SRN - US News

Blinken to underline ‘ironclad’ support for Philippines as it clashes with China in disputed sea

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken will underscore Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to its alliance with the Philippines on Tuesday, as clashes between Chinese and Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea turn more hostile, the U.S. State Department said.

Blinken, the latest high-level official to visit the U.S. treaty ally, met his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo Tuesday, before planned meetings with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and other top officials in Manila.

Next month, President Joe Biden will host Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a White House summit amid growing concerns over increasingly aggressive Chinese actions in the South China Sea and North Korea’s nuclear program.

The Chinese coast guard blocked and used water cannons against Philippine vessels in a confrontation two weeks ago that slightly injured a Filipino admiral and four of his sailors near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.

The March 5 faceoff in the high seas also caused two minor collisions between Chinese and Philippine vessels and prompted Manila’s Department of Foreign Affairs to summon China’s deputy ambassador to convey a protest against the Chinese coast guard’s actions, which the Philippines said were unacceptable.

Washington renewed a warning after the hostilities that it is obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under an armed attack anywhere in the South China Sea.

The Chinese coast guard said that “it took control measures in accordance with the law against Philippine ships that illegally intruded into the waters adjacent to Ren’ai Reef,” the name Beijing uses for Second Thomas Shoal.

The Second Thomas Shoal, which is occupied by a small Philippine navy contingent but surrounded by Chinese coast guard ships and other allied vessels, was the site of several tense skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships last year. But Filipino officials said the confrontation earlier this month was particularly serious because of the injuries sustained by its navy personnel and damage to their vessel.

In his meetings with Marcos and Manalo, Blinken will “advance shared economic priorities and underscore the United States’ ironclad commitment to the U.S.-Philippine alliance,” the State Department said.

They will “discuss areas to deepen U.S.-Philippine cooperation on a range of bilateral and global issues, including on regional peace and stability, human rights and democracy, economic prosperity” among others, the State Department said.

Outside the presidential palace, dozens of left-wing activists tore a mock U.S. flag in a noisy rally Tuesday to oppose Blinken’s visit and U.S. involvement in the long-simmering territorial disputes.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway, a key global trade route.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea. In the last decade, China has turned barren reefs into seven islands that now serve as missile-protected island bases, including three with runways, that have bolstered its capability to fortify its territorial claims and patrols.

In response, Washington has been strengthening an arc of military alliances and security relationships in the Indo-Pacific, including with the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries at odds with China in the disputed sea.

After China effectively seized another disputed atoll, the Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines, in 2012, Manila brought its disputes with Beijing to international arbitration and largely won. China, however, rejected the 2016 ruling of the U.N.-backed tribunal that invalidated its expansive claims on historical grounds and continues to defy the decision.

___

Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila contributed to this report.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


6 former Mississippi law officers to be sentenced for torture of 2 Black men

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for torturing two Black men will be sentenced by a federal judge starting Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee will sentence two defendants each day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after twice delaying the proceedings. Each faces the potential of decades behind bars.

The former law officers admitted in August to subjecting Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker to numerous acts of racially motivated, violent torture. In a January 2023 episode, the group of six burst into a Rankin County home without a warrant and assaulted Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects.

The terror began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence.

A white person phoned Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Deputy Christian Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”

Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. They mocked the victims with racial slurs and shocked them with stun guns.

After a mock execution went awry when Jenkins was shot in the mouth, they devised a coverup that included planting drugs and a gun. False charges stood against Jenkins and Parker for months.

Ahead of sentencing, Jenkins and Parker called for the “stiffest of sentences” at a news conference Monday.

“It’s been very hard for me, for us,” Jenkins said. “We are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

Jenkins suffered a lacerated tongue and broken jaw. He still has trouble speaking and eating.

Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing both men, said the result of the sentencing hearings could have national implications.

“Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker continue to suffer emotionally and physically since this horrific and bloody attack by Rankin County deputies,” Shabazz said. “A message must be sent to police in Mississippi and all over America, that level of criminal conduct will be met with the harshest of consequences.”

Months before federal prosecutors announced charges in August 2023, an investigation by The Associated Press linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.

