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Showing posts with label Breaking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breaking. Show all posts

BREAKING: Feb. 2025 Special Election polls close, first results roll in

This post will be updated following each ballot drop.
LAST UPDATE: Election Day, 8:00 p.m.-ish

Burien, Initiative Measure 1

Endorsed Position: Yes
Results, Election Day: Passing, 54.33% -- 45.67%

Seattle Proposition 1

Endorsed Position: Yes on 1A
Results, Election Day: Proposition passing, 68.32% -- 31.68%
1A leads 1B, 57.55% -- 42.45%

Issaquah SD Proposition 1

Endorsed Position: Yes
Results, Election Day: Failing, 46.17% -- 53.83%

Seattle SD Proposition 1

Endorsed Position: Yes
Results, Election Day: Passing, 77.71% -- 22.29%

Seattle SD Proposition 2

Endorsed Position: Yes
Results, Election Day: Passing, 71.91% -- 28.09%

Proposed Shoreline FD RFA Proposition 1

Endorsed Position: Yes
Results, Election Day: Passing, 66.38% -- 33.62%

BREAKING: Vought, prominent author of Project 2025, confirmed as Budget Director

 The Senate has just confirmed Russell Vought as the Director of the Office of Management & Budget, in the White House Office. The vote was 53-47, with all Democrats voting NO.

A Christian nationalist and prominent contributor to Project 2025, the nomination has been decried by progressive groups across the country.

Vought previously served as Director from 2019 to 2021, and as deputy director from 2018 to 2020.

A divorcé since 2023, Vought and his ex-wife have two children together. Vought holds a law degree from George Washington University.

BREAKING: Senate confirms Turner to be HUD Secretary

 This morning, the US Senate confirmed former Texas State Rep. Scott Turner as the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development. The vote was 55 to 44, with 2 Democrats voting "aye": John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Peter Welch of Vermont.

Turner, a fourth-generation Texas, is a native of the Dallas area.

After a stint in the NFL from 1995 to 2003 (from Washington, to San Diego, to Buffalo, and ending in Denver), Turner began to look towards politics. Turner interned for Rep. Duncan Hunter during the 2003 off-season, and ran for Congress in 2006, placing eighth of 17.

He was elected to the Texas Legislature in 2013, and served until he was termed out in 2017. The President, in his first term, named Turner the Executive Director of the Opportunity & Revitalization Council, a position he held from 2019 until the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Turner, who has been married to his wife Robin since 1995, holds a B.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is the third consecutive Black American (sixth overall) to be Secretary of Housing & Urban Development (the fourth consecutive person of color, eighth overall), the first Southerner to be Secretary since Ben Carson from 2017-2021, and the first Texan since Julián Castro from 2014-2017.

BREAKING: Senate confirms Bondi as Attorney General

 Tonight, the US Senate confirmed Pamela Bondi, the former Attorney General of Florida, as the next United States Attorney General, and only the third female Attorney General in the nation's history. The vote was 54-46, with one Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, supporting her confirmation.

Bondi was the President's second choice for Attorney General, after then-Rep. Matt Gaetz, also of Florida.

Bondi, a former Democrat, served as Florida Attorney General from 2011 to 2019, in the administration of Rick Scott, who voted to confirm her tonight. Also voting to confirm her is her successor as Florida Attorney General, Ashley Moody.

A native of Temple Terrace, Bondi has been married (& divorced) twice, and holds a JD from Stetson University.

For more on the nation's 87th Attorney General, visit her Wikipedia page here: AG Pam Bondi on Wikipedia.

BREAKING: Judge blocks Jus Solis Executive Order

 The Hon. John Coughenour, a judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan, issued an order today blocking one of the President's executive orders revoking jus solis citizenship, or birthright citizenship.


In the United States, you are considered a citizen from birth if: You are born in the United States, in one of the US Territories, or when at a US Airport or docked at a US Port; or, one or both of your parents are US Citizens at your birth. The President's executive order revoked that first citizenship option, known as jus solis (or "right of the soil", as opposed to jus sanguis, "right of the blood").

More from the WA Standard here.


John C. Coughenour.

Technically a senior judge since 2006, Coughenour, age 83, was appointed to the US District Court for Western Washington by Ronald Reagan in 1981, and served as Chief Judge from 1997 to 2004.

He is a native of Pittsburgh, and a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law ('66). Prior to serving as a judge, Coughenour worked as a litigator at Bogle and Gates, and has tought trial and appellate practice at UW School of Law.

BREAKING: Alvarado appointed to the WA Senate

State Representative Emily Alvarado, a West Seattle Democrat, has just been appointed unanimously to the State Senate, by the King County Council.

The position in the Senate was vacated by Joe Nguyen, who resigned to take office as Governor Bob Ferguson's Director of Commerce.

Alvarado, a graduate of the University of Washington, had been in the House since her election in 2023.


The County Council will also fill the vacancies in the House, in the 41st District (vacated by Tana Senn, the Governor's choice to lead the Department of Children, Youth, & Families) and the 34th District (created after Alvarado was elevated to the Senate.)

BREAKING: Inauguration to be held indoors on Monday, first since Reagan in '85

 Earlier this morning, the President-elect made a request to the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies that the Inaugural Ceremonies be held indoors, in the Capitol Rotunda, following reports that the weather in DC will be dangerously cold.

The Committee, of course, obliged.

No president has been inaugurated indoors since President Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in January 1985.

Since 1861, with exceptions for extraordinary inaugurations (usually due to the death of the incumbent president), only two inaugurations have taken place indoors (Taft's inauguration in 1909 was in the Senate chamber, and Reagan's inauguration in 1985 was in the Rotunda.)

Indeed, in the history of the United States, only 11 inaugurations (out of 59 regular inaugurations) have been held indoors, with all but two of them taking place prior to 1834.

As chair of the Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, will lead the ceremonies.

As is tradition, the President-elect will be sworn in around noon Eastern (9:00 a.m. Pacific, plus or minus ten minutes), by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts. This will be Roberts' fifth time swearing in a President.

The Vice President-elect also typically chooses a Supreme Court justice to administer their oath of office, though in 2005 Vice President Dick Cheney chose US House Speaker Dennis Hastert. 

Vice President-elect Vance has chosen Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appointed in 2018. This will be Kavanaugh's first time swearing in a Vice President.

Past Vice Presidents-elect have chosen: Justice Sonia Sotomayor (Harris 2021 and Biden 2013), Justice Clarence Thomas (Pence, 2017), Justice John Paul Stevens (Biden 2009), and, as noted above, Speaker Dennis Hastert (Cheney 2005).

Overnight Headlines: Crawford likely to lead Intel Committee; DeSantis appoints his Attorney General as Senator

 Overnight (or, really, between the time I fell asleep and now), the following stories broke:


CRAWFORD LIKELY TO LEAD INTEL COMMITTEE

Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas is likely to replace Rep. Mike Turner as head of the House Committee on Intelligence, following Turner's removal yesterday. Turner was known as a leading proponent of continued military aid to Ukraine.

Rick Crawford has served in Congress since 2011. A native of Homestead Base, Florida, and resident of Jonesboro, Arkansas, Rep. Crawford is married, and him and his wife, Stacy, have 2 children together.

More from Politico: POLITICO: Crawford expected to replace Turner as Intel Chair


MOODY NAMED NEXT FLORIDA SENATOR

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his intention to nominate Florida's Attorney General, Ashley Moody, as Marco Rubio's replacement in the U.S. Senate, provided that Rubio is confirmed as Secretary of State. 

Moody, a native of Plant City, has been Attorney General since 2019, and had previously served ten years as a Judge on the 13th Judicial Circuit in Florida. As Attorney General, Moody succeeded Trump AG nominee Pam Bondi.

Moody is married to Deputy Chief Justin Duralia, of the Plant City Police Department, and together they have two sons.

More from Politico: POLITICO: DeSantis taps A.G. Ashley Moody as Senator

BREAKING NEWS: Turner out as House Intelligence Chair

 WASHINGTON - U.S. House Speaker Michael Johnson has dismissed Rep. Mike Turner, of Ohio, a Representative since 2003, as Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, a position he has held since 2023. He has been the lead Republican on the Committee since 2022.

Chair Turner has been notable for his steadfast support of military aid to Ukraine. This will be welcome news to Russian President Vladimir Putin & his allies.

More at Politico: POLITICO: Rep. Turner sacked as Intel chair

Closed.

 Civics 119: The Political Repository is officially in archive status as of 25 February 2025. The author crashed and burnt out in a fiery bl...