James Craig, Perry Johnson sue to make Michigan ballot amid forgery scandal

LANSING — Two Republican front-runners for governor — metro Detroit businessman Perry Johnson and former Detroit Police Chief James Craig — have filed separate suits against the Board of State Canvassers in last-minute attempts to force their way onto the ballot.

The emergency appeals follow a Thursday deadlock by the board, which kept Johnson, Craig and three GOP candidates for governor off the August ballot because of findings that paid circulators forged signatures on their nominating petitions.

Grand Haven financial adviser Michael Markey also promised a lawsuit in a bid to make the ballot. Byron Center businesswoman Donna Brandenburg has called the dispute a “goat rodeo,” Michigan State Police Capt. Michael Brown withdrew from the race after his petitions were challenged.

The Friday suit from Johnson, a millionaire from Bloomfield Hills, asks the Michigan Court of Appeals to order canvassers to certify his petitions by Wednesday, which would allow the state to finalize its candidate list by June 3, as planned, and mail absentee ballots to military voters by June 18, as required.

Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/james-craig-perry-johnson-sue-make-michigan-ballot-amid-forgery-scandal

EU oil embargo targetting Russian economy - DW News

Turkish leader writes on 'risks' of Sweden, Finland in NATO

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's president highlighted the activities of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party as part of his country's objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO and said both nations doing so would carry security risks for Turkey.

The group known as PKK has waged a 38-year insurgency against Turkey that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. It is designated a terrorist entity by the United States and the European Union, including Sweden and Finland.

However, the West’s attitude to the PKK’s Syrian wing, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, has caused acrimony between Ankara and other NATO members. The YPG forms the backbone of the forces involved in the U.S.-led fight against the Islamic State group.

“Turkey maintains that the admission of Sweden and Finland entails risks for its own security and the organization’s future,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote in an article published by The Economist late Monday.

Read more: https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/toledo/ap-online/2022/05/31/turkish-leader-writes-on-risks-of-sweden-finland-in-nato

Officers respond to fatal shooting on Ohio Statehouse property

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A person was shot and killed at the corner of Broad and High streets on the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse, according to law enforcement.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, law enforcement officers found the victim Sunday at approximately 10 p.m. on the northwest corner of the Statehouse grounds.

Columbus police officers and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers responded to gunshots and found a male victim wounded.

Authorities tried life-saving measures, but that victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Law enforcement did not immediately identify the victim.

Read more: https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/toledo/news/2022/05/30/officers-respond-to-fatal-shooting-on-ohio-statehouse-property

How crypto mining could impact Texas' power grid in years to come

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Cryptocurrency mining is expected to grow significantly in Texas over the next five years, which could have a big impact on our electric grid.

According to estimates from ERCOT, miners could use about five gigawatts of energy by 2023.

“It’s growing from close to zero just a few years ago,” Carey King, the assistant director at UT-Austin’s Energy Institute, said earlier this month.

“Each miner is about the size of a desktop computer. And if you’re a large industrial scale bitcoin miner, you might have thousands of these computers running,” Lee Bratcher with the Texas Blockchain Council said.

Bratcher explained bitcoin mining is a process by which the Bitcoin network is secured, and how new bitcoins enter into circulation.

Read more: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/how-crypto-mining-could-impact-texas-power-grid-in-years-to-come/

Follow-up: Man sentenced after arson at Travis County Democratic Party office

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A San Antonio man has been sentenced to prison after he threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of the Travis County Democratic Party office in Austin in 2021.

Ryan Faircloth, 31, was sentenced Friday to 6 years in prison. He pled guilty to arson in January.

In addition to prison time, Faircloth was ordered to pay $12,472.84 in restitution and a $5,000 fine.

Faircloth admitted to targeting the political party office “because he opposed positions he believed to be taken by the Democratic Party,” according to the Western District of Texas U.S. Attorney’s office.

Surveillance video from the September 2021 incident shows Faircloth break a window and then throw in some type of incendiary device at the office at East Sixth and Navasota streets in downtown Austin.

Read more: https://www.kxan.com/news/crime/man-sentenced-after-arson-at-travis-county-democratic-party-office/

Delaware County judge allows part of case against Google to proceed

Attorney General Dave Yost hailed a Delaware County judge’s decision last week in his case against Google. But the preliminary decision on the search giant’s motion to dismiss was only a partial victory for the state — an invitation to make its case that Google should be regulated as a common carrier.

Common carriers have traditionally been thought of as entities that transport people or goods and are generally open to the public — think shipping companies, taxis or airlines. But the same concept has been applied to information as well, making phone companies and internet service providers common carriers, too. These companies face a greater legal expectation of neutrality because of their outsized role in the marketplace.

In its initial complaint filed last June, the state contended that a corporation reaches “common carrier” or “public utility” status when it serves “a substantial part of the public in a way that makes its methods of operations a matter of public concern, welfare, and interest.”

Yost’s office argued that describes Google perfectly, with its near complete dominance of the search market. But instead of providing information on a neutral basis, the complaint alleged, the search company “manipulates its presentation” of results “to preference its own services, yielding search results that best benefit the interests of Google.”

Read more: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/05/31/delaware-county-judge-allows-part-of-case-against-google-to-proceed/

Beau of the Fifth Column: Let's talk about if the ban worked....

Shannon Watts: Voters Will 'Hold These Lawmakers Accountable' - MSNBC Reports

Beau of the Fifth Column: Let's talk about Starbucks, unions, and you....