care measure is about protecting children because they cannot provide "informed consent" for gender-affirming care and could be pushed into making choices that they regret later in life. They say banning transgender athletes from girls and women's sports maintains the integrity of those sports and ensures fairness.
Hundreds of opponents have testified against the bill, including medical and mental health providers, education professionals, faith leaders, parents of transgender children and transgender individuals themselves. They decry the legislation as cruel, life threatening to transgender youth and based on fearmongering rather than scientific fact.
Parents also say the bill obliterates their rights and ability to make informed health care decisions for their transgender children.
But Senate President Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, said Wednesday that passing the law would be akin to backing measures that prevent parents from giving their children illicit drugs or physically abusing them.
"Certainly the parents are the most important decision-maker in a child's life. But there are things where it's important for the state to step in and protect the child," Huffman said.
But Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, a Toledo Democrat, argued that the measure will only hurt transgender youth.
"We understand that our young people have so many different types of trials and trauma that they have to deal with. And unfortunately, this legislature is going to add an additional trauma to that," Hicks-Hudson said in a committee hearing earlier Wednesday. |
# The Supreme Court rejects an appeal over bans on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children
December 11, 2023. 10:24 AM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - The Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a case about whether state and local governments can enforce laws banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ children.
Over the dissent of three conservative justices, the court turned away an appeal from Washington, where the law has been upheld. An appellate panel struck down local bans in Florida as an unconstitutional restriction on counselors' speech.
The high court often steps in when appellate courts disagree, and in separate opinions Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said that standard was easily met in the controversy over conversion therapy bans.
Thomas wrote that his colleague should have taken up the Washington case because "licensed counselors cannot voice anything other than the state-approved opinion on minors with gender dysphoria without facing punishment."
Justice Brett Kavanaugh also voted to hear the case. It takes four of the nine justices to set a case for arguments.
The court's decision to avoid the case from Washington comes as efforts to limit the rights of LGBTQ+ kids have spread across the country.
About half the states prohibit the practice of trying to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling.
A family counselor in Washington, Brian Tingley, sued over a 2018 state law that threatens therapists who engage in conversion therapy with a loss of their license. Tingley claims the law violates his speech rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it in a split decision.
The Supreme Court had previously turned away several challenges to state bans, but those cases reached the court before a 5-4 decision in 2018 in which the justices ruled that California could not force state-licensed anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion.
Since the 2018 ruling, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has voided the local Florida bans. |
# Alex Jones offers to pay Newtown families at least $55 million over school shooting hoax conspiracy
By **DAVE COLLINS**
December 16, 2023. 11:26 AM EST
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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' latest bankruptcy plan would pay Sandy Hook families a minimum total of $55 million over 10 years, a fraction of the $1.5 billion awarded to the relatives in lawsuits against Jones for calling the 2012 Newtown school shooting a hoax.
The families, meanwhile, have filed their own proposal seeking to liquidate nearly all of Jones' assets, including his media company Free Speech Systems, and give the proceeds to them and other creditors.
The dueling plans, filed late Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, will be debated and challenged over the next two months, with hearings scheduled for February that will result in a final order saying how much Jones will have to pay out.
Jones and Free Speech Systems, based in Austin, Texas, both filed for bankruptcy last year as the families were awarded more than $1.4 billion in a Connecticut lawsuit and another $50 million in a Texas lawsuit. A third trial is pending in Texas in a similar lawsuit over Jones' hoax conspiracy filed by the parents of another child killed in the school shooting.
The new bankruptcy filings came a day after the 11th anniversary of a gunman's killing of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.
Relatives of some of the victims sued Jones in Connecticut for defamation and infliction of emotional distress for claiming the school shooting never happened and was staged by "crisis actors" in a plot to increase gun control.
Eight victims' relatives and an FBI agent testified during a monthlong trial in late 2022 about being threatened and harassed for years by people who deny the shooting happened. Strangers showed up at some of their homes and confronted some of them in public. People hurled abusive comments at them on social media and in emails. Some received death and rape threats.
Jones' lawyers did not immediately respond to email messages Saturday.
Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said Jones' proposal "falls woefully short" of providing everything the families are entitled to under bankruptcy laws.
"The families' plan is the only feasible path for ensuring that Jones' assets are quickly distributed to those he has harassed for more than a decade," Mattei said in a statement Saturday.
Jones' new proposal to settle with the families for at least $5.5 million a year for 10 years doesn't appear to offer much more than what Free Speech Systems offered them in its bankruptcy case last month. He also would give them percentages of his income streams.
Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Jones' Infowars show, proposed to pay creditors about $4 million a year, down from an estimate earlier this year of $7 million to $10 million annually.
The company said it expected to make about $19.2 million next year from selling the dietary supplements, clothing and other merchandise Jones promotes on his shows, while operating expenses including salaries would total about $14.3 million.
Personally, Jones listed about $13 million in total assets in recent financial statements filed with the bankruptcy court, including about $856,000 in various bank accounts. A judge recently gave Jones approval to sell some of his assets, including guns, vehicles and jewelry to raise money for creditors.
The families' plan would set up a trust that would liquidate nearly all of Jones' assets, except his primary home and other holdings considered exempt from sale under bankruptcy laws. The trust would have sweeping powers, including authority to recoup money that Jones has paid and given others if those transfers were not allowed by law.
The families have been complaining about Jones' personal spending, which topped $90,000 a month this year. They also have another pending lawsuit claiming Jones hid millions of dollars in an attempt to protect his wealth. One of Jones' lawyers has called the allegations "ridiculous."
Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in lawsuit awards to the families and has insisted his comments about the shooting were protected by free speech rights. |
# A review defends police action before the Maine mass shooting. Legal experts say questions persist
By **PATRICK WHITTLE** and **DAVID SHARP**
December 15, 2023. 7:42 PM EST
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**PORTLAND, Maine (AP)** - An independent report conducted for a police agency clears the agency's response to growing concerns about the mental health of a man who later went on to commit the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history, but it does reveal missed opportunities to intervene to prevent the tragedy, legal experts said Friday.
Despite receiving warnings about the man's deteriorating mental health, drunken threats and possession of guns, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office avoided confronting Robert Card, the 40-year-old Army reservist who later killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar on Oct. 25 in Lewiston, the experts said of the report released late Thursday by Sheriff Joel Merry.
Card's body was found - with a self-inflicted gunshot wound - two days after the shootings. Reports soon began to emerge that he had spent two weeks in a psychiatric hospital months before the attacks and had amassed weapons.
The legal experts told The Associated Press that the report - prepared for the sheriff's office by a lawyer who's a retired federal drug agent- leaves unresolved questions about police's potential ability to have removed guns from Card before the shootings happened.
The report delved into mental health concerns raised about Card. It states that the response to those concerns by the department's officers "was reasonable under the totality of the circumstances" at the time. In a statement, Merry said the review "found that responding deputies followed the law and their training with the information available at the time."
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has appointed an independent commission led by a former state chief justice to review all aspects of the tragedy. And Maine's congressional delegation said Friday there will be an independent Army inspector general's investigation to review the Army's actions, alongside an ongoing administrative Army investigation.
The Sagadahoc report makes clear that local law enforcement knew Card's mental health was deteriorating, with reports that he was paranoid, hearing voices, experiencing psychotic episodes and possibly dealing with schizophrenia.
In May, Card's ex-wife and his son reached out to a school resource officer about what they called Card's erratic behavior. A deputy worked with the family to get help and heeded its suggestion not to confront Card directly for fear that it could cause an unnecessary escalation, the report states.
In September, police were alerted by officials with the Army Reserves about Card, who was hospitalized in July after exhibiting erratic behavior while training. The officials warned that Card still had access to weapons and that he had threatened to "shoot up" an Army Reserve center in Saco, the report said.
That caught the full attention of police, who responded by briefly staking out the Saco facility and going to Card's home in Bowdoin, Maine, even as an Army Reserve leader suggested that all that was needed was a "welfare check."
A visit to Card's home by Sagadahoc Sgt. Aaron Skolfield on Sept. 16 represented the best opportunity for police to assess Card face-to-face - something that could have been necessary to take him into protective custody, a step needed to trigger Maine's "yellow flag" law, which allows a judge to temporarily remove someone's guns during a psychiatric health crisis.
Skolfield called for backup, knowing Card was considered armed and dangerous, and knocked on Card's door. The deputy saw curtains move and heard noises suggesting Card was inside. But Card did not answer the door, and Skolfield correctly concluded he lacked the legal authority to force the issue during a wellness check, the report said.
Worried for his own safety, Skolfield went back to his cruiser, visited the nearby home of Card's father and then returned to stake out Card's home before leaving to respond to a domestic assault, the report said.
All that day, Skolfield was in contact with other law officers, Army officials and family members about Card's mental health and to ensure that family members were trying to prevent Card's access to guns.
The report concluded that Skolfield "did not have sufficient grounds to take Mr. Card into protective custody, which also foreclosed his discretion to initiate the process for confiscation of Mr. Card's firearms."
No family member or reservist contacted the sheriff's office after Sept. 17, and a sheriff's advisory bulletin asking agencies to locate Card was lifted on Oct. 18.
The report's conclusion that the officers' actions were reasonable is subject to interpretation, said Adanté Pointer, a civil rights attorney based in Oakland, California, who reviewed the report. What it makes clear is that local law enforcement had numerous opportunities to intercede in "this growing, escalating and ultimately deadly situation" and did not, Pointer said.
The report paints a picture of officers who were "scared" to deal with Card, Pointer said.
There was already enough evidence back in May to begin the process of seizing Card's weapons under the yellow flag law, said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and current president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles who reviewed the report.
"A different approach to policing, or a different set of laws, might have saved a lot of lives," Rahmani said.
Prepared by Michael Cunniff, a Portland attorney who is a former supervisory special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the report also addressed protective custody of those in crisis, the yellow flag law and the temporary seizure of guns.
Cunniff declined comment Friday. Sheriff Merry didn't immediately respond to questions, including how the report was commissioned and who funded it.
Merry did say his office is cooperating with all investigations. |
# Michigan State reaches settlements with families of students slain in mass shooting
December 15, 2023. 1:12 PM EST
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**EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP)* - Michigan State University trustees have approved settlements with the families of three students slain during a mass shooting earlier this year on the school's campus.
Trustees voted unanimously Friday to approve separate claims with the families of Brian Fraser, Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner.
The school did not release the amounts of the settlements, but an attorney for Verner's family told reporters the family will receive $5 million from Michigan State.
"While no amount of compensation can ever replace the loss of a life, we do hope this brings some closure, support and relief to these impacted families," Trustee David Kelly said. "The university gives its deepest condolences to each of the three families, and we are committed to ensuring the memory of their child in not forgotten in the Spartan community."
Anderson, Verner and Fraser were fatally shot and five other students were wounded Feb. 13 when Anthony McRae opened fire at Berkey Hall and the MSU Union.
McRae had no connection to the victims or the university, investigators have said. He killed himself the night of the shootings after police confronted him. Investigators said in April they were unable to determine any conclusive motive for the campus shootings.
"The Verner family did not seek to blame MSU for the death of their daughter," family attorney David Femminineo said in a statement. "Instead, the Verner family has sought answers as to how this could be prevented in the future."
Kelly said Michigan State "remains committed to enhancing safety on campus and providing mental health support to our community as we continue to heal." |
# Mother of 6-year-old who shot teacher in Virginia gets 2 years in prison for child neglect
By **BEN FINLEY** and **DENISE LAVOIE**
December 15, 2023. 6:12 PM EST
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**NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP)** - The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his teacher in a Virginia classroom was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for felony child neglect by a judge who chastised her for abdicating her responsibilities as a parent.
Deja Taylor's sentence was much harsher than the maximum six months prosecutors had agreed to recommend as part of a plea deal and also surpassed the high end of advisory state sentencing guidelines. Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty to a single count of felony neglect in August. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm.
Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile said the sentencing guidelines did not take into account the shooting's physical and psychological toll on first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner or the emotional trauma it has wrought on other students and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.
Zwerner was critically injured when the boy fired a single shot at her, striking her hand and chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. She spent weeks in the hospital, had five surgeries, and says she is so mentally scarred by the shooting that she does not plan to return to teaching.
Papile noted that "we are lucky" someone wasn't killed at the elementary school. In admonishing Taylor, the judge said a parent's ultimately responsibility is to "protect the child, to keep them from bad influences, to keep them from dangerous situations, to keep them healthy and nurtured. Ms. Taylor has abdicated most, if not all, of those responsibilities."
The state sentence handed down Friday was the second time Taylor was held to account for the classroom shooting in January, which stunned the nation and shook this military shipbuilding city.
Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. Her state sentence will be served consecutively, making a combined state and federal sentence of nearly four years behind bars.
Taylor's son told authorities he got his mother's 9 mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom's purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting Zwerner in front of her first-grade class.
Moments later, the boy told a reading specialist who restrained him, "I shot that (expletive) dead," and "I got my mom's gun last night," according to search warrants.
Taylor initially told police she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.
Following the shooting, the boy was removed from his mother's custody and spent 227 days in inpatient treatment, during which he was attended to by a team of physicians, psychiatrists and other clinicians, prosecutor Travis White told the judge. The boy, now 7, had problems with "basic socialization" and suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and insomnia, among other disorders.
"That is the depths of neglect that Deja Taylor inflicted on her child," the prosecutor said, calling the shooting "a consequence and manifestation of that neglect."
The boy now lives with his great-grandfather, Calvin Taylor, who told reporters after the hearing that he believes the sentence handed down by Papile is "excessive." He said Deja Taylor tried to get help for her son before the shooting but child protective services did not follow through on her request.
The elder Taylor said the boy is now doing well in a structured environment. The child told him that he wanted "Santa to bring his mom home for Christmas."
Deja Taylor did not speak during Friday's hearing. Her attorney, James Ellenson, said Taylor struggled with addiction and domestic violence. He said Taylor, 26, smoked marijuana "all day, every day" since age 15.
"Who knows what the effects were on that teenage brain?" he said.
Ellenson said earlier this year there were " mitigating circumstances," including Taylor's miscarriages and postpartum depression. She also has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition sharing symptoms with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to court documents.
Taylor told ABC's "Good Morning America" in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.
"That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can't take responsibility for himself," Taylor said.
During her sentencing in federal court last month, one of Taylor's attorneys read aloud a brief statement in which Taylor said she would feel remorse "for the rest of my life."
Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun at school the day of the shooting.
During the sentencing hearing Friday, Zwerner recounted the shooting, telling the judge: "I was not sure whether it would be my final moment on earth."
She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and has difficulty sleeping.
"The shooting has instilled many fears in me that will remain forever," she said.
She said she will not return to teaching because she's now afraid to work with children.
"Now, at 26 years old, what am I supposed to do?" she said. "My life will never be close to the same again." |
# Latino Democrats shift from quiet concern to open opposition to Biden's concessions in border talks
By **STEPHEN GROVES**, **LISA MASCARO**, and **REBECCA SANTANA**
December 16, 2023. 6:38 PM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Prominent Latinos in Congress looked on quietly, at first, privately raising concerns with the Biden administration over the direction of border security talks.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was on the phone constantly with administration officials questioning why the Senate negotiations did not include any meaningful consideration of providing pathways to citizenship for longtime immigrants lacking the proper legal documents.
New Mexico Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Luján made similar arguments as he tried to get meetings with top-level White House officials.
But when the talks didn't seem to make enough difference, the influential lawmakers started leading the open opposition.
"A return to Trump-era policies is not the fix," Padilla said. "In fact, it will make the problem worse."
Padilla even pulled President Joe Biden aside at a fundraiser last weekend in California to warn him "to be careful" of being dragged into "harmful policy."
The Latino senators have found themselves on shifting ground in the debate over immigration as the Democratic president, who is reaching for a border deal as part of his $110 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs, has tried to reduce the historic numbers of people arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico.
The negotiations, which intensified Saturday at the Capitol as bargainers race to draft a framework by this weekend, come as the Biden administration has increasingly endured criticism over its handling of border and immigration issues - not just from Republicans, but from members of the president's own party as well. Democratic cities and states have been vocal about the financial toll that they say migrants have been taking on their resources.
But left off the table in the talks are pro-immigration changes, such as granting permanent legal status to thousands of immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, often referred to as "Dreamers," based on the DREAM Act that would have provided similar protections for young immigrants but was never approved.
A few days after his conversation with the president, Padilla, Luján and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., aired their concerns prominently at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus news conference in front of the Capitol.
They slammed Senate Republicans for demanding the border policy changes in exchange for Ukraine aid, and they criticized Biden for making concessions that they say ultimately undermine the United States' standing as a country that welcomes immigrants.
Padilla said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has promised him and several other senators to allow them to see proposals before there is a final agreement. But Latino lawmakers have largely been left outside the core negotiating group.
On Saturday, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients spoke on a call with the Hispanic Caucus, and several lawmakers raised concerns, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the situation.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who had been engaged in talks at the Capitol, also joined the call.
Biden is facing pressure from all sides. He has been criticized about the record numbers of migrants at the border and he is also trying to address the political weakness before a potential campaign rematch next year with Donald Trump, the former Republican president, who has promised to enact far-right immigration measures.
And the issue is now tied to a top Biden foreign policy goal: providing robust support for Ukraine's defense against Russia.
The White House and Senate leaders are pushing for a framework of the border deal by Sunday, in preparation for possible votes in the week ahead.
"We'll need to have some kind of framework by the end of the weekend," Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the key Republican negotiator, said Saturday during a break in talks.
Recently during the negotiations, the White House has pushed to include provisions that would legalize young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two people with knowledge of the closed-door talks. But others said that was quickly taken off the table by Republicans.
Senators said they are running into the complex nature of U.S. immigration law. "Byzantine," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn..
"We're not at an agreement, but as we get closer into an agreement, the details really matter," Murphy said. "The drafting of the text is really hard and difficult."
The bipartisan group negotiating the package has acknowledged that it expects to lose votes from both the left and right wings of either party.
"Regardless of people's political persuasions, this is a crisis," said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who is part of the core negotiating group. "There is nothing that is humane about having thousands of individuals sitting in the desert without access to restrooms or food or water, no shade, just waiting for days to interact with a Border Patrol agent. That's what's happening in southern Arizona."
But immigration advocates have been rallying opposition to the proposed changes - often comparing them to Trump-era measures.
Using words like "draconian" and "betrayal," advocates argued during a Friday call with reporters that the proposals would undermine U.S. commitments to accepting people fleeing persecution and do little to stop people from making the long, dangerous journey to the border.
One of the policies under consideration would allow border officials to easily send migrants back to Mexico without letting them seek asylum in America, but advocates argue it could just place them into the hands of dangerous cartels that prey on migrants in northern Mexico.
Advocates also say that when the Trump and Biden administrations previously used the expulsion authority on public health grounds during the pandemic, migrants sent back to Mexico didn't return home. Instead they tried over and over again to enter the U.S. because there were no repercussions.
Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said it would just make the border region "more chaotic, more dangerous."
The policies under consideration would also be difficult to implement. Detaining migrants or families would lead to hundreds of thousands of people in custody - at a huge cost.
