Outgoing Colombian President Alleges Israel Meddled in Presidential Election

Source: Haaretz

Colombia's outgoing president accused Israel of meddling in the country's presidential election after his preferred successor was defeated by a far-right candidate backed by U.S. President Donald Trump and widely praised by ministers in Netanyahu's government.

An initial ballot count of the second round of votes found that Abelardo de la Espriella has clinched a narrow victory in Sunday's election, winning some 49.66 percent of the vote while his rival, Ivan Cepeda, trailed by roughly 250,000 votes. De la Espriella's victory marks a shift back to the right after four years under Colombia's first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, who was constitutionally barred from seeking a second term and backed Cepeda as his preferred successor.

Posting on X overnight into Monday, Petro alleged that "foreign interference" had been at play, tipping the scales in de la Espriella's favor. "Neither [candidate] can be proclaimed president. It is the scrutiny that determines who is the president," he wrote in Spanish in the post.

Petro cast doubt over the results published by Colombia's National Civil Registry, the independent body that oversees the country's elections, and suggested Israel was responsible.

Read more: https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/2026-06-22/ty-article/.premium/outgoing-colombian-president-alleges-israel-meddled-in-presidential-election/0000019e-ee65-d514-a9bf-fe7f5b1e0000

Florida Supreme Court keeps new congressional districts in place

Source: Sun-Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE — The new congressional district map will remain in effect for the midterm elections, after the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a push to block the new configuration.

In a 6-1 ruling, the court determined the First District Court of Appeal should consider the merits of the case before it weighs in on the matter. Equal Ground Education Fund and two other voting rights groups brought the case alleging the new districts were drawn to favor the Republican Party, a violation of the state’s anti-gerrymandering law, but the First DCA didn’t grant a temporary injunction while the underlying case is pending.

“At this time, we do not have jurisdiction over that matter, and we do not simply assume that the First District’s decision will provide an appropriate basis for this Court’s review,” the court ruling states.

Justice Jorge Labarga wrote a dissent arguing the court did have jurisdiction, and chiding the First DCA for not expediting a review by the Florida Supreme Court. The qualifying deadline for U.S. House candidates ends Friday at noon, leaving no time for the courts to rule on the merits of the case before the elections are locked in place.

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/06/10/florida-supreme-court-keeps-new-congressional-districts-in-place/

Attempt to unify around one Black candidate against Wasserman Schultz in Florida's 20th District falters

Source: Sun-Sentinel

Efforts by Black congressional candidates and political leaders to coalesce around one challenger to U.S. Debbie Wasserman Schultz apparently have failed.

Elijah Manley, one of four Black candidates in the Broward County 20th Congressional District, officially qualified as a candidate on Wednesday, dealing a blow to the unity effort.

A second blow to the effort came later in the day when another of the four candidates, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, said she, too, would qualify as a candidate in the Aug. 18 Democratic primary. “I will be qualifying,” she said via text, but didn’t say when.

Finally, candidate Dale Holness said he would officially qualify to get on the ballot. “It seems as if everybody’s going to qualify,” he said. “We’ll see where it goes.”

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/06/10/attempt-to-unify-around-one-black-candidate-against-wasserman-schultz-in-floridas-20th-district-falters/

Jill Biden says she was "frightened" by Joe Biden's 2024 debate performance, thought he was having a stroke

Source: CBS News

Former first lady Jill Biden said she was "frightened" by her husband Joe Biden's 2024 debate performance and thought he was having a stroke.

"I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never," Jill Biden told CBS News Sunday Morning's Rita Braver in an interview airing Sunday on CBS.

"I don't know what happened," she said. "As I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death."

Biden was running for a second term when he stumbled through the June 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump, prompting widespread calls for him to drop out of the race. He dropped out a month later, with 107 days to go until the general election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. He became the first sitting president to pull out of a presidential race since President Lyndon B. Johnson stepped aside in March of 1968.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jill-biden-interview-joe-biden-debate-frightened-stroke/

Wasserman Schultz Will Run in Majority-Minority District in South Florida

Source: New York Times

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida, said on Friday that she planned to run for re-election in a majority-minority district under the state’s newly redrawn congressional map.

The map created four additional Republican-leaning districts in part by eliminating her South Florida seat. Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run in Florida’s new 20th Congressional District, however, has stoked tensions with Black Democrats already reeling from Republican gerrymanders across the South that are likely to dilute or eliminate Black representation in Congress.

“We cannot let Trump destroy Broward County’s power,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who is serving in her 11th congressional term and is a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a video announcement.

She was referring to President Trump’s push for Republican governors and state legislatures around the country to engage in an unusual and highly partisan round of redistricting in the middle of the decade to help retain control of Congress. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, signed the state’s aggressively partisan new map on May 4, setting off a musical-chairs-style scramble among South Florida Democrats.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/us/politics/wasserman-schultz-redistricting.html

Accusing party of antisemitism, Pa. Supreme Court Justice David Wecht leaves Democratic Party that elected him

Source: WHYY

Justice David Wecht of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania announced that he is leaving the Democratic Party, citing what he described as anti-Jewish actions and rhetoric within the party.

In a message distributed by the state court system, he said that antisemitic “hatred has grown on the left” and that it has “moved from the fringe to the mainstream.”

“Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled,” he wrote. “Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.”

Wecht said he could “no longer abide by this.”



Read more: https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania-supreme-court-justice-david-wecht-leaves-democratic-party-antisemitism/

Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results

Source: Axios

The Virginia Supreme Court overturned the results of the state's redistricting referendum, which voters narrowly approved last month.

Why it matters: The ruling upends one of the most closely watched redistricting fights in the country.

It follows months of legal challenges over whether the referendum was unconstitutional.
The big picture: The decision effectively blocks Democrats from redrawing congressional maps mid-decade.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/05/08/virginia-supreme-court-redistricting-vote-decision

Former Fauci aide charged with conspiring to evade Covid-related records requests

Source: Politico

A former senior official at the National Institutes of Health has been indicted on obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges for allegedly concealing federal records about research into viruses like the one that caused the Covid pandemic.

David Morens, 78, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Maryland, earlier this month on three felony counts for allegedly using a Gmail account to hide official communications about controversial federally funded projects studying coronaviruses in bats. The indictment was unsealed Monday, when Morens made a brief appearance in court and was released on his own recognizance, according to court records.

According to the indictment, Morens sent and received emails on his private account in order to thwart Freedom of Information Act requesters seeking information about so-called gain-of-function research, which can make pathogens deadlier or more transmissible in order to study them.

After the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, at least eight FOIA requests were submitted for such records by organizations including Science Magazine, Judicial Watch and the Heritage Foundation, the indictment says.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/fauci-aide-covid-research-indictment-00895447

Supreme Court Sides With Chevron in Fight Over Wetlands Suits

Source: Bloomberg Law

The US Supreme Court sided with Chevron Corp. in a protracted fight over jurisdiction stemming from the state of Louisiana’s lawsuits seeking to hold the oil and gas industry legally responsible for the rapid erosion of its coastal wetlands.

The justices in 8-0 decision ruled that Chevron had plausibly alleged the conduct its accused of related to oil refining activities carried out on behalf of the federal government during World War II, and therefore is sufficient to remove Louisiana’s case from state to federal court.

The opinion, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, reversed a decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and remanded it for further proceedings. Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in oral arguments due to a conflict of interest.

The case is Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish, U.S., 24-813, 4/17/26

Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/supreme-court-sides-with-chevron-in-fight-over-wetlands-suits

Coach does it again: