ELECTION 2022-MINNESOTA-GOVERNOR

Walz launches reelection campaign in divided Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has launched his campaign for a second term in an increasingly divided state, saying he made the tough calls necessary to beat back the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the economy. The former high school football coach made the announcement in a YouTube video posted Tuesday that shows him standing on a football field. The former congressman won office in 2018 on a theme of “One Minnesota,” a slogan he’s using again for 2022. But the fissures in Minnesotan politics have grown deeper since then, mostly over disagreements over his management of the pandemic, as well as the unrest and spike in crime that followed the death of George Floyd.

AP-EU-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-RUSSIA

Russia hits another record of daily coronavirus deaths

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has registered another daily record of coronavirus deaths as rapidly surging infection rates raises pressure on the country’s health care system. The government task force on Tuesday reported 1,015 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours for a total of 225,325. That’s by far the highest in Europe. The daily coronavirus mortality numbers have been surging for weeks and topped 1,000 for the first time over the weekend amid sluggish vaccination rates and the government’s reluctance to toughen restrictions. Russia’s deputy prime minister suggested Tuesday introducing a weeklong nonworking period starting Oct. 30.

AP-EU-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-BRITAIN

UK faces calls for ‘Plan B’ with virus cases high and rising

LONDON (AP) — Many scientists are pressing the British government to re-impose social restrictions and speed up booster vaccinations as coronavirus infection rates that are Europe’s highest rise still further. The U.K. recorded 49,156 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. That was the largest number since mid-July. New infections averaged 43,000 a day over the past week in a 15% increase comparted to the week before. Last week the Office for National Statistics estimated that 1 in 60 people in England had the virus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government lifted all the legal restrictions on business and social life in July. Many scientists are urging the government to reconsider and to speed up a vaccination booster program.

AHMAUD ARBERY-GEORGIA TRIAL

Jury selection moving slow in Ahmaud Arbery slaying trial

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Attorneys are slowly questioning potential jurors in Georgia who may ultimately decide the fate of three white men charged with killing a Black man, Ahmaud Arbery. Jury selection was set to resume Tuesday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys asked the first 20 jury pool members Monday about what they’ve already heard about the case and whether they think racism played a role in Arbery’s death. Graphic video of the slaying of the 25-year-old Black man in 2020 sparked a national outcry. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan are charged with murder and other crimes. Defense attorneys insist they committed no crimes. 

AP-US-MOTHER-AND-SON-KILLED

Alex Murdaugh asks to leave jail after 5 days behind bars

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Attorneys for Alex Murdaugh plan to ask a judge to grant him bond on his latest criminal charges. Murdaugh has spent five nights in jail. He was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. State police say Murdaugh stole $3.4 million in insurance payments that were meant for the sons of his housekeeper, who died after a fall at the Murdaugh home in February 2016. Murdaugh’s latest bond hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday. He is already out on bond on an insurance fraud charge after police say he tried to arrange his own death. The June shooting deaths of Murdaugh’s wife and son remain unresolved.

AP-US-REDISTRICTING-TEXAS

Texas lawmakers pass new congressional maps bolstering GOP

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Republicans have approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and could decrease political representation for growing minority communities in the nation’s largest red state. The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the maps late Monday night, and they will now be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott who is expected to sign them into law. The redrawn congressional districts may make it easier for incumbents to hold their seats and decrease Black and Hispanic communities’ political influence, even as those voters drive Texas’ growth. Advocates and Democratic lawmakers have denounced the proposed maps claiming racial discrimination. Civil rights groups sued Monday before GOP lawmakers finished pushing through the new maps. 

GERMANY-NAZI TRIAL

Ex-Nazi camp secretary, 96, appears in court for indictment

BERLIN (AP) — A 96-year-old former secretary for the Stutthof concentration camp’s SS commander appeared before a court in northern Germany on Tuesday to formally hear the charges against her. The indictment read out before the state court in Itzehoe, near Hamburg, charges Irmgard Furchner with more than 11,000 counts of accessory to murder. Furchner had tried to skip the start of her trial last month but was later picked up by police and placed in detention for several days. The defendant was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair Tuesday to hear the indictment, which couldn’t be read out in her absence. Furchner is being tried in juvenile court because she was under 21 at the time of the alleged crimes. 

YEMEN-CHILDREN

UN: 10,000 children killed or maimed during Yemen’s long war

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says more than 10,000 children in Yemen have been killed or injured in violence linked to years of war in the impoverished country. The children’s agency UNICEF says the verified tally is surely an undercount of the real toll. The U.N. has long considered Yemen home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The country faces the combined troubles of protracted conflict, economic devastation, and crumbling social and health services. War resumed in late 2014 as rebels took over the capital of Sanaa, and escalated when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015.

BC-FINANCIAL MARKETS

Stocks start higher; J&J leads gains for health care sector

Stocks are moving modestly higher on Wall Street in early trading Tuesday as corporate earnings reporting gets into full swing. The benchmark S&P 500 was up 0.3% in the first few minutes of trading, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%. Health care companies were making some of the biggest gains in the early going. Johnson & Johnson climbed 1.8% after raising its 2021 profit forecast again. Insurance company Travelers rose 2.6% after releasing results that easily beat analysts’ forecasts. The first exchange-traded fund to track Bitcoin futures rose 3% on its first day of trading. 

CAPITOL BREACH-SUBPOENAS

Jan. 6 panel plans contempt vote as Trump sues over probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is moving swiftly to hold at least one of Donald Trump’s allies in contempt. That’s happening as the former president is pushing back on the probe in a new lawsuit. Trump is aggressively trying to block the committee’s work by directing former White House aide Steve Bannon not to answer questions in the probe while also suing the panel to try to prevent Congress from obtaining former White House documents. Lawmakers on the House committee say they will not back down as they gather facts and testimony about the attack of Trump’s supporters.

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