Top Stories This Week
Texas billionaire Andrew Long urges GOP to unite against Duke
Saturday, November 27th, 2021
Texas billionaire Andrew Long urged Republican presidential contenders to unite against frontrunner Alan Duke in an interview on
Fox Business. Long, who has publicly threatened to run as an independent presidential candidate if Duke were to win the Republican nomination, urged the party to "take him on now, before it's too late."
Long has made criticisms of Duke in private, but refrained from publicly attacking the former senator from neighboring Oklahoma until today. During the interview, Long said that Duke was "dangerous" and "abrasive" and that his nomination could "taint the party forever in the eyes of younger voters" who are less religious, more diverse and more tolerant of LGBT people than previous generations according to opinion polling.
Bail announces MS diagnosis
Sunday, November 21st, 2021
Congresswoman Josie Bail (D-OH), the third highest-ranking House Democrat and the leading Democratic candidate to take on Governor Art Scheider (R) announced on Sunday that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). In a message shared on both her congressional and campaign accounts, Bail said that she had been diagnosed several weeks prior, but waited until her physicians had determined the extent of her condition to disclose it.
"I remain committed to working hard on behalf of all Ohioans," Bail said in a video released Sunday. Released alongside an open letter from her physician, Bail said that she would "remain in the fight...to secure a better future for working families." Her physician, Dr. Simon Kruwe, described Bail's condition as "mild" and that it was unlikely the 58 year-old would experience "debilitating effects" within the near-future. Before entering Congress, Bail served one term as governor from 1995 to 1999, the first woman and youngest person at age 31 to hold that office.
EPA estimates St. Clair spill clean-up to last until 2024
Friday, November 26th, 2021
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a preliminary assessment on the October oil spill near St. Clair, Michigan and estimated that it will take until 2024 before the estimated 1.2 million gallons spilled will be cleaned up. The report, compiled nearly one month after the spill occurred, says that it will likely take several months for the hundreds of clean-up workers and volunteers to remove oil from water and several more to remove it from floodplains, with the imminent arrival of winter extending the time crews will need to work on this facet of the project. The report says that the marshy area where the Line 5 pipe burst requires "extensive clean-up" and that it will take "between 18 to 24 months" following the completion of the rest of the clean-up to remove the oil from the area.
EPA Administrator Mary-Beth Shotten said the report was based on projections of manpower, resources and local weather up to December 2024, and that areas closed off could be opened to the public earlier than the assessment's prediction. Shotten declined to answer questions about the involvement of Michigan state agencies in the cleanup. The state's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has been rocked by the arrests of several leaders and high-profile aides of Governor Ben Laurion (R) and is currently under investigation by both state and federal law enforcement.
Kentucky governor's son under investigation for fraud, embezzlement
Wednesday, November 24th, 2021
Several individuals, including Ed Barrie Jr., son of Governor Ed Barrie (R-KY), were named Wednesday as "persons of interest" in a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into a veterans' charity accused of defrauding veterans and donors. Barrie Jr. and three other people associated with the Louisville-based Operation Healing Honor (OHH) LLC non-profit were identified by a DOJ spokesman after news of the investigation leaked. Sources familiar to the investigation say that at issue are reports that veterans who had been identified and signed up as recipients of the non-profit received "very little, if any" of the promised aid or assistance. At least one former OHH employee, who spoke to NBS on condition of anonymity, said that the company "regularly" underreported the amount of donations and that the company had several "slush funds" during their tenure there.
The elder Barrie, who retired from the military as the Army Chief of Staff, had been a co-founder of OHH when it was created in 2007 and served on its board of directors until he was elected governor in 2015. His office declined to comment when asked.
Brother of Ukrainian president escapes Russian custody amid diplomatic crisis
Monday, November 22nd, 2021
Lavrenty Konanov, the brother of President of Ukraine Nastia Konanova, was reported missing by Western media outlets on Monday after reportedly having escaped from Russian custody on November 14th. Konanov had been in captivity since 2015 on charges of conspiring against the Russian state, although geopolitical analysts and human rights observers say that Konanov's charges are legalistic excuses to prevent his extradition from Russian custody and to influence Ukraine's domestic politics away from anti-Russia or pro-European directions.
Konanov had fled to Belarus in 2015 after political opponents of his father, the late president Vasily Konanov, attempted to assassinate him. He was handed over to Russia in 2016 as a result of an improvement in relations between Belarus and Russia after the election of Russian President Natalya Romanova, and gave only two interviews in the five years he was in Russia. As of Sunday, Konanov has not yet resurfaced, although scattered reports indicate Russian troops are concentrating their search along a stretch of border that Russia shares with Belarus and Ukraine.
Indian PM faces political crisis over health issues
Tuesday, November 23rd 2021
Junior members of India's ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have begun to publicly voice disapproval with Prime Minister Bijan Advani's leadership over what they say are the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s "misleading" and "deceitful" attempts to disguise Advani's recent health problems. The first members of the NDA began to speak out on Tuesday, producing copies of emails that allegedly showed government officials lying about Advani's health issues, claiming that the 71 year-old prime minister had "fully and completely recovered" from an emergency visit to the hospital in October—one email sent, reporters found, just hours after Advani had abruptly left a meeting with business leaders after nearly collapsing.
Advani has been prime minister since 2011 and won a third straight general election in May. Unlike his first two governments, his current government relies support of other parties in the NDA to maintain a majority in the country's lower house (the Lok Sabha).
Seaborn pardons, drafts turkeys
Thursday, November 25th, 2021
President Sam Seaborn put a twist on the traditional Thanksgiving pardoning of a turkey by drafting the other bird into military service. At the ceremony on Thursday, Seaborn, alongside Indiana senators Rudi Robinson (D) and Gibson Carluke (R) as well as congressman Gary Tutt (R), who represent the Jasper, Indiana farm where the birds were raised, Seaborn "pardoned" the tom turkey Pepper and "drafted" the gobbler Salt into military service.
"I hereby order Salt to report to Purdue University for induction into the United States Army," Seaborn said as part of the tongue-in-cheek ceremony, naming the place where both 40 pound toms will hereafter reside. The idea, the president explained, came from an incident when he was a staffer during the administration of Josiah Bartlet, when the former president "drafted" a second turkey into military service as a way around a communication mishap that resulted in Bartlet pardoning the "wrong" turkey. Bartlet's successor, Matt Santos, ended the tradition of the turkey that is not pardoned from being sold for consumption. The White House confirmed on Thursday that Pvt. Salt would receive an honorable discharge after arriving at Purdue, but would not receive any veterans benefits "because he's a turkey."