Madison_rogue

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Republican-drawn legislative maps on Friday and ordered that new district boundary lines be drawn as Democrats had urged in a redistricting case they hope will weaken GOP majorities.

The ruling comes less than a year before the 2024 election in a battleground state where four of the six past presidential elections have been decided by fewer than 23,000 votes, and Republicans have built large majorities in the Legislature under maps they drew over a decade ago.

The court ruled 4-3 in favor of Democrats who argued that the legislative maps are unconstitutional because districts drawn aren’t contiguous. New maps are likely to be unveiled in about two months.

“Because the current state legislative districts contain separate, detached territory and therefore violate the constitution’s contiguity requirements, we enjoin the Wisconsin Elections Commission from using the current legislative maps in future elections,” Justice Jill Karofksy wrote for the majority.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died, his consulting firm says. He was 100. Kissinger dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For many Americans, the Republican dysfunction that has ground business in the U.S. House to a halt as two wars rage abroad and a budget crisis looms at home is feeding into a longer-term pessimism about the country’s core institutions.

The lack of faith extends beyond Congress, with recent polling conducted both before and after the leadership meltdown finding a mistrust in everything from the courts to organized religion. The GOP internal bickering that for nearly three weeks has left open the speaker’s position — second in line to the presidency — is widely seen as the latest indication of deep problems with the nation’s bedrock institutions.

“They’re holding up the people’s business because they’re so dysfunctional,” said Christopher Lauff, 57, of Fargo, North Dakota.

Part of that business, he said, is approving money for Ukraine to continue its fight against Russia’s invasion, something he says ultimately helps the U.S. — a point President Joe Biden stressed Thursday during an Oval Office address.

Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Friday fined former President Donald Trump $5,000 for violating a gag order placed on him during his civil fraud trial in New York.

"Donald Trump has received ample warning from this court as to the possible repercussions of violating the gag order," Judge Arthur Engoron said in his order Friday. "He specifically acknowledged that he understood and would abide by it.

"Accordingly, issuing yet another warning is no longer appropriate; this court is way behind the 'warning stage.'"

Engoron also threatened Trump twice with jail time if the former president violates the order again, CNN reported.

(Orignally posted in worldnews@lemmy.ml)

Citing scaling issues, Reddit is shutting down its blockchain-based Community Points in favor of prioritizing other rewards programs.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s top corporate deputies considered adding a “presidential premium” when calculating the value of his Trump Tower penthouse, Mar-a-Lago resort and other assets during his White House years, a gambit that would’ve padded his net worth by nearly $145 million, an executive at the former president’s company testified Friday.

Trump Organization Assistant Vice President Patrick Birney said at Trump’s New York civil fraud trial that they ended up scrapping the idea, but state lawyers contend that merely going through the exercise underscores how Trump and his underlings were intent on finding ways to puff up his net worth.

Trump was expected to return to court for the trial next week when fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen was scheduled to take the witness stand, though Cohen said late Friday that he needed to attend to a medical condition that might delay the showdown. Cohen said he would testify “at the earliest opportunity.”

Birney was testifying at the end of the second week of a non-jury trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud lawsuit. He is the third Trump Organization executive to take the witness stand, following former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg and Senior Vice President and former Controller Jeffrey McConney.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had a fiery exchange with reporters Friday about the House’s ongoing dilemma, blaming Democratic members for bringing “chaos to Congress.”

After House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was nominated for the top position on Friday evening, lawmakers went on recess for the weekend without bringing a vote to the House floor.

CNN’s Manu Raju questioned McCarthy on whether acting Speaker Patrick Henry (R-N.C.) should take on more power since the House’s divisiveness has stalled Congress. Deflecting the question, the California Republican shifted blame to the Democrats for the Speakership drama.

“So they’ve really stymied, they brought chaos in … Congress and now they’ve tried to stymie our ability to have continuity of Congress, which I think is a real problem, what the Democrats have done,” McCarthy said.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, emailed employees after news of Microsoft's successful $69 billion acquisition to say that he was "fully committed to helping with the transition" and that he would stay on as CEO through the end of 2023.

In a sweeping package of stories, photos and video, The Associated Press Religion Team takes an in-depth look at how the "none" phenomenon is playing out in the United States, South America, Nigeria, India, Middle East, Japan, Italy and Israel.

A home for music diehards has been fractured by increased fees that are pushing sellers and shoppers to other platforms.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Attorneys who’ve been defending MyPillow chief executive and election denier Mike Lindell against defamation lawsuits by voting machine companies are seeking court permission to quit, saying he owes them unspecified millions of dollars and can’t pay the millions more that he’ll owe in legal expenses going forward.

Lindell confirmed in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he’s out of money and said he understands his lawyers are people who need to make a living.

Attorney Andrew Parker wrote in documents filed in federal court on Thursday that his firm and a second firm representing MyPillow in lawsuits by Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems can’t afford what it would cost to represent Lindell and MyPillow through the rest of the litigation. Continuing to defend him would put the firms “in serious financial risk,” he wrote.

It’s the latest in a string of legal and financial setbacks for Lindell, who propagates former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, in part by rigged voting machine systems. Several big-box retailers, including Walmart, have discontinued his products.

New Gmail rules enforced starting in February should reduce spam, make it easier to unsubscribe from bulk senders, and close email security loopholes exploited by cybercriminals.