‘Jolt to reality’: Gaza war forces voter rethink ahead of South Africa poll
Cape Town, South Africa – Three months to South Africa’s much-anticipated general elections, the political landscape is being remade. Since Cyril Ramaphosa became president in 2018, domestic issues like corruption within the government, rolling power cuts, and a wobbling economy have been hotly debated but Israel’s war in faraway Gaza has become a key election issue in recent months. Since the apartheid era, the topic of Palestine has been a major point of division in South African politics as the white government stood firmly with Israel while the anti-apartheid movement saw Palestinian resistance aligned with its own. But Israel’s continuing war in Gaza since October has forced political parties to lay their cards on the table. The two largest parties in particular – the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the main opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA) – are likely to see their constituencies change because of their positions on the war. The ANC-led government has been unambiguous in its pro-Palestine stance. South Africa was one of the first states to refer to Israel’s actions in Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attack as “genocide”, and early on referred Israel to the International Criminal Court. In January, Pretoria also dragged Israel to the world’s highest legal authority, the International Court of Justice. The DA, on the other hand, has flip-flopped between its initial steadfast support for Israel and more recent ambivalent rhetoric about “peace”. On October 8, Emma Powell, the DA shadow minister for international relations and cooperation, released a statement condemning “Hamas’ unprovoked attack on Israeli territory today during the religious holiday of Simchat Torah … The DA condemns this senseless violence and all acts of terror against innocent civilians, women, and children and calls for aggressors to this conflict to immediately withdraw.” A month later, as the number of deaths in Gaza rose drastically, the party shifted to more centrist rhetoric, with leader John Steenhuisen saying: “The (DA) stands in solidarity with both Palestinians and Israelis who seek a two-state solution … we embrace rationality based on peaceful co-existence for both a secure Israel and a free Palestinian state.” Unlike the Economic Freedom Fighters and other smaller opposition parties, the DA has never called for a ceasefire or used the term “genocide” regarding Israel’s killing of Palestinians. And ahead of the May 29 vote, it is the ANC’s moves that have proven to be wildly popular within and beyond South Africa. Ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela (R) of South Africa attends a hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, The Hague, the Netherlands, on February 20, 2024 [Robin van Lonkhuijsen/EPA-EFE] A realignment of the electorate Before October, the chances of the DA pulling off an upset at the national level were rising. In the 2019 general election, voter turnout was only 49 percent – the lowest since the first democratic vote in the country in 1994. The ANC also seemed like a party running aground, with fewer than 50 percent of respondents in an October survey by the Social Research Foundation (SRF) supporting it. Protests against soaring costs of living were becoming frequent and Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign was enmeshed in a scandal after about $500,000 in cash was stolen from his game farm. But the parties’ differing positions on the war have helped boost the ailing ANC’s chances. In the Western Cape Province, which has been governed by the DA since 2009 and where it traditionally dominates, a realignment of the electorate is under way. The province, one of South Africa’s largest, is home to Cape Town, the country’s parliamentary capital and second-largest city. Luwayne Pretorius, a 46-year-old beauty industry worker there says that as a gay Afrikaner man, the ANC gave him more rights than any other country in the world, but his loyalty shifted to the DA when Ramaphosa’s predecessor Jacob Zuma took power in 2009. Zuma, who in 2006 said same-sex marriages are “a disgrace to the nation and to God”, has also been implicated in several corruption scandals during his tenure which ended in 2018. However, Pretorius’s stance has changed drastically due to current events. “By being so fervent in taking a stance against apartheid Israel, it really says something about the ANC,” Pretorius said. “But with the DA, especially after apartheid, there is no way for a party to justify supporting another country committing an ethnic cleansing while simulating an apartheid state similar to what we saw in South Africa.” Historically, foreign policy has not influenced the voting decisions of South Africans, says Robert Mattes, a professor of government and public policy at the University of Strathclyde and co-founder of Afrobarometer, a pan-African political survey organisation. “There is a lot of activism in Cape Town largely in the coloured community and the Muslim portion of that community, but this is likely the portion of voters already voting ANC. For Muslim voters who are highly motivated by a party’s approach to Palestine, those who vote for the DA will be irritated and revolted, but not enough for them to move to the ANC. If they move away from the DA, it will be to smaller parties.” Na’eem Jeenah, senior researcher at the Johannesburg-based think tank Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), agrees with Mattes that in general, South Africans vote primarily based on domestic issues. But this time will be different, he says. “There certainly will be a shift of voters away from the DA as a result of its support for Israel and its refusal to speak about the genocide in Gaza,” Jeenah told Al Jazeera. He predicts that while some will vote ANC because of their pro-Palestine actions, many others will choose other parties like the Muslim party Al Jama-ah to protest against the DA without “rewarding the ANC with their vote”. Protesters hold a Palestinian flag as they gather outside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as judges rule on emergency measures against Israel following accusations by South Africa that
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San Francisco issues apology to Black citizens for ‘decades of systemic and structural discrimination’
The city of San Francisco in California has issued a formal apology to Black citizens, begging pardon for committing what the government calls “decades of systemic and structural discrimination.” City supervisors issued a formal apology Tuesday in the form of a resolution after a unanimous vote from all 11 board members. “This historic resolution apologizes on behalf of San Francisco to the African American community and their descendants for decades of systemic and structural discrimination, targeted acts of violence, atrocities, as well as committing to the rectification and redress of past policies and misdeeds,” said supervisor Shamann Walton, the only Black member of the board. CHARLES BARKLEY BLASTS SAN FRANCISCO DURING ALL-STAR GAME, DESCRIBES IT AS CITY WITH ‘HOMELESS CROOKS’ “We have much more work to do, but this apology most certainly is an important step,” he added. The resolution cites as inspiration nine states that have previously issued similar apologies for slavery. It also parallels Boston, another U.S. city that has formally begged pardon for past racist behavior by its government and police force. While slavery was never legal in San Francisco, reparations activists say the city imposed decades of racist policies that economically harmed Black residents. SAN FRANCISCO REPARATIONS PANEL ON HOW IT DECIDED ON $5 PER BLACK PERSON: ‘THERE WASN’T A MATH FORMULA’ The formal apology is the first of over 100 proposals put forward by the city’s African American Reparations Advisory Committee to come to fruition. It is also the least expensive. San Francisco’s proposed reparation payments to eligible Black residents were once estimated to cost over $100 billion, as was previously reported. Now, Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, has cut the Office of Reparations to deal with an expected deficit in 2024. However, the high cost was viewed as “unrealistic” for a city already struggling with its budget and a lack of agreement over the issue. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors had previously considered doling out $5 million each to qualifying Black residents for reparations as a way to make amends for slavery. A majority of Californians do not support reparations, according to a September poll. Almost 60% of California voters opposed cash payments, while 29% of voters supported the idea, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll that was cosponsored by the Los Angeles Times. “There wasn’t a math formula. It was a journey for the committee towards what could represent a significant enough investment in families to put them on this path to economic well-being, growth and vitality that chattel slavery and all the policies that flowed from it destroyed,” he said. African American Reparations Advisory Committee Chair Eric McDonnell admitted figuring out how to afford the payments was not the committee’s goal. “Our mission was not a feasibility study,” he said. “It was, assess the harm, assign the value.” Fox News Digital’s Kristine Parks and Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.
Soros-backed group unleashes behind-the-scenes war on gas-powered lawn equipment, trucks
A secretive nonprofit with financial backing from liberal billionaire George Soros and linked to the Biden administration is calling for the federal government to resurrect a 1970s law to crack down on gas-powered lawn equipment. Governing for Impact (GFI), founded in 2019 to help craft and guide implementation of federal regulations, quietly issued a memo late last month alongside the left-leaning Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) calling for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revive the 1972 Noise Control Act. The memo argues that cracking down on loud equipment has “strategic ancillary benefits,” such as reducing carbon emissions. However, the Noise Control Act, a law that regulates “noise emissions,” has effectively been dormant since Congress defunded the EPA’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC) in the early 1980s. The memo calls for the ONAC to be revived via existing or newly appropriated EPA funding to enforce the 1972 law and prohibit the sale of gas-powered equipment and vehicles. “There’s no need to wait for Congress to act — because it already has,” Will Dobbs-Allsopp, GFI’s director of strategic initiatives and one of the memo’s co-authors, said after the memo was published, adding that the Noise Control Act could help address an “environmental injustice” that hits low-income and minority communities particularly hard. TED CRUZ PROBES LEFT-WING GROUP OVER EFFORT TRAINING FEDERAL JUDGES FOR CLIMATE CASES According to the memo, the Noise Control Act empowers the EPA to prohibit the sale of new commercial products that do not meet best-in-class noise reduction technology. As a result, a revitalized ONAC could prioritize regulatory actions targeting portable air compressors, gas-powered lawn equipment and diesel buses and trucks. It added that prioritizing such regulations would likely also yield “impressive carbon emissions reductions given advances in electrification technologies.” GFI and CPR noted that electric battery-powered alternatives to traditional gas-powered equipment and vehicles are generally quieter. CONSUMER GROUP REVEALS LEFT-WING GROUPS INCREASINGLY USING COURTS TO PUSH GREEN NEW DEAL “In the era of climate crisis, the [Noise Control Act] offers a powerful suite of regulatory authorities to help decarbonize certain difficult-to-abate sectors,” the memo states. “The NCA empowers (and sometimes obliges) the EPA to prohibit the sale of new products that cannot meet noise emission standards, established by taking into account the ‘best available technology.’ “Today, the most cost-effective quiet technologies are often electrified alternatives to products traditionally run on loud, internal combustion engines, which of course also emit carbon dioxide and other dangerous pollutants.” In an interview, James Goodwin, a senior policy analyst with CPR and another co-author on the memo, emphasized that the memo calls for EPA to leverage its existing authority granted by Congress. He added that the climate benefits of such a regulatory regime would be the “cherry on top.” “Of course, they’re not going to set out and say, ‘We’re going to regulate leaf blowers because we want this as climate policy.’ That’s not what their statutory authority says. Nobody is asking EPA to do something it doesn’t have legal authority to do,” Goodwin told Fox News Digital. TOP REPUBLICANS LAUNCH PROBE INTO LEONARDO DICAPRIO-FUNDED BLUE STATE LAWSUITS AGAINST BIG OIL He added that if the EPA, through the revitalized ONAC, enacts noise regulations, a manufacturer could theoretically make a very efficient and quiet piece of equipment that is still powered by gas. However, he said, due to the costs of such technology, manufacturers would likely make electric equipment. “At the end of the day, manufacturers are going to say, ‘No, we’re just going to electrify this. It’s a lot cheaper and easier for everyone,’” Goodwin continued. “That’s basically how that would play out.” The memo comes as the Biden administration and Democrat-led state governments nationwide continue to target gas-powered appliances and cars as part of their broader climate agenda. In 2023 alone, the Biden administration issued dozens of regulations taking aim at stoves, water heaters, furnaces and dozens of other home appliances in an effort to reduce emissions. And state and local governments have recently started targeting gas-powered lawn equipment, using arguments similar to those outlined by the GFI-CPR memo. For example, Colorado state environmental regulators recently banned such equipment on state-owned property and opened the door to a broader ban. The regulation was influenced by the left-leaning Colorado Public Interest Research Group, which said Coloradans no longer have to worry about “obnoxious noise from gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers when they head to public parks.” MEET THE LITTLE-KNOWN GROUP FUNDED BY LEFT-WING DARK MONEY THAT IS SHAPING FEDERAL CLIMATE POLICY “It’s amazing how the D.C. elite crowd, their solution to seemingly every problem is to fight climate change or carbon emissions and then immediately pivot to banning products or limiting what people can buy, period,” O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance For Consumers, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “These are people who seem dead set on just trying to wipe away stuff that everyday people use in countless ways, in countless places. “These are things everyday people use all the time or rely on in extreme scenarios,” he continued. “And yet, just like stoves and just like refrigerators — just like damn near everything else people need or use to make their everyday lives possible — you have another dark money group trying to impose their progressive worldview by wiping these things off the shelves, all of which just makes people’s lives harder.” Fox News Digital previously obtained internal GFI documents highlighting how the Biden administration has implemented more than 20 of its regulatory agenda items. The group, which prior to that report was invisible to online search engines, has produced legal policy memos for at least ten federal agencies and pitched multiple federal officials on its efforts as part of its “listening tour” in 2021. GFI, though, is a project of the New Venture Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit incubator that acts as a so-called fiscal sponsor to groups by providing its tax status. The arrangement allows GFI and other nonprofits it sponsors
Hamas officials shut down Biden’s ice-cream diplomacy, rejects cease-fire deal
President Biden’s predictions of a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel are looking too sweet to be true, with multiple Hamas officials rejecting the current deal. Biden predicted between licks of an ice-cream cone on Monday that Hamas would accept a deal with Israel in the coming days, but statements from Hamas officials show little hope of progress. “I hope by… the end of the weekend,” Biden said Monday with cone in hand. “My national security advisor tells me we’re close. We’re close. It’s not one yet. My hope is by next Monday, we’ll have a cease-fire.” Meanwhile, multiple Hamas officials indicated on Tuesday and Wednesday that no breakthrough in negotiations had been made, according to The New York Times. ISRAELI SECURITY EXPERTS SAY BIDEN’S PALESTINIAN STATE PUSH IS AN ’EXISTENTIAL THREAT’ “We are not interested in engaging with what’s been floated, because it does not fulfill our demands,” Hamas official Ahmad Abdelhadi said in an interview with a Lebanese broadcaster. BIDEN TO GO TO UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO FORCE TEMPORARY CEASE-FIRE ON ISRAEL, HALT RAFAH OFFENSIVE More concerning, Hamas spokesman Basem Naim said the terrorist organization had not even received “any new proposals” since the parties met last week. Hamas is not the only party warning Biden to pump the brakes. Qatar, which has played a major role throughout the negotiations, indicated on Tuesday that there is no deadline for an agreement. “The efforts are ongoing; all the parties are conducting regular meetings,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters, according to NYT. “But for now, while we certainly hope it will be achieved as soon as possible, we don’t have anything in our hands so as to comment on that deadline.” Meanwhile, Israel is deep in the planning process for an expected invasion of Rafah, the Gaza town on the border with Egypt that plays host to both the final remnants of Hamas and key routes for aid. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an invasion would proceed at some point regardless of whether a cease-fire agreement is reached. “If we have a deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen. If we don’t have a deal, we’ll do it anyway,” Netanyahu said of the Rafah operation.
2 North Carolina congressmen run for state attorney general rather than re-election
Instead of trying to keep their seats in Congress, two North Carolina politicians are vying for a high-profile office closer to home: state attorney general. The career path that Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop and Democratic U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson are trying to follow was once a rarity but has become more common across the country as the attorney general position has become more prominent — and taken a more partisan tone. The North Carolina race is among the most closely watched of the 10 attorney general elections across the U.S. this November. Bishop is the only Republican running in the swing state, but Jackson faces two other Democrats in the March 5 primary. STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL OFFICIALLY CALLS ON KAMALA HARRIS TO INVOKE 25TH AMENDMENT, REMOVE BIDEN FROM OFFICE Differences between the candidates are stark. The attorney general has, among other things, a role in how to enforce state laws and whether to defend them when they’re challenged in court. And the North Carolina candidates couldn’t be more different in their approaches. Jackson said he could, for example, follow the path taken by the Democratic incumbent and refuse to support a law adopted last year that bans most abortions after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. “I see the job as standing up for people in defense of their fundamental rights,” Jackson said in an interview. “I’m prepared to stand up to the state legislature.” Bishop, on the other hand, said he would defend the law and others — even if he disagreed with them — unless “it is unconstitutional beyond any reasonable argument.” Their state is one of six where the incumbent won’t be on the ballot, including Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington and West Virginia. Incumbents are expected to try to keep their jobs in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and Vermont. Most of the states with elections are dominated by one party, but purple Pennsylvania has a crowded April primary ballot for both Republicans and Democrats. ___ The attorney general job has been a springboard to higher office for so long that there’s a joke that “AG” stands for “aspiring governor.” Current North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is running for governor, as are the top government lawyers in Washington and West Virginia. Former President Bill Clinton and current Vice President Kamala Harris have attorney general on their resumes, alongside a long list of governors and senators. But over the past decade, a pipeline from Congress to attorney general has developed. Five sitting attorneys general — Maryland’s Anthony Brown, Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, Arkansas’ Tim Griffin, Idaho’s Raul Labrador and Indiana’s Todd Rokita — were all previously in Congress. It’s a big change. “You don’t have to go find 218 people to get a vote,” Ellison, a Democrat who was previously a six-term member of Congress, state lawmaker and director of a public interest law firm, said in an interview. “You say, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do, team.’” Ellison said that his time in Congress helped him get to know the federal agencies he often interacts with now, but that his time as a trial lawyer was also important in preparing him for his current job. ___ Duties vary by state but generally include roles as criminal prosecutor — representing the state in court and protecting consumers, with the latter often carried out through multi-state lawsuits against companies. Attorneys general have in recent years been on the front line of lawsuits and settlements against drugmakers and others over the toll of prescription opioid painkillers; and most of them joined together last year to sue Facebook parent company Meta, claiming that features on its social media platforms are addictive. It’s become more common over the past two decades, however, for attorneys general to join with colleagues only from their party to challenge federal government policy — mostly those put in place by presidents from the opposite party. NEW YORK AG TAKES VICTORY LAP AFTER TRUMP FRAUD RULING: ‘JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED’ Bishop, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus who joined Congress after winning a special election in 2019, said that with an often gridlocked Congress, presidents are using regulations to create policy — and overstepping their bounds. “It’s often falling to AGs to protect fundamental rights and to stop regulatory overreach,” he said. Bishop said he supports the effort by the Republican attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana to bar the FBI and other government agencies from contacting social media platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, to urge that content be removed. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the case on March 18. There have also been partisan broadsides against businesses. Last year, 13 GOP attorneys general warned CEOs of the 100 biggest U.S. companies that there could be legal consequences for using race as a factor in hiring and employment practices. But that hasn’t led to litigation so far. Meanwhile, during Donald Trump’s presidency, Democrats repeatedly sued over policies such as a ban on travel to the U.S. from several mostly Muslim countries and allowing more employers to opt out of providing birth control coverage by claiming religious or moral objections. Democratic attorneys general also defended former President Barack Obama’s health insurance overhaul in court when Trump’s administration wouldn’t. ___ Jackson, a TikTok-savvy politician in his first term in Congress, decided to enter the race after redrawn congressional maps removed him from the district west of Charlotte he’s representing. It would have taken him years to build up seniority to have significant power in the House. But the job he’s seeking now is different, he said: “You reach your full influence upon being elected to attorney general,” he said. Also on the primary ballot are Democrats Satana Deberry, a progressive district attorney, and Tim Dunn, a private-practice lawyer. Jackson has a major fundraising lead and the support of the Democrats in North Carolina’s congressional delegation. James Tierney, a former attorney general in Maine, one of the seven states where attorneys general
Connecticut mayor secures re-election after controversial do-over vote
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim won a do-over election Tuesday in Connecticut’s most populous city, months after a judge threw out the results of the first one because of allegations of absentee ballot box stuffing during a Democratic primary. Ganim easily defeated fellow Democrat John Gomes, the city’s former acting chief administrative officer who had gone to court to get the race rerun on the grounds that the original result was tainted. Yet in the end, Gomes was not able to turn that legal victory into votes. Tuesday marked the fourth straight time Ganim beat him during the messy race, including the now-voided primary in September, a nullified general election in November and a rerun primary last month. CONNECTICUT MAYOR, WHO REGAINED OFFICE FOLLOWING A 7-YEAR CORRUPTION SENTENCE, WINS PARTY PRIMARY “If wasn’t clear three times in a row. It’s clear today. Louder than ever. Bridgeport has spoken,” Ganim told supporters as he declared victory at a campaign party less than an hour after polls closed. He called his long-awaited victory “a mandate.” Speaking to supporters, Gomes said he was proud his campaign brought attention to longstanding voting integrity issues in the city. He didn’t concede, but spoke about his campaign being “at halftime” and said he planned on staying involved in Bridgeport and Connecticut civic affairs. Ganim also defeated Republican David Herz. CONNECTICUT MAYOR DENIES ABSENTEE DISCUSSIONS WITH SUSPECTED BALLOT STUFFER Bridgeport’s path to Election Day has been complicated — and to some voters, embarrassing. After narrowly losing to Ganim in September, Gomes released surveillance videos he had received from city-owned security cameras showing a woman making multiple early-morning trips to stuff what appeared to be absentee ballots into a drop box. It looked like a blatant violation of Connecticut law, which requires people using collection boxes to drop off completed ballots themselves or designate a family member, police officer, election official or caregiver to do it for them Superior Court Judge William Clark threw out the result of the primary following a multi-day court hearing in which at least two Ganim supporters who were dropping documents into the boxes refused to answer questions, invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Ganim said he was unaware of any wrongdoing. Because the court decision came less than a week before the general election was scheduled, the November vote went ahead as planned. Ganim won by a narrow margin, but that result didn’t count. A new Democratic primary was held on Jan. 23. Ganim won again, this time more comfortably, but the two Democrats faced off again Tuesday because Gomes had also qualified for the ballot as an independent candidate. For the finale, top Democrats rallied for Ganim. In the campaign’s final days he picked up endorsements from Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, and U.S. Rep. Jim Himes. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz appeared at a get-out-the-vote rally Saturday. The repeat votes left some Bridgeport residents exhausted. “I hear customers talk about it,” Nick Roussas, owner of Frankie’s Diner, said before Tuesday’s final vote. “A lot of people are tired that we’re coming to a fourth election.” Gomes mentioned that weariness in his speech to supporters. “Bridgeport right now is a divided city. We understand the voter fatigue, frustration and many who didn’t show up to vote,” he said. “But we respect them. We appreciate them and we love them.” Both Democrats spent the final weeks of the race trying to rally voters to once again cast ballots. They also sniped at one another. Ganim, who said he had to fire Gomes from his city government post, accused his onetime aide of running against him out of revenge, saying putting him in charge would be a “mistake.” Gomes, in turn, brought up Ganim’s criminal record, which included having to take a hiatus from the mayor’s office to serve prison time for corruption. “I can no longer tolerate the abusive insults and ad hominem attacks aimed at me by a lawless, immoral, and unscrupulous disbarred lawyer who is bent on perpetuating a corrupt enterprise in the City of Bridgeport,” Gomes wrote in a recent opinion piece. First elected mayor in 1991, Ganim, 63, served 12 years in the post before quitting when he was caught accepting bribes and kickbacks. Convicted of racketeering, extortion and other crimes, he spent seven years in prison but then won his old job back in 2015. He was reelected again in 2019. During the latest campaign, Ganim sought to tout improvements in the city under his leadership and urged voters not to change course. Gomes, 53, was born in the Cape Verde Islands, immigrated to the U.S. at age 9 and grew up in Bridgeport. He called for a more inclusive and transparent city government. Bridgeport, a heavily Democratic working-class city of 148,000 about 60 miles (100 km) east of New York, has been under state and federal scrutiny for decades for alleged irregularities involving absentee ballots. New primaries have been called over the years in state legislative and local city council races because of problems. Many of the issues relate to a practice known as ballot harvesting, where campaign workers go to people’s homes, help them fill out absentee ballots and then either mail them in or deposit them in drop boxes. The State Elections Enforcement Commission voted in September to launch an investigation into the September primary. Various steps were taken to restore voter confidence. Two interim election monitors were assigned by the state to spot-check absentee ballot applications in parts of Bridgeport to confirm they were legitimate. They also worked to educate the public and city election workers about election rules. Connecticut Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said she hoped the state Legislature would respond to the scandal by passing laws requiring absentee ballots to be dated and labeled as to how they were submitted. She’s also calling for limits on when absentee ballot applications are available before an election, as well as new funding for nonpartisan voter education.
Texas set to execute Ivan Cantu for Dallas murders as doubts of his guilt persist
Despite a public campaign that included faith leaders and jurors from the original trial, Texas courts have so far declined to reconsider recanted testimony in Cantu’s case.
An East Texas town has put strict limits on mobile homes — again
The Huntington City Council has flip flopped twice on a mobile home ordinance since 2020.