Democratic special election streak headed for an end?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 31st, 2011 4:35 am by HL
Democratic special election streak headed for an end?
Democrats have a perfect track record in House special elections this cycle, but their winning streak may well end in Nevada next Tuesday.
State Treasurer Kate Marshall (D) faces former state Sen. Mark Amodei (R) in a special election on Sept. 13 for the 2nd district seat previously held by now-Sen. Dean Heller (R), who was appointed to replace John Ensign in the Senate.
Early voting began in the special began Saturday, and so far it looks good for Republicans. In three of the most populous counties of the district — Carson City, Douglas, and Washoe — Republican turnout beats Democratic turnout 5,433 to 3,426 with 1,125 independent/other voters. Turnout in Clark County has also been low and trended Republican. If you add in absentee ballots, things look even worse for Marshall.
Seeking cooperation, but also after convictions
On a cold, gloomy day in February of last year, a group of protesters showed up at the U.S. attorney’s office here and demanded to see a prosecutor who had brought a terrorism case against a young Muslim man.
They had spent the week pursuing Aloke Chakravarty, an assistant U.S. attorney, bombarding him with faxes and phone calls and accusing him of what may be the serious affront to a government lawyer: targeting Muslims because of their faith.
But it was not just any prosecutor who had aroused the ire of some in Boston’s Muslim community. Chakravarty had shaped his career in part around protecting the civil rights of that very group, feeling it had been unfairly targeted by bigotry. And he had been leading the Justice Department’s efforts to create a new relationship with Muslims throughout the region.
Compensation system urged for research victims
The United States should create a system to compensate people who are harmed by participating in scientific research, a panel of federal advisers recommended Tuesday.
Many other countries require sponsors of studies and researchers to carry insurance for research-related injuries or have other ways to compensate volunteers who are harmed, making the United States an “outlier,” the subcommittee of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues concluded.
“The panel felt strongly that it was wrong and a mistake that the United States was an outlier in not specifying any system for compensation for research subjects other than, ‘You get a lawyer and sue,’” said Amy Gutmann of the University of Pennsylvania, who chairs the commission and served on the subcommittee.
Gay military magazine to be distributed at Army, Air Force bases
With the military on the verge of allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly, Army and Air Force officials have approved the distribution of a magazine targeting gay service members at bases starting next month.
OutServe Magazine will hit store shelves at Army and Air Force bases on Sept. 20, the day the Pentagon plans to formally end enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’tI tell” policy that bans gays from serving openly.
The publication is published by OutServe, a group of secretly gay active duty service members that says it has hundreds of members currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rep. Giffords walking without cane, writing left-handed 7 months after mass shooting
TUCSON, Ariz. — A spokesman for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords says the Arizona congresswoman has been walking on her own for some time.
Spokesman Mark Kimble told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Giffords had been using a cane as recently as June but is now walking without it.
His comments came after the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson reported that Giffords’ District Director Ron Barber said the congresswoman was walking with a cane.
