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5 things to know for August 8: Senate vote, Air travel, Immigration, Uvalde, Gaza

Senator reacts to passage of landmark Inflation Reduction Act

Here’s what you need to know to Get Up to Speed ​​and On with Your Day.

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1. Senate vote

The Senate on Sunday afternoon passed Democrats’ $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill, in a significant victory for President Joe Biden and his party. The final, party-line vote was 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie. The Democrat-controlled House, which is expected to take up the legislation on Friday, must approve the bill before Biden can sign it into law. The measure includes a handful of important but narrow provisions to lower prescription drug prices and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years. The bill would also be the biggest climate investment in US history, slashing US greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said. To increase revenue, the legislation would impose a 15% minimum tax on the income large corporations report to shareholders, raising $258 billion over a decade. While the deal is far smaller than the slimmed-down $1.75 trillion version the House passed in October, Democrats and the White House say the bill could still have a massive impact on many Americans.

2.Air Travel

Another wave of airline cancellations and delays was felt across the US over the weekend. More than 7,700 flights were delayed and 950 flights were canceled across the country on Sunday, according to the flight tracking website, FlightAware. This comes as global travelers are returning to the skies in droves after a pandemic-enforced pause. However, airlines and airports across the world are grappling to meet the demand. Some flight attendants say the lack of staffing, along with unpredictable schedules, is wreaking havoc on their mental and physical well-being. Plus, with fewer pilots available, some aviation experts predict these disruptions could persist for a decade as reductions in schedules and routes cause prices to rise.

3. Immigration

At least 68 migrants arrived in New York City over the weekend on buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. According to New York Mayor Eric Adams, some of the migrants are being “forced” on buses from Texas. However, Abbott’s office says migrants are volunteering to be bused out of his state. Abbott has designated New York as a “drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of (his) response to the Biden administration’s open border policies overwhelming Texas communities,” the governor’s office said in a statement on Friday. A fierce critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, Abbott began sending hundreds of migrants on buses to Washington, DC, earlier this year. More than 5,100 migrants have since arrived in Washington from Texas on more than 135 buses.

4. Uvalde

The school district in Uvalde, Texas, the site of a school massacre in May, is looking for an interim police chief as Pete Arredondo awaits his termination hearing, according to a report. Arredondo was placed on unpaid leave following his highly-criticized handling of the shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed. Officials have said Arredondo was the on-scene commander during the shooting, but the chief has disputed that, saying he did not believe he was in charge. Separately, the community’s school board president confirmed the district has zeroed in on a property to replace Robb Elementary. The community’s superintendent also reaffirmed students will not return to the campus because many are still traumatized by the violence.

5. Strip

A ceasefire between Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza is holding today after a weekend of violence left dozens of Palestinians dead. The truth, announced on Sunday evening by both sides, came about 50 hours after the escalation began, when Israel launched what it called preemptive strikes on Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza. At least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children, were killed in the violence, according to Palestinian officials. Israel maintains most of those killed in its air strikes were militants. The escalation was the most serious in nearly 15 months, when the Israeli military and Hamas fought an 11-day war in May 2021.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

Jewelry heist caught on security camera

This intense footage shows a group of masked men stealing more than $2 million in diamond jewelry. Watch the video here.

Casper is hiring professional nappers with ‘exceptional sleeping ability’

The mattress brand is hiring people to sleep for a living. And yes, the dress code is pajamas.

Seattle crowd celebrates Sue Bird’s final regular season gameand

Sunday’s Seattle Storm game was the last for WNBA superstar Sue Bird. Watch some highlights from her touching send-off here.

The only pan every cook needs

It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur foodie or a culinary genius… this piece of cookware should always be in your kitchen.

Photographer retakes model portraits decades later

Like fine wine, these models got even better with time. Check out the stunning before and after photos taken years apart.

IN MEMORY

Actor Roger E Mosley, best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore “TC” Calvin on the 1980s hit show “Magnum, PI,” died Sunday, his daughter announced. He was 83. Mosley was injured in a car crash last week that had left him paralyzed from the shoulders down and in critical condition. Mosley starred in more than 150 episodes of “Magnum, PI” alongside Tom Selleck in the crime-adventure series, which aired for eight seasons from 1980 until 1988.

TODAY’S NUMBER

9,320 thousand

That’s the length of Google Equiano, an underwater internet cable designed to deliver high-speed broadband along the west coast of Africa. Running for thousands of miles along the bottom of the sea from Portugal to South Africa, sources say the cable could increase internet speeds more than fivefold in some countries beginning in early 2023. The project, financed by Google, intends to help close the digital divide across the continent where internet access remains highly uneven.

TODAY’S QUOTE

“She’s lucky to be alive. She has severe burns and has a long recovery ahead.”

— A source close to Anne Heche, telling CNN on Saturday that the actress is recovering after the car she was driving crashed into a Los Angeles home on Friday and became engulfed in flames. A representative for Heche said her Sunday she is in stable condition. She first rose to fame for her role as Ella in the soap opera “Another World.” She was also thrust into the media spotlight for her romantic relationship with Ellen DeGeneres in the late ’90s.

TODAY’S WEATHER

Check your local forecast here>>>

AND FINALLY

Happy International Cat Day

In honor of the feline holiday, watch these cats take part in an extreme cup challenge. And remember, your day is only as pawsitive as you make it. Have a great one! (Click here to view)

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China announces fresh military drills around Taiwan

China announces fresh military drills around Taiwan

TAIPEI, Aug 8 (Reuters) – China’s military announced fresh military drills on Monday in the seas and airspace around Taiwan – a day after the scheduled end of its largest ever exercises to protest against last week’s visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

China’s Eastern Theater Command said it would conduct joint drills focusing on anti-submarine and sea assault operations – confirming the fears of some security analysts and diplomats that Beijing would continue to maintain pressure on Taiwan’s defences.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week infuriated China, which regards the self-ruled island as its own and responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over Taipei for the first time, as well as ditching some lines of dialogue with Washington.

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The duration and precise location of the latest drills is not yet known, but Taiwan has already eased flight restrictions near the six earlier Chinese exercise areas surrounding the island.

Shortly before the latest drills were announced, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met visiting St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, telling him she was moved by his determination to visit despite China’s military pressure. read more

“Prime Minister Gonsalves has expressed in recent days that the Chinese military drills would not prevent him from visiting friends in Taiwan. These statements have deeply touched us,” Tsai said at a welcome ceremony for Gonsalves in Taipei.

It was unclear if Tsai had invited Gonsalves before or after Pelosi’s visit. “We don’t disclose internal planning or communications between governments,” the Taiwanese foreign ministry said when asked by Reuters.

Beyond the firing of 11 short-range ballistic missiles during the four earlier days of exercises, Chinese warships, fighter jets and drones maneuvered extensively around the island.

Shortly before those drills ended on Sunday, about 10 warships each from China and Taiwan maneuvered at close quarters around the unofficial median line of the Taiwan Strait, according to a person familiar with the situation who is involved with security planning.

MILITARY TALKS SHELVED

Taiwan’s defense ministry said Chinese military ships, aircraft, and drones had simulated attacks on the island and its navy. It said it had sent aircraft and ships to react “appropriately”.

China’s defense ministry meanwhile maintained its diplomatic pressure on the United States, defending its shelving of military-to-military talks in protest at Pelosi’s visit.

“The current tense situation in the Taiwan Strait is entirely provoked and created by the US side on its own initiative, and the US side must bear full responsibility and serious consequences for this,” defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in an online post.

“The bottom line cannot be broken, and communication requires sincerity,” Wu said.

China called off formal talks involving theatre-level commands, defense policy co-ordination and military maritime consultations on Friday as Pelosi left the region.

Pentagon, State Department and White House officials condemned the move, describing it as an irresponsible over-reaction.

China’s cutting of some of its few communication links with the US military raises the risk of an accidental escalation over Taiwan at a critical moment, according to security analysts and diplomats. read more

One US official noted that Chinese officials had not responded to calls from senior Pentagon officials amid the tensions last week, but that they did not see this as a formal severing of ties with senior figures, such as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Asked directly about those reports, defense ministry spokesman Wu said, “China’s relevant counter-measures are a necessary warning to the provocations of the United States and Taiwan, and a legitimate defense of national sovereignty and security.”

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Reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Sarah Wu in Taipei; writing by Greg Torode. Editing by Gerry Doyle and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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An alligator bit a man’s face at Lake Thonotosassa in Florida

An alligator bit a man's face at Lake Thonotosassa in Florida

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission received a call about the incident at around 3:45 pm Thursday, according to a statement shared with CNN. Lake Thonotosassa is in Hillsborough County, near Tampa.

A man suffers 'serious injuries' after being attacked by an alligator in Florida

The Hillsborough County Fire Rescue transported the 34-year-old victim to the hospital, the fish and wildlife commission said, adding that it dispatched a contracted alligator trapper to the lake and is continuing to investigate the incident.

Around 1.3 million alligators live in Florida, in all 67 counties, according to the commission. The agency recommends people stay away from alligators and avoid handling or feeding them. Nuisance alligators — those that are 4 feet or longer and believed to pose a threat to people, their pets or property — are trapped and killed by the agency through its Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program. A total of 9,442 nuisance alligators were killed in 2021, the commission says.
There have been at least three fatal alligator attacks in the US this year. In July, an elderly woman died after falling into a lake and being grabbed by two alligators in Florida. Another person was killed by an alligator near a retention pond in South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach in June. And a Florida man was killed by an alligator while searching for Frisbees in a lake in late May.

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New Mexico police seek public’s help in probe of four Muslim slayings

New Mexico police seek public's help in probe of four Muslim slayings

Aug 7 (Reuters) – Police in New Mexico on Sunday asked for the public’s help in locating a “vehicle of interest” in their probe of four fatal shootings of Muslim men whose slayings in Albuquerque over the past nine months are believed by investigators to be related.

Mayor Tim Keller said state authorities were working to provide an “extra police presence at mosques during times of prayer” as the investigation proceeds in New Mexico’s largest city, home to as many as 5,000 Muslims out of some 565,000 total residents.

The latest victim, police said, was gunned down on Friday night, in a killing that local Islamic leaders said occurred shortly after he had attended funeral services for two others slain during the past couple of weeks.

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All three of those men, as well as the very first victim who was shot dead in November, were Muslim men of Pakistani or Afghan descent who resided in Albuquerque.

Police have given few details of the latest murder but described the first three killings as ambush shootings. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has characterized them as “targeted killings of Muslim residents.”

US President Joe Biden posted a message on Twitter on Sunday expressing solidarity with the Muslim community, adding, “These hateful attack have no place in America.”

Albuquerque police officials told a news conference hours later that they were following a number of leads and issued a bulletin with photos of a four-door, dark gray Volkswagen sedan with tinted windows that they described as a “vehicle of interest” in the investigation.

It was left unclear how the car was tied to the case, and police said they had yet to determine whether they were seeking one or more suspects in the investigation.

Mayor of Albuquerque Tim Keller speaks to the public during an event to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, October 11, 2021. REUTERS/Mostafa Bassim

The three latest victims belonged to the same mosque, according to Tahir Gauba, a spokesperson for the Islamic Center of New Mexico. Officials were withholding the identity of the man killed on Friday pending notification of next of kin.

But Gauba said he was killed shortly after attending the funeral for the two previous victims.

Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, a planning director for the city of Espanola who immigrated from Pakistan, was shot dead on Aug. 1 outside his apartment complex, less than a week after Aftab Hussein, 41, from Albuquerque’s large Afghan community, was found slain on July 26 near the city’s international district, police said. Hussain also worked on the campaign team for US Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.

Police said they were treating those two slayings, along with Friday’s killing, as linked to the Nov. 7 murder of 62-year-old Mohammad Ahmadi, also a Muslim from Afghanistan, who was shot to death in a parking lot outside a halal supermarket and coffee.

“There are several things in common with all four of the homicides,” city police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told reporters on Sunday.

Asked whether investigators consider the killings to be hate crimes, Gallegos said, “Hate is determined by motive, and we don’t know that motive at this point.”

Gauba estimated there are 3,000 to 5,000 Muslims living in and around Albuquerque, accounting for about 85% of the entire state’s Islamic population.

New Mexico State Police, the FBI and the US Marshals Service are among the agencies assisting in the investigation.

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Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Edwina Gibbs

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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At least 68 migrants arrived in NYC on buses sent by Texas Gov. Abbott over the weekend

At least 68 migrants arrived in NYC on buses sent by Texas Gov. Abbott over the weekend

Fifty-four asylum seekers arrived in New York Friday onboard a bus from Texas, according to the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Abbott’s office indicated that New York is now a designated “drop-off location for the busing strategy as part of the governor’s response to the Biden administration’s open border policies overwhelming Texas communities,” according to a statement released Friday announcing the arrival of the first bus .

“It’s unimaginable, what the governor in Texas has done,” Adams told reporters Sunday. “When you think about this country, a country that has always been open to those who were fleeing persecution and other intolerable conditions, we’ve always welcomed that. And this governor is not doing that in Texas, but we are going to set the right message, the right tone, of being here for these families.”

A fierce critic of the Biden administration’s immigration policies, Abbott began sending hundreds of willing migrants on buses to Washington, DC, earlier this year as an affront to the administration. Abbott’s office has said that “to board a bus or flight, a migrant must volunteer to be transported and show documentation from DHS.”
More than 5,100 migrants have arrived in Washington from Texas on more than 135 buses, according to the governor’s office.

