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Mo. Sen. Roy Blunt says he won't run next year, potentially clearing way crowded GOP primary
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — In an announcement that instantly shook up Missouri's political landscape, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said Monday morning he would not run for reelection in 2022. "After 14 general election victories — three to county office, seven to the United States House of Representatives and four statewide elections — I won't be a candidate for reelection to the United States Senate next year," Blunt, a Republican first elected to the Senate in 2010, said in a Twitter announcement. "I want to thank my family, and thank the great team that came together to help me work for you," Blunt said....
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Commentary: GOP embrace of extremism began long before Trump
Decades before Donald Trump’s naked call for lawless revolt, Republican leaders in Washington launched the party’s descent into insane nihilism fueled by a conspiratorial, visceral hatred of government. I know. I was on the front lines covering it. Two months after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the widely accepted view of the former president persists: He remade the Republican Party in his image and will be a GOP kingmaker long into the future. The truth is, the GOP started creating the Trump presidency decades before Donald J. Trump assumed office. The stubborn belief that Trump remad...
Tribune News Service
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Puerto Rico statehood a ‘serious issue’ dividing island residents and the Florida diaspora
Leaders of the Puerto Rican diaspora in Florida reacted to a new proposal seeking statehood for the U.S. territory. The new legislation was introduced Tuesday by Florida Rep. Darren Soto and Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González at a news conference. Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Florida (PRFAA), Anthony Carrillo Filomeno, said the measure “is the right step to ensure the political equality of the 3.2 million American citizens on the island.” Unlike the 1.3 million Puerto Ricans who reside in Florida, those living on the island “do not have the right to vote ...
Orlando Sentinel
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Judge scolds high-profile Missouri lawyer for ‘QAnon Shaman’ TV interview, reports say
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A judge said a St. Louis-based lawyer representing the man known as the ”QAnon Shaman,” who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, violated federal rules in facilitating a “60 Minutes Plus” interview for his client, Politico reported. At a Friday hearing, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth asked attorney Al Watkins, who represents QAnon follower Jacob Chansley, how the interview happened as the Marshals Service requires numerous clearances for interviews of federal pretrial prisoners, according to Politico. The judge scolded Chansley and Watkins, questioning whether the attorney was...
The Kansas City Star
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Investigation finds communications between lawmakers, Capitol rioters
Cellphone records obtained in the federal investigation of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol show some members of Congress may have communicated directly with rioters before and during the mayhem, according to reports. Authorities have collected data from cellphone towers and have found evidence that lawmakers corresponded with supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed Congress on Jan. 6 in an attempt to overthrow final confirmation of Joe Biden’s election win. The same data also revealed that someone inside the Trump White House was in communication with a member of th...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Michael Ryan: Should he or shouldn't he? A potential Trump 2024 run is Republicans' urgent dilemma
For many of my Republican friends, Donald Trump is a guilty pleasure. They well know a steady diet of his chronically combative nature, like fatty food, is bad for them and the country. They wish with everything in them that he'd just be a little more presidential. But notwithstanding his boorishness, is the other side any less combative? Besides, many of the things he says and does are precisely what Republicans are thinking and wanting done. And like Trump's die-hard supporters, these Republicans disheartened and disappointed by Trump have to admit they see few other politicians, past or pre...
The Kansas City Star
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TCU basketball can’t overcome dreadful first half, falling 76-67 at No. 6 West Virginia
TCU basketball is reeling toward the finish line. The Horned Frogs suffered another loss to a ranked team as No. 6 West Virginia pulled away for a 76-67 victory on Thursday night at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. TCU (12-12, 5-10 Big 12) scored a season-low 18 points in the first half en route to dropping to 0-9 all-time in Morgantown. The Frogs are also now 0-8 vs. ranked opponents this season and have lost five of their last six. This is a team that opened the week as a possible NIT team. The silver lining for TCU was showing some life in the second half. The Frogs made it interesting by pullin...
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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Gov. Pedro Pierluisi: ‘Puerto Rico will be the first truly Hispanic state’
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with White House officials and advocate for a new bill that charts a path toward statehood for the American territory. The push to make Puerto Rico the 51st state follows a referendum last year in which 52.5% of voters on the island said they are in favor of permanently joining the American union as a state. Though detractors worry the island would potentially lose some of its cultural identity, for Pierluisi that is not a concern. To the contrary, he says: “Puerto Rico will be the first tr...
Miami Herald
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Gov. Phil Murphy gave New Jersey progressives what he promised. Now they’ve got his back for reelection
Phil Murphy ran for New Jersey governor in 2017 with a long list of progressive promises: a tax on millionaires, a minimum wage hike, legal marijuana and more. Four years later, he’s mostly delivered. So as Murphy seeks reelection, he’s doing so with New Jersey’s liberals squarely in his corner and no Democratic challenger in sight. Some progressives cite disappointments during Murphy’s first term, like a controversial $15 billion state tax incentive program. But with the governor enjoying high approval ratings three months before the June primary, many are focused instead on down-ballot races...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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In Georgia, Fulton County leaders reject firing of elections director and appoint new elections chair
ATLANTA — The Fulton County Commission has rejected the firing of county elections director Richard Barron — sending him back to answer to a majority of an elections board that does not want him. And now, that elections board will have a new leader: Commissioners voted to appoint former Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan as a replacement for Chairwoman Mary Carole Cooney, who resigned this week due to a prolonged illness. The elections board manages policy, but the director runs day-to-day operations. While Barron's fate appears settled, commissioners continue to disagree on whether they or the ...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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