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Cunningham picks former fighter pilot as SC gov running mate

Cunningham picks former fighter pilot as SC gov running mate

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — Joe Cunningham has chosen Tally Parham Casey, a civil litigator who flew fighter jets during three combat tours over Iraq, to ​​be his running mate in his quest to become South Carolina’s first Democratic governor in 20 years.

“She’s one of the most impressive people that I’ve ever met,” said Cunningham, who previewed his lieutenant governor pick for The Associated Press ahead of a formal announcement Monday. “Ella She’s fought for our freedoms abroad, and she wants to continue fighting for those freedoms, so that’s why I put her on the ticket, and ella she’s agreed to do it.”

Cunningham, 40, planned to introduce Casey, 52, at an event in Greenville, her hometown.

“I have long admired Joe’s bipartisan approach to governing and believe he is exactly what South Carolina needs as governor,” Casey said in a statement provided by the campaign, calling her selection “an incredible honor and privilege.”

“Joe is a regular guy who has the guts to say what we’re all thinking,” she also said in the statement.

This is the second gubernatorial election cycle in which contenders for South Carolina’s top two executive offices run on the same ticket. In years past, governors and their lieutenant governors were elected separately, meaning that sometimes the politicians clashed ideologically or were from different parties.

Last week, Gov. Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, 54, became South Carolina’s first gubernatorial ticket to file for reelection, with McMaster calling the payroll company founder “fully conversant with the trials, tribulations and challenges of business.” That skillset, the governor has saidcomplements his decades in law and politics.

Since her election in 2018, Evette has spent many months traveling the state, meeting with businesses and promoting their relationships with South Carolina’s technical training schools. Both she and the governor say keeping them strong is key to the state’s manufacturing economy.

Cunningham also points to the diverse experiences of his running mate. Casey’s military service, legal savvy and the fact that she’s a woman make her the right fit for where he’d like to take the state, he said.

“Tally is the best person for the job, period,” Cunningham told AP. “And the fact that she’s a woman brings that perspective to the ticket, especially in light of everything that’s gone on with Gov. McMaster’s attack on our freedoms and his assault on women’s rights. It makes it that much more personal for Tally.”

The Republican-dominated Legislature is on track to make abortions even harder to get in South Carolina following the US Supreme Court’s decision to reverse its nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling affirming a constitutional right to the procedure.

While abortion-rights groups challenge the state’s current law, which bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy but includes some exceptions, a special legislative committee advanced a proposal last week to ban almost all abortions, except when the mother’s life is at risk.

McMaster, who has said he would “immediately” work with those lawmakers, said last week that the six-week ban includes “good exceptions” and is “quite reasonable.”

“If there are other steps, if there are other things that they believe should be done after thorough examination, then I’d like to hear about it,” McMaster said.

Cunningham has called for legislators to hold off on debating the measure this fall until after the November election.

Casey was South Carolina’s first female fighter pilot, enlisting with the state’s Air National Guard’s 157th Fighter Squadron in 1996 and attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. She has nearly 1,500 hours in the F-16, more than 100 of them in combat, and has received numerous service-related awards.

Casey has also been an attorney for more than two decades, most of that at Wyche PA in Columbia, where she was elected chair in 2017 and focuses on commercial litigation, products liability, insurance and aerospace law. The graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law she has also been a federal law clerk.

Like Cunningham, Casey is significantly younger than McMaster, who at 75 is the state’s oldest governor, and whose age the Democrat has said is too advanced to adequately represent South Carolinians.

“He’s been in politics literally longer than I’ve been alive, and you look at where that’s gotten us,” Cunningham said. “What Tally offers is much-needed change, and it’ll be a refreshing take on politics.”

Cunningham has proposed an age cap of 72 for South Carolina officeholders — a shift that would require voters to approve a constitutional change. He’s signaled openness to a similar federal age limit, which would apply to 82-year-old House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina and 79-year-old President Joe Biden.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

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Biden still testing positive after Covid-19 rebound case but ‘continues to feel well,’ White House says

Biden still testing positive after Covid-19 rebound case but 'continues to feel well,' White House says

Biden, who emerged from isolation earlier last week after testing negative on rapid antigen tests starting Tuesday, “will continue to conduct the business of the American people from the Executive Residence,” O’Connor writes, continuing “to be very specifically conscientious to protect any of the Executive Residence, White House, Secret Service, and other staff whose duties require any (albeit socially distanced) proximity to him.”

A White House official said Sunday that Biden, 79, had six close contacts prior to the positive test a day earlier that sent him back into isolation. None of those contacts have since tested positive, the official said.

Sunday is considered “day one” of positivity in the President’s latest isolation period.

Out of concern over a rebound infection, officials had worked last week to limit Biden’s exposure to others, including making events socially distanced.

In a sign that he’s committed to working despite testing positive again, Biden on Saturday FaceTimed a group of demonstrators protesting on Capitol Hill after Senate Republicans blocked efforts last week to pass legislation aimed at veterans suffering from ailments related to burn pits.

During Biden’s first bout with the disease, he experienced mild symptoms, including runny nose, fatigue, high temperature and a cough, according to his doctor. The President completed a five-day course of Paxlovid, which requires a doctor’s prescription and is available via emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in people 12 and older who are at high risk of severe illness.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert to doctors on May 24 advising that Covid-19 symptoms sometimes come back, and that may just be how the infection plays out in some people, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated or treated with medications such as Paxlovid. The CDC said that most cases of rebound involve mild disease and that there have been no reports of serious illness.

Biden is fully vaccinated and received two booster shots. He received his first two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine ahead of his inauguration in January 2021, his first booster shot in September and his second booster vaccination in March.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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All eyes turn to Sinema as Democrats face a week that could transform Biden’s presidency

All eyes turn to Sinema as Democrats face a week that could transform Biden's presidency

But there remains at least one huge question mark — the vote of Sinema, whose support is just as critical as Manchin’s in the 50-50 Senate. Like Manchin, she has opposed dismantling the Senate filibuster to pass other Democratic priority bills. She did help remodel Biden’s larger Build Back Better bill before Manchin blocked it last year. But now there are questions about whether she will back tax changes affecting private equity investors in the Manchin-Schumer compromise. As the 50th Democrat needed to pass the measure with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, Sinema has huge leverage to seek changes that threaten the bill’s fragile foundation, and she has so far avoided giving her verdict on the deal.

Manchin suggested on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he hadn’t spoken to Sinema about the package since he agreed on it with Schumer. But he paid tribute to his Arizona colleague de ella and her previous work on reducing prescription drug prices – a goal that is included in the new draft law.

“When she looks at the bill and sees the whole spectrum of what we’re doing and all of the energy we’re bringing in — all of the reduction of prices and fighting inflation by bringing prices down, by having more energy — hopefully, she will be positive about it,” Manchin said. “But she will make her decision about her. And I respect that.”

Manchin wields his power

Manchin, blanketing Sunday TV talk shows, demonstrated his power at the fulcrum of a closely divided Senate as he put his spin on the legislation — always with an eye on voters back home in a deeply red state. Once again, Manchin has succeeded in putting his state of him, one of the poorest and smallest in the nation, at the center of Washington policy making.

He has also used his power to champion centrism at a time when both parties seem to be moving toward their most radical base supporters. After repeatedly infuriating Democrats by thwarting Biden’s agenda, he’s now disappointing Republicans who had hoped he would maintain his opposition to him. On Sunday, Manchin insisted his package would lower inflation, expand domestic energy production, ensure certain corporations pay their fair tax share, and would benefit Americans by cutting prescription drug costs for Medicare patients.

Clean energy package would be biggest legislative climate investment in US history
The measure would also spend nearly $370 billion on fighting climate change and developing a new green energy economy, reviving efforts that had seemed doomed just weeks ago by opposition from the coal-state senator. If the bill does pass the Senate and later makes it through the House, it would instantly transform Biden into the President who made the greatest commitment to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and would enshrine his global leadership of the effort to stave off the most disastrous future effects. of climate change. It comes as extreme weather events — from drought in the American West to flooding in Kentucky that has killed at least 28 people — are ravaging the US.

The climate funding is not the only key Democratic priority in the bill.

The Manchin-Schumer bill, now rebranded as the “Inflation Reduction Act,” includes extended Affordable Care Act subsidies that would also cement another key reform wrought by Democratic power in the 21st century — Obamacare. These twin achievements could go some way to changing perceptions of the Biden presidency — which, despite some successes, including a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 rescue package and a rare bipartisan infrastructure law — has seen key agenda items like voting rights and police reform founder in the Senate.

What's in the Manchin-Schumer deal on climate, health care and taxes

While the passage of the bill could come too late to save Democrats from the painful punch of high inflation in midterm elections in November, it might turnout of progressives demoralized by the failure to do more with the party’s thin control of Washington power. Taken together with the mobilization of liberals following the conservative Supreme Court’s overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion, and majority public support for gun restrictions in the wake of a string of mass shootings, Democrats would at least have a platform to run on in November if they can succeed in weaving a coherent narrative on their achievements.

While Republican strategists believe that the House is already heading toward them, according to new CNN reporting over the weekend, a late spike in Democratic enthusiasm could spur the hopes of party leaders who believe the Senate is not a lost cause — especially against a clutch of candidates in ex-President Donald Trump’s image who could scare off suburban voters.

GOP mobilizes to prevent Democratic win

Manchin explained on Sunday that he understood the invective hurled his way by many Democrats, and Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, after he derailed the previous “Build Back Better” plan over his belief that it would fuel already soaring inflation. He said that he hoped the new measure would pass by the end of this week, when the Senate is due to break for an August recess.

The timetable remains a high wire act — just one case of Covid-19 among Democratic senators, for example, could fracture the party’s majority since all Republicans are expected to be against it. There have been several recent positive tests among senators that have sent them into isolation, including Manchin.

Republicans argue Manchin and Schumer's energy, health care deal will raise taxes, citing nonpartisan data

In defending his deal with Schumer, the West Virginia senator said that “in normal times,” Republicans would support the bill, since it would pay down the deficit, accelerate permitting for oil and gas drilling and increase energy production — all of which the GOP has previously been on record supporting.

But GOP senators are mobilizing to try to prevent passage of the bill, which would represent a victory for Biden and the Democrats before the midterms.

“It really looks to me like Joe Manchin has been taken to the cleaners,” Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey told Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

“Look, this bill, the corporate tax increase, is going to slow down growth, probably exacerbate a recession that we’re probably already in,” said Toomey, who’s retiring. He argued that prescription drug price controls would slow development of life-saving medicines and that the bill would subsidize “wealthy people buying Teslas.”

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said on ABC News’ “This Week” that another multi-billion dollar spending bill could inject “an incredible amount of uncertainty” into the economy just as it entered a recession.

Debate is raging in Washington on that last point following the release of an official report last week showing a second straight quarter of negative growth. The White House insists that given strong job growth, the economy is not in a classic contraction. In practical terms, however, the inside-the-Beltway semantics make little difference to Americans confronted by grocery bills that are far more expensive than a year ago, even if the prices at the pump have eased somewhat in recent weeks.

Republicans accused of ‘cruelty’ over veterans’ health care

The battle over the climate and health care bill will take place in parallel this week with a fierce controversy over the GOP blockage of a bill that would provide health care to veterans exposed to toxic fumes from burn pits, which were used to incinerate waste at military installations during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Activists, including comedian Jon Stewart, have accused the GOP of “cruelty” after some senators who voted for a previous version of the bill voted not to advance this one. Republicans, meanwhile, accuse Democrats of inserting new spending and complain that their amendments were not included. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said on “State of the Union” that a Toomey amendment would put a “year-on-year” cap on what the department can spend on veterans exposed to burn pits and would lead to “rationing of care.”

VA secretary says Republican-backed amendments to burn pits legislation would lead to 'rationing of care for vets'
Biden, in a FaceTime call from isolation after he registered another positive Covid-19 test on Saturday, promised protesters at the Capitol that he’d fight for the legislation “as long as I have a breath in me.”

Toomey told Tapper, however, that he had long raised opposition to the measure since he wanted funding for burn pit care included in year-on-year appropriations rather than in the mandatory spending column. He said the current legislation would allow Democrats to divert $400 billion for other purposes. And he denied claims that Republicans are holding up the bill to prevent Democrats from scoring another win, following the closing of the Manchin-Schumer deal, as “absurd and dishonest.”

However, the sight of Republicans voting against veterans’ health care — whatever the intricate details of the case — threatens to further an impression that the party is becoming more extreme. And it also takes the focus off the key issues that are most likely to sway the midterm elections in the GOP’s favor, including inflation, gasoline prices and Biden’s low approval rating.

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Kentucky Flooding: Officials call for critical recovery supplies as dozens are found dead in flooding and death toll is expected to rise

Kentucky Flooding: Officials call for critical recovery supplies as dozens are found dead in flooding and death toll is expected to rise



CNN
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As the death toll in flood-stricken areas of Kentucky continues to rise, rescue workers and officials are focused on recovering missing people in several counties and coordinating vital aid for thousands of displaced residents.

At least 28 people, including four children, have died due to severe flooding that struck parts of Kentucky last week, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Sunday. The governor told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes recovery crews are “going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter-mile plus from where they were last.”

While reading a breakdown of those killed in each county during a news conference Sunday, Beshear became visibly emotional when he reached the four children dead in Knott County, where 15 people have been found dead.

“It says ‘minor,’” the governor said looking at the list. “They are children. The oldest one is in second grade,” Beshear said.

The flooding – which swelled onto roads, destroyed bridges and swept away entire homes – displaced thousands of Kentuckians, according to the governor. It also knocked out vital power, water and roadway infrastructure, some of which has yet to be restored.

There was risk of flash flooding Sunday night into Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. A slight chance of excessive rainfall is possible throughout the affected region on Monday and Tuesday. Conditions are expected to begin improving Monday, but the region could receive two-day totals of up to two inches of rain. Some areas could see more.

In Perry County, as many as 50 bridges are damaged and inaccessible, according to county Judge Executive Scott Alexander.

Debris surrounds a badly damaged home near Jackson, Kentucky, on July 31, 2022.

“What that means is there’s somebody living on the other side or multiple families living up our holler on the other side that we’re still not able to have road access to,” Alexander said.

Kentucky State Police are still actively searching for missing residents in several counties and ask that families inform law enforcement if their loved one is missing.

Search and recovery efforts could face yet another obstacle as temperatures are expected to soar Tuesday and through the rest of the week, placing crews, volunteers, displaced people and the area’s homeless population under pressing heat.

As the climate crisis fuels more extreme and frequent weather events, several areas of the US are currently experiencing flash flood risk, including swathes of the desert Southwest, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Tucson, Arizona.

State officials are immediately focused on getting food, water and shelter to the people who were forced to flee their homes.

Power outages and storm damage left 22 water systems operating in a limited capacity, a Sunday news release from the governor’s office said. More than 60,000 water service connections are either without water or under a boil advisory, it said.

Nearly 10,000 customers in the eastern region of the state were still without power as of early Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Officials overseeing the recovery efforts say bottled water, cleaning supplies and relief fund donations are among the most needed resources as the region works toward short and long term recovery. FEMA is providing tractor trailers full of water to several counties.

Volunteers work at a distribution center of donated goods in Buckhorn, Kentucky.

“A lot of these places have never flooded. So if they’ve never flooded, these people will not have flood insurance,” the mayor of Hazard, Kentucky, Donald Mobelini told CNN Saturday. “If they lose their home, it’s a total loss. There’s not going to be an insurance check coming to help that. We need cash donations,” he said, referring to a relief fund set up by the state.

Beshear established a Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund to pay the funeral expenses of flood victims and raise money for those impacted by the damage. As of Sunday morning, the fund had received more than $1 million in donations, according to the governor.

The federal government has approved relief funding for several counties. FEMA is also accepting individual disaster assistance applications from impacted renters and homeowners in Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties, the governor said, noting he thinks more counties will be added to the list as damage assessments continue.

Though the recovery effort was still in the search-and-rescue phase over the weekend, Beshear said in a news conference Saturday that he believes the losses will be “in the tens if not the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“This is one of the most devastating, deadly floods that we have seen in our history,” Beshear told NBC Sunday. “It wiped out areas where people didn’t have that much to begin with.”

And it wasn’t just personal possessions washed away by the floodwaters. A building housing archival film and other materials in Whitesburg, was impacted, with water submerging an irreplaceable collection of historic film, videotape and audio records that documented Appalachia.

Appalachian filmmaker Mimi Pickering told CNN that the beloved media, arts and education center, Appalshop, held archival footage and film strips dating as far back as the 1940s, holding the stories and voices of the region’s people. Employees and volunteers were racing to preserve as much material as they could.

“We’re working as hard and fast as we can to try to save all that material… The full impact, I don’t think you have totally hit me yet. I think I don’t really want to think about it,” Pickering said. She noted the Smithsonian and other institutions have reached out offering assistance.

The extensive loss Kentuckians are suffering will likely also take a mental toll, Frances Everage, a therapist and 44-year resident of the city of Hazard told CNN. While her home de ella was spared, she said some of her friends de ella have damaged homes or lost their entire farms.

“When you put your blood, sweat and tears into something and then see it ripped away in front of your eyes, there’s going to be a grieving process,” Everage said. “This community will rebuild and we will be okay, but the impact on mental health is going to be significant.”

