One of the largest U.S. railroad unions on Monday rejected a proposed wage deal with leading industry players, raising the specter of a strike that could cripple rail transportation just ahead of the holiday shopping season.
Railroad engineers accepted a deal with the railroads that will deliver 24% raises, but the group representing conductors, known as SMART Transportation Division, voted against the pact.
“SMART-TD members with their votes have spoken, it’s now back to the bargaining table for our operating craft members,” said SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said in a statement. “This can all be settled through negotiations and without a strike. A settlement would be in the best interests of the workers, the railroads, shippers and the American people.”
Even the threat of a work stoppage could tangle the nation’s supply chain as railroads will freeze shipments of chemicals and other goods that could create hazards if disrupted midway to their destination.
The split vote Monday follows the rejection by three other unions of their deals with the railroads that the Biden administration helped broker before the original strike deadline in September. Seven smaller unions have approved the five-year deal that, on top of the 24% raise, includes $5,000 in bonuses.
But many union members have voted to reject the contracts because, they say, they fail to address demanding schedules and quality of life issues for employees. All 12 must approve the contracts to prevent a strike that could cripple supply chains and hamper a stressed U.S. economy still emerging from the pandemic.
Potential for “enormous disruption”
The Retail Industry Leaders Association said a rail strike “would cause enormous disruption to the flow of goods nationwide” although retail stores are well stocked for the crucial holiday shopping season.
“Fortunately, this year’s holiday gifts have already landed on store shelves. But an interruption to rail transportation does pose a significant challenge to getting items like perishable food products and e-commerce shipments delivered on time, and it will undoubtedly add to the inflationary pressures already hitting the U.S. economy,” said Jess Dankert with the group that represents more than 200 major retailers.
The unions that rejected their deals agreed to return to the bargaining table to try to hash out a new agreement before a new strike deadline early next month. But those talks have deadlocked because the railroads refuse to consider adding paid sick time to what was already offered.
It appears increasingly likely that Congress will have to step in to settle the dispute. Lawmakers have the power to impose contract terms if both sides can’t reach an agreement. Hundreds of business groups have urged Congress and President Joe Biden to be ready to intervene if needed.
Quality of life concerns
Workers frustrated with the demanding schedules and deep job cuts in the industry pushed to reject these contracts because they don’t resolve workers’ key quality-of-life concerns. The deals for the engineers and conductors did include a promise to try to improve the scheduling of regular days off and negotiate the details of those schedules further at each railroad. The unions that represent engineers and conductors also received three unpaid days off a year to tend to medical needs as long they were scheduled at least 30 days in advance.
The railroads also lost out on their bid to cut crew sizes down to one person as part of the negotiations. But the conductors in the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union still narrowly rejected the deal with roughly 51% voting against it. A smaller division of the SMART-TD union that represents about 1,300 yardmasters did approve the deal.
“The ball is now in the railroads’ court. Let’s see what they do. They can settle this at the bargaining table,” SMART-TD’s Ferguson said. “But, the railroad executives who constantly complain about government interference and regularly bad-mouth regulators and Congress now want Congress to do the bargaining for them.”
The railroads maintain that the deals with the unions should closely follow the recommendations made this summer by a special panel of arbitrators Biden appointed. That’s part of the reason why they don’t want to offer paid sick time. Plus, the railroads say the unions have agreed over the years to forgo paid sick time in favor of higher pay and strong short-term disability benefits.
The unions say it is long overdue for the railroads to offer paid sick time to workers, and the pandemic highlighted the need for it.
The group that negotiates on behalf of the railroads said Monday that the unions that rejected their deals shouldn’t expect to receive more than the Presidential Emergency Board of arbitrators recommended. The National Carriers Conference Committee said businesses could start to be affected by the threat of a strike even before the deadline because railroads will start curtailing shipments of dangerous chemicals and perishable cargo days ahead of the deadline.
“A national rail strike would severely impact the economy and the public. Now, the continued, near-term threat of one will require that freight railroads and passenger carriers soon begin to take responsible steps to safely secure the network in advance of any deadline,” the railroads said.
$2 billion hit
It’s unclear what Congress might do given the deep political divisions in Washington D.C. and a single lawmaker could hold up a resolution. But the head of the Association of American Railroads trade group, Ian Jefferies, said “if the remaining unions do not accept an agreement, Congress should be prepared to act and avoid a disastrous $2 billion a day hit to our economy.”
Republicans may try to impose a deal that includes only what the Presidential Emergency Board recommended while Democrats who still narrowly hold control of both the House and Senate during this lame-duck period might be willing to force the railroads to make additional concessions.
The unions that voted Monday represent more than half of the roughly 115,000 rail workers involved in the contract dispute with Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, CSX and other railroads.
Senator Mitch McConnell has won reelection for Senate minority leader over challenger Rick Scott. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane joins “Red and Blue” to discuss what McConnell is saying about the midterm elections and more.
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday it would back proposed federal legislation to safeguard same-sex marriages, marking the latest show of support for the measure from conservative-leaning groups.
The nearly 17-million member, Utah-based faith said in a statement that church doctrine would continue to consider same-sex relationships to be against God’s commandments. Yet it said it would support rights for same-sex couples as long as they didn’t infringe upon religious groups’ right to believe as they choose.
“We believe this approach is the way forward. As we work together to preserve the principles and practices of religious freedom together with the rights of LGBTQ individuals much can be accomplished to heal relationships and foster greater understanding,” the church said in a statement posted on its website.
Support for the Respect for Marriage Act under consideration in Congress is the church’s latest step to stake out a more welcoming stance toward the LGBTQ community while holding firm to its belief that same-sex relationships are sinful. Still, its stance toward LGBTQ people — including those who grow up in the church — remains painful for many.
The Washington D.C. Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kensington, Maryland, U.S., on Monday, April 18, 2022.
Bloomberg
Patrick Mason, a professor of religious studies at Utah State University, said the church’s position was both a departure from and continuation of its past stances — respecting laws yet working to safeguard religious liberty and ensuring they won’t be forced to perform same-sex marriages or grant them official church sanction.
“This is part of the church’s overall theology essentially sustaining the law of the land, recognizing that what they dictate and enforce for their members in terms of their behavior is different than what it means to be part of a pluralistic society,” he said.
The faith opposes same-sex marriage and sexual intimacy, but it has taken a more welcoming stance to LGBTQ people in recent years. In 2016, it declared that same-sex attraction is not a sin, while maintaining that acting on it was.
The bill, which has won support from Democrats and Republicans, is set for a test vote in the Senate Wednesday, with a final vote as soon as this week or later this month. It comes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, with Justice Clarence Thomas issuing a concurring opinion indicating that an earlier high court decision protecting same-sex marriage could come under threat.
The legislation would repeal the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act and require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed. It would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.” It makes clear that the rights of private individuals and businesses wouldn’t be affected.
Utah’s four congressmen — who are all members of the church — each voiced support for the legislation earlier this year.
People gather to watch a large television screen at City Hall prior to the California Supreme Court hearing on same–sex marriages, in San Francisco, California, March 5, 2009.
Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The church’s public stance is a stark contrast from 14 years ago, when its members were among the largest campaign contributors in support of California’s Prop. 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman in response to cities such as San Francisco granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Troy Williams, the executive director of Equality Utah, said it was “thrilling” to see the church part of the coalition in support of the legislation.
“Despite differences we may have, we can always discover common ground on laws that support the strengthening of all families,” Williams, who grew up a church member, said.
The faith opposes laws that would make it illegal for churches to not allow same-sex couples to marry on their property. But it has supported state-based efforts to pass laws that prohibit employment and housing discrimination as long as they clarify respect for religious freedom.
The Respect for Marriage Act neither fully codifies the U.S. Supreme Court decision that enshrined a federal right to same-sex marriage nor details all religious liberty concerns of those who object to it.
Faith groups see it as vehicle for passing religious liberty protections they haven’t been able to in the past, said Tim Schultz, the president of the 1st Amendment Partnership.
Schultz’s organization is advocating for religious liberty on behalf of a coalition concerned with that subject — a coalition that includes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Same-sex marriage has achieved broad appeal in our culture in significant part because it hasn’t trampled on people who believe in traditional marriage,” he said.
The lawsuit filed Friday alleges that the subpoena “is invalid, unlawful, and unenforceable because President Trump, as a former president of the United States, has absolute immunity from being compelled to testify before Congress or a committee thereof regarding his actions as head of a co-equal branch of government.”
It also argues that while other presidents “voluntarily agreed to testify or turn over documents in response to a congressional subpoena, no president or former president has ever been compelled to do so.”
In a statement provided to CBS News Friday night, Trump attorney David A. Warrington said that: “Long held precedent and practice maintain that separation of powers prohibits Congress from compelling a president to testify before it.”
He said the former president had “engaged with the committee in a good faith effort to resolve these concerns consistent with Executive Branch prerogatives and separation of powers,” but said the panel “insists on pursuing a political path, leaving President Trump with no choice but to involve the third branch, the judicial branch, in this dispute between the executive and legislative branches.”
The committee voted to subpoena Trump during its final hearing before the midterm elections and formally did so last month, demanding testimony from the former president. Committee member members allege Trump “personally orchestrated” a multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
They said Trump had to testify, either at the Capitol or by videoconference, “beginning on or about” Nov. 14 and continuing for multiple days if necessary.
The letter also outlined a sweeping request for documents, including personal communications between Trump and members of Congress as well as extremist groups.
The lawsuit comes as Trump is expected to launch a third campaign for president next week.
The GOP has rightly taken issue with the Biden administration killing foreign civilians in airstrikes and causing mass starvation in Afghanistan by freezing its government assets, not to mention the brutal sanctions on—wait, no, it will be over some Marjorie Taylor Greene bullshit.
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 Biden — over the final weekend of the high-stakes 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,” Obama said. “The only way to save democracy is if we, together, fight for it.”
Obama was the first president, but not last, to rally voters Saturday in Pennsylvania, a pivotal state as voters decide control of Congress and key statehouses. Polls across America will close on Tuesday, but more than 36 million people have already voted.
By day’s end, voters in the Keystone State also were to have heard directly from Mr. Biden as well as former President Donald Trump. And former President Bill Clinton was campaigning in New York.
Each was appearing with local candidates, but their words echoed across the country as the parties sent out their best to deliver a critical closing argument.
Not everyone, it seemed, was on message, however.
Even before arriving in Pennsylvania, Mr. Biden was dealing with a fresh political mess after upsetting some in his party for promoting plans to shut down fossil fuel plants in favor of green energy. While he made the comments in California the day before, the fossil fuel industry is a major employer in Pennsylvania.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the president owed coal workers across the country an apology.
“Being cavalier about the loss of coal jobs for men and women in West Virginia and across the country who literally put their lives on the line to help build and power this country is offensive and disgusting,” Manchin said.
The White House said Mr. Biden’s words were “twisted to suggest a meaning that was not intended; he regrets it if anyone hearing these remarks took offense” and that he was “commenting on a fact of economics and technology.”
Democrats are deeply concerned about their narrow majorities in the House and Senate as voters sour on Mr. Biden’s leadership amid surging inflation, crime concerns and widespread pessimism about the direction of the country. History suggests that Democrats, as the party in power, will suffer significant losses in the midterms.
Clinton, 76, addressed increasing fears about rising crime as he stumped for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose reelection is at risk even in deep-blue New York. He blamed Republicans for focusing on the issue to score political points.
“But what are the Republicans really saying? ‘I want you to be scared and I want you to be mad. And the last thing I want you to do is think,’” Clinton said.
In Pittsburgh, Obama accompanied Senate candidate John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor who represents his party’s best chance to flip a Republican-held seat. Later Saturday, they appeared in Philadelphia with Mr. Biden and Josh Shapiro, the nominee for governor.
Trump will finish the day courting voters in a working-class region in the southwestern corner of the state with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Senate nominee, and Doug Mastriano, who is running for governor.
Former U.S President Donald Trump speaks at a ‘Save America’ rally on October 22, 2022 in Robstown, Texas. The former president, alongside other Republican nominees and leaders held a rally where they energized supporters and voters ahead of the midterm election.
BRANDON BELL / Getty Images
The attention on Pennsylvania underscores the stakes in 2022 and beyond for the tightly contested state. The Oz-Fetterman race could decide the Senate majority — and with it, Mr. Biden’s agenda and judicial appointments for the next two years. The governor’s contest will determine the direction of state policy and control of the state’s election infrastructure heading into the 2024 presidential contest.
Shapiro, the state attorney general, leads in polls over Mastriano, a state senator and retired Army colonel who some Republicans believe is too extreme to win a general election in a state Mr. Biden narrowly carried two years ago.
Polls show a closer contest to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey as Fetterman recovers from a stroke he suffered in May. He jumbled words and struggled to complete sentences in his lone debate against Oz last month, although medical experts say he’s recovering well from the health scare.
Obama addressed Fetterman’s stroke directly when appearing with him in Pittsburgh.
“John’s stroke did not change who he is. It didn’t change what he cares about,” he said.
Fetterman railed against Oz and castigated the former New Jersey resident as an ultrawealthy carpetbagger who will say or do anything to get elected.
“I’ll be the 51st vote to eliminate the filibuster, to raise the minimum wage,” Fetterman said. “Please send Dr. Oz back to New Jersey.”
Oz has worked to craft a moderate image in the general election and focused his attacks on Fetterman’s progressive positions on criminal justice and drug decriminalization. Still, Oz has struggled to connect with some voters, including Republicans who think he’s too close to Trump, too liberal or inauthentic.
Obama acknowledged that voters are anxious after suffering through “some tough times” in recent years, citing the pandemic, rising crime and surging inflation.
“The Republicans like to talk about it, but what’s their answer, what’s their economic policy?” Obama asked. “They want to gut Social Security. They want to gut Medicare. They want to give rich folks and big corporations more tax cuts.”
Obama and Fetterman hugged on stage after the speeches were over.
Saturday marked Obama’s first time campaigning in Pennsylvania this year, though he has been the party’s top surrogate in the final sprint to Election Day. He campaigned in recent days in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, while Mr. Biden has spent more time in Democratic-leaning states where he’s more welcome.
Mr. Biden opened his day in Illinois campaigning with Rep. Lauren Underwood, a two-term suburban Chicago lawmaker in a close race.
The president ticked through his administration’s achievements, including the Inflation Reduction Action, passed in August by the Democratic-led Congress. It includes several health care provisions popular among older adults and the less well-off, including a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket medical expenses and a $35 monthly cap per prescription on insulin. The new law also requires companies that raise prices faster than overall inflation to pay Medicare a rebate.
“I wish I could say Republicans in Congress helped make it happen,” Mr. Biden said of the legislation that passed along party lines. He also vowed that Democrats would protect Social Security.
Yet his comments from the day before about the energy industry — and Manchin’s fierce response — may have been getting more attention.
“It’s also now cheaper to generate electricity from wind and solar than it is from coal and oil,” Mr. Biden said Friday in Southern California. “We’re going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar.”
Pennsylvania has largely transitioned away from coal, but fossil fuel companies remain a major employer in the state.
As for Trump, his late rally in Latrobe is part of a late blitz that will also take him to Florida and Ohio. He’s hoping a strong GOP showing will generate momentum for the 2024 run that he’s expected to launch in the days or weeks after polls close.
Trump has been increasingly explicit about his plans.
At a rally Thursday night in Iowa, traditionally home of the first contest on the presidential nominating calendar, Trump repeatedly referenced his 2024 White House ambitions.
After talking up his first two presidential runs, he told the crowd: “Now, in order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, I will very, very, very probably do it again, OK? Very, very, very probably. Very, very, very probably.”
“Get ready, that’s all I’m telling you. Very soon,” he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her first public appearance since the brutal attack on her husband, rallied grassroots activists Friday, telling them that the midterm elections for control of Congress are a fight for democracy and “very winnable.”
“People say to me, ‘What can I do to make you feel better?’ I say: ‘Vote!’” Pelosi told the activists on the call.
“I believe that this race is very winnable,” she said.
She talked about her husband’s recovery, her voice cracking at times. “It’s going to be a long haul,” she said, of Paul Pelosi, 82, who suffered a fractured skull and other injuries after an intruder broke into their San Francisco home late last week and bludgeoned him with a hammer in what authorities say was an intentional and political attack.
Nancy Pelosi thanked those on the call for the outpouring of support after the attack. She spoke in the early morning from California, where her husband was released from the hospital late Thursday, her voice breaking throughout the lengthy but upbeat address.
“What we are doing is not only to win an election, but this is to strengthen our democracy,” Pelosi said. “There is no question that our democracy is on the ballot.”
The speaker’s comments come as Democrats are facing a stiff fight for control of Congress in the midterm elections Tuesday, as energized Republicans are working to flip the House and Senate and end Democratic hold on Washington.
David DePape, 42, is being held without bail on state charges of attempted murder, burglary and elder abuse. DePape’s public defender, Adam Lipson, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf earlier this week and has pledged to vigorously defend him. Lipson declined to comment Friday.
At a hearing Friday, a San Francisco judge disclosed that she had worked with Speaker Pelosi’s daughter in the 1990s, giving prosecutors and the public defender’s office the opportunity to object to her role in the case.
Judge Loretta “Lori” Giorgi said she and Christine Pelosi had worked together in the San Francisco city attorney’s office in the 1990s but had not interacted in years. Christine is one of the Pelosis’ five adult children and while she has never held elected office, she’s considered to be a potential successor when Pelosi retires from her House seat.
In court filings released earlier this week, officials said DePape broke into the home, carrying zip ties, tape and a rope in a backpack. He woke up Paul Pelosi and demanded to talk to “Nancy,” who was out of town. Two officers who raced to the home after Paul Pelosi’s 911 call witnessed DePape hit him in the head with the hammer.
No one objected during Friday’s hearing to Giorgi’s ties to the Pelosi family but either side could in the future and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the case might be heard by another judge regardless. The public defender’s office did not immediately have a comment.
“I do want to make a disclosure on the record that the daughter of Mr. Pelosi, Christine Pelosi, and I were in the city attorney’s office together in the 90s,” Giorgi told the court. “And I have disclosed to counsel the interactions that I had when she and I were together. I haven’t seen or heard or talked to Ms. Pelosi after she left the office. I do see her here today.”
Giorgi worked in the city attorney’s office from 1985 to 2006, when she was appointed to the bench. She rose to the rank of deputy city attorney and was the office’s public integrity chief.
Christine Pelosi attended Friday’s hearing but seemed to leave through a back door in order to avoid media waiting in the hallway. She entered the courtroom right before the proceeding started and sat in the front row away from reporters.
Christine Pelosi is active in California and national Democratic politics. In 2019, she released a book about her mother titled “The Nancy Pelosi Way.” In 2017, as chair of the California Democratic Party’s women’s caucus, she was actively involved in the #MeToo movement as it took shape in the state capital.
The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for details of Giorgi and Christine Pelosi’s employment.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Wednesday it is making $4.5 billion available through a low-income home energy assistance program to help with heating costs heading into what is expected to be a brutal winter.
Spending for the program is significantly higher than the typical annual funding of about $3.5 billion, but far below the $8 billion the administration and congressional Democrats delivered last winter as part of President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package.
The money spent last year was by far the largest appropriation in a single year since the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program was established in 1981.
The money will be provided to state, local and tribal governments to help more than 5 million families pay heating and utility bill costs, and can also be used to make home energy repairs.
“One of the best ways a family can reduce their energy bill is to make their home more energy efficient,” Vice President Kamala Harris told a crowd at a union hall in Boston.
“But here’s the challenge for many homeowners — many folks who are here today — you know that energy efficiency upgrades are expensive,” she said. “And even though we know it can save you thousands of dollars in the long run, the upfront cost is often too high for so many families to be able to afford.”
By helping families improve energy efficiency, “we are also lowering energy bills, bringing down household costs, creating jobs and fighting the climate crisis,” Harris said.
In New England, one of the major utilities has already announced a 60% price hike for electricity this winter. Utilities are also seeking price hikes for natural gas and home heating oil, citing the war in Ukraine and inflation. The top executive of Eversource Energy, New England’s largest energy provider, warned Biden last week that the region may not have enough power if a severe cold spell hits this winter.
“This represents a serious public health and safety threat,” Eversource CEO Joseph Nolan told Biden, urging the president to use emergency powers to ensure adequate fuel resources in the region.
The announcement of heating assistance comes in the waning days before Tuesday’s elections that will determine which party controls Congress. Democrats are trying to contrast their efforts to help middle and low-income people through the $1 trillion infrastructure law and other legislative measures with Republican suggestions they would use the debt limit as leverage for cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits and other federal programs.
“As heating costs increase, it is more important than ever to help families struggling to make ends meet,″ said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Across the country, families are looking to the winter with dread as energy costs soar and fuel supplies tighten. The LIHEAP program served more than 5.3 million households last year, and a similar number are expected to participate this year.
The Energy Department is projecting sharp price increases for home heating compared with last winter. Some worry that heating assistance programs will not be able to make up the difference for struggling families. The situation is even bleaker in Europe, where supply constraints caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are pushing natural gas prices upward and causing painful shortages.
In a related announcement, the Energy Department said Wednesday it will begin allocating $9 billion approved under the new climate and health law for a program aimed at supporting energy upgrades to 1.6 million households over the next 10 years. Officials expect to make funding available starting next year to states and tribes to better protect homes against the weather and install some 500,000 new heat pumps.
The White House also said it is spending $250 million from the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of heat pumps, which are primarily made in Europe and Asia.
———
Associated Press writers Chris Megerian in Boston and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Leslee Kathryn Buhler Alexander, the wife of former Tennessee governor and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and a longtime family and children’s health advocate, has died at age 77, her family said Sunday.
Known as “Honey,” Alexander was surrounded by her family when she died Saturday at her home outside of the Tennessee city of Maryville, her family said in a statement.
She was married for 53 years to Lamar Alexander, a Republican who served as Tennessee’s governor from 1979 to 1987, and campaigned for him throughout his political career. He also served as U.S. education secretary under President George H.W. Bush, ran for president and spent three terms in the U.S. Senate before retiring in 2020.
While her husband was governor, Alexander led the statewide Healthy Children Initiative, which sought to provide prenatal health care for children. She was a member of the 1985-1986 Southern Regional Task Force on Infant Mortality, the governor’s task forces on day care and youth alcohol and drug abuse, and the U.S. Health Secretary’s Council on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, her family’s statement said.
She also co-founded Leadership Nashville in 1976 and served on many boards, including the Junior League of Nashville and the Hermitage. She also had been vice-chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a board member of Family Service America and the National Archives Foundation, the statement said.
The Honey Alexander Center, located at the Nashville nonprofit Family and Children’s Service, opened in 2019.
“Our dear ‘Honey’ was funny, loving, always caring, unselfish and courageous,” her family said in the statement. “We are so fortunate to have spent our lives with her. We will miss her every day.”
Honey Alexander was born Oct. 12, 1945, in Los Angeles. She was working for U.S. Sen. John Tower of Texas when she met her future husband, who was a staffer for U.S. Sen. Howard Baker Jr. of Tennessee, during a softball game between the two staffs in 1967, her family said. They married in 1969.
Honey Alexander liked to jog, plant flowers and read historical novels, her family said. She also loved to spend time with her children and grandchildren, her family said.
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Honey Alexander “modeled grace, charity, and public service.” Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter that she “devoted her life to serving others & made a profound impact through her work to support children & families.”
Honey Alexander will be remembered at a private graveside service for family members and at a memorial service to be held later at Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, the family said.
At least 10 Republican candidates who won primaries for statewide or federal office this year have claimed they were in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump marched to the Capitol to interrupt the peaceful transition of power and the ensuing riot eventually turned violent. Five people died in connection with the riot, including a police officer. Another four officers died by suicide in the days, weeks and months after the assault on the Capitol.
All 10 non-incumbent candidates have denied or cast doubt on the 2020 election results. Three of the 10 candidates could win congressional seats in November, which would take them from election-denying protesters to sitting members of Congress. Another stands to become the chief election official in Arizona.
Democrats have spent little time or money focused on ads highlighting the Jan. 6 activities of these candidates. According to the ad-tracking firm, AdImpact, just $2.7 million out of $163 million of broadcast TV ad dollars went to House races where a candidate was at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6. In many cases, Democratic groups actually tried to boost some of the election-denying candidates during the primary season, calculating that they would be weaker opponents for Democrats in the general election.
Here’s a list of 10 candidates who were at or near the Capitolon Jan. 6:
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
Congressional candidates
Derrick Van Orden, GOP nominee, Wisconsin, 3rd Congressional District
Derrick Van Orden, the Republican nominee for Wisconsin’s 3rd District, was among the demonstrators outside the Capitol, according to an op-ed he wrote for the LaCrosse Tribune and other published reports. In that op-ed, publisheda week after the attack, Van Orden wrote, “At no time did I enter the grounds, let alone the building.” He claimed to have been on the outside, saying he had “stood on the parapet that lines the perimeter of the grounds.” On Jan. 6, 2021, he also denounced in a tweet “all forms of political violence regardless of what side commits it.”
What initially started as a peaceful protest devolved into unlawful political violence.
When this happened, I left as I will not be party to illegal acts.
I categorically denounce all forms of political violence regardless of what side commits it.
The Daily Beast reported that photos from Jan. 6 show Van Orden “had to cross police barricades to reach that area.” Van Orden disputed the article but has offered no further clarification.
He has not responded to CBS News’ request for comment.
The Trump-endorsed candidate hopes to succeed Democrat Ron Kind, who has represented the 3rd District since 1997 and is retiring at the end of his current term. Kind beat Van Orden by less than three points in 2020. Van Orden, a former Navy Seal and actor, and state Sen. Brad Pfaff, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin’s 32nd District, are now vying for the open seat.
Although the district has been held by a Democrat for over two decades, projections by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics show the race is currently leaning in favor of Van Orden. Republican-aligned PACs are outspending Democrats in online and TV advertising. Axios also reported the House Majority PAC, which supports Democratic candidates, plans to cancel some of the remaining ad reservations for Pfaff. Pfaff countered with an ad highlighting Van Orden’s Jan. 6 activities, hoping to convince voters to reject him. The Associated Press reported, the Republican electorate in Wisconsin doesn’t appear to care about his connection to Jan. 6.
Sandy Smith, GOP nominee, North Carolina, 1st Congressional District
Sandy Smith, who is making her second run at a Congressional seat, tweeted on Jan. 6, 2021 “In DC fighting for Trump! Just marched from the monument to the Capitol!” Her participation didn’t deter Republican voters in the 1st District in North Carolina, despite the House GOP-aligned PAC running ads attacking her ahead of the Republican primary. She prevailed against seven other candidates in the May primary and went on to receive Trump’s endorsement last month.
In 2020, Smith also won the Republican primary but lost in the general election to Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield. After her defeat, she tweeted, “I ran for congress. Did better than anyone ever did in this district on the Republican side. Dominion was used in my district. My polling had me ahead. Yet somehow my opponent got truckloads of ballots without even campaigning. No audit. No precinct breakdown. Total sham! #NC01”. According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Dominion voting machines were not used in any elections in the state.
Butterfield, a long-time congressman and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, announced his retirement after redistricting made North Carolina’s 1st District friendlier to Republicans. Predictions indicate the race is leaning toward the Democratic nominee Donald Davis, a state senator who represents the 5th Legislative District.
J.R. Majewski, GOP nominee, Ohio, 9th Congressional District
Still from House Majority PAC ad showing GOP congressional candidate JR Majewski on Jan. 6, 2021
Screengrab via YouTube.com
“When everything started to happen…we all left. I was responsible for 60-70 people at the Capitol. I had multiple people get injured but I made sure they made it back to our hotel. It was a terrible experience,” Majewski said in an interview with Toledo TV station WTOL in April 2021. “It was one that was supposed to be great.”
But as a candidate, Majewski’s record has come under scrutiny for other reasons. He claimed that he served the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan. Military records obtained by the Associated Press revealed that he never deployed to Afghanistan. The AP said that Majewski’s campaign, when asked about his records, “did not directly address questions about his claim of deploying to Afghanistan.” A subsequent AP report noted that his campaign claimed that he was demoted and punished after a “brawl,” but military records and show that he was, in fact, demoted and punished for drunk driving on a U.S. air base in Japan. Majewski, according to the AP, acknowledged in a statement that he had been punished for drunk driving but did not say why his campaign had attributed his demotion to a brawl.
Last month, the National Republican Congressional Committee, withdrew ads for Majewski.
Although the Republican party “has no hesitation about backing candidates who either were there at the Capitol or who endorsed the ridiculous election lies of Donald Trump,” Sabato surmised that they are merely “being pragmatic” in light of the popularity of these candidates with GOP voters. The race is now leaning in favor of Majewski’s Democratic opponent, incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
Leon Benjamin Sr., GOP nominee, Virginia, 4th Congressional District
Leon Benjamin Sr., a pastor and military veteran, ran uncontested in the Republican primary and now he heads to the general election as the GOP candidate for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District. It’s his second attempt to unseat Democratic incumbent, Rep. Donald McEachin. In 2020, McEachin defeated Benjamin by over 22 points, but Benjamin continues to claim that the election was stolen.
According to photos and a live-stream video he posted on Facebook,Benjamin was in Washington on Jan. 6. The photos show him at the Ellipse during Trump’s speech and near the Capitol.He wrote, “Virginia we are ready for the next step. Do not lose heart. Leadership is coming out of you: those who love America, Fair and Just Elections, God, Family and Constitutional Republic! #PatriotParty#benjamin4congress#FlipTheFourth.”
Jo Rae Perkins, GOP nominee, Oregon, U.S. Senate
Jo Rae Perkins, is making another longshot bid for U.S. Senate in Oregon, after an unsuccessful campaign in 2020 against incumbent Democrat Jeff Merkley. Records show Perkins first filed to run for U.S. Senate in Oregon in 2013.
In the May 2022 primary, Perkins beat six other Republican candidates. Now, she’s facing incumbent Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden. Wyden has held the position since 1996 and is up 17 points, according to a recent Civiqs poll.
Perkins has touted Q-Anon conspiracy theories and election lies. She also attended Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, and she told CBS Portland affiliate KOIN that she walked up to the exterior of the Capitol building but did not enter. Perkins falsely claimed members of Antifa were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Jeff Zink, Arizona, 3rd Congressional District
“I can give you a first-hand account” of Jan. 6, said Jeff Zink, the GOP nominee for Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District. Zink, an “America First” Republican, is running against Democratic incumbent Rep. Ruben Gallego.
Zink has said he did not enter the Capitol and didn’t participate in the violence. “At no time did I, nor my son Ryan enter the building, trespass or damage any property of the United States,” he told Texas station WCBD. Furthermore, the allegations that my son physically assaulted ANYONE are completely unfounded, without evidence or merit, and politically motivated.”
But his son, Ryan Zink, was indicted for obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and multiple counts of disorderly conduct. Ryan Zink pleaded not guilty on all counts. The FBI statement of facts shows Ryan Zink saying in a video, “We knocked down the gates! We’re storming the Capitol! You can’t stop us!” Jeff Zink said his son was “incarcerated for six weeks.”
Tina Forte, New York, 14th Congressional District
Republican Tina Forte’s prospects of beating popular Democratic incumbent Alexandra Ocasio- Cortez are slim in New York’s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens. In 2020, Ocasio-Cortez beat her Republican challenger by a 44.2-point margin.
Still, Forte won the August Republican primary against challenger Desi Joseph Cuellar with over 65% of the vote. As of Sept. 30, she has raised nearly $1 million, according to federal campaign finance data.
On Jan. 6, Forte live-streamed video near the Capitol with other demonstrators. The video shows her standing in front of a poster of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with fangs. In a statement, Forte wrote, “I absolutely did NOT enter the Capitol building.” Last month, NY1 spoke with Forte, who said she joined demonstrators in Washington on Jan. 6 “to shine light on the election.” She added, “I’m not going to say I regret it because I don’t.”
Statewide candidates
Three Republican nominees seeking statewide office in 2022, were also among the rally-goers and rioters in Washington on Jan. 6. Polling shows one of the demonstrators could be the next secretary of state in Arizona.
Mark Finchem, GOP nominee, Arizona, secretary of state
Mark Finchem, the current state representative for Arizona’s 11th Legislative District and the Republican nominee for secretary of state, was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. The Arizona Mirror reported that images of Finchem captured that day showed him walking in front of the east steps of the Capitol. In a recent interview with CBS News, when asked why he was in Washington, Finchem responded that he was “representing [his] constituents.” He declined to acknowledge if President Joe Biden’s presidential win was legitimate. Finchem was also subpoenaed and interviewed by the Jan. 6 House select committee, as a “witness,” he clarified.
As secretary of state, Finchem would oversee Arizona’s elections through the 2024 election. He assures his “commitment is to just follow the law,” but added, “we also need to have an elections procedure manual that reflects current law.” Current Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is running for governor in Arizona against Republican Kari Lake.
Several candidates, including Doug Mastriano and Dan Cox, arranged for buses to drive demonstrators to Washington on Jan. 6. Mastriano, a Republican state senator and GOP gubernatorial nominee in Pennsylvania, spent thousands of dollars on chartered buses and posted an event on Facebook charging $10-$25 for bus rides to D.C. on Jan. 6, according to NPR member station WHYY.
Mastriano said he did not cross police lines at the Capitol and left when the protests turned violent, which he does not condone. According to a Senate Judiciary Committee report, video footage shows Mastriano and his wife on the grounds of the Capitol behind police lines. Democrats have called on Mastriano to release the footage taken on his phone on Jan. 6 to prove his version of events.Mastriano briefly spoke with the Jan. 6 House select committee in August but soon after filed a lawsuit, against the committee, for refusing to allow him to record the testimony.
A CBS News Battleground Tracker poll released in October showed Mastriano trailing his Democratic challenger Josh Shapiro, by double digits.
Dan Cox, GOP nominee, Maryland governor
On Jan. 6, Dan Cox, a Maryland state delegate and the Republican nominee for governor of Maryland, called then-Vice President Mike Pence a “traitor,” In a statement after the attack, Cox wrote in Maryland Matters that because it was so crowded that the group he was with “could not approach the capitol” and “left early for the bus ride home and of course did not participate in any violence.”
Democrats boosted Cox, who was endorsed by Trump ahead of the Republican primaries in the heavily Democratic state. Cox beat Kelly Shulz, the Republican candidate endorsed by Maryland’s term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan. Now, Cox faces Democrat Wes Moore in the race for governor.
Cox, who has touted election lies and conspiracy theories, is trailing Moore by 32-points, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. Hogan, a moderate Republican, has harshly criticized Cox, calling him a “QAnon whack job.” In a recent interview with CBS News, Hogan said, “It should be a huge year for Republicans. But we haven’t always nominated the strongest candidates for a general election.”
President Biden — accompanied by one of his granddaughters, a first-time voter — cast his midterm ballot on Saturday.
In-person early voting in his home state of Delaware, where Mr. Biden regularly returns for weekends, began Friday. Democrats nationwide have encouraged voters to take advantage of early voting, either by mail-in ballots or at precincts where available to maximize turnout.
Mr. Biden said he was feeling good about the midterms, which will decide control of Congress for the next two years.
U.S. President Biden and his granddaughter Natalie Biden after they voted early in Wilmington, Delaware, on Oct. 29, 2022. Natalie Biden is a first-time voter and daughter of the late Beau Biden.
TASOS KATOPODIS/AFP via Getty Images
In the final days before the Nov. 8 elections, Mr. Biden plans to step up his campaign travels with scheduled trips to Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico and Maryland to stump for Democratic congressional and gubernatorial candidates.
“I’m going to be spending the rest of the time making the case that this is not a referendum. It is a choice. A fundamental choice,” he said. “A choice between two very different visions for the country.”
Mr. Biden voted alongside his granddaughter Natalie, who is 18 years old. He also voted in Delaware last month, when he made a quick, one-day trip for the state’s Sept. 13 primaries.
Delaware has no competitive congressional races this cycle.
MONTGOMERY, Ala — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said this week that the country has too many “takers” instead of workers and suggested that many in younger generations — including people in their 40s — don’t understand they need to work.
Tuberville, 68, made the remarks while discussing the national worker shortage during a speech to business groups in south Alabama.
“What’s happening in our country right now, we’re getting too many takers in our country,” Tuberville said Tuesday, according to Al.com. Later, he added, “They don’t want to go to work. We’ve got to get Generation X and these Millennials to understand that you have to tote your own load.”
A spokeswoman for Tuberville, responding to a question from The Associated Press on Wednesday, said the state’s junior senator misspoke and meant to say Generation Z, which includes people born after 1997, instead of Generation X, which includes people in their 50s. Millennials are generally defined as people born between 1981 and 1996. The oldest millennials are entering their 40s.
Tuberville made the remarks in Mobile on Tuesday. He was the featured speaker at a Forum Alabama breakfast presented by the Mobile Chamber and attended by local business leaders. He also spoke to news outlets during an appearance at Austal USA after touring the shipyard. The remarks about generational work ethic came two weeks after Tuberville was widely criticized for comments about race and crime.
Fox10 reported that Tuberville blamed government benefits.
“We’re getting too many takers in our country,” the former college football coach said. “They’d rather take a (government) check.”
While the federal government initially sent out trillions in pandemic relief funds, the COVID-19-related extended unemployment benefits and stimulus checks have ended. The last pandemic stimulus check was given out last year.
Businesses nationwide have struggled to fill positions amid a dire worker shortage, prompting some companies to raise wages or offer perks such as college tuition reimbursement to try to lure workers. Economists have pointed to complex reasons for the worker shortage in the wake of the pandemic, including a rise in early retirements, a shortage of affordable child care and other factors that have contributed to a workforce reshuffling.
Tuberville’s comments came two weeks after he drew widespread criticism for saying at an election rally that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.”
In an interview with FOX10 afterward, Tuberville maintained his comments were about crime, not race. “It had nothing to do with race. You know crime has no color,” he said.
Tuberville rejected calls to apologize. “I would apologize if I meant anything about race, but it wasn’t. Like I said, race has no color. Reparation would have no color,” Tuberville said.
Al.com reported that Tuberville deflected a question about the controversy.
“We don’t have enough people right now paying the price for a lot of the crimes that are being made,” he said. “They don’t need to be rewarded for it. They need to understand that we can’t run a country — it’s like a football team. If you’ve got people going in different directions breaking all the rules, you’re not going to win.”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two Russian Indigenous Siberians were so scared of having to fight the war in Ukraine, they chanced everything to take a small boat across the treacherous Bering Sea to reach American soil, Alaska’s senior U.S. senator said after talking with the two.
The two, identified as males by a resident, landed earlier this month near Gambell, on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Strait, where they asked for asylum.
“They feared for their lives because of Russia, who is targeting minority populations, for conscription into service in Ukraine,” Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Saturday during a candidate forum at the Alaska Federation of Natives conference in Anchorage.
“It is very clear to me that these individuals were in fear, so much in fear of their own government that they risked their lives and took a 15-foot skiff across those open waters,” Murkowski said when answering a question about Arctic policy.
“It is clear that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is focused on a military conquest at the expense of his own people,” Murkowski said. “He’s got one hand on Ukraine and he’s got the other on the Arctic, so we have to be eyes wide open on the Arctic.”
Murkowski said she met with the two Siberians recently but didn’t provide more details about exactly when or where the meeting took place or where their asylum process stood. She was not available after the forum for follow-up questions.
Murkowski’s office on Oct. 6 announced their request for asylum, saying the men reportedly fled one of the coastal communities on Russia’s east coast.
A village elder in Gambell, 87-year-old Bruce Boolowon, is believed to be the last living Alaska National Guard member who helped rescue 11 U.S. Navy men who were in a plane that was shot down by Russian MIGs over the Bering Sea in 1955. The plane crash-landed on St. Lawrence Island.
Gambell, an Alaska Native community of about 600 people, is about 36 miles (58 kilometers) from Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia.
Even though one of the Russians spoke English pretty well, two Russian-born women from Gambell were brought in to translate. Both women married local men and became naturalized U.S. citizens, said Boolowon, who is Siberian Yupik.
Russians landing in Gambell during the Cold War was commonplace, but the visits were not nefarious, Boolowon said. Since St. Lawrence Island is so close to Russia, people routinely traveled back and forth to visit relatives.
But these two men seeking asylum were unknown to the people of Gambell.
“They were foreigners and didn’t have any passports, so they put them in jail,” he told The Associated Press last week.
The two men spent the night in the jailhouse, but townspeople in Gambell brought them food, both Alaska Native dishes and items bought at a grocery store.
“They were pretty full; they ate a lot,” Boolowon said.
“The next day, a Coast Guard C-130 with some officials came and picked them up,” he said, adding that was the last he heard about the Russians.
Since then, officials have been tight-lipped.
“The individuals were transported to Anchorage for inspection, which includes a screening and vetting process, and then subsequently processed in accordance with applicable U.S. immigration laws under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” was all a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said in an email this past week when asked for an update on the asylum process and if and where the men were being held.
Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney in Anchorage, said it’s very unlikely information about the Russians will ever be released.
“The U.S. government is supposed to keep all of this confidential, so I don’t know why they would be telling anybody anything,” she told the AP.
Instead, it would be up to the two Russians to publicize their situation, which could put their families in Russia at risk. “I don’t know why they would want to do that,” Stock said.
Thousands of Russian men fled the country after Putin in September announced a mobilization to call up about 300,000 men with past military experience to bolster forces in Ukraine.
Messages sent last week and again on Saturday to the Russian consular office in San Francisco were not returned.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two Russian Indigenous Siberians were so scared of having to fight the war in Ukraine, they chanced everything to take a small boat across the treacherous Bering Sea to reach American soil, Alaska’s senior U.S. senator said after talking with the two.
The two, identified as males by a resident, landed earlier this month near Gambell, on Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Strait, where they asked for asylum.
“They feared for their lives because of Russia, who is targeting minority populations, for conscription into service in Ukraine,” Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Saturday during a candidate forum at the Alaska Federation of Natives conference in Anchorage.
“It is very clear to me that these individuals were in fear, so much in fear of their own government that they risked their lives and took a 15-foot skiff across those open waters,” Murkowski said when answering a question about Arctic policy.
