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TexasTowelie's JournalNC legislative leaders to ask Supreme Court to halt judges' order to redraw districts
RALEIGH -- The U.S. Supreme Court should quickly rule against a lower court that on Monday found North Carolina’s Congressional districts are illegally gerrymandered, the state’s top legislators said Tuesday afternoon.
House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger lead the Republican-controlled General Assembly that’s in charge of drawing the maps used to elect members of Congress. In a written statement, they said they plan to ask the Supreme Court to step in and issue a stay in a court case that Berger, Moore and other legislators lost on Monday in front of a panel of three federal judges.
“In yesterday’s decision, the three-judge panel forecasted voiding the results of primaries and canceling the November election for Congress,” their statement said. “Such an action would irreparably disrupt campaigns from both major parties across the state that have been organizing, raising money and trying to win over voters.”
The judges did not necessarily say they were going to cancel the November elections. They ruled that the state’s 13 Congressional districts are unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders, and that they were intentionally drawn to give Republicans an undue amount of power and diminish the First Amendment rights of non-Republican voters and politicians in North Carolina.
Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article217455890.html
Republicans try to tie Charlottesville protest images to Democrat Leslie Cockburn in Virginia congre
Republicans try to tie Charlottesville protest images to Democrat Leslie Cockburn in Virginia congressional raceRICHMOND — With images of the torch-bearing white nationalists who rallied in Charlottesville last year, a flyer distributed by the Republican Party of Virginia accuses a Democrat running for Congress of being anti-Semitic.
The party bases that allegation on a 1991 book Leslie Cockburn co-wrote that is highly critical of U.S.-Israeli covert operations.
“Racists in Charlottesville chanted ‘Jews will not replace us.’ Leslie Cockburn’s book adds fuel to the fire,” says the mailer, which mixes pictures of torch-bearing protesters with a photos of Cockburn and her book, “Dangerous Liaison.” “Reject anti-Semitism. Reject Leslie Cockburn.”
The party said the mailers went to “thousands” of voters across the district. Asked whether Cockburn opponent Denver Riggleman supports the use of the flyers, campaign manager Joe Chelak said in an email: “Denver Riggleman has condemned White Supremacy and all forms of hate. He is disturbed and appalled by Leslie Cockburn’s book’s use on White Supremacy websites. Her radical stance on Israel is a foreign policy issue that 5th district voters should be informed about.”
Read more: https://www.roanoke.com/news/politics/republicans-try-to-tie-charlottesville-protest-images-to-democrat-leslie/article_751a831a-441a-5e5b-bcf6-06db5dc8ce76.html
Ex-Virginia police chief accused of abduction, sex assault
PEARISBURG, Va. (AP) — A former Virginia police chief is accused of holding a woman against her will and sexually assaulting her.
News outlets report 46-year-old Kevin Matthew Buckland was arrested Tuesday and charged with abduction and sexual assault by force. A Virginia State Police release says both charges against the former Rich Creek police chief involve the same woman but stem from two different incidents.
A search warrant says Buckland also is accused of sexually assaulting another woman in April.
Buckland was the Rich Creek Police Department's chief and sole officer from 2003 to 2006 when he was fired following a disagreement with the town council. The Roanoke Times reports Buckland also has worked for the Giles County Sheriff's Office and the Narrows and Radford police.
Read more: https://www.roanoke.com/news/nation/wire/ex-virginia-police-chief-accused-of-abduction-sex-assault/article_80495b76-8243-5d74-92bb-8afb02af10df.html
Service dog company 'bamboozled' Virginia Tech student, judge says
CHRISTIANSBURG — A Madison County service dog company took advantage of a Virginia Tech student who volunteered to raise one of its puppies, and it must pay her expenses for dog food, vet bills — and legal defense, a Montgomery County judge ruled Wednesday.
But Tech junior Brianna Burch doesn’t get to keep the Labrador retriever named Lesley, General District Court Judge Randal Duncan ruled.
“I know you’re heartbroken by this, but they’re the owner of the dog,” Duncan said.
Burch was sued after she refused to return Lesley to Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers, a company that is itself being sued by the commonwealth for what the attorney general has called dishonest business practices. Burch filed a counterclaim seeking to keep the dog and recoup her costs.
Read more: https://www.roanoke.com/news/local/montgomery_county/service-dog-company-bamboozled-virginia-tech-student-judge-says/article_13c347d1-ecc1-5658-9bde-d48713963cf6.html
Court filing: Democrats say Shaun Brown's listed address is not her residence
Virginia Democrats have enlarged their arguments seeking to remove congressional candidate Shaun Brown from the Nov. 6 ballot, saying in a court filing that all her petitions are invalid because her home address is phony on the documents.
The accusation is a new addition to the state party’s lawsuit filed Aug. 13 against state elections officials, seeking to remove Brown, an independent, from the 2nd Congressional District ballot over claims that scores of signatures are fraudulent. State officials had reviewed and approved her petitions weeks ago.
The suit involves petitions collected by workers for Rep. Scott Taylor’s re-election campaign; separate investigations by the Democratic Party and The Virginian-Pilot found more than 80 signatures where the person listed as signing said they never signed the petition and a handful of other individuals who apparently are deceased. That sparked a criminal probe being conducted by a special prosecutor.
Attorneys for Democrats argued in a supplemental filing late Friday to the civil suit in the Richmond Circuit Court that all of Brown’s petitions list one of two home addresses that were not her residence. One location is a non-existent address and the other a townhouse where the landlord said she offered to let Brown use it for her campaign but Brown never did.
Read more: http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-pilot-shaun-brown-address-20180829-story.html
Fourth MS-13 member pleads guilty in Woolen Mills killing
The fourth and final MS-13 gang member charged with hacking to death an Albemarle County man last summer has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, abduction, lynching and being a member of a criminal street gang.
Jose Luis Escobar-Umana, 23, on Thursday made his plea in Albemarle County Circuit Court. He joins Walter Antonio Argueta Amaya, 21, in pleading guilty to the same four counts in the killing of Marvin Joel Rivera Guevera, 24.
Juan Carlos Argueta, 19, and Juan Carlos Zelaya, 19, both pleaded guilty to gang participation and lynching in Guevera’s killing in exchange for dropping first-degree murder and murder-by-mob — or lynching — charges.
Guevera’s disfigured corpse was found in Moores Creek in a part of the Woolen Mills neighborhood that is in Albemarle County on July 4, 2017, and his burned car was found the same day elsewhere in the county.
Read more: https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/courts/fourth-ms--member-pleads-guilty-in-woolen-mills-killing/article_935b2010-a7db-11e8-b1ce-3f6db17664d3.html
U.S. Postal Service looking into how Spanberger's records were released
A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service said the agency is looking into how an unredacted security questionnaire filled out years ago by congressional candidate Abigail Spanberger was publicly released.
A GOP research firm submitted a Freedom of Information Act request July 9 to the National Personnel Records Center and received a reply July 30 from the Postal Service, where Spanberger once worked as a postal inspector before becoming a CIA agent in 2006. Spanberger, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Dave Brat, R-7th, as he seeks a third term.
On Tuesday, Spanberger wrote a letter to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a conservative super PAC, accusing the group of illegally obtaining her records, saying they should have been confidential.
There’s no evidence that the PAC and research firm it worked with did anything wrong.
Read more: https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/u-s-postal-service-looking-into-how-spanberger-s-records/article_a8d24345-af9b-5dd1-ab47-72622a5d6093.html
Florida's high-stakes race for governor quickly turns nasty
Source: AP
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In a sign that the next 10 weeks could eclipse past campaigns in the nation’s largest political battleground, Florida’s race for governor swiftly became heated and personal after the surprising primary victories of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis.
Gillum, a far-left Democrat seeking to become the state’s first black governor, and DeSantis, a Trump-endorsed Republican, are political opposites. DeSantis assailed Gillum in a Wednesday television appearance that critics denounced as racist after the Republican called Gillum an “articulate” candidate, but said “the last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting this state.” President Donald Trump, also weighed in on the race by calling Gillum a “failed socialist mayor” on Twitter.
Gillum responded by decrying what he called the “gutter politics” of DeSantis that he said echoes the influence of Trump on American politics.
“I think the Florida electorate is going to reject the politics of division,” Gillum said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’re going to try to compel and appeal to the higher values of the people of the state of Florida.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/2557f9883ae943ebb6753e2ced603a56
California closer to making colleges offer abortion drugs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A measure that would make California the first state to require all public universities to offer abortion medication at their campus health centers cleared a hurdle Wednesday.
None of the 34 University of California or California State University campuses currently offer abortion services. The California Assembly approved the measure, which returns to the Senate for a final sign-off.
Private donors have agreed to pay millions of dollars in startup costs including ultrasound machines, staff training and the creation of a 24-hour hotline for questions and emergency referrals. Universities would be required to offer the service by 2022.
Medication that instigates an abortion can be administered up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. One medication is administered in the clinic and a patient is given a second drug to take later at home.
Read more: https://www.richmond.com/news/latest-news/ap/california-closer-to-making-colleges-offer-abortion-drugs/article_04969079-8633-5cbc-afe9-00b0bfa197cc.html
Kanye West apologizes for saying slavery was 'a choice'
Kanye West apologized Wednesday on a Chicago radio station for calling slavery a "choice," and he broke down on air over an old friend.
"I don't know if I properly apologized for how that slave comment made people feel, so I want to take this moment right now to say that I'm sorry for hurting, I'm sorry for the one-two effect of the MAGA hat into the slave comment," West told 107.5 WGCI radio in his hometown.
"And I'm sorry for people who felt let down by that moment, and also I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity to talk to you about the way I was thinking and what I was going through and what led me to that," he said.
West also addressed a question that left him speechless on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" about why he feels President Donald Trump cares about black people. He later tweeted he wasn't stumped by the question and didn't much appreciate how the show cut awkwardly to a commercial break after his extra-long pause.
Read more: https://www.richmond.com/news/latest-news/ap/kanye-west-apologizes-for-saying-slavery-was-a-choice/article_7724f324-e0cc-5776-99a6-01f8469aeee4.html
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