Obama to Democrats: ‘Sulking and moping is not an option’ PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Democratic Party’s most powerful voices warned Saturday that abortion, Social Security and democracy itself are at risk as they labored to overcome fierce political headwinds – and an ill-timed misstep from President Joe Biden – over the final weekend of the 2022 midterm elections. “Sulking and moping is not an option,” former President Barack Obama told several hundred voters on a blustery day in Pittsburgh.
“On Tuesday, let´s make sure our country doesn´t get set back 50 years.” Later in the day, Biden shared the stage with Obama in Philadelphia, the former running mates campaigning together for the first time since Biden took office.
In neighboring New York, even former President Bill Clinton, largely absent from national politics in recent years, was out defending his party. The trio of Democrats were the first presidents, but not last, to speak out on Saturday as voters across America decide control of Congress and key statehouses.
Former President Donald Trump finished the day at a rally in working-class southwestern Pennsylvania, describing the election in apocalyptic terms. “If you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the American dream, then on Tuesday you must vote Republican in a giant red wave,” Trump told thousands of cheering supporters, describing the United States as “a country in decline.” ___ Twitter users can soon get blue check for $7.99 monthly fee SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Twitter has announced a subscription service for $7.99 a month that includes a blue check now given only to verified accounts as new owner Elon Musk works to overhaul the platform´s verification system just ahead of U.S.
midterm elections. In an update to Apple iOS devices available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K., Twitter said users who “sign up now” for the new “Twitter Blue with verification” can receive the blue check next to their names “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.” But Twitter employee Esther Crawford tweeted Saturday that the “new Blue isn´t live yet – the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time.” Verified accounts did not appear to be losing their checks so far. It was not immediately clear when the subscription would go live, and Crawford did not immediately respond to a message to clarify the timing.
Twitter also did not immediately respond to a message for comment. Anyone being able to get the blue check could lead to confusion and the rise of disinformation ahead of Tuesday’s elections, but Musk tweeted Saturday in response to a question about the risk of impostors impersonating verified profiles – such as politicians and election officials – that “Twitter will suspend the account attempting impersonation and keep the money!” ___ Record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot fans ticket sales MADISON, Wis.
(AP) – The Powerball jackpot has reached a record estimated high of $1.6 billion, leading longtime players and first-timers alike to flock to buy tickets ahead of Saturday night’s drawing. At Woodman’s Markets in Madison, Wisconsin, sisters Christy Bemis and Cherrie Spencer were among the dozens of weekend shoppers who paid for their groceries and loaded up carts before joining the line at the lottery counter to purchase their shot at the prize. They said they almost never buy lottery tickets, but they were lured in by the size of the jackpot. “My $2 has just as good a chance of winning as anyone else’s $2,” said Spencer. The counter was one of the busiest areas of the supermarket – so busy that employees set up stanchions to guide the queue.
Like most of the players in line, Jim Olson, 78, was buying Quick Picks, randomly generated Powerball numbers, but he doesn’t always. ___ N. Korea fires more missiles as US flies bombers over South SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea added to its recent barrage of weapons demonstrations by launching four ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday, as the United States sent two supersonic bombers streaking over South Korea in a dueling display of military might that underscored rising tensions in the region. South Korea´s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the four short-range missiles fired from a North Korean western coastal area around noon flew about 130 kilometers (80 miles) toward the country´s western sea. The North has test-fired more than 30 missiles this week, including an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday that triggered evacuation alerts in northern Japan, and flew large numbers of warplanes inside its territory in an angry reaction to a massive combined aerial exercise between the United States and South Korea. The South Korean military said two B-1B bombers trained with four U.S.
F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean F-35 jets during the last day of the “Vigilant Storm” joint air force drills that wraps up Saturday. It marked the first time since December 2017 that the bombers were deployed to the Korean Peninsula. The exercise involved around 240 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries. North Korea´s Foreign Ministry late Friday described the country´s military actions this week as an appropriate response to the exercise, which it called a display of U.S.
“military confrontation hysteria.” It said North Korea will respond with the “toughest counteraction” to any attempts by “hostile forces” to infringe on its sovereignty or security interests. ___ Power blackouts hit Ukraine amid heavy Russian shelling KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s state electricity operator on Saturday announced blackouts in Kyiv and seven other regions of the country in the aftermath of Russia’s devastating strikes on energy infrastructure. The move comes as Russian forces continue to pound Ukrainian cities and villages with missiles and drones, inflicting damage on power plants, water supplies and other civilian targets, in a grinding war that is nearing its nine-month mark. Russia has denied that the drones it has used in Ukraine came from Iran, but the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister on Saturday for the first time acknowledged supplying Moscow with “a limited number” of drones before the invasion. Hossein Amirabdollahian claimed, however, that Tehran didn’t know if its drones were used against Ukraine and stated Iran’s commitment to stopping the conflict. Ukrenergo, the sole operator of Ukraine´s high-voltage transmission lines, initially said in a an online statement Saturday that scheduled blackouts will take place in the capital and the greater Kyiv region, as well as several regions around it – Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv. Later in the day, however, the company released an update saying that scheduled outages for a specific number of hours aren’t enough and instead there will be emergency outages, which could last an indefinite amount of time. ___ Manchin: Biden’s coal comments are ‘divorced from reality’ JOLIET, Ill.
(AP) – President Joe Biden on Saturday was criticized by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, 파워볼엔트리 a Democratic antagonist and ally, for being “cavalier” and “divorced from reality” after vowing to shutter coal-fired power plants and rely more heavily on wind and solar energy in the futurp> The powerful coal-state lawmaker said Biden’s words “ignore the severe economic pain” for people from higher energy prices and are why Americans “are losing trust” in Biden. Manchin’s stinging rebuke of his party’s leader comes at precarious time for Democrats on the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s elections that could put Republicans back in power in Congresp> Manchin called for a public apology, and the White House later released a statement saying Biden’s words had been “twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended” and that the president “regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offensep> Biden raised Manchin´s ire with his reference to coal power during a speech Friday in Carlsbad, California, to spotlight his $280 billion plan to boost the semiconductor industry and scientific researcp> “I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America. Guess what? It cost them too much money,” Biden said.
“No one is building new coal plants because they can´t rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plant. So it´s going to become a wind generation,” Biden added. “We´re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solarp> _p> Deadly tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma, flatten buildinp> IDABEL, Okla.
(AP) – Residents in southeastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas began assessing weather damage Saturday, working to recover and thankful to have survived after a storm stretching from Dallas to northwest Arkansas spawned tornadoes and produced flash flooding, killing at least two people, injuring others and leaving homes and buildings in ruinp> Oklahoma Gov.
Kevin Stitt went to the town of Idabel to see the damage. He said on social media that all the homes had been searched and a 90-year-old man was killed. Keli Cain, spokesperson for the state´s Department of Emergency Management, said the man´s body was found at his home in the Pickens area of McCurtain County, about 36 miles (58 kilometers) north of Idabep> Morris County, Texas, Judge Doug Reeder said in a social media post that one person died as a result of a tornado in the far northeastern Texas County, offering no other detailp> Reeder and other county officials did not immediately return phone calls for additional commenp> The Oklahoma Highway Patrol also reported a 6-year-old girl drowned and a 43-year-old man was missing after their vehicle was swept by water off a bridge near Stilwell, about 135 miles (217 kilometers) north of Idabel.
The drowning has not been officially attributed to the storm and will be investigated by the medical examiner, Cain saip> _p> Singer-rapper Aaron Carter dies in California at age p> LANCASTER, Calif.
(AP) – Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead Saturday at his home in Southern California. He was 3p> Representatives for Carter´s family confirmed the singer´s death.
His fiance, Melanie Martin, asked for privacy as the family grievep> “We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality,” Martin said in a statement Saturday. “Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciatedp> Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brother´s boy band, and recorded several hits including “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” and “I Want Candyp> Deputies responded around 11 a.m.
following reports of a medical emergency at the home in Lancaster, a desert city about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of downtown Los Angeles, said Deputy Alejandra Parra with the LA County Sheriff’s Departmenp> _p> GOP’s Cheney endorses Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanbergp> RICHMOND, Va.
(AP) – Republican Rep. Liz Cheney crossed the political aisle again this election year and endorsed a Democratic colleague in a competitive House race, backing former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger on Saturday as she seeks a third term in a newly redrawn district in northern Virginip> Cheney, vice chair of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot and an unsparing critic of former President Donald Trump who lost to a Trump-backed challenger in her Wyoming primary in August, said in a statement that Spanberger was focused on finding solutions and “dedicated to serving this country and her constituents and defending our Constitutionp> The GOP nominee in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which is centered around the Interstate 95 corridor in exurban Washington and rural communities to the east and west, is Yesli Vega, a county official and former police officer recently endorsed by Trump> In the statement provided by Spanberger´s campaign, Cheney said Vega “is promoting conspiracy theories, denying election outcomes she disagrees with, and defending the indefensible.” Cheney added: “We need our elected leaders to be honest, serious, and responsible, which is why I would urge voters in Virginia´s 7th District to support Abigail Spanbergerp> During her primary campaign, Vega said she believed there was evidence that “indicates that the election of 2020 was interfered with.” But she said she did not believe the election was stolen. Vega has also faced persistent criticism from Spanberger and other Democrats over remarks – not specifically mentioned in Cheney´s endorsement – in which Vega indulged the notion that pregnancy could be less likely in cases of rapp> _p> No.
1 Georgia shuts down QB Hooker, No. 2 Tennessee, 27-p> ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Stetson Bennett threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score and No. 1 Georgia shut down No. 2 Tennessee’s high-powered offense, dominating the Volunteers 27-13 on Saturday in an SEC showdown of the nation’s top-ranked teamp> Georgia (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) turned the 25th regular-season matchup of the top two teams in the AP poll into rout that made clear the defending national champions are still the team to beap> In a deafening and soggy Sanford Stadium, Georgia led 27-6 before Tennessee scored its first touchdown with 4:15 remaininp> Hendon Hooker, who entered as the Heisman Trophy frontrunner after taking down Alabama last month, passed for only 195 yards for Tennessee (8-1, 4-1) and was sacked six times by star defensive tackle Jalen Carter and the Bulldogs’ defensp> Hooker threw an interception, lost a fumble that nearly resulted in a safety for Georgia and didn’t throw a touchdown pasp>