Month: August 2022

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US

Wisconsin primary may shape elections in key battleground

Wisconsin primary may shape elections in key battleground

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Voters will choose a Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor on Tuesday who could reshape how elections are conducted in the marquee battleground, where former President Donald Trump is still pressing to overturn his 2020 loss and backing candidates he sees as allies.

Trump has endorsed businessman Tim Michels, a self-described outsider who has put $12 million into his own campaign, against former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who has supported former Vice President Mike Pence and ex-Gov. Scott Walker. Both candidates falsely claim the 2020 election was rigged, though Kleefisch has said decertifying the results is “not constitutional,” while Michels said “everything will be on the table.”

The race to face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is another proxy war between Trump and Pence, one-time partners now pursuing different futures for the Republican Party. They also backed opposing GOP rivals in primaries in Arizona and Georgia — swing states that like Wisconsin are expected to be critical in the 2024 presidential race, when both men could be on the ballot.

The primary comes a day after FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

In the state’s Senate race, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is the likely Democratic nominee to face Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters, after Barnes’ top rivals dropped out of the race late last month. The matchup is among the last to be set before the November general election, when control of the currently 50-50 split Senate is up for grabs, and Democrats see Wisconsin as one of their best opportunities to flip a seat.

Trump also has backed a little-known challenger to the state’s most powerful Republican, state Assembly Speaker Robin Voswho has rejected the former president’s pressure to decertify the 2020 results.

Tuesday’s outcomes have far-reaching consequences beyond Wisconsin, a state that is almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and where 2022 will be seen as a bellwether for the 2024 presidential race. The person elected governor this fall will be in office for the presidential election and will be able to sign or veto changes to election laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. The next governor and US senator also may sway decisions on issues from abortion to education and taxes.

“We’re a 50-50 state and so every race in Wisconsin, just by definition, is going to be decided by a few percentage points one way or another,” said former Gov. Jim Doyle, to Democrat. “And those few percentage points in Wisconsin may well determine what the course of the nation is in the coming years.”

Elsewhere on WednesdayMinnesota Republicans are expected to choose Dr. Scott Jensen, a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic endorsed by the state GOP, to face Gov. Tim Walz. Vermont — the only state to never have a woman in its congressional delegation — is likely to nominate a woman for the state’s lone House seat. The winner will replace Rep. Peter Welch, who is vying for the seat held for over four decades by Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is retiring. And in Connecticut, Republicans will pick opponents to face two-term Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

But the most-watched races will be in Wisconsin, where Trump has kept up his pressure campaign to cancel President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Biden won by nearly 21,000 votes, four years after Trump also narrowly won the state by roughly the same margin. The 2020 outcome has been upheld in two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a review by a conservative law firm and multiple lawsuits.

Both Michels and Kleefisch have said overturning the 2020 election results is not a priority. But they have said they would dismantle the bipartisan commission that runs Wisconsin elections and would support prohibitions on voters having someone else turn in their absentee ballots, as well as ballot drop boxes located anywhere other than staffed clerk offices.

Evers has made voting and elections a focus of his own campaign, telling voters he’s the only candidate who will defend democracy and “we are that close to not having our vote count in the state of Wisconsin.”

Kleefisch is a former TV reporter who served with Walker for two terms, including when he effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees in the state in 2011, drawing huge protests and a failed recall attempt. She says she is the best prepared to win statewide in November and to enact conservative priorities, including investing more in police, expanding school choice programs and implementing a flat income tax.

During a campaign stop with Kleefisch last week, Pence said no other gubernatorial candidate in the US is “more capable, more experienced, or a more proven conservative.”

Michels is co-owner of Wisconsin’s largest construction company and has touted his work to build his family’s business. He lost the 2004 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, and has been a major donor to GOP politicians.

At a rally on Friday, Trump praised Michels as an “incredible success story.” I have criticized Kleefisch as part of the “failed establishment” and also took aim at Vos. He told supporters that Michels will win the primary “easily” and that he’s the better choice to defeat Evers.

Michels pledged that “we are going to have election integrity here in Wisconsin.” He also said he will bring “law and order” back to Wisconsin, criticized Evers’ handling of schools and blamed Biden for rising prices.

GOP state Rep. Tim Ramthun is also making a long-shot bid for governor, and has made rescinding Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes for Biden the centerpiece of his campaign.

In the Senate race, Barnes is the overwhelming favorite after rivals including Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry quit the race. A Milwaukee native and former state legislator who would be Wisconsin’s first Black senator, Barnes says he wants to help rebuild the middle class and protect abortion rights. A state ban on abortion took effect after the US Supreme Court in June overturned the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

The race against Johnson is one of a few Senate toss-ups and has already been a fight between Barnes and Johnson, a millionaire and former owner of a plastics company who was first elected as part of the tea party movement in 2010.

Barnes has attacked Johnson for supporting a tax bill that benefitted wealthy donors and his own company, touting “wild conspiracy theories” about COVID-19 vaccines and for trying to deliver ballots from fake GOP voters to Pence on the day of the Capitol insurrection.

Johnson and Republicans have criticized Barnes as too liberal for Wisconsin, noting his endorsements from progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. They have resurfaced moments from Barnes’ past of him, including a photo of him holding a T-shirt that reads “Abolish ICE,” or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Trump and Pence have split on gubernatorial candidates with mixed results. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp — he also rejected Trump’s pressure to overturn his 2020 loss — had Pence’s support as he defeated a Trump-endorsed challenger, former US Sen. David Perdue. But Kari Lake won the Arizona primary last week with Trump’s backing, defeating a Pence-backed candidate after saying she would not have certified Biden’s victory there.

The candidate Trump endorsed to take on Vos, Adam Steen, has said he would decertify Biden’s victory.

___

Burnett reported from Chicago.

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Categories
Business

Simple act of submitting meter read wipes $365 off women’s AGL gas bill

Simple act of submitting meter read wipes $365 off women's AGL gas bill

As Australians continue to deal with the rising cost of living, they are reminded to check the charges on their energy bills are actually accurate.

A Melbourne resident, who lives in a new-build town house with her partner, said she was “astounded” to get a $430 gas bill recently, despite her two previous bills being under $100.

She said it made “no sense” and that her heating was electric, meaning “hardly anything is on gas”.

“Once I inspected the bill I realized it was actually an estimate,” she told news.com.au.

“Lucky for me AGL allows you to run a meter read to receive an actual bill so that’s what I did.”

The simple act wiped hundreds off her bill, bringing it down to the markedly different cost of $65.

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According to the Australian Energy Market Commission, a small customer is entitled to request that their energy retailer adjust their bill by providing their own reading of the meter if they believe the electricity or gas bill given was based on an inaccurate estimate.

If your meter is a “basic meter” rather than a “smart meter” it means someone must physically attend the property to read it, which is when estimates are sometimes used.

Whether or not your bill is based on an estimate is indicated by an A (actual) or E (estimate) on the bill.

AGL said it there were “a range of factors” that resulted in customers getting an estimated read.

“When we’re unable to get an actual read of a meter, we send an estimated bill based on a number of factors including past energy usage and the average usage of similar customers,” a spokesperson said.

The company said customers were able to submit their own read directly via the AGL App or over the phone and their bill would be adjusted accordingly.

“As one of Australia’s largest energy retailers, AGL is committed to keeping energy prices competitive and affordable for customers,” the spokesperson said, adding that anyone with concerns should contact them.

Read related topics:melbourne

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Categories
Technology

Google tries shaming Apple into adopting RCS with #getthemessage campaign

Google tries shaming Apple into adopting RCS with #getthemessage campaign

Google is kicking off a new publicity campaign today to pressure Apple into adopting RCS, the cross-platform messaging protocol that’s meant to be a successor to the aging SMS and MMS standards.

The search giant has a new “Get The Message” website that lays out a familiar set of arguments for why Apple should support the standard, revolving around smoother messaging between iPhone and Android devices. Naturally, there’s also a #GetTheMessage hashtag to really get those viral juices flowing.

For most people, the problems Google describes are most familiar in the form of the green bubbles that signify messages to Android users in Apple’s Messages app. While the iPhone app uses Apple’s own iMessage service to send texts between iPhones (complete with modern features like encryption, support for group chats, and high-quality image and video transfers), they revert to old-fashioned SMS and MMS when texting an Android user. Not only are these messages shown in a color-clashing green bubble but also they break many of the modern messaging features people have come to rely on.

To fix this, Google has been dropping a series of not-so-subtle hints in recent months for Apple to support RCS, which offers most (though not all) of the features of iMessage in a protocol that’s usable across both iOS and Android. The company said it hoped “every mobile operating system… upgrades to RCS” onstage at its annual developer conference this year as well as in various tweet over the months.

The iPhone maker has everything to gain from the current situation, which has a lock-in effect for customers. It provides seamless communication (but only between iMessage users) and turns Android’s green bubbles into subtle class markers. It’s why Apple execs admitted in internal emails that bringing iMessage to Android would “hurt [Apple] more than help us.”

Google’s arguments for RCS haven’t been helped by the standard’s sluggish and piecemeal rollout, which was initially reliant on carriers to add support. But the situation has improved since Google effectively took charge in 2019, meaning that RCS is now easily available almost everywhere worldwide. This year even saw the world’s largest Android manufacturer, Samsung, switch to using Google’s own RCS-compatible Messages app by default in its flagship Galaxy S22 range.

RCS has also slowly been gaining feature parity with iMessage’s encryption. It now supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in one-on-one chats, and E2EE in group chats is due later this year.

So, will Google’s new publicity campaign finally be the thing that pushes Apple to see the light and roll out RCS support on its phones? Given the huge incentives Apple has for not playing ball, I have to say the search giant’s chances don’t look good. At this point, Apple adopting RCS feels about as likely as the US collectively ditching iMessage and moving to an encrypted cross-platform messaging service like WhatsApp or Signal.

Categories
US

Texas lawsuit targets coverage for preventive care : Shots

Texas lawsuit targets coverage for preventive care : Shots

Research shows that expanded access to preventive care and coverage has led to an increase in colon cancer screenings, vaccinations, use of contraception and chronic disease screenings.

Ngampol Thongsai/Getty Images/EyeEm


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Ngampol Thongsai/Getty Images/EyeEm

Research shows that expanded access to preventive care and coverage has led to an increase in colon cancer screenings, vaccinations, use of contraception and chronic disease screenings.

Ngampol Thongsai/Getty Images/EyeEm

The Affordable Care Act has survived many challenges in court, but the case of Kelley v. Calf – now before a federal judge in Texas – threatens to undermine one of the most popular provisions in the law, which requires most health plans to provide coverage for preventive care with no copays.

If the judge rules in favor of the plaintiffs, access to free birth control, cancer screenings, vaccines, PrEP (HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis), counseling for alcohol misuse, diet counseling for people at higher risk of chronic disease, and many more preventive services would be in jeopardy, according to the nation’s leading doctors’ groups, which have sounded the alarm.

“The lawsuit could cause millions of Americans, probably more than 150 million, to lose guaranteed access to preventive services,” Dr. Jack Resneck, president of the American Medical Association, told NPR. “There’s really a great deal at stake,” he said.

The doctors’ group points to research showing that expanded access to preventive care and coverage, ushered in by the ACA, has led to an increase in colon cancer screenings, vaccinations, use of contraception and chronic disease screenings. There’s also data to show that expanded coverage has reduced racial and ethnic disparities in preventive care.

Resneck warns that if the preventive care mandate is rolled back in court, it threatens to reverse this progress. Some plans may decide to limit or deny coverage for certain services. Others would tack on copays.

“Having copays and deductibles brought back for these services would actually keep many patients from getting them,” Resnick says. He says for people on a tight budget, a copay for a mammogram or colonoscopy could be enough of a disincentive to skip the screening.

Americans have saved billions of dollars in out-of-pocket spending on contraceptives since the ACA’s preventive services and birth control coverage took effect. And since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration has taken steps to clarify the benefits. “Under the ACA, most private health plans are required to provide birth control and family planning counseling at no additional cost,” according to an HHS release. (A small percentage of American workers are covered by grandfathered insurance plans that are not required to follow the ACA’s preventive care coverage rules.)

Plaintiffs in the Texas case argue that the preventive care mandates violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Some object to paying for health insurance plans that cover contraceptives, PrEP drugs, or other preventive care services that may violate their religious beliefs. Plaintiffs also object for economic reasons, arguing that the mandate to cover preventive services raises the price of insurance coverage.

A 'staggering' number of people couldn't get care during the pandemic, poll finds

Plaintiff John Kelley, an orthodontist who lives in Tarrant County, Texas, “has no desire to purchase health insurance that includes contraceptive coverage because his wife is past her child-bearing years,” according to the complaint. “He does not want or need health insurance that covers Truvada or PrEP drugs because neither he nor any of his family members is engaged in behavior that transmits HIV,” the complaint continues. “Mr. Kelley is also a Christian,” and he is unwilling to purchase health insurance plans that subsidize certain types of contraception or PrEP drugs “that encourage homosexual behavior and intravenous drug use.”

The plaintiffs are represented by attorney Jonathan Mitchell, who is known as a key strategist behind the Texas abortion law passed in 2021 that bans abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. America First Legal Foundation, launched by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller, is also providing counsel.

“The plaintiffs seem perhaps extra motivated by the contraceptive requirement and coverage of services like PrEP,” says Katie Keith, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown University. But she says the lawsuit is broad in its reach: “This is very clearly a threat to the entire preventive services requirement under the Affordable Care Act.”

One of the plaintiffs’ legal arguments rests on the nondelegation doctrine, the principle that Congress may not delegate its legislative power to other entities, explains Andrew Twinamatsiko of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health at Georgetown University.

When the ACA was written, Congress empowered several groups to use their expertise to identify evidence-based preventive services. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices helped identify the appropriate vaccines, the Preventive Services Task Force reviewed evidence to recommend which procedures and services could be covered, and the Health Resources and Services Administration determined services and screenings for maternal and child health coverage.

“The plaintiffs argue that this structure delegates too much decision-making power to the groups without providing sufficient guidance – or what they call ‘intelligible principle’ – to exercise their discretion,” Twinamatsiko explains.

Cancer screenings like colonoscopies are supposed to be free. Her cost $2,185

Some legal scholars say that the argument that Congress has not provided enough specific guidance on what counts as preventive care could hold up in court.

“I’ve argued for years that the phrase preventive care is very open-ended,” says Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College and a scholar at the Cato Institute. “The courts might react to this position by saying, ‘Congress: If you want something like birth control covered, you have to be more precise,” Blackman says.

The case was argued in late July before Judge Reed O’Connor of the US District Court, Northern District of Texas — the same judge who ruled in 2018 that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.

“I’m expecting a pretty sweeping decision that is likely to invalidate all the preventive care requirements,” Keith says. Legal experts expect the case will be appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and ultimately end up before the US Supreme Court.

Though the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act in prior cases, there’s now a new make-up of justices. Scholars point to the recent EPAv. west virginia decision, in which justices challenged the EPA’s authority to act without specific direction from Congress. Georgetown’s Twinamatsiko points to another case, Little Sisters of the Poor v. pennsylvania, that also centered on the Affordable Care Act’s preventive services provision requiring employers to include cost-free birth control in their health plans in accordance with the Health Resources and Services Administration guidelines. In that case, “Justice Clarence Thomas specifically said that the ACA’s preventive services requirement seems to give HRSA virtually unlimited power to determine what counts as preventive care,” tipping his hand at what his opinion of him would be if Kelley v. Calf comes before the Supreme Court.

State attorneys general in 20 states filed a friend of the court brief defending access to free, preventive care. And public health experts have weighed in too. “It’s really difficult to take away something that people already have,” says A. Mark Fendrick, a doctor who directs the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design. “If the preventive mandate were to be struck down, I believe lots of people will not get the preventive care they need.”

Categories
Business

EnergyAustralia suffers a $1.6b loss due to ‘extreme’ market conditions

EnergyAustralia suffers a $1.6b loss due to 'extreme' market conditions

The electricity crisis caused EnergyAustralia to suffer a whopping $1.6 billion loss for the first half of the year as the company battled with “extreme” conditions in the market.

The Melbourne-based company, owned by Hong Kong’s CLP Group, also warned that household power bills would continue to face pressure due to ongoing volatility in global fuel prices.

The mega loss experienced by the third biggest energy retailer was in stark contrast to last year when it recorded a $146 million profit.

The chief executive of parent company CLP Group, Richard Lancaster, said it would be “proactive” in seeking out partnerships for EnergyAustralia to transition to low-carbon energy.

Six weeks before the loss was reported, the company had issued a profit warning to the market.

On Monday, it revealed its earning had taken a huge hit as it was forced to buy up expensive supplies to meet customer demand amid “unprecedented market volatility”.

Shortfalls in energy production from its Yallourn and Mount Piper coal plants was one of the main reasons it had to shell out more money for supplies.

Its Yallourn plant in particular was hit by delays due to a fire on a coal conveyancer system and recurring maintenance issues, according to CLP Group.

However, the outlook on pricing continued to be bad, according to the company.

“Volatility in spot prices in response to weather variations and changes in supply and demand looks set to continue amid the net-zero transition in Australia,” CLP Group said.

However, EnergyAustralia’s competitors, AGL Energy and Origin Energy, have also sounded the alarm about profits due to issues such as coal power outages and supply problems at some plants.

Mr Lancaster said while the last six months were not representative of the market in general, volatility was something to expect in Australia.

Last month, the credit agency Standard & Poor (S&P) warned EnergyAustralia could be at risk of breaching one of its loans and suggested it may need financial assistance from its parent company.

EnergyAustralia signed a $1 billion credit facility in July to provide a bigger financial buffer for its operations, with S&P giving it a negative outlook due to its weakening credit position.

In its half yearly report, EnergyAustralia said it would “continue to strengthen its capital structure to fund its current and future investment needs, providing the reliable supply needed to support customer demand and the transition to a lower-carbon power market”.

But other retailers going under – with a spate collapsing including Byron Bay community-owned electricity provider Enova, Victorian provider Electricityinabox, LPE, Discover, Elysian and Future X – was a win for EnergyAustralia, which saw its customer base leap to 2.45 million.

EnergyAustralia said it had plans in place for the rest of the year to ensure electricity supply.

“Additional short-term coal and gas purchases have been made to enable EnergyAustralia’s power stations to support customers and the broader energy market in the second half,” CLP said.

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Categories
Technology

How to play co-op in Tower of Fantasy with friends online

How to play co-op in Tower of Fantasy with friends online

Playing games by yourself isn’t always fun, especially with a game as big as Tower of Fantasy that has a lot to explore and complete with others by your side.

That’s why it’s a good thing that there is an option to play with friends in the game, even if it might not be spelled out from the get-go. The process to play with friends is simple if you know what to do, but newcomers might find it tricky to find the right menus or things needed to access it.

As such, here is how you can play co-op with friends online in Tower of Fantasy so you can jump into each other’s world and fight the magnitude of bosses on offer.

How to play with friends online in Tower of Fantasy

  1. First, make sure you have the player you want to co-op with added to your friends list. You can find out how to do that here.
Screengrab via Perfect World

2. Bring up the friends list and find the person you want to play with. Double click on the character’s face to open up a separate menu.

3. As long as the person is online, click on the “Team Invitations” option. This will bring up the “My Team” menu.

Screengrab via Perfect World

3b. Alternatively if you are already on a Team, you can click one of the empty plus icons and select the friend you want to join from there.

4. Once all the friends you want to play with have joined, click the “Go” button to start the session. Just be sure to set an objective, among anything else the system asks you to do, beforehand.

You can also add players to your team that you have come across in the world or add randoms without needing to have them on your friends list if you know their character name.

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Entertainment

How to Get Tickets to BLACKPINK’s “BORN PINK” World Tour

How to Get Tickets to BLACKPINK's "BORN PINK" World Tour

BLACKPINK are showing fans that they’re “Ready for Love” with news of the massive “BORN PINK World Tour,” and missing out on tickets is sure to sting as much as the K-pop quartet’s comeback single, “Pink Venom.” The 2022-2023 circuit, which will stop in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia, has so far been hyped by their label YG Entertainment as the “largest world tour in the history of a K-pop girl group.”

Check for tickets here, and read on for dates and details for the upcoming tour.

What Is BLACKPINK’s Next Tour?

BLACKPINK’s “BORN PINK World Tour” kicks off with a double-header in Seoul, South Korea on October 15th-16th. They then jet to Dallas, Texas to open their North America leg on October 25th, followed by stops in Houston and Atlanta. The group will head to Canada for two nights in Hamilton, Ontario on November 6th-7th, then play another two nights in Newark New Jersey the following week. Their last North American show will take place in Los Angeles on November 19th.

The quartet will launch their European leg in London on November 30th, then make their way across the continent via Barcelona, ​​Berlin, and more. They’ll spend two nights in Paris and Amsterdam apiece, wrapping the European jaunt in the latter city on December 22nd.

BLACKPINK will then pause until January 7th, 2023 when they resume the tour with two shows in Bangkok, Thailand. They’ll also perform twice in Hong Kong between January 13th-14th, then head east for shows in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. In March 2023, they’ll play Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and more, then wrap their leg in Asia in Singapore on May 15th, 2023.

The group’s final leg will take place over five shows in Australia and New Zealand. The stretch includes two nights in Melbourne and Sydney both, followed by the final stop in Auckland, New Zealand on June 21st, 2023. Venue information for any corresponding dates on BLACKPINK’s “BORN PINK World Tour” has not yet been revealed.

Who Is Opening for BLACKPINK on Tour?

There have been no announcements regarding an opener or supporting act for BLACKPINK on their upcoming world tour.

How Can I Get Tickets for BLACKPINK’s 2022-2023 Tour?

BLACKPINK tickets are not currently listed for pre-sale or general public access, with venue details still yet to be unveiled. Keep checking for updates and announcements, and grab your seats when they become available for purchase via Ticketmaster.

What Are BLACKPINK’s 2022-2023 Tour Dates?

See BLACKPINK’s full list of tour dates below, and get tickets to all of their upcoming shows here.

BLACKPINK 2022-2023 Tour Dates:
10/15 – Seoul, KR
10/16 – Seoul, KR
10/25 – Dallas, TX
10/29 – Houston, TX
02/11 – Atlanta, GA
11/06 – Hamilton, ON
07/11 – Hamilton, ON
11/14 – Newark, NJ
11/15 – Newark, NJ
11/19 – Los Angeles, CA
11/30 – London, UK
01/12 – Amsterdam, NL
05/12 – Barcelona, ​​ES
11/12 – Paris, FR
12/12 – Paris, FR
12/18 – Berlin, DE
12/22 – Amsterdam, NL
07/01 – Bangkok, TH
08/01 – Bangkok, TH
01/13 – Hong Kong
01/14 – Hong Kong
01/20 – Riyadh, SA
01/28 – Abu Dhabi, AE
04/03 – Kuala Lumpur, MI
11/03 – Jakarta, ID
03/18 – Kaohsiung, TW
03/25 – Manila, Ph.
05/15 – Singapore, SG
10/06 – Melbourne, AU
11/06 – Melbourne, AU
06/16 – Sydney, AU
06/17 – Sydney, AU
06/21 – Auckland, NZ

Categories
US

Aug. 9 primary elections: What to expect in Wisconsin, Vermont and Minnesota

Aug. 9 primary elections: What to expect in Wisconsin, Vermont and Minnesota

Minnesota is also set to fill a House seat after former GOP Rep. Jim Hagedorn died in February.

Meanwhile, in Vermont, Rep. Peter Welch is running to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, which opens up the state’s lone House seat. The state’s lieutenant governor and its Senate president pro tempore — both Democrats — are vying to become the first woman to ever represent Vermont in Congress.

Heavily Democratic Connecticut is also holding primaries on Tuesday, with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Gov. Ned Lamont up for reelection this fall.

Trump vs. Pence in Wisconsin governor’s race

The proxy battle over the future of the Republican Party between former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence continues Tuesday in Wisconsin, where a Pence-endorsed establishment favorite faces off against a Trump-backed outsider in a state where he has falsely claimed the 2020 election results were fraudulent.

It’s a replay of similar gubernatorial primaries in recent weeks in Arizona, where Trump’s candidate won last week, and Georgia, where the Pence-backed Gov. Brian Kemp fended off a Trump-aligned challenger.

In Wisconsin, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch entered the race as the GOP’s heir apparent in a battleground state long dominated by former Gov. Scott Walker. She spent eight years as Walker’s No. 2, and is backed by Pence and other establishment Republicans.

But then construction company owner Tim Michels entered the race, fueled by millions of dollars of his own wealth and a key endorsement. He is campaigning as an outsider, with Trump’s help; the former President at a recent rally said Kleefisch is “the handpicked candidate of the failed establishment, the RINOs.”

Both have embraced Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election. Kleefisch called the 2020 election “rigged,” but said she would not attempt to decertify its results because it is not legally possible to do so. Michels, however, said in a debate that “everything is on the table,” indicating he would entertain measures that he would seek to decertify President Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin.

The winner of the primary will take on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term in what’s expected to be one of the nation’s most competitive gubernatorial contests this fails.

Another race to watch in Wisconsin is Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ primary against little-known Adam Steen, who was endorsed by Trump after the former President decided Vos — a powerful Republican who had tried to appease Trump by hiring a former state Supreme Court justice to investigate the 2020 election — had done too little to try to overturn Wisconsin’s results. Vos said last month the former President had called him the week before as part of a fresh effort to decertify the state’s 2020 results.

The Senate primary that wasn’t

Two weeks ago, the Democratic Senate primary in Wisconsin was arguably the most closely watched primary contest on the left, pitting Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes against Alex Lasry, the Milwaukee Bucks executive who spent over $12 million of his own money on his campaign; Wisconsin state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski; and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson.

And then it wasn’t.

'Out of touch': Wisconsin's Barnes and Johnson prepare for general election campaign defined by attacks

After internal polls showed Barnes’ lead over his opponents growing, all three bowed out in the span of a few days, with Nelson, Lasry and Godlewski all endorsing the lieutenant governor.

“I could not have imagined it ending up this way,” Barnes told CNN. “To me, it shows just how important beating Ron Johnson is, just how important expanding the Democratic majority is.”

The consolidation means Barnes and Democrats can pivot earlier to their end goal: defeating Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in November.

Johnson, who opted to run for a third term after pledging in 2016 that his second term would be his last, has drawn Democratic ire for a host of comments on the coronavirus, the January 6, 2021, attack, and his personal wealth. But he has proven resilient in the past, ensuring that the Senate race in Wisconsin will be one of the closest watched contests of the 2022 cycle.

Southern Minnesota gets a new congressman

Voters in Southern Minnesota will select a new congressman on Tuesday after Rep. Jim Hagedorn died in February from kidney cancer.

The special election, which comes at the same time Minnesota voters will vote in the regular 2022 primary, pits Republican Brad Finstad, the former head of USDA Rural Development for Minnesota, against Democrat Jeffrey Ettinger, who previously worked as CEO of Hormel Foods.

The district, which stretches across Minnesota’s entire Southern border, leans toward Republicans.

While voters select their congressman in the special election, they will also vote in the general election primary, selecting which candidates will get the chance to try to represent the district for a full term starting in 2023. Finstad and Ettinger are candidates in that race, as well.

There are other contests worth watching in Minnesota, including well-funded challenges to incumbents. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is being challenged by former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, while Rep. Betty McCollum is facing a challenge from progressive Amane Badhasso.

Vermont paving the way for historic November

Vermont is the only state to never send a woman to represent it in Congress — a distinction that, barring a major upset in November, is soon to change.

On Tuesday, Democrats are likely to choose between state Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint and Lt. Gov. Molly Gray to be their nominee for the state’s lone House seat. (Physician Louis Meyers, the only man on the ballot, is expected to finish a distant third.)

Vermont Democrats face historic decision in open-seat House primary

Balint, endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other leading national progressives, is the left’s choice. Gray, meanwhile, has the unofficial backing of retiring Sen. Pat Leahy, who donated to her campaign through her PAC and said he voted for her. Leahy’s wife, Marcelle Leahy, formally endorsed Gray.

Though there is very little room between Gray and Balint on the issues, Balint, who is gay, has been boosted by big spending from the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s PAC — which has spent nearly $1 million on the race — and the campaign arm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Recent polling of the race has shown Balint with a commanding lead, but some observers expect the final tally to be much closer. If Balint wins a close race, the decision by state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale to end her campaign and endorse Balint — in a bid to consolidate the left — could loom large.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gets his Republican challenger

Another high-stakes race for control of state governments in the Upper Midwest will come into clearer focus on Tuesday, as Minnesota Republicans choose their nominee for governor.

The state party has already made its selection, endorsing Scott Jensen, a doctor and former state senator. Jensen is the overwhelming favorite in a GOP contest with Joyce Lynne Lacey and Bob “Again” Carney Jr.

Jensen is a fierce critic of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s initial Covid-19 response and, at a recent forum, called the incumbent’s mitigation measures at the beginning of the pandemic an “abomination of government overreach.”

Jensen’s past remarks downplaying Covid, including a past assertion that hospitals were inflating the number of cases to collect more stimulus money, was cited in PolitiFact’s post on its 2020 “Lie of the Year.” He also touted his unvaccinated status over the past year as he rose to greater political prominence, sowing doubts about the safety and efficacy of the shots.

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Business

Megaport lays off 35 staff, losses narrow

Megaport lays off 35 staff, losses narrow

The tech stock narrowed its full-year net loss by 12 per cent to $48.5 million from the year-earlier $55 million. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization fell 23 per cent to $10.2 million, but turned positive in the fourth quarter.

It was during this quarter in early July, when chief executive Vincent English laid off 35 employees, citing the need to reduce costs and prepare for rising prices and inflation.

In the company’s announcement on Tuesday, Megaport said it had paid the employees out $1.6 million.

However, management is keen to point out Megaport’s positioning in a world where enterprises move steadily from on-premise data storage infrastructure to the cloud.

Megaport, which facilitates the communication of data between various cloud ports, reported an 8 per cent bump in direct network costs, thanks to 26 new data centers plugging into the network over the year as well as capacity upgrades on intra-regional routes.

Total customers jumped to 2,643 from 2,285 with average revenue per port lifting to $1,120 from $974.

In the past year, Megaport rolled out its Virtual Edge product and partnered with big-name clients Cisco and VM-Ware, which are selling the service to thousands of their customers.

Since launch, Megaport has signed up 73 Virtual Edge customers and reported an average monthly revenue of $12,000 per customer across 17.9 services, the company said. Megaport has $82.5 million in cash.

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Technology

‘Valorant’ Patch 5.03 Notes Reveal Major Chamber Nerfs And Introduces New Bugs

'Valorant' Patch 5.03 Notes Reveal Major Chamber Nerfs And Introduces New Bugs

Riot Games has revealed the patch notes for Valorant update 5.03, which reveal some major nerfs to Chamber, and somewhat strangely, introduces some bugs the developers are already aware of.

Chamber has been the bane of many Valorant games in recent times, with almost everyone agreeing that his kit has been a little bit too strong for a while now. Now the time has come for some nerfs, and the Valorant development team is pretty confident they have done just that.

“As players in both ranked and pro play have mastered Chamber, his strengths have started to overshadow his weaknesses, making the counterplay to Rendezvous and his arsenal not as effective as we’d hoped,” the dev team said in the patch notes. “He’s Chamber’s overall strength has also felt outsized, and we believe that we can reduce the complete power of his kit while still keeping him competitive with the rest of the roster.”

His Rendezvous has been particularly hard hit, with an increase of 10 seconds to its cooldown and a significant decrease in the size of the ring, which should mean he has to play a little safer and less aggressive. Elsewhere the slow on both Trademark and Tour De Force has been decreased from 9.5 seconds to 6, and his ultimate from him now requires an extra point to activate. The final change increases the cost of his Headhunter bullets from 100 to 150, which combined with the increased ultimate cost, should bring down the frequency he can use his most valuable assets from him.

Other agents that are being changed in patch 5.02 include Neon and Jett who, along with Chamber, now have to deal with decreased damage to limbs when they use their ultimates, but increased damage when they hit a head. If you compare this to how pretty much every other weapon works in Valorant it makes sense to bring them in line.

There are a few bug fixes that aren’t all that important, but strangely patch 5.03 is adding more bugs that Riot already knows about. It’s all for a good cause, as the Valorant engine is being upgraded to Unreal Engine 4.26, giving the development team access to some new tools, but it does mean that there may be some UI-related bugs that pop up. The good news is that Riot is already on the case and they should be fixed pretty soon.

It may not be a massive update all things considered, but the Chamber nerfs will certainly be good news to everyone apart from Chamber mains, and the changes to certain ultimates set a good precedent going forward.

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