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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Heavy Fighting Reported In Ukraine


Heavy fighting in the Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine fueled speculation Tuesday that a long-awaited Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway. Ukraine’s presidential office said that "tough battles" were going on and that Ukrainian forces destroyed ammunition depots and all large bridges across the Dnieper River that are vital to supplying Russian troops. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed its forces stood up well and that Ukraine lost hundreds of troops, tanks and other armored vehicles. The potential counteroffensive comes as the war has turned into a stalemate in recent months.

➤NAVY: IRAN SEIZEED, TRIED TO TOW AWAY U.S. SEA DRONE: A spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said that Iran's Revolutionary Guard seized a U.S. sea drone in the Persian Gulf yesterday and tried to tow it away, releasing it when a U.S. warship and helicopter approached. The spokesman said an Iranian warship attached a line to the unmanned vessel, which carries cameras, radars and sensors for monitoring the sea, and began towing it. A Navy ship and helicopter approached and radioed to the Iranian ship to identify the drone as being American and say that action would be taken if necessary. The Iranians released the tow line and left some four hours later. This is the first time Iran has targeted the 5th Fleet’s new unmanned drone task force, which launched last year.

➤SUSPECT ARRESTED IN INDIANAPOLIS SHOOTING OF THREE DUTCH SOLDIERS, LEAVING ONE DEAD: A 22-year-old man was arrested Tuesday in the shooting of three Dutch soldiers outside a downtown Indianapolis hotel early Saturday morning that left one of them dead and the other two wounded. Police said Shamar Duncan was arrested yesterday afternoon, and while they didn't give a possible motive, they'd previously said the shooting was caused by a, quote, "disturbance" between the victims and the suspect. The Dutch soldiers were in Indiana for a training exercise at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center.

➤STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED FOR WATER SYSTEM IN MISSISSIPPI CAPITAL: Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency for the water system in the state capital of Jackson, with parts of the city without running water due to flooding from heavy rainfall in the past week worsening longstanding problems in one of two water-treatment plants. Low water pressure meant some people couldn't flush toilets or take showers, and also raised concerns about firefighting. Jackson had already been under a boil-water notice for a month because of cloudy water that could cause digestive issues. Reeves said the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency would start handing out drinking water and non-potable water, and he activated the National Guard to help.

✞MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, LAST LEADER OF SOVIET UNION, DEAD AT 91:
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union whose series of reforms meant to save the USSR eventually led to its collapse, the end of Russian domination of Eastern Europe, and the end of the Cold War, died on Tuesday. He was 91. Gorbachev became the Soviet leader in March 1985, and set out to end the country's economic and political stagnation with his policy of "glasnost," meaning openness, to reach his goal of "perestroika," or restructuring. Among his actions, he allowed open debate and multi-candidate elections, allowed freedom to travel, stopped religious oppression, established closer ties with the West, reduced nuclear arsenals, and didn't act against the fall of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. But the changes unleashed forces he hadn't intended, leading not only to the collapse of the Soviet economy but the end of the USSR, which broke up into 15 nations. There was an attempted coup against him in August 1991, and he resigned on December 25, 1991, with the Soviet Union itself coming to an end a day later. While Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War and was celebrated globally, he was widely despised at home for the collapse of the USSR.
🚀ARTEMIS MOON MISSION LAUNCH RESCHUDULED FOR SATURDAY:
NASA's Artemis I mission to send an unmanned capsule into orbit around the moon has been rescheduled for a Saturday afternoon launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the planned launch this past Monday was scrubbed due to a rocket engine issue. The launch Saturday could again have to be canceled, with the weather forecast calling for a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning and early afternoon. The Artemis I mission is the start of a program that aims to return humans to the moon and eventually send manned missions to Mars.

Daily Mail 8/31/22

The Justice Department believed that classified documents held unlawfully at Mar-a-Lago were being moved around and hidden, despite assurances from Donald Trump's lawyers that they were all kept together in a padlocked storage room. In a bombshell 36-page court filing on Tuesday, the Justice Department said it had uncovered efforts to obstruct its investigation. The filing said that 'government records were likely concealed and removed' from a storage room at the property. The department says Trump's lawyers told them in June that all the records that had come from the White House were stored in one location - a Mar-a-Lago storage room. Trump's lawyers said 'there were no other records stored in any private office space or other location at the Premises and that all available boxes were searched.' The Justice Department said that was not true.


➤BIDEN BLASTS ATTACKS ON FBI AFTER TRUMP SEARCH AS DEMS TRY TO BLOCK CRIME AS GOP ISSUE:  President Biden on Tuesday blasted the verbal attacks and threats of violence against the FBI after they executed a search warrant at former President Donald Trump's Florida estate earlier this month, as Democrats try to blunt Republicans from being able to use crime as an issue against them in the midterm elections.

Speaking in Wilkes-Barre in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, Biden said, "It’s sickening to see the new attacks on the FBI, threatening the life of law enforcement and their families, for simply carrying out the law and doing their job. . . . There's no place in this country, no place, for endangering the lives of law enforcement." He added, "I'm opposed to defunding the police; I’m also opposed to defunding the FBI." Biden was also promoting his administration's crime-prevention efforts and his proposal to bolster police forces across the country.

Republicans have been targeting Democrats with attacks on crime as there have been crime spikes since the start of the pandemic, often in Democratic-run cities. In Pennsylvania, the Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano, has accused the Democratic nominee, attorney general Josh Shapiro on the issue, saying crime has gone up on Shapiro's watch. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee for Senate, Mehmet Oz, has portrayed the Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, as extreme and reckless on crime. Fetterman backs releasing more prisoners who are old and who are rehabilitated from prison, believing it can be done without harming public safety.

AP notes, however, that it's unclear how key of an issue crime will be in the midterm elections. In a June AP-NORC poll, just 11 percent of U.S. adults named crime or violence as one of the top five issues that it's most important for the government to work on in the next year, unchanged from December, and well below other issues named.


➤FIRST LADY TESTS NEGATIVE AGAIN AFTER REBOUND COVID CASE: The White House announced Tuesday that First Lady Jill Biden had tested negative for Covid-19 again after her rebound case. Biden's communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, said the first lady would return to Washington, after she'd been isolating at her and President Biden's Delaware home. The 71-year-old Biden first tested positive on August 15th and experienced mild symptoms. She was prescribed the anti-viral drug Paxlovid and tested negative on August 23rd. But she then tested positive again just one day later with a rebound cast. President Biden had his own Covid bout and rebound case shortly before his wife. Both are fully vaccinated and double boosted.
 
➤NEWS ORGANIZATIONS SUING UVADLE OFFICIALS FOR SCHOOL SHOOTING RECORDS: News organizations are suing Uvalde, Texas, officials after they have refused to publicly release records related to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in May that left 19 students and two teachers dead. The lawsuit filed on Monday asks a court to force the city, school district and sheriff’s department to turn over 911 recordings, personnel records and other documents under Texas' open records laws. Uvalde officials and state police have argued they can't release the records because of ongoing investigations. Authorities initially gave misleading and untrue statements about the police response to the attack, in which law enforcement didn't breach the classroom where the victims were and the shooter was holed up for more than an hour.
 
🚬MORE U.S. ADULTS SMOKE POT THAN CIGARETTES, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER: Puff on this! Marijuana smoking has surpassed cigarette smoking in the United States, a new Gallup poll has found. Smoking cigarettes is more likely to be seen as harmful, and 90% of smokers say they wish they had never lit their first cigarette. "Smoking cigarettes is clearly on the decline and is most likely to become even more of a rarity in the years ahead," Dr. Frank Newport said. However, opinions on the impact of marijuana are split down the middle. 49% of responding Americans say it has a positive effect on society, and 50% say its effect is negative.

➤UBER INTRODUCING NEW SAFETY FEATURES: Uber is introducing new safety features, allowing riders to text 911 operators and to speak to a live safety agent. The ability to text 911 will be rolled out to about 60 percent of the country, including the U.S. and California. When riders use the feature in the Uber app, it will create a message including information about the trip, such as the vehicle information and location. The "live help" feature, will allow riders to speak to a live safety agent through a partnership with security company ADT. Riders can send a message through the Uber app and get a call or text from an agent. They can stay on the phone with the agent until they feel comfortable or the ride ends. The features have been added to the Uber app's safety toolkit.

Defending champ Emma Raducanu
🎾SWIATEK, NADAL WIN, DEFENDING CHAMP RADUCANU, VENUS WILLIAMS OUT IN FIRST ROUND: Top-ranked Iga Swiatek won her first-round U.S. Open match in straight sets over unseeded Jasmine Paolini Tuesday, and second-seeded Rafael Nadal topped Rinky Hijikata in his opening match. The women's defending champion, Number 11 Emma Raducanu, lost in the first round to unseeded Alizé Cornet 6-3, 6-3, and also out in the first round was 42-year-old Venus Williams, falling to Alison Van Uytvanck after Williams was given a wild card into the tournament.

Serena Plays in Round 2 Tonight: Meanwhile, Serena Williams will play her second round match tonight in what's expected to be the final tournament of her career. She'll be up against second-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Williams is also playing doubles with her sister Venus, and they'll have their first-round match on Thursday.

🏈BROWNS QB WATSON BEGINS 11-GAME SUSPENSION: Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson began serving his 11-game suspension yesterday, which will keep him away from the team until October 10th. Watson will also pay a $5 million fine and undergo mandatory treatment and counseling, after two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and harassment during massage sessions. The 26-year-old has maintained his innocence, despite agreeing to the settlement reached between the NFL and the players' union after the league appealed his original six-game suspension.

🏌BRITISH OPEN CHAMP CAMERON SMITH AMONG SIX PLAYERS LEAVING PGA TOUR FOR LIV GOLF: British Open champion Cameron Smith is among six more players leaving the PGA Tour for Saudi-funded LIV Golf, which has its fourth tournament this week, being held outside Boston. Smith rose to Number 2 in the world ranking after winning the British Open, and the Australian is the first player from the world's top 10 to join LIV Golf. The other five are Joaquin Niemann of Chile, Marc Leishman of Australia, Americans Harold Varner III and Cameron Tringale and Anirban Lahiri of India.


⚾WHITE SOX MANAGER LA RUSSIA MISSSES GAME WITH MEDICAL ISSUE: White Sox manager Tony La Russa missed last night's game against the Kansas City Royals with an unspecified medical issue. The White Sox said about an hour before the game that the 77-year-old Hall of Famer would skip it on the recommendation of his doctors and would undergo further testing Wednesday. ESPN said La Russa didn't show any signs of a medical problem during his pregame session with reporters. Bench coach Miguel Cairo filled in for him.

🏈GRUDEN ADDRESSES EMAIL SCANDAL FOR FIRST TIME: Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden on Tuesday publicly addressed the email controversy that cost him his job last October for the first time. The emails, which were sent to then Washington NFL franchise executive Bruce Allen, contained racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language. Speaking at the Little Rock Touchdown Club in Arkansas, Gruden said, "I'm ashamed about what has come about in these emails, and I'll make no excuses for it. It's shameful. But, I am a good person. I believe that. I go to church. I've been married for 31 years. I've got three great boys. I still love football. I've made some mistakes. But I don't think anybody in here hasn't. And I just ask for forgiveness and, hopefully, I get another shot." Gruden is involved in a lawsuit against the NFL claiming the league singled him out.



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