After a week of anger and criticism from veterans groups and advocates, including the comedian Jon Stewart, Senate Republicans finally agreed to pass a bill that expands healthcare and benefits to veterans exposed to toxins.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this situation where people who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little,” said Stewart, who joined veterans to push for the bill. “I hope we learned a lesson.”
Known as the Pact Act, the bill passed in the Senate on Tuesday night in an 86-11 vote.
It will provide assistance to veterans who were exposed to harmful chemicals during their service, such as Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, or toxins from pits used to burn military waste in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Department of Defense estimates that about 3.5 million service members could have been exposed to burn pits in the Middle East. Such chemicals can cause respiratory illnesses and cancer to those exposed, medical experts said.
Currently veterans have had to prove that illnesses were connected to their service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs did not consider exposure to toxins a service-related condition. The department has denied about 75% of veterans’ burn pit claims.
The Pact Act passed the House last month and had support from a majority of Republican senators until last week, when a coalition of them held up the bill’s passage. The senators said they no longer supported the bill after Democrats announced they reached a deal on a better tax and climate bill on Wednesday.
Veteran advocates sharply denounced the Republicans’ U-turn. Stewart called them “stab-vets-in-the-back senators.” Protests erupted outside the Capitol.
On Tuesday night, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, announced that he and his Republican counterpart, the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, had reached a deal on the bill. At a news conference, McConnell said Republicans’ objections were part of the “legislative process”.
“These kind of back and forths happen all the time in the legislative process, you’ve observed that over the years,” he said. “I think in the end, the veterans service organizations will be pleased with the final result.”
Joe Biden praised the bill’s passage, saying: “We should all take pride at this moment.” In his most recent State of the Union address earlier this year, the US president mentioned that his son de him Beau, who served a year-long tour of Iraq and later died of brain cancer, could have been a victim of burn pit toxins.
“The Pact Act will be the biggest expansion of [veterans affairs] healthcare in decades,” Biden tweeted. “We’ll never be able to repay the debt we owe to those who have worn the uniform, but today, Congress delivered on a promise to our veterans and their families.”
A World of Warcraft mobile game has reportedly been quietly canceled due to financing disputes.
According to Bloomberg, the upcoming smartphone game had been in development for three years but has now been canceled due to a dispute between Activision Blizzard and NetEase.
“The two companies disagreed over terms and ultimately called a halt to the project, which had been kept under wraps,” said a source close to the deal.
The project, referred to as “Neptune” by those working on it, was said to be a Warcraft spin-off, set during a different period to World of Warcraft. It’s unknown whether it would have directly tied into either Warcraft, Warcraft II, or Warcraft III.
The good news is that it’s not Warcraft Arclight Rumble – the upcoming mobile “tower offense” game due to release later this year.
As far back as February this year, Activision Blizzard revealed that it was working on multiple mobile Warcraft titles, and this was thought to be one of the big reasons behind Microsoft’s acquisition of the company for a reported $69 million earlier this year.
Now, it looks as though those mobile games may be up in the air – after all, the extent of Activision Blizzard’s working relationship with NetEase following this high-profile cancellation is uncertain. Another of Activision Blizzard’s mobile games, a Pokemon Go-style AR game, was also canceled.
Devil Immortal Key Art
NetEase currently publishes World of Warcraft in China and is also behind the popular yet controversial mobile game, Diablo Immortal, which has come under fire for its microtransactions. Despite this, Activision Blizzard is set to make a killing with the game, which earned $24 million in its first two weeks.
Whether or not Activision Blizzard and NetEase will continue working on Warcraft mobile titles remains to be seen. But at the moment, Warcraft Arclight Rumble is still full steam ahead. And it looks as though the popular Warcraft franchise is set to continue making them a ton of money.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Record coral cover is being seen across much of the Great Barrier Reef as it recovers from past storms and mass-bleaching events. But the new coral taking over is leaving the reef more vulnerable to future devastating impacts, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS).
Key points:
The northern and central sections of the reef have seen record-high coral cover
Scientists say the reef is still vulnerable to disturbances like mass bleaching
The rapid growth in coral is mostly accounted for by a particular type of coral
AIMS’ 36-year Long-Term Monitoring Program has seen continued dramatic improvement in coral cover in the northern and central sections of the reef, following a period without intense disturbances.
The results come off the back of mass coral bleaching events that have happened at an unprecedented frequency — four out of six occurred in the last seven years. Mass bleaching, caused by marine heatwaves, was not known to occur at all prior to 1998.
When the water gets too hot, the algae that live inside the coral and provide it with most of its energy is expelled. If it remains too hot for too long, the coral stars and dies.
“The 2020 and 2022 bleaching events, while extensive, didn’t reach the intensity of the 2016 and 2017 events and, as a result, we have seen less mortality,” AIMS chief executive Paul Hardisty said.
“These latest results demonstrate the reef can still recover in periods free of intense disturbances.”
The percentage of coral cover in the northern and central Great Barrier Reef has increased.(Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)
Eighty-seven reefs were surveyed between August 2021 and March 2022 as part of the report, which showed cover in the north increased from 27 per cent to 36 per cent, and from 26 per cent to 33 per cent in the central section.
That recovery has led to the highest-ever coral cover the Long-Term Monitoring Program has recorded in those sections, which begin north of Mackay.
But Dr Hardisty said the frequent bleaching showed how vulnerable the reef remained.
Despite the good news, the southern section, which extends from the Whitsundays down past the Keppel group of islands, has seen a small reduction in coral cover largely due to an ongoing outbreak of coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish.
Crown-of-thorns starfish (seen in the front) continue to decimate coral reefs.(Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)
“This shows how vulnerable the reef is to the continued acute and severe disturbances that are occurring more often, and are longer lasting,” Dr Hardisty said.
But even the southern section of the reef remains in relatively good health, with 34 per cent coral cover, a reduction from a recent peak of 37 per cent in 2017.
Increased coral cover could come at a cost
The rapid growth in coral cover appears to have come at the expense of the diversity of coral on the reef, with most of the increases accounted for by fast-growing branching coral called acropora.
Those corals grow quickly after disturbances but are very easily destroyed by storms, heatwaves and crown-of-thorns starfish. By increasing the dominance of those corals, the reef can become more vulnerable.
Acropora corals have proliferated across much of the northern and central parts of the reef.(Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)
It is a point acknowledged by Jodie Rummer, a marine biologist at James Cook University in Townsville.
“While it’s great to see increases in coral cover of a particular species, we can’t ignore that the diversity is really what we need to emphasise, and that’s going to be key to a healthy ecosystem over the longer term,” Professor Rummer said .
“While one species might be fast growing and repopulating very quickly, that also might be the most susceptible to some of the stressors that the Great Barrier Reef has faced over and over and over again over the past decade.”
Mike Emslie says Acropora corals are vulnerable to wave damage and bleaching.(Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science/Marie Roman)
Senior research scientist Mike Emslie, who leads the AIMS Long Term-Monitoring Program, agreed the news was mixed when it came to acropora.
“These corals are particularly vulnerable to wave damage, like that generated by strong winds and tropical cyclones,” Dr Emslie said.
“They are also highly susceptible to coral bleaching, when water temperatures reach elevated levels, and are the preferred prey for crown-of-thorns starfish.
“This means that large increases in hard coral cover can quickly be negated by disturbances on reefs where acropora corals predominate.”
Reef remains in danger from rising temperatures
Around the world, coral reefs face a grim future unless urgent action is taken to drastically halt man-made global warming.
In 2018, the United Nations released a report warning that coral reefs worldwide were projected to decline by up to 90 per cent even if warming was capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In February 2022, various types of corals experienced bleaching, pictured here in the central part of the reef.(Supplied: Australian Institute of Marine Science)
Great Barrier Reef campaigner with the Australian Marine Conservation Society Cherry Muddle said while the findings were promising, the reef remained in danger.
“The fact remains that unless fossil-fuel emissions are drastically cut, the reef remains in danger from rising temperatures and more mass bleaching events,” she said.
“In the wake of the State of the Environment report, which showed Australian inshore reefs were in a poor and deteriorating condition due to climate- and water-pollution pressures, it is more important than ever that we ensure urgent action is taken to address all threats to the reef.”
In a statement, federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said: “This [AIMS] report is confronting reading and shows the damage being caused to our reef from Climate Change.”
“That’s why our government is legislating our climate targets this week and has also pledged $1.2 billion towards projects that support the health of the reef,” she said.
The last update from the AIMS program was released in July last year, and recovery was already being seen.
Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws revealed the Morrison government had forced AIMS to rush the report’s release and orchestrated a “leak” of the material to select media outlets ahead of the reef being considered for inclusion on the World Heritage In Danger list .
Coverage in those outlets then included an opinion piece by an academic who is critical of science linking climate change to coral bleaching.
The reef’s status and potential inclusion on the In Danger list were due to be discussed at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Russia in June this year, but the meeting was indefinitely postponed due to the war in Ukraine.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones testified Wednesday that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was “100% real.”
Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they’ve endured Because of what Jones has trumpeted on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a Texas courtroom that he definitely thinks the attack happened.
“Especially since I’ve met the parents. It’s 100% real,” Jones said at his trial to determine how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Their son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 students and six educators who were killed in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, which was the deadliest school shooting in American history.
But Heslin and Lewis said Tuesday that an apology wouldn’t suffice and that Jones needed to be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the attack. They are seeking at least $150 million.
Closing arguments are expected to begin later Wednesday after more testimony from Jones, who has portrayed the lawsuit as an attack on his First Amendment rights.
Jones is the only person testifying in his own defense. His attorney asked him if he now understands it was “absolutely irresponsible” to push the false claims that the massacre didn’t happen and no one died.
Jones said he does, but added, “They (the media) won’t let me take it back.”
He also complained that he’s been “typecast as someone that runs around talking about Sandy Hook, makes money off Sandy Hook, is obsessed by Sandy Hook.”
Jones’ testimony came a day after Heslin and Lewis told the courtroom in Austin, where Jones and his companies are based, that Jones and the false hoax claims he and Infowars pushed made their lives a “living hell” of death threats, online abuse and harassment.
They led a day of charged testimony Tuesday that included the judge scolding the bombastic Jones for not being truthful with some of what he said under oath.
In a gripping exchange, Lewis spoke directly to Jones, who was sitting about 10 feet away. Earlier that day, Jones was on his broadcast program telling his audience that Heslin is “slow” and being manipulated by bad people.
“I am a mother first and foremost and I know you are a father. My son existed,” Lewis said to Jones. “I am not deep state … I know you know that … And yet you’re going to leave this courthouse and say it again on your show.”
At one point, Lewis asked Jones: “Do you think I’m an actor?”
“No, I don’t think you’re an actor,” Jones responded before the judge admonished him to be quiet until called to testify.
Heslin and Lewis are among several Sandy Hook families who have filed several lawsuits alleging that the Sandy Hook hoax claims pushed by Jones have led to years of abuse by him and his followers.
Heslin and Lewis both said they fear for their lives and have been confronted by strangers at home and on the street. Heslin said his home and car had been shot at. The jury heard a death threat sent via telephone message to another Sandy Hook family.
“I can’t even describe the last nine and a half years, the living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones,” Heslin said.
Scarlett Lewis also described threatening emails that seemed to have uncovered deep details of her personal life.
“It’s fear for your life,” Scarlett Lewis said. “You don’t know what they were going to do.”
Heslin said he didn’t know if the Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theory originated with Jones, but it was Jones who “lit the match and started the fire” with an online platform and broadcast that reached millions worldwide.
“What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Heslin said. “As time went on, I truly realized how dangerous it was.”
Jones skipped Heslin’s Tuesday morning testimony while he was on his show — a move Heslin dismissed as “cowardly” — but arrived in the courtroom for part of Scarlett Lewis’ testimony. He was accompanied by several private security guards.
“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming… to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” Heslin said when Jones wasn’t there.
Heslin told the jury about holding his son with a bullet hole through his head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key segment of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that said Heslin did not hold his son.
The jury was shown a school picture of a smiling Jesse taken two weeks before he was killed. The parents didn’t receive the photo until after the shooting. They described how Jesse was known for telling classmates to “run!” which likely saved lives.
An apology from Jones wouldn’t be good enough, the parents said.
“Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’ll finish this fight.”
Jones later took the stand and was initially combative with the judge, who had asked him to answer his own attorney’s question. Jones testified he had long wanted to apologize to the plaintiffs.
Later, the judge sent the jury out of the room and strongly scolded Jones for telling the jury he had complied with pretrial evidence gathering even though he didn’t and that he is bankrupt, which has not been determined. The plaintiffs’ attorneys were furious about Jones mentioning he is bankrupt, which they worry will taint the jury’s decisions about damages.
“This is not your show,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Jones. “Your beliefs do not make something true. You are under oath.”
Last September, the judge admonished Jones in her default judgment over his failure to turn over documents requested by the Sandy Hook families. A court in Connecticut issued a similar default judgment against Jones for the same reasons in a separate lawsuit brought by other Sandy Hook parents.
At stake in the trial is how much Jones will pay. The parents have asked the jury to award $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury will then consider whether Jones and his company will pay punitive damages.
Jones has already tried to protect Free Speech Systems financially. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims from him, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family from him through shell entities.
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Associated Press writer Paul J. Weber contributed to this report.
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For more of the AP’s coverage of school shootings: https://apnews.com/hub/school-shootings
Electronic Arts, publisher of popular series like FIFA, Dead Space, and Apex Legends, restated its commitment to developing and publishing single-player games, despite previous comments and financial reports that show a greater profit from live-service games.
Live-service games refer to games that have an online component of some kind, receiving regular updates through patches and content drops. Examples of live-service games would be Apex Legends and FIFA, which both feature online game modes and microtransactions.
EA has, in the past, shown disdain for single-player games. In 2017, EA shuttered Visceral Games, the studio behind the popular horror shooter Dead Space, as well as canceling a single-player Star Wars title. The reasoning? EA believed that single-player games were not as popular as live-service games. As reported originally by gaming site Dualshockers, they stated of linear games: “people don’t like [them] as much today as they did five years ago or ten years ago.”
On a recent call with shareholders and investors, CEO Andrew Wilson had this to say about single-player games: “When we think about our portfolio and we think about building it out, we really think about it on two key vectors. One, how can we tell incredible stories and two, how can we build tremendous online communities and then how do we bring those two together.”
In a follow-up financial report, EA reported that over 70% of the company’s profits come from live service games. Their net income for the past quarter of this fiscal year is approximately $450 million AUD, a growth of nearly 50% over last year’s earnings.
EA’s heavy hitters in this space are FIFA, including FIFA Ultimate Team with an engagement growth of 40%, and FIFA Mobile. “Our FIFA franchise and the successful launch of F1 drove our net bookings outperformance, delivering another quarter ahead of expectations,” CFO Chris Suh stated.
EA has plenty of reasons to celebrate, however — in addition to signing a $45m deal with LaLiga, Spain’s premier Football League, the company is also preparing for a collaboration with Marvel in their upcoming FIFA 23.
A lawyer for Paul Pelosi, the multimillionaire husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appeared on his behalf in a Napa County, California, court for his arraignment on DUI charges Wednesday morning.