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Australia

‘Offensive’: Labor MP Marion Scrymgour slams Senator Jacinta Price’s comments about Indigenous Voice to Parliament

'Offensive': Labor MP Marion Scrymgour slams Senator Jacinta Price's comments about Indigenous Voice to Parliament

Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has hit back at Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Price over comments she made about the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The Voice to Parliament was a key element of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and called for an elected Indigenous advisory body to the Federal Parliament.

The proposed body would advise the government on issues affecting First Nations people.

Speaking to Sky News Australia on Sunday evening Ms Price said the proposal was being driven by elites.

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“Having just come back from Garma myself, there are people in remote communities who do not have a clue,” she told Chris Smith.

“Make no mistake, this is being driven by elites who have largely been part of the gravy train.

“An industry that has been built on the backs of the misery of marginalized Indigenous Australians, and enshrining a voice is enshrining their voices into parliament to ensure that they can never be removed or dismantled.”

Ms Scrymgour, who represents the Federal Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, was asked about the “offensive” comments just one day later.

“I find that a bit offensive,” Ms Scrymgour told Sky News Australia on Monday.

“Because a lot of the people who have been leading these discussions for many years – including myself – I don’t see myself as an elitist.”

Ms Scrymgour cited her experience being in the remote Indigenous communities as she rejected the gravy train claim.

“I’ve spent nearly 40 years on the ground in communities watching our people struggle and taking it up to governments,” she said.

“I know a lot of the people who work in that industry would find her comments not only offensive but also sad.

“I don’t think there’s been a gravy train of Indigenous members who have worked on this for a long time.

“We have absolute commitment to our people and we will continue to have that commitment.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled his government’s preferred Voice to Parliament referendum question and three provisions to be included in the constitution during his address at the Garma Festival gathering of indigenous leaders in north-east Arnhem Land.

During the speech to the Festival on Saturday, he said the question needed to be “simple and clear”.

The draft question will be posed as: “Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?”

The three sentences that would be added into the constitution are:

  1. There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

  2. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

  3. The parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

For the Indigenous Voice referendum to be successful, the “Yes” vote needs a national majority and must be carried by at least four of the six states.

There have been only eight successful referendums out of 44, with the last constitutional amendment to be carried taking place in 1977

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Australia

Casuarina Prison: Teen inmates trash cells after eating KFC for a treat

Casuarina Prison: Teen inmates trash cells after eating KFC for a treat

Teenage detainees being held at an adult maximum security prison have trashed their cells and climbed into the roof space a day after they were fed KFC as a treat.

WA Prison Officers Union secretary Andy Smith told The West Australian that some of the boys ripped out toilets to smash windows and then pulled apart the window frames to hurl projectiles at guards.

It was “pure luck” none of the youth custodial officers were injured during the two hours of chaos at Casuarina Prison on Saturday night.

Mr Smith said the group climbed into the roof space of Unit 18 before they were brought under control with pepper spray by the Special Operations Group, the prison system’s riot squad.

The Department of Justice have released images of some of the facilities inside Casuarina Prison, being used by teenagers who have been moved there from Banksia Hill
Camera IconSome of the facilities inside Casuarina Prison being used by teenagers who have been moved there from Banksia Hill. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

The incident comes less than two weeks after 16 inmates were transferred from Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Center to Casuarina following months of damage and disruption.

Mr Smith revealed the troubled youths were given KFC for dinner on Friday night as a reward but kicked-off the following evening when they refused to go back into their cells.

“This was a failure of parenting 101 — do not reward bad behaviour,” the union boss said.

“The behavior of these juveniles at Banksia Hill has continued at Casuarina. There needs to be a huge look at how they are managed, not just where they are placed.”

One of the cells at Casuarina Prison.
Camera IconOne of the cells at Casuarina Prison. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

The Justice Department said the “disturbance” lasted between 6pm and 8pm and confirmed the detainees had used debris as “weapons” to threaten youth custodial officers”.

A department spokesman said as part of efforts to manage young people at Banksia Hill, from time to time “incentives” were offered for good behaviour.

“At the temporary youth detention centre, six of the detainees were given a KFC meal on Friday as a reward for meeting a target of no behavioral incidents for about a week,” he said.

“A similar reward for good behavior was offered to details in two units at Banksia Hill.”

Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston said five of the details transferred from Banksia Hill were involved in the violence.

“It’s actually a demonstration of why we moved them because I’m pleased to say that during the week the services at Banksia Hill were back to where they should be and programs were running,” he said.

“The whole purpose of moving these disruptive young people was to allow the majority of detainees (at Banksia Hill) to get the services that they deserve.”

