The Full Belmonte, 10/13/2022
© Associated Press / Patrick Semansky | A video of former President Trump plays during a Jan. 6 committee hearing on July 21.
Trump will be front and center at today’s Jan. 6 hearing
“Former President Trump was repeatedly alerted to mounting violence during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol and did not seek to end it, according to findings to be televised this afternoon by the House select committee investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Secret Service records show the former president was made aware of the escalation at the Capitol and continued to stoke the conflict, sources told The Washington Post.
The committee is expected to share new video footage and emails that appear to corroborate some of the most startling accounts of that day. The evidence will tie Trump directly to efforts to overturn election results, including the violence that took place at the Capitol as the official Electoral College tally was underway among lawmakers and Vice President Pence, according to committee members.
This is not ancient history we’re talking about. This is a continuing threat,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told CNN. “I think the single most urgent question is … what is the continuing clear and present danger we face now from the forces that Donald Trump unleashed?”
The panel at 1 p.m. will delve into Trump’s state of mind on Jan. 6 as members tie up loose ends before the panel’s dissolution at the end of the year, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch and Mike Lillis report. Over the course of 16 months, House investigators presented damning evidence that revealed the extent to which the former president and his inner circle sought to keep him in office despite his election defeat.
But the panel now faces the daunting task of turning the reams of evidence — gleaned from tens of thousands of documents and more than 1,000 witness interviews — into a concise closing argument that Trump and his supporters pose an ongoing threat to democracy.
“We discovered through our work through this summer what the president’s intentions were, what he knew, what he did, what others did,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a member of the committee, told CNN on Tuesday.
The committee must also decide whether to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department based on its findings. The department is conducting its own investigation into the events surrounding Jan. 6.
Information about how to watch the hearing live at 1 p.m. can be found HERE.
Today’s hearing marks a return to the stage for Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who will attend her first hearing as a lame-duck lawmaker, writes The Hill’s Mychael Schnell. Cheney this summer overwhelmingly lost her primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
Cheney frequently criticized Trump and knocked her Republican colleagues for standing beside him after the Capitol riot. But today’s hearing marks the first time the committee will present that argument after one of their own lost an election to a candidate who was supported by Trump and his allies and believes the 2020 election was tainted by fraud.” Read more at The Hill
Western Nations Rush Defensive Systems to Ukraine to Counter Russian Missiles
Even with Soviet-era defensive weapons, the Ukrainians have been more than holding their own, but this week’s barrage prompted calls to better equip them.
By Michael Schwirtz, Lara Jakes and Eric Schmitt
Published Oct. 12, 2022Updated Oct. 13, 2022, 2:42 a.m. ET
“KYIV, Ukraine — In just two days this week, Russian forces fired more than 100 cruise missiles and dozens of exploding drones at cities across Ukraine, far more than the nation’s aging air defenses were ever expected to encounter. And yet fewer than half made it to their targets, Ukrainian officials say.
Ukraine’s success in knocking down those projectiles, and the death and destruction caused wherever missiles slipped through, has reinvigorated calls by officials in Kyiv for Western countries to provide more sophisticated defensive weapons systems. At a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, the United States and other allies readily agreed, pledging to rapidly provide the weaponry.
Germany began delivery of four units of a missile defense system so advanced even its own forces have yet to use it. The Netherlands promised millions of dollars in air-defense missiles, and President Emmanuel Macron of France said his country would send ‘radars, systems and anti-air missiles.’
And a day after the Biden administration said it was working to speed up delivery of two advanced missile systems, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said, ‘The systems will be provided as fast as we can physically get them there.’” Read more at New York Times
The White House finally releases its national security strategy
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“The White House unveiled President Joe Biden’s national security strategy on Wednesday; it’s largely focused on countering China and Russia. [Vox] Read more at USA Today / Maureen Groppe
“The release of the congressionally mandated document, which summarizes Biden’s recommendations for facing global challenges, was delayed as officials weighed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.” [Vox] Read more at Politico / Alexander Ward
“The plan stresses the importance of outcompeting China economically and technologically, and restraining Russian aggression.” [Vox] Read more at Associated Press / Aamer Madhani
“The strategy argues that protecting national security requires strengthening American democracy at home.”[Vox] Read more at New York Times / David E. Sanger
“Biden’s plan also calls for achieving peace in the Middle East and centering African nations in responding to global problems like climate change.” [Vox] Read more at The Hill / Brett Samuels
“The Fed is very worried about inflation. The central bank’s top officials have committed to raising interest rates to a restrictive level in the near term and holding them there to curb price rises, according to the minutes of a recent meeting.” Read more at Bloomberg
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Resigns Amid Uproar Over Racist Remarks
The former Council president, Nury Martinez, faced calls from state leaders and President Biden to leave office after making racist remarks on a recording that emerged on Sunday.
The former Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez during a news conference in Los Angeles last month. Ms. Martinez announced her resignation as a councilwoman on Wednesday.Credit...Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By Jill Cowan and Shawn Hubler
Oct. 12, 2022
“LOS ANGELES — The former president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from elective office on Wednesday amid national outrage over racist remarks in a leaked recording, hours after the state attorney general announced an investigation into the redistricting process during which the comments were made.
The decision by the former Council leader, Nury Martinez, who had risen to one of the most powerful posts in the nation’s second-largest city, came three days after a year-old audio recording surfaced of her disparaging colleagues, constituencies and even the child of a fellow council member while discussing ways to change political boundaries to benefit Latino representatives.
Caught on tape with her were two other council members, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, as well as Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The men, all well-known members of the Latino political establishment in California, did not confront Ms. Martinez and at times kept the conversation going with derogatory comments of their own, according to the recording obtained by The New York Times.
Politicians all the way up to President Biden called for the three council members, all Democrats, to resign immediately. Mr. Herrera stepped down on Monday and Ms. Martinez initially relinquished her Council leadership post. She then announced that she was emotionally exhausted and taking a leave of absence from the Council.” Read more at New York Times
We Told the Truth’: Sandy Hook Families Win $1 Billion From Alex Jones
The Sandy Hook families leveraged personal stories, social media analysis and the Infowars fabulist’s lack of contrition to secure a major verdict.
Oct. 12, 2022
“WATERBURY, Conn. — The families of eight Sandy Hook shooting victims on Wednesday won nearly $1 billion in damages from the Infowars fabulist Alex Jones, a devastating blow against his empire and a message from the jury that his lies and those of his followers have crippling consequences.
Mr. Jones, who for years said the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Conn., was a government hoax, now faces financial ruin. But it is unclear how much money the families will ultimately collect.
The families and their lawyers sat in stunned silence as the court clerk read one by one the sums awarded to each of 15 plaintiffs in the case. After court was adjourned, they hugged one another quietly, weeping.
The largest award went to Robbie Parker, who received $120 million. For years on his Infowars show and website, Mr. Jones singled out Mr. Parker, whose daughter Emilie died at Sandy Hook, as an actor whose televised tribute to Emilie a day after her death was ‘disgusting.’
Mr. Parker, who has endured online abuse, harassment and death threats since, formed the centerpiece of the Connecticut case. ‘Every day in that courtroom, we got up on the stand and we told the truth,’ he said. ‘Telling the truth shouldn’t be so hard, and it shouldn’t be so scary.’
Mr. Parker added, in a nod to Mr. Jones’s followers, ‘For anybody that still chooses to listen to that man, just ask yourself, what has he ever given you?’
In all likelihood Mr. Jones does not have the money to pay Wednesday’s award. In August a forensic economist estimated that Mr. Jones’s empire was worth a maximum of $270 million, but that same month Mr. Jones put his parent company, Free Speech Systems, into bankruptcy. Mr. Jones claimed that a debt of $54 million — owed to a company he controls — had made him insolvent.
But Mr. Jones’s annual revenues have topped $50 million in recent years from hawking diet supplements, survivalist gear and gun paraphernalia on his broadcasts. He has also used the Connecticut trial as well as a trial this past summer in Texas — in which he was ordered to pay two Sandy Hook parents about $50 million — to solicit donations to his legal fund and boost his product sales.
The Sandy Hook families have challenged the bankruptcy in court, saying the filing is an effort to avoid paying what are mounting damages awards.” Read more at New York Times
A makeshift memorial near the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut, after the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting. Source: Bloomberg
Trump Aide Was Seen on Security Footage Moving Boxes at Mar-a-Lago
The aide, Walt Nauta, moved the boxes from a storage room before and after the Justice Department issued a subpoena demanding the return of all classified documents held by the former president.
By Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer
Published Oct. 12, 2022 Updated Oct. 13, 2022, 2:55 a.m. ET
“A long-serving aide to former President Donald J. Trump was captured on security camera footage moving boxes out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s residence in Florida, both before and after the Justice Department issued a subpoena in May demanding the return of all classified documents, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The footage showed Walt Nauta, a former military aide who left the White House and then went to work for Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, moving boxes from a storage room that became a focus of the Justice Department’s investigation, according to the people briefed on the matter. The inquiry has centered on whether Mr. Trump improperly kept national security records after he left the White House and obstructed the government’s repeated efforts to get them back.
As part of its investigation, the Justice Department has interviewed Mr. Nauta on several occasions, according to one of the people. Those interviews started before the F.B.I. executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 and carted off more than 11,000 documents, including about 100 that bore classification markings. Mr. Nauta has answered questions but is not formally cooperating with the investigation of Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents.
His lawyer, Stanley Woodward Jr., declined to comment. Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, accused the Biden administration of ‘colluding with the media through targeted leaks in an overt and illegal act of intimidation and tampering.’
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Mr. Trump directed an employee who had been interviewed by the F.B.I. to move boxes at Mar-a-Lago. It is not clear whether that employee was Mr. Nauta, and a person familiar with the matter and with Mr. Trump’s orbit said it could be a different staff member.
A top Justice Department official told Mr. Trump’s lawyers in recent weeks that the department believed he had still not returned all the documents. It is unclear if the boxes that were moved were among the material later retrieved by the F.B.I.
The National Archives, the federal agency that oversees presidential records, spent much of 2021 attempting to retrieve boxes of records that its officials had been told were in the White House residence at the end of the Trump presidency.
Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers tried to facilitate their return; one lawyer for Mr. Trump, Alex Cannon, told Mr. Trump to ship the boxes back as they were, instead of going through them, and that the archivists would return whatever was personal property, two people briefed on the matter said. Mr. Cannon told Mr. Trump’s aides not to go through the boxes because it was unclear what was in them, and the materials might require security clearances.
Mr. Trump instead went through the boxes himself in December, according to a person familiar with the move, and the archives sent people to retrieve 15 of them a month later. When they got the boxes, they found 184 classified documents, prompting alarm.” Read more at New York Times
Some of the protection provided by the original vaccines and boosters are evaded by the highly transmissible Omicron subvariants.
PHOTO: HANNAH BEIER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Children as young as 5 years old are now eligible for Omicron-targeting Covid-19 booster shots.
“CDC Director Rochelle Walensky recommended kids get boosted, after the FDA authorized the updated Pfizer-BioNTech booster for kids 5 through 11 and Moderna’s for those 6 through 17. Dosages are smaller for younger children. U.S. health officials want to protect the population before a potential surge in Covid cases in the fall and winter as people spend more time indoors.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The Treasury Department's inspector general is examining Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' flights carrying migrants to Martha's Vineyard, including whether the state improperly used Covid-19 relief funds to transfer the migrants. According to a letter provided to Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey, the watchdog ‘has audit work planned’ of Florida's use of State and Local Fiscal Recovery funds. CNN previously reported that the flights may have exceeded the original scope of the state's plan to transport undocumented individuals. The decision by DeSantis to orchestrate the flights was part of his criticism of the Biden administration's immigration and border security policies.” Read more at CNN
Social Security spike
A demonstrator yesterday at a Herschel Walker campaign event. Photo: Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Social Security checks are set for the biggest jump since 1981, Axios Macro co-authors Courtenay Brown and Neil Irwin report.
The announcement is coming tomorrow.
Why it matters: Inflation is brutal for people on fixed incomes.
Retirees frequently don't receive inflation adjustments on defined benefit pension plans, and the stock market has been rough in 2022.
What to watch: The average monthly Social Security check could rise by about $145, to $1,814 in January, according to estimates by The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group.” Read more at Axios
Navy Report on SEAL Trainee’s Death Details Medics’ Failure to Help Him
Seaman Kyle Mullen’s death a few hours after completing the brutal Hell Week portion of the SEALs’ selection course raised broad concerns about how the course is run.
Oct. 12, 2022
“Navy SEAL candidates tried multiple times during the elite force’s punishing Hell Week training to get help for a fellow candidate who was suffering from pneumonia and whose heart stopped a few hours after the grueling week was over, but they were repeatedly rebuffed by instructors and medical staff, according to a new Navy report on the sailor’s death.
The report, issued by Naval Special Warfare on Wednesday, more than eight months after Seaman Kyle Mullen died at the SEAL training base in Coronado, Calif., was ordered to determine whether he died while performing his duties as a sailor. It found that he had.
His death, after days of struggling with breathing problems, raised broad concerns about how the SEALs’ selection course, known as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, was run, including reports of abusive instructors, drug use and substandard medical care. Hell Week is a part of that course.
A second investigation ordered by top Navy leaders to look more broadly at issues surrounding the selection course is expected later this fall.
The Navy has already begun to address the situation. According to a Navy spokesman, Cmdr. Ben Tisdale, the Navy has taken administrative action against the two top officers at the SEAL training base at Coronado, as well as the doctor in charge of medical care there. In the Navy, administrative actions can range from fairly benign letters of instruction to punitive admonishments that can effectively end officers’ careers. Commander Tisdale said that regulations prohibited him from detailing what actions were taken against the two officers and the doctor.
Though the new report’s formal findings were limited to whether Seaman Mullen died performing his official duties, a determination that can have implications for the benefits provided to his family, the report included hundreds of pages of supporting documents. Those documents included interviews with medical staff members and SEAL candidates that, for the first time, detail what they saw. The interviews paint a picture of a medical staff that failed to help a sailor who had been struggling for days, even when other sailors repeatedly warned that his situation was growing dire.
At times, the accounts in the report from medical staff members and SEAL candidates read as if they describe two different events. Medical staff members told Navy criminal investigators that Seaman Mullen appeared to be fine in routine medical checks, and complained only of minor knee pain, during the five-day maelstrom of sleep deprivation, hypothermia and physical exhaustion known as Hell Week. They said he passed a brief medical exam with no issues at the end of the week, and then went to rest.
Five SEAL candidates, however, told investigators that Seaman Mullen was clearly suffering long before his death, and they became alarmed when he began wheezing and coughing up large amounts of brown fluid. One student with training as a paramedic told investigators that he tried to take Seaman Mullen to get medical help halfway through Hell Week, but was told by an instructor to turn around and go back to training.
By the final day of Hell Week, candidates told Navy investigators, Seaman Mullen was barely coherent and so swollen that one sailor said he looked ‘like the Michelin Man.’ That day, the oxygen in Seaman Mullen’s blood reached dangerously low levels, and the medical staff gave him supplemental oxygen, according to the report.
A few hours later, at the end of training for the week, medical staff said he was fine, but he left the medical exam in a wheelchair, too sick to walk.
The medical staff gave the sailors a written briefing a short time after that, instructing them in capital letters not to seek outside medical help, because it could jeopardize their training. After the briefing, the staff members went home, leaving the base medical clinic empty, the report said. Seaman Mullen died a few hours later.
The details of Seaman Mullen’s struggle echo what many sailors say they have experienced in recent years in the selection course. In interviews with The New York Times, nearly two dozen sailors said the brutal training course left them with significant injuries and illnesses, including broken arms, broken legs, a broken back, serious concussions, debilitating pneumonia and a potentially fatal condition called rhabdomyolysis, but they were denied medical care and told they would have to quit the course before they could see a doctor.
The sailors asked not to be named because they are still in the Navy, and are not authorized to speak publicly.
After Seaman Mullen died, Naval authorities found testosterone and human growth hormone in his car. Medical reports said there was no evidence that the drugs contributed to Seaman Mullen’s death, and his family says they do not believe he ever took them. The Navy report said that after Seaman Mullen’s death, 51 other SEAL candidates were removed from training over concerns about drug use.
The former SEAL candidates interviewed by The Times said that drug use was common, and that many sailors saw the drugs as the only way to get through the grueling course. They see Seaman Mullen’s death and the proliferation of drug use as symptoms of larger problems with a course that became so savagely intense that it injured many sailors but often did not give them access to medical care.” Read more at New York Times
“In what could be seen as an accusation or a warning, Vladimir Putin said any energy infrastructure in the world is at risk after the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The attacks, deemed state-sponsored sabotage by European and US authorities, were an act of terror that set “the most dangerous precedent,” the Kremlin leader said Wednesday. ‘It shows that any critically important object of transport, energy or utilities infrastructure is under threat’ irrespective of where it is located or by whom it is managed, he said. Putin blamed the US, Ukraine and Poland, calling them ‘beneficiaries’ of the blasts. The US and its allies have suggested Russia may have been behind the attack. While European nations who have sanctioned Russia brace for a winter with limited energy supply, Putin is reportedly facing new losses to the Ukrainian military as it slowly recaptures lost ground in the southeast, as well as more severe US economic sanctions over his killings of civilians. But Russia has increased its shipments of fuel to the Ukraine border, potentially part of a new effort to slow the Ukrainian counteroffensive.” Read more at Bloomberg
A Ukrainian flag waves on a street of the recently liberated village of Vysokopillya, in the Kherson region, on Sept. 27 Photographer: Genya Savilov/AFP
Fire Irreversibly Damages Easter Island Statues
The isolated island is home to hundreds of the mysterious monuments
“Last week, a fire spread through Easter Island and caused permanent damage to the area’s iconic statues, called moai. The blaze spread through some 250 acres of the Unesco World Heritage site, and photos shared by officials on Facebook show several of the stone statues charred or collapsed.
The fire’s cause is still unclear. Pedro Edmunds Paoa, Easter Island’s mayor, says he believes the fire was ‘not an accident,’ telling local broadcaster Radio Pauta that ‘all the fires on Rapa Nui are caused by human beings.’” Read more at Smithsonian
Uganda Grapples with Deadly Ebola Outbreak
“Ugandan authorities are scrambling to quell a deadly Ebola outbreak that is believed to have killed 39 people and infected at least 54, fueling concerns of a wider public health crisis since the virus strain currently circulating has no available vaccine.
The latest outbreak—Uganda’s biggest in two decades—was first reported in September and has since hit at least six districts and Kampala, the country’s capital. On Tuesday, officials said that a man who had died in a Kampala hospital last Friday had Ebola, further compounding fears about how far the virus had spread.
Since it’s not the government’s first time dealing with Ebola, which is transmitted by touching an infected person’s bodily fluids, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO and Kampala ‘have been working together to prepare for an outbreak for some time.’
‘Our primary focus now is to rapidly control and contain this outbreak to protect neighboring districts, as well as neighboring countries,’ he added on Wednesday.
Health officials have raced to limit the virus’s spread, launching contact tracing campaigns and establishing new treatment facilities, although many of Uganda’s healthcare facilities were already strained by the COVID-19 pandemic and doctors have said they don’t have enough personal protective equipment. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, meanwhile, has resisted implementing lockdowns.
‘We are asking families to make huge sacrifices: isolation; quarantine; changes to the way to interact with each other; changes in the way people mourn and bury the dead,’ Tedros said. ‘Community engagement and community trust are critical.’
Uganda’s neighbors have ramped up their entry restrictions, while Washington announced plans to screen travelers who have recently visited the country. People who were in Uganda in the past three weeks will now be rerouted to one of five U.S. airports to complete temperature checks and health forms.
Although this strain currently has no approved vaccine options, Tedros said that vaccine trials for it could begin in the coming weeks once they receive the required approvals from Uganda.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Leonard Leo Pushed the Courts Right. Now He’s Aiming at American Society.
After leading efforts to put conservatives on the bench, the activist has quietly built a sprawling network and raised huge sums of money to challenge liberal values.
Oct. 12, 2022
“Millions of dollars in television advertisements blasting schools for teaching critical race theory and assailing corporations like BlackRock, Uber and American Airlines for catering to ‘woke politicians.’
A lawsuit pending before the Supreme Court to radically reshape how federal elections are conducted. Complaints against President Biden for violating election law and against school districts that allow information to be withheld from parents about children’s gender identities.
These initiatives were advanced in the past year or so by a handful of new or reconfigured conservative groups — each with their own leadership and mission.
Behind the scenes, though, these groups have something in common: They are part of an ambitious coalition developed in recent years by the conservative activist Leonard A. Leo, who until now has been best known for his role in pushing the appointments of conservative judges to the center of the Republican Party’s agenda.
Most of the initiatives were financially supported, or in some cases launched, by an opaque, sprawling network shaped by Mr. Leo and funded by wealthy patrons, usually through anonymous donations that critics call ‘dark money.’
An investigation by The New York Times of Mr. Leo’s activities reveals new details of how he has built that network, with relatively little public attention, into one of the best-funded and most sophisticated operations in American politics, giving him extraordinary influence as he pushes a broad array of hot-button conservative causes and seeks to counter what he sees as an increasing leftward tilt in society.
The network represents a dramatic expansion of tactics and focus for Mr. Leo, who spent nearly three decades working mostly behind the scenes to pull the judiciary to the right as an executive at the Federalist Society. His success in that effort, and expansion into other polarizing fights, is rapidly making him a leading target of criticism from the left.
His philosophy is defined by a belief that the federal government should play a smaller role in public life and religious values a larger one, and that institutions and individuals should be challenged for embracing what he sees as subversive liberal positions.
While his efforts to put conservatives on the courts found a powerful ally in President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Leo, an Ivy League-educated lawyer, has steered clear of the most virulent strains of Mr. Trump’s right-wing populism, as well as his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and he has navigated past most of the fissures in the Republican Party.
Among leading political figures, Mr. Leo is more aligned with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who as Republican leader in the Senate has worked with him closely on judicial nominations and shares an animus for laws restricting the flow of money into politics.
Mr. Leo’s approach blends cutting-edge political financing techniques — some of which he says are copied from the left — with deep connections to the Republican establishment and a willingness to harness some of the culture-war issues animating the base.
Mr. Leo had begun quietly building the new operation in 2016, but its scope and intensity ramped up substantially when he stepped down in January 2020 from day-to-day leadership of the Federalist Society and shifted his attention to building the conservative advocacy and donor network full time.
The network is made up of a loosely affiliated and evolving set of nonprofit and for-profit entities, through which Mr. Leo helps raise huge sums of money from donors, steers the cash to groups promoting issues he supports and then shapes the resulting initiatives.
To help administer the enterprise, the network’s nonprofits, including the 85 Fund and Concord Fund, have paid millions of dollars in consulting fees to private firms in which he has a financial interest, like CRC Advisors and the BH Group, enriching Mr. Leo in the process.
The network’s nine core groups have spent nearly $504 million on policy and political fights, including grants to about 150 allied groups, between mid-2015 and last year, with roughly half of that spending since mid-2019, according to an analysis by The Times of dozens of tax filings. And his efforts have been turbocharged by an unusual $1.6 billion infusion from a Chicago electronics manufacturing magnate in late 2020 that was revealed by The Times this year, giving Mr. Leo the cash to match his ambitions going forward.” Read more at New York Times
“Apple targets its sole unionized store. The computer and gadget maker is withholding its latest employee benefits from staff who work at this unionized retail store, a move that could potentially inflame labor tensions at the technology giant. Apple blames collective bargaining.” Read more at Bloomberg
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
“Above: The presidential motorcade drives to Camp Hale, near Leadville, Colorado. The WWII-era training ground for the 10th Mountain Division was designated a national monument by President Biden.” Read more at Axios
“The 30,000-foot view on education loss: The average ACT test score for students in the class of 2022 dropped to its lowest level in more than three decades. Go deeper.” Read more at Axios
Gannett Announces Widespread Cost-Cutting
The moves at the nation’s largest newspaper publisher include a week of mandatory unpaid leave and voluntary buyouts.
By Katie Robertson and Benjamin Mullin
Oct. 12, 2022
“The chief executive of Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, announced widespread cost-cutting to its newsrooms on Wednesday, citing headwinds from the ‘deteriorating macroeconomic environment.’
In a memo to the staff, Mike Reed, the chief executive, said the company would require employees to take unpaid leave in December, offer voluntary buyouts and temporarily suspend 401(k) contribution matches. Gannett will also freeze hiring except for crucial positions, Mr. Reed said.
He said the changes were needed to ensure the company’s long-term success.
‘In order to sustain the mission of our company to empower communities to thrive, sustain local journalism and support small businesses with digital solutions, we need to ensure our balance sheet remains strong,’ Mr. Reed wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The New York Times.
Mr. Reed said the company was offering severance to employees who volunteer to leave the company. It is also giving employees the option to adjust their schedules to work fewer hours for less pay or to take unpaid sabbaticals of up to six months. Five days of unpaid leave are required in December, Mr. Reed said.” Read more at New York Times
MacArthur Foundation Announces 25 New ‘Genius’ Grant Winners
The 2022 awards are going to artists, activists, scholars, scientists and others who have shown ‘exceptional creativity.’ The grants are a bit bigger than before: $800,000 over five years.
By Matt Stevens
Oct. 12, 2022
“The 2022 MacArthur fellows include a sociologist working to understand what drives people to own guns; an astrodynamicist trying to manage “space traffic” and ensure that satellites don’t crash into each other in Earth’s orbit; and a lawyer seeking to expose inequities in the patent system that stifle access to affordable medications.
The 25 winners of the fellowship, announced on Wednesday, study things as small as molecular materials and as vast as outer space. They are esteemed in their fields, if not yet all household names. And now, in addition to being publicly celebrated for their work, they will have more funding to keep it going.
Known colloquially as the “genius” award — to the sometime annoyance of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation — the MacArthur Fellowship comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $800,000 to be awarded over five years. (Program officials noted that the size of the stipend has increased for the new group of fellows, from $625,000.)
The class includes scholars tackling some particularly timely topics. Jennifer Carlson, 40, investigates the motivations and assumptions that shape gun culture in America. The longtime activist Loretta J. Ross teaches a class that works to combat so-called cancel culture. And some of Yejin Choi’s work involves using computational linguistics to help detect everything from fake consumer reviews to fake news.” Read more at New York Times
“Padres and Braves get to 1-1: Both N.L.D.S. series are tied after the Braves’ 3-0 win yesterday and San Diego’s upset 5-3 win in Los Angeles.” Read more at New York Times