The attorney, Amanda Bevins, entered a plea of not guilty to both accounts on her client’s behalf before Napa County Superior Court Judge Monique Langhorne.
Pelosi’s 2021 Porsche and the other driver’s 2014 Jeep sustained “major collision damage” in a crash around 10:17 pm on May 28, and responding officers found Pelosi in his driver’s seat in his damaged car near the intersection of California Route 29 and Oakville Cross Road.
He faces two misdemeanor charges, DUI causing injury and driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% causing injury.
Aimee McLeod, a deputy district attorney in Napa County, appeared for the prosecution.
PAUL PELOSI ALLEGEDLY SLURRED SPEECH, HAD DRUG IN SYSTEM AND HANDED OVER POLICE PRIVILEGE CARD DURING DUI BUST
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and husband Paul Pelosi (Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images)
Pelosi will remain free on her own recognition and is due back in court on Aug. 23 at 9 am PT for a settlement conference.
The parties could discuss the possibility of a plea agreement, continue the case or prepare for trial, Bevins said.
If convicted, Pelosi could face up to five years of probation, a minimum of five days in jail and be ordered to install an ignition interlock device in her car, according to District Attorney Allison Haley’s office. Other punishments could include fines and fees and a court-ordered “drinking driver class.”
The arraignment comes a day after Pelosi’s wife, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rattled US-China relations with a trip to Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory. And it comes a week after he reports that he sold millions of dollars in Nvidia stock leading up to a House vote on a bill that would impact the industry.
A spokesperson for Speaker Pelosi’s office noted that the shares had been sold at a loss.
“Mr. Pelosi bought options to buy stock in this company more than a year ago and exercised them on June 17, 2022,” the spokesperson, Drew Hammill, said in a statement. “As always, he does not discuss these matters with the Speaker until trades have been made and required disclosures must be prepared and filed.”
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI’S HUSBAND PAUL’S DUI TRIAL ‘RIGGED,’ BESET BY ‘DECK-STACKING’: JESSE WATTERS
On the night of the crash, Pelosi allegedly handed officers his driver’s license and an “11-99 Foundation” card when they asked for his ID, according to the documents. The 11-99 Foundation is a California Highway Patrol charity that supports officers and provides scholarships for their children.
Pelosi allegedly exhibited “signs of impairment” during field sobriety tests and officers “observed objective signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication,” according to the documents.
Those allegedly included “red/watery” eyes.
“He was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, and he had a strong odor of an alcohol beverage emanating from his breath,” the complaint alleges.
The other driver, identified only as John Doe, was standing outside an SUV, according to the documents.
Both of them declined medical treatment at the scene, but Doe on June 2 told Napa County prosecutors that he had begun suffering pain in his upper right arm, right shoulder and neck the day after the crash. He also complained of headaches and said it was difficult to lift things with his right arm, according to the documents.
PAUL PELOSI TO BE ARRAIGNED ON DUI CHARGES WEDNESDAY
Pelosi allegedly injured the other driver “while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and a drug and under their combined influence,” the first count in the two-charge complaint reads.
Investigators later determined he had a blood-alcohol content of .082%.
Pelosi’s attorney Bevins told Fox News Digital, “I believe that the drug reference is part of the statutory boilerplate language in the complaint.”
Previously, descriptions of property damage and injuries stemming from the crash had been withheld.
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Records show Pelosi made bail the morning after the crash for a $5,000 sum.
Speaker Pelosi’s office has previously said it would not comment on the incident, which a spokesperson said happened while she was on the opposite side of the country.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @mikerreports
People await the start of a product launch event at Apple’s new campus in Cupertino, California, US September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
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Aug 1 (Reuters) – Apple Inc is dropping its mask mandate for corporate employees at most locations, the Verge reported on Monday, citing an internal memo. (https://bit.ly/3oJ3EQN)
This comes even as COVID-19 infections in the United States have been on the rise with the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron variant accounting for more than 90% of infections, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
These subvariants have significant mutations from the earliest versions of Omicron and protection from vaccines wanes over time.