The basketball court.
Camera IconThe basketball court. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

He said the group had previously damaged about 100 cells at Banksia Hill and denied their behavior at the weekend was a result of being housed at an adult prison.

Mr Johnston said he hoped the teenagers would only be kept at Casuarina for a “short period” while plans for a $26 million upgrade of Banksia Hill were developed.

Shadow corrective services minister Peter Collier said situation “lurched from crisis to crisis” and responsibility rested entirely with Mr Johnston.

He said: “Of course moving them to Casuarina didn’t solve the problem, it merely transferred it. What’s he going to do now, put them in solitary confinement 24 hours a day?

“The Minister must resolve the systemic issues at Banksia Hill and stop doing what he thinks is politically expedient.”

It comes after Mr Johnston said he agreed with prison bosses who let some of WA’s most notorious criminals enjoy a late-night soccer party after winning special permission to watch the recent UEFA Champions League final.

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Australia

McDonald’s breakfast costs Aussie traveler $2664 after airport dog catches the scent

McDonald's breakfast costs Aussie traveler $2664 after airport dog catches the scent

A detector dog at Darwin Airport has sniffed out a stowaway McDonald’s breakfast in the backpack of an Aussie traveler flying home from Bali – leaving him with a $2664 fine.

The penalty for the undeclared meat and dairy products is part of the active biosecurity efforts being made to stop foot and mouth disease (FMD) from entering the country.

Watch the video above for more on this story

For more Travel related news and videos check out 7Travel >>

“Two egg and beef sausage McMuffins from McDonald’s in Bali and a ham croissant” were the offending menu items that caught the attention of biosecurity sniffer dog Zinta, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Murray Watt told 7NEWS.com.au in a statement.

Stopping the food groups from entering the country is just one of several measures the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is cracking down on to mitigate the biosecurity threat.

“Detector dog Zinta responded to a passenger’s backpack and, after further inspection, it was found they were carrying a variety of risk items,” Watt said.

“This will be the most expensive Maccas meal this passenger ever has.

“This fine is twice the cost of an airfare to Bali, but I have no sympathy for people who choose to disobey Australia’s strict biosecurity measures, and recent detections show you will be caught.”

McMuffins from a Bali McDonald’s cost one Australian traveler more than twice the price of his flight after he failed to declare the potential biosecurity threat. Credit: Supplied

He was issued a “12-unit infringement notice for failing to declare potential high biosecurity risk items and providing a false and misleading document”.

The undeclared food was inspected for FMD and destroyed.

“Biosecurity is no joke—it helps protect jobs, our farms, food and supports the economy. Passengers who choose to travel need to make sure they are fulfilling the conditions to enter Australia, by following all biosecurity measures,” Watt said.

Indonesian authorities confirmed on July 5 that there had been an FMD outbreak in livestock, and as Australia is FMD-free, authorities are being extra vigilant at the border.

The disease “can survive in meat and dairy products even if they are frozen, chilled or freeze-dried,” the department said.

Zinta the biosecurity detector dog has been assigned the job of tracking down potential carriers of foot and mouth disease before they enter the country. Credit: Supplied

The infringement notice cost more than the man’s flights, but that is the standard cost of failing to declare biosecurity risks at the border.

Travelers who are entering Australia on temporary visas could also risk them being cancelled, ensuring they cannot enter the country.

“Travellers arriving from Indonesia will be under much stricter biosecurity scrutiny due to the presence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia, including at the popular tourist destination Bali,” the department said in a statement.

The Albanese government last month announced a $14 million biosecurity package.

It has also rolled out biosecurity dogs at Darwin and Cairns airports, as well as sanitation and on-ground support at Australian and international airports.

Comedian spots bizarre Bunnings apron detail.

Comedian spots bizarre Bunnings apron detail.

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US

Republican nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted 9/11 conspiracy radio shows

Republican nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted 9/11 conspiracy radio shows



CNN
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The Republican Party’s nominee for Maryland attorney general hosted a series of five radio shows in 2006 devoted to arguing in support of 9/11 conspiracy theories questioning if the terror attack was the work of an “elite bureaucrat” who had demolition charges in every building in New York City and even suggesting if those who died after a hijacked plane hit the Pentagon were killed elsewhere.

Michael Peroutka, a candidate best known for his ties to neo-Confederate organizations, made the remarks on The American View, a radio show he co-hosted, in October 2006 while discussing the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

“What happened on 9-1-1, I told you that I had been doing some research and watching some videos,” Peroutka said during one of the episodes reviewed by CNN’s KFile. “And I said that if the buildings in New York City, the World Trade Center buildings, came down by demolition charges – that is to say – if there was this evidence that there was that something was preset there, then the implications of that are massive,” said Peroutka.

“I’ve been doing some reading and doing some studying, and I believe that to be very, very true,” he added, before further suggesting the work was done by controlled explosives.

“The other thing that just is so striking to me, I can’t get it out of my brain, and that is the vision of Building 7 falling faster than the speed of gravity, right? Building 7, which no plane hit,” said Peroutka. “And all of a sudden Building 7 falls, very consistent with what they call controlled demolitions or controlled charges because that building from the top down falls faster than if you had thrown a hammer off the top of the building.”

Peroutka’s comments echo the widely debunked conspiracy theory that the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center, the smaller building within the vicinity of the towers, were wired with explosives and detonated in a series of controlled demolitions.

The Twin Towers collapsed after terrorist-hijacked plans intentionally crashed into the North Tower and then the South Tower, killing 2,753 people. Nearby “Building 7” suffered intense and uncontrollable fires after debris from the North Tower hit the building, causing a chain reaction that led to the building’s collapse, according to a study published in 2008 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Peroutka went even further with his conspiratorial logic, speculating that every building in New York City could have preset charges awaiting detonation by some “elite bureaucrat.”

“That begs the question that if there are preset charges in Building Seven, what’s to stop there for being preset charges in Buildings 1, 2, 8, 9, and 27?” said Peroutka. “Are there charges in every building in New York City? Is everyone ready to be brought down whenever some elite bureaucrat decides that he’s gonna pull it?”

Peroutka also called the 9/11 terrorist attacks an “inside job,” saying “you can’t have an explosion in the basement that’s done by the hijacker on the airplane” and claimed that the official account of the 9/11 attack was the actual “conspiracy theory.”

The campaign did not address Peroutka’s previous conspiracy theories when asked for comment, but Macky Stafford, Petroutka’s campaign coordinator, told CNN in a statement that the “primary election results demonstrate that Maryland Republicans are dissatisfied with their current leadership.”

But outgoing Maryland GOP Gov. Larry Hogan called out Peroutka on Sunday, saying, “These disgusting lies don’t belong in our party.”

“We know who was responsible for 9/11. Blaming our country for Al-Qaeda’s atrocities is an insult to the memory of the thousands of innocent Americans and brave first responders who died that day,” Hogan tweeted.

Peroutka previously ran for president in 2004 as the nominee of the Constitution Party. During that campaign, Peroutka posted on his website an endorsement from the League of the South – a new-Confederate organization that advocates southern secession. He’s homepage for his campaign prominently featured a Confederate flag linking to “Southerners for Peroutka” whose homepage had a large Confederate flag displayed over the Capitol saying, “We have a dream.” He also promoted his candidacy to the Council of Conservative Citizens, according to copies of their newsletter obtained by CNN. The CCC is a self-described White-rights group that opposes non-White immigration and advances White nationalist ideology.

Peroutka will face Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown in the general election this November. If elected, Brown would be the first Black attorney general in the state. Maryland has not had a Republican attorney general since 1952, when one was appointed; the last Republican attorney general elected in the state was in 1919.

In other episodes of Peroutka’s radio show reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Peroutka also cast doubt that the Pentagon was hit by American Airlines Flight 77, asking where the video is showing this “incoming attack, plane or missile,” later saying that it is “very plausible that a missile that looked like a plane hit the Pentagon.”

Peroutka even questioned whether remains of the deceased were found at the Pentagon, suggesting they were killed elsewhere. He said he had seen “no evidence” of any bodies or luggage to his late co-host and former presidential campaign adviser, John Lofton.

Lofton said, “Ah, but see the missile thing. Then you gotta count for the remains and the body parts and show how all those people got inside the missile. How all those passengers–”

“I saw the pictures. There was, there was nothing that looked like a body or luggage or anything in there,” Peroutka interrupted. “And the pictures that I saw – if there are pictures, John – that show body parts or luggage or even a seat of an airplane that’s consistent with Flight 77, that particular airplane. If there’s anything that’s consistent with that, I haven’t seen a picture of it.”

Shortly after, Lofton said, “If I can produce for you a person who was a friend or loved one of one of the passengers that perished on that plane that hit the Pentagon, that says, ‘Yes, we got remains back from our loved one or friend.’ Will that impress you?”