The officers charged include McAlpin, Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer. They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Most of their lawyers did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment Monday. Jason Kirschberg, representing Opdyke, said: “Daniel has accepted responsibility for his actions, and his failures to act. … He has admitted he was wrong and feels deep remorse for the pain he caused the victims.”

On the federal charges, Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.

The former officers agreed to prosecutor-recommended sentences ranging from five to 30 years in state court, but time served for separate convictions at the state level will run concurrently with the potentially longer federal sentences.

The majority-white Rankin County is just east of the state capital, Jackson, home to one of the highest percentages of Black residents of any major U.S. city.

The officers warned Jenkins and Parker to “stay out of Rankin County and go back to Jackson or ‘their side’ of the Pearl River,” court documents say, referencing an area with higher concentrations of Black residents.

In the gruesome crimes committed by men tasked with enforcing the law, federal prosecutors saw echoes of Mississippi’s dark history, including the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers after a deputy handed them off to the Ku Klux Klan.

For months, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose deputies committed the crimes, said little about the episode. After the officers pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised to change the department. Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation, and they have filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.

___

Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Pedal coast-to-coast without using a road? New program helps connect trails across the US

When Mike O’Neil opened his bicycle repair shop in Muncie, Indiana, the Cardinal Greenway trail just outside its window stretched only 2 miles south of the shop.

Today, it extends 33 miles (53 kilometers) beyond that, but the ultimate vision is far grander.

O’Neil hopes the trail born from eastern Indiana’s old railroad tracks will eventually become a central cog in the proposed Great American Rail-Trail — a continuous network of walking and biking routes spanning from Washington state to Washington, D.C.

“As the trail gets longer, more and more people use it,” said O’Neil, who has completed five coast-to-coast bike trips and usually comps the repair costs for out-of-state cyclists visiting his Greenway 500 Bike Shop, which he’s owned for nearly two decades. “It would be a wonderful blessing to have it all connected.”

The Biden administration was set to open applications Tuesday for a new grant program that for the first time prioritizes not just building trails but connecting the existing ones. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law allowed for as much as $1 billion over five years for the program, but Congress has authorized less than $45 million so far.

Still, trail activists say the commitment is almost as important as the dollar figure.

“The number is not as big as we want it to be, but the fact it’s happening is huge,” said Brandi Horton from the Rails to Trails Conservancy. “The administration is understanding in a way we’ve never seen before the role that active transportation has in helping people get around the places where they live.”

Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said active transportation options provide health benefits and are as important as electric vehicles in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. He recalled biking along trails on the East Coast when he was Delaware’s transportation director and seeing some of the unsafe gaps in the system.

“Unless we have these networks fully developed, many people won’t be able to take advantage of it,” Bhatt said.

Officials are expecting a highly competitive grant process, including applications from many of the communities along the planned route of the 3,700-mile (5,966-kilometer) Great American Rail-Trail. While the ambitious project currently includes more than 125 completed trails across 12 states and the nation’s capital, significant gaps remain — particularly in rural Western states such as Montana and Wyoming.

Michael Kusiek, executive director of the active transportation advocacy group Wyoming Pathways, said reliable trails are especially important for states with rugged terrain. Cyclists and backpackers will often skip routes that aren’t certified as safe, he said.

Although state and local governments in rural areas might not prioritize trails the way larger population centers do, Kusiek said the national effort has spurred competition.

“I think we’d like to not be the last ones showing up to cross the finish line,” Kusiek said.

Wyoming’s northern neighbor of Montana was awarded a $24 million federal grant last week to extend a recreational trail that had been cut off by a highway and overpass.

Another Montana segment of the Great American Rail-Trail passes by the 50,000 Silver Dollar Inn in Haugan. Brooke Lincoln, who owns the motel and other businesses nearby, said linking the trails to a national network could be a huge benefit to numerous small towns.

“We’re very depressed,” Lincoln said. “We have very little private property. Our timber industry is basically gone, so our economy is becoming more and more recreation-based. The more diverse that base is, the better it’s going to be.”

Amanda Cooley, one of the leaders of an initiative to close western Montana’s trail gaps, said residents often don’t understand the importance of such projects until they’re complete.

“When you go to a place like Deer Lodge, Montana, people still wave at you at the stop light,” Cooley said. “The pace of life is just a little slower. When you’re a pedestrian or on a bike, it allows you to experience more. It allows you to take more in instead of just flying by.”

Railroad tracks established most of the key arteries for the Great American Rail-Trail, but many of the proposed connectors present unique challenges. For example, Ohio and West Virginia have made progress toward completing their trail networks, but the Ohio River separating them is a potentially costly obstacle for both states.

A stand-alone recreational bridge connecting Steubenville, Ohio, and East Steubenville, West Virginia, could cost upwards of $35 million, said Mike Paprocki, executive director of the BHJ Metropolitan Planning Commission, which has studied the project. Officials instead are seeking federal funding for a $160 million multimodal bridge for motorized vehicle traffic, with a separate segment for pedestrians and cyclists alongside it.

“Without the infrastructure bill, we wouldn’t be having these conversations,” Paprocki said. “We’d be fighting tooth and nail to get money and would probably be left off the food troth.”

Some of the efforts to expand trails over former railroad tracks have also been complicated due to legal action. Lindsay Brinton, an attorney for St. Louis-based Lewis Rice, said trails can devalue property and she’s trying to make sure the landowners she represents are justly compensated under the laws that protect their rights.

“People are frustrated and disappointed,” Brinton said. “I have lots of clients who live in rural Indiana who say, ‘We don’t want a trail here.’ But that can’t even be factored into the analysis. Nobody cares what the landowners want.”

Indiana’s Cardinal Greenway trail stretches 62 miles (100 kilometers) between Marion and Richmond with a several-mile gap in the middle. In many ways, it represents both the future of active transportation and its roots in rail travel. In fact, the nonprofit organization that manages the trail operates out of a former train depot.

O’Neil, 57, remains optimistic that eventually the trail passing by his bike shop and stopping just short of the Ohio border will carry cyclists into that state and then all the way to the East Coast. How quickly that will happen, however, is dependent on finding much larger pots of money to fill the gaps.

“We’re oh so close,” he said.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Trump backs Kevin McCarthy protege in California special election for former speaker’s seat

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California legislator backed by former President Donald Trump and a sheriff who promises to harden the nation’s porous borders are facing off in a special U.S. House election to complete the remaining term of deposed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which runs through January.

State Assembly member Vince Fong, a onetime McCarthy aide who also has his endorsement, and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, both Republicans, are among a cluster of candidates in the solidly conservative district hoping to fill the seat the speaker left vacant when he resigned last year.

Because of Trump’s involvement, the race will be watched as a possible proxy vote on the former president’s clout as he heads toward an all-but-certain matchup against President Joe Biden in November.

McCarthy’s dramatic fall in the House — he is the only speaker in history to be voted out of the job — left behind a messy race to succeed him that has included an ongoing lawsuit and exposed rivalries within the GOP.

Republicans are expected to hold the seat easily, and the party’s fragile majority in the chamber is not at stake. The district, which cuts through the Central Valley farm belt including parts of Bakersfield and Fresno, is the most strongly Republican seat in heavily Democratic California.

Republicans occupy only 11 of the state’s 52 House seats, with the one held by McCarthy currently vacant.

The election is likely to leave many voters befuddled and draw a sparse turnout, because they just saw some of the same names on the March 5 primary ballot for the full 20th Congressional District term that begins in January. Fong and Boudreaux have advanced to the November election in that contest.

The special election only covers the time remaining in McCarthy’s term, running through early next year. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top-two finishers would be matched in a May 21 election.

With nine names on the ballot, it appears unlikely any candidate will surpass that threshold to claim the seat outright Tuesday. Democrats on the ballot include public schoolteacher Marisa Wood, who also sought the full term.

It’s possible voters could see Fong and Boudreaux on four different ballots between March and November.

Boudreaux’s campaign has been texting voters to remind them that a separate election is taking place Tuesday after getting calls from supporters trying to sort it out. Similarly, Fong’s campaign is alerting voters to the second election just two weeks after the primary.

“This is an unusual process,” Fong adviser Ryan Gardiner said. Given the circumstances, the campaign just kept operating after the primary, he said.

Trump endorsed Fong in February, calling him “a true Republican.” Boudreaux’s supporters include Ric Grenell, a former acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, and Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield, Fong’s home turf.

Fong and Boudreaux occupy much of the same policy terrain, and both are Trump-supporting conservatives.

But there is an insider-outsider aspect to the race: Fong is McCarthy’s handpicked choice and a product of his political operation, while the sheriff is not.

Their backgrounds also offer a contrast.

Fong is a legislator coming out of McCarthy’s orbit who says he is offering “trusted, tested leadership.” He has dominated the race in fundraising. Boudreaux, who is the son of a detective, spotlights his decades of law-and-order experience and says he has “the know-how to keep us safe.”

The top issue in the race is the nation’s border crisis.

Fong is anchored in Kern County, the most populous swath in the district, while Boudreaux is a familiar name in Tulare and Kings counties. The race could be decided in Fresno County, where the two were narrowly divided in the March 5 primary, according to incomplete results.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Ohio Supreme Court primary with 2 Democrats kicks off long campaign over court’s partisan control

Tuesday’s Democratic primary for one of three contested seats on the Ohio Supreme Court will kick off a high-stakes battle for partisan control of the court this fall.

The court, which currently has a 4-3 Republican majority, holds sway over how to implement an amendment to the state constitution protecting abortion rights that voters overwhelmingly approved last year.

Ohio is one of 33 states with supreme court races this year and among the few where voters have an opportunity to flip partisan control of the court.

To do so, Democrats must sweep all three races in November, retaining two incumbents — Justices Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart — and winning an open seat. That will be a difficult task, given that the state Supreme Court has been under Republican control since 1986 and the former swing state’s overall politics have tacked right in recent years.

But Democrats see an opening after 57% of Ohio voters backed a reproductive rights measure last fall. They plan to draw attention to the court’s influence over the amendment’s future and see the races as a possible way to chip away at the Republican Party’s longstanding control of all three branches of government in Ohio.

Only one seat is contested in Tuesday’s primary. In the Democratic primary, Lisa Forbes, a judge on the 8th District Court of Appeals, faces Judge Terri Jamison, who sits on the 10th District Court of Appeals.

The winner will face Dan Hawkins, a Republican judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, for the one open seat in November. Before becoming a judge of that court, Hawkins worked in the Franklin County prosecutor’s office and as a judge in the Franklin County Municipal Court.

Forbes, who is endorsed by the Ohio Democratic Party, has served on the 8th District Court of Appeals since 2020. Before then, she was a partner at a Cleveland office of a national law firm, where she focused on business and consumer class-action law.

Jamison, who won 43% of the vote in a 2022 race against Ohio Supreme Court incumbent Pat Fischer, a Republican, has served on the 10th District Court of Appeals since 2020. She also served two terms as judge of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Domestic Relations and Juvenile Division, was a public defender in Franklin County and started her own law firm. If elected, Jamison would be the third Black woman to serve on the Ohio Supreme Court.

During their campaigns, both candidates have hinted at the importance of building a Democratic majority on the court.

“The Supreme Court needs to be an effective firewall to protect our democracy, our constitutional rights and the rule of law,” Forbes said in a campaign ad. “I will never bend to political pressure, and I will always stand up for your rights.”

Jamison said in a campaign ad that the Ohio Supreme Court “should be accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy or powerful.”

“It can provide checks and balances to those who overreach or abuse power,” she said.

Besides abortion, redistricting, public education, health care, the environment and criminal justice may also arise as campaign issues.

Forbes and Jamison are seeking their party’s nomination for the seat to which Republican Joe Deters was appointed by the governor in 2022.

Deters has decided to challenge Justice Melody Stewart, a Democrat, for her seat instead, where the term runs through 2030 — four years longer than what’s available on his current seat. The incumbent-versus-incumbent primary would tend to favor the Republican, given the state’s politics.

In the third court race, Democratic Justice Michael Donnelly will face Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan, a Republican, in November’s general election. Stewart and Donnelly were elected to the then-all-Republican court in 2018.

__

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Trump is making the Jan. 6 attack a cornerstone of his bid for the White House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Donald Trump has launched his general election campaign not merely rewriting the history of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, but positioning the violent siege and its failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election as a cornerstone of his bid to return to the White House.

At a weekend rally in Ohio, his first as the presumed Republican Party presidential nominee, Trump stood onstage, his hand raised in salute to the brim of his red MAGA hat, as a recorded chorus of prisoners in jail for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack sang the national anthem.

