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☆ Biden's 2024 primary calendar gives Kamala Harris an edge in a future White House bid
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Jonathan Allen | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden's push to make South Carolina the first major battleground in Democratic presidential primaries has a second big beneficiary: Vice President Kamala Harris. "It's a good demographic mix of having to appeal to Black voters, White working-class voters and Latino and Asian American voters." “How many Black voters are persuaded that the Democratic Party cares about them because South Carolina goes first? South Carolina, one of the most Republican states in the country, isn't competitive at the presidential level in general elections. “South Carolina is also known to be kind to those who’ve been kind to her,” he said.

☆ Sen. Joni Ernst says Democrats gave 'middle America the middle finger' by voting to make South Carolina the first nominating state instead of Iowa
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

South Carolina will now be the first state to nominate Democratic presidential candidates. Iowa was the first state to nominate presidential candidates for the DNC since 1972. GOP Sen. Joni Ernst said Democrats "gave middle America the middle finger" with the decision to move the caucus. The DNC's decision to move the first-in-the-nation caucus from Iowa to South Carolina will mark the first time the caucus has been in a state other than Iowa since 1927. I feel Democrats have really given Middle America the middle finger."

☆ GOP operative convicted of funneling Russian donation to Trump's 2016 campaign
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In this Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, file photo, Jesse Benton arrives for his sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa. WASHINGTON — A Republican political operative and former campaign aide was convicted in federal court this week of funneling $25,000 from a Russian businessman to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. The money for the donation originally came from Roman Vasilenko, a former Russian naval officer turned multilevel marketer and CEO of the "Life is Good International Business Academy." When Benton paid the Trump Victory committee for the ticket, he used his own credit card, pocketing the remaining $75,000 from Vasilenko. Thursday's conviction marks the second time that Benton has been found guilty of a campaign finance crime.

☆ A man disparaging Jews and someone pretending to be H.R. McMaster just created federal campaign committees. It may be weeks before regulators do anything about it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Two recently established political committees appear to violate FEC regulations. McMaster at the Richmond Forum in Virginia, a man says he found himself so inspired that he formed a political committee to support McMaster for president in 2024. Federal regulations generally prohibit committees from using the name of a prospective candidate in their committee's name. Then, two days after the McMaster filing, another man filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to form a committee with completely different — and hostile — intentions. As for Liu's antisemitic committee name, the FEC has a process for dealing with that — but it's a protracted one.

Farmers in both are fighting a losing battle to save the soil that produces our food. By contrast, there's not enough water in the vast Yangtze basin, which produces a third of China's crops. Soil erosion could lead to a 10% loss in global crop production by 2050, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Similarly, other measures such as digging thousands of new wells and encouraging farmers to switch crops to boost yields have limited impact. Options include not tilling soil to reduce erosion, and planting off-season cover crops to prevent erosion and nutrient loss.

Rep. Cindy Axne ran against Republican Zach Nunn in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne lost her bid for reelection against Republican state Sen. Zach Nunn in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District. 2022 General EmbedsIowa's 3rd Congressional District candidatesAxne is a member of the Committees on Financial Services and Agriculture. Voting history for Iowa's 3rd Congressional DistrictIowa's 3rd Congressional District is located in the southwestern region of the state. The National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund, a pro-Nunn super PAC, account for the majority of that spending.

☆ Powerball used to have a jackpot limit. Then it exploded
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —The Powerball lottery jackpot is expected to hit $1.9 billion for Monday’s drawing, making it the largest lotto prize ever. But in 1987 when Lotto America, the precursor to Powerball, was introduced, organizers prohibited jackpots of more than $80 million. ”This is a whole new ballgame” Lotto America spokesman Jack Ratigan said at the time. These changes have pushed Powerball jackpots way up. Lotteries are regressive, meaning lower-income groups spend more of their budgets on lottery games than higher-income groups.

☆ Hate in America is on the rise. It's making it more dangerous for everyone from politicians to librarians to do their jobs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Politicians, poll workers, and even librarians report growing harassment, threats, and attacks. "I'm scared for this country," Ringer told Insider. B-A-D," George Rattay, the chair of the Democratic Party in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, told Insider. Poll workers and even librarians face violenceThere have been multiple reports of increasing threats and violence targeting poll workers. The breadth of the threats to politicians, poll workers, and other civic employees like librarians indicates hate in America has become prolific.

☆ Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson faces off against Democratic state Sen. Liz Mathis in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Ashley Hinson is running against Democratic state Sen. Liz Mathis in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd District covers 22 counties in Iowa's northeast corner. IA-03 HouseRepublican Rep. Ashley Hinson faces off against Democratic state Sen. Liz Mathis in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District. She and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks — running for reelection in Iowa's 1st Congressional District — are the first Republican women to represent Iowa in the US House. Voting history for Iowa's 2nd Congressional DistrictIowa's 2nd Congressional District covers 22 counties in Iowa's northeast corner, including Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque, and Mason City.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, local election officials became frequent targets of supporters of former President Donald Trump who supported his false claims of election fraud. Election officials also said that the courts could inject chaos into the process if results are contested for weeks following the vote. Droves of election workers throughout Georgia quit their positions following the 2020 election. And in Pennsylvania, nearly 50 top election officials have left their post within the past two years. “Election workers and election officials leave or stop coming in, more errors can occur as a result, which in turn can fuel disinformation,” he said.

☆ Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne faces off against Republican Zach Nunn in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Cindy Axne is running against Republican Zach Nunn in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District. The 3rd District is located in the southwestern region of Iowa. Iowa's 3rd Congressional District candidatesAxne is a member of the Committees on Financial Services and Agriculture. Voting history for Iowa's 3rd Congressional DistrictIowa's 3rd Congressional District is located in the southwestern region of the state. The National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund, a pro-Nunn super PAC, account for the majority of that spending.

☆ Top Arizona election official refers more cases of potential voter intimidation to law enforcement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has referred six reports of possible voter intimidation to law enforcement in the past week, as well as an allegation of harassment of an election worker, her office said Monday. The cases were referred to the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. Justice Department for further investigation. Early voting got underway Oct. 12 in the battleground state, where Hobbs is the Democratic nominee for governor. Hobbs’ office said it also referred a report of election worker harassment to law enforcement Saturday. The case is being pursued by the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in June 2021.

Indigenous leaders participate in a protest march and rally in opposition to the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines in front of the White House in Washington, U.S., March 10, 2017. That strategy was used in Nebraska during the fight against Keystone XL, said Jane Kleeb, executive director of Bold Nebraska and a founder of the Bold Alliance. Kleeb helped lead the decade-long campaign against the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried Canadian oil to U.S. refineries, in what became a symbol for the U.S. climate movement. But most CCS projects in the United States so far inject captured carbon into oil fields to boost oil production, and permanent underground storage of carbon is unproven. "Groups that fought (Keystone XL) are considered these radical environmental groups," he said.

There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats. The rumor of litter boxes in schools appears to have begun among parents on social media, and one of the first schools to confront the falsehood was in Canada last fall. Catalina Lauf, a Republican congressional nominee in Illinois, tweeted this month that schoolchildren were using litter boxes in her state. Some say litter boxes are located in “transgender bathrooms” in schools. Meanwhile on TikTok, one video claiming “kids are now requesting litter boxes at school” collected 3 million views on the platform.

☆ A QAnon supporter who told police to 'go arrest the vice president' at the Capitol riot and then scaled the walls of the Capitol building and chased an officer up a staircase has been convicted for Ja
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Yelena Dzhanova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Douglas Jensen of Iowa was convicted on Friday for his participation in the Capitol riot, the AP reported. Jensen showed up at the riot wearing a shirt that showed his support of the QAnon movement. He showed up at the riot wearing a T-shirt that had a "Q" on it, representative of his commitment to the QAnon movement, they alleged. In the midst of the scene, he also told officers to "go arrest the vice president," prosecutors said, per the AP. Two days after the riot, Jensen turned himself in to the Des Moines Police Department because "he thought he was in trouble," the statement of facts says.

WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Friday convicted a QAnon believer who chased down U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman on Jan. 6, 2021, finding the defendant guilty on all charges against him. On Jan. 6, Jensen filmed videos from the base of the Capitol building, where he proclaimed — inaccurately, but with tremendous confidence — that he was at the White House. “Storm the White House! Goodman, the USCP officer who testified at Jensen's trial, had “no back-up” when he faced off with rioters, Mirell said. More than 850 people have been arrested and more than 350 convicted in connection with the Capitol attack.

Goodman told jurors that he’d been with the Capitol Police for 15 years and he previously was deployed to Iraq for the U.S. Army. Footage released during Trump's second impeachment trial showed Goodman directing Romney to turn around just after the mob had breached the building. The Senate chamber itself went through sweeps by K-9s and bomb squads so that Congress could resume its work, Goodman said. He told jurors to expect to see video of Jensen telling officers to do their job throughout the trial. The FBI has arrested more than 850 defendants in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

☆ Walmart hit with lawsuit, accused of firing a Florida mom who claims managers harassed her and denied lactation accommodations
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-14 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Her request for accommodations were denied by Walmart, according to the lawsuit. Another woman filed a similar suit against Walmart in February. But it claims she began getting "harassed" by her managers after giving birth in 2020, the Miami Herald reports. After submitting a request for pregnancy-related accommodations via a doctor's note, she was denied and told Walmart "does not accept doctor's notes," the lawsuit says. The Defuniak Springs Walmart was subject to another EEOC lawsuit in 2021 after the store was accused of continuing to allow a male employee to "sexually harass at least three female employees."

☆ Inside BlackRock's powerful consulting arm that's made the most influential money manager an advisor to world powers
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-07 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

One of the reporters noted that Powell's public calendar showed calls with Larry Fink, BlackRock's chief executive, in March, April, and May. The exchange was hardly the first time no-bid contracts between the Fed and BlackRock's Financial Markets Advisory unit raised questions. Still, former employees told Insider that FMA has served as a clear source of public-facing clout for BlackRock. "The FMA clients have extended their advisory relationships to be multiyear." A little over a year ago, FMA pulled employees out of BlackRock's office there, three former employees said.

☆ US presidents have thrown out the first pitch for MLB's opening day for over 100 years — here's the history from Taft to Obama
▼ + stars: | 2019-03-28 | by ( Grace Panetta | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

March 28, 2019, is opening day for the 2019 Major League Baseball season. Over the past 100 years, many American presidents have celebrated America's pastime by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at opening days. Here are some of the times US presidents have thrown the first pitches on opening day. President Donald Trump has yet to throw out the first pitch at an MLB opening day while in office. Here are some of the times US presidents have thrown the first pitches on opening day.

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