Today: October 06, 2024
Today: October 06, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Political

AP Election Brief | What to expect in Mississippi's runoff primaries

Think of it as the Mississippi Primaries: The Sequel. On Tuesday, voters in the Magnolia State will head back to the polls to resolve a handful of state legislative contests from the Aug. 8 primaries in which no candidate reached the vote majority needed to advance to the November general election. Six runoff primaries, three apiece for Republicans and Democrats, will be held in House districts scattered throughout the state, stretching from the northern border with Tennessee to the southern tip of the Gulf Coast. In District 66, located in heavily Democratic Hinds County and including parts

AP Election Brief | What to expect in Mississippi's runoff primaries
Political

Democrats accuse tax prep firms of undermining new IRS effort on electronic free file tax returns

Congressional Democrats are accusing big tax preparation firms including Intuit and H&R Block of undermining the federal government’s upcoming electronic free file tax return system and are demanding lobbying, hiring and revenue data to determine what’s going on. The lawmakers accuse the companies of lobbying against the new program, hiring former government workers to sway public interest against free file for all, and deliberately sabotaging a government program that had previously offered free tax prep services, according to letters obtained by The Associated Press. On Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., sent letters

Democrats accuse tax prep firms of undermining new IRS effort on electronic free file tax returns
Political

Trump out on bail – a criminal justice expert explains the system of cash bail

Donald Trump poses for his booking photo on August 24, 2023, in Atlanta. Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images For several days, former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants in a Georgia election interference case trickled into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta to surrender for arrest, fingerprinting and mugshots before the noon Aug. 25, 2023, deadline. Charged in the same alleged conspiracy to overturn results in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, the defendants did not draw the same bail agreements or amounts. Trump’s bail was set at US$200,000, while his former attorney Rudy Giuliani’s bail was set at

Trump out on bail – a criminal justice expert explains the system of cash bail
Political

Visitors to Lincoln Memorial say America has its flaws but see gains made since March on Washington

Fencing and construction workers greet visitors to the Lincoln Memorial, signaling that — for the moment — the monument to the nation’s 16th president is a work in progress. And so is the nation Abraham Lincoln saved and the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned at its steps nearly 60 years ago at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The spectrum of visitors to the Lincoln and MLK memorials and the African American Museum of History and Culture ranges from a 10-year-old elementary school student born in Colombia to a 70-something college advisor and

Visitors to Lincoln Memorial say America has its flaws but see gains made since March on Washington
Political

GOP support for gun restrictions slips a year after Congress passed firearms law

Republican support for gun restrictions is slipping a year after Congress passed the most comprehensive firearms control legislation in decades with bipartisan support, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s led to a gap between Democrats and the GOP on the issue of guns that has widened in the last year. Democrats have consistently outpaced Republicans and independents in their belief that gun laws in the U.S. should be strengthened, but GOP support has dropped even further behind, the poll found. Most Democrats, 92%, want gun laws made stronger, in

GOP support for gun restrictions slips a year after Congress passed firearms law
Political

Trump returns to X, the site formerly known as Twitter, shortly after surrendering in Georgia

Former President Donald Trump has returned to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, firing off his first message in 2 1/2 years shortly after he surrendered at an Atlanta jail on charges he conspired to overturn his election loss. He posted a photo of his mug shot and the words, “Election interference. Never surrender!” along with a link to his website, which directs to a fundraising site. It was Trump’s first post since Jan. 8, 2021, when Twitter suspended his account indefinitely, citing fears he would incite additional violence following the deadly storming

Trump returns to X, the site formerly known as Twitter, shortly after surrendering in Georgia
Political

Far away from Trump's jail drama, Ron DeSantis and his family head to Iowa's 'Field of Dreams'

Ron DeSantis gripped a baseball, looked at his 5-year-old son, Mason, and lobbed him pitch after pitch. He grinned at Mason’s hits and rolled his eyes when his own pitches came in too low or too high. “Bad pitch, buddy,” the Florida governor said after one errant throw. “That one was my fault.” It was as far away as one could get from the drama dominating the world of politics. As former President Donald Trump was having his mug shot taken inside an Atlanta jail, DeSantis and his family went on a pilgrimage Thursday to the

Far away from Trump's jail drama, Ron DeSantis and his family head to Iowa's 'Field of Dreams'
Political

One image, one face, one American moment: The Donald Trump mug shot

A camera clicks. In a fraction of a second, the shutter opens and then closes, freezing forever the image in front of it. When the camera shutter blinked inside a jail in downtown Atlanta on Thursday, it both created and documented a tiny inflection point in American life. Captured for posterity, there was a former president of the United States, for the first time in history, under arrest and captured in the sort of frame more commonly associated with drug dealers or drunken drivers. The trappings of power gone, for that split second. Left behind: an enduring image that will

One image, one face, one American moment: The Donald Trump mug shot
Political

Pence says 'elections are about choices' after combative first debate performance

Former Vice President Mike Pence says voters should expect to see the same, more combative candidate at the next GOP debate as he urged his former running-mate-turned-rival Donald Trump to join his competitors on stage next time around. “You know, elections are about choices and I welcomed the opportunity last night to draw a contrast with other candidates on the stage who I think are walking away from the conservative agenda that has defined our movement for 50 years and holds the keys for restoring American leadership in the world and American prosperity and security at home,”

Pence says 'elections are about choices' after combative first debate performance
Political

A Trump supporter indicted in Georgia is also charged with assaulting an FBI agent in Maryland

A Donald Trump supporter who surrendered to Georgia authorities Thursday on charges he conspired with the former president and other allies to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss is also facing federal charges that he assaulted an FBI agent in Maryland. Harrison William Prescott Floyd turned himself in to the Fulton County jail in Atlanta a week after being indicted in the Georgia case alongside Trump and 17 others. Court records show Floyd, identified as a former U.S. Marine who’s active with the group Black Voices for Trump, was also arrested three months ago in Maryland on a federal warrant that

A Trump supporter indicted in Georgia is also charged with assaulting an FBI agent in Maryland
Political

Former AP transportation writer Joan Lowy dies at 66

Joan Lowy, a veteran Washington journalist who spent the final decade of her career covering transportation issues for The Associated Press, has died. She was 66. Lowy died early Wednesday at her home in Vienna, Virginia, after a 10-year battle with abdominal cancer, said her husband, Michael Christensen. “She was a heck of a reporter,” Christensen, also a journalist, said Thursday about his wife of 33 years. “She loved journalism. She loved the give-and-take and everything.” Lowy was a smart and dogged reporter, said Ken Guggenheim, who was Lowy’s editor at AP before she went on leave

Former AP transportation writer Joan Lowy dies at 66
Political

Campaign money flows to GOP presidential candidates after their debate. Ramaswamy raises $450,000

The first Republican presidential debate provided an opportunity for candidates to make their cases directly to a national audience, and some of that attention is translating into fundraising boosts. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has taken in $450,000 since Wednesday night’s debate, with an average donation of $38, campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Associated Press on Thursday. Ramaswamy, a political newcomer who occupied center stage in the absence of current GOP front-runner Donald Trump, scored several memorable moments during the debate, criticizing some rivals as “super PAC puppets” who were using “ready-made, preprepared slogans” to attack

Campaign money flows to GOP presidential candidates after their debate. Ramaswamy raises $450,000
Political

Presidential debate shows how GOP candidates are struggling to address concerns about climate change

The eight Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage were asked to raise their hands if they believed human behavior is causing climate change. Not a single hand went up. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shut down the question and attacked the “corporate media.” Echoing the words of former President Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy called climate change “a hoax” and a “wet blanket on our economy.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., insisted that more serious environmental threats are coming from China, India and Africa. Just one Republican, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, said during Wednesday night’s debate in

Presidential debate shows how GOP candidates are struggling to address concerns about climate change
Political

Democrats in Pennsylvania want to keep a Supreme Court majority. They're talking up abortion rights

As they try to pad their state Supreme Court majority in a presidential battleground, Democrats in Pennsylvania now hope to harness the same voter enthusiasm for protecting abortion rights that has already helped their side to a string of high-profile election victories. Democrats and their allies are bringing up talk of abortion rights at their rallies and in their ads and are casting a contest for a Pennsylvania high court seat as an existential response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority. Some Democrats say voter energy is ever-present as moves to roll back abortion rights

Democrats in Pennsylvania want to keep a Supreme Court majority. They're talking up abortion rights
Political

Scores of Trump supporters show support outside Georgia jail ahead of his expected surrender

Hours before former President Donald Trump was expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail on charges related to his efforts to remain in power after his 2020 election loss, dozens of his supporters had already gathered Thursday morning outside the facility. And the crowd grew steadily as the day progressed. It will be the fourth time this year that Trump, the early front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, is booked on criminal charges. But unlike his previous arrests, which happened in courthouses just before initial appearances before a judge, this time he will

Scores of Trump supporters show support outside Georgia jail ahead of his expected surrender
Political

Donald who? Fox barely mentions Trump in first half of debate until 10-minute indictment discussion

Fox News Channel’s two-hour Republican presidential debate was halfway through when moderator Bret Baier said he wanted to take a brief moment to talk about “the elephant not in the room” — Donald Trump and his four criminal indictments. Up until that point the former president, who skipped the debate and has a large lead in polls for the 2024 GOP nomination, had hardly been mentioned by his eight rivals on a Milwaukee stage on Wednesday. The reluctance to talk about the topic was evident, but the 10 minutes when it was discussed included some of

Donald who? Fox barely mentions Trump in first half of debate until 10-minute indictment discussion
Political

Trump set to surrender at Georgia jail on charges that he sought to overturn 2020 election

Donald Trump is set to surrender Thursday to authorities in Georgia on charges that he schemed to overturn the 2020 election in that state, a booking process expected to yield a historic first: a mug shot of a former American president. Trump’s arrival follows a presidential debate featuring his leading rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination, a contest in which he remains the leading candidate despite accelerating legal troubles. His presence in the state, though likely brief, is expected to swipe the spotlight at least temporarily from his opponents in the aftermath of a debate in which

Trump set to surrender at Georgia jail on charges that he sought to overturn 2020 election
Political

8 GOP candidates debate funding to Ukraine, Trump's future and -- covertly, with dog whistles -- race

Eight GOP candidates for president after they entered the debate hall in Milwaukee on Aug. 23, 2023. Scott Olson/Getty Images After weeks of speculation over who was going to participate, eight Republican candidates seeking their party’s presidential nomination appeared on stage together in Milwaukee on Aug. 23, 2023, for the first debate of the 2024 election season. Lest this sound like a normal event, it was not – the leading candidate, former President Donald Trump, who’s getting more than 50% in national primary polls, chose not to come. But that may have been a benefit to the debaters, who were

8 GOP candidates debate funding to Ukraine, Trump's future and -- covertly, with dog whistles -- race
Political

Trump attacks rivals in online interview with Tucker Carlson while skipping presidential debate

While eight Republican presidential candidates tried to make their case in Wednesday night’s debate that their party should move on from Donald Trump in 2024, the former president tried to make his case that everyone but him is irrelevant. Trump, the early front-runner for the nomination, skipped the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, instead opting to appear in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson posted Wednesday night on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. The interview was posted online five minutes before the debate aired. “Do I sit there for

Trump attacks rivals in online interview with Tucker Carlson while skipping presidential debate
Political

Vivek Ramaswamy takes center stage, plus other key moments from first Republican debate

Eight Republican presidential candidates met on the debate stage for the first time Wednesday night. Former President Donald Trump didn’t participate, of course. Given his big poll lead, he insisted that his presence would only help his lesser rivals. Instead, Trump sat down for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that was streamed online. By not going, Trump sought to undermine the significance of the debate. But his absence also offered his opponents an opportunity to break out with millions of voters watching. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s chief rival, had perhaps the most to gain —

Vivek Ramaswamy takes center stage, plus other key moments from first Republican debate
Political

Wagner group's Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly died in private jet crash – if confirmed, it wouldn't be first time someone who crossed Putin met a suspicious demise

Wagner group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, photographed on June 24, 2023, in Russia. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, reportedly died when a private jet he was said to be on crashed on Aug. 23, 2023, killing all 10 people on board. The Russian Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed that Prigozhin, who had led a brief rebellion again the Russian military two months earlier, was among the dead. However, Prigozhin was believed to have numerous passports, and he would compel others to travel under his name to protect him from

Wagner group's Yevgeny Prigozhin reportedly died in private jet crash – if confirmed, it wouldn't be first time someone who crossed Putin met a suspicious demise
Political

Mother of Army private in North Korea tells AP that her son 'has so many reasons to come home'

A U.S. Army private who mysteriously sprinted across the border into North Korea last month has “so many reasons to come home,” his mother said Wednesday as she cast doubt on a recent statement that suggested her son, Travis King, might be seeking refuge there or in a third country. Claudine Gates spoke to The Associated Press one week after North Korea released the statement through its state media in which it confirmed for the first time that it had detained the soldier and attributed comments to him criticizing the United States. “I just can’t see him

Mother of Army private in North Korea tells AP that her son 'has so many reasons to come home'
Political

Justice Department announces charges against hundreds of alleged COVID-19 fraudsters

Hundreds of people have been charged with the theft of more than $830 million in COVID-19 emergency aid following a nationwide operation conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday. More than 60 of the defendants have alleged connections to organized crime, the department said, including members of a criminal gang accused of using stolen pandemic aid to pay for a murder. “This latest action, involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should send a clear message: the COVID-19 public health emergency may have ended,

Justice Department announces charges against hundreds of alleged COVID-19 fraudsters
Political

The first 2024 Republican presidential debate is set to kick off in Milwaukee. Follow live updates

Follow along for live updates on the first 2024 Republican presidential debate, which kicks off at 9 p.m. ET. The field’s early front-runner, Donald Trump, is skipping the event in favor of an interview with Tucker Carlson instead. WHAT TO KNOW — Trump won’t be at the GOP’s first presidential debate. But his presence will be felt — Who’s in, who’s out, who’s boycotting: The 8 candidates expected on stage — Want to tune in for the debate? Here’s how to watch — Trump’s decision to back out tests Fox News’ ability to pivot again — The

The first 2024 Republican presidential debate is set to kick off in Milwaukee. Follow live updates
Political

President Joe Biden to host Costa Rica President Chaves at the White House

President Joe Biden will host Costa Rica President Rodrigo Chaves at the White House on Tuesday, following an agreement between the two nations on possible legal pathways for migrants. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday the two leaders will discuss how the nations can “build out inclusive and sustainable economies … advance democratic values in the region, promote safe and orderly migration … and address regional security challenges.” In recent years, Costa Rica, with a population of 5 million, has become one of the world’s leading spots for asylum requests. In June,

President Joe Biden to host Costa Rica President Chaves at the White House

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