“No, absolutely not,” replied Peroutka. “Where did the remains come from? I’m not disputing that the people died.”

“Unless a plane hit the Pentagon, how would the remains of anybody on that flight get into the Pentagon?” asked Lofton.

“I didn’t say they got into the Pentagon. I couldn’t see them in the Pentagon. There wasn’t any – I’ve never seen any evidence that anything like a body or a passenger or passenger’s luggage or anything that’s consistent with the Flight 77 is in the Pentagon. If there are such pictures, I’d like to see them. Now, you could clearly understand that somebody whose loved one was lost on that plane, very possibly, could have gotten some piece of forensic evidence that indicated that their loved one was in fact deceased. But who says that came from the Pentagon?”

Peroutka then said this was the first time he had heard that the remains of the deceased were found at the Pentagon.

American Airlines Flight 77 was hijacked by five terrorists on September 11, 2001, and deliberately crashed into the Pentagon, killing all 64 people on board and another 125 people in the building.

This story has been updated with additional reaction.

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Categories
Australia

Victorian government under pressure from Greens, opposition to speed up integrity reforms

Victorian government under pressure from Greens, opposition to speed up integrity reforms

The Victorian government is under pressure to speed up promised integrity reforms, following a scathing report detailing “extensive” misconduct by its MPs.

The Operation Watts investigation — a joint probe between the state’s ombudsman and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) — a covered rampant nepotism and the widespread misuse of public resources within the Victorian Labor party.

The Victorian Greens will introduce an anti-corruption bill when parliament summarizes this week to strengthen IBAC’s powers and establish a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner within the next few months — almost two years sooner than the timeline indicated by the government.

The Labor Party has promised to implement all 21 of the report’s recommendations, which includes advice to establish a Parliamentary Ethics Committee and an Integrity Commissioner by June 2024.

But Brunswick MP and Greens integrity spokesperson Tim Read said the government should act immediately on the reforms.

A man in spectacles stands in front of a red brick wall.
Tim Read says integrity issues have been present in Victorian parliament for years.(Facebook: Tim Read Greens)

“There’s no reason why the government couldn’t make a good start on it this year and have an integrity commissioner appointed early next year,” Dr Read told the ABC.

“There’s a lot of precedent to this — it’s not as if there’s a hell of a lot of thought that needs to go into it.”

Catherine Williams from the Center for Public Integrity said the government must start implementing some reforms before November’s state election if it was determined to crack down on corruption.

“It’s very easy for governments to make promises to introduce change, however, we know from past experience what we need to see are steps being taken,” Dr Williams said.

“A commitment is one thing, what we really require is action.”

The Liberal opposition has also backed the push to speed up reforms, with Matthew Guy saying he would be “more than happy to look into it” when parliament returns.

Daniel Andrews speaks to media during a press conference at Ambulance Victoria Training Centre.
Daniel Andrews has committed to implementing the recommendations from the report.

Premier Daniel Andrews said on Friday the government would be “faithful” to the timeline provided by the integrity agencies.

“Some of it will be able to be achieved quickly, other elements of those recommendations in that reform will take a bit longer, but we’re committed to all of them,” Mr Andrews said.

“If we can better it, if we can do it even faster, then of course we will.”

Reports reveal misconduct likely to be repeated

Last week, a fresh report from the Victorian Ombudsman into Labor’s red shirts affair warned that until corruption was addressed with the “necessary rigour”, the scandals were “unlikely to be the last”.

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Categories
US

Doctor: Biden tests positive for COVID for 2nd day in a row

Doctor: Biden tests positive for COVID for 2nd day in a row

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 for the second straight dayin what appears to be a rare case of “rebound” following treatment with an anti-viral drug.

In a letter noting the positive testDr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician, said Sunday that the president “continues to feel well” and will keep on working from the executive residence while he isolates.

Biden tested positive on Saturday, requiring him to cancel travel and in-person events as he isolates for at least five days in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

After initially testing positive on July 21, Biden, 79, was treated with the anti-viral drug Paxlovid. He tested negative for the virus this past Tuesday and Wednesday, clearing him to leave isolation while wearing a mask indoors.

Research suggests that a minority of those prescribed Paxlovid experience a rebound case of the virus. The fact that a rebound rather than a reinfection possibly occurred is a positive sign for Biden’s health once he’s clear of the disease.

“The fact that the president has cleared his illness and doesn’t have symptoms is a good sign and makes it less likely he will develop long COVID,” said Dr. Albert Ho, an infectious disease specialist at Yale University’s school of public health.

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