“Don’t hesitate to continue wearing a face mask if you feel more comfortable doing so,” the report quoted Apple as saying in the internal email. “Also, please respect every individual’s decision to wear a mask or not.”
Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment outside regular business hours.
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Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu
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A leading House Democrat on Wednesday backtracked on comments she made Tuesday that she doubts President Joe Biden will renew his bid for the presidency in 2024 — a highly unusual break from the party’s standard-bearer.
The White House has repeatedly said Biden intends to run for reelection.
When asked during a debate if he should run again, New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who is currently seeking reelection for the Empire State’s 12th Congressional District, told debate moderators from NY1: “I don’t believe he’s running.”
Maloney is in a hotly contested primary, in part due to redistricting that pits her against another Capitol Hill veteran, Rep. Jerry Nadler. The pair face off on Aug. 23.
Nadler told debate moderators on Tuesday that it was “too early to say” if Biden would run again in 2024, adding that such speculation “doesn’t serve the purpose of the Democratic Party to deal with that until after the midterms.”
Maloney’s answer was quickly seized on by the Republican National Committee and circulated on social media.
Maloney is not a political novice. The chair of the House Oversight Committee has served in Congress for nearly 30 years, and her prognosis of Biden’s prospects are at odds with some others in the party: The Democratic National Committee and the White House — as well as congressional leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer — have aligned on another potential Biden-Kamala Harris ticket. The president previously told ABC News ‘David Muir that he would run as long as his health remained good.
Maloney tweaked her remarks somewhat Wednesday morning, tweeting that she would “absolutely support President Biden, if he decides to run for re-election.”
“Biden’s leadership securing historic investments for healthcare, climate & economic justice prove once again why he is the strong and effective leader we need right now,” she said.
Still, Maloney is not alone in her reservations: Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., recently told local media that he doesn’t believe Biden should seek a second term. “I think the country would be well-served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats to step up,” Phillips said.
President Joe Biden listens during a meeting with journalists in the Oval Office at the White House, July 12, 2022.
Chris Kleponis/Pool via Getty Images
Later, in a statement to The Minnesota Star Tribune, he added: “Under no condition can we afford another four years of Donald Trump, and while Joe Biden was clearly the right candidate at the right time two years ago, it’s my hope that both major parties put forward new candidates of principle, civility, and integrity in 2024.”
Minnesota House colleague Angie Craig then cited Phillips this week when she said that there needs to be a “new generation of leadership.”
At 79, Biden is the oldest-ever serving president — breaking a record set by his predecessor, Donald Trump, now 76.
Biden last month defended his popularity among Democrats, telling ABC News that a New York Times/Siena College poll showing a majority of his party preferring another 2024 nominee also found that 92% of Democrats said they’d vote for him in another race with Trump .
And among all voters, the poll found, Biden would best Trump 44% to 41%.
Biden told ABC News in December that the prospect of such a rematch was appealing.
“You’re trying to tempt me now,” Biden told Muir then, laughing. “Why would I not run against Donald Trump for the nominee?” I have added. “That’ll increase the prospect of running.”
Video game spending in 2022 has continued to decline. According to a report from the NPD Group, spending has dropped 13% in the second quarter of 2022, as compared to the same period of time last year.
Total consumer spending on video gaming in Q2 amounted to $12.35 billion, a drop of $1.71 billion as compared to Q2 2021. Non-mobile subscription spending did increase in this period, but it was the only broad spending category to increase. In fact, decreased mobile spending accounts for much of the decline, according to the report. Spending on mobile games decreased by 12%. In other categories, hardware spending decreased by 1% and accessory spending by 11%.
Most of the most popular games in this period are mobile and multiplayer staples including Among Us, Diablo Immortal, Call of Duty: Warzone, Candy Crush Saga, GTA V, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8, and Pokémon Go. Elden Ring, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, as well as The Sims 4 were all also massive titles this quarter. In terms of hardware sales, Nintendo Switch took the crown, while PlayStation 5 generated the highest dollar sales.