An announcer asked the crowd to please rise “for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages.” And people did, and sang along.

“They were unbelievable patriots,” Trump said as the recording ended.

Having previously vowed to pardon the rioters, he promised to help them “the first day we get into office.”

Initially relegated to a fringe theory on the edges of the Republican Party, the revisionist history of Jan. 6, which Trump amplified during the early days of the GOP primary campaign to rouse his most devoted voters, remains a rally centerpiece even as he must appeal more broadly to a general election audience.

In heaping praise on the rioters, Trump is shifting blame for his own role in the run-up to the bloody mob siege and asking voters to absolve hundreds of them — and himself — over the deadliest attack on a seat of American power in 200 years.

At the same time, Trump’s allies are installing 2020 election-deniers to the Republican National Committee, further institutionalizing the lies that spurred the violence. That raises red flags about next year, when Congress will again be called upon to certify the vote.

And they’re not alone. Republicans in Congress are embarking on a re-investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack that seeks to shield Trump of wrongdoing while lawmakers are showcasing side theories about why thousands of his supporters descended on Capitol Hill in what became a brutal scene of hand-to-hand combat with police.

Five people died in the riot and its aftermath.

Taken together, it’s what those who study authoritarian regimes warn is a classic case of what’s called consolidation — where the state apparatus is being transformed around a singular figure, in this case Trump.

Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor at Yale, said in history the question comes up over and over again: How could people not have taken an authoritarian leader at his word about what was going to happen?

“Listen to Trump,” he said.

“When a coup against the democratic regime happens and it’s not punished, that is a very strong indicator of the end of the rule of law and the victory of that authoritarian movement,” he said.

“Americans have a hard time understanding that what happens in most of the world can happen here, too.”

Trump is facing a four-count federal indictment over Jan. 6 — charges he conspired to defraud Americans over his 2020 election defeat and obstructed the official proceeding in Congress to certify the vote for Joe Biden. As the Supreme Court considers Trump’s claim that he should be immune from prosecution, it’s unclear when the case will go to trial, raising the possibility it might not be resolved until after the election.

The initial House Select Committee on Jan. 6 found that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol and beating police.

More than 1,200 people have been charged in the riot, including far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys extremists, with hundreds convicted. Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and attorney John Eastman face legal challenges over their work on the 2020 election.

Trump’s campaign, in response to an inquiry from The Associated Press, pointed to the work from the House investigators who are trying to show inconsistencies in the Select Committee’s probe and its star witness Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide who had a front-row seat to inner workings at the White House.

Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Justice Department has spent more time prosecuting the former president and “targeting Americans for peacefully protesting on January 6th” than other criminals.

“President Trump will restore justice for all Americas who have been unfairly treated,” she said.

Even as Republicans worry privately that Trump risks turning off women and independent voters he would need in the general election rematch against Biden, top aides have said there is only so much they can do as Trump is going to be Trump.

Over the weekend, Trump focused his attention on Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman, who was vice chair of the Select Committee and personally secured Hutchinson’s blockbuster 2022 testimony.

“She should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!” Trump posted on social media.

Cheney posted in response — “Hi Donald: you know these are lies” — as she makes dispelling falsehoods about Jan. 6 her singular focus in 2024.

“If your response to Trump’s assault on our democracy is to lie & cover up what he did, attack the brave men & women who came forward with the truth, and defend the criminals who violently assaulted the Capitol,” she said in one post, “you need to rethink whose side you’re on. Hint: It’s not America’s.”

Many Republicans are willfully ignoring the issue, especially in Congress, despite lawmakers having run for their lives and taken shelter as the rioters stormed the Senate chamber and ransacked Capitol offices.

Senators who sharply criticized Trump after the Jan. 6 attack, like Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and South Dakota’s John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, have now reluctantly endorsed him.

Others are still declining to endorse Trump, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment on the charge of inciting the insurrection for the Jan. 6 attack. But the holdouts are in the minority.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Cassidy would only say, “I plan to vote for a Republican for the presidency of the United States.”

One Republican willing to speak out is Mike Pence, the former vice president, whom rioters shouted they wanted to “hang” that day as a makeshift gallows stood on the Capitol’s West Front.

“I was there on January 6th. I have no doubt in my mind … that some people were caught up in the moment,” Pence said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“But the assaults on police officers, ultimately an environment that claimed lives, is something that I think was tragic that day,” Pence said. “And I’ll never diminish it.”


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Open seat for Chicago-area prosecutor is in voters’ hands after spirited primary matchup

CHICAGO (AP) — An open race to lead the nation’s second-largest prosecutor’s office is in voters’ hands after a heated primary campaign in the Chicago area.

The Democratic matchup for the Cook County state’s attorney primary features Eileen O’Neill Burke, a former appellate judge with a large campaign war chest, versus Clayton Harris III, a professor and attorney who’s held government posts. The winner of the primary in the Democratic stronghold is expected to win outright in November.

The race is open because Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx didn’t seek a third term. She was among several progressive prosecutors elected in the past decade in major U.S. cities including Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Many have been criticized as being soft on crime, but in Chicago, both Democratic candidates have been more careful of their critique of Foxx, saying that they’ll continue her approach on some issues.

Harris says penalties for crimes should take racial disparities and communities into account. He often talks about his personal experiences as a Black man raising children in Washington Park, a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. He says the office needs to beef up its special prosecutions unit and improve communication with police.

“We hear gunshots sometimes, and nobody wants to live like that,” he said. “I understand how safety and justice affect our communities.”

O’Neill Burke says harsher punishments should be in place, particularly for those who contribute to the flow of illegal guns.

“Our justice system is not working right now, but I don’t think anyone living in Chicago living right now would disagree,” she said.

She’s called for more attorney training and a unit to protect abortion rights, while continuing Foxx’s restorative justice efforts. Harris has said he’ll continue Foxx’s controversial policy not to prosecute retail theft as a felony unless the value of the stolen goods is over $1,000. State law sets a $300 felony threshold.

When it comes to fundraising, O’Neill Burke is ahead with roughly double the amount of Harris, just under $2 million compared to roughly $750,000. Her sum includes money from top Republican donors.

But Harris has picked up hefty endorsements from labor unions, progressive leaders and the Cook County Democratic Party.

The state’s attorney’s office has more than 700 attorneys and is the country’s largest after Los Angeles.

Also running are Republican former Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti, who lost a 2020 bid for the office, and Libertarian Andrew Charles Kopinski.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


4 things to know from Elon Musk’s interview with Don Lemon

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former CNN reporter Don Lemon mixed it up with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in an interview Lemon posted on Musk’s X social network Monday. The interview was supposed to kick off Lemon’s new talk show on X, formerly known as Twitter, at least until Musk canceled the show shortly after the interview was recorded.

Over the course of slightly more than an hour, the two men jousted over subjects ranging from the political consequences of immigration and the benefits and harms of content moderation to Musk’s symptoms of depression and his use of ketamine to alleviate them.

Here are some of the more notable moments.

THE X GAMES: PLAYER VS. PLAYER

Musk said he thinks of X as the “player versus player platform,” using a term for video games that pit players against one another, typically in fights to the pixelated death. While he wasn’t particularly clear about what he meant by likening X to a death match, he did bring it up in the context of the occasional late-night posts in which he appears to be spoiling for an argument.

The subject arose when Musk described how he relaxes by playing video games and his preference for these PvP contests — what he considers “hardcore” gaming. It’s one way to blow off steam, he said — and agreed, at least to a point, when Lemon suggested that taking on X opponents served the same purpose. Though not always, he said.

“I use it to post jokes, sometimes trivia, sometimes things that are of great importance,” Musk said of his X posts.

MUSK USES KETAMINE TO TREAT POSSIBLE SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

Musk is “almost always” sober when posting on X late at night, he told Lemon. “I don’t drink, I don’t really, y’know….” he said, his voice trailing off. Then Lemon asked about a subject Musk has previously discussed publicly — his use of the drug ketamine, a controlled substance that is also used in medical settings as an anesthetic and for treatment-resistant depression.

When Lemon asked, Musk said he has a prescription for ketamine, although he pushed back, calling it “pretty private to ask someone about a medical prescription.” He described “times when I have a sort of a negative chemical state in my brain, like depression, I guess,” and said that ketamine can be helpful for alleviating “a negative frame of mind.”