“In addition to Washington, DC, New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott said Friday.

Manuel Castro, commissioner of the mayor’s immigrant affairs office, told CNN New York is a right-to-shelter city, so anyone who needs shelter may receive it. However, the city has “exhausted” its regular shelter space, so it has leased additional space at hotels, he said.

“These are families, these are people,” Castro said. “They have a right to be here as asylum-seekers and New York is here to welcome them. They frankly need a lot of support. They’ve traveled a long way to get here.”

Some migrants did not want to come to New York, mayor says

Around 40 people were expected to arrive Sunday, Adams said, adding that it is not known if others got off the bus before it arrived in New York.

Some of the migrants who did arrive Sunday told the mayor they had relatives in other cities and did not plan to come to New York.

Some families “wanted to go to other locations and they were not allowed to do so,” Adams said Sunday. “They were forced on the bus with the understanding that they were going to other locations that they wanted to go to, and when they tried to explain, they were not allowed to do so.”

Families whose desired destination was not New York said it took three days to get to the city from Texas, according to Castro, who also met with them, noting many “were hungry and thirsty, with small children.”

New York City gives noncitizens right to vote in local elections

Adams issued an emergency declaration last week to “rapidly procure shelter and other services” for people seeking asylum in the city. Those who want to stay in New York will go to shelters, and volunteer groups will be helping “those who want to go somewhere else” to travel to another location, the mayor said.

New York Taxi Workers Alliance executive director Bhairavi Desai told CNN they had 19 yellow cabs and Uber cars ready to voluntarily transport refugees arriving from Texas from the bus stop to shelters or to homes of friends or family in the area Sunday morning.

“Everyone we saw looked exhausted by the journey. Many people looked relieved to finally reach safety but there were also people crying from the trauma,” Desai said.

“It’s wrong, and in our melting pot city, it won’t work,” Desai added. “We wanted to do our part to let new neighbors know that they’re welcome here, and in NYC there are people who will help.”

Around 4,000 asylum seekers have entered the New York City shelter system since late May, according to Adams, who said the influence is the primary driver of around a 10% increase in the city’s Department of Homeless Services’ census. New York’s shelter system is currently receiving more than 100 asylum seekers looking for some form of housing per day, on average, according to the homeless service’s department.

CNN has asked the mayor’s office for the total number of migrants the city is processing from Texas.

Generally, eleven migrants are processed by federal authorities and released from custody, they are allowed to move throughout the country while they go through immigration court proceedings. They are often released in Texas and other border states, and then continue on journeys to other parts of the country.

An immigration judge will ultimately decide if they are allowed to remain in the US or be deported.

CNN’s Maria Santana contributed to this report.

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Exclusive: Trump-backed Michigan attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach, documents show

Exclusive: Trump-backed Michigan attorney general candidate involved in voting-system breach, documents show

Aug 7 (Reuters) – The Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general led a team that gained unauthorized access to voting equipment while hunting for evidence to support former President Donald Trump’s false election-fraud claims, according to a Reuters analysis of court filings and public records .

The analysis shows that people working with Matthew DePerno – the Trump-endorsed nominee for the state’s top law-enforcement post – examined a vote tabulator from Richfield Township, a conservative stronghold of 3,600 people in northern Michigan’s Roscommon County.

The Richfield security breach is one of four similar incidents being investigated by Michigan’s current attorney general, Democrat Dana Nessel. Under state law, it is a felony to seek or provide unauthorized access to voting equipment.

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DePerno did not respond to a request for comment.

The involvement of a Republican attorney general nominee in a voting-system breach comes amid a national effort by backers of Trump’s fraud falsehoods to win state offices that could prove critical in deciding any future contested elections.

In Arizona last week, three Trump-backed candidates who claim the 2020 election was stolen won Republican primary elections for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, the top official overseeing elections. In Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano has vowed to decertify any election he considers fraudulent through his appointed secretary of state. Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania are all presidential election battlegrounds.

Trump lavished praise on DePerno before a large audience this weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas. “He’s going to make sure that you are going to have law and order and fair elections,” Trump said, pumping his fist as DePerno stood up in the audience and waved. “That’s an important race.”

Reuters established the connection between Michigan’s DePerno and the Richfield voting-system breach by matching the serial number of the township’s tabulator to a photograph in a publicly released report written by a member of DePerno’s team. The photograph showed a printed record of a vote-tabulator’s activity, which also included a string of ten digits. Reuters confirmed that those numbers matched the serial number of a Richfield vote tabulator through public records obtained from the township. State officials had previously identified Richfield as the site of a voting-equipment security breach.

DePerno had submitted the report as evidence in a failed lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in a different Michigan county, Antrim. The report claimed that Dominion and ES&S election equipment was vulnerable to hacking and vote-rigging.

Reuters asked an election-security expert to review the materials. Kevin Skoglund, president and chief technologist for the nonpartisan Citizens for Better Elections, an election-security advocacy organization, said the matching numbers indicate that DePerno’s team had access to the Richfield Township tabulator or its data drives.

DePerno led the “Michigan Antrim County Election Lawsuit & Investigation Team,” which included himself, Detroit attorney Stefanie Lambert, private investigator Michael Lynch, and James Penrose, a former analyst for the National Security Agency, according to promotional material for a July 2021 fundraising event in California sponsored by a conservative group that advertised appearances by DePerno’s team members Penrose, who had assisted other prominent Trump allies in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, authored the report that Reuters tied to a tabulator involved in the Richfield Township security breach.

Lambert, Lynch and Penrose did not respond to requests for comment.

The previously unreported link to GOP attorney general candidate DePerno and his associates comes as Democratic incumbent Nessel advances her probe, which she launched in February 2022. Nessel is seeking re-election, which would create a conflict of interest if her political opponent became a suspect in her office’s investigation.

The attorney general’s office declined to comment on the specifics of its investigation but said Nessel would “take appropriate steps to remove herself and her department should a conflict arise.”

Those steps include requesting a special prosecutor to look into the election breaches, according to a letter from the attorney general advising the secretary of state of the request. The request was sent to the Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council, an autonomous entity within the attorney general’s office that would decide whether a special prosecutor is warranted.

Nessel’s office started investigating the voting-system security breaches after a request from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. In a February statement, Benson said that “at least one unnamed third party” had gained access to tabulation machines and data drives from Richfield Township and Roscommon County.

Jake Rollow, a spokesperson for the secretary of state, said the office does not believe DePerno’s team had legal approval to access ES&S voting equipment. Rollow declined to comment further on the attorney general’s investigation but emphasized its importance. “To ensure Michigan’s elections are secure in the future, there must be consequences now for the people who illegally accessed the state’s voting machines,” he said.

ES&S did not respond to requests for comment.

SEIZING ON A GLITCH

Voting and vote-counting equipment is subject to strict chain-of-custody requirements to ensure accuracy and guard against fraud. Access to tabulators is tightly restricted, and any machine compromised by an unauthorized person is typically taken out of commission.

The four cases being investigated by Nessel are among at least 17 incidents identified by Reuters nationwide in which Trump supporters gained or attempted to gain unauthorized access to voting equipment. Michigan accounts for 11 of them, reflecting how conspiracy theorists sought to capitalize on an error in the initial reporting of 2020 results in Antrim County to allege widespread fraud in the state, without evidence.

A state review of the Antrim County incident found that a failure to properly update software caused a computer glitch that resulted in county officials initially reporting Joe Biden as the winner of the reliably Republican county. The officials quickly acknowledged and corrected the mistake, and Trump’s victory was affirmed by a hand tally of every vote cast.

DePerno seized on the confusion, filing a lawsuit making the unfounded claim that tabulators made by Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems had been rigged to flip votes from Trump to Biden in Antrim County.

“No evidence of machine fraud or manipulation in the 2020 election has ever been presented in Michigan or any other state, and courts in Michigan and elsewhere have dismissed such claims as baseless,” Dominion spokesman Tony Fratto said.

In early December 2020, 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer granted DePerno’s legal team permission to take forensic images of Antrim County voting equipment to search for evidence of election fraud. The court order was limited to Antrim, where only Dominion equipment was used. The order did not extend to other jurisdictions or machines made by other voting-system providers.

Yet DePerno’s team submitted two reports in April 2021 to the court that revealed they had also examined equipment made by Election Systems & Software (ES&S).

The report written by Penrose, dated April 9, contained a photograph of a “summary tape” with information about a tabulator’s activity on election night, such as when results were submitted to the county. Among other things, the tape showed a sequence of figures: 0317350497.

That is the serial number for one of two ES&S DS200 tabulators Richfield Township used during the 2020 vote, according to copies of documents obtained by Reuters through a public-records request.

Skoglund, the election-security specialist consulted by Reuters, said the matching numbers indicate that the report’s author had access to either Richfield’s tabulator or a data drive containing the results and other information on the machine.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the Penrose photograph is output from that same DS200 — that he had physical hands-on access,” Skoglund told Reuters.

A second person familiar with the workings of ES&S voting equipment examined the records obtained by Reuters and concurred that the tabulator tape shown in the Penrose report matches the machine with the same serial number.

MORE MACHINES

The Penrose report was part of a series of submissions from DePerno’s team that failed to convince Judge Elsenheimer. At an April 12, 2021 hearing, the judge shut down DePerno’s attempt to subpoena several Michigan counties for access to election data and equipment.

DePerno gave an interview later the same day to two right-wing websites, Gateway Pundit and 100 Percent Fed Up. DePerno said that Penrose had examined an ES&S machine. I added that the team had also looked at Dominion equipment “outside of Antrim County.” The attorney said he didn’t consider Elsenheimer’s ruling a dead-end.

“Maybe there will be some county somewhere that decides to come forward and cooperate. That would be nice,” DePerno told the websites.

In reality, DePerno’s associates had already taken possession of voting machines from local officials in Richfield Township in Roscommon County and Lake Township in Missaukee County, according to police records and text messages acquired through public records requests.

Lynch, the private investigator who worked with DePerno on his Antrim county case, exchanged texts with Lake Township clerk Korinda Winkelmann on March 20, 2021. Lynch asked for help accessing a Dominion device she had provided to him, according to the messages, obtained by Reuters through a public-records requests. Winkelman shared with Lynch an operational manual and a password for the device, while also speculating on how election systems might be rigged.

Lynch had no authorization to examine the machine, and the incident remains under state investigation. Winkelmann did not respond to requests for comment.

Elsenheimer dismissed the Antrim suit in May 2021, a decision that was affirmed this year by the Michigan Court of Appeals. DePerno’s fraud claims have been widely debunked. A Republican-led Michigan Senate committee issued a scathing report in June 2021 that called DePerno’s various allegations “demonstrably false.”

In September 2021, Trump endorsed DePerno as the Republican nominee for Michigan attorney general, praising his pursuit of “fair and accurate elections” and his ongoing effort to “reveal the truth about the Nov. 3 presidential election scam.”

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Reporting by Nathan Layne; additional reporting by Peter Eisler; edited by Brian Thevenot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US Senate approves bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs in win for Biden

US Senate approves bill to fight climate change, cut drug costs in win for Biden

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) – The US Senate on Sunday passed a sweeping $430 billion bill intended to fight climate change, lower drug prices and raise some corporate taxes, a major victory for President Joe Biden that Democrats hope will aid their chances of keeping control of Congress in this year’s elections.

After a marathon, 27-hour weekend session of debate and Republican efforts to derail the package, the Senate approved the legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act by a 51-50 party line vote Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking ballot.

The action sends the measure to the House of Representatives for a vote expected Friday that could forward it, in turn, to the White House for Biden’s signature. In a statement, Biden urged the House to act as soon as possible and said he looked forward to signing the bill into law.

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“The Senate is making history,” an elated Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, after pumping his fists in the air as cheered Democrats and their staff members responded to the vote with a standing ovation.

“To Americans who’ve lost faith that Congress can do big things, this bill is for you,” he said. “This bill is going to change America for decades.”

Schumer said the legislation contains “the boldest clean energy package in American history” to fight climate change while reducing consumer costs for energy and some medicines.

Democrats have drawn harsh attacks from Republicans over the legislation’s $430 billion in new spending and roughly $740 billion in new revenue. read more

Nevertheless, Democrats hope its passage, ahead of an August recess, will help the party’s House and Senate candidates in the Nov. 8 midterm elections at a time when Biden is suffering from anemic public approval ratings amid high inflation.

The legislation is aimed at reducing carbon emissions and shifting consumers to green energy, while cutting prescription drug costs for the elderly and tightening enforcement on taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

Because the measure pays for itself and reduces the federal deficit over time, Democrats contend that it will help bring down inflation, an economic liability that has also weighed on their hopes of retaining legislative control in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.

US Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as she speaks to the media about the passing of the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US August 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

Republicans, arguing that the bill will not address inflation, have denounced the measure as a job-killing, left-wing spending wish list that could undermine growth when the economy is in danger of falling into recession.

Democrats approved the bill by using a parliamentary maneuver called reconciliation, which allows budget-related legislation to avoid the 100-seat chamber’s 60-vote threshold for most bills and pass on a simple majority.

After several hours of debate, the Senate began a rapid-fire “vote-a-rama” on Democratic and Republican amendments on Saturday evening that stretched into Sunday afternoon.

Democrats repelled more than 30 Republican amendments, points of order and motions, all intended to scupper the legislation. Any change in the bill’s contents wrought by an amendment could have unraveled the Democrats’ 50-senator coalition needed to keep the legislation on track.

NO CAP ON INSULIN COSTS

But they were unable to muster the votes necessary to retain a provision to cap soaring insulin costs at $35 a month on the private health insurance market, which fell outside the reconciliation rules. Democrats said the legislation would still limit insulin costs for those on Medicare.

In a foreshadowing of the coming fall election campaign, Republicans used their amendment defeats to attack vulnerable Democrats who are seeking reelection in November.

“Democrats vote again to allow chaos on the southern border to continue,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that named Democratic Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Raphael Warnock of Georgia. All four are facing tight contests for reelection.

The bill was more than 18 months in the making as Biden’s original sweeping Build Back Better plan was whittled down in the face of opposition from Republicans and key legislators from his own party.

“It required many compromises. Doing important things almost always does,” Biden said in a statement.

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McKinney fire has destroyed nearly 90 homes and is only 40% contained

McKinney fire has destroyed nearly 90 homes and is only 40% contained

The blaze, the largest wildfire in California so far this year, erupted on July 29 in the forest near the California-Oregon border and grew rapidly, fueled by winds from thunderstorms.

The office said a further four structures had minor damage from the fire, with the damage assessment more than 50% complete.

The Klamath River community remains under an evacuation order, it said.

CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam said weather conditions were unlikely to help quell the fire over the weekend.

“Conditions have remained sunny and hot around the McKinney fire within the past 24 hours lending to the dry conditions near the incident. High temperatures have neared the triple digits in the valley floors, with excessive heat continuing through Monday before slightly cooler temperatures move in, “he said.

Flames burn inside a tree along Highway 96 in Klamath National Forest.

“The combination of the heat, low humidity values, dry conditions and downslope winds mean that further spread of the fire can be anticipated through the weekend and into early next week. Although a thunderstorm cannot be ruled out over the fire region today, it won ‘t likely contain any meaningful rainfall.”

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said it was working to try to allow residents back to their properties but that numerous hazards remained in the evacuation zone. Four bodies have been recovered from the burn area, it said earlier in the week.
Search and Rescue teams from California and southern Oregon had contributed more than 1,000 volunteer hours to the operation, the sheriff’s office said in a post on Facebook.

“At least 150 SAR members have been staffing our Law Enforcement Command Post, planning and organizing daily operations, going downriver to assist with searching structures and homes, and everything else that goes into a large incident. We have also had 10 search and rescue K9 teams, starting early in the morning each day,” it said.

Homes burned to the ground

Among the homes that burned down was that of Kayla Dailey, who fled the blaze with her family on the due date for her third child.

“I could see nothing but smoke and the fire coming down the mountain,” Dailey told CNN earlier this week. Dailey, her two young sons, husband Levi and the family’s roommate Dalton Shute left in their small car with few possessions.

Dailey later learned the fire had started just 3 miles away from their home, which they had relocated to from Indiana just four months ago.

When she spoke to CNN, Dailey was concerned that the evacuation of the nearest hospital meant she faced a 2-hour trek through the mountains to give birth at a hospital in Medford, Oregon.

Flames make run uphill in the McKinney Fire on August 1.
On Friday, she shared the news that the local hospital began accepting patients on a limited basis when Dailey went into labor and her baby daughter was born safely via emergency C-section on Thursday.
Her brother-in-law has established a GoFundMe page to help the family, which lost everything in the fire.
As California's McKinney Fire rages, evacuated residents grapple with losses and an uncertain future

Shute, the Dailey’s friend and roommate, told CNN that he had lost his mother to a house fire when he was 6 years old. “I feel that sort of emptiness I felt when I was a child,” he said.

But he was optimistic that he and his friends would rebound. “We’re definitely not going to let this set us back,” Shute said.

Valerie Linfoot and her husband, both retired forest firefighters, lost their home of more than three decades.

“We’ve fought fires and seen homes burn up and been in a place of being the firefighters there doing that work, but to have it happen to yourself, it’s just unimaginable,” Linfoot told CNN earlier in the week. “I’m still overwhelmed that we’re the victims of this horrible, horrible convergence of weather and fire, which so many times we’ve seen other people suffer.”

For Linfoot, the hardest part is thinking about the irreplaceable items that were left behind when her home burned down, such as her wedding rings, the ashes of her mother and grandmother and her children’s baby photographs.

The Linfoots set up a GoFundMe page to help them with recovery and rebuilding.

“It’s a small community and this is absolutely devastating to Klamath River,” she said. “I don’t know how they’re gonna recover. None of us are rich people. We’re all hardworking and resilient people, but most people that were down there are middle class, regular working folks or retirees.”

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Albuquerque police are asking the public to share photos, videos that may help the investigation into the killings of 4 Muslim men

A fourth Muslim man was killed in Albuquerque after authorities said 3 similar killings may be connected

“These shootings are disturbing,” Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said. “We are putting every possible resource into these investigations.”

The fourth man, who has not been identified, was killed Friday night. According to a news release from police, officers responded just before midnight Friday to reports of a shooting in the area of ​​Truman St. and Grand Ave. and found the victim dead.

The victim, a Muslim man believed to be in his mid-20s, was from South Asia, police said. His identity of him has not been positively confirmed, the release added.

The man’s death came a day after authorities determined there was a connection between the killings of Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, and Aftab Hussein, 41, both Muslim and from Pakistan, who were killed in southeast Albuquerque within the past two weeks. Detectives are working to determine whether the November killing of Mohammad Ahmadi, a Muslim man from Afghanistan killed outside a business he ran with his brother, was also related.
3 Muslim men in Albuquerque were murdered. Police are investigating possible ties to same killer

The victims in the first three cases were all “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed,” Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division, previously said.

“Our top priority is keeping the community safe and we are asking the Muslim community especially, to be vigilant, to watch out for one another. If you see something, say something,” the police chief said Saturday. “Evil will not prevail.”

27-year-old victim was a ‘brilliant public servant’

Hussain, who was killed Aug. 1, worked on the planning team for the city of Española, New Mexico, and Mayor John Ramon Vigil was “deeply saddened” to hear of the 27-year-old’s death.

“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”

Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, one of the four Muslim men killed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, worked for the city of Española.

Hussain, who had worked for the office for a year, studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan, the mayor’s release said, before receiving both master’s and bachelor degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico.

Hussain’s interest, the mayor’s office said, “was in improving conditions and inclusivity for disadvantaged minorities.”

“Our City staff has lost a member of our family, and we all have lost a brilliant public servant who wanted to serve and improve his community,” the mayor’s statement said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is also offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible, the organization announced, calling the series of killings a “horrific, hateful shooting spree.”

“We thank local, state and federal law enforcement for their ongoing work on this crisis, and we call the Biden administration to ensure that authorities all of the resources needed to both protect the Albuquerque Muslim community and stop those responsible for these horrific crimes before they claim more innocent lives,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in the statement.

CNN’s Michelle Watson and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

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Thousands of dead fish are washing up along a California river. It’s because of a massive wildfire and flash floods, the Karuk Tribe says

Thousands of dead fish are washing up along a California river. It's because of a massive wildfire and flash floods, the Karuk Tribe says

The blaze, which has killed at least four people, erupted on July 29 in the Klamath National Forest near the Oregon border. It’s the largest wildfire in California so far this year.
Meanwhile, intense thunderstorms and heavy rains that rolled through the region this week prompted a flash flood warning for Klamath River from the National Weather Service on Tuesday. Officials warned that areas that had been burned by the wildfire were at higher risk of floods and mudflows — because of the lack of vegetation that would have otherwise been there to help absorb the water.
According to the US Geological Survey, “fast-moving, highly destructive debris flows” caused by heavy rainfall are “one of the most dangerous post-fire hazards.”
According to a news release from the Karuk Tribe, their preliminary observations suggest “massive debris flows” following the flash floods in areas impacted by the blaze are the cause for the dead fish.

“We know the dissolved oxygen in the river plummeted two nights in a row as these pulses of mud hit the main stem of the river, so it is very clear to us that we had a high intensity fire and then we had a flash flooding event kind of come behind the fire and it just rushed ash and debris and mud into the river,” Tucker told CNN on Saturday.

“Virtually everything in the river died,” he said, adding that they don’t yet know for how many thousands of the river the dead fish stretch as the area is still largely restricted because of the blaze.

“We are trying to work with the incident command for these wildfires to do a real assessment,” Tucker said. “We see there are thousands of fish floating downstream, but we really are having a difficult time figuring out how bad it is.”

Dead fish have been seen as far as 20 miles from the source of the debris flow, the tribe’s news release said.

“The severity of the event is impossible to characterize until biologists can make direct observations in currently restricted areas,” the release said, adding it’s unknown how this might affect the fall migration of Chinook salmon, which is just starting.
The fire, which has been burning in Siskiyou County for more than a week, has scorched more than 60,000 acres of land and was 30% contained as of Saturday morning as hot, dry and breezy conditions continued, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Its cause is under investigation, officials said.

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