Abortion rights is creating expensive campaigns for high-stakes state Supreme Court seats

Abortion and reproductive rights have been central to the races for president and governor in North Carolina, a battleground state that has more moderate abortion restrictions than its Southern neighbors.

That’s been even truer in the fight for a seat on the state Supreme Court that abortion rights supporters say will play an important role in determining whether Republicans can enact even more restrictions. Registered Republicans currently hold five of seven seats and could expand that majority even further in Tuesday’s election.

Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat who is running for reelection, is focusing heavily on the issue and touts her support for reproductive rights. Her first television ad featured images of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, who prefers to restrict abortions earlier than the current 12 weeks. She says her GOP rival for the court could be a deciding vote on the bench for such restrictions.

“This is an issue that is landing in front of state Supreme Courts, and it is one that is very salient to voters now,” Riggs said in an interview.

Her Republican opponent, Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, said Riggs is saying too much about an issue that could come before the court.

“I think it’s an inappropriate manner, a clear violation of our judicial standards, our code of conduct,” he said.

The North Carolina race emphasizes how much abortion is fueling expensive campaigns for Supreme Courts in several states this year. Groups on the right and left are spending heavily to reshape courts that could play deciding roles in legal fights over abortion, reproductive rights, voting rights, redistricting and other hot-button issues for years to come.

Experts say the campaigns show how the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning constitutional abortion protections that had been in place for half a century has transformed races for state high courts.

“What Dobbs did was made clear to both political stakeholders and the public that these state courts that hadn’t got a lot of attention are actually going to be really important and they’re going to be deciding some of the biggest cases that people might have expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Douglas Keith, senior counsel in the judiciary program at the Brennan Center, which has tracked spending on state court races.

Thirty-three states are holding elections for 82 Supreme Court seats this year. The 2024 election cycle follows record-breaking spending for judicial races in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania last year.

Groups on the left have ramped up their spending on state courts considerably this year. The American Civil Liberties Union has spent $5.4 million on court races in Montana, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio. Planned Parenthood and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee earlier this year announced they were collectively spending $5 million, focusing on court races in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

“We have never invested this heavily in state Supreme Courts before,” said Katie Rodihan, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Votes. “This is really a groundbreaking move for us, and I expect this will be the norm for us moving forward.”

The targets include Ohio, where Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the court. Democrats are defending two seats on the court, while a third is open, and Democratic victories in all three races are considered a longshot in the Republican-leaning state.

Control of the court could be key if the state appeals a judge’s ruling that struck down the most far-reaching of the state’s abortion restrictions. The ruling said the law banning most abortions once cardiac activity is detected — as early as six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant — violated a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year that protected reproductive rights.

Two seats are up for election on Michigan’s court, where Democratic-backed justices hold a 4-3 majority. Court races are technically nonpartisan, but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Republicans would need to win both seats to flip the court in their favor.

Justice Kyra Harris Bolden is defending the seat she was appointed to two years ago by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Bolden was the first Black woman to sit on Michigan’s bench. She faces Republican-backed circuit court Judge Patrick O’Grady for the remaining four years of the eight-year term.

Republican state Rep. Andrew Fink is competing against University of Michigan law professor Kimberly Anne Thomas, who was nominated by Democrats, for the other open seat that is being vacated by a Republican-backed justice.

Groups backing Bolden and Thomas are framing the races as crucial to defending abortion rights, with one group’s ad warning that “the Michigan state Supreme Court can still take abortion rights away.”

The most heated races are for two seats on the Montana Supreme Court, which has come under fire from GOP lawmakers over rulings against laws that would have restricted abortion access or made it more difficult to vote.

Former U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry Lynch is running against county attorney Cory Swanson for chief justice, while state judge Katherine Bidegaray is running against state judge Dan Wilson for another open seat on the court.

Progressive groups have been backing Lynch and Bidegaray. Both said in an ACLU questionnaire that they agreed with the reasoning and holding of a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling that the constitutional right to privacy includes the right to obtain a pre-viability abortion.

Groups on the right have been painting them both as too liberal and echoing national Republicans’ rhetoric, with text messages invoking the debate over transgender athletes on women’s sports teams.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, a longtime player in state court races, said its Judicial Fairness Initiative planned to spend seven figures in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

The group’s ads are focusing on issues other than abortion. In one touting three Republicans running for Ohio’s court, the group shows images of President Donald Trump along with images related to immigration.

