U.S.Miami HeraldTrump commutes sentence of ex-Georgia teacher convicted of $8 million food stamp fraud
A former Georgia educator serving 14 years in prison for fraud is home with her family after having her sentence commuted by President Donald Trump. Rashella Reed, an Atlanta Public Schools teacher, was one of five nonviolent offenders granted clemency by the president on Wednesday, according to the White House. “Ms. Reed is a model inmate, and many attest to her innate ability to encourage and uplift others despite her circumstances,” officials said in a statement.
U.S.National ReviewHunter Biden’s Purported Laptop Connected to FBI Money Laundering Investigation
One of the documents obtained by Fox News detailed the FBI's contact with John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the repair shop who reported the laptop to authorities. The document has a “Case ID” section, which is filled in with a hand-written number: 272D-BA-3065729, according to the report, which says multiple officials and the FBI's website confirm that “272” is the bureau's classification for money laundering and “272D” refers to “Money Laundering, Unknown SUA [Specified Unlawful Activity]—White Collar Crime Program,” according to FBI documents. One government official told Fox News that “272D” is “transnational or blanket.
PoliticsReutersExclusive: 'Dumb mistake’ exposed Iranian hand behind fake Proud Boys U.S. election emails - sources
Government analysts and private sector investigators were able to rapidly attribute to Iranian hackers a wave of thousands of threatening emails aimed at U.S. voters because of mistakes made in a video attached to some of the messages, according to four people familiar with the matter. Those failures provided a rare opportunity for the U.S. government to identify and publicly announce blame for a malicious cyber operation in a matter of days, something that usually requires months of technical analysis and supporting intelligence. "Either they made a dumb mistake or wanted to get caught," said a senior U.S. government official, who asked not to be identified.
WorldAssociated PressHurricane Epsilon weakens, expected to move east of Bermuda
Hurricane Epsilon's maximum sustained winds dropped Thursday as it moved northwest over the Atlantic Ocean on a path expected to skirt just east of Bermuda. Epsilon's maximum sustained winds ebbed by Thursday afternoon to 85 mph (140 kph), dropping it from a Category 2 to a Category 1 storm. But the hurricane swirled near enough to Bermuda that the National Hurricane Center has issued a tropical storm warning for the island.
LifestyleArchitectural Digest26 Neutral Rugs That Make the Case for Beige
Warm up any room with a wallet-friendly classic. Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.USA TODAY'Mama, they just shot us for nothing': Waukegan police officer fatally shoots Black teen, injures woman
The incident happened just before midnight Tuesday, when an officer approached a "suspicious" vehicle, Waukegan Police Commander Edgar Navarro told reporters Wednesday. As the officer was conducting his investigation, the vehicle fled and was spotted moments later by another officer, who got out of his car to approach the vehicle, Navarro said. "That officer exited his vehicle, and the vehicle that he was investigating began to reverse towards the officer.
- PoliticsWBAL - Baltimore Videos
Clearing up the confusion: How to use ballot drop boxes
The 11 News I-Team has observed many voters unsure about how to put their completed ballots in the official ballot drop boxes. David Collins shows you how.
U.S.National ReviewThird-Degree Murder Charge Dismissed against Derek Chauvin in Death of George Floyd
Video shows Chauvin pressing his knee onto Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes while he is handcuffed and yelling that he can't breathe. Cahill also upheld the charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter against the officers – Tou Thao, Thomas K. Lane and J. Alexander Kueng – who were present at the time of the video. More from National Review Atlanta Mayor Orders Protesters to 'Clear Out' After 8-Year-Old Girl Fatally Shot Portland DA Declines to Prosecute Host of Riot-Related Offenses, Citing 'Depth of Emotion' Surrounding Racial Justice Ammon Bundy Comes Out in Support of BLM, Calls to Defund the Police
PoliticsThe WeekWhite House insists its 'huge' book of Trump's health-care accomplishments for 60 Minutes wasn't blank
Before President Trump abruptly ended an interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes on Tuesday, his aides handed the veteran CBS journalist a large hardcover book that White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said contained Trump's health-care accomplishments. When Trump tweeted out more photos of Stahl and the book, what was "supposed to be a cheeky illustration of an administration hard at work" turned into "a tidal wave of online snark," Rob Crilly writes at The Washington Examiner. That's mostly because the book appeared to be full of blank pages.
- WorldReuters
Vatican to push for religious freedom as China deal extended
The Vatican and China on Thursday renewed an agreement on the appointment of bishops in China and the Vatican promised to push the communist government to allow more freedom of religion. The accord gives the pope the final say over the appointment of Chinese bishops, and the Chinese government allows all of them, including those hailing from a state-backed Church, to recognise the pope's authority. But conservative Catholics have accused the Vatican of selling out to Beijing and last month U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked the Vatican not to renew the deal.
WorldAssociated PressNigerian forces killed 12 peaceful protesters, Amnesty says
Nigerian protesters demanding an end to police brutality defied a curfew as gunfire rang out where they were setting up a blockade Wednesday, a day after shots were fired into a crowd of demonstrators singing the country's national anthem. It's not clear if any protesters were killed in Tuesday night's shooting at the Lekki toll plaza in the West African country's sprawling commercial capital. Lagos' governor said many were injured but no one was killed, but Amnesty International had earlier said there were fatalities and that it had “credible but disturbing evidence” that security forces were responsible.
PoliticsUSA TODAYFact check: Harris said her work as California's AG is a 'model of what our nation needs'
The claim: Kamala Harris called California a 'model of what the country should be' In 2018, the New York Times called attacks on the state of California a "red-meat rallying cry for national Republicans." Now, some are reprising that criticism against Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, who hails from the Golden State. A user posted a quote to Facebook that purported to be from Harris that read, "California is a model of what the country should be."
PoliticsSalonWhoops, Trump did it again — the same blackmail scheme that got him impeached
That excuse was preposterous at the time, making it sound like Trump was a child who had his hand in the cookie jar, not a 73-year-old man caught abusing his powers of office to blackmail the Ukrainian president into propping up conspiracy theories about Joe Biden. But it was also hilariously predictable that Trump, who is incapable of learning or growing as a person, would absorb any moral lessons from being impeached. Trump didn't learn anything.
U.S.BBCBreonna Taylor: Officer in shooting says it 'was not a race thing'
A US policeman involved in the controversial killing of black woman Breonna Taylor in her home has broken his silence in his first interview. Sgt Jonathan Mattingly, who was shot in the leg by Ms Taylor's boyfriend, said the case had "nothing to do with race". Mr Mattingly is one of three Louisville Metropolitan Police officers who prosecutors say were cleared of murder charges by a grand jury last month.
WorldAssociated PressJapan PM pushes closer Southeast Asia ties in China counter
Japan's new prime minister pledged Wednesday to help Southeast Asian nations increase their maritime security capabilities, as he used his first overseas trip as leader to push his country's vision for greater international cooperation to counter China's influence in the region. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, speaking in the Indonesian capital, also took a thinly veiled dig at China's activities in the disputed South China Sea, where it has built and militarized manmade islands and is pressing its claim to virtually all of the sea's key fisheries and waterways. A number of Southeast Asian nations dispute China's claims to the waters.
PoliticsThe IndependentLindsey Graham accused of dodging debate as polls show challenger Jaime Harrison closing in
Senator Lindsey Graham skipped a debate and insisted he would not return to his home state of South Carolina until Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the senate, as polls showed him facing an increasingly tough re-election bid. The senator did not attend the debate previously scheduled for Wednesday against his Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, stating at a rally earlier in the week that he was “headed back to Washington” and adding: “I'm not coming back until Amy Coney Barrett is a Supreme Court Justice.” Recent polls have shown Mr Harrison, associate chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a former chair of the state's Democratic Party, rising in his bid to unseat the Republican incumbent.
PoliticsUSA TODAY100-year-old voter shares advice ahead of election, names favorite president in her lifetime
Mabel Cook is older than the right to vote, and in advance of her 101st birthday on Oct. 28, she exercised that right. The only reason she did not vote for the other four — Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge or Herbert Hoover — was because she was just too young. Now, at her advanced age, Cook is living up to her maiden name — Duty — by doing her civic duty and voting.
PoliticsNational Review60 Minutes Anchor Insists Hunter Biden Emails ‘Can’t Be Verified’ When Pressed by Trump
President Trump and CBS anchor Leslie Stahl sparred over the Hunter Biden laptop revelations during an interview that was to be aired Sunday on 60 Minutes but was instead uploaded directly to social media in an unedited form by the White House on Thursday. A former business partner of Hunter Biden, Tony Bobulinski, provided the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday with documents exposing the business relationship between the Biden family and now-defunct Chinese oil company CEFC. Bobulinski said in a statement that Hunter Biden and uncle James Biden “aggressively leveraged the Biden family name” in their business dealings.
HealthBusiness InsiderA 26-year-old coronavirus patient who was pronounced brain dead in June just walked out of the hospital a survivor
A 26-year-old North Carolina coronavirus survivor returned home Tuesday after being declared brain dead in June. She had suffered complications including strokes, which have struck other young coronavirus patients for reasons doctors don't fully understand. Doctors also don't know why some critically ill young patients who were previously healthy die while others bounce back.
WorldAssociated PressPlot thickens over origins of pope's civil union endorsement
Questions swirled Thursday about the origins of Pope Francis' bombshell comments endorsing same-sex civil unions, with all evidence suggesting he made them in a 2019 interview that was never broadcast in its entirety. The Vatican refused to comment on whether it cut the remarks from its own broadcast or if the Mexican broadcaster that conducted the interview did. In the movie, which was shown at the Rome Film Festival, Francis said gay people have the right to be in a family since they are “children of God.”
PoliticsThe IndependentLincoln Project targets Ivanka and Jared for Covid-19 death count with massive Times Square billboards
The Lincoln Project has installed two large advertisements in New York's Times Square taking aim at Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. On one Ms Trump is depicted posing as a spokesmodel, gesturing towards the latest count of how many New Yorkers and how many Americans in total have died from Covid-19. A large quote attributed to Mr Kushner by Vanity Fair adorns the second billboard beside a smiling corporate-style portrait of him.
U.S.INSIDERA 73-year-old in Colorado was fined more than $1,000 after her pet deer gored a woman walking her dog
Tynette Housley, 73, has been fined $1,098 after a deer she illegally raised in her home gored one of her neighbors. The neighbor, who is now recovering after a hospitalization, was walking her dog when the deer attacked her on Friday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said in a statement about the incident. The deer has been euthanized, and CPW cited Housley on misdemeanor charges of illegal possession of wildlife and illegally feeding wildlife.
PoliticsMiami HeraldHere’s how Trump and Biden stack up in polling in six key battleground states
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are competing for voters in battleground states that will likely sway the November election: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania had voted consistently for Democratic presidential candidates from 1992 to 2012, with Trump being the first Republican to break the streak of blue wins in those states with narrow victories. According to RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight average of polling, Biden is leading in all six states, but it's a close race in some like Florida — a critical swing state with 29 Electoral College votes.
HealthBusiness InsiderA 28-year-old volunteer in AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine trial has died, but a report says he was in the control group and given a placebo
A volunteer in AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine trial in Brazil has died. The man, 28, died from complications of COVID-19, Brazil's O Globo newspaper and CNN Brasil reported. According to O Globo, he was in the control group and was given a placebo instead of the trial vaccine.
BusinessAssociated PressAn electric Hummer? Battery-powered trucks head to showrooms
Seven auto companies have plans to roll out new battery-powered pickup trucks over the next two years, aiming to cash in on a popular and lucrative market for expensive vehicles. General Motors is among them, and on Tuesday its GMC brand introduced a new electric Hummer pickup, with a high-end version due in showrooms sometime in the fall of next year. The Hummer will be joined by crosstown rival Ford's electric F-150, Tesla's Cybertruck and pickups from four startup companies.
“Until solar and wind power take more of the energy load, I like not paying an arm and a leg to heat my house.”
“It is imperative to ramp down greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.”
“Any kind of ban on fracking would cause severe damage to our stressed economy.”
“Climate scientists are urging us to leave all fossil fuels in the ground so that they’ll never be burned. That includes natural gas.”
“Any immediate economic repercussions to the economy can be offset if oil-and-gas companies are made to pay their fair share.”