Morning Headlines - Monday, Nov. 7, 2022 | Recent News

U.S. and World Headlines

Kevin McCarthy Previews Republicans’ Plans For The Majority – Starting At The Border

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is vowing to secure the border, cut back on government spending and launch rigorous investigations into the Biden administration if Republicans win the House on Tuesday, reflecting a mix of priorities as McCarthy will be forced to contend with an increasingly hardline and pro-Trump conference that is itching to impeach President Joe Biden.
In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN, two days before the midterm elections, McCarthy outlined his plans for power, which includes tackling inflation, rising crime and border security – three issues that have become central to Republicans’ closing pitch to voters.
To hammer home that message, McCarthy – who has been barnstorming the country in the run-up to the midterms – rallied here on Sunday for a trio of Hispanic GOP women who are vying to represent key districts along the southern border, a key part of the party’s strategy for winning the majority.

Dozens of races throughout the United States are expected to be close
Experts say it may take up to a month to know which party will be in control of the United States Congress
Earliest results can be skewed by mail-in ballots, with states that count mail-in ballots early reporting more Democrat-favored results
Those that do not count mail-in ballots until Election Day will rely more heavily on votes cast in person, which tend to be Republican

The expected indictment of Donald Trump is looming over the midterm elections as both parties are preparing for a major battle after Election Day if Attorney General Merrick Garland moves forward with an unprecedented prosecution of a former president.
Republican lawmakers in both the Senate and the House are warning they will put up a staunch defense of Trump if the Department of Justice announces an indictment, which some GOP aides and strategists expect to come in the first 60 to 90 days after Election Day.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is already warning that GOP lawmakers could use their power of the purse to reign in the Justice Department if prosecutors indict Trump, which he says would be using law enforcement authority as a political weapon.
If an indictment of Trump does come before mid-December, Justice Department funding likely would become a political football as congressional leaders work to pass legislation to fund the government for the next year.

Third Way — a center-left think tank backed by some of the biggest names in Democratic politics — is sounding the alarm about deep-seated party flaws, based on its own new polling from Senate battlegrounds.
"If Democrats manage to hold on to the House and Senate, it will be in spite of the party brand, not because of it," Third Way writes in a memo synthesizing its conclusions, shared first with Axios.
"Despite a roster of GOP candidates who are extreme by any standard, voters see Democrats as just as extreme, as well as far less concerned about the issues that most worry them."
Lifelong, respected Democrats are saying the quiet part out loud — that if Republicans have a huge night on Tuesday, as polls are blaring, Democrats must blame "much deeper" problems than simply the "historical trends" that beset the party in power.

The Powerball jackpot has grown to $1.9 billion after no winning tickets were sold in Saturday night's drawing, according to California lottery officials.
The winning numbers Saturday were 28, 45, 53, 56, 69 and a Powerball of 20.
The next drawing is set for Monday. If someone wins, it will set a new record for the largest lottery prize ever.
A winner has the option to receive the prize as an annuity spread over 29 years or as a lump-sum payment of $929.1 million, the California lottery said.

Johnson, Barnes Share Some Of Their Final Messages For Voters Ahead Of Election Day

Right now, the candidates running for office are crisscrossing Wisconsin making their final campaign stops in hopes of earning your vote.
On Sunday, Republican Senator Ron Johnson’s bus tour stopped in Middleton, where he spoke to voters.
He said he believes he deserves to be re-elected because he loves his country and is fighting for safety and freedom for Wisconsinites.
“What's really on the ballot is what's always been on the ballot from the moment of our founding through today,” Johnson said. “This is a fight for freedom. It's not somebody else's fight. This is our fight. It is a fight that we absolutely must win.”
Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes was in Milwaukee, advocating for reproductive freedom, public safety and crime prevention initiatives and more jobs for working class people.
“This is about what people are going through all across Wisconsin,” Barnes said.

Wisconsin Republicans have a strong chance to expand their majorities in the state Assembly and Senate Tuesday, and with the help of the new Republican-drawn legislative map, they could be on the verge of veto-proof supermajorities.
It's especially significant in a state where Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a record number of Republican bills in the last legislative session. Republicans could pass most of the bills again next session.
Republicans would need to win two-thirds majorities in each chamber of the Legislature to gain the power to override vetoes. In the state Senate, that would mean flipping just one Democratic district to win 22 out of 33 seats, a feat eminently possible under the makeup of the new map.
In the state Assembly, Republicans would need to flip five districts to win 66 seats out of 99 districts to hit the two-thirds veto-proof threshold that would let them set the agenda in state government no matter who is in the governor's office.
"Winning 66 seats would require a Republican victory of a size that we haven't seen for a decade," said John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University's Lubar Center for Public Policy Research.
"That's possible," Johnson said. "It would be remarkable."

A Wisconsin nurse faces two felony charges for abuse of an elder person and mayhem after she allegedly cut off a dying patient’s foot without his consent.
According to a criminal complaint, a Pierce County, Wis. medical examiner flagged an autopsy to authorities because a foot had been removed from a body he was supposed to examine.
It was later determined that before he died, the victim was under the care of 38-year-old Mary K. Brown, a Durand, Wis. resident and Spring Valley Health and Rehab Center nurse. The complaint indicates the man became a patient at the nursing home where Brown worked in March 2022 because tissue in his feet had died from severe frostbite, a condition called necrosis.
Some of Brown’s coworkers told investigators they had witnessed the man’s foot still attached to his body by several inches of tissue on the morning of May 27, then that night, Brown fully amputated his foot.
It is unknown if the amputation caused the man pain or not, as nurses interviewed by authorities produced varying accounts of the incident.

A Wisconsin state lawmaker on Friday filed a lawsuit to temporarily halt the counting of military ballots in the state after she received absentee ballots with fake names.
The suit was brought on by a veterans group and three people, including state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls), who has been criticized by election officials for promoting false claims about voter fraud, according to the Washington Post.
"The Plaintiffs want to ensure that any close election result is not determined by non-qualified people voting military elector absentee ballots," the lawsuit states.
Brandtjen, who is chair of the State Assembly’s elections committee, allegedly received the ballots bearing fake names from Kimberly Zapata, a Milwaukee election official, per WashPost.

Aaron Rodgers matched a career high with three interceptions and threw an incomplete pass on fourth down from the Detroit 17 in the final minute, letting the Lions hold on for a 15-9 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday in a matchup of slumping teams.
The Lions (2-6) ended a five-game losing streak.
The Packers (3-6) have lost five straight for the first time since 2008 when Rodgers, their four-time NFL MVP, was a first-year starter.
Detroit tried to seal the victory late in the fourth when coach Dan Campbell went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Green Bay 43. Goff’s pass was incomplete.
Rodgers failed to take advantage. He did convert a fourth-and-2 with an off-balance lob to Samori Toure, who fumbled out of bounds at the Detroit 17.