Asked if he thinks he ever abuses the drug, Musk said he doesn’t think so. “If you’ve used too much ketamine, you can’t really get work done,” he said. “I have a lot of work.”

MEETING WITH TRUMP

Musk said he met with Donald Trump in Florida recently — totally by chance. “I thought I was at breakfast at a friend’s place and Donald Trump came by,” he said. “Let’s just say he did most of the talking.” The conversation didn’t involve anything “groundbreaking or new,” he said. And Trump didn’t ask him for a donation, he added.

“President Trump likes to talk, and so he talked,” Musk said. “I don’t recall him saying anything he hasn’t said publicly.”

Musk has said he isn’t going to endorse or contribute to any presidential candidate, although he suggested he might reconsider his endorsement later in the political system. He’s not leaning toward anyone, he said, but added that “I’ve been leaning away from Biden. I’ve made no secret about that.”

IMMIGRATION AND THE GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY

Musk said he disavows the so-called “ great replacement theory,” a racist belief that, in its most extreme form, falsely contends that Jews are behind a plot to diminish the influence of white people in the U.S. But in his interview with Lemon he did argue, on shaky evidence, that a surge of undocumented immigrants has skewed U.S. elections in favor of Democrats.

Lemon pointed out that undocumented immigrants can’t vote and thus can’t really favor either political party. Musk replied that such people are included in the U.S. Census and thus boost the recorded population of U.S. states with large immigrant populations. In some cases that could theoretically increase the number of congresspeople those states can send to the House of Representatives in Washington, although such reapportionment only occurs once a decade.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


High-profile elections in Ohio could give Republicans a chance to expand clout in Washington

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republicans are watching a pair of high-profile elections in Ohio on Tuesday that could determine their chances of picking up critical seats this fall and expanding their power in Washington.

One is a contentious and expensive Republican primary for the chance to face third-term Sen. Sherrod Brown this fall. The second is a GOP matchup in the 9th Congressional District held by Rep. Marcy Kaptur, of Toledo, the longest-serving woman in Congress.

Both Brown and Kaptur are considered among the year’s most vulnerable Democrats, amid Ohio’s tack to the political right in recent years. With Democrats holding a narrow voting majority in the Senate and Republicans maintaining a thin margin in the U.S. House, both races have already drawn outsized attention from national party leaders.

Of highest interest Tuesday is the outcome of a three-way Senate contest for the chance to run against Brown in the fall. The race is testing the depth of GOP allegiances to former President Donald Trump in a state that voted for him convincingly twice.

Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, running as a “political outsider,” failed to parlay Trump’s endorsement into the type of runaway lead over his two rivals — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan — that author and venture capitalist JD Vance experienced two years ago. Trump held a campaign rally for Moreno on Saturday.

The Associated Press reported on Thursday that in 2008, someone with access to Moreno’s work email account created a profile on an adult website seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex.” The AP could not definitively confirm that it was created by Moreno himself. Moreno’s lawyer said a former intern created the account and provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”

Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month, sparking frustration among senior Republican operatives about Moreno’s potential vulnerability in a general election, according to seven people who are directly familiar with conversations about how to address the matter. They requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Trump and his allies.

Also last week, Dolan — a largely self-funded candidate who did not seek Trump’s backing — won the support of two of the state’s best-known Republican moderates: Gov. Mike DeWine and former U.S. Sen. Rob Portman. LaRose, meanwhile, heads into primary day as the only contender who has previously won statewide office.

Trump issued a last-minute endorsement of state Rep. Derek Merrin on Monday in the Toledo-area congressional primary, the latest twist for a months-long roller coaster ride of a primary that’s included swift entries and exits, candidate gaffes and bouncing endorsements. At one point, Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Jim Jordan, a vocal Trump ally, were aligned with three competing campaigns.

Things settled down when Trump-aligned candidate J.R. Majewski, who lost badly to Kaptur in 2022, abruptly left the race earlier this month amid pushback for remarks he made disparaging Special Olympics athletes.

That left three candidates in the race: Merrin, backed by Johnson — and, as of Monday, Trump; former state Rep. Craig Riedel, backed by Jordan; and former Napoleon Mayor Steve Lankenau. Trump’s endorsement came as Riedel was airing searing Merrin attack ads, referencing the legislator’s ties to convicted former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder.

Merrin, 37, is a term-limited fourth-term state representative who led an intraparty rebellion in the Ohio House last year after losing a bitter battle for speaker. He joined the congressional race on the filing deadline after audio that surfaced of Riedel criticizing Trump began raising concerns inside the party about Riedel’s electability.

Riedel, 57, was among candidates who lost the nomination to Majewski in 2022. He raised more than $1.1 million headed into primary day, the highest of any candidate and some 10 times more than Merrin. But Merrin has benefited from help from national Republicans, with the Congressional Leadership Fund spending more than $750,000 on his behalf.

___

Associated Press writer Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Illinois voters to decide competitive US House primaries around the state

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois voters are set to decide competitive U.S. House races around the state in Tuesday’s primary election.

The most closely watched races in Illinois include a downstate Republican matchup and two Chicago-area Democratic primaries.

Here’s a closer look:

In southern Illinois, Republican Rep. Mike Bost faces only his second intraparty challenge in seeking his sixth term in Congress. Former state Sen. Darren Bailey, the unsuccessful 2022 GOP nominee for governor, is hoping to unseat the 63-year-old incumbent.

Bailey, 57, has maintained that Bost is not conservative enough. Illinois’ 12th Congressional District, redrawn after the 2020 Census, now includes a large chunk of southeastern Illinois that gave Donald Trump more than 70% of the vote in both 2016 and 2020. Bailey’s hopes to win the endorsement in this race from the former president were dashed when Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential nominee, gave his backing to Bost.

The issues are clear in the race: Rebuffing any regulation on the possession of guns, reducing inflation, opposing abortion and sealing the U.S. southern border, a particular problem for Illinois, which has received roughly 36,000 migrants who have largely crossed into Texas and have been sent to Chicago.

Bailey contends Republicans in Congress should fight Democrats’ agenda on these and other issues and cooperate only when they abandon “extreme” positions. Bost opposes Democrats’ policies but calls himself a “governing conservative,” seeking compromise to get things done.

Locked in a five-way primary, Rep. Danny Davis faces one of the most competitive reelections of his decades-long political career.

The Democrat, who first won office in 1996, has faced questions about his fitness for office at age 82. He says those questions are fair but that his experience is valuable, particularly for leadership on key committees. He’s a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

“I’m one of the most active elected officials I know,” he said.

Davis has enthusiastic party backing. Still, the Democrats challenging him hope there’s enough dissatisfaction among voters to help them. Davis was able to fend off a 2022 primary challenge from progressive anti-violence activist Kina Collins, who received about 45% of the vote in the district that includes downtown Chicago and neighborhoods on the south and west sides, along with some suburbs.

The 33-year-old is giving it a third try, though she trails the other candidates in fundraising.

The other well-known candidate in the race is Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, a former Davis ally who says it’s time for him to be voted out. She has backing from prominent Black pastors and the powerful Chicago Teachers Union.

The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to win in November.

Also running are Chicago educator Nikhil Bhatia and Kouri Marshall, a former deputy director for Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Three-term Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia faces a spirited challenge from Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez.

The congressman, who dominates in funding and endorsements, is facing his first primary challenger since 2018, when he won congressional office.

Lopez says Garcia is no longer the right fit for the district, which is predominantly Hispanic and includes working-class communities and neighborhoods on the city’s southwest side as well as wealthy suburbs.

The 45-year-old Lopez is one of the most conservative members of City Council, often backing police. He has called Garcia an “extreme Democrat.”

Meanwhile, Garcia, 67, says voters have repeatedly put him in office, including in 2022 after a remap added new territory to the district. He’s also a former state legislator and city alderman.

Garcia dominates in fundraising, raising $376,000 last year compared to Lopez’s $46,000 in the same time period, according to federal election records. He’s picked up endorsements from labor groups, while Lopez has support from the Chicago police union.

There’s no Republican running in the heavily Democratic district. Tuesday’s winner is expected to win outright in November.

___

Associated Press political writer John O’Connor contributed to this report from Springfield.


Brought to you by www.srnnews.com


Townhall Top of the Hour News

Weather - Sponsored By:

TAYLORVILLE WEATHER

Local News

Facebook Feed - Sponsored By: