Open Newswire

Harrell Wilson of Rison won the Republican nomination for a vacant Senate seat in southeast Arkansas on Tuesday, moving to the general election in the heavily-Republican district. Wilson defeated Missy Wardlaw and won nearly 65% of the 4,790 votes cast in the primary, according to unofficial results from the Arkansas secretary of state’s office. He […]

Russia marks Cheburashka’s 60th birthday on August 20 amid both enduring love for the creature and debate over his morality and even his “ethnicity.”

El resultado convirtió a la película de Looney Tunes en una de las producciones más llamativas de cara a su estreno en cines.

Lili Reinhart y Tom Bateman protagonizan esta comedia romántica que llevará a la pantalla una de las historias favoritas de los lectores.

Председатель партии «Яблоко» Николай Рыбаков обратился к главе МВД России Владимиру Колокольцеву с требованием прекратить преследование граждан, которые приходили поддержать партию к зданию Верховного суда 10 и 17 августа.

Laika abre las puertas de un bosque donde la magia, el peligro y lo desconocido son protagonistas de su nueva película stop motion.

Una serie que convierte los secretos familiares, las heridas del pasado y las nuevas formas de paternidad en una historia tan emotiva como incómoda.

No action was taken on efforts to regulate the Broadview proposal, which has been the subject of months of legal wrangling. Still, residents and media packed the room and listened as dozens of county residents pleaded with the commissioners to give them a say. The post Frustrated, rowdy data center opponents make more noise in Yellowstone County appeared first on Montana Free Press.

O Festival de Brasília do Cinema Brasileiro chega à 59ª edição com mais de 70 produções na programação. O evento este ano acontece graças à pressão popular, que fez a governadora Celina Leão (PP) liberar o orçamento da mostra. O mais longevo evento dedicado ao cinema nacional chegou a ser cancelado pelo Governo do Distrito […] Fonte

ئیمارات، دوای هەڕەشە مووشەکییەکانی ئێران، هەموو بازرگانی و مامەڵە داراییەکانی لەگەڵ ئێران ڕاگرتووە؛ ئەم بڕیارە لە کاتێکدایە کە واشنتن خۆی بۆ زیادکردنی گوشاری ئابووری زیاتر لەسەر ئێران ئامادە دەکات و گرژییەکان لەسەر تەنگەی هورمز بەردەوامن. لە هەمان کاتدا.

The Moscow-based company Vetbiokhim has urged dog owners and veterinarians not to use four batches of its Multikan vaccines.

When Harry Belafonte let loose the word ”Day-O” in Webster Hall in 1955, it echoed a storied past. He was in the ballroom recording “The Banana Boat Song,” a working man’s cry for reprieve, taken from the Caribbean’s banana loaders, who worked nights to escape the scorching heat, for his album Calypso. Decades earlier, in... The post When Harry met ‘Hava Nagila.’ Belafonte’s lifelong love affair with Jewish culture appeared first on The Forward.

Orange County voters flipped the school board chair voting in Angie Gallo over conservative-backed Alicia Farrant on Tuesday. The local school board race drew attention from a vast list of partisan groups despite it being officially nonpartisan. Gallo received endorsements from the Democratic Public Education Caucus of Florida, Equality Florida PAC, Everytown for Gun Safety, Florida Education Association, Gun Sense Voter, Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, and more. Meanwhile Farrant, who has been a member of the Orange County School Board since 2022, was endorsed by the Orange County GOP, Stand for Health Freedom, Conservative Ministers of Orlando, the 1776 Project PAC, and several Republican state legislators, among other endorsements. “Angie’s victory means Orange County voters have kicked out the last Moms for Liberty member off the Orange County School Board. Floridians are tired of culture wars in our classrooms and are electing leaders who will focus on the practical things our students need,” the Florida Democratic Party said in a statement. Farrant said she was disappointed with the outcome but acknowledged “the city has spoken.” “Thank you to each and every one of you who stood beside me and helped me fight hard for common sense and a wholesome education for our children. We gave this campaign everything we had, and I am so incredibly grateful for every person who walked through this journey with me,” said Farrant. On Wednesday, Gallo shared the Equality Florida Action PAC’s congratulatory statement on her win to her social media page. “Angie has been clear about what she believes public education should look like: schools where every student is safe and supported, educators are respected and empowered, families have a meaningful voice, and every young person has access to a well-rounded education that prepares them for their futures. Congratulations to Angie Gallo on her election as Orange County School Board Chair," said Equality Florida Action PAC Executive Director, Joe Saunders. Aside from Gallo winning the school board chair seat, two more spots on the Orange County School Board went to candidates backed by the Florida Democratic Party. Melissa Lopez Marantes won in District 1 and Glorida Reina O’Neal secured the spot in District 2. Elsewhere in Florida, a seat on the Sarasota County School Board was flipped by retired teacher and Democrat-backed Beth Mayberry who came out victorious in District 5.

(The Center Square) — A new report issued by a Jewish teachers group found a "persistent pattern of hostility" towards Jewish students, educators and staff in New York City schools in the wake of Israel's war against Hamas. The report by the group United Jewish Teachers documented 250 "antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents" in New York City public schools since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, many of which were direct attacks on Jewish students. The majority of cases involved "direct acts of harassment, vandalism, and threats" according to the report, but also "biased curriculum and instructional materials, as well as disruptive events such as walkouts and protests." "These incidents have created hostile learning and working environments across the system," the report's authors wrote. "The report ... shows that antisemitism remains a serious and ongoing problem in New York City Public Schools." Meanwhile, there was "limited or no effective follow through by the schools or district leadership, “allowing hostile conditions to persist," they noted. "These patterns have continued across multiple school years, indicating that existing policies and practices have not adequately protected Jewish members of the school community," the report stated. The group recommends that the Mamdani administration adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism as part of the Education Department's regulations, policies and professional training. In a statement, the DOE defended its policies to protect Jewish students and other religious minorities, touting the school system's "leading anti-bullying and bias prevention efforts." “New York City Public Schools is focused on ensuring that every student and educator is safe and respected in school," the statement said. "We have a zero tolerance for hate or bias, including antisemitism, and investigate and respond to all reported incidents in accordance with our Chancellor’s Regulations and applicable laws." But the report is the latest to scrutinize New York public schools amid a rise of antisemitism that followed the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and triggered Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza strip and West Bank. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city's first Muslim leader, has been highly critical of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of the war. In April, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the New York City Department of Education to determine whether it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Jewish students. The investigation is based on complaints that New York school officials recently allowed the group "NYC Educators for Palestine" to hold a series of teaching seminars focused on “Palestine, Zionism, and Resistance.” Federal investigators said the complaints allege that the group is teaching children as young as five about “contemporary and historical Palestinian resistance,” that Zionists are “genocidal white supremacists,” and to support the terrorist group Hamas and its “martyrs" in the fight against Israel. The DOE investigation was the latest in a series of disputes between the federal government and the nation's largest school district over President Donald Trump's agenda. The Trump administration previously withheld over $35 million in grants to the city after it refused to change transgender student policies. But the move was blocked by a federal judge, who ruled that the funding freeze was illegal.

As famílias das comunidades de Piauí Poço Dantas, Ponte do Piauí e Santa Luzia, no Vale do Jequitinhonha, escolheram, nessa terça-feira (18), a entidade que prestará a Assessoria Técnica Independente (ATI) às pessoas atingidas pela mineração de lítio da Sigma Mineração S.A. Em votação realizada entre 16h e 20h, em Itinga, o Instituto Brasileiro de […] Fonte

(The Center Square) — Planned Parenthood is pumping more than half a million dollars into Maine's pivotal U.S. Senate race in an effort to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the midterms. The group's political action committee announced this week that it plans to spend more than $600,000 on a barrage of ads highlighting Collins’s vote for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was a part of the high court's 6-3 conservative majority in 2022 that overturned federal abortion protections. "I was wrong. I voted for Susan Collins and I really regret it," the woman says in a 30-second ad. "She voted to raise our health care costs and restrict abortion. When Susan Collins says these votes don't impact women in Maine — of course they do." Collin's campaign pushed back on the claims, pointing out in a statement that the veteran GOP lawmaker has long supported Planned Parenthood and women's reproductive rights and has bucked her party on the issue of abortion over the years. "The Planned Parenthood Action Fund cares more about electing Democrats than any issue," Collins’s campaign spokesperson Blake Kernen said in a statement. "As Planned Parenthood itself said, Susan Collins has always supported access to care for Mainers and all Americans, and she will continue to do so." Planned Parenthood Votes said the ad buy is the biggest so far of the election cycle and part of its broader campaign to push back against Republican attacks on abortion access. "The past two years have made it clear: The Trump administration and its backers in Congress will stop at nothing to steal our reproductive rights," the group says on its website. "Up and down the ballot we have the power to decide what’s best for our families, our bodies, our lives, and our futures." Collins is facing a challenge from Democrat Troy Jackson, an Allagash logger and former state Senate President, who was chosen by the party to replace disgraced Senate candidate Graham Platner after he dropped out of the race in early July amid allegations of sexual assault. Jackson, a former Republican who previously opposed abortion and same-sex marriage, has shifted his view over the years and been credited for helping expand access to women's reproductive services during his time in the state Legislature. He has a 100% recent voting rating from the Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund. Despite that, Planned Parenthood has yet to offer a full-throated endorsement of him in the Senate race. The organization had previously endorsed Platner in the Senate race but pulled back in July after the allegations of sexual abuse emerged. The group was among a chorus who had called on the ex-Marine to drop out of the race "to give voters the chance to elect someone who reflects their values politically and personally." The Maine Senate race is considered a must-win contest for the Democratic Party as it pushes to retake the U.S. Senate, where Republicans currently have a 53-45 majority. Collins is the only Republican senator running for reelection this year in a Democratic-led state that Kamala Harris carried in the 2024 presidential election. The latest poll shows a competitive race with Jackson ahead of Collins by more than two percentage points, but within the margin of error. The Fox News survey, conducted between Aug.6-10, found 55% of voters said they were "concerned" that Collins votes too often with Trump, who had a negative 20-point net favorability rating in the state. That included a majority of self-described independent voters, who make up nearly a third of Maine’s electorate, according to pollsters. The RealClearPolitics polling average has Jackson leading Collins by 2.3 points. Both parties are channeling tens of millions of dollars into a crush of TV and digital advertising to sway undecided voters ahead of the election. The tracking company AdImpact estimates there has been more than $193 million in political ad spending and reservations in the Maine Senate race to date, including $42 million announced by the Senate Leadership Fund, a GOP super PAC, and a $33 million ad buy placed by Democrats' Senate Majority PAC.

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here.At least 50,000 mail ballots never made it to voters during Arizona’s July 21 primary election.That number, based on information gathered by Votebeat from 11 of the state’s 15 counties, isn’t out of the ordinary. In fact, it appears roughly in line with that of prior major elections. About 71,000 mail ballots went undelivered statewide during the 2024 general election, according to data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that represented all of the state’s counties.Every year, some ballots that are mailed out to voters are returned to election officials because the voter’s address is incorrect or the voter has a forwarding address on file. (In Arizona, ballots legally can’t be forwarded.)Their return does not necessarily mean those voters were disenfranchised, as they could have voted in person instead. But slowdowns in mail processing and President Donald Trump’s invections against mail voting put voters and advocates nationwide on edge about the U.S. Postal Service’s role in elections. Anxiety is especially acute in Arizona, where the vast majority of voters cast ballots by mail. That has put more attention on the state’s undeliverable ballots.Those fears were on full display last month in Navajo County, a rural county in the northeast quadrant of the state where Recorder David Marshall said just before the primary that his office was experiencing “an issue” with the U.S. Postal Service.“We have received over 900 returned ballots — over 900,” Marshall, a Republican who was recently appointed to his post, said in a public meeting on July 14. “Why? Don’t know.”Later, the number of undelivered ballots in the county rose to more than 1,300 — a figure that continues to tick slightly upward as delayed returns from the Postal Service trickle in. The news quickly spread, drawing extensive media coverage and the attention of Trump himself.This year, more ballots than usual statewide might have been undeliverable because voters were out of town. Some county recorders told Votebeat that they noticed a slightly higher number of ballots returned with postal codes indicating that the intended recipients were temporarily away. Most chalked that up to the state’s earlier-than-usual primary date. In February, state lawmakers shifted the primary from Aug. 4 to July 21.But in the Navajo County case, data and records suggest nothing nefarious, or even all that unusual, was afoot.What data and records show about undeliverable ballots in Navajo CountyVotebeat found that Navajo County’s rate of undeliverable ballots was indeed higher than that of other jurisdictions across Arizona during this year’s primary. As of Aug. 12, county officials said 1,377 ballots went undelivered in the rural county, or about 3.9% of the total number of ballots mailed out. By contrast, across the other 10 counties where Votebeat was able to collect data, only 2.3% of ballots were returned undelivered.But data from the EAC shows Navajo County’s undeliverable ballot rate isn’t unheard of historically in Arizona. During the 2024 general election, for instance, La Paz County saw about 4.4% of its mail ballots returned as undeliverable. In 2022, Coconino and Pinal each received thousands of undeliverable ballots from the Postal Service — about 5.5% and 3.8% of the total number of mail ballots sent to voters by officials, respectively. Statewide, undeliverable ballot rates rose as high as 4.7% in the 2016 general election.Furthermore, undeliverable ballot rates can vary widely from year to year. Navajo County, for instance, has seen its rate fluctuate from as low as 0.6% to as high as 3.3% in recent general elections.The data isn’t perfect. Some counties told Votebeat they counted undeliverable ballots in the primary election slightly differently than other counties. The EAC collects data on undeliverable ballots after each general election, but not for primary elections. And in some years, not all counties reported undeliverable ballot data to the EAC. But records obtained by Votebeat also suggest that Navajo County’s high rate of returned ballots wasn’t because something went wrong with their delivery. Following Marshall’s remarks, county officials asked the Postal Service to examine a sampling of the undeliverable ballots. When the Postal Service did so, it found that nine of the 10 ballots submitted by the county had a valid reason for being returned. The remaining ballot required further investigation.Officials appear to be backing away from undeliverable ballot fearsFederal, state, and local officials have been working to tease out whether there was an identifiable issue connected to the undelivered ballots in Navajo County — or if the number, while not ideal, came from processes operating as usual.Initially, some officials — including Marshall in his remarks at the public meeting — appeared to suggest that something may have gone awry. But in recent weeks, the county’s tone has gradually shifted.For instance, the Navajo County Recorder’s Office said in a July 24 statement that it was working with the Postal Service to “identify any issues that may have occurred during the mailing process.”Later, on July 31, the office issued an updated statement. It said it had sent an expanded sample of 200 undeliverable ballot envelopes to the Postal Service for review. Of those, the Postal Service found that 66% were returned because the recipient had some type of change-of-address order on file. Others were marked undeliverable because they were addressed to vacant homes or closed postal boxes. “Returns of ballots occurred in other Arizona counties, demonstrating that this is a routine part of election administration statewide,” the statement read.Calli Jones, a spokesperson for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, told Votebeat on July 30 that her office was working to set up meetings with the Postal Service to “learn more about this situation on their end.” And on Aug. 14, Richie Taylor of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office said his office believed the undeliverable ballots were normal after looking into the matter.“We’ve spoken to the recorder in Navajo County and they’ve verified that the rejection rate is in line with historical rejection rates, so we don’t believe there’s anything nefarious going on there,” Taylor told Votebeat.Meanwhile, Cathy Purcell, a spokesperson for the Postal Service, told Votebeat on July 24 that mail carriers returned the ballots to the county “in accordance with proper protocol.”Can Arizona reduce its undeliverable ballots?Some number of undeliverable ballots may be normal and a sign that the system is working as intended. Still, undeliverable ballots are far from ideal, and officials in Navajo County say they will work to reduce them in the future.In a statement, officials said they would begin taking more proactive steps to clean up the county’s voter rolls ahead of November. When ballots are returned as undeliverable, the Navajo County Recorder’s Office will begin sending affected voters a mailed notice that can be forwarded by the Postal Service to their current address, if available.The office will also seek to email, call, and text voters if their contact information is available in their voter record.“This additional step will provide multiple ways for voters to receive information, respond, and update their registration,” officials said on July 31.Sasha Hupka is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Sasha at shupka@votebeat.org.

گزارش برنامه تفسیر خبر: سفر قالیباف به عراق چه پرده‌های پنهانی دارد؟

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. A bill guaranteeing paraprofessionals a one-time $10,000 pay bump became law automatically on Wednesday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to sign or veto it. Paraprofessionals, school aides who typically support students with disabilities, are among the lowest-paid employees of the city’s public school system […] The post $10K Bonuses for NYC Paraprofessionals Become Law Without Mamdani’s Signature appeared first on The City Reporter.

Tech companies should be bringing their own renewable energy to power data centers, not burning fossil fuels or driving up costs for consumers. The post AI’s Natural Gas Addiction Could Be Deadly for Communities appeared first on OtherWords.