“It is clear that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is focused on a military conquest at the expense of his own people,” Murkowski said. “He’s got one hand on Ukraine and he’s got the other on the Arctic, so we have to be eyes wide open on the Arctic.”
Murkowski said she met with the two Siberians recently but didn’t provide more details about exactly when or where the meeting took place or where their asylum process stood. She was not available after the forum for follow-up questions.
Murkowski’s office on Oct. 6 announced their request for asylum, saying the men reportedly fled one of the coastal communities on Russia’s east coast.
A village elder in Gambell, 87-year-old Bruce Boolowon, is believed to be the last living Alaska National Guard member who helped rescue 11 U.S. Navy men who were in a plane that was shot down by Russian MIGs over the Bering Sea in 1955. The plane crash-landed on St. Lawrence Island.
Gambell, an Alaska Native community of about 600 people, is about 36 miles (58 kilometers) from Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia.
Even though one of the Russians spoke English pretty well, two Russian-born women from Gambell were brought in to translate. Both women married local men and became naturalized U.S. citizens, said Boolowon, who is Siberian Yupik.
Russians landing in Gambell during the Cold War was commonplace, but the visits were not nefarious, Boolowon said. Since St. Lawrence Island is so close to Russia, people routinely traveled back and forth to visit relatives.
But these two men seeking asylum were unknown to the people of Gambell.
“They were foreigners and didn’t have any passports, so they put them in jail,” he told The Associated Press last week.
The two men spent the night in the jailhouse, but townspeople in Gambell brought them food, both Alaska Native dishes and items bought at a grocery store.
“They were pretty full; they ate a lot,” Boolowon said.
“The next day, a Coast Guard C-130 with some officials came and picked them up,” he said, adding that was the last he heard about the Russians.
Since then, officials have been tight-lipped.
“The individuals were transported to Anchorage for inspection, which includes a screening and vetting process, and then subsequently processed in accordance with applicable U.S. immigration laws under the Immigration and Nationality Act,” was all a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said in an email this past week when asked for an update on the asylum process and if and where the men were being held.
Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney in Anchorage, said it’s very unlikely information about the Russians will ever be released.
“The U.S. government is supposed to keep all of this confidential, so I don’t know why they would be telling anybody anything,” she told the AP.
Instead, it would be up to the two Russians to publicize their situation, which could put their families in Russia at risk. “I don’t know why they would want to do that,” Stock said.
Thousands of Russian men fled the country after Putin in September announced a mobilization to call up about 300,000 men with past military experience to bolster forces in Ukraine.
Messages sent last week and again on Saturday to the Russian consular office in San Francisco were not returned.
BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota farmer who had been detained in Ukraine since November 2021 on accusations he planned to kill his business partner is back home, the state’s two U.S. senators announced Friday.
Kurt Groszhans, from Ashley, North Dakota, has ancestors from Ukraine and went there to farm in 2017. The relationship with his partner, law professor Roman Leshchenko, crumbled after Groszhans alleged that Leshchenko embezzled money from him.
Groszhans and his assistant were arrested on charges of plotting to assassinate Leshchenko, who was then Ukraine’s agriculture minister. Groszhans said in a statement Friday that the Ukrainian officials made up the charges in an “effort to shut me up” after he discovered corruption “at the highest levels” of the government.
“I am grateful to be home after this horrible ordeal,” Groszhans said in a statement. “My family and supporters worked tirelessly over a long period of time to make this happen and it was nice to be able to celebrate my birthday on North Dakota soil.
“The fact they refused to classify me as a wrongful detainee was an unfortunate and politically cowardly act that cost me almost a year of my life,” he said.
Groszhans is among a handful of Americans jailed in Ukraine or Russia whose departures have been complicated by the war.
A statement Friday from Groszhans’ family said the charges would have been dismissed in a U.S. court for lack of evidence. “Kurt was eventually able to legally depart Ukraine when his bail restrictions allowed,” the statement said.
Republican U.S. Sens. Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven said they are grateful for Groszhans’ safe return home but did not offer further information.
“Out of respect for the family’s wishes, we aren’t able to provide additional details at this time,” said Kami Capener, Hoeven’s spokeswoman.
Cramer did not immediately return an email message seeking further comment.
Across the U.S., families are looking to the winter with dread as energy costs soar and fuel supplies tighten.
The Department of Energy is projecting sharp price increases for home heating compared with last winter and some worry whether heating assistance programs will be able to make up the difference for struggling families. The situation is even bleaker in Europe, with Russia’s continued curtailment of natural gas pushing prices upward and causing painful shortages.
In Maine, Aaron Raymo saw the writing on the wall and began stocking up on heating oil in 5-gallon increments over the summer as costs crept upward. He filled a container with heating oil as he could afford it, usually on paydays, and used a heating assistance program to top off his 275-gallon oil tank with the arrival of colder weather.
His family is trying to avoid being forced into a difficult decision — choosing between food or heating their home.
Aaron Raymo lives with his partner, Lucinda Tyler, and 8-year-old son in Jay, Maine, an area known for its bitter-cold winters. Tyler wept with relief when she learned they qualified for a modest amount of heating assistance.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
“It’s a hard one,” he said. “What are you going to choose for food, or what amount of fuel oil are you going to choose to stay warm?”
What’s driving up heating costs
A number of factors are converging to create a bleak situation: Global energy consumption has rebounded from the start of the pandemic, and supply was barely keeping pace before the war in Ukraine further reduced supplies.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association says energy costs will be the highest in more than a decade this winter.
The Energy Department projects heating bills will jump 28% this winter for those who rely on natural gas, used by nearly half of U.S. households for heat. Heating oil is projected to be 27% higher and electricity 10% higher, the agency said.
That comes against inflation rates that accelerated last month with consumer prices growing 6.6%, the fastest such pace in four decades.
Also, the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries earlier this month decided to sharply cut production to support sagging oil prices, a move that could raise home heating costs as well as gas prices.
The pain will be especially acute in New England, which is heavily reliant on heating oil to keep homes warm. It’s projected to cost more than $2,300 to heat a typical home with heating oil this winter, the energy department said.
Across the country, some are urging utilities to implement a moratorium on winter shut-offs, and members of Congress already added $1 billion in heating aid. But there will be fewer federal dollars than last year when pandemic aid flowed.
“It seems that it’s not enough”
In Jay, Maine, where Raymo lives with his partner, Lucinda Tyler, and 8-year-old son, residents were already bracing for the worst before the local paper mill announced it’s going to close, putting more than 200 people out of work. That has the potential to wreak havoc on the town budget, and cause higher property taxes that will further eat into residents’ budgets.
Both Raymo and Tyler work full-time jobs. He works as many as 70 or 80 hours a week in an orthopedists’ office and she works from home in shareholder services for a financial services company. They don’t qualify for much help even though they’re scraping by to keep up with repairs, buy gas and put food on the table — and heat their 100-year-old home in a state known for bitter cold weather.
“We work significant hours but it seems that it’s not enough,” said Tyler, who wept with relief when she learned they qualified for even a modest amount of heating assistance.
Last month, Congress added $1 billion in funding to Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, bringing the total to at least $4.8 billion and making additional heating aid available for the start of the winter season.
The third hottest summer on record already strained LIHEAP funding, “so I am glad that we were able to secure these new resources before the cold of winter sets in,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont.
But that level represents an overall reduction from last year, when federal pandemic relief pushed the total energy assistance package past $8 billion.
Some are seeking help who’ve never done so in the past. In Auburn, Maine, 72-year-old Mario Zullo said he worked all his life and never asked for help until last year when he received heating assistance last year. The program helped upgrade his heating.
“It came to us at a time when we needed it the most,” Zullo said.
Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, said he fears the federally funded program won’t be enough because of the high cost of energy and continued instability in energy markets. It could be even worse if the winter is especially cold, he said.
“The crisis is coming,” he said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty and factors in play that could drive these prices higher.”
In Maine, the state has the nation’s oldest population and it’s the most reliant on heating oil, creating a double whammy.
“People are scared. They’re worried. They’re frustrated,” said Lisa McGee, who coordinates the heating aid program for Community Concepts Inc. in Lewiston, Maine. “There’s more anxiety this year.”
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify before a special grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia, a federal appeals court said Thursday.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paves the way for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to bring Graham in for questioning. She wants to ask the South Carolina Republican about phone calls he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the weeks after the election.
Raffensperger said Graham asked whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, something Raffensperger took as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes. Graham has dismissed that interpretation as “ridiculous.”
Graham could appeal the ruling to the full appellate court. An attorney for Graham deferred comment Thursday to a spokesperson for the senator’s office, which did not immediately comment on the ruling.
Graham had challenged his subpoena, saying his position as a U.S. senator protected him from having to testify in the state investigation. He has also denied wrongdoing. In a six-page order, the judges wrote that Graham “has failed to demonstrate that this approach will violate his rights under the Speech and Debate Clause.”
Willis opened the investigation early last year, shortly after a recording of a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Raffensperger was made public. In that call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could “find” the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Willis requested a special grand jury, saying the panel’s subpoena power would allow the questioning of people who otherwise wouldn’t cooperate with the investigation. She has since filed several rounds of paperwork with the court seeking to compel the testimony of close Trump advisers and associates.
Some of those associates include former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who has testified before the special grand jury, according to a person familiar with Cipollone’s testimony who spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity to discuss a private appearance. Cipollone’s appearance was first reported by CNN.
Cipollone vigorously resisted efforts to undo the election and has said he did not believe there was sufficient fraud to have affected the outcome of the race won by Biden.
Graham was in the first group of people close to Trump whose testimony Willis sought to compel in a batch of petitions filed with the court in early July. He challenged his subpoena in federal court, but U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May refused to toss out his subpoena. Graham then appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Graham’s lawyers argued that the U.S. Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which protects members of Congress from having to answer questions about legislative activity, shields him from having to testify. He contends that the call he made to Raffensperger fare was protected because he was asking questions to inform his decisions on voting to certify the 2020 election and future legislation.
Lawyers on Willis’ team argued that comments Graham made in news interviews at the time, as well as statements by Raffensperger, show that the senator was motivated by politics rather than by legislative factfinding.
They also argued that the scope of the special grand jury’s investigation includes a variety of other topics that have nothing to do with the Raffensperger call. They also want to ask Graham about his briefings by the Trump campaign, including whether he was briefed on the Trump-Raffensperger call, and whether he communicated or coordinated with Trump and his campaign about efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia and elsewhere.
Graham’s lawyers also argued that the principle of “sovereign immunity” protects a U.S. senator from being summoned by a state prosecutor.
Even if the speech or debate clause or sovereign immunity didn’t apply, Graham’s lawyers argued, his status as a “high-ranking official” protects him from having to testify. That’s because Willis has failed to show that his testimony is essential and that the information he would provide cannot be obtained from someone else, they argued.
In their ruling Thursday, the appellate judges ruled that Willis “can ask about non-investigatory conduct that falls within the subpoena’s scope” but “may not ask about any investigatory conduct,” noting that Graham could note any issues over specific areas at the time of his questioning.
Others have already made their appearances before the special grand jury. Former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who’s been told he could face criminal charges in the probe, testified in August. Attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro have also appeared before the panel.
Paperwork has been filed seeking testimony from others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
For high school teacher and mother Jennifer Shaffer, time and sleep are two precious commodities. So with the end of daylight saving time approaching, the busy mom says she dreads changing her clock.
“It’s definitely going to throw a curveball at us and it’s going to mess us up for the next few days, even a week,” Shaffer told CBS News.
She’s not alone. According to a poll conducted by Monmouth University, six in 10 Americans said they preferred making daylight saving time permanent — ditching the biannual clock changing practice created during World War I to conserve energy.
Setting our clocks ahead and back could soon be a thing of the past — if some lawmakers have their way.
This year, Congress brought the issue into the spotlight when the House energy committee heard testimony in a formal hearing about how clock changing is linked to increased risk of depression, stroke and sleep disruption. According to Children’s National Hospital sleep expert Dr. Tyish Hall Brown, changing clocks can have an impact on the body.
“We have an internal kind of rhythm to our body and to our health,” Brown said. “And every time we move forward or backwards, that has to adjust as well.”
In March, the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent passed legislation without warning to make daylight saving permanent as of 2023, should the U.S. House and president agree.
Michigan congressman Fred Upton said the effort will likely come up short in the House, partly because some people in the western section of time zones say they are concerned that permanent daylight saving could make for very dark and late mornings.
“Not only would [school buses] be running in the dark, the kids probably would be in second or third hour while it was still dark,” he said.
Nearly 15 years ago, Upton championed an energy saving bill that stretched daylight saving time even later into November.
“Particularly with global warming, climate change is real,” he said. “Why not take advantage of that extra hour of sunlight.”
New York congressman and Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin says his family is safe after two strangers were shot outside his Long Island home on Sunday.
Zeldin said in a statement that he does not know the identities of the two people who were shot but that they were found under his porch and in the bushes in front of his home in Shirley, New York. The congressman and his wife were not at home at the time of the shooting but their teenage daughters were in the home and heard gunshots and screaming, he said in the statement released by his office.
Zeldin said his 16-year-old daughters locked themselves in a bathroom and called 911. The family is shaken but OK, he said. Zeldin and his wife were returning from a parade in the Bronx when the shooting occurred.
He said police officers were at his home investigating Sunday evening and were looking over the home’s security cameras. The two people who were shot were taken to local hospitals, he said.
“My daughters are shaken, but ok,” he said. “Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door. My family is grateful to all who have reached out and we will provide another update when we can.”
Zeldin planned to hold a news conference outside his home Sunday night.
The Suffolk County Police Department issued a brief statement saying it was investigating the shooting. Police had no information to release about who fired the shots or who first found the two people shot, a spokeswoman said.
Zeldin, who is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, has made rising crime rates and violent crime a focus of his campaign. He has called for the state’s bail laws to be toughened, among other measures.
Hochul said she was briefed on the shooting and was “relieved” the Zeldin family was unharmed.
“I’ve been briefed on the shooting outside of Congressman Zeldin’s home,” she tweeted. “As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response.”
It’s the second scare he’s had in several months. In July, he was assaulted while campaigning in upstate New York when a man approached him onstage and thrust a sharp object near his head and neck. He was uninjured and the man was arrested.
