Day: August 16, 2020

Rep. John DeBerry’s Democrat Opponent Condemns Vote for Enhanced Penalties for Assaults Against First Responders and Damage to Property During Protests

Laura Baigert

State Rep. John DeBerry’s Democrat opponent in the November election condemned the long-time legislator’s vote for a bill that increased penalties for committing assault against a first responder or damaging public and private property.

DeBerry is running as an Independent in the November 3 general election for House District 90, having been ousted by the majority White Executive Committee from the Tennessee Democrat Party after serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives as an elected Democrat for nearly 26 years.

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GOP Lawmakers Call on Trump Admin to End Tax Breaks for Abortions

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Over 100 Republican members of Congress sent a letter Wednesday calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to end tax deductions for abortions.

In a letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, 23 senators and 80 representatives urged the Department of the Treasury “to take swift action to issue new regulations to protect innocent human life by ending tax breaks for abortion under the guise of medical care.”

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Seattle Mayor Appeals Judge’s Decision That Could Result in Her Removal from Office

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Democratic Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan urged the state supreme court Wednesday to overturn a lower court decision that allows efforts to remove her from office to proceed.

King County Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts has permitted a recall effort that could effectively remove Durkan from office, according to the Seattle Times. A total of five Seattle residents submitted the petition due to the mayor’s handling of the police response to protests and a weeks-long encampment in the city formerly known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), the Times reported.

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NYT Report Suggests One-Third of TikTok Users Might Be Under 14

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Roughly a third of TikTok’s 49 million daily users in the United States are 14 years old or younger, The New York Times reported Friday, citing internal documents.

The Chinese app’s workers noticed videos from children who appear much younger that remained on the video-streaming platform for weeks, a former employee told the Times. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 1998, requires internet companies to obtain parental permission before gathering data from adolescents under 13.

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Trump: Clinesmith Guilty Plea Is ‘Just the Beginning’ with ‘More to Come’

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President Trump on Friday said that news of former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith’s plea deal with Department of Justice prosecutors was “just the beginning,” signaling that U.S. Attorney John Durham is zeroing in on other targets in his investigation.

Clinesmith is expected to plead guilty in connection with his alteration of an exonerating email during the Crossfire Hurricane (CH) investigation, which targeted members of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, including foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

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Child Well-Being Check Initiative Withdrawn After Uproar in Tennessee

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 The Tennessee Department of Education has withdrawn a $1 million initiative to conduct well-being checks for all children in Tennessee from birth to age 18 after the program sparked uproar this week, with critics calling it a big-brother government overreach.

Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Dr. Penny Schwinn released the Child Wellbeing Check Toolkit during a news conference Tuesday. As originally published, the initiative recommended well-being checks for all children in the state to verify well-being as school closures have left gaps for nutrition, health, and abuse reporting services amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Biden Raises $48 Million in 48 Hours After Picking Harris as VP

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Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign raised $48 million in the 48 hours after he selected California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, campaign officials told Reuters Thursday.

The haul is a sign of Biden’s growing fundraising strength ahead of his party’s convention which begins Monday, Reuters reported. Biden is set to formally accept his party’s nomination Aug. 20.

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Data Shows Long History of Pay-to-Play Among Ohio Republican Party, DeWine, Householder and FirstEnergy

Jason M. Reynolds

Mike DeWine, as former Ohio attorney general, often awarded no-bid contracts to lawyers and collections agencies to do state work. Many of those chosen vendors also happened to be his campaign donors.

The Dayton Daily News in July 2014 reported on the connections between Attorney General DeWine’s awarding of collections contracts to vendors who also just happened to be campaign donors.

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Ohio School Reopening Plan Draws Criticism

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Schools in Ohio are planning to employ a mix of in-person, at-home and hybrid options when schools reopen, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has left the decision on how to start the new school year to individual school districts.

Schools in Ohio are planning to employ a mix of in-person, at-home and hybrid options when schools reopen, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has left the decision on how to start the new school year to individual school districts.

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Michigan Health Director Says Contact Tracing Contract a Mistake, but Not Politically Motivated

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Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Director Robert Gordon on Thursday said approving a Democrat-connected firm for contact tracing was a mistake, but not politically motivated.

Gordon said MDHHS first had local health departments attempt contact tracing but those agencies didn’t have enough resources, requiring MDHHS to seek a vendor.

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