Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan on Friday vetoed a City Council budget plan to slash funding to the police department and eliminate the city's homeless outreach team, among other programs. The
nine-member council approved the rebalanced budget that would have
reduced police funding by 14% for the remainder of 2020. The move also
would have resulted in the loss of 100 police officers through layoffs
and attrition. The cuts would have totaled around $23 million of the remaining $127 million in the budget, KOMO News reported. “This
veto was because the bills, as passed, did not have the type of
collaboration that I think we will have going forward, and that I'm
hopeful we will have going forward," Durkan said during a news
conference. "There's some flaws in each of these (bills) that I hope the
council can correct, or with discussions, we can find a path forward
together. "I continue to have concerns about council decisions to
make cuts before they have a plan," she added. “I do not believe the
2020 budget in its current form moves us closer to those shared goals. I
truly believe we can, and must, find common ground for the vision of
SPD.” Durkan, a Democrat,
cited the lack of a plan for how to address public safety if the
policies came to fruition, saying programs needed to first be in place
before making substantial cuts to the police department. Council
President Lorena Gonzalez said she was "disappointed" to hear Durkan
vetoed the proposals, "which were overwhelmingly supported by the City
Council." “I have to believe that we agree on more than we
disagree, and I will strive to bridge the gap on our few but critical
differences of opinion,” González said. "I hope that the public
knows that their elected leaders are committed to working together on
achieving a long-overdue transformation of our law enforcement and
criminal justice systems that have for far too long perpetuated trauma
and harm on our black, brown and indigenous neighbors.” Durkan said Friday she has spoken to González, and is optimistic that the council and her office can work out a compromise. The sweeping proposals prompted Police Chief Carmen Best
to issue her resignation days after the council vote. The plan also
would have slashed her salary and that of several officers in her
command. Best said she was leaving because of the “lack of respect”
toward her officers, not the proposed pay cuts. One of the
programs on the chopping block was the city's Navigation Team, which
consisted of police officers and homeless outreach workers. Some council
members considered the officers on the team nothing more than "homeless
camp sweepers." Other units -- including the Harbor Patrol, SWAT, Public Affairs and Horse Unit -- also were slated to be dismantled.
Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best speaks during a news conference on Aug. 11. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
The
council is in the middle of a three-week recess. It can choose to
override the veto when it reconvenes in September with a supermajority
vote. Durkan also announced she and the council agreed to provide $45 million in COVID-19 relief funds for 2020 and 2021. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, considered by many to be a rising star in the Republican Party, will have a prime-time speaking spot next week when the GOP holds its presidential nominating convention, according to reports. Stefanik,
36, represents the state’s 21st Congressional District, far north of
New York City -- a region known as the “North Country.” She said she will use her air time to attack what she described as Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s “47-year failed record of far-left policies.” Her
remarks also will include a defense of what she called President
Trump’s “record of results,” the Albany Times Union reported. Stefanik announced her selection to speak at the convention in a Twitter message on Friday. “Honored to be invited to speak by @realDonaldTrump at #RNCConvention #RNC2020 next week,” she wrote. “It’s
a great opportunity for the North Country to have a national audience,”
she added, using a quote she gave to the Daily Gazette of Schenectady,
N.Y. Stefanik told the Daily Gazette she learned of her speaking spot only recently. “The
planning for the convention, given how unprecedented this year has
been, has been updated throughout given the challenges,” Stefanik told
the newspaper in a phone interview, referring to disruptions caused by
the coronavirus pandemic. The GOP convention was initially
scheduled to be held in Charlotte, N.C., but concerns over the virus
prompted the party to plan a split between North Carolina and
Jacksonville, Fla. Now further logistical updates will have most speakers, including President Trump, addressing the nation from Washington, the Times Union reported. Other
speakers are expected to include U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Tim
Scott of South Carolina; Richard Grenell, former acting director of
national intelligence; Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations and a former governor of South Carolina; Andrew Pollack,
the father of a Parkland, Fla., massacre victim; Abby Johnson, a
pro-life activist; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Pennsylvania U.S.
House candidate Sean Parnell. Nick
Sandmann, a Kentucky high school student who successfully sued media
organizations after a confrontation in Washington last year, and Mark
and Patricia McCloskey, St. Louis gun owners who used their weapons to
defend their home from rioters, also are scheduled to appear, according
to reports. Stefanik will be seeking her fourth term in the House when she competes against Democrat Tedra Cobb in November, the Daily Gazette reported.
FILE
– In this July 8, 2020, file photo, Des Moines Public Schools custodian
Joel Cruz cleans a desk in a classroom at Brubaker Elementary School in
Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 6:18 PM PT – Thursday, August 20, 2020
President
Trump has issued new guidance to label teachers as “critical
infrastructure workers,” which could pave the way for them to return to
the classroom this school year.
His
announcement comes as the latest step in the Trump administration’s push
to reopen schools, which they hope will enable students to receive a
quality education and allow parents to return to work.
“We
believe that we can safely reopen our schools. We know that it’s best
for our kids. We don’t want them to fall behind academically, but also
we don’t want our kids to miss out on the counseling that they receive.
Special needs services, as well as all the nutrition programs that are
available just at our schools. Finally, Mr. President, I know that
you’ve recognized from early on that getting our kids back to school is
first a priority for them, but also it’s important for working
families.” – Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States
According to reports, multiple school districts in Georgia and Tennessee have already made plans to allow educators to teach in person.
Try Not Gasp When You Find Out Who Anderson Cooper Is Dating
Teacher
Michaelle Joseph, left, hands out books and iPads to Louna Dorcelien,
right, as fellow teacher Jeffrey Phillipe, center, waits to place the
items in a bag, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, in Miami’s Little Haiti
neighborhood. (Carl Juste/Miami Herald via AP)
One Tennessee county voted to designate teachers as essential back in July. So far, five other counties have followed suit.
Earlier
this week, Governor Bill Lee announced his state would accept such a
mandate. He has said he would leave the decision up to individual school
districts.
Lee added teachers will be
provided with personal protective equipment. He emphasized they will not
be going to schools if they are sick or have tested positive for the
coronavirus.
“If a teacher tests
positive, they won’t be in the school,” said Lee. “…If teachers are
exposed, there are specific protocols to that as well.”
In
the meantime, Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp has said he’s evaluating
whether to implement the federal guidance in statewide reopening
guidelines.
This
combination photo shows, Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson
Tonight," left, and Sean Hannity, host of "Hannity" on Fox News. The
Fox News and Fox Business channels are going international. A digital
streaming service with the pair will launch in Mexico this month,
expanding to Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom in September. (AP
Photo)
NEW
YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are providing television
viewers with a distinctly different vision of the Democratic National
Convention each night from their perches on Fox News Channel.
Hannity
calls the virtual convention “the worst infomercial ever made” and
provides brief, annotated highlights of some Democratic speakers.
Carlson said that if the Democratic National Committee was in direct
marketing, it would “be bankrupt by now.”
Fox
News is providing an hour of convention news coverage each night, the
same as broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC. But as cable rivals CNN and
MSNBC devote three hours in prime time to the convention — including
showing the Democrats’ feed virtually uninterrupted — Fox will not
dislodge its biggest opinion stars.
Carlson
and Hannity offer a viewpoint familiar to supporters of President
Donald Trump. In the first two nights, their guests have included Donald
Trump Jr., Kellyanne Conway, former White House Press Secretary Sarah
Sanders and Trump campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine.
No one minces words.
Hannity
called the convention “a predictable dose of poorly produced,
cult-like, psychotic rage (and) hysteria against all things Donald
Trump. I thought they were the uniters.”
Carlson said it is the type of programming that appeals to people who enjoy mandatory corporate diversity seminars.
“The
preaching, self-righteousness, the condescension, the shameless lying,
the strange mixture of guilt and aggression — it probably all felt
refreshingly familiar to you,” Carlson said. “For everyone else, it was a
massive turnoff.”
The
Democrats’ two-hour feed begins at 9 p.m. Eastern, when Hannity’s show
airs, and for most of the time, convention proceedings are shown in a
tiny box at the bottom of the screen with the sound turned off.
Hannity
occasionally dips into a speech, cutting the sound off midstream to
offer his own commentary. “There he goes, lying again,” he said after
silencing former President Bill Clinton. He stopped New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo to call him an idiot and dope who was offering “probably the
biggest amount of revisionist history ever.”
He
aired in full the 90-second speech of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a
favorite target of conservatives, saying at the end, “Did she just
second the nomination of Bolshevik Bernie (Sanders)?”
Through
two nights, the only portion of the convention he aired without
ridicule or rebuttal was the moment of silence for George Floyd.
Carlson
noted that former first lady Michelle Obama was
considered off-limits for criticism, then called her a liar. He played
clips of television analysts praising Obama’s speech Monday to suggest
that it was over the top, while leaving out Fox’s Chris Wallace and Dana
Perino, who had also complimented Obama’s address.
He mocked her assertion that she doesn’t like to get involved in politics.
“If
she hates politics so much, why is she giving a political speech at a
political convention?” he said. “Isn’t there anything else to do on
Martha’s Vineyard in the summer?”
Both
hosts questioned Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s health,
with Hannity showing a Trump commercial pressing that point. “He seems
frail, he seems weak, he seems confused,” Hannity said.
A Carlson guest, Fox analyst Brit Hume, called Biden senile.
“His
age has left him without a full set of faculties so he forgets where he
is at times and can’t remember basic things,” Hume said.
Carlson’s response: “Interesting.”
The
two hosts even make their points to viewers with the sound muted.
Onscreen headlines included “Dems Browbeat You into Accepting Their
Agenda,” “Shamelessness on Full Display at the DNC,” “2020 Dems: They
Don’t Believe a Word They Say,” “DNC is a Bizarre Parade of Desperate
‘Zoom’ Calls” and “From Hope + Change to Hate + Rage.”
From
a business standpoint, Fox’s scheduling makes perfect sense. Carlson
had more than 4 million viewers Monday and Tuesday, higher than both CNN
and MSNBC. Hannity had 3.88 million viewers Monday, and many Fox
viewers clicked away when news coverage of the convention began. Fox had
2.1 million viewers at 10 p.m. Monday, less than half of both MSNBC and
CNN at the same time, the Nielsen company said.
Fox
pointed out that its convention coverage schedule was the same as it
was in 2016 and will be for next week’s Republican national convention.
Then, Fox’s audience is expected to swell significantly.
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Americans tuned into the Democratic National Convention were
told Thursday that the higher minimum wage favored by presidential
candidate Joe Biden would lift all full-time workers out of poverty.
That’s not what $15 an hour is likely to do.
SEN.
CORY BOOKER: “Together, with Joe and Kamala in the White House, we’ll
raise the minimum wage so no one who works a full-time job lives in
poverty.”
THE FACTS: That’s an improbable outcome for the $15 minimum wage supported by Biden.
A 2019 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift 1.3 million Americans out of poverty, a small fraction of the roughly 38 million people living in poverty in 2018.
ADVERTISEMENT
Moreover,
the report estimated a $15 minimum wage would cost 1.3 million people
their jobs because they would be priced out of the market.
Altogether,
some 17 million people might see higher pay, the office said, but not
enough to raise most who are below the poverty line above it.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the working poor in 2018, 3.7 million people who usually worked full-time were below the poverty level.
That finding suggests that a $15 federal minimum would not take all
full-time workers out of poverty. And, of course, it would still leave
millions of part-time workers and the unemployed in poverty.
Democrats
may have been thrilled with their four-night, largely virtual
convention, but Republicans backing President Trump didn't appear very
impressed. The Democratic Convention was a "socialist snoozefest," Boris Epshteyn, a Trump 2020 Campaign strategic adviser, quipped after the event concluded Thursday evening. "It was terrible," Epshteyn added on the Trump campaign's convention recap show "The Real Joe Biden." "The
first night was boring, the second night was a bunch of losers like
John Kerry, last night was retreads like Hillary Clinton … and tonight
was supposed to be the big night. … Is this the worst major party
convention in our lifetimes?” U.S.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., agreed, saying she she saw 50 years of
failed policies on display -- which was a feat considering she's 36
years old. "What we did not hear from Joe Biden was standing up
for our law enforcement," Stefanik said of Biden's speech accepting the
Democratic nomination. "We did not hear from Joe Biden how he’s going to
grow our economy and we deserve these answers." Trump campaign
senior adviser Katrina Pierson said convention speakers "negated every
opportunity to provide a sensible policy because they don’t have
anything," adding the only thing they had to offer was their "disdain"
for the president. She said she didn't think Biden attracted any new voters to his campaign. "'Vote for me because I’m not Trump' is not a winning message," Pierson said.
"'Vote for me because I’m not Trump' is not a winning message." — Katrina Pierson
She
added that mothers in swing states want to make sure their kids can go
outside without being attacked by a “violent mob” while Democrats were
portraying the recent protests as peaceful. Stefanik
said voters were looking for “strong leadership,” which they see in
Trump over Biden, adding that Trump has traveled more miles campaigning
this week than Biden has his entire campaign. She said he’s the “swamp”
that Trump is trying to beat. Stefanik added she’s excited to hear the “voices of everyday Americans” at the Republicans' convention next week. Pierson
said minority voters won’t be fooled by Biden, claiming he is still
“exuding racism out of his mouth," and Stefanik agreed, stating that no
president has done more to combat anti-Semitism than Trump. Trump-backing
Democratic state Rep. Vernon Jones of Georgia came on the show and
explained the Democratic Party has left him because it doesn't support
law enforcement and wants to defund police. He added that Trump has a
better record with minorities. “According
to Joe Biden, we’re not even capable of thinking for ourselves," Jones
said, turning to Pierson. "And to say … if you don’t vote for him you’re
'not Black'? I am Black, I am a Democrat, but I ain’t voting for Joe
Biden." Looking forward to Trump’s acceptance speech, Pierson said
viewers would see “his love and his passion for the American people and
this country. Our president and his family have made so many sacrifices
for us, for Americans." “He’s winning,” she added of Trump’s
position in the race. “He’s always winning, he’ll always be winning and
he’s going to win in November."