A super PAC backed by conservative donor and shipping executive Richard Uihlein also has given to groups involved in state Supreme Court races in Montana and Ohio.

Progressive groups are even focusing attention on longshot states such as Texas, where Republicans hold all the seats on the Supreme Court. They’re trying to unseat three GOP justices who were part of unanimous rulings rejecting challenges to the state’s abortion ban.

One group, Find Out PAC, has been running digital ads in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston criticizing justices Jimmy Blacklock, John Devine and Jane Bland. In its ad, the group accuses the three of “playing doctor from the bench.”

In North Carolina, Riggs’ campaigning on abortion rights has prompted complaints from Republicans who say she’s stepping outside the bounds of judicial ethics. But Riggs said she’s not saying how she would rule in any case and is merely sharing her values with voters.

“I’m going to keep talking about my values because, at the core, our democracy works best when people cast informed votes,” she said.

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DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Associated Press writers Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, and Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.

83-year-old admits to download of child porn

83-year-old admits to download of child pornHENDERSON COUNTY – An 83-year-old Crockett man was charged with promoting child pornography into Henderson County and arrest documents allege he was in the process of downloading the material when an investigator stopped by. According to our news partner KETK, an investigation began on Oct. 2 when a device successfully downloaded files that contained child porn and later the IP address was traced back to a Crockett home.

On Oct. 24 an investigator stopped by the home and made contact with Bert Franklin Burris, 83 of Crockett, who was sitting at his computer in the living room, documents said. “The suspect stated that he does download and watch child pornography on a regular basis and the youngest child that he remembers seeing in child pornography is approximately 5 years of age,” the affidavit said.

Burris then told the investigator that he was downloading the material onto his computer when he made contact with him and that he had been viewing child pornography since he was about 50-years-old, the arrest documents said. Continue reading 83-year-old admits to download of child porn

East Texas turnout down on last day of early voting

East Texas turnout down on last day of early votingTYLER – For the past two weeks people have been able to get out and vote early before Election Day on Nov. 5. But as we get into the final hours some counties are seeing fewer people turning up to the polls. Smith County is worried about what election day will look like after getting a low turnout on Friday, according to our news partner KETK.

“Early voting started out really very, very strong,” but the last few days had been slow, so we’re hoping to pick up because our goal is to beat 2020, That is extremely low for the last day of early voting” Smith County election administrator Michelle Allcon said.

Polling locations have run across a few issues this year and are reminding people to follow the Texas election code when voting. “Please don’t wear your hats or your t-shirts or your buttons, keep your flags in the car,” Allcon said.

Helicopter pilot was talking with air traffic controller at the time of fatal Houston crash

HOUSTON (AP) — A helicopter pilot was speaking with an air traffic controller in Houston when the aircraft crashed into a radio tower, killing all four people on board, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Pilot Samantha Grandbouche had contacted the controller after taking off on Oct. 20 for a sightseeing tour of the area and was told minutes later to maintain visual separation from another helicopter in the area, according to the report.

“The pilot was reading the instructions when the radio transmission abruptly ended,” the report said. “No further communications from the accident helicopter were received.”

The helicopter crashed into a 1,003-foot-tall (306-meter-tall) radio tower about 100 feet (30 meters) from its top and exploded as both the helicopter and tower fell to the ground with portions of the helicopter, including the fuselage, embedded in the tower, the report said.

Grandbouche died in the crash along with passengers Marie Alonso, her former husband Julio “Cesar” Lerma and their elementary-school-aged son Dylon Lerma.

Two of the tower’s three light beacons could be seen flashing on surveillance video, while the third beacon was not visible, according to the report.

The owner of the tower, SBA Communications, told investigators there were no outages to the tower.

The company did not immediately return a message for comment Friday to The Associated Press.

SBA Communications previously said it is cooperating with investigators and a Notice to Air Missions, which informs pilots of potential flight hazards, had been filed, but declined further comment citing the ongoing investigation.

The NTSB report said the notice was filed Oct. 16 after the company acquired the tower in September.

The preliminary report does not provide a probable cause of the crash, which would come in the final report that is expected in 18 to 24 months.

AP-NORC poll finds skepticism of nationwide election tallies

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s deep partisan divisions extend to trust in the vote tallies for this year’s election, as a new poll finds that Republicans are much more skeptical than Democrats that ballots will be counted accurately.

Voters generally show more distrust toward nationwide voting results compared to the tallies done by their own local election offices, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

About half of Republican registered voters have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of trust that the vote will be accurately counted by their local election officials and around 4 in 10 say the same about the vote count in their state, but only around one-quarter have at least “quite a bit” of trust in the nationwide count.

Republicans voters’ overall level of trust in all three, however, is lower than it is among Democratic voters. Roughly three-quarters of Democrats say they have at least “quite a bit” of confidence that votes will be counted accurately nationwide, in their state or by their local election officials.

This year’s election marks the first presidential race since former President Donald Trump began a campaign of lies about a stolen 2020 election — a narrative that has undermined public confidence in election results among a wide swath of conservative voters, despite no evidence of widespread fraud.

Election experts have warned that Trump may be laying the groundwork to once again challenge the election if he loses.

David Farrington, a 78-year-old conservative in Fort Worth, Texas, said he distrusts mail-in ballots and ballot drop boxes, both common targets for claims of voter fraud and election conspiracies attempting to sow distrust in election results.

“It’s not the vote count that I’m worried about,” Farrington said. “I have every faith in all the precincts and their ability to count the ballots that are there. But the ballots — we don’t know if they’re legitimate or not.”

Conversely, Ruth Edwards, a 28-year-old kindergarten teacher in Tampa, Florida, said she has “never seen evidence that elections are rigged.”

“It’s just people who are upset about their candidate losing who are now claiming it’s rigged with no evidence,” said Edwards, a Democrat. “It’s ridiculous.”

Voters overall are more likely to believe that votes in the 2024 presidential election will be counted accurately by their local election officials or in their state than nationwide, according to the poll. About 6 in 10 voters have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that votes in the 2024 presidential election will be counted accurately by their local election officials or in their state, while about half say this about votes counted nationwide.

About one-quarter in each case have “a moderate amount” of confidence. About 3 in 10 say they have “only a little” or no confidence in the nationwide count, while fewer say that about the tally in their state or by local officials.

Drew Inman, a 31-year-old Republican working in law enforcement in New Jersey, said he is skeptical that votes will be counted accurately at all levels, but especially in counties outside his own.

“I definitely trust my vote to be counted at a local level more than I trust the national vote count,” he said. “… When you go national, there’s a lot more people involved and that can create corruption.”

While ballots can include races for federal offices such as president or Congress, the U.S. does not run national elections as other countries do. All elections are run by the states and administered by local election offices in thousands of townships, cities and counties.

Election officials have recognized that many skeptical voters tend to point to other jurisdictions with false claims of fraud. Some groups have tried to counter this perception by emphasizing that elections in every state are run at the local level.

“What is difficult is when we have national elections, oftentimes people will maybe throw election professionals under the bus from another state, and that is not helpful,” said Tammy Patrick, a former election official now with the National Association of Election Officials.

Older voters have more faith in the vote count at all levels than younger voters, including the count conducted by local election officials. About half of 18- to 29-year-old voters have at least “quite a bit” of confidence that votes will be counted accurately in their state or by their local election officials, compared to around 7 in 10 voters ages 60 and older.

The gap is smaller for the nationwide vote count, though: About 4 in 10 18- to 29-year-old voters have at least “quite a bit” of confidence, compared to about half of voters ages 60 and older.

Bill Sanchez, a 29-year-old criminal defense attorney in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, said older voters have been watching and participating in the election process for longer, giving them more time to build trust.

“Younger voters have less experience voting and have spent a lot of their lives surrounded by this kind of misinformation that we’re seeing more and more of,” Sanchez said. “… It just sets the base for younger voters to be more distrustful.”

About 6 in 10 Republicans say people voting who are not eligible is a major problem in U.S. elections, compared to 2 in 10 Democrats. Democrats and Republicans differ most sharply over whether mail ballots that are returned via the U.S. Postal Service or a drop box will be counted accurately. About 6 in 10 Democrats are “extremely” or “very confident” that mail ballots that are returned by these methods will be counted accurately, compared to around 1 in 10 Republicans.

Democrats, meanwhile, are much more concerned about voter suppression than Republicans. About half of Democrats say voter suppression is a major problem, compared to about one-third of Republicans

And about 4 in 10 voters are concerned about other countries tampering with U.S. voting systems or election results, which is down slightly from when the question was last asked in February 2020. This is something that independent voters are at least slightly more likely to be worried about than Democrats or Republicans.

Sanchez, the attorney from Pennsylvania, said he is more concerned about voter suppression than widespread fraud or ballots being miscounted and called for the expansion of early voting and mail ballots to “make voting as accessible as possible.” He also worries about the potential that false claims of voