Category Archives: US News

Catherine Cortez Masto wins Nevada Senate race to hold Democrat seat

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The race was among the tightest in the country and saw record spending with the incumbent senator nearly beaten

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto managed to hang on to her seat in a close race that nearly saw her beaten by her Republican adversary, with the result leaving control of the US Senate in the hands of Democrats.

After Democratic senator Mark Kelly’s victory in Arizona on Friday, the party now holds a 50-49 edge in the Senate. The Democratic party will retain control of the chamber, no matter how next month’s Georgia runoff plays out, by virtue of vice-president Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.

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Democrats retain control of Senate after crucial victory in Nevada

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Win takes Democrats to key number of 50 seats in Senate, in blow to Republicans who hoped for ‘red wave’

Democrats have kept control of the Senate after the crucial race in Nevada was announced in their favor, cementing a midterms election performance for the party that widely beat expectations.

Democratic US senator Catherine Cortez Masto has now beaten Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.

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US midterm elections 2022: focus on Nevada after Democrat Mark Kelly wins key Senate seat – live

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Power of Senate chamber remains at 49-49 as eyes on race between Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Adam Laxalt

Mark Kelly, whose win in his Senate race in Arizona moved Democrats to within one seat of retaining control of the chamber, has slammed election deniers and praised his late predecessor, Republican John McCain, in a victory speech in Phoenix.

Kelly was speaking to jubilant supporters on Saturday morning, with his wife Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who was shot and badly injured in an attempted assassination 11 years ago, at his side.

After a long election it can be tempting to remain focused on the things that divide us, but we’ve seen the consequences that come when leaders refuse to accept the truth and focus more on conspiracies of the past than solving the challenges that we face today.

And for the past two years, as we face these challenges, not a day has gone by where I have not remembered that I am sitting in the Senate seat [of] Senator John McCain.

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Alec Baldwin sues Rust film staff involved in handling loaded gun

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Actor says he wants to clear his name after 2021 on-set shooting that killed Halyna Hutchins

Saying he wanted to clear his name, the actor Alec Baldwin on Friday sued people involved in handling and supplying the loaded gun that he was using when it fired and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a 2021 filming accident in New Mexico.

Baldwin filed a cross-complaint in Los Angeles’s superior court alleging negligence against some of the people sued by a script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell. Among other things, it seeks a share of any damages that Mitchell may win from the people Baldwin names and asks that they pay for any damages assessed against him.

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Elizabeth Holmes prosecutors seek 15-year sentence and $800m in restitution

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Theranos founder faces maximum of 20 years in prison after she was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy

Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Elizabeth Holmes to 15 years in prison and require the Theranos founder to pay $800m in restitution, according to court documents filed on Friday.

A jury found Holmes guilty in January of four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy. Her sentencing is scheduled for 18 November, and she faces a maximum 20 years in prison.

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A night of ‘hell’: abortion activists on their ‘inhumane’ detention in DC

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As abortion rights are rolled back, more citizens seeking access to reproductive healthcare may face similar treatment

Three women who peacefully protested against restrictions on abortion rights in the US supreme court were mistreated and detained in “inhumane” conditions after their arrest, they say.

Their experience shows unsettling treatment in a landscape where pregnant people, medical providers and others increasingly face criminalization after the Dobbs decision on reproductive care.

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Graduate workers across University of California system to strike for better pay

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Students, researchers and scholars are negotiating contracts in what could be the largest strike in US’s higher education history

Graduate workers including teaching assistants and student researchers, academic researchers and postdoctoral scholars in the University of California system have voted to authorize a strike which could be the largest in higher education history in the US.

Their unions – UAW 5810, UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW – representing 48,000 workers are currently negotiating union contracts for four separate bargaining units. They are coordinating to push increased compensation, childcare reimbursements, job security protections, sustainable transit incentives, eliminating fees for international scholars and stronger disability accommodations.

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Anthony Albanese signals to China that Australia is open for dialogue without ‘preconditions’

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Australian prime minister says it ‘would be positive’ if he and Xi Jinping met at Asean summit

Anthony Albanese has sent a clear public signal to the Chinese leadership that Australia is open for dialogue during international summits over the coming days, saying he is prepared to meet his counterpart without “preconditions” .

With the US president, Joe Biden, set to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, at the G20 summit in Bali on Monday, Australia’s prime minister told reporters at the Asean-Australia summit in Cambodia on Saturday a conversation was “not locked in at this point” and he was awaiting “finalisation of any meeting”.

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Weather tracker: unusual cold and snow spreading across North America

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Temperatures in Canada dropped by as much as 20C below normal this week

Significant cold is spreading widely across North America this weekend, having already affected northern and western parts so far this week.

During the night of 9 November, temperatures across central and western provinces of Canada, as well as many western states of the US, plummeted to at least 10C (18F) below normal, with some parts of Canada seeing temperatures as low as 20C (36F) below normal.

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US midterms 2022: Democrats’ Senate hopes grow as vote count edges forward – live

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Democrat Mark Kelly appears close to re-election in Arizona, with Nevada still up in the air and Georgia going to a runoff vote

All eyes are on media results trackers as Arizona and Nevada’s Senate races inch closer to official results and news on control of the House looms.

So a quick note about Alaska…

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Sanitation firm accused of employing 31 children at animal slaughter facilities

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Department of Labor complaint says Nebraska firm employed children ages 13 to 17 to work with ‘dangerous equipment’

A Nebraska sanitation services firm is facing a major complaint from the Department of Labor for allegedly employing 31 children in job duties that are illegal for those under 18 years old.

The Department of Labor filed the complaint against Packers Sanitation Services (PSSI) on Wednesday, issuing a request for a temporary injunction, as reported by the Daily Beast.

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North Carolina sheriff who quit after racist remarks gets re-elected within weeks

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Jody Greene resigned on 24 October after local prosecutors filed petition to remove him

A North Carolina sheriff who resigned in late October following revelations he made racist remarks about Black employees will get his job back after voters re-elected him on Tuesday.

Jody Greene stepped down as sheriff of Columbus county on 24 October, after the local district attorney filed a petition to remove him over “highly inappropriate and racially charged statements” made about Black employees in 2019.

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Twitter blue check unavailable after impostor accounts erupt on platform

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Before Elon Musk took over the badge was granted to celebrities and journalists verified by the platform to prevent impersonation

Twitter’s relaunched premium service – which grants blue check verification labels to anyone willing to pay $8 a month – was unavailable on Friday after the social media platform was flooded by a wave of impostor accounts approved by Twitter.

The latest move caps a chaotic start for the new subscription service, one of the first major changes made by Elon Musk after taking over the company two weeks ago.

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‘Ron DeSanctimonious’: angry Trump lashes out at Republican rival

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Former president, who is still expected to announce candidacy, posts diatribe against possible White House contender and others

Donald Trump has lashed out at other high-profile Republicans after the failure of the predicted “red wave” in the US midterm elections, which has chilled enthusiasm for his promotion of extremist candidates and a possible new run at the White House.

At Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, as Democrats had a better election than expected, the former US president was seen to be in a mood ranging from subdued to exasperated, but later in the week he became angry, attacking fellow Republicans including two popular governors.

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Obama presidential library construction halted after noose found on site

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‘We have zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate,’ company says and offers $100,000 reward to help find who was responsible

The firm building former US president Barack Obama’s presidential library suspended operations after a noose was found at the construction site in Chicago and the police were called.

A $100,000 reward was offered by the construction company to help find who was responsible.

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Inadequate US state unemployment systems leave millions vulnerable

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Unprepared system leaves unemployed Americans vulnerable to poverty, losing homes and struggling to pay bills or feed families

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic left millions of Americans jobless in the US, overwhelmingly state unemployment benefit systems that did not have the staffing, technology or resources to handle the influx of those who lost their jobs.

Federal pandemic relief added an additional $600 a week to unemployment benefits which was cut to $300 a week, as most state benefits provide only a fraction of the value of weekly wages for the average worker.

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US midterm elections results 2022: live

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Full live results of the Congressional midterms, seat by seat, as electors across the US vote to decide whether the Republicans or Democrats will control the House of Representatives and Senate

US midterm elections 2022 – latest live news updates

All 435 seats in the lower chamber of the federal congress, the House of Representatives, are re-elected every two years. (There are no term limits, and incumbents are often returned, so there is substantial continuity in the membership). House seats are broadly proportional to population, so California has lots of seats but Montana only a few.

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Pittsburgh newspaper workers go on strike over unfair labor practice

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Strike began after Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s management, Block Communications, cut off health insurance

More than 100 workers represented by five labor unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are currently on an unfair labor practice strike, including production, distribution, advertising and accounts receivable staff.

The strike initially began after the newspaper’s management, Block Communications owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on 1 October after refusing to pay an additional $19 a week per employee to maintain the existing coverage.

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First Thing: Rift in Trump’s inner circle over 2024 campaign announcement

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With the ex-president facing heat for the GOP’s midterm washout, there is conflict over whether he should delay next week’s event. Plus, the latest on Cop27

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Good morning.

Donald Trump’s top political staffers at Mar-a-Lago are pressing him to move forward with his planned 2024 presidential campaign announcement next week, but a chorus of allies are suggesting he delay until after the Senate runoff in Georgia in December, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Is there an upside to waiting until next month? His handpicked Republican candidate, Herschel Walker, trails Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock. His staffers are said to have told him: if Walker wins, you can take credit, and if Walker loses, your position will be no different to now.

Why is the midterm vote count taking so long in some US states? Because elections are devolved to each of the 50 states, the method and speed of the count varies slightly between each state. The big picture here is that counts are taking extra time in races that are very close.

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Rightwing group pushing US states for law blocking ‘political boycott’ of firms

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Lobbying group Alec wrote model legislation to protect oil companies, big ag and gunmakers from economic backlash

A powerful rightwing pressure group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), is pushing states to adopt a new law shielding all US businesses from “political boycotts”.

Although primarily aimed at protecting controversial industries such as fossil fuel companies, big agriculture and gun manufacturers, the proposed legislation is written to prevent boycotts by investors, banks and other companies of any US business.

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