Mexico president elect 2018

HARTFORD — The third-ranking majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives told state Democrats on Sunday night that the current Congress has accomplished some of the most important legislation in seven decades, thanks to Connecticut's congressional delegation. But in a 32-minute cheerleading speech before 600 people in the Connecticut Convention Center, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn of South Carolina stressed the importance of next month's election at a time when democracy is being threatened and Republicans have plans to defund major social-spending programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. "You go through the production of this Congress and you go back and look at every previous Congress, you will go back to 1965 before you see a Congress that has been productive as this Congress," Clyburn said. "You look at Franklin Roosevelt, well, you say he gave us the New Deal. Yep. Harry Truman gave us the Fair Deal. Yep. Lyndon Johnson gave us the Great … [Read more...] about U.S. House leader praises CT delegation, stresses importance of next month’s election

With just over five weeks remaining until Election Day, national analysts monitoring election data say the odds of winning are slim for Republicans at the top of the ticket in Connecticut. In the governor’s race, FiveThirtyEight says Gov. Ned Lamont is “very likely” to beat Republican challenger Bob Stefanowski. The polling analysis website simulated the election 40,000 times and found that Lamont won 98 times in a sample of 100 simulations. And Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s chances of beating Republican challenger Leora Levy are even higher, FiveThirtyEight found: Its model currently finds Levy’s chance of winning is less than one in 100. Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan website that analyzes state and federal elections, rates the governor’s race as “likely Democrat” and the U.S. Senate race as “solid Democrat.” These projections are especially bad news for Levy, the upset winner of the Republican primary for Senate after her endorsement by former President Donald Trump. … [Read more...] about National projections show CT election races tilt heavily toward Democrats

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s long-litigated photo voter identification law was appraised at the state Supreme Court on Monday. Justices heard arguments on whether it was reasonable for trial judges to throw out the law that they determined was tainted by racial bias and designed to help Republicans retain their grip on the legislature. The voter ID law approved by the General Assembly in December 2018, but it has never been enforced, as the requirement has been blocked by both federal or state courts over time. That remains the case for next month’s midterms. An attorney for the Republican legislative leaders said a majority of trial judges conducting a trial on the law last year got both facts and conclusions wrong when they struck down the law. Those judges failed to take into account the bipartisan nature of its passage and rule changes that would eliminate any disadvantage that Black voters would have in carrying a photo ID, lawyer Pete Patterson said. People … [Read more...] about NC Supreme Court weighs if voter ID tainted by racial bias

HARTFORD — State Rep. Harry Arora of Greenwich, the Republican candidate for state treasurer who failed to win a cross endorsement from the Independent Party of Connecticut, cannot force the secretary of the state to remove the minor party nominee from state election ballots, a judge ruled on Monday. Superior Court Judge John Farley, in an announcement from the bench after a morning-long hearing, said that while Arora's attorney Proloy Das made some good arguments and exposed weaknesses in state election law, the fact that Arora filed the court challenge after Jennifer Baldwin of Guilford won the Independent Party nomination in August, worked against Arora. "The court finds in favor of the defendants," Farley said, stressing that Arora's court challenge "could have been timely," but was delayed until mid-September. Farley said that when Arora actively pursued the Independent Party nomination, he waived the right to pursue the deletion of the minor party from the ballot. It … [Read more...] about Republican Harry Arora loses challenge to Independent Party candidate for state treasurer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government imposed sanctions Monday on the head of Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation and others, acting less than a week after it levied sanctions on a state prosecutor accused of being complicit in corruption and undermining democratic processes in the Western Balkans. The Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control designated sanctions Monday against Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, saying he misused pensioner data acquired through his official position in the week before the 2018 elections. Novalic allegedly used pensioner data to send out letters listing his accomplishments and promised increased pensions. The new sanctions come after state prosecutor Diana Kajmakovic, whom Treasury called a “ brazenly corrupt state prosecutor with links to criminal organizations," was designated for sanctions last week. Additionally, Bosnian tycoon Slobodan Stankovic and his engineering firm, Integral Inzenjering A.D. Laktasi, were … [Read more...] about US sanctions Bosnian minister in anti-corruption effort

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge struck down as unconstitutional three laws that restricted voting in the state, saying there was no evidence of the widespread voter fraud that the 2021 Republican-sponsored laws ostensibly were targeting. The laws ended same-day voter registration, imposed new identification requirements on students and restricted third-party ballot collections. The restrictions were put on hold in April under a temporary injunction later upheld by the Montana Supreme Court. Election officials declined to say if they would appeal the latest ruling to the state high court. And with the election just over a month away, it's uncertain if justices would render a decision before Nov. 8. Native American tribes that sued over the laws argued the student ID and ballot collection measures would hurt voters on remote reservations, where many people live far from polling places and are dealing with poverty and other challenges. Montana Secretary of State Christi … [Read more...] about Montana judge knocks down Republicans’ tighter voting laws

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 11 OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s new junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traore said the West African nation would still aim to hold elections by 2024 or even earlier, as regional mediators headed to the country after its second coup this year. The power grab is the latest setback for the regional bloc known as ECOWAS, which has tried to steer three of its 15 countries back toward democracy after a spate of coups in West Africa over the last two years. Burkina Faso's coup, announced Friday on state television, has raised fears that the country's political chaos could deepen the region's Islamic extremist violence, diverting the military's attention from the crisis. ECOWAS had reached an agreement with ousted leader Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba to hold a new vote by July 2024. Damiba, who himself had seized power in a … [Read more...] about Burkina Faso coup leader says vote still expected by 2024

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 11 BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Israel on Monday held high-level talks for the first time in a decade, with the Europeans pressing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid about how to put a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians into place. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell welcomed the recent support from Lapid — who took part in Monday’s talks by videoconference — for an end to the conflict based on an Israeli and Palestinian state living peacefully side by side. “This is also what we want to push for. We want the resumption of a political process that can lead to a two-state solution and a comprehensive regional peace,” Borrell said. “We have to explore how we can put this into practice.” “It’s better to sit and discuss frankly, than to avoid any contact. Certainly we disagree. Certainly we express … [Read more...] about EU, Israel hold high-level talks for first time in a decade