Mental health support for toddlers has lagged in Texas. That’s now changing.
Lawmakers and child care centers are pushing for a statewide mental health system for toddlers.
Republicans raise $1 million targeting South Texas House races as Democrats invest elsewhere
Democrats have long held an edge in South Texas, but Republicans see an opening there to expand their House majority.
Arizona begins in-person and absentee voting, here’s what you need to know
Arizona began early voting Wednesday, marking yet another major swing state where voting is underway in the 2024 election. With Arizona now in the mix, 41 states and Washington, D.C., have launched some form of early voting. Here is everything you need to know to cast your ballot in the state. NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION HAS TO ‘GET SERIOUS’ ABOUT IMMIGRATION, SAY VOTERS IN KEY BATTLEGROUND STATE President Biden scored a crucial victory in Arizona in the last presidential election, flipping the state to the Democrats for the first time since 1996. Four years later, the state remains highly competitive. In late September, a Fox News Poll put Republican former President Trump at 50% and Democrat Vice President Harris at 47% among likely voters; an AARP survey around the same time had Trump two points ahead of Harris at 49%-47%. Maricopa County remains the most important battleground in the state. It is the fourth-highest populated county in the United States, represents more than 60% of Arizona’s registered voters and has a large suburban population, particularly in Mesa. Arizona is also home to a higher proportion of Hispanic voters than the rest of the country, and while they favored Biden by 19 points in the last election, they have shown signs of shifting toward Trump. Republicans are strongest in sparsely populated rural areas, particularly Mohave County (Trump +51) and Graham County (Trump +45), but they run up the margin most in the outer suburbs and exurban areas in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties. Arizona is a Toss Up on the Fox News Power Rankings. The Grand Canyon State will also vote for a new senator after independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema decided not to run for re-election this year. The Republican candidate is Kari Lake, a former TV news host who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022. The Democrats have fielded Rep. Ruben Gallego, a former Marine who represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District. The Senate race is ranked Lean D. There are two competitive House districts in Arizona: This is a guide to registration and early voting. For comprehensive and up-to-date information on voter eligibility, processes and deadlines, please go to Vote.gov and the election website for Arizona. Arizona began absentee voting on Monday. Residents do not need to provide an excuse in order to receive a ballot. State officials must receive a ballot request by Oct. 25 and that ballot must be delivered to state officials by Nov. 5. Arizona offers early in-person voting beginning Oct. 9 and running through Nov. 1. Arizona residents were required to register to vote by Oct. 7.
RG Kar case: CBI cites blood stain, DNA report as evidence in chargesheet against accused Sanjay Roy
CBI mentioned the presence of Sanjay Roy’s DNA on the body of the victim, short hair, injuries on his body, blood stains of the victim, the CCTV footage, and the location of his mobile phone as per the call detail records as evidence against him.
Biden-Harris admin ‘taking advice from foreign governments’ on policing speech, lawmaker charges
A newly released tranche of documents shows senior Biden-Harris administration officials gained pointers from British “disinformation” officials about partnering with social media companies and establishing an all-of-government effort for fighting disfavored content that includes elections and COVID-19. The revelation, which comes as Congress investigates potential censorship efforts by the executive branch in the lead-up to the 2024 election, has prompted a House Republican to propose legislation to prevent U.S. tax money going to countries that regulate online speech. The National Security Council held a private meeting with the U.K. government’s Counter Disinformation Unit on Aug. 21, 2021. The Counter Disinformation Unit is part of the British government’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. America First Legal, a conservative watchdog group, obtained a slide deck shown at the meeting through a larger Freedom of Information Act lawsuit with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The slides were part of hundreds of pages of documents obtained from the CDC. WALL STREET JOURNAL KNOCKS SUPREME COURT FOR GIVING BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ‘LICENSE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP’ The document release comes shortly after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, wrote President Biden and Vice President Harris to request information on suppression campaigns the administration might be engaged in regarding political speech. Mace is also pushing free speech abroad. Last week, she introduced the No Funds for Fascists Act, a proposal to prohibit taxpayer funds from assisting foreign governments that abridge free speech and bars aid to governments that coerce social media platforms or news outlets to block speech. The NSC meeting with the British unit was “over-the-top,” Mace said. “The Biden-Harris administration is so desperate to control speech and information they’re actually taking advice from foreign governments on how to violate our core constitutional rights,” Mace said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “It’s extreme, over-the-top, and un-American. We introduced our ‘No Funds for Fascists’ bill in response to this.” A congressional probe into censorship and meetings with foreign governments “that have taken place and are likely still taking place” would be helpful, said Michael Ding, counsel to America First Legal. “Whether it’s election misinformation or COVID-19 disinformation, you can trace these actions to a web of international NGOs pushing to police free speech, whatever the cause of the day might be,” Ding told Fox News Digital. NRA ACCUSES META OF ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ AFTER LABELING POSTS HITTING HARRIS ‘FALSE INFORMATION’ Although the stated focus of the NSC conference was about combating lies regarding COVID-19, the British presentation veered into elections. “We’ve previously stood up an operational response to counter disinformation during the 2019 European elections, the 2019 UK general election, and the local and devolved UK elections in May of this year,” the Counter Disinformation Unit slides said. For elections, the unit shows it connects with the “central election cell,” the social media companies, strategic communication teams, and the monitoring and analysis teams. The 2021 NSC-British meeting on disinformation included officials from the Defense Department, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC, CIA, FBI and other agencies. The America First Legal lawsuit with the CDC aimed to investigate federal government efforts to block certain information related to COVID-19. A CDC spokesperson declined to comment for the story. Spokespersons for the NSC and the White House did not respond to inquiries for this story. The Counter Disinformation Unit is a British “cross-departmental” entity that includes the foreign policy and domestic policy agencies as well as intelligence services. According to the slides, it is intended to “support formulation of a coordinated government response” to misinformation. The British slide deck included suggestions such as establishing a unit to lead a multi-department government-wide effort to stop “disinformation,” similar to the Counter Disinformation Unit. The slides suggest legislation to regulate misinformation and disinformation policies of tech companies, including fines and penalties, similar to Britain’s Online Safety Act. The slides say of the Online Safety Act: “The bill delivers the government’s commitment to make the U.K. the safest place in the world to be online, whilst defending the freedom of expression.” This was only a selling point to get the law passed, Ding said. “The gaslighting the pro-censorship side engages in is ridiculous,” he said. As a more serious matter, he said U.S. policymakers should consider the First Amendment implications of extradition policy with Britain in circumstances when Britain seeks to arrest a violator of speech laws. The British law also references a “duty of care” that would be imposed on tech companies under the act. “The duty of care will require companies to address harms to individuals on their online platforms, including misinformation and disinformation,” one slide says. Further, the British officials suggested using the State Department to partner with international allies and use multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, G7 and NATO to fight what it designates as misinformation or disinformation. The slides say an international effort provides a “Clear message that the international community is prioritising (sic) this policy area, encouraging cooperation from platforms.”
Georgia Dems chair reveals message to undecided GOP voters as Harris works to build broad base
ATLANTA – The head of the Georgia Democratic Party has a message for right-leaning voters who are undecided about November’s presidential election. “Vote for someone who is going to move us forward into the next iteration of our country,” Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., told Fox News Digital in an interview roughly a month before Election Day. “We are tired of the vision of Donald Trump and his Republican Party, because right now what we know is there are Republicans out there willing to put country over party, and we need more like-minded people willing to do that.” Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has sought to make inroads with a litany of different voting blocs, including those that traditionally skew Republican. GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES 2-PRONGED ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK PEACH STATE Likely nowhere will that strategy prove more critical than Georgia, which Democrats are fighting to hold onto after President Biden took the Peach State by less than 1% in 2020, breaking a yearslong streak of the state voting Republicans into the White House. Williams, who took over as state party chair in 2019 and was elected to Congress in 2020, said Democrats were not taking those recent victories for granted when asked how the Left’s strategy has shifted since then. “When I became chair in 2019, nobody believed that Georgia was in play,” Williams said. “We are a true battleground state, which means we have to talk to every voter, take nothing for granted.” SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’ The Democratic leader said the state party’s organizing efforts spanned all of Georgia’s 159 counties, with nearly 30 field offices and more than 200 paid staffers. “We’ve got to have conversations with the voters about the issues that matter to them. I’m hearing about people who are so concerned that their freedom and our freedoms are on the ballot,” Williams said. When pressed later about what issues voters are most concerned about, Williams suggested abortion access was a top topic. She referenced the death of 28-year-old Amber Thurman, a Georgia mother who died after allegedly being denied emergency abortion care for 20 hours after a rare complication from abortion pills. Democrats and pro-choice activists have blamed her death on the Republican Georgia state government’s recent law banning abortion after six weeks except in cases of rape, incest, or medical emergencies. Republicans and pro-life groups have pushed back on those attacks, however. They have instead blamed Thurman’s death on complications caused by the abortion pills she took, and argued that there was nothing stopping doctors from performing surgery on her after the fetus’s heartbeat was already stopped. FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’ “She has an eight-year-old son growing up without a mother. But it doesn’t have to be this way. These are policy decisions,” Williams said. Meanwhile, both the Harris and Trump campaigns have courted Georgia’s Black population — voters who were key to Biden’s 2020 victory. Trump has made it a point in particular to try to appeal to Black and brown men, a group of voters who Republicans believe are growing disenchanted with Democrats’ progressive policies. Williams said Black voters were “not a monolith,” however, and signaled that the Harris campaign is also working to appeal to as many people as possible. “We can’t win this election based on any one demographic group. We’re building multiracial coalitions here on the ground in battleground Georgia, and we’re going to continue to do that,” Williams said. “It proved successful in 2020. It proved successful in our run-offs in 2021 and again in 2022 when we sent our senator, Reverend Raphael Warnock, back for a full six-year term. And we’re going to do it again in November.”
Trump-backed House candidate rips Biden’s ‘joke’ border policy for inviting gang violence to swing state
PHOENIX – Abe Hamadeh, a Republican running for Congress in Arizona’s 8th Congressional district, told Fox News Digital that ‘radical’ Biden-Harris immigration policies are leading to increased gang violence in the key swing state of Arizona that is driving voters toward former President Trump. “The border is the number one issue for everybody,” Hamadeh told Fox News Digital. “Every time I’m in my district, it’s the number one issue people talk about because they see the effects of the border crisis every single day, and we’ve had nighttime burglary, robberies happening in Arizona, in Maricopa County, particularly, these Chilean, illegal immigrants from Chile, this Chilean gang that were breaking into people’s homes.” Hamadeh continued, “So you’re starting to see it’s not just crime on the streets, in the inner cities, but now it’s going into the sort of suburbs and that’s why the border, everywhere I go, it’s the number one issue.” Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported on a home theft ring operated by members of a South American criminal gang that has been targeting high-end homes in the Phoenix area, resulting in the arrest of three Chilean citizens living illegally in the United States, authorities said. BATTLEGROUND SENATE CANDIDATE UNLOADS ON ‘RADICAL’ DEM OPPONENT FOR DISPARAGING TRUMP VOTERS The gang, which has been referred to as “tourist burglars” and the “dinnertime thieves”, has committed crimes all across Phoenix, and the suburbs of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Chandler, Gilbert and Peoria. “People are concerned, rightfully so,” Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda told Fox News Digital. “Take Scottsdale as an example. Scottsdale is a nice little suburb in Maricopa County and there is this huge increase in homelessness. There was a series of home robberies and the police said it was a Chilean gang. So a gang from Chile came and started hitting houses in Scottsdale on a pretty routine basis and they were calling them like dinnertime robberies and you’re sitting down to dinner after you worked all day and now here comes the Chilean gang to rob your house.” “This is crazy.” NEW POLL SHOWS WHO HISPANICS ARE BACKING IN SOUTHWEST SWING STATES Migrant gangs have garnered national attention in recent months, particularly in Aurora, Colorado, where a Venezuelan gang has been tied to numerous crimes in the city. Hamadeh told Fox News Digital that the “radical” immigration policies of the Biden-Harris administration are playing a major role in the increase of gang activity in Maricopa County. “Everybody knows it’s a joke,” Hamadeh said about the immigration policy put forward by Harris during her recent speech along the southern border. “We can’t escape the commercials that are on constantly, she’s walking on our southern border with Trump’s border wall which we all know she opposed. She’s the most radical person ever to run for president.” “Everybody who’s law enforcement, Border Patrol, anybody who knows what’s going on is supporting President Trump because Kamala Harris is in a position of power and has done nothing about it. So we all know that this is her attempt at trying to just, you know, get votes. But we know that the radical left is adamant about keeping our border open, and it’s creating a national security risk.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP That national security threat, Hamadeh told Fox News Digital, will ultimately result in voters supporting Trump in a key swing state where 11 electoral votes could decide the election. ” In my district, particularly, you know, we have all these Taiwanese companies moving into my district for the microchip industry, it’s 50 to $100 billion. That’s creating a national security risk,” Hamadeh said. “It’s great for economic development, but we have an open border, and you’ve got 30,000 Communist Chinese who have crossed our southern border last year. Unvetted.” “That’s a prime intelligence target. I’m a former military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Reserve and we’re putting a target right now here in Arizona for some of these foreign adversaries to take advantage of. Just last week, we discovered that Iran or somebody may have snuck through ten shoulder-fired missiles possibly. I mean, we’re talking about the United States. How are we not securing our border? It seems like the easiest concept for everybody to understand and that’s where, in my district that’s why it is the number one issue and Kamala Harris is failing at it and that’s why she’s going to lose the election.” Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report
At least two killed, 30 injured, in latest Russian attacks on Kharkiv
Northeastern city, the second biggest in Ukraine, has been a regular target for Russia since it began its full-scale invasion two-and-a-half years ago. Russian attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, have killed at least two people and injured more than 30, including a teenager. Russian forces dropped about four guided bombs on the northeastern city, about 30km (18 miles) from the border with Russia, on Tuesday afternoon, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. One of the bombing attacks killed a man and a woman who were walking along the street, he said, adding that at least three other people were injured. An earlier attack injured 28 people, including a 16-year-old, Syniehubov said. The authorities were working to verify the type of weapon used in that incident. Syniehubov and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a civilian production facility had been hit. Terekhov said there had also been a fire. Kharkiv has been a frequent target of Russian attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Last week, a Russian guided bomb attack on the city struck a five-storey apartment block, injuring 10 people. There were several attacks on the city in September. Three people were killed when a Russian guided bomb hit an apartment building as world leaders were due to meet at the United Nations in New York. And dozens were hurt after a Russian missile struck a shopping mall and a sports centre at the beginning of the month. Ukraine also reported that civilians were killed in Russian attacks on the south and east of the country on Tuesday. The head of the southern Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said a 71-year-old man was killed in a drone attack as he travelled in his car in the village of Prymorske, which is on the Dnipro river south of the regional capital and close to the front line. A woman who was with him in the car was admitted to hospital, Fedorov said. In the east of the country, where the fighting is most intense, officials said that a Russian attack killed one person and injured six others in the town of Kostiantynivka. The head of the Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, said Moscow’s forces had dropped “three guided aerial bombs on the town, hitting two residential buildings”. Adblock test (Why?)
Where are the Israeli captives taken in the Hamas-led October 7 attack?
EXPLAINER Despite pressure to agree to a deal that would see captives released, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has not budged. It has been a year since the Hamas-led attack on Israel in which 1,139 people were killed and about 250 captured and taken to the Gaza Strip. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 41,900 people in its genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. Here’s what to know about what happened to the captives taken from Israel: What happened on October 7 last year? Palestinian armed groups led by Hamas’s armed wing attacked several areas in southern Israel. Israeli officials said 251 people were taken captive, including women, men, children and the elderly. Among them were 23 Thai nationals, one Nepali national and one Filipino national who were working or studying in Israel. Several were dual nationals. It is unclear how many of the captives hold dual citizenship. However, at least 15 of those released were from Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Ireland, the United States and South Africa. The US says 12 Americans were taken captive and seven are still in captivity. The captives were believed to have been taken to different locations in the Gaza Strip by fighters from different Palestinian groups. What happened to the captives? Nearly half the captives have been released. Others are still in captivity with some confirmed or feared dead. Israeli officials said 117 have been returned to Israel. Israeli and US officials say 101 people are still in Gaza. At least 33 bodies have been recovered by Israeli forces as of September 1, according to the Israeli government. Relatives and supporters of captives taken by Palestinian fighters on October 7, 2023, mourn at a memorial at the site of the Nova music festival on the first anniversary of the Hamas-led attack [John Wessels/AFP] Who did Hamas release? Some of the captives were unilaterally released by Hamas from October 20 to October 23, based on “humanitarian grounds”. Those released include: Natalie, 17, and Judith Tai Raanan, 59, (released on October 20) as well as Yochevid Lifshitz, 85, and Nurit Cooper, 79, (released on October 23). One hundred and five captives were released as part of a prisoner exchange mediated by the Qatari government from November 24 to December 1. They were 81 Israelis, 23 Thai workers and one person from the Philippines. In return, Israel freed about 240 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel, many of whom were minors and many more who had not been convicted of a crime. Within the first four days of the temporary ceasefire, Israel arrested more than 130 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Did Israel get any captives out of Gaza? Eight people have been rescued alive from Gaza by Israeli forces, often during heavy shelling that kills scores of Palestinians: On October 31, Israeli forces rescued a female soldier, 18-year-old Ori Megidish, from northern Gaza. On February 12, two Argentinian-Israeli men – Louis Har, 70, and Fernando Marman, 60 – were rescued in Rafah in a raid that reportedly killed 100 Palestinians. On June 8, Israeli soldiers killed more than 270 people and injured 700 in a raid to rescue four captives from the Nuseirat refugee camp: Noa Argamani, 25; Andrey Kovlov, 27; Shlomi Ziv, 40; and Almog Meir Jan, 21. One man, Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was found in southern Gaza on August 24 by Israeli soldiers. Israelis chant during an antigovernment protest calling for the release of Israeli captives in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv on September 28, 2024 [Jack Guez/AFP] Who’s still captive and alive? As of September 1, about 101 captives were believed to still be in Gaza, according to Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari. They include more than 30 people Israeli officials said are likely dead. On August 12, Abu Obeida, a spokesperson for Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, confirmed that Hamas guards had killed a male captive and seriously wounded two female captives in separate incidents. On Monday, the Israeli group Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on X that officials informed the family of Idan Shtivi, a 28-year-old male captive, of his death. At least 33 bodies have been recovered, according to Israeli forces, including: Three captives who were killed by Israel on November 10 in an air raid that Israel said targeted a tunnel where Hamas commander Ahmed Ghandour operated. Officials initially denied Israel was responsible for the killings but admitted that it was “likely” last month. Three men who had escaped their captors and were killed by Israeli forces on December 15 in the Shujayea area of Gaza. The soldiers opened fire even though the three men waved white flags and spoke in Hebrew to the soldiers. Six captives who were found dead in a tunnel complex in Rafah on September 1. Hamas said they had been killed by Israeli bombs. Israel said they were shot by Hamas members. Irena Tati holds a picture of her grandson Alexander, held by Hamas in Gaza, at a demonstration to call for the release of the captives at the Museum of Art in Tel Aviv on December 2, 2023 [Ariel Schalit/AP Photo] What’s next? Despite pressure from families of the remaining captives to accept a ceasefire Hamas proposed that would see all of them freed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is insisting that Hamas must release the captives before any ceasefire can be negotiated. Netanyahu has faced even more pressure from the families as Israel has widened its war by attacking Lebanon last week. Some accuse Netanyahu of not prioritising the captives but focusing instead on starting wars with Israel’s neighbours for political gain. A captive deal “has certainly fallen off the table when it comes to this government”, Al Jazeera’s Stephanie Dekker said. Demonstrations demanding the release of the captives have been held weekly in Israeli cities in recent months. Hamas, meanwhile, has maintained it will not release the captives unless Israel agrees to and implements a complete ceasefire in
Gaza has become a ‘graveyard’ for children amid Israeli attacks: UN
NewsFeed Violence, fear, displacement, hunger, loss and for 16,891 children in Gaza, death. These children are not numbers, they have a story, parents who loved them, grandparents who spoiled them and siblings who played with them. Their faces are now a memory etched in the hearts and minds of those who love them. Published On 9 Oct 20249 Oct 2024 Adblock test (Why?)