"These are all things that are extremely, extremely worrying," said Jason Houser, the former chief of staff at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Prominent House Democrats are raising concerns. Reps. Nanette Barragán of California, the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, chair of the Progressive Caucus, along with Veronica Escobar of Texas, who is a co-chair of Biden's reelection campaign, and Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, all joined the news conference.
Padilla warned that Biden's concessions on border restrictions could have lasting impact on his support from Latino voters.
"To think that concessions are going to be made without benefiting a single Dreamer, a single farm worker, a single undocumented essential worker is unconscionable," he said. |
# Congress departs without a deal on Ukraine aid and border security, but Senate will work next week
By **STEPHEN GROVES**, **LISA MASCARO**, and **SEUNG MIN KIM**
December 14, 2023. 7:26 PM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Congress was departing Washington on Thursday without a deal to pass wartime support for Ukraine, but Senate negotiators and President Joe Biden's administration were still racing to wrap up a border security compromise to unlock the stalemate before the end of the year.
The Senate planned to come back next week in hopes of passing the $110 billion package of aid for Ukraine, Israel and other national security and finalizing a deal to place new restrictions on asylum claims at the U.S. border. But the House showed no sign of returning to push the legislation through the full Congress.
"We're working really hard," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at the end of the day. "It's not easy, but we're working hard."
Lawmakers leaving the impasse unresolved through the holidays would mean the Biden administration would have to rely on a dwindling supply of funds for Ukraine. The wartime aid has so far been vital to Ukraine's defending against Russia's invasion, but an emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Thursday recommitted to his goals in the war.
Repelling Russia has been one of Biden's chief foreign policy goals. But the Democratic president is facing stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress - both from populist conservatives who no longer want to fund the nearly two-year-old conflict and GOP senators who have been traditional allies to Ukraine's defense but insist that the U.S. also enact policies aimed at cutting the historic number of migrants who are arriving at the U.S. border with Mexico.
Top administration officials, including White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and Biden's legislative affairs director Shuwanza Goff, met with Senate negotiators Thursday evening. Zients had been meeting with Schumer and dropped by to emphasize the president's call to find policy and funding solutions on the border, according to a White House official. And for a third day Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holed up with negotiators at the Capitol.
"We'll all be back tomorrow," said one negotiator, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, as the meeting broke for the evening. "A lot to do tomorrow."
Schumer, a Democrat, rescheduled the Senate to return to Washington on Monday to give negotiators more time to reach the framework of a deal, and he said he would push for a Senate vote on the funding package next week even if an agreement is not in place.
In an earlier speech on the Senate floor, Schumer said that the deadlock in Congress has left "Putin mocking our resolve." He cast the decisions facing lawmakers as a potential turning point of history: "There is too much on the line for Ukraine, for America, for Western democracy, to throw in the towel right now."
But the House ended work and departed for the holidays, with Republican Speaker Mike Johnson showing no sign he will have members return until the second week of January.
In fact, Johnson's office sent around a clip from a Zelenskyy interview suggesting aid could wait until the new year.
Senate Republicans also expressed doubt there was time left this year to both reach an agreement and work through writing the text of legislation, with Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio saying there would be a "revolt" by Republicans if they were forced into a quick vote.
A core group of Senate negotiators and Biden administration officials were expected to work through the weekend narrowing a list of priorities aimed at curtailing the number of migrants applying for asylum at the U.S. border.
"We are making progress, I feel more confident today than I did yesterday," Sinema, an Arizona independent who has often been central to Senate deal-making, told The Associated Press.
Faced with historic numbers of migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico, the White House has negotiated a change to the law that would allow Homeland Security officials to stop migrants from applying for asylum if the number of total crossings exceeded a certain capacity.
Negotiators have also considered several other policies that resemble those pursued under former President Donald Trump's administration, including detaining people who claim asylum at the border and granting nationwide authority to quickly remove migrants who have been in the U.S. for less than two years.
Sinema declined to discuss details of the talks but said her aim was to craft a package that has both the policy and funding to "create an orderly, safe, secure and humane process" for seeking asylum or immigrating for "other legal reasons." She added that negotiators understand they will lose support from wings of both conservatives and progressives, but were aiming to pass the package in the Senate with majorities of both parties.
"There will probably be folks on the edges of the political spectrum who are not happy with a solution that secures our border, brings order and is humane," Sinema said.
In one friction point in talks, the White House has resisted Republican demands to curtail a humanitarian parole program that has allowed tens of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the U.S., often at ports of entry other than the border, according to several people familiar with the talks who discussed them only on the condition of anonymity.
Still, immigration advocates have been dismayed at the White House's concessions in the talks.
Sen. Alex Padilla, the California Democrat who has spearheaded Senate resistance to the plans, said he has told Biden "to be careful because Republicans are hellbent on dragging us into harmful policy territory."
Congress has struggled for decades to find any agreement on border and immigration policy, yet Republicans argue that the Biden administration opened the door for a policy negotiation both by including border-related funding in the national security package and openly calling for Congress to take up reforms.
But the complicated and contentious nature of the issue prompted many GOP senators to conclude that there would be no deal for Ukraine aid this year, even as they pledged to prove Putin wrong for doubting U.S. support for Ukraine.
"Sometimes democracies take a little more time, but the resolve is real," said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.
Some Democrats fretted that leaving the funding deadlock hanging for weeks could precipitate the deal's collapse.
"Actions speak louder than words," said Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado. |
# Ravens beat mistake-prone Jaguars 23-7 for 4th consecutive victory and clinch AFC playoff spot
By **MARK LONG**
December 18, 2023. 12:37 AM EST
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**JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)** - Lamar Jackson was sacked, or so it seemed.
Jacksonville Jaguars pass rusher Dawuane Smoot had Jackson in his grasp - until he didn't. The Baltimore Ravens star quarterback spun away from Smoot, rolled right and lofted a pass toward the goal line. Tight end Isaiah Likely outmaneuvered two defenders to bring down the ball - and bring home a win.
The play of the game propelled the Ravens to a 23-7 victory at Jacksonville that clinched a postseason berth Sunday night.
"I just had to make a play, make something happen," Jackson said. "I just made something happen."
Gus Edwards scored two plays later to put the Ravens (11-3) up 17-7. That was plenty against the mistake-prone Jaguars (8-6).
"It's pretty unique," Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith said of Jackson. "Some of the things he's doing, he's the only one doing it."
Baltimore won its fourth in a row and moved a step closer to securing the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
The Jaguars lost their third straight - all against AFC North teams - and fell into a tie with Houston and Indianapolis atop the AFC South. Self-inflicted woes have been a common thread in Jacksonville's skid.
"That's the head-scratcher," Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said. "That's the frustrating part. We can't get out of our own way and that's the frustrating part."
Trevor Lawrence fumbled twice in the latest letdown, including one in the fourth quarter that essentially sealed Baltimore's eighth victory in its last nine games. He was placed in the NFL's concussion protocol after the game and not allowed to speak to the media.
This one may have been costly for the Ravens.
Promising rookie running back Keaton Mitchell suffered a season-ending left knee injury early in the fourth quarter. He flashed a thumbs-up sign as he left the sideline on a cart.
"It's heartbreaking," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "He's just got a great attitude and demeanor about him."
Added Jackson: "He was just starting to get started. That was a crazy injury."
The Ravens also lost starting left tackle Ronnie Staley (concussion) and free safety Marcus Williams (groin).
Jackson, Edwards, Likely and an elite defense did enough to overcome to the injuries.
Jackson threw for 171 yards - 70 of those to Likely - and ran for 97 more. Edwards added 58 on the ground, and Mitchell had 73 before his injury.
Lawrence threw for 264 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown to Jamal Agnew that gave the Jaguars life after a scoreless first half. But the Ravens answered with an unlikely play.
The Jaguars had four scoring chances in the first half but failed to cash in on any of them. They managed 181 yards, which was the most by a team in an opening half this season that did not score.
Brandon McManus missed two field goals from beyond 50 yards, and Lawrence inexplicably fumbled at the Baltimore 18-yard line. Lawrence simply lost the ball while scrambling on a third-and-17 play. He wasn't going to pick up the first down, but Jacksonville surely was in makeable range for McManus.
Lawrence's second mistake was even more of a head-scratcher. After connecting with Zay Jones for 36 yards and putting the Jaguars at the 5 with 15 seconds remaining in the half, Lawrence probably should have spiked the ball and stopped the clock. Instead, he threw a short out to rookie Parker Washington, who couldn't get out of bounds and helplessly watched the clock run out.
"It's a great learning experience for us," Pederson said.
Add it all up, and the Jaguars could have been up 16-10 at intermission. Instead, they trailed 10-0.
## QUESTIONABLE NO-CALL
McManus' first of two errant field goals was a 50-yarder that clanged off the right upright in the first quarter. He probably should have gotten a do-over.
Officials failed to throw a flag on Mitchell after he ran into McManus while he was finishing his follow-through. Holder Logan Cooke vehemently argued with officials, who later came to the sideline to explain themselves to Cooke and Pederson. Retired NFL referee and current NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay said the Ravens should have been penalized 5 yards on the fourth-and-7 play.
## SACK STREAK
Ravens defensive tackle Justin Madubuike tied an NFL record by recording at least a half-sack in 11 consecutive games. Madubuike sacked Lawrence in the fourth to tie the record held by Jared Allen, Chris Jones, Trey Hendrickson and Shaun Ellis.
## KEY INJURIES
Jaguars WR Zay Jones, who recently returned from a knee injury, strained a hamstring in the fourth. Ravens S Kyle Hamilton played through a knee injury that had him listed as questionable. He finished with seven tackles.
## UP NEXT
Baltimore: Plays at San Francisco on Christmas, another prime-time matchup between division leaders on the opposite coast.
Jacksonville: Plays at Tampa Bay on Dec. 24, also a game featuring division leaders. |
# Trump says Nevada fake electors treated 'unfairly' during rally in Reno
By **JONATHAN J. COOPER** and **GABE STERN**
December 17, 2023. 8:55 PM EST
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**RENO, Nev. (AP)** - Former President Donald Trump called out three of Nevada's fake electors Sunday, saying they're being treated unfairly less than 24 hours before they are scheduled to be arraigned for signing certificates falsely stating Trump won the state in 2020.
Trump did not directly mention the charges nor the upcoming court date during a rally in Reno, but he cast the fake electors as victims in a brief portion of a speech that spanned more than an hour.
"A tremendous man, tremendous guy, gets treated so unfairly and he loves this country and he loves this state," Trump said of Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, who was one of six Republicans indicted earlier this month by a Nevada grand jury.
Trump's sympathy for the fake electors who tried to help him cling to power after his 2020 defeat comes amid growing alarm about his authoritarian rhetoric as he looks to return to the White House.
Nevada is the fourth state to choose delegates for the Republican presidential nomination, the first in the West and the first with a sizeable Latino population. But it's gotten little attention from the GOP contenders, who have focused their time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Trump, who is overwhelmingly favored in polls, is looking to sweep up all of Nevada's delegates by winning the caucuses with more than 50% as part of his quest to sew up the GOP nomination early and turn his attention to a general election rematch against President Joe Biden. If he falls short of a majority in Nevada's caucuses, he'll have to split the delegates with his rivals.
Trump drew attention to the fake electors as they prepare for a court hearing in Las Vegas on Monday morning.
In December 2020, six Republicans signed certificates falsely stating that Trump won Nevada and sent them to Congress and the National Archives, where they were ultimately ignored. The scheme, which involved several battleground states, was an attempt to create a pretext for Trump to remain president despite his loss.
Trump and his attorneys had a direct hand in the planning and execution of the fake elector scheme, including a conference call with McDonald, transcripts released last year show.
Trump said Clark County GOP Chairman Jesse Law is a "fantastic man" who is "treated very unfairly." He also thanked another fake elector, Jim Hindle, the Storey County clerk and vice chairman of the Nevada GOP, at the rally.
The six fake electors have been charged with offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument. Those two categories of felonies have penalties that range from one year up to either four or five years in prison.
McDonald and Law took the rally stage before Trump but both kept their remarks short and did not mention the charges against them. McDonald, the state party chair, spoke for two minutes about the party-run caucus, promising strong turnout would equal a Trump Republican nomination. Law, the Clark County GOP chair, sang the national anthem.
Under McDonald's leadership, the Nevada GOP pushed to hold a caucus despite a state law requiring a primary, which has caused concern among many Republicans - including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis - that the caucus rules would tilt the nominating process in Trump's favor. The dueling contests have split the GOP field, with former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley competing in the primary and the other Republicans competing in the caucus. Only the caucus will result in delegates to the Republican National Convention, which will ultimately choose the party's presidential nominee.
Some Nevada Republicans and Trump rivals argue the setup, with a state-run primary on Feb. 6 and a party-run caucus on Feb. 8, will unnecessarily confuse and anger voters.
In Reno, Trump repeated his pledge to deport immigrants living in the country illegally in record numbers but did not echo his claim from a day earlier that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country." The remark, which echoes Adolf Hitler's language in his own political manifesto, was widely condemned. |
# Car plows into parked vehicle in Biden's motorcade outside Delaware campaign headquarters
By **COLLEEN LONG**
December 17, 2023. 9:42 PM EST
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WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A car plowed into a parked SUV that was guarding President Joe Biden 's motorcade Sunday night while the president was leaving a visit to his campaign headquarters. The president and first lady Jill Biden were unharmed.
While Biden was walking from the campaign office to his waiting armored SUV, a sedan hit a U.S. Secret Service vehicle that was being used to close off intersections near the headquarters for the president's departure. The sedan then tried to continue into a closed-off intersection, before Secret Service personnel surrounded the vehicle with weapons drawn and instructed the driver to put his hands up.
Biden paused and looked over toward the sound, surprised, before he was ushered into the vehicle, where his wife was already seated, before being driven swiftly back to their home. His schedule was otherwise unaffected by the incident.
The Secret Service did not immediately comment on the incident. |
# James Cook leads dominant rushing attack as Bills trample Cowboys 31-10
By **JOHN WAWROW**
December 17, 2023. 9:24 PM EST
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**ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP)** - The Bills' offense has found its legs in time to make a playoff push.
Josh Allen played the role of happy spectator by standing back and watching James Cook run left, right and up the middle as Buffalo ran away with a 31-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
"I felt like the kid that didn't do anything in a class project but got an A," Allen said after he threw for just 94 yards, with a touchdown passing and one rushing. "But I'll do this 10 times out of 10 times, man. Like, keep going."
A matchup of two of the NFL's top-scoring quarterbacks - Allen entered the week with 35 total touchdowns, and Dak Prescott was first in passing TDs with 28 - turned into a Bills stampede. Cook finished with 179 yards rushing and 221 yards from scrimmage, both career bests, while scoring on an 18-yard catch and a 24-yard run as the Cowboys' five-game winning streak was snapped.
"I just let it rip when I get my opportunity," said Cook, a second-year player who is the younger brother of New York Jets running back Dalvin Cook. "My O-linemen, they were opening it up and I was hitting it. Finding that rhythm."
The Bills (8-6) won consecutive games for the first time since a three-game winning streak ended on Oct. 1 and gained ground in the AFC playoff race, moving one game ahead of Denver and Pittsburgh.
The Cowboys (10-4) clinched their third straight playoff berth before kickoff thanks to losses by Green Bay and Atlanta on Sunday and Detroit beating Denver on Saturday. But nothing else went right for Dallas, which fell a game behind NFC-best San Francisco.
Buffalo rushed for 266 yards, held the ball for 10 minutes longer than Dallas and had 28 first downs to the Cowboys' 14.
The NFL's top-scoring offense was limited to a field goal through 57 minutes. Dallas is 7-0 at home, where it has outscored opponents 279-108, but fell to 3-4 on the road, where it has been outscored 156-152.
"It's a gap. That's part of my message. We play so well at home, and there's just too big of a gap in our road games," coach Mike McCarthy said. "We are conscious of it. We have a long flight home to continue to talk about, think about (it)."
Dallas, coming off a 33-13 win over Philadelphia, plays two of its last three on the road.
The Bills played keep-away by running the ball in a persistent rain, tripping up a Cowboys offense that finished with a season-low 195 yards.
"They got up on us and continued to control the ball, control the possession, kill the clock. And we didn't convert on our third downs, which is something we have been great on all year," Prescott said.
"That's been our way of winning the games. So they beat us in the formula."
Buffalo's injury-depleted defense, missing two more regulars in edge rusher A.J. Epenesa and safety Micah Hyde, had three sacks and limited Prescott to 21 of 34 passing for 134 yards with an interception. And a Cowboys offense that's scored 40 or more points five times this season punted five times and was limited to eight first downs before gaining six on its final drive.
Four of the Bills' first five possessions lasted more than 4 minutes, 40 seconds.
Latavius Murray capped Buffalo's 12-play, 75-yard opening drive with a 2-yard run. The Bills went up 14-0 on Cook's 18-yard touchdown catch on their third drive, which was extended after Sam Williams was flagged for roughing Bills punter Sam Martin.
The game was essentially over after the Bills' opening drive of the third quarter, which ate up 8:22 of the clock and ended with Tyle Bass hitting a a 23-yard field goal to put Buffalo up 24-3.
Buffalo's 20 first downs rushing were tied for the second most in team history, and most since 1996. Cook's rushing total was the highest for a Bills player since Fred Jackson had 212 yards in a 2009 season-ending win over Indianapolis.
The Bills, coming off a 20-17 victory at Kansas City, are trying to secure their fifth straight playoff berth and stay in contention for a fourth consecutive AFC East title.
"It was kind of all systems go today," center Mitch Morse said. "We still have an uphill battle, but this is a great first step."
## INJURIES
Cowboys: RG Zack Martin did not return after hurting his quadriceps in the first quarter. McCarthy said Martin told him he's going to be OK.
Bills: DT Jordan Phillips did not return after hurting his wrist.
## UP NEXT
Cowboys: At Miami next Sunday.
Bills: At the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday night. |
# Arkansas sheriff facing obstruction, concealment charges ordered to give up law enforcement duties
December 17, 2023. 5:35 PM EST
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**MALVERN, Ark. (AP)** - A federal judge has ordered an indicted southwest Arkansas sheriff to give up all his law enforcement duties and stay away from the sheriff's office.
The order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant says Hot Spring County Sheriff Scott Finkbeiner's only remaining authority is over payroll. Finkbeiner was indicted Nov. 15 on charges of obstruction of justice and concealing a crime, after first being arrested on Nov. 2.
The indictment and an earlier sworn statement by an FBI agent say Finkbeiner tried to get federal agents to stop investigating a drug dealer who had provided the sheriff with methamphetamine.
Finkbeiner has pleaded not guilty. In a Nov. 6 post of the sheriff's office Facebook page, he denied wrongdoing.
"I do want to emphatically say I DID NOT OBSTRUCT JUSTICE in any way!" he wrote. "In fact it is the contrary. Thank you for the huge outpouring of support!! It's my hope that you can all come to the trial and see the truth!"
By agreeing to give up his duties as sheriff, Finkbeiner appears to have avoided a renewed push by federal prosecutors to jail him before trial. He's currently free on $5,000 bail.
The order was earlier reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Prosecutors said in an earlier court filing that Finkbeiner had said he would fire or lay off potential witnesses who worked for the sheriff's department, asked two elected constables to investigate the case for him in what could be interpreted as witness intimidation, and claimed he would release a Hot Spring County jail inmate if the inmate gave Finkbeiner information about his own case.
They also say Finkbeiner complained to Malvern police officers and state prosecutors that the FBI was interfering in his own investigation, threatening to arrest FBI agents.
Federal agents say audio recordings by a confidential informant show Finkbeiner arriving at a house in Perla after 2 a.m. on May 21, smoking meth and repeatedly asking the informant for sex.
After Finkbeiner found a surveillance camera outside the house, FBI agents say, he called them Aug. 21 to say that the alleged drug dealer agents were investigating was an informant for the sheriff on a theft of government funds investigation and a drug arrest.
"I assure you, he ain't moving a bunch of drug weight," Finkbeiner said in the conversation, according to an Oct. 30 sworn statement by FBI Special Agent Brian Ambrose. |
# Authorities: 5 people including 3 young children die in house fire in northwestern Arizona
December 17, 2023. 5:03 PM EST
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**BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. (AP)** - Five people, including three young children, have died in a house fire in northwestern Arizona, authorities said Sunday, adding it appeared no adults were home at the time.
Bullhead City police said the fire broke out around 5 p.m. Saturday and the victims did not make it out of the two-story duplex in that community near the Colorado River.
A city fire department spokeswoman said the five victims were ages 2, 4, 5, 11 and 13. Their names weren't immediately released Sunday.
Authorities said the cause of the fire isn't known yet.
Police said there reportedly were no adults home at the time, but officials gave few other details.
The fire is being investigated by the city's police and fire departments and other agencies including the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. |
# Auburn controls USC 91-75 in Bronny James' first road game
By **JOHN ZENOR**
December 17, 2023. 4:47 PM EST
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**AUBURN, Ala. (AP)** - A dominant performance by Auburn served as a reminder that neither USC nor Bronny James are a finished product.
Aden Holloway scored 15 points with six assists and Jaylin Williams had 14 points to help Auburn beat USC 91-75 on Sunday as the Trojans' James continued to work his way back to form after suffering cardiac arrest in July.
The Tigers (8-2) controlled the game most of the way in the first road appearance for James in a packed Auburn Arena with dozens of NBA scouts watching. The Trojans (5-5) dropped their third straight game.
"He's improved, but it's a little unfair to him to be judging him every possession right now," Trojans coach Andy Enfield said. "He's come back and he gave us good minutes. He plays very hard.
"He's just a freshman and he's been out five months. It's very, very challenging for him but we anticipate he'll be a much better player by the middle of the season than he is now."
Bronny James, who remains on restricted minutes just two games into his comeback, didn't speak to reporters after the game.
The son of NBA superstar LeBron James, Bronny James scored five points in 14 minutes, making 3 of 4 free throws late. He couldn't corral the ball on an alley-oop chance in the final two minutes, prompting a chant of "overrated." But Auburn fans mostly didn't react to his presence on the court.
Auburn had five scorers in double figures. Denver Jones had 12 points while Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell each had 11.
Boogie Ellis led USC with 22 points. Isaiah Collier and Oziyah Sellers each had 13. Collier fouled out.
Holloway, himself a highly recruited freshman guard, figured it had to be a challenge for James to get back into rhythm on the court.
"I was just happy to be able to see him out on the court and playing again," Holloway said. "It's always good to just play and do what you love to do. Being able to compete out there is the best thing, really."
James had made his college debut at home a week earlier in an overtime loss to Long Beach State with his father on hand. LeBron James, whose Los Angeles Lakers host the New York Knicks on Monday night, wasn't in Auburn Arena for this one.
Bronny James' mother, Savannah, watched from right behind the USC bench.
James entered the game with 16:28 left to a moderate buzz from the fans and played mostly short stints, but he wasn't able to spark a rally. In fact, the Trojans were outscored by 17 with him on the court in the first half and trailed 49-35 at halftime.
James suffered cardiac arrest during a workout at Galen Center. He was found to have a congenital heart defect that was treatable.
## BIG PICTURE
USC started a four-game road stretch. The Trojans have lost three consecutive regular-season games for the first time since losing to Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State from Feb. 1-8, 2020.
Auburn has won 49 consecutive home nonconference games and is creeping closer to the Top 25.
## UP NEXT
USC: Visits Alabama State on Tuesday night.
Auburn: Hosts Alabama State on Friday night. |
# 1 person dead after Nebraska home exploded, sparking an investigation into 'destructive devices'
4:19 PM EST, December 17, 2023
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**HASTINGS, Neb. (AP)** - A body was found early Sunday after a Nebraska house explosion that authorities say was likely caused by "destructive devices."
Police in Hastings said in a news release that emergency crews rushed to the home around 3:15 a.m. after a 911 caller reported the explosion. Police and firefighters encountered secondary explosions upon arriving.
Within the debris of the destroyed home, they found the victim, the release said. The person's name wasn't immediately released.
The release said crews have been working to locate additional explosives, and the Nebraska State Patrol Bomb Squad is helping with testing.
Hastings is a town of about 25,000 people located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Lincoln. |
# Judge overturns Mississippi death penalty case, says racial bias in picking jury wasn't fully argued
December 17, 2023. 4:16 PM EST
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**GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP)** - A federal judge has overturned the death penalty conviction of a Mississippi man, finding a trial judge didn't give the man's lawyer enough chance to argue that the prosecution was dismissing Black jurors for discriminatory reasons.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills ruled Tuesday that the state of Mississippi must give Terry Pitchford a new trial on capital murder charges.
Mills wrote that his ruling is partially motivated by what he called former District Attorney Doug Evans ' history of discriminating against Black jurors.
A spokesperson for Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said Sunday that the state intends to appeal. Online prison records show Pitchford remained on death row Sunday at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
Mills ordered the state to retry the 37-year-old man within six months, and said he must be released from custody if he is not retried by then.
Pitchford was indicted on a murder charge in the fatal 2004 robbery of the Crossroads Grocery, a store just outside Grenada, in northern Mississippi. Pitchford and friend, Eric Bullins, went to the store to rob it. Bullins shot store owner Reuben Britt three times, fatally wounding him, while Pitchford said he fired shots into the floor, court documents state.
Police found Britt's gun in a car at Pitchford's house. Pitchford, then 18, confessed to his role, saying he had also tried to rob the store 10 days earlier.
But Mills said that jury selection before the 2006 trial was critically flawed because the trial judge didn't give Pitchford's defense lawyer enough of a chance to challenge the state's reasons for striking Black jurors.
To argue that jurors were being improperly excluded, a defendant must show that discriminatory intent motivated the strikes. In Pitchford's case, judges and lawyers whittled down the original jury pool of 61 white and 35 Black members to a pool with 36 white and five Black members, in part because so many Black jurors objected to sentencing Pitchford to death. Then prosecutors struck four more Black jurors, leaving only one Black person on the final jury.
Prosecutors can strike Black jurors for race-neutral reasons, and prosecutors at the trial gave reasons for removing all four. But Mills found that the judge never gave the defense a chance to properly rebut the state's justification.
"This court cannot ignore the notion that Pitchford was seemingly given no chance to rebut the state's explanations and prove purposeful discrimination," Mills wrote.
On appeal, Pitchford's lawyers argued that some of the reasons for rejecting the jurors were flimsy and that the state didn't make similar objections to white jurors with similar issues.
Mills also wrote that his decision was influenced by the prosecution of another Black man by Evans, who is white. Curtis Flowers was tried six times in the shooting deaths of four people. The U.S. Supreme Court found Evans had improperly excluded Black people from Flowers' juries, overturning the man's conviction and death sentence.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh called it a "relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of Black individuals."
In reporting on the Flowers case, American Public Media's "In the Dark" found what it described as a long history of racial bias in jury selection by Evans.
Mississippi dropped charges against Flowers in September 2020, after Flowers was released from custody and Evans turned the case over to the state attorney general.
Mills wrote that, on its own, the Flowers case doesn't prove anything. But he said that the Mississippi Supreme Court should have examined that history in considering Pitchford's appeal.
"The court merely believes that it should have been included in a 'totality of the circumstances' analysis of the issue," Mills wrote. |
# Officials open tuberculosis probe involving dozens of schools in Nevada's most populous county
December 17, 2023. 3:45 PM EST
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**LAS VEGAS (AP)** - A tuberculosis investigation is underway involving a person with an active infection who was on dozens of elementary and high school campuses in Nevada's most populous county, according to authorities.
The person, who has not been publicly identified, was on 26 Clark County School District campuses and one training site before learning of the TB diagnosis, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
According to the newspaper, the Southern Nevada Health District released a list of affected schools Friday and people identified as close contacts of the person were being notified.
The district said individual notifications were happening at 17 campuses for possible exposures, but no exposures had been identified at eight campuses so far.
Health district officials said not all who were exposed will be infected and not everyone who is infected has the active disease, which is caused by bacteria and most often affects the lungs.
Tuberculosis spreads easily where people gather in crowds or live in crowded conditions.
Symptoms can include coughing that lasts at least two weeks, chest pain, coughing up blood or phlegm, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, chills, fever, night sweats and loss of appetite.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 8,300 TB cases were reported nationwide last year. |
# 2 men charged in Pennsylvania school van crash that killed teenage girl, injured 5
December 17, 2023. 2:59 PM EST
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**PITTSBURGH (AP)** - Two men accused of racing on a public highway in western Pennsylvania are facing charges in a crash involving a school van that left a teenage girl dead.
The crash also sent three other juveniles and two critically injured adults - including one of the defendants - to hospitals.
Allegheny County police said the Serra Catholic High School van was trying to make a left turn when it was struck by a northbound sedan on Sept. 20 in Dravosburg. The medical examiner's office said 15-year-old Samantha Lee Kalkbrenner died at the scene. Authorities said three of the four students in the van, including Kalkbrenner, were ejected and the van driver also was seriously injured.
William Soliday II, 43, of Irwin, whose car struck the van, is charged with criminal homicide, vehicular homicide, and multiple counts of aggravated assault and reckless endangering, authorities said. Andrew Voigt, 37, of Pittsburgh, whose vehicle entered the intersection moments after the crash, is charged with accidents involving death or injury and reckless endangering, authorities said. Both men, who worked at the same place nearby, are charged with racing on highways.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala said authorities believe the two drivers were racing and that the vehicle had been turned "into a deadly weapon." Investigators said the first car is believed to have been traveling more than 100 mph (160 kph) just before the crash and the second vehicle was about two seconds behind.
Soliday's attorney, Casey White, told reporters his client sustained some head trauma and has no memory of the crash or even leaving home that day. He said the crash was an accident and there was no malicious intent on his client's part, and "words can't describe the remorse he has, his family has."
"It was a very shocking situation," Voigt's attorney David Shrager told WPXI-TV, adding how many "have passed by terrible accidents and not stopped?" |
# AP's Lawrence Knutson, who covered Washington's transcendent events for nearly 4 decades, has died
By **CALVIN WOODWARD**
December 17, 2023. 6:06 PM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - Lawrence L. Knutson, a longtime Associated Press writer whose deep knowledge of the presidency, Congress and American history made him an institution in his own right, has died. He was 87.
Knutson, who had prostate cancer and other health problems, died Saturday night in hospice care at a memory care facility in Washington, said his cousin, Katherine Knutson Garrett, who had recently been managing his affairs.
Knutson's AP career spanned 37 years and the terms of eight presidents before his retirement in 2003.
In that time, he established himself as an expert on Washington - "a city of inspiration and spite, of spring bloom and eternal ambition, a low-rise marble capital that tourists honor and critics malign," he wrote. He seemed to carry the soul of the place with him, as soulless as that place could seem to be to some.
Born in Chicago, Lawrence Lauder Knutson was raised in Milwaukee and rural Wisconsin before he interrupted his university studies to enlist in the Army. He was sent to a U.S. base outside Bordeaux, France, where he produced the base newspaper and wondered "what journalism would be like if you did it for real."
He worked for the City News Bureau of Chicago after the Army and university, then the Chicago Tribune before the AP hired him in 1965. The next year, he was mere feet away, covering an open-housing march led by Martin Luther King Jr., when a rock hurled from hostile bystanders struck King on the head, knocking him to one knee.
"He recovered, and surrounded by aides, led about 700 people through hostile crowds numbering in the thousands," Knutson recalled. Knutson transferred to Washington in 1967.
Colleagues remember Knutson as an elegant writer on the transcendent events of his time. He was always quick to give acquaintances tours of Congress more intimate than the official tour guides put on. He also had his eccentricities.
"Sitting beside Larry in the Senate Press Gallery for many years, I always admired his quick grasp of a story, his writing and his love of Congress as an institution," said former AP writer Jim Luther. "And who doesn't take notes on a checkbook or use a paper clip to hold his glasses together?"
The story is legion of Knutson sleeping in late when in New York to cover a 1976 whistle-stop train tour by Jimmy Carter and presidential running mate Walter Mondale to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Missing the train, Knutson took a succession of cabs from city to city, racking up a substantial bill only to find the train gone when he got to each stop.
In a line of work that is relentlessly focused on the moment, Knutson was also one to look back, reaching for lessons of history that informed the present.
"Larry was indeed deeply knowledgeable about Congress and Washington politics," said Sandy Johnson, a former AP Washington bureau chief. "But what I remember most vividly is his interest in history, which translated into a column we called Washington Yesterday. His insightful and delightful writing about Washington history was an antidote to the gravity and infighting of the usual capital news - and his columns always made me smile."
There was his story about presidential portraits: "George Washington came to the presidency under siege by artists who saw his character and their fortunes in the contours of his face. The American Revolution's commander in chief found persistent artists more irritating than the crack of British muskets; the lengthy sittings portrait painters required were, he said, mind-numbing wastes of fleeting time."
And this, in the age of Bill ("Slick Willie") Clinton: "A nickname, says the proverb, is 'the heaviest stone the devil can throw at a man.' Some wound and leave scars. Some stick like burrs. Others fall away and are forgotten.
"American presidents have attracted and endured nicknames ever since George Washington was called the 'Sword of the Revolution,' Father of His Country,' the 'Sage of Mount Vernon' and, interestingly, 'The Old Fox.'"
After his retirement, Knutson wrote a book about presidential vacations and retreats, "Away from the White House," published by the White House Historical Association.
Knutson will be buried in a small cemetery in City Point, Wisconsin, where many family members are interred, his cousin said. No details were immediately released on a memorial service or his survivors. |
# 79-year-old Alabama woman arrested after city worker presses charges over dispute at council meeting
2:44 PM EST, December 17, 2023
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**TARRANT, Ala. (AP)** - Discord in an Alabama suburb that has seen years of political turmoil has led to the arrest of a 79-year-old woman after a city employee pressed misdemeanor charges alleging disorderly conduct and harassment.
Novilee Williams was arrested at her home in Tarrant and taken to jail Dec. 5, the day after Williams and a city accountant exchanged words during the public comment portion of a Tarrant City Council meeting, AL.com reports.
Video on the city's Facebook page shows Williams, a frequent critic of Mayor Wayman Newton, arguing with Shayla Myricks, a city accountant. Williams pushed Myricks' hand away and told the accountant to "turn around honey," the video shows.
Myricks filed misdemeanor charges against Williams, according to the police report, which accuses her of "fighting and threatening behavior in a public place."
Council Member Veronica Bandy Freeman said she believes the arrest was politically motivated.
"There are some rules for some and then there are rules for others," Freeman said. "I can only go by my experience. When a certain person gets attacked, it is a problem. They went overboard in doing that to Ms. Williams."
Newton, who wasn't in the room, said he had nothing to do with the arrest.
"But you can't go putting your hands on people," he said. "I wasn't there, and she was arrested when she put her hands on the city accountant. It was the city accountant who wanted to press charges against her. I didn't even know that it had happened until people started calling me."
It's the latest upset in the 6,000-resident town just north of Birmingham. Last month Newton tried to suspend the police, only to have the council reinstate him. The mayor sued, asking a judge to block the council from reversing the suspension. Newton is also jousting with council members over their hiring of a city manager to take over many of his duties.
Tommy Bryant, a council member, punched the mayor outside city hall in 2022. Police arrested Bryant, but he was acquitted because a judge determined Newton had used "fighting words" in sexually insulting Bryant's wife. Bryant, who is white, refused calls to resign in 2021 after using a racial slur to describe Freeman. Bryant said he was publicizing words that Newton, who is the city's first Black mayor, used to describe Freeman.
Williams criticized Newton during public comment in the Dec. 4 meeting, as she frequently does.
"I believe the mayor is being corrupt," Williams told the council. "I believe the mayor needs to be charged for something. Something's got to be done with this man."
Sitting in front of Williams in the audience, Myricks turned around to speak in defense of the mayor.
"Turn around honey," Williams shot back.
"If we can't beat him one way we'll beat him at the ballot box," Williams added.
When Myricks again turned in her seat to face Williams, the video shows, Williams touched the accountant's arm and told her to turn around.
"Don't put your hands on me," Myricks said.
"Honey, go on," Williams responded. "I'm a citizen of Tarrant, lady, and I have a right to speak, even though you are in the mayor's corner, I can see that. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the city council."
A few minutes later, the city video shows, a Tarrant police officer approached Williams and asked for her driver's license.
Williams said she has hired a lawyer.
"Everything is well, and I don't have a grudge against Wayman and that young lady," Williams told AL.com after her arrest. "I pray for them."
Myricks did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment. |
# Fire destroys a Los Angeles-area church just before Christmas
December 17, 2023. 2:42 PM EST
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**POMOMA, Calif. (AP)** - A Los Angeles-area church was destroyed in a massive fire early Sunday, just hours before a celebration that was set to include a Christmas play and a toy giveaway.
Firefighters arrived at Victory Outreach church in Pomona at about 2:45 a.m., the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A fire department spokeswoman told television station KABC that firefighters went into an aggressive interior attack when they arrived, but after about 20 minutes the roof started to collapse and the fire expanded so they went into a defensive mode.
No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Rev. Robert Garcia told television station KTLA that 500 people had registered for the church's planned celebration.
"It's a tough morning for us, because today we were getting ready to have our outreach for the whole community," he said. |
# Police say a Minnesota officer shot and killed a man who was stabbing a woman
December 17, 2023. 1:51 PM EST
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**MARSHALL, Minn. (AP)** - Police in Minnesota say an officer shot and killed a man early Sunday after spotting him stabbing a woman.
Marshall police said in a news release that the officer responded around 2:40 a.m. to a domestic disturbance. Authorities said the officer used a Taser on the man after seeing the woman was being stabbed. Ultimately, shots were fired, although the news release provided few details.
The news release said the suspect died at the scene and that the woman was flown to a hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in critical condition. Neither of their names were immediately released.
Police asked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate. The agency confirmed in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter, that it is looking into what it described as a "use-of-deadly-force incident." It provided no other details. |
# Federal judge rules school board districts illegal in Georgia school system, calls for new map
By **JEFF AMY**
December 17, 2023. 6:50 PM EST
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ATLANTA (AP) - A federal judge has ruled that school board districts in Georgia's second-largest school system appear to be unconstitutionally discriminatory and must be quickly redrawn ahead of 2024's elections.
U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross on Thursday forbade the Cobb County school district from using a map supported by the current board's four Republican members, finding in an preliminary injunction that the map is "substantially likely to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."
The Cobb County district on Friday asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to step in immediately and set the order aside, saying the district has been unfairly excluded from the litigation. The district warns that if the appeals court doesn't act quickly, the "plaintiffs' scheme to use the courts to overthrow the will of Cobb County voters and replace the duly enacted redistricting map with one that advances their own political goals - without opposition - therefore will succeed exactly as plaintiffs envisioned."
Ross ordered state lawmakers to draw a new map by Jan. 10, which will be unlikely unless Gov. Brian Kemp orders a special session. Lawmakers don't convene until Jan. 8 and normal legislative rules don't allow a bill to pass in three days. The district called the deadline "impossible," saying it takes away the legislature's rightful chance to fix the problems.
That means Ross could draw a new map, or could accept a map proposed by the plaintiffs, a group of Cobb County residents and liberal-leaning political groups.
Four board seats are up for election in 2024.
Any new map could upset the 4-3 Republican majority on the board. The 106,000-student district has been riven by political conflict in recent years, with the GOP majority often imposing its will over the protests of the three Democratic members.
"The court's decision is a resounding victory for voting rights," said Poy Winchakul, senior staff attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs. "Fair maps are essential to the democracy process and ensure Cobb County voters of color have an equal voice in schools."
But the district alleges the plaintiffs are pursuing a Democratic takeover of the board through the lawsuit.
"This scheme is destined to facilitate plaintiffs' political seizure of the board as the overriding goal in this litigation," the board wrote in its appeal.
The lawsuit alleges that Republicans illegally crammed Black and Hispanic voters into three districts in the southern part of the suburban Atlanta county, solidifying Republicans' hold on the remaining four districts.
Ross agreed, finding the people who drew the map relied too much on race.
The lawsuit is unusual because the school district was dismissed earlier, leaving only the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration as a defendant. That body, like the county commission, is controlled by Democrats, and decided to settle the lawsuit. The decision to settle, which set the stage for Ross' order, prompted the school board in October to accuse the elections board of colluding with "leftist political activists," giving them "considerable and inappropriate influence to interfere with the lawfully established" maps.
The district calls the elections board and its director "sham defendants" and wants the appeals court to put the district back in the case. It's also asking the appeals court to overturn all the recent orders, including the preliminary injunction and re-open discovery "giving the district a fair opportunity" to oppose the plaintiffs. It says Ross "completely ignored" its recent arguments.
The plaintiffs on Dec. 6 asked the appeals court to dismiss an earlier version of the appeal, saying the school district wasn't a party to the case and there was no final order ripe for appeal.
Oral argument in the appeal is set for Jan. 30, but the district is seeking a quicker decision, saying Ross may impose a map by then.
The school board has spent more than $1 million defending the lawsuit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found. |
# 4 teenagers killed in single-vehicle accident in Montana
By **Associated Press**
December 17, 2023. 1:30 PM EST
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**BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)** - Four teenagers were killed in a single-vehicle crash in an industrial area of Montana's largest city, authorities said.
Police say speed, no seatbelts and possibly alcohol contributed to the accident just before 2 a.m. Saturday morning in Billings. The vehicle went off the roadway, causing the driver to lose control and strike a large metal pole supporting a business sign, Billings police said.
Two victims died on scene. Two had critical injuries and were transported to a hospital where they were pronounced dead.
The victims were two 14-year-old girls, a 17-year-old male and an 18-year-old male. No further details were immediately available. |
# 'Wonka' waltzes to $39 million opening, propelled by Chalamet's starring role
By **JAKE COYLE**
December 17, 2023. 2:45 PM EST
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**NEW YORK (AP)** - "Wonka" debuted with $39 million in box office sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. That made it a strong start for the Timothée Chalamet -starring Willy Wonka musical that underscored the young star's draw.
Musicals have been tough sells in theaters in recent years, so much so that Warner Bros. downplayed the song and dance elements of "Wonka" in trailers. Instead, the studio emphasized Chalamet, the 27-year-old actor who, with "Wonka," notched his second No. 1 movie following 2021's "Dune." The earlier film recorded a $41 million opening.
While "Dune" was a sprawling and star-studded sci-fi adventure, "Wonka" relies chiefly on Chalamet's charisma.
"Wonka," which cost about $125 million to produce and played at 4,203 locations, was also the first big Hollywood release to launch following the end of the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike. Chalamet hosted "Saturday Night Live" just days after the strike ended. In his opening monologue, he sang to the tune of "Pure Imagination" about "returning to this magical world where actors can promote their projects."
"It shows you the power of a star, and it also shows you the power of a star going out and working a movie," said Jeffrey Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros. "Having him out there after the strikes were over was a win for him and a win for the movie."
Goldstein expects "Wonka" to be the go-to choice from families over the holidays. Its main competition for kids will be Universal Pictures' animated "Migration."
"Wonka," directed by Paul King of "Paddington" and "Paddington 2," is a prequel to 1971's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," with Chalamet starring as a young Wonka trying to open a candy store. Its ensemble cast includes Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman and Keegan-Michael Key.
Warner Bros. last revived Roald Dahl's classic with the 2005 Tim Burton-directed "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," starring Johnny Depp. It debuted with $56.2 million and ultimately grossed $475 million worldwide.
To reach those numbers, "Wonka" will need strong legs through the lucrative holiday moviegoing period. On its side are mostly good reviews (84% "fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes) and positive audience reaction (an "A-" CinemaScore).
Chalamet is also drawing younger ticket-buyers. Moviegoers under the age of 25 accounted for 36% of the audience, which was split evenly between 51% females and 49% males. "Wonka" added $53.6 million in overseas ticket sales.
"Chalamet is a true movie star who's been developing his craft and his reputation over many years," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. "Everybody's looking for who's the next big movie star. Is it all about the old-school leading men? Chalamet is definitely that."
For Warner Bros., it's the first in a trio of high-profile holiday releases, to be followed by "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" on Dec. 22 and another musical, "The Color Purple" on Dec. 25.
The only other new wide release in theaters was "Christmas With the Chosen: Holy Night," from Christian-theme distributor Angel Studios. It debuted with $2.9 million in sales through 2,094 theaters.
"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" again ranked second this week with $5.8 million in its fifth week of release. The Lionsgate "Hunger Games" prequel, now up to $145.2 million domestically and more than $300 million globally, has held strong week after week.
Last week's top film, Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron," dipped to third with $5.1 million in its second week of release. The latest film from the 82-year-old Japanese anime master has already set records for Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli and its North American distributor GKids.
With holdovers making up most of the top 10 movies in theaters, the weekend's other most notable business was a group of award contenders trying to make their mark following Monday's Golden Globes nominations.
Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things," a surreal Frankenstein-esque fairy tale starring Emma Stone, expanded into 82 theaters and grossed $1.3 million for Searchlight Pictures. The film, which will expand further in the coming weeks, is nominated for seven Golden Globes, including best comedy or musical.
Cord Jefferson's "American Fiction," starring Jeffrey Wright as a sardonic novelist, debuted in seven theaters in three cities with a $32,411 per-screen average. MGM's "American Fiction," nominated for two Globes, will expand to 40 theaters next week. It won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest," a chilling Holocaust drama about a Nazi commandant and his family living next to Auschwitz, opened in four theaters with a $31,198 per-screen average. Nominated for three Globes, it will play in limited release before expanding in January.
Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Wonka," $39 million.
2. "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," $5.8 million.
3. "The Boy and the Heron," $5.2 million.
4. "Godzilla Minus One," $4.9 million.
5. "Trolls Band Together," $4 million.
6. "Wish," $3.2 million.
7. "Christmas With the Chosen: Holy Night," $2.9 million.
8. "Napoleon," $2.2 million.
9. "Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé," $2 million.
10. "Poor Things," $1.3 million. |
# Federal agency quashes Georgia's plan to let pharmacies sell medical marijuana
December 17, 2023. 12:34 PM EST
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**ATLANTA (AP)** - Federal drug officials are warning Georgia to shelve its plans to be the first state to allow pharmacies to dispense medical marijuana products.
News outlets report that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Nov. 27 warned pharmacies that dispensing medical marijuana violates federal law.
The Georgia Board of Pharmacy began accepting applications to dispense the products in October. Licenses have already been issued to 23 Georgia independent pharmacies, the board said.
The Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission, which oversees Georgia's fledgling medical marijuana industry, said it can't override the federal directive, even though pharmacies are allowed to dispense the products under state law.
Andrew Turnage, the commission's executive director, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the state would love to see pharmacists be allowed to continue providing consultations for medical cannabis products as they do with other medication.
In a memo to pharmacies, the DEA said none of them can lawfully possess, handle or dispense marijuana or related products containing more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol - the psychoactive chemical known as THC that gives users a high.
Georgia lets patients with medical needs buy medical marijuana products with up to 5% THC. Marijuana sold for recreational use typically has a higher level.
The DEA said it considers products derived from the cannabis plant with a THC content above 0.3% to be marijuana, making it illegal under federal drug law.
Georgia has allowed patients with certain illnesses and physician approval to possess and consume low-THC medical cannabis products since 2015. But until April, there was no legal way for them to buy the product in Georgia.
Nationwide, 24 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Another 23 allow some form of medical cannabis.
The recent DEA notice was published online by the group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which generally opposes marijuana legalization.
Ira Katz of Little Five Points Pharmacy in Atlanta told WXIA-TV that he thought pharmacies like his should able to dispense the products in the same way marijuana dispensaries do.
"It just doesn't make any sense to me that people can go to a dispensary and not to a pharmacy," he said. "We would be buying it from the same growers."
Mahlon Davidson, interim CEO of the Georgia Pharmacy Association, said he doubted independent pharmacists would risk imperiling their businesses by flouting the DEA.
"The current conflict between state and federal law puts Georgia's pharmacies in a difficult position," the Georgia Pharmacy Association wrote in a letter to pharmacists, adding that the association is "putting forth the maximum effort to help provide timely information and assist in navigating this issue."
Those who oppose rapid legalization of marijuana said the DEA's stance will protect consumers and allow time for more research.
Michael Mumper, the executive director of the nonprofit Georgians for Responsible Marijuana Policy, said consumers trust that drugs dispensed from pharmacies are fully tested, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and federally legal. Mumper said that's not the case with medical marijuana.
But the federal stance could change if a recent proposal to loosen restrictions on marijuana goes through. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in August proposed taking marijuana off the banned list of Schedule I substances and reclassifying it as a lower-risk Schedule III drug. |
# 3 bystanders were injured as police fatally shot a man who pointed his gun at a Texas bar
December 17, 2023. 12:31 PM EST
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**AUSTIN, Texas (AP)** - Police in Texas are trying to determine who injured three bystanders as officers shot and killed a man who pointed a firearm at them at a bar in an Austin entertainment district.
Police said three officers fired at the suspect, who was shot multiple times late Saturday night. Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said they were still trying to determine who shot the bystanders. She said there were indications that the suspect also fired his gun.
Henderson said an employee at the bar along Sixth Street had alerted police to a man with a firearm in the bar. Henderson said that when police approached him, he pulled out the firearm and pointed it at officers and bar patrons.
The suspect has not yet been identified.
Henderson said that one of the bystanders had critical injuries while the other two had injuries that were not life threatening.
Per department protocol, the three officers involved in the shooting will be placed on administrative duty. Henderson said that video from their body cameras will be released within 10 business days. |
# Prolific Chicago sculptor whose public works explored civil rights, Richard Hunt dies at 88
By **SOPHIA TAREEN**
December 17, 2023. 12:19 PM EST
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**CHICAGO (AP)** - Richard Hunt, a prolific Chicago artist who was the first Black sculptor to receive a solo retrospective at New York City's Museum of Modern Art and whose public works drew praise from presidents, has died at age 88.
Hunt "passed away peacefully" Saturday at his home, according to a statement posted on his website. No cause of death was given.
During his career, Hunt created more than 160 commissioned pieces of public art that are displayed nationwide, including at libraries and college campuses. In Chicago, his 35-foot high stainless steel "Flight Forms" is at Midway International Airport. In 2021, his monument with bronze columns honoring the late civil rights icon Ida B. Wells was dedicated in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood.
"Richard's legacy will live on for generations to come," Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a Saturday evening statement. "A lifelong Chicagoan, his extraordinary career spanning 70 years leaves an indelible impact on our city and our world."
More than 100 of Hunt's pieces are displayed in museums worldwide. That includes the 1,500-pound bronze monument called "Swing Low" at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The sculpture, an ode to the spiritual by the same name, is suspended from the ceiling on the first floor.
Born on the city's South Side, Hunt was 19 when he went to the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till, a Black teenage lynching victim. Hunt later said the experience influenced his artistic work and a commitment to civil rights. A piece Hunt recently completed to honor Till, called "Hero Ascending," is expected to be installed at Till's childhood home in Chicago next year.
Hunt was a graduate of the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to the National Council on the Arts. Three years later, he was the first Black sculptor to have a solo retrospective exhibit at MoMa.
His commissioned work, "Book Bird," will be placed outside a planned Chicago Public Library branch at the Obama Presidential Center, which is under construction. The sculpture shows a bird taking flight from a book.
"It will be an inspiration for visitors from around the world, and an enduring reminder of a remarkable man," former President Barack Obama said in a Saturday statement. "Richard Hunt was an acclaimed sculptor and one of the finest artists ever to come out of Chicago."
Hunt described the sculpture as something that shows the progress one can make through reading and study.
"There are a range of possibilities for art on public buildings or in public places to commemorate, to inspire," Hunt said in a presidential center video last year about the commission. "Art can enliven and set certain standards for what's going on in and around it and within the community."
Hunt is survived by his daughter, Cecilia, and his sister Marian.
A private funeral service is planned for Chicago. A public celebration of his life and art will be held next year, according to his website. |
# Pilot and 2 passengers identified as victims of small plane crash in Oregon
December 18, 2023. 1:39 AM EST
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**INDEPENDENCE, Ore. (AP)** - A small plane crashed into power lines in Oregon late Saturday afternoon and killed the pilot and two passengers, police said.
Polk County emergency services received the report of the single engine plane crash in Independence around 4:55 p.m., the Independence Police Department said in a statement posted Saturday on social media.
Authorities on Sunday identified the deceased as the pilot, 35-year-old Mohammad Hussain Musawi of Independence, and two passengers, Mohammad Bashir Safdari, 35, of Independence and Ali Jan Ferdawsi, 29, of Salem, Oregon.
The airplane's owner was not on board and there were no other passengers, police said.
"My heart goes out to the deceased and the pain their families are experiencing," Independence Chief Robert Mason said in a statement. "Our entire department mourns with you during this time."
The plane was traveling in heavy fog from McMinnville, Oregon, to the Independence State Airport, police said in an updated statement on Sunday.
Police said the initial investigation found the collision with electrical power lines resulted in a small brush fire and a power outage in the community about 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) southwest of Salem.
Pacific Power said at least 375 customers in Independence lost power on Saturday after the crash, the Statesman Journal reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating with assistance from the Independence police.
A possible cause was not immediately released. |
# Families say autism therapy helped their kids. Indiana's Medicaid cuts could put it out of reach
By **ISABELLA VOLMERT**
December 17, 2023. 12:08 AM EST
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**INDIANAPOLIS (AP)** - Shaunna Thompson was running out of childcare options. Her daughter Abbie was expelled from daycare in 2022 because of "all over the place" behavior. Thompson found an in-home provider for the toddler, but was told Abbie was "too much" to watch every day of the week.
The experiences motivated Thompson to seek assistance for her daughter, who also was missing developmental milestones. Abbie, now 3, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in October of last year.
By March, Thompson enrolled her in applied behavior analysis - a therapy based on learning and behavior focused on improving communicative, social and motor skills - at a local facility in northern Indiana for 40 hours a week. Abbie, nonverbal most of her life, has since said her first word: "Mom."
"It brought tears to my eyes" Thompson said.
But Thompson and other families reliant on Medicaid worry changes coming in January will limit access to the therapy as Indiana attempts to limit the cost and, along with other states, cut the size of the low-income health care program.
Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration said the cost of Medicaid reimbursement for the behavioral therapy, commonly referred to as ABA, has ballooned in recent years because of the growing number of children seeking the services and the amount that providers have billed the state. The state plans a universal, hourly reimbursement rate for the therapy, but the planned amount is lower than what providers have previously received on average.
Advocates and centers worry this will mean accepting fewer patients or even closing, as has happened in other states such as Colorado this year.
"Companies just kept leaving and it just kind of turned into a crisis situation," said J.J. Tomash, who leads an ABA provider in Colorado called BehaviorSpan. He blamed Medicaid reimbursement rates that have not kept up with the cost of living.
Medicaid began covering the services in 2016, and providers in Indiana set their own rates until now. But centers say the new rates are still not enough to keep them running and are far below the previous statewide average of $97 per hour.
Indiana Act for Families, a coalition opposing the new rates, said the proposal is 10% below providers' operating costs. Although Indiana has said the new rates are aligned with pay in other states, the coalition argued the state used outdated data in their comparison.
Miles Hodge, owner and co-founder of Shine Pediatric Therapy in Indianapolis, said the effects of the new rates will take their toll over time. The state said the rates will be up for review every four years, a time frame Hodge said does not keep up with inflation.
"It could leave a lot of people underwater," he said.
About 6,200 children and young adults received the services under Medicaid in 2022, the state said.
With a standard patient to therapist ratio of 1-to-1, ABA is an "extremely staff intensive model," Hodge said. Across the state, he expects staff pay and benefits to be hit, which he said could lead to high turnover and inconsistent care for patients.
Hodge predicted his center will have to take fewer patients who are on Medicaid because of the changes.
The Indiana agency overseeing Medicaid said the therapy is the only major service category that did not have a uniform reimbursement rate, and the rising cost of the services was unsustainable. ABA expenditures increased more than 50% per year for the last three years, according to the agency.
In 2022, ABA claims represented $420 million in Medicaid spending, the state said. Total Medicaid expenditures in state fiscal year 2022 totaled more than $16 billion.
The move comes at the same time as states unwind pandemic-era protections that kept millions of people covered by Medicaid. In Indiana, the number of people enrolled in Medicaid steadily grew every month from March 2020 until May 23, when the federal budget law ended the protections.
Indiana's total enrollment has fallen every month since then.
States setting universal rates is common, but low reimbursement endangers access to key services for individuals with disabilities, said Jennifer Lav, senior attorney with the National Health Law Program.
Lower rates in a time of high inflation can lead to staff turnover and shortages, issues that can compound in rural areas, she said.
ABA is not without critics. Zoe Gross, advocacy director at the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, said ABA's goal is to eliminate behaviors considered autistic and teaches children to conform with neurotypical behaviors.
"It teaches you that the way you naturally behave is not OK," she said.
But families who have found it helpful find it hard to imagine a future without access.
