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☆ U.S. lawmakers preparing plan to avert debt-ceiling crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Congress's rules on the debt ceiling are intended to limit growth of the nation's debt. The White House has said raising the debt ceiling should not be a negotiation. Senator Joe Manchin, have said the administration needs to engage in a debt ceiling negotiation. A 2011 standoff over the debt ceiling lead Standard & Poor's to cut the U.S.'s credit rating, a historic first. Biden is hosting Democratic congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday.

Republicans are on a collision course with the White House, which is demanding that Congress raise the debt limit without conditions. Republicans have waged heated battles over the debt ceiling, most notably in 2011, but they have always been resolved in time. Why does a GOP House complicate debt ceiling negotiations? Republicans have floated everything from budget cuts to socially conservative legislation as part of a debt ceiling increase. The White House had laid down a marker: no negotiations, no policy strings attached to raise the debt ceiling.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans' calls for Rep. George Santos to resign are growing after state GOP leaders in New York said he should step aside over a slew of lies and fabrications in the biography he ran on in the 2022 midterm election. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., also starting his first term, dropped his earlier hedging and unequivocally said Thursday that Santos should resign. “It is clear that George Santos has lost the confidence and support of his party, his constituents, and his colleagues. Santos insisted Thursday he won't resign "until those same 142,000 people" in New York who elected him "tell me they don’t want me." “I don’t think he should be here, that’s for sure.

☆ Temu's low prices catapulted the Chinese app to the top of the US download charts. Here's what we know about it — and how it could avoid its competitors' pitfalls.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Temu, a new shopping app from Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, is making waves in the US. In December, Temu had 9 million US downloads, topping Amazon, which had 4.2 million downloads; Shopify's Shop app, which had 3.4 million downloads; and fellow Chinese player Shein, which had 3 million downloads. Like Shein, Temu also boasts a large selection of products, with its app description claiming that it offers thousands of new items a day. Shein was the most downloaded app globally in 2022, with 229 million downloads, while Amazon was the top app in the US. Notably, Pinduoduo was also a top downloaded app globally, ranking seventh with 79 million downloads.

WASHINGTON — A weekslong standoff between Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and his conservative detractors comes to a head Tuesday as lawmakers prepare to vote on a new speaker of the House. But nine members of that group, including Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., characterized his proposals as too little, too late. "Despite some progress achieved," the Freedom Caucus group wrote, "Mr. McCarthy’s statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd." McCarthy, who has Trump's endorsement and easily defeated Biggs to win his party's nomination for speaker, isn’t backing down. He is already moving into the speaker’s suite, and upon leaving the Capitol on Monday he predicted that the day of the speaker vote would be a "good day."

[1/2] The Pentagon is seen from the air in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2022, more than a week after Russia invaded Ukraine. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's new push to investigate reports of UFOs has so far not yielded any evidence to suggest that aliens have visited Earth or crash-landed here, senior military leaders said on Friday. However, the Pentagon's effort to investigate anomalous, unidentified objects -- whether they are in space, the skies or even underwater -- led to hundreds of new reports that are now being investigated, they say. But so far they have seen nothing that indicates intelligent alien life. We will go through it all," Kirkpatrick said, speaking at the first news conference since AARO was established in July.

☆ Three of the men involved in the plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Musico was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison, followed by his son-in-law Morrison at 10 years and Bellar at seven. Judge Thomas Wilson presided over the first batch of convictions in state court, following the high-profile conspiracy convictions of four others in federal court. Bellar is clueless about any plot to kidnap the governor,” attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick said again in a court filing last week. Separately, in federal court in Grand Rapids, Fox and Croft face possible life sentences in two weeks. Two men who pleaded guilty received substantial breaks: Ty Garbin is free after a 2 1/2-year prison term while Kaleb Franks was given a four-year sentence.

The number of pregnant women and new mothers dying from drug overdoses grew dramatically as the pandemic took hold, reaching a record high in 2020, a new study finds. "It goes to an ever higher level of stigma among pregnant women." She does not work with pregnant women or those with substance use disorder, but did crunch the numbers for the new research. "Overdose deaths in general have increased, and pregnant women aren't immune to the effects of addiction," Wright said. A Biden administration report, released in October, called for broader access to opioid treatment medication among pregnant women and de-stigmatize addiction treatment during pregnancy.

☆ There have only been 2 Black elected governors in US history, but the 2022 midterm elections could usher in unparalleled change
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

There have only been two Black elected governors in US history, but that could change on Tuesday. With the victory, Wilder became the first Black elected governor in the United States, generations after P.B.S. He said people brag about him as the first Black governor elected in America. However, this year, Black gubernatorial candidates weren't overly reliant on the party leadership to help them land the nominations in their respective states. At the end of the day, if that's what I accomplished, that's not enough," Moore told Insider.

As a result, political observers say, public school funding is effectively on the ballot Tuesday. “These groups have been demonizing what is being taught in public schools, and that’s the fastest way to erode faith that public schools work,” Rottinghaus said. (Abbott publicly came out in support of private school vouchers two months after winning the primary with 66.5% of the vote.) Greg Abbott in the GOP primary, campaigned in support of private school vouchers. “I will never support vouchers.”Rep. John Bucy III said he will continue to oppose private school vouchers.

☆ Why a small midterm race in Arizona could have big consequences for U.S. democracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoOct 19 (Reuters) - The fight to become Arizona’s next attorney general in November’s midterm elections smashed fundraising records this week. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed the Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh and appeared on stage with him. “I think that American democracy runs through the state of Arizona in 2022,” Mayes said in an interview with Reuters. AG EMPOWERED TO STEP INHamadeh downplayed the role an attorney general has in election certification in a statement to Reuters. “What look like these relatively inconsequential races will have enormous consequences in terms of the 2024 presidential election,” Douglas said.

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Missouri has pulled $500 million out of pension funds managed by BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), state Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick said on Tuesday, over the asset manager's environmental, social and governance (ESG) "priority" over shareholder returns. Several Republican-led states have sought to cut business ties with BlackRock over its ESG push, with Louisiana earlier this month saying it would pull $794 million out of the company's funds. While environmentalists have protested that the world's largest asset manager does too little to press for change at fossil fuel portfolio companies, Republican politicians have accused it of boycotting energy stocks. Missouri State Employees' Retirement System had asked BlackRock to abstain from proxy voting at companies on its behalf, but the asset manager refused its demand, Fitzpatrick said. Proxy voting is done by asset management firms on behalf of shareholders.

☆ Gay couple beaten and bloodied outside of Connecticut gay bar
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Matt Lavietes | Matt Lavietes Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A gay couple was beaten and bloodied in front of the Connecticut gay bar they own. Fitzpatrick said the assault amounted to a hate crime and that the incident is "being mishandled" by the Norwalk Police Department. The man then made disparaging remarks about the bar and the people inside it using anti-LGBTQ slurs, Fitzpatrick recounted. Fitzpatrick and Ruiz did not respond to NBC News' multiple requests for comment on Wednesday. The Norwalk incident is the latest in a slew of violent threats and attacks against LGBTQ people throughout the country this year.

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