The report attributes the decline to a broader return to work and other public places as well as an uncertain economic environment. Increased gas prices and general inflation have made budgets tighter. There’s also less widespread obstacles of fewer new releases and ongoing hardware shortages. However, even with all these factors, spending is still above pre-pandemic levels.
The pandemic broke video game spending records and kicked off a massive period of growth for the industry. Just this year however, spending began to decline. Q1 2022 saw a similar decline and May 2022 was the industry’s worst spending month since February 2020. As the report says, the overall state of the economy will have a large impact on future months.
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“This level of government overreach — literally interfering in the decisions a physician and patient make together — has resonated with people in Kansas,” she said. “It’s a scary moment to think that you or your loved one might be in a situation where it’s not up to you or your provider what care you can get and instead it’s up to the government and what they think you deserve.”
Turnout for the primary also soared above usual levels Tuesday, and in some counties was closer to the participation usually seen in a presidential election. The in-person early vote, which tends to favor Democrats, was also nearly 250% higher than the last primary midterm election in 2018, when both Democrats and Republicans had competitive governors’ races, while the number of mail-in ballots was more than double.
The “no” campaign also outperformed in fairly conservative areas — like in Shawnee County in the eastern part of the state — coming in several points ahead of President Joe Biden’s results there in 2020.
At abortion rights groups’ campaign watch party in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, supporters cheered, cried, jumped and hugged each other tightly as new waves of votes were counted in their favor. Teens with purple hair wearing cutoffs mingled with older men and women in suits in a hotel ballroom. One woman cradled a doll of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she watched the results.
“Abortion isn’t a partisan issue — that’s a trap people fall into,” Ashley All, the spokesperson for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, told POLITICO. “That’s just not the way most Americans or most Kansans think about the issue.”
The results were also hailed by abortion rights groups around the country that see the defeat of the Kansas referendum as a blueprint for future efforts in cities and states across the country. The vote also countered the narrative that the abortion issue is a bigger motivator for conservative voters, and may signal a warning to Republican lawmakers across the country that the gnaws decision may generate considerable backlash over the coming months and years.
“Reproductive freedom is a winning issue, now and in November,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said in a statement. “Anti-choice lawmakers take note: The voters have spoken, and they will turn out at the ballot box to oppose efforts to restrict reproductive freedom.”
The decision means abortion clinics in the state can continue to serve not only Kansans but also patients from Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and other states that have banned the procedure after gnaws fell, many of whom have traveled to Kansas in recent weeks. The anti-abortion campaign seized on this trend, warning in ads that the state would become an “abortion destination” like California if the amendment failed.
Value Them Both, the umbrella group of anti-abortion advocates who pushed for the amendment, called the decision a “temporary setback.”
“Our dedicated fight to value women and babies is far from over,” they said in a statement Tuesday night. “We will be back.”
The referendum’s result particularly shocked the state because the pro-amendment campaign had some structural advantages heading into Tuesday, and they were ahead in recent polls.
Not only is Kansas a solidly red state that twice voted for President Donald Trump, but also the supermajority Republican legislature decided to schedule the vote for the primary instead of the general election. Turnout is usually far lower in August and favors Republicans, who have more competitive primaries than Democrats in Kansas. And many college students, who trend more progressive, are away for the summer.
Student activists working to defeat the amendment said they were all more motivated by what they saw as an underhanded effort to suppress their votes.
“It was very intentional, and I think young people have taken note of that and have realized that there are political structures in place to put us down,” said Donovan Dillon, a University of Kansas sophomore who helped lead the country-western-themed Vote Neighbor campaign against the amendment. “When I reached out to friends and asked, ‘Do you want to come canvas this weekend?’ everyone’s been all hands on deck — even friends who haven’t been involved politically before.”
The “Value Them Both” amendment was rocket fuel for the usually sleepy primary election. Hundreds of volunteers from around the country converged on the state to knock on hundreds of thousands of doors. Both sides raised and spent millions of dollars on ads, mailers, phone banking and other outreach — much of it from the Catholic Church on the anti-abortion side and Planned Parenthood on the abortion rights side.
But while the state served as proxy war for the groups fighting over abortion rights nationally in a post-gnaws America, the campaigns also had a distinctly Kansas flavor.
Outside the state capital in Topeka on Saturday, people protesting against the amendment waved posters covered in sunflowers while speakers on the capitol steps invoked the state motto “Ad astra per aspera” — to the stars through adversity. Local businesses down the street showed Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz urging her fellow Kansans to vote no.
The final days leading up to the vote were also marked by tension and confusion.
Some lawn signs for the “Value Them Both” campaign had NO spray painted over them in black capital letters. Catholic churches — the main funders of the anti-abortion campaign — have also been vandalized, while abortion rights demonstrators have been threatened with arrest.
On Saturday, a group of anti-abortion advocates marched up and down the sidewalks of Lawrence — a progressive college town — yelling “Don’t kill babies” at passersby.
On Sunday, an 18-year-old anti-abortion canvasser who came from Texas to volunteer with the group Students for Life said she was physically assaulted by a resident while knocking on doors in the Kansas City suburb of Leawood. She filed a police report and posted a video that doesn’t show the incident itself but shows the resident yelling and giving her the finger afterward.
On Monday, several residents alerted the state’s ACLU chapter that they received a deceptive robotext from an unknown number suggesting that a “yes” vote would protect abortion access.
“Women in Kansas are losing their choice on reproductive rights,” the messages read, according to screenshots shared with POLITICO. “Voting YES on the amendment will give women a choice.”
Former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius received the texts and said in a statement that she was not surprised by the tactic.
“The anti-choice movement has been lying to the voters of Kansas for decades,” she said. “This act of desperation won’t stop the voters of Kansas from protecting their constitutional rights and freedom.”
Many voters told POLITICO the debate has also pitted family members against one another.
Asked about the “Vote Yes” sign in his front yard, Olathe resident David Schaffer said that it belonged to his daughter and that he vehemently disagrees.
“She can do what she wants. Ella she’s a grown adult, ”he said. “But I say, if we turn it over to the legislature, I don’t get no say anymore — none. And that’s what this is doing.”
One of his neighbors, Edianna Yantis, told POLITICO her “Vote Yes” was recently stolen from her front yard and she suspected her son, who had been trying to convince her to vote no.
“He said, ‘Mom, I don’t like abortion but this means they’re going to take all abortion away.’ I told him, ‘You need to do your research,’ but he says he has,” she said with a sad smile.
Ultimately, despite the state’s conservative leanings, voters saw the amendment as a bridge too far.
And while younger voters in the state lean more progressive, the defeat of the proposal was also fueled by older Kansans like Barbara Lawson, who remembers life before gnawsv. Wade.
When canvassers with Kansans for Constitutional Freedom came to her door on Monday to urge her to vote against the amendment, Lawson shared that she had a baby when she was 17 years old after being raped.
“I don’t know if I would have [had an abortion] because I had no choice — abortion was illegal. It was very hard,” she said. “Now I fear they’re going to restrict all abortions again and we’re going to be left back in the Dark Ages.”
Leading up to Tuesday’s contest, there were signs that voters’ views on abortion were more nuanced than their partisan leanings. A July poll, for example, found that a third of voters favored no restrictions on abortion, while only 9 percent said they preferred a total ban. And a 2021 survey conducted by Fort Hays State University found that over 50 percent of Kansans agreed with the statement: “The Kansas government should not place any regulations on the circumstances under which women can get abortions.”
“People make a lot of assumptions about Kansas,” said Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), the sole Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, who flipped a previously red district in 2018. “People here care about their community and care about things being fair.”