In Westfield, a suburb of Indianapolis, 29-year-old Natasha Virgil said her family's ability to participate in activities outside their home markedly improved once 6-year-old Elijah Hill began ABA therapy.
"My biggest thing is making sure that he has a fighting chance to be able to live in this world and have the skills to survive," Virgil said, holding her 4-month-old daughter and watching Elijah play with soap bubbles near the family's Christmas tree.
It's difficult already for parents of children with disabilities to hold jobs between numerous therapy sessions and doctor's appointments, Virgil said.
"I don't think I would ever be able to be where we are if we didn't pursue ABA," she said
Chanel McClure, mother of 2-year-old King, said she has lost sleep over the pending change. She interviewed multiple centers before finding the ABA therapy she wanted for King. He was on a waiting list for another 11 months.
Now almost 3, King is nonverbal and attends speech, occupational and developmental therapy. Since beginning ABA, McClure said he has learned new ways to communicate and is comfortable playing with other children. His therapists are working to address elopement or wandering that can be common in children with autism.
"King just bloomed like a flower," McClure said. |
# Can a state count all its votes by hand? A North Dakota proposal aims to be the first to try
By **JACK DURA**
December 17, 2023. 12:07 AM EST
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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - All election ballots would be counted by hand under a proposal that could go to North Dakota voters, potentially achieving a goal of activists across the country who distrust modern vote counting but dismaying election officials who say the change would needlessly delay vote tallies and lead to more errors.
Backers of the proposed ballot measure are far from gathering enough signatures, but if the plan makes the June 2024 ballot and voters pass it, North Dakota would have to replace ballot scanners with hundreds of workers across the state who would carefully count and recount ballots.
It's a change other Republican-led states have attempted unsuccessfully in the years since former President Donald Trump began criticizing the nation's vote-counting system, falsely claiming it was rigged against him.
"We've always done hand counting before we got these machines," said Lydia Gessele, a farmer who is leading the effort to get the measure on the ballot. "They can find the people to do the job, because there are people that are willing to come in and do the hand counting."
Gessele said supporters were motivated by issues they claim occurred in 2022, including inaccurate ballot scanners and an electrical outage that prevented people in Bismarck from voting.
Former Secretary of State Al Jaeger, a Republican who oversaw North Dakota's elections for 30 years through 2022, rejected Gessele's claims, saying, "There was nothing that took place that would have changed the outcome of a vote. Nothing at all."
The North Dakota effort is aligned with a move ment among Trump allies who since 2020 have railed against voting machines. Without evidence, they cast the machines as suspicious and fraudulent. In some cases, they even breached voting systems' software in their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Earlier this year, Fox News reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought over statements broadcast by the network that Dominion machines were rigged against Trump.
The North Dakota ballot measure proposes all voting "shall be done by paper ballots and counted by hand starting on the day of the election and continuing uninterrupted until hand counting is completed."
The move would make North Dakota the first state to mandate hand counts, shifting from the paper ballots and scanners used for most elections, according to Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan organization that tracks states' voting legislation.
The measure doesn't specify a process or funding for hand counts. The state pays for election equipment, but North Dakota's 53 counties are each responsible for poll workers and polling locations.
North Dakota Republican Secretary of State Michael Howe said he opposes the proposed measure because hand counts are less standardized than using scanners. He likened it to having a computer rather than a human umpire a baseball game.
"When you hand-count, you bring in the human element of umpiring. You could have a wide strike zone, you could have a narrow strike zone," Howe said. "What you get with a machine is one consistent strike zone every single time."
Officials elsewhere in the country have struggled to implement hand-counting requirements. In Nye County, Nevada, officials in 2022 proceeded with a hand count, but only after polls closed and along with a machine count. In California's Shasta County, a state law prevented officials from forcing a hand count for a Nov. 7 election.
Last year, 317 ballots took more than seven hours to count by hand in Nevada's least populated county.
Legislators in at least eight states also proposed prohibitions, in some way, on ballot tabulators.
In April, Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that effectively would have mandated hand counts "by prohibiting the use of any known type of electronic tabulator." Arizona's Republican-controlled Legislature passed a similar resolution, but it was deemed non-binding.
Election officials in some of North Dakota's largest counties questioned the proposal.
Hand counting "seems to be extremely error-prone," said Craig Steingaard, the election administrator for Cass County, the state's largest county.
"It would definitely be more difficult for us to administer these elections correctly and then efficiently, too," he said.
Grand Forks County Finance and Tax Director Debbie Nelson said hand counts must be done "repeatedly to get the correct number. You can't do it once, and it takes you a very long time to do what the computer can do instantly."
The measure would allow any U.S. citizen to verify or audit North Dakota elections. The initiative also would mandate that "all voting will be completed only on Election Day," with allowance for absentee ballots mailed only for voters "who request one for a specific election in writing within a reasonable time period prior to Election Day." Mail-in ballots would be "otherwise prohibited."
Nearly 44% of voters participated by early voting or by mail in North Dakota's November 2022 election. |
# During the 2023 holiday season, face masks have settled in as an occasional feature of American life
By **DEEPTI HAJELA**
December 17, 2023. 2:13 PM EST
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**NEW YORK (AP)** - The scene: A crowded shopping center in the weeks before Christmas. Or a warehouse store. Or maybe a packed airport terminal or a commuter train station or another place where large groups gather.
There are people - lots of people. But look around, and it's clear one thing is largely absent these days: face masks.
Yes, there's the odd one here and there, but nothing like it was three years ago at the dawn of the COVID pandemic's first winter holidays - an American moment of contentiousness, accusation and scorn on both sides of the mask debate.
As 2023 draws to an end, with promises of holiday parties and crowds and lots of inadvertent exchanges of shared air, mask-wearing is much more off than on around the country even as COVID's long tail lingers. The days of anything approaching a widespread mask mandate would be like the Ghost of Christmas Past, a glimpse into what was.
Look at it a different way, though: These days, mask-wearing has become just another thing that simply happens in America. In a country where the mention of a mask prior to the pandemic usually meant Halloween or a costume party, it's a new way of being that hasn't gone away even if most people aren't doing it regularly.
"That's an interesting part of the pandemic," says Brooke Tully, a strategist who works on how to change people's behaviors.
"Home delivery of food and all of those kind of services, they existed before COVID and actually were gaining some momentum," she says. "But something like mask-wearing in the U.S. didn't really have an existing baseline. It was something entirely new in COVID. So it's one of those new introductions of behaviors and norms."
## THE SITUATION NOW IS ... SITUATIONAL
It tends to be situational, like the recent decision from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospital system to reinstate a mask mandate at its facilities starting Dec. 20 because it's seeing an increase in respiratory viruses. And for people like Sally Kiser, 60, of Mooresville, North Carolina, who manages a home health care agency.
"I always carry one with me," she says, "'cause I never know."
She doesn't always wear it, depending on the environment she's in, but she will if she thinks it's prudent. "It's kind of like a new paradigm for the world we live in," she says.
It wasn't that long ago that fear over catching COVID-19 sent demand for masks into overdrive, with terms like "N95" coming into our vocabularies alongside concepts like mask mandates - and the subsequent, and vehement, backlash from those who felt it was government overreach.
Once the mandates started dropping, the masks started coming off and the demand fell. It fell so much so that Project N95, a nonprofit launched during the pandemic to help people find quality masks, announced earlier this month that it would stop sales Monday because there wasn't enough interest.
Anne Miller, the organization's executive director, acknowledges she thought widespread mask usage would become the rule, not the exception.
"I thought the new normal would be like we see in other cultures and other parts of the world - where people just wear a mask out of an abundance of caution for other people," she says.
But that's not how norms work, public safety or otherwise, says Markus Kemmelmeier, a professor of sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
In 2020, Kemmelmeier authored a study about mask-wearing around the country that showed mask usage and mandate resistance varied by region based on conditions including pre-existing cultural divisions and political orientation.
He points to the outcry after the introduction of seatbelts and seatbelt laws more than four decades ago as an example of how practices, particularly those required in certain parts of society, do or don't take hold.
"When they first were instituted with all the sense that they make and all the effectiveness, there was a lot of resistance," Kemmelmeier says. "The argument was basically lots of complaints about individual freedoms being curtailed and so forth, and you can't tell me what to do and so forth."
## FIGURING OUT THE BALANCE
In New York City's Brooklyn borough, members of the Park Slope Co-op recently decided there was a need at the longstanding, membership-required grocery. Last month, the co-op instituted mask-required Wednesdays and Thursdays; the other five days continue to have no requirement.
The people who proposed it weren't focused on COVID rates. They were thinking about immune-compromised people, a population that has always existed but came to mainstream awareness during the pandemic, says co-op general manager Joe Holtz.
Proponents of the mask push at the co-op emphasized that immunocompromised people are more at risk from other people's respiratory ailments like colds and flu. Implementing a window of required mask usage allows them to be more protected, Holtz says.
It was up to the store's administrators to pick the days, and they went with two of the slowest instead of the busy weekend days on purpose, Holtz says, a nod to the reality that mask requirements get different responses from people.
"From management's point of view," he says, "if we were going to try and if there's going to be a negative financial impact from this decision that was made, we want to minimize it."
Those shopping there on a recent Thursday didn't seem fazed.
Aron Halberstam, 77, says he doesn't usually mask much these days but wasn't put off by the requirement. He wears a mask on the days it's required, even if he doesn't otherwise - a middle ground reflecting what is happening in so many parts of the country more than three years after the mask became a part of daily conversation and daily life.
"Any place which asks you to do it, I just do it," Halberstam says. "I have no resistance to it."
Whatever the level of resistance, says Kemmelmeier, the culture has shifted. People are still wearing masks in places like crowded stores or while traveling. They do so because they choose to for their own reasons and not because the government is requiring it. And new reasons can come up as well, like when wildfires over the summer made air quality poor and people used masks to deal with the haze and smoke.
"It always will find a niche to fit in with," he says. "And as long as there are needs somewhere, it will survive." |
# Jared Goff throws 5 TD passes as NFC North-leading Lions bounce back, beat Broncos 42-17
By **LARRY LAGE**
December 17, 2023. 12:30 AM EST
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**DETROIT (AP)** - Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions bounced back and took a step toward ending a six-season playoff drought.
Goff matched a career high with five touchdown passes, three to rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, and Detroit routed the Denver Broncos 42-17 on Saturday night.
"Our superpower is how we respond as a team," Goff said.
The NFC North-leading Lions (10-4) could clinch a spot in the postseason for the first time since the 2016 season if other results go their way the rest of Week 15. The simplest scenario would be a loss or tie by Seattle to Philadelphia on Monday night.
If Detroit wins a division title for the first time since 1993, it would host a playoff game. The Lions have only one playoff victory since the franchise won the NFL title in 1957.
"It would be fun, but we've got work to do," Goff said.
The Broncos' hopes of making the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season took a hit. Denver (7-7) had won six of its previous seven games to pull within a game of AFC West-leading Kansas City.
"We've got to keep believing," quarterback Russell Wilson said. "We've done it before."
Goff and the the Lions had lost two of three, but they put that behind them with a dominant second quarter.
"We've been through a lot of adversity as a group and a three-game lull is not the worst thing we've been through," Goff said.
The veteran quarterback, who turned the ball over eight times in the previous four games, threw touchdown passes in the second quarter to LaPorta, rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown to give Detroit a 21-0 halftime lead.
Denver, meanwhile, was 1 of 6 on third down and had just 75 yards in the first half.
"It was the ultimate team win. The defense started it out for us," coach Dan Campbell said.
The Broncos had a touchdown on fourth down negated late in the third when offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz was flagged for being offside.
Broncos coach Sean Payton proceeded to scream at Wilson on the sideline and Denver settled for a field goal to cut its deficit to 28-10.
"I was upset about the call," Payton said. "That's all. Simple. That's it."
So, why was he yelling at Wilson?
"Listen, what I talk to Russell about is none of your business," he said curtly to a reporter.
Wilson, who lost a fumble on his first possession, finished 18 of 32 for 223 yards with a touchdown pass and a rushing TD. He was relieved by backup Jarrett Stidham on a meaningless final series.
Goff was 24 of 34 for 278 yards, throwing five touchdown passes for the first time since 2018 when he played for the Rams, and didn't have a turnover. He joined Houston's C.J. Stroud as the only QBs to throw for five TDs in a game this season. The Broncos had given up just four touchdown passes over the previous six games.
LaPorta, a second-round pick from Iowa, became the first rookie tight end to have at least 70 receptions, 700 yards and nine touchdowns.
St. Brown had seven catches for 112 yards and a score after totaling five receptions in the previous two games.
The Lions leaned on a strong running game with Gibbs and David Montgomery combining for 185 yards and 27 carries. Gibbs' 12-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter put them ahead 35-10.
## PRIME-TIME PLAYERS
Detroit is 4-0 at night this season with wins over Kanas City, Green Bay, Las Vegas and Denver.
## ADDITIONAL SCENARIOS
Detroit could secure a playoff spot on Sunday if the Los Angeles Rams lose or tie along with a Tampa Bay loss or an Atlanta loss or tie.
## INJURIES
Broncos: OLB Nik Bonitto was inactive after leaving last week's game with a knee injury.
Lions: CB Jerry Jacobs (hamstring) and TE Brock Wright (groin) were hurt during the game.
## UP NEXT
Broncos: Host New England on Sunday, Dec. 24.
Lions: At Minnesota on Dec. 24. |
# Maury Povich receives lifetime achievement award from wife Connie Chung at Daytime Emmys
December 16, 2023. 10:48 PM EST
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**LOS ANGELES (AP)** - Maury Povich received the Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Honor on Saturday from his wife, journalist Connie Chung.
The 84-year-old talk show host, who retired last year, was honored during the creative arts ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
"I know that you think he's been determining the paternity of every child in America all his life," Chung said in her introduction. "But no, in his 67 freaking years in television, he's been a news reporter and a news anchor and old fashion talk show host interviewing world leaders, politicians, members of Congress, authors, movie stars and even Julia Child."
Among those paying tribute in videos were Whoopi Goldberg, Kelly Clarkson, Lewis Black, Karamo Brown and sports broadcasters Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser.
Povich took the stage to chants of "Maury, Maury, Maury!" He ended his tabloid-style show last year, which began in 1991. He hosted "A Current Affair" from 1986-90 for then-Fox Television owner Rupert Murdoch.
Povich recalled when "A Current Affair" was nominated for awards during its run.
"Rupert Murdoch used to tell me all that time, 'Don't particularly think about that, Maury, we're more interested in winning viewers than awards,'" Povich said.
Raising his Emmy award in the air, Povich said, "Rupert, the hell with that." |
# Gardner Minshew, Colts bolster playoff chances, beat fading Steelers 30-13
By **MICHAEL MAROT**
December 16, 2023. 9:15 PM EST
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**INDIANAPOLIS (AP)** - Gardner Minshew got the most out of his depleted supporting cast.
The Colts' quarterback, himself a backup, made big plays with backup receivers. He got Indianapolis' reserve running backs into play calls that would succeed. It was some of Minshew's finest work of the season - perhaps of his entire career.
Minshew matched his career high with three touchdown passes, Indianapolis rushed for 170 yards and the Colts improved their playoff prospects with a 30-13 win over the sagging Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.
"We've needed to win these games and we've done a great job down the stretch," Minshew said. "I think everybody was locked in, the urgency was there, the attention to details. At this point it's all about winning games, however, you've got to get it done."
Minshew and the Colts (8-6) have won five of six to move from the bottom of the AFC South into playoff contention. They currently hold the No. 7 position in the AFC, and they will remain there when this weekend's games conclude because of tiebreakers.
They wouldn't be in that spot without Minshew, who replaced injured rookie Anthony Richardson in Week 5. On Saturday, Minshew went 18 of 28 with 215 yards despite losing top receiver Michael Pittman Jr. to a concussion and top rusher Zack Moss to an injured right arm. Jonathan Taylor (right thumb), the 2021 NFL rushing champ, didn't play, either.
The Steelers (7-7) dropped their third straight and fell into last place in the rugged AFC North, putting coach Mike Tomlin's run of 16 straight seasons at .500 or better in jeopardy.
Pittsburgh took an early 13-0 lead behind backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who made his second start in place of the injured Kenny Pickett. But by late in the fourth quarter, the Colts had scored 30 consecutive points and third-stringer Mason Rudolph was slinging passes for the Steelers.
"Let's be honest, we're a fundamentally poor football team right now," Tomlin said. "We're playing losing football and I own that. I don't necessarily have the answers today. If I did, we'd have played differently today. But I will acknowledge things will not continue the way that they are."
Trubisky was 16 of 23 for 169 yards with one TD pass and two interceptions. Pittsburgh rushed for 74 yards and finished with 216 total yards.
The Steelers got off to a promising start when a replay review changed a fumble by Trubisky into a 1-yard TD run. Chris Boswell missed the extra-point attempt. Six plays later, Pittsburgh capitalized on a blocked punt when Trubisky threw a 4-yard TD pass to Diontae Johnson early in the second quarter.
But Indy's defense stiffened from there, and the Colts took control when Minshew and Moss hooked up on a 16-yard TD pass and D.J. Montgomery caught a 14-yard TD pass with 22 seconds left in the first half for a 14-13 lead. Montgomery was promoted from the practice squad this week.
"He's just worked his tail off on the scout team all year, he's just made play after play," Colts coach Shane Steichen said. "It's like, we've got to get this guy up on the active roster."
Pittsburgh's downward spiral continued when Najee Harris fumbled on the first Steelers play of the second half. On the next snap, Minshew threw an 18-yard scoring pass to Mo Alie-Cox to make it 21-13. The Colts sealed the win with three field goals by Matt Gay.
Trey Sermon ran 17 times for 88 yards to lead the Colts after logging only 11 runs this season.
"I think any time you lose really good players like that, nobody's going to just step in and replace them," Minshew said. "I think everybody has to kind of pick up their level of play and I think we got that from a lot of different areas today."
## SCARY MOMENT
Lucas Oil Stadium fell silent when Steelers safety Damontae Kazee launched his shoulder into Pittman as the receiver tried to make a diving catch. The Colts later said Pittman had a concussion. Kazee was ejected for the hit, which also drew a penalty.
Colts players immediately rushed to see if Pittman was OK and some players from both teams took a knee as trainers worked on Pittman. Fans covered their eyes and had concerned looks before Pittman got up and walked off the field.
## INJURY REPORT
Steelers: S Minkah Fitzpatrick did not return after hurting his left knee in the second quarter.
Colts: Moss did not return after getting hurt on his scoring play. He broke the same arm during the preseason. DT Eric Johnson II left in the second half with what appeared to be a lower-body injury.
## BY THE NUMBERS
Steelers: Lost for the first time at Lucas Oil Stadium as their eight-game winning streak in the series ended. ... Johnson led the Steelers with four catches for 67 yards. George Pickens caught three balls for 47 yards.
Colts: Tyler Goodson had 11 carries for 69 yards. Indy had 14 consecutive rushes during one second-half series. ... The Colts had three sacks, giving them 45 this season - two short of a new single-season franchise record.
## UP NEXT
Steelers: Host division rival Cincinnati next Saturday.
Colts: At Atlanta on Sunday, Dec. 24. |
# Large fire burns 2nd residential construction site in 3 days in Denver suburb
December 16, 2023. 9:21 PM EST
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**DENVER (AP)** - Firefighters in the Denver metro area responded to the second large fire at an Aurora construction site in three days on Saturday.
Officials have not yet determined the cause for either fire and have not suggested that they were related, but both are under investigation.
Saturday's five-alarm fire was reported shortly before 1 p.m., said Aurora Fire Rescue spokesperson Andrew Logan, at a large apartment building that was still under construction. Responding crews went to the top floor of the five-story building where the blaze was reported to have started, but the dangerous conditions soon forced crews from several different agencies to focus on fighting the flames from outside the structure.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries but was not taken to a hospital and is recovering, according to a department statement.
No other buildings were damaged in the fire, Logan said, and firefighters were expected to remain on the scene through Saturday evening.
Another fire early Thursday morning engulfed several residential buildings that were under construction in a different Aurora neighborhood. Aurora Fire Rescue wrote in a statement that Thursday's fire "was a very volatile, highly dangerous scene" and that responding crews used a hose line to keep nearby propane tanks from exploding. No one was injured in Thursday's fire.
"I believe the only thing those two have in common as of right now is that they both were under construction," Aurora Fire deputy Chief Caine Hills said in a news conference Saturday afternoon. |
# Prosecutors say Washington state man charged in 4 murders lured victims with promise of buried gold
December 16, 2023. 5:20 PM EST
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**SEATTLE (AP)** - A Washington state man in jail awaiting trial in one murder case has been charged with three more killings, and prosecutors say he lured all four victims by asking them to help dig up buried gold.
Richard Bradley Jr., 40, was charged in May 2021 with first-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Brandi Blake, whose body was found buried in a sprawling park in the town of Auburn, Washington. In the last two weeks, prosecutors have filed three more murder charges against Bradley, The Seattle Times reports, in the shooting deaths of a father and adult son in May 2021 and in the 2019 death of a man whose remains were found near Blake's grave.
Bradley's defense attorney, Peter Geisness, did not immediately return voice and email messages on Saturday. Bradley is scheduled to stand trial next month in Blake's death. He has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea on the other murder charges, according to online court records.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Thomas O'Ban II wrote in court documents that Bradley is accused of using the same scheme in each of the deaths - allegedly telling the victims he needed their help digging up a stash of stolen gold, taking them to a wooded area and killing them before stealing their vehicles and whatever possessions were inside.
Charging documents say Emilio Maturin was 36 when he was last seen alive in July 2019. His girlfriend reported him missing two weeks later.
According to court documents, she told detectives that she overheard Bradley telling Maturin that "he needed help digging up some buried gold in Auburn." Maturin initially was skeptical, she told detectives, but allegedly went along anyway. Maturin was in the habit of taking large amounts of money with him whenever he left the house, according to the court documents, and he had roughly $15,000 in cash when he left that day in his recently purchased BMW.
The girlfriend tracked Maturin's cellphone to Game Farm Park in Auburn and went to look for him but got scared and left, according to charging documents.
Several hours later, Auburn police found an unregistered BMW parked near a large field at the park and waited for the driver to return. When they attempted to stop the driver, the car took off. Bradley was arrested after a car and foot chase and charged with eluding police, according to charging documents.
Michael Goeman, 59, and his son Vance Lakey, 31, were shot to death in March 2021, and their bodies were found on an unmaintained road not far from the park. Goeman received a large inheritance just before he and his son were killed, according to court documents.
Bradley was considered a person of interest in the deaths at the time. He was charged that May with second-degree arson after prosecutors said he offered a man $1,000 to set fire to the father and son's impounded SUV. On Thursday, prosecutors added two counts of second-degree murder.
Blake went missing in early May 2021. She had won $20,000 at a casino and, like Maturin, was known to carry large amounts of cash, according to court documents. Investigators found her body in a shallow grave at the park later that month - as well as three human ribs about 30 feet (9 meters) away.
Bradley was charged that same month with killing Blake, who died of blunt force injuries. The ribs were later matched by DNA to Maturin, and Bradley was charged with murder in Maturin's death on Dec. 5 of this year. |
# How the White House got involved in the border talks on Capitol Hill - with Ukraine aid at stake
By **SEUNG MIN KIM**
December 18, 2023. 12:04 AM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - White House chief of staff Jeff Zients recently heard from a powerful Democratic senator that steep levels of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border had become, in a word, untenable.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, had signed onto a statement denouncing "reports of harmful changes to our asylum system" that were being proposed as part of a border deal on Capitol Hill. Yet Durbin, a veteran of numerous immigration battles, had also received concerning briefings from border officials and seen firsthand how the rising number of asylum-seekers had overwhelmed resources in his Midwestern state.
So when Zients dialed Durbin one weekend this month for a temperature check on the ongoing border talks, the senator was candid.
"I told him I thought the current situation is unsustainable, and the Democrats need to be part of the solution," Durbin said. President Joe Biden's top aide signaled the White House felt the same way, stressing to Durbin that "we have to engage with the Republicans and see if there's some middle ground," according to the senator's retelling.
That conversation between Zients and Durbin is just one of the several calls that the White House chief of staff has been making to key lawmakers in recent days, underscoring how top Biden administration officials have considerably ramped up their involvement with Capitol Hill as the fate of Biden's emergency spending request for Ukraine remains in the balance.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, along with senior officials from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, have spent hours behind closed doors haggling over the intricacies of immigration policy alongside senators trying to reach a border deal. Zients himself dropped by one of those meetings at the Capitol last week, reiterating to the negotiators Biden's plea to find a solution.
And the White House chief of staff has been talking regularly with Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, the chief GOP negotiator. It's a level of engagement that has heartened Republicans who had pushed for Biden to get more involved.
Republicans, who control the House and can block legislation in the Senate, say a deal is not possible without significant White House buy-in. Having Biden's senior aides actively participate in the talks sends a message - particularly to wary Democratic lawmakers - that the president is willing to cut a border deal that could make some in his own party uncomfortable.
And any deal that is reached on the border could also help address one major political liability for Biden as he gears up for his reelection, particularly if the increased involvement by the White House helps the public see the president as someone seeking a solution to the rising border numbers.
"I think an important change is that we now have all the entities at the table," said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., one of the lawmakers who for weeks has been negotiating a border deal. "The White House is involved in these negotiations as a full partner, and that's important. It shows a level of seriousness and intention to solve this crisis."
Another major reason why the White House and senior administration officials have gotten so directly involved is the sheer complexity of immigration law and the Department of Homeland Security's central role in implementing any restrictions that Congress will write.
Still, this wasn't the White House's strategy from the start.
Once it became clear congressional Republicans would demand policy extractions in exchange for releasing billions in additional aid for Ukraine, the White House intentionally hung back from the negotiations - replicating its past strategy of letting the legislators legislate, which had led to several of Biden's priorities becoming law. Though administration officials had been aware of what was being discussed, they deferred to the senators leading the talks - Lankford, Sinema and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
That dynamic changed this month. Mayorkas has been a consistent presence in the negotiations, along with White House legislative affairs director Shuwanza Goff and Natalie Quillian, a White House deputy chief of staff who has taken immigration under her portfolio. They, along with the senators and a coterie of other senior aides, have negotiated for hours daily, and continued to do so on Capitol Hill throughout the weekend.
Outside of the negotiating room, Zients has talked regularly with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the other negotiators. When the chief of staff has spoken to Lankford, he has urged him and other Republicans to stick with the border negotiations because aid for Ukraine is so vital, according to an administration official.
"We can't finalize any kind of agreement until the White House is actually engaged," said Lankford, who stressed that having Biden's aides in the room has been helpful. "There's a lot of Senate Democrats that are wondering, 'What's the White House think about this?' That's a reasonable thing for them to ask. Can't answer until they're actually there."
The stakes of the negotiations - being held in a room on the second floor of the Capitol, near Schumer's suite of offices - are enormous for the White House and for Biden's foreign policy legacy. Entangled with the border talks are not only additional funds for Ukraine but also for Israel, which has engaged in a violent combat in Gaza since an Oct. 7 assault by Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 Israelis.
Biden and White House aides have repeatedly warned, in dire terms, about the consequences of letting Ukraine funding run dry. The president said earlier this month that "any disruption in our ability to supply Ukraine clearly strengthens Putin's position," and administration officials have stressed that the money to aid Kyiv will run out by the end of the year.
Yet other Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates have been concerned that Biden's desperation for Ukraine aid would cause the White House to accept hardline policies restricting avenues for asylum that it would otherwise not support. And it has fallen to senior White House aides to take incoming fury from upset lawmakers. Zients and Mayorkas spoke with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Saturday, during which several Democrats raised concerns about the ongoing border talks.
"I think there's this view sometimes because a lot of senators become president, that you could just have the White House and the Senate come up with a deal and somehow jam the House," said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a leading progressive, on "Fox News Sunday." "But the House is still the people's house, and we're going to have our say. We need to be involved." |
# What about Bob? Some NJ Democrats want Menendez to move on so they can fight for his Senate seat
By **MIKE CATALINI**
December 18, 2023. 12:11 AM EST
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**TRENTON, N.J. (AP)** - For years in New Jersey, any Democrat weighing a run for statewide office had to grapple with an important question: What about Bob?
It wasn't a reference to the 1991 Bill Murray flick but to Bob Menendez, the incumbent U.S. senator whose political influence placed him atop the state Democratic Party food chain. He kept allies in line, helped anoint rising stars and had an important voice in determining the fate of both candidates and policy proposals. Even after a federal corruption indictment ended in a hung jury in 2017, Menendez continued to wield considerable power.
The "What about Bob?" question is no less relevant now, though it has taken on new meaning. It still bears no connection to the movie, though it has cinematic qualities of its own. Menendez is facing federal charges that he secretly aided Egypt's authoritarian government and tried to thwart a friend's criminal prosecution in exchange for gold bars and cash. He and his wife, who was also charged, and other co-defendants in the alleged scheme have all pleaded not guilty.
So if New Jersey Democrats ask the question these days, they're more likely to be wondering when he'll get out of the way and let them get on with the business of trying to keep a crucial U.S. Senate seat in Democratic hands.
Menendez, for his part, hasn't said whether he'll seek another term but vows that he's "not going anywhere." Jason Tuber, Menendez's chief of staff, said in an email that the "people of New Jersey will determine who their Senator will be." He didn't specify Menendez's plans.
"Senator Menendez has been powerful, effective, and indispensable in delivering for New Jersey and the Senator is prepared to put his record up against anyone who enters the race," he said.
Still, many in the party he once held considerable sway over already are looking beyond him.
"Anybody looking at that indictment has no choice but to move on," said former state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg. "It was horrendous."
Party leaders, from Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy to local officials, have called on Menendez to resign, his home county party has dropped its endorsement, and with the Democrats' U.S. Senate majority hanging in the balance, a field of robust primary challengers has begun to emerge.
U.S. Rep. Andy Kim entered the race a day after the indictment, and the state's first lady, Tammy Murphy, has jumped into the campaign and begun to win significant support from county party officials. Establishment support is typically a key factor to winning primaries in New Jersey because county parties can award the "line" or favored positioning on the ballot. Other prominent Democrats could join the race, too.
"They're already assuming he's toast," said Daniel Cassino, executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. "He doesn't have the pull he had before."
That's due to a couple of factors, according to Cassino and other experts. Menendez's previous indictment unfolded with a Republican governor in office, who would have been likely to tap a GOP senator if the seat opened up. That case also erupted years before Menendez faced reelection, so Democrats had some incentive to see how things would wind up before deciding how they should proceed politically.
Now, rather than back him again amid a second federal corruption case, the party seems poised to move on.
A reliably blue-leaning state with nearly 1 million more Democratic registered voters than Republicans, New Jersey hasn't elected a GOP senator since 1972. The possibility of a rematch between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden has Democrats optimistic about their chances of keeping the seat, even if Menendez mounts a reelection effort.
The Republican field at the moment includes Mendham Mayor Christine Serrano Glassner. A handful of others are also considering running. The GOP has struggled to win statewide elections, and typically performs better in gubernatorial races, which happen in odd-numbered years, than in Senate races. GOP state party chairman Bob Hugin spent millions of his own cash to try to unseat Menendez in 2018 and came up short.
Menendez has taken a defiant stance in the face of charges brought earlier this year by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Mounting a reelection effort while battling the case against him could be too much of a challenge, according to Brigid Harrison, political science professor at Montclair State University.
"It's going to be hard for Bob Menendez to raise money with the scandal overhead. That is a serious impediment," she said.
Ben Dworkin, who heads the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship, acknowledged that some Democrats are looking to nudge Menendez off the political stage and that public polls have shown support declining for him. Still, he added, Menendez has survived politically before.
"You can't ever count Menendez out," he said. |
# Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, to lie in repose
By **LINDSAY WHITEHURST**
December 18, 2023. 12:22 AM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - The late Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court and an unwavering voice of moderate conservatism for more than two decades, will lie in repose in the court's Great Hall on Monday.
O'Connor, an Arizona native, died Dec. 1 at age 93.
Her casket will be carried up the steps in front of the court, passing under the iconic words engraved on the pediment, "Equal Justice Under Law," and placed in the court's Great Hall. C-SPAN will broadcast a private ceremony held before the hall is open to the public, allowing people to pay their respects afterward, from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The last justice who lay in repose at the court was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female justice. After her death in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, mourners passed by her casket outside the building, on the portico at the top of the steps.
Funeral services for O'Connor are set for Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral, where President Joe Biden and Chief Justice John Roberts are scheduled to speak.
O'Connor was nominated in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan and subsequently confirmed by the Senate, ending 191 years of male exclusivity on the high court. A rancher's daughter who was largely unknown on the national scene until her appointment, she received more letters than any one member in the court's history in her first year and would come to be referred to as the nation's most powerful woman.
She wielded considerable sway on the nine-member court, generally favoring states in disputes with the federal government and often siding with police when they faced claims of violating people's rights. Her influence could perhaps best be seen, though, on the court's rulings on abortion. She twice joined the majority in decisions that upheld and reaffirmed Roe v. Wade, the decision that said women have a constitutional right to abortion.
Thirty years after that decision, a more conservative court overturned Roe, and the opinion was written by the man who took her place, Justice Samuel Alito.
O'Connor grew up riding horses, rounding up cattle and driving trucks and tractors on the family's sprawling Arizona ranch and developed a tenacious, independent spirit.
She was a top-ranked graduate of Stanford's law school in 1952, but quickly discovered that most large law firms at the time did not hire women. One Los Angeles firm offered her a job as a secretary.
She built a career that included service as a member of the Arizona Legislature and state judge before her appointment to the Supreme Court at age 51. When she first arrived, she didn't even have a place anywhere near the courtroom to go to the bathroom. That was soon rectified, but she remained the court's only woman until 1993.
She retired at age 75, citing her husband's struggle with Alzheimer's disease as her primary reason for leaving the court. John O'Connor died three years later, in 2009.
After her retirement, O'Connor remained active, sitting as a judge on several federal appeals courts, advocating for judicial independence and serving on the Iraq Study Group. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
She expressed regret that a woman had not been chosen to replace her, but lived to see a record four women now serving at the same time on the Supreme Court.
She died in Phoenix, of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness. Her survivors include her three sons, Scott, Brian and Jay, six grandchildren and a brother.
The family has asked that donations be made to iCivics, the group she founded to promote civics education. |
# Some Trump fake electors from 2020 haven't faded away. They have roles in how the 2024 race is run
By **GABE STERN**
December 18, 2023. 8:07 AM EST
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**VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. (AP)** - Nearly two years after he signed documents attempting to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 loss in Nevada, Jim Hindle thanked everyone gathered in a historic Nevada boomtown's commission chambers and asked them to bear with him while he learned how to oversee elections in rural Storey County.
Hindle was another replacement in what was a revolving door of county election officials across Nevada as the 2022 midterms approached. He had just unseated the interim clerk, who had stepped in after the prior clerk resigned.
But Hindle's tenure in the heavily Republican county is part of a trend across battleground states where fake electors have retained influence over elections heading into 2024.
He is among six Republicans who were indicted this month by Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford for their alleged roles in attempting to overturn the election outcome in the swing state, which Democrat Joe Biden carried by more than 33,000 votes over the GOP president.
Hindle and the others, who are scheduled to be arraigned Monday, coordinated with Trump's team directly, according to transcripts of testimony before the U.S. House committee that investigated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hindle told The Associated Press he will continue running local elections despite the charges. He declined to comment further.
Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania also have fake electors who are involved in the 2024 election.
The list includes Bob Spindell, who remains on Wisconsin's bipartisan election commission despite calls from Democrats for him to be removed. A Republican legislative leader who appointed Spindell said last week that he will not rescind the appointment, calling the fake elector scheme a "failed legal strategy" and "not a sinister plot to overturn an election."
Spindell and the fake electors in Wisconsin agreed to a settlement this month conceding that their actions were "part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results."
In Arizona, fake electors Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern are Republican legislators with powerful roles. Hoffman is chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, and Kern leads the Judiciary Committee. The Arizona attorney general is investigating the role of fake electors; no one has been charged.
Hoffman's position makes him a gatekeeper for virtually all election-related legislation under consideration. That has become especially contentious in the Western swing state where Republicans have been aggressive in trying to overturn or cast doubt on Democratic victories.
The FBI in 2022 interviewed Sam DeMarco, a member of the three-member election board in Pennsylvania's Allegheny County. Despite the subpoenas served to DeMarco and that state's other GOP electors, they have faced no legal consequences after qualifying their electoral votes as "conditional" in case Trump had prevailed in court. DeMarco has often been critical of Trump's influence on the state party.
Michigan is a rare example where a fake elector has lost influence due to charges. In July, the Michigan Bureau of Elections barred Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot from running any elections as the state attorney general brought criminal charges against him and 15 other Republicans for their roles as fake electors.
In Nevada, Storey County's 3,750 active registered voters represent a speck of the state's electorate. Even while Hindle and others remain in their roles as elections officials and legislators, state election officials and state and federal courts can provide checks on their authority, said Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar's office, which runs elections across the state, did not respond to questions about whether the indictment could affect Hindle's elections role.
But Hindle's influence does not stop at the county line. He is one of three fake electors involved in the state GOP's organization of a party-run caucus in early February that is scheduled just days after the state-run presidential primary. The Nevada GOP has come under intense scrutiny for confusing voters with the dueling elections and for adopting rules that many say benefit Trump over other Republican candidates.
The Nevada GOP did not respond to a request for comment on whether the indictment affects members' abilities to organize the caucus.
The Nevada Republican chairman, Michael McDonald, one of the indicted fake electors, has said the state party is bypassing the primary because the Democratic-controlled Legislature did not consider the Republican governor's proposals for a voter ID requirement and other measures.
On Sunday, several of Nevada's fake electors attended a Trump rally in Reno, where the former president thanked three of them personally, including Hindle and McDonald, while saying they were treated unfairly. He did not mention the specific charges.
McDonald introduced Trump at the rally, while encouraging the crowd to advocate and vote for Trump at the party-run caucus. He ended the speech with the same pledge he made at an October rally, before his indictment.
"You give us a fair election, I'll give you the next president of the United States - Donald J. Trump," he said. |
# Trump wants New Hampshire to put him on a path to the nomination before rivals find their footing
By **HOLLY RAMER** and **BILL BARROW**
December 17, 2023. 11:02 AM EST
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**DURHAM, N.H. (AP)** - Donald Trump wants New Hampshire to help him pocket the Republican presidential nomination before any rivals find their footing with the 2024 campaign's opening contest just weeks away.
His appearance Saturday in Durham was part of a swing taking the former president through early nominating states as he cites his wide polling lead over a dwindling field of GOP hopefuls. They are trying to block his political comeback as Trump navigates multiple indictments and looks ahead to a potential rematch with President Joe Biden, the Democrat he lost to in 2020.
"We are going to win the New Hampshire primary, then we are going to crush crooked Joe Biden next November," Trump said, reminding supporters that he ensured their state would continue to host the nation's first primary after Iowa's kickoff caucuses.
"New Hampshire is going to weed out the insincere RINOs ... Republicans in name only," Trump said, referring to rivals Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who was endorsed by Trump in 2018, and Nikki Haley, Trump's former U.N. ambassador. Trump warned that his allies-turned-opponents "will betray you just like they betrayed me."
The New Hampshire primary is Jan. 23, eight days after Iowa begins the nominating process on Jan. 15. Nevada and South Carolina come next in the early stages, before Super Tuesday on March 5, when the highest cumulative number of delegates are up for grabs on any single day on the election calendar. The Trump campaign sees a path for him to secure the nomination before the Super Tuesday polls open.
"What's really important from our standpoint is being able to win the early states," senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita told Right Side Broadcasting minutes before Trump stepped on stage. "Winning Iowa, winning New Hampshire, winning Nevada, winning South Carolina - it's over. That's our goal."
Trump, who has pledged to "immediately stop the invasion of our southern border" and wants to reimpose his first-term travel ban that originally targeted seven Muslim-majority countries, used harsh rhetoric in saying "we got a lot of work to do" about the rising number of migrants entering the United States. "They're poisoning the blood of our country," he said once more on the campaign trail, echoing Adolf Hitler's language in his own political manifesto.
One of Trump's most prominent critics in the 2024 race, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Trump was "dog-whistling to Americans who feel absolutely under stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world. And he's dog-whistling to blame it on people from areas that don't look like us."
The focus on immigration comes as the Biden administration and Congress are trying to negotiate a border security deal demanded by Republicans as part of the president's request for wartime aid for Ukraine and Israel. Biden has been criticized about the record numbers of migrants at the border and is trying address a political weakness before a potential rematch with Trump.
Before the rally, Trump's campaign announced an endorsement from former state Senate President Chuck Morse, who is now running for governor. Morse, who ran for U.S. Senate last year but lost the primary to a candidate more closely aligned with Trump, told the crowd it's time for Republicans to "rally around a candidate who can not only win but get the job done for our country."
"He's done it once, and he'll do it again," Morse said.
Gov. Chris Sununu on Tuesday endorsed Haley, who is battling DeSantis to become a plausible alternative to Trump. Sununu, a frequent Trump critic who passed on the 2024 White House race, has argued that Republicans with "no path to victory must have the courage to get out" of their party's primary in order to stop Trump.
Trump called Sununu a selfish "spoiled brat" who passed up a chance to win a U.S. Senate seat in 2022, then indulged his presidential aspirations but found no traction.
A New Hampshire poll conducted in November by CNN and the University of New Hampshire found that Haley was in second place, well behind Trump, but slightly ahead of fellow candidates DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Trump has won New Hampshire's GOP primary twice but lost the state in both of his general elections. He is confident enough in his domination of the Republican Party that he spent more time Saturday angling against Biden.
"Under the Trump administration, you were better off, your family was better off, your neighbors were better off, your communities were better off, and our country was better off. America was stronger, richer, safer, and more confident than ever when you had me behind that desk in the Oval Office," Trump said.
DeSantis, meanwhile, didn't shy away from mentioning Trump during stops in Iowa Saturday, criticizing him for not finishing the southern border wall and adding trillions of dollars to the national debt.
Trump's argument in New Hampshire resonated with voters like Brandon Sevey, 25, who was attending his first Trump event from nearby Dover. Sevey said he has worked a variety of retail and fast-food jobs and found it easier to find work when Trump was president. Plus, he likes Trump's brashness.
"He's loud and obnoxious and annoys people," Sevey said. "But that's what I like about him." |
# As Trump threatens to repeal Obamacare, these 'insurance godmothers' are signing Florida Latinos up
By **ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON**
December 16, 2023. 10:48 AM EST
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**MIAMI (AP)** - Salsa music blares from the food court in a rundown Miami shopping center as Latinos head to a kiosk and an office showing signs for " Obamacare," where they hope to renew their health coverage plans before the year ends.
It's areas near this mall where former Democratic President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is more popular than anywhere in the country, according to federal data. The region has also shifted away from Democrats to Republicans in recent years, with Donald Trump hosting several rallies here as part of his outreach to Latino voters.
Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has pledged to renew efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 law - something that would be felt heavily in the region and could possibly reverse some of the GOP shift among South Florida's Latinos, experts say.
President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has already seized on Trump's statements about "Obamacare," which was enacted when Biden was vice president, as part of its broader efforts to shape the widely expected rematch with Trump next year.
"Health insurance is something that is extremely needed for everyone," said Odalys Arevalo, one of the managing partners of a health insurance agency serving Spanish-speaking clients in Miami. "And I know that everybody that supports the Republican Party that has health insurance through Obamacare would not support the fact that it would be taken away from one day to another. That is a fact."
Arevalo and her business partner, Mercy Cabrera, started enrollment centers to help people navigate the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplaces and remember how some Cubans would walk away uttering "no, no, no," after seeing the name "Obamacare," which was coined by Republicans opposing the overhaul as an expensive government takeover of health insurance.
Insurers could no longer deny coverage based on preexisting medical conditions, and that drew many Latinos to consider it, Arevalo says. In the following years, the women started enrolling tens of thousands, earning the nickname of "Madrinas del Obamacare," or "Obamacare" godmothers, evoking the crucial role godparents play in Latino culture.
They have since renamed themselves "Las Madrinas de los Seguros," or "insurance godmothers," because they offer other plans. But they continue to feature the word "Obamacare" on their office walls and in their ads.
"Obamacare" is seen throughout Miami in advertising flags, businesses and bus signs. Federal data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicates how widely used it is here.
About 3.4 million Hispanics are signed up with insurance through the health law. Florida leads enrollment with more than 3.2 million consumers selecting a plan during last year's enrollment period from November 2022 to January. Miami-Dade is the county with the most people enrolled, with about 750,000 consumers, or more than one-fourth of the total population.
Florida is also one of 10 states that has resisted expanding Medicaid coverage under a provision of the health law.
The two Zip codes with the most sign-ups last year and this year are in Doral and Hialeah, hubs for the Venezuelan and Cuban communities that are just north of Miami and are common stops for Trump's visits and rallies.
Last month, Trump posted on his Truth Social social media site that "the cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it's not good Healthcare." While he said he is looking at alternatives, he has not shared any plans. But Trump said he would not give up on terminating it - recalling when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blocked the then-president's effort to repeal the law in July 2017.
During Trump's administration, Republicans managed to pass a provision that reduced the penalty for not having health insurance to zero, the most unpopular part of the law and something that people in South Florida say made them feel more at ease with the plans.
The Miami Herald, in a recent editorial, called the plans by Trump - also echoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another 2024 GOP presidential candidate - "exceedingly out of touch with voters."
Biden's campaign quickly mobilized a response and the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, Nikki Fried, specifically mentioned an area where "Obamacare" is popular.
"Miami-Dade County would be hardest hit by Trump's anti-health care agenda," Fried said.
According to a KFF poll conducted in May 2023, 59% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act. The same poll by the nonprofit organization focused on health policy found that 66% of Hispanics say they have a favorable opinion of the law.
According to APVoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of U.S. voters, 62% of 2022 midterm voters in Florida said it should be the responsibility of the federal government to make sure that all people in the country have health care coverage. About one-third of Florida voters in the 2022 midterm elections said that shouldn't be the government's job. Among Latino or Hispanic midterm voters in Florida, 77% said ensuring health care coverage for all should be the responsibility of the federal government, while 1 in 5 said it should not be.
Zulina Ruiz, a 72-year-old retired lawyer from Venezuela, said she found out about the Affordable Care Act options quickly after arriving in the U.S. in 2017. She said she is particularly grateful for having access to drugs to treat her high blood pressure. Green-card holders, refugees and other migrants who have been granted temporary protected status or who have come recently with humanitarian parole also qualify for coverage under the law.
"This is very important for me. I don't think a candidate can just make this program disappear," she said. "They would leave millions of low-income people without insurance."
Ruiz became a U.S. citizen in May, but has not registered with any party. She does not know whom she will vote for next year.
"I am still not decided, and we don't have official candidates yet," Ruiz said, adding that she still feels more connected politically to Venezuela. Much of the growing support for Republicans in Miami is owed to Trump's record opposing socialist leaders across Latin America, including imposing White House sanctions on Venezuelan officials.
"But health policy is a top priority for me," Ruiz said.
The Biden campaign has run advertising in battleground states contrasting his efforts to lower drug costs with Trump's renewed promise to repeal the health overhaul. The ad campaign did not include markets in Florida.
Arevalo, one of the "Obamacare godmothers," thinks voters in Miami may not necessarily approve of all the positions of the candidates they ultimately back.
But as far as a local verdict on "Obamacare," and despite initial hesitations about it, the program grew on people in Miami once they understood it, she said.
"When Trump was elected, some people came and said they wanted nothing to do with Obamacare. We said 'Obamacare, Trumpcare, whatever,'" she said of what they told people. "The important thing is that everybody has access to health insurance and that they can take care of their health." |
# Americans agree that the 2024 election will be pivotal for democracy, but for different reasons
By **GARY FIELDS** and **LINLEY SANDERS**
December 15, 2023. 2:09 PM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - In a politically polarized nation, Americans seem to agree on one issue underlying the 2024 elections - a worry over the state of democracy and how the outcome of the presidential contest will affect its future.
They just disagree over who poses the threat.
A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 62% of adults say democracy in the U.S. could be at risk depending on who wins next fall. Majorities of Democrats (72%) and Republicans (55%) feel the same way, but for different reasons.
President Joe Biden has attempted to paint a dystopian future if GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump returns to the White House after promising to seek retribution against opponents and declining to rule out that he would abuse the powers of the office. The former president has tried to flip the narrative lately, saying the election subversion and documents cases against him show Biden has weaponized the federal government to prosecute a political opponent. He has called Biden the "destroyer of American democracy."
"I think from the side of the left, it's pretty obvious that they're concerned about electing a president who is avowedly authoritarian, someone who clearly wants to reduce checks and balances within the government to strengthen the presidency and to do so in ways that give the executive branch kind of an unprecedented reach across the population and sectors of the government," said Michael Albertus, political science professor at the University of Chicago.
"From the right, the Republicans think about government overreach, big government, threats to freedom and mandates to act in a certain way or adopt certain policies," he said.
Against that backdrop, the poll found that about half of U.S. adults, 51%, say democracy is working "not too well" or "not well at all."
The poll asked about the importance of the coming presidential election for 12 issues and found that the percentage who said the outcome will be very or extremely important to the future of democracy in the U.S. (67%) ranked behind only the economy (75%). It was about equal to the percentage who said that about government spending (67%) and immigration (66%).
Tony Motes, a retired firefighter who lives in Monroe, Georgia, cited a number of reasons he believes "we're not living in a complete democracy." That includes what he sees as a deterioration of rights, including parental rights, thieves and other criminals not being held accountable, and a lack of secure borders.
The 59-year-old Republican also said the various criminal cases being brought against Trump undermine the country's democratic traditions.
"They're trying to keep him from running because they know he's going to win," he said.
The poll's findings continue a trend of Americans' lackluster views about how democracy is functioning. They also believe the country's governing system is not working well to reflect their interests on issues ranging from immigration to abortion to the economy.
Robert Lieberman, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, has studied the fall of democracies elsewhere and the common elements that feed their demise.
The factors include polarization, growing ethnic or racial antagonism, rising economic inequality and a concentration of power under a country's executive officeholder.
"For a number of years now, the United States has had all four of these conditions, really for the first time in history," he said. "So we're in a period that's ripe for challenges to democracy."
Trump is not the cause of the pattern, Lieberman said, but "seems to have an unerring instinct to make things worse, and he certainly has authoritarian impulses and a lot of followers who seem to validate or applaud him."
The AP-NORC poll found that 87% of Democrats and 54% of independents believe a second Trump term would negatively affect U.S. democracy. For Republicans, 82% believe democracy would be weakened by another Biden win, with 56% of independents agreeing.
About 2 in 10 U.S. adults (19%) say democracy in the U.S. is "already so seriously broken that it doesn't matter who wins the 2024 presidential election." Republicans (23%) are more likely than Democrats (10%) to say this, but relatively few in either party think U.S. democracy is resilient enough to withstand the outcome.
Social media platforms and news sites that reinforce biases accelerate the polarization that leads people from different political perspectives to believe the other side is the one representing the gravest threat to the nation's democracy, said Lilliana Mason, an associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins.
"I don't think that people are exaggerating. I think it's that they actually are living in information environments in which it is true for them that democracy is under threat," she said.
Mason said one side fears what Trump has said he will do if he wins, while the other is responding to the fear created in a media ecosystem that says the Democrats want to destroy America and turn it into a socialist or communist society.
For some, the danger is more than Trump's statements and concern over how he might turn toward authoritarianism. It also is what's happening in the states and courts, where political gerrymandering and threats to voting rights are continuing, as are measures that limit people's ability to vote easily, such as reducing drop box locations for mail-in ballots and tightening voter identification requirements.
"Look at all the roadblocks that have been put up to keep people, especially people of color, from being able to vote," said Pamela Williams, 75, of New York City, who identifies as a Democrat. "That isn't democracy."
Douglas Kucmerowski, 67, an independent who lives in the Finger Lakes region of New York, is concerned over those state-level actions and the continued use of the Electoral College, which can allow someone to be president even if they lose the popular vote.
He also questions the state of the nation's democracy when a large proportion of the country supports a candidate facing multiple criminal charges who has spoken about pursuing retribution and using the military domestically, among other things.
Trump also has lied about the outcome of the 2020 election, which has been affirmed by multiple reviews in the battleground states where he disputed his loss, and called his supporters to a Washington rally before they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a violent attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's win.
"That candidate, in any other age, probably would have been ruled out. But for some reason, in this society, he's one of the best choices," Kucmerowski said. "If this country is that confused that they can't tell the difference between right and wrong and ex-presidents making statements that on day one he will be a dictator, doesn't anybody care about day two or three or four when he's still a dictator?" |
# Sports fan Trump hits UFC fights and big games to try to put his 2024 nomination in a headlock
By **JILL COLVIN**
December 15, 2023. 9:56 AM EST
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**NEW YORK (AP)** - After Donald Trump attended South Carolina's annual Palmetto Bowl, video of the crowd chanting "We want Trump!" as the former president arrived at Williams-Brice Stadium spread across conservative social media.
It was much the same two weeks earlier when the GOP front-runner attended an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in New York, fist-bumping and waving to the crowd as he entered Madison Square Garden like he was one of the fighters, with an entourage that included the musician Kid Rock, UFC president Dana White and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
While Trump has spent less time campaigning in early-voting states than many of his Republican primary rivals, his campaign has been filling his schedule with appearances at major sporting events including Saturday's UFC fight in Las Vegas. Videos of his appearances routinely rack up hundreds of thousands of views across social media, particularly on non-political outlets, including popular online sports channels and fan sites. And they are far easier and cheaper to produce than campaign rallies.
It's a strategy that, aides say, puts him in front of potential voters who may not closely follow politics or engage with traditional news sources. And it is part of a broader effort to expand Trump's appeal with young people and minority voters, particularly Latino and Black men, that the campaign hopes to win over in greater numbers after gains in 2020. UFC's fanbase in particular is overwhelmingly male.
Aides stress Trump is a genuine sports fan who frequented fights and games long before he ran for the White House and would be attending even if he weren't running. He is a particular aficionado of boxing and other combat sports. During a summer appearance on the "UFC Unfiltered" podcast, Trump recalled his favorite fights from decades ago, blow by blow.
In the 1980s, he befriended boxing legends like Mike Tyson and promoter Don King as he hosted high-profile fights at his Atlantic City casinos and became so involved with professional wrestling that he starred in WrestleMania 23's "Battle of the Billionaires." And for a time, he owned the New Jersey Generals, a professional football team that played in the NFL-rival United States Football League.
In recent years, he has become particularly tied to mixed martial arts and its machismo. He is close personal friends with White, UFC's founder, who spoke at the Republican National Conventions in 2016 and 2020 and credits Trump for saving the sport by hosting fights when others shunned it as too violent.
Campaign staff often tune into fights late at night aboard Trump's private plane as he returns to Palm Beach, Florida, following events, streaming fights on ESPN+ or DAZN.
Trump has also drawn support from the sport's stars, including Colby Covington, who will be fighting Leon Edwards Saturday night for UFC's welterweight title. Covington said this week that organizers overruled his request to have Trump walk him out to the octagon. But Trump may still get a role if he wins.
"He's going to wrap that belt around me," Covington told reporters on Thursday, wearing a suit jacket signed by Trump that featured the former president's mug shot on the back. "It's going to be a spectacle."
There is of course a long history of sports in presidential politics. Candidates have used them to project an image of strength and vigor, endear themselves to voters and seem more accessible.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss wrote about how Theodore Roosevelt was frequently pictured boxing, horseback riding and hiking, while John Kennedy swam, sailed and played touch football despite serious injuries sustained during the war. Richard Nixon "went to great lengths" to emphasize his football and baseball fandom as he tried to court working-class voters, while George W. Bush famously threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the first World Series game in New York after 9/11, trying to signal to nervous Americans that life would go on after the terror attack.
Trump's team sees the appearances as a way to connect with sports fans, signaling he shares their interests, and a way to showcase a different side of the combative politician, who has been indicted four times and is usually shown on the news railing from behind a rally lectern. They also hope to capitalize on his history as a celebrity and his relationships with business and entertainment figures.
When Trump attends an event like Saturday's fight, "The audience gets to see him through an unvarnished filter that isn't tainted by news media and political biases," said his spokesman Steven Cheung, who previously worked for UFC himself. "It gives us the great opportunity to connect with voters who are, quite frankly, turned off by many traditional news outlets."
Jeffrey Montez de Oca, a professor of sociology and the founding director of the Center for Critical Sport Studies at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, said politicians "use sports all the time and they're used to connect with regular people," as well as to "project strength and power."
Sports, he said, generate "powerful emotions" that take hold of fans and "make you feel like you're a part of something much larger than yourself" - emotions that politicians try to harness.
"For Trump to walk into that space, he's able to participate in the general feeling going on in that room. The love, the enthusiasm, the feeling of connection with the sport, with the athletes, then attaches to him as well," he said.
Kyle Kusz, a University of Rhode Island professor who studies the connection between sports and the far right, recalled how Trump aligned himself with sports figures during his 2016 campaign, appearing with basketball coach Bobby Knight, who was fired for abusive behavior, and invoking Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who was fired in connection with the child sex abuse scandal involving his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, among others facing scandal. He noted all were white men whose diehard fans saw them as unfairly victimized.
Sports stars in 2016 were among the few celebrities willing to campaign with Trump, who was shunned by the Hollywood establishment.
This time, Trump's appearances are part of a broader effort by the former president's team to engage with non-traditional media outlets, including YouTube shows and podcasts like "UFC Unfiltered" that can drive millions of views. The appearances allow Trump to reach listeners who may be turned off by the mainstream media and politics, and get their news from alternative sources.
They have also tried to harness the power of social media by creating their own viral moments. His team realized early on that video of Trump interacting with supporters had particular traction, and now often organizes stops where he has passed out Blizzards at Dairy Queen or tossed autographed footballs into the crowd at a frat house in Iowa.
The scenes have also provided a contrast, first with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once seen as Trump's leading primary rival, who is often criticized for seeming wooden and awkward at public events, and now with President Joe Biden as both men gear up for a widely expected general election rematch. Biden has largely eschewed campaign events, holding just a single rally, his campaign launch event. |
# 'Uniquely horrible choice:' Few US adults want a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024, an AP-NORC poll shows
By **SEUNG MIN KIM** and **LINLEY SANDERS**
December 14, 2023. 12:27 PM EST
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**WASHINGTON (AP)** - It's the presidential election no one is really jazzed about.
Relatively few Americans are excited about a potential rematch of the 2020 election between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, although more Republicans would be satisfied to have Trump as their nominee than Democrats would be with Biden as their standard-bearer, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
That palpable apathy from voters comes even as both Biden and Trump are facing relatively few obstacles in their paths to lock down their respective parties' nominations next year. Biden has amassed broad support from Democratic officials as a handful of mostly token primary challengers have struggled to spark momentum. And despite 91 indictments across four criminal cases - including some centered on his attempts to overturn his electoral loss to Biden in 2020 - Trump's grip on GOP primary voters shows no signs of loosening a month before the first nominating contest in Iowa.
"Probably the best way to put it is, I find it sad for our country that that's our best choices," said Randy Johnson, 64, from Monett, Missouri. Johnson, who is a Republican, said he wishes there were a third legitimate option for president but that the political system does not make that viable and added: "We're down to the lesser of two evils."
Andrew Collins, 35, an independent from Windham, Maine, said: "This is probably the most uniquely horrible choice I've had in my life."
About half of Democrats say they would be very or somewhat satisfied if Biden becomes the party's 2024 nominee. About one-third of Democrats would be dissatisfied, and about 1 in 5 would be "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied." When it comes to the Republican Party nomination, enthusiasm is higher for GOP front-runner Donald Trump. Two-thirds of Republicans would be satisfied with Trump as the Republican nominee for 2024. About one-quarter would be dissatisfied, and 9% would be neutral.
Looking at U.S. adults broadly - setting aside party affiliations - there's still not much enthusiasm for a Biden-Trump rematch.
Most U.S. adults overall (56%) would be "very" or "somewhat" dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024, and a similar majority (58%) would be very or somewhat dissatisfied with Trump as the GOP's pick. Nearly 3 in 10 U.S. adults, or 28%, say they would be dissatisfied with both Trump and Biden becoming their party's respective nominees - with independents (43%) being more likely than Democrats (28%) or Republicans (20%) to express their displeasure with both men gaining party nominations.
Deborah Brophy is an independent who says she supported Biden in the 2020 presidential election. But now, the 67-year-old has soured on the president, saying she felt Biden is too focused on dealing with conflicts abroad rather than "what's going on under his own nose," such as homelessness, gun violence and the economy.
"What's going on with Biden right now?" said Brophy, of North Reading, Massachusetts. "I don't think he's, health-wise, able to continue another four years in office. I think his mind is a little bit going the wrong way in the way of not being able to think."
Yet she is turned off by Trump's attitude and said he "seems a little racist," even while praising his business acumen.
"So I don't know what I'm going to do," Brophy added.
Among Democrats and Republicans alike, having a candidate who can win is given slightly more importance than having a candidate whose views represent most people in the party or even themselves, according to the AP-NORC poll.
Only about 3 in 10 Democrats are "extremely" or "very" confident that the Democratic Party's process will result in nominating a candidate who can win the general election in November. About half are somewhat confident, and 18% are not very confident or not at all confident. While relatively few are highly confident they'll get a winning nominee out of the process, three-quarters of Democrats say it's "extremely" or "very" important that the party's process for nominating a presidential candidate does result in a candidate who can win the general election.
Meanwhile, one-third of Republicans are extremely or very confident that the Republican Party's process for nominating a presidential candidate will result in someone who can win the general election. Slightly fewer than half, or 46%, are somewhat confident, and 2 in 10 are not very or not at all confident. Seven in 10 Republicans say it's extremely or very important that their process results in a nominee who can win in 2024.
"I've voted for Trump twice. I'll vote for him again if I had to. I certainly would not vote for Biden," said Joe Hill, 70, a Republican from West Point, Georgia. "But I would welcome someone new and quite frankly, I'm not confident he can win against Biden."
Hill said he was concerned that Trump could be too polarizing with a wide swath of voters.
"I want a Republican to be elected, so I'm in favor of any Republican that would be on the ballot," Hill said. "I would more so, if it wasn't him."
The poll shows neither man is viewed favorably by a majority of the U.S. public, with only 42% saying they have a favorable view of Biden and 36% saying the same of Trump.
Both are generally viewed favorably within their own party: About three-quarters of Democrats have a favorable view of Biden and about 7 in 10 Republicans have a favorable view of Trump. But Republicans are more likely to say their view of Trump is strongly favorable than Democrats are to say the same of Biden, 46% vs 34%. Democrats are more likely than Republicans are to say they have only a somewhat favorable view of their party's 2024 frontrunner, 44% vs 24%.
Josh Reed, of Pittsburg, California, said he prefers alternatives to Trump in the Republican field such as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, or South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who withdrew from the race last month.
But if the choice in front of voters next fall is Biden and Trump, "it's between those two," said Reed, 39, a registered Republican, though he says he holds more libertarian views. "There's no third party that's going to make a dent in anything. Sometimes it is what it is. You got to pick between those two."
He will definitely vote next year, Reed said. But, he added: "I'm not really excited for either one of these guys."
The poll of 1,074 adults was conducted Nov. 30 - Dec. 4, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points. |
# Top strategist resigns from DeSantis-backing super PAC
By **JILL COLVIN**
December 17, 2023. 12:12 AM EST
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**NEW YORK (AP)** - The top strategist for the embattled super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ' campaign for the White House resigned Saturday night in the latest sign of trouble for the GOP hopeful less than one month before voting begins with Iowa's kickoff caucuses.
Jeff Roe, the top adviser to Never Back Down, is the latest senior staffer to exit Never Back Down, which has been the largest outside group supporting DeSantis' candidacy.
He announced his departure on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, hours after The Washington Post published a story focused on internal disputes and suspicions between Never Back Down, the campaign, and other DeSantis allies that included accusations of "mismanagement and conduct issues, including numerous unauthorized leaks containing false information."
"I can't believe it ended this way," Roe wrote on X, sharing a statement in which he said he "cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down given the statements" in the story, which he said were false.
Numerous senior members of Never Back Down have been fired or resigned in recent weeks, including two chief executives, the group's chairman and its communications director. At the same time, DeSantis' Florida allies have created a new super PAC, Fight Right, which had earned the public blessing of the DeSantis campaign.
The Associated Press reported earlier this week on growing concern among some within DeSantis' operation that interactions between his campaign and his network of outside groups were blurring the lines of what's legally permissible.
Super PACs are legally barred from directly coordinating with campaigns. But multiple people familiar with DeSantis' political network said that he and his wife had expressed concerns about Never Back Down's messaging as his Iowa poll numbers stagnated - concerns DeSantis' team then shared with members of Never Back Down's board, according to multiple people briefed on the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
Some of the board members then relayed the DeSantis team's wishes to super PAC staff, which was responsible for executing strategy, the people said. DeSantis' campaign has denied any wrongdoing.
Never Back Down had taken an unprecedented role in the election, overseeing functions normally handled by campaigns. The group was charged with organizing voters through a massive door-knocking and get-out-the-vote operation, organizing campaign, as well as advertising, and has spent tens of millions of dollars on commercials this year.
Roe, one of the Republican Party's most prominent strategists, ran Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, which beat former President Donald Trump in that year's Iowa caucuses, and also worked as an adviser on Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's winning run. But he had little preexisting relationship before this year with DeSantis, who has long struggled to maintain close relationships with political consultants.
Weighing in on his social media site from Las Vegas, where he is watching a UFC fight, Trump late Saturday cheered the news. "Jeff Roe is out-GAME OVER for DeSanctimonious!" he wrote.
DeSantis has staked his campaign on Iowa, where Trump is leading by wide margins in recent polls.
The super PAC was seeded with more than $80 million from DeSantis' political accounts this spring. |
# Scores of candidates to seek high-profile open political positions in North Carolina as filing ends
By **GARY D. ROBERTSON**
December 15, 2023. 6:49 PM EST
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**RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)** - Scores of candidates filed for nearly a dozen high-profile elected positions in North Carolina where the incumbents aren't running in 2024 because of redistricting, retirements or term limits.
The two-week candidate filing period for next year's elections ended at noon Friday at the State Board of Elections and at all 100 county boards. Primaries will be held March 5 to whittle down the field where multiple candidates are running for their party's nominations.
Six of the 10 statewide elected officials making up the Council of State - with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper heading the list - and five of the 14 members of the U.S. House delegation aren't running again or are seeking new positions.
The state constitution prevents Cooper from running for a third consecutive term. Nearly a dozen people across four parties filed candidacy papers to succeed him, according to a state elections board list. They include Democrats Attorney General Josh Stein and former Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan and Republicans Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, State Treasurer Dale Folwell and attorney Bill Graham.
Missing from the elections board list was former state GOP Sen. Andy Wells, who had announced his candidacy for governor months ago. He didn't immediately respond to a text message seeking comment.
State Auditor Beth Wood and Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson also aren't seeking reelection. Wood prepared to resign on Friday from the auditor's position that she has held in 2009. Cooper's choice to finish out her term, Jessica Holmes, is an auditor candidate next year.
For lieutenant governor, 15 people signed up to succeed Robinson, including four current or former state legislators. Filing for the post minutes before the noon deadline was Mark H. Robinson, a Sampson County Democrat who has been running for several months.
Mark H. Robinson, a former Navy officer, said Friday that his campaign isn't designed to cause voter confusion with the other Mark Robinson, saying he has believed for decades that he would run for statewide office.
While the two names won't appear on the same primary ballot, they could if both advance to the general election, albeit for different positions.
"I'm not trying to confuse anyone," Mark H. Robinson, 62, told reporters. "I think this is what my calling is, and that is to help as many people in the state of North Carolina before I die."
A leading candidate must get more than 30% of the primary vote to win the nomination outright. Otherwise runoffs are possible later in the spring.
Three of the five members of Congress who aren't running are Democratic Reps. Jeff Jackson, Kathy Manning and Wiley Nickel. Each of them said it was futile to seek reelection given that the redrawing of the congressional map by the Republican-controlled General Assembly this fall makes their districts lean strongly Republican. Jackson is now running for attorney general.
Fourteen Republicans alone are seeking the GOP nomination in Nickel's now-reconfigured 13th District, which includes part of Raleigh but stretches north to rural counties on the Virginia border and points south.
The Republicans not running again for Congress are Rep. Dan Bishop, who is also running for state attorney general, and Rep. Patrick McHenry.
Six Republicans are running for the 6th District seat currently held by Manning. The GOP field includes former Rep. Mark Walker, 2022 congressional candidate Bo Hines and Addison McDowell, a recent entry who received former President Donald Trump's endorsement.
Six GOP candidates also are seeking the nomination in the south-central 8th District that Bishop is leaving and five are running for the nomination in McHenry's reconfigured 10th District, which now ranges from Winston-Salem to counties north and west of Charlotte.
State House Speaker Tim Moore is one of three Republicans seeking the GOP nomination in the 14th District that will stretch from Charlotte west to foothills counties. Jackson is the current 14th District representative.
Republicans appeared all but assured to win the 6th District and 3rd District seats because Democrats failed to field candidates in either race. GOP Rep. Greg Murphy, the 3rd District incumbent, currently only faces a Libertarian challenger.
One state Supreme Court and three Court of Appeals seats, and all 170 General Assembly seats also will be on ballots. Republicans currently hold narrow veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate.
Several legislators had already announced that they wouldn't seek reelection. Late additions to that list on Friday were Senate Majority Whip Jim Perry of Lenoir County and first-term Democratic Sen. Mary Wills Bode of Granville County.
Perry, who joined the Senate in 2019 and is a Senate Finance Committee chairman, said Friday in a statement that he reached the conclusion he couldn't "make the time commitment necessary to be an effective Senator if I served an additional term."
"I am entering a season of life where I will need more time to support those closest to me," he said.
Bode cited family considerations in a social media post explaining her decision. |
# With Iowa's caucuses a month away, Trump urges voters to hand him not just a victory, but a blowout
By **THOMAS BEAUMONT** and **HANNAH FINGERHUT**
December 15, 2023. 8:44 PM EST
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**CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP)** - Donald Trump was uncharacteristically serious when he implored an audience in eastern Iowa to carry him to a blowout in next month's Republican caucuses.
"The margin of victory is very important, it's just very important," Trump told about 1,000 people attending a Wednesday rally aimed at organizing campaign volunteers. "It's time for the Republican Party to unite, to come together and focus our energy and resources on beating Crooked Joe Biden and taking back our country. Very simple."
For the blustery former president, it was both caution against complacency and a sign that he and his team believe the first contest on Jan. 15 can be not just the start of the nominating campaign, but the beginning of the end.
Trump is the overwhelming favorite to win Iowa, one month away from the caucuses. A myriad of well-qualified GOP challengers and anti-Trump groups haven't changed that dynamic after crisscrossing the state over the last year and spending more than $70 million in Iowa on advertising, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. And unlike his first time in the caucuses, which he narrowly lost in 2016, Trump's campaign is now run by Iowa veterans who are not just locking in caucus commitments but building a formidable organization to try to lock in his lead.
Among rival campaigns, most question not whether Trump will win, but by how much - and whether a second-place finisher can claim momentum for the rest of the race.
"For me, it looked like for a long time there was a narrow lane, but there was a lane, for a not-Trump candidate," said Gentry Collins, a veteran Republican strategist and former state GOP executive director who ran Mitt Romney's 2008 GOP caucus campaign. "But there isn't really a single alternative people can rally around."
Trump was the first choice of 51% of likely Iowa caucus participants in a Des Moines Register-NBC News-Mediacom Iowa Poll published Monday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has vowed that he will win Iowa, had the support of 19%. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has suggested she can beat DeSantis in the state and go head to head with Trump in later primaries, was at 16%.
Next year's GOP nomination is officially an open race. But many primary voters believe Trump was cheated in 2020 when he lost his reelection bid to Democrat Joe Biden. Multiple government and outside investigations have not found evidence of any voter fraud, despite Trump's frequent and repeated false claims that are often repeated by many of his supporters.
Trump remains popular with Republicans, both in Iowa and nationally, who credit him for his handling of the economy, the U.S.-Mexico border, and his appointment of three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn a federally guaranteed right to abortion.
"You've got basically a quasi-incumbent president," said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster and senior adviser to Marco Rubio's 2016 campaign. "Of course, he's got the overwhelming advantage."
Beyond Trump's built-in advantages, a massive and ongoing effort on his behalf in Iowa reflects the campaign's realization - especially compared to his seat-of-the-pants 2016 effort - that turning out many thousands of Iowans to caucus on a cold January night requires intense organizing.
State Republican Party officials who run the contests and strategists with the various campaigns suggest January's caucuses will break the record of nearly 187,000 people in 2016.
Trump's team says it has collected and processed tens of thousands of commitment cards, most of them coming from his 11 visits to Iowa in the past three months. Aides say the cards are entered into a database within three days before a campaign volunteer replies by phone.
Though Trump has visited far less often than DeSantis, Haley and others, he has drawn more than 20,000 to events since early September, thousands of whom say they are first-time caucus participants.
When asked if they were first-timers, hundreds of people raised their hands at Wednesday's event in Coralville. The audience sat before a stage flanked by large video screens with a QR code and text code that guided them to the campaign's digital portal.
Volunteers circulated around the Hyatt Regency hosting the event, identifiable with their white ball caps emblazoned in gold lettering with "Trump Caucus Captain."
One volunteer, a University of Iowa student, approached Ginger Marolf as she was waiting in a line of hundreds of people snaking around the hotel. The student asked Marolf to fill out a caucus pledge card and give it back so they could get "an accurate count of how many people support Trump in Iowa."
After signing her card, Marolf called Trump a fighter for "us, the people" and suggested that she isn't considering any of the other Republican candidates.
"Trump needs to be back in office, like now," she said, blaming Biden for high prices, an unprotected southern border and global instability.
Caucus captains are given a list of 25 neighbors and responsible for delivering at least 10 to a caucus. Key between now and the caucuses is "grinding away at recruiting caucus captains and training them," said Alex Latcham, the campaign's early state director whose background is in Iowa politics.
Other candidates also claim to have the backing of strong organizations.
DeSantis entered the race to the national fanfare of a big-state governor who had won a crushing 2022 reelection victory and is pushing through conservative priorities in a traditional swing state. But he faltered during the summer and fall, with several shake-ups in his campaign and overall strategy.
Still, the main super PAC backing him, Never Back Down, is the largest political operation on the ground in Iowa and claims to have tens of thousands of signed support cards for DeSantis, who has said he plans to win the caucuses.
Haley won a second look from some in Iowa after early fall debate performances. Her candidacy had little apparent support on the ground in Iowa but is now supported by Americans for Prosperity Action, the political arm of the well-heeled conservative Koch Brothers network. AFP Action backed Haley in late November and began knocking on doors for her this month.
In a sign that she's still trying to reintroduce herself to Iowans, Haley began a recent event by retelling her early life's story to an audience of about 400 in suburban Des Moines near word for word as she did on her first Iowa trip as a candidate 10 months ago.
DeSantis remains the primary focus of the Trump campaign's attacks. Trump, who continually has accused DeSantis of disloyalty for running against him despite the president's 2018 endorsement of him in Florida, has long sought to bury the governor in Iowa. Despite Trump's markedly different to DeSantis' traditional county-by-county effort and fewer overall visits, the president's Iowa push appears to have kept him well ahead.
Sondra Michels said she had long avoided politics before this year. She plans not only to caucus for the first time but to be a caucus leader in her precinct in Walcott, an eastern Iowa town known for being the home of the world's largest truck stop.
"We've got to see him win here and keep going," said Michels, 49. "He had the prices lower and we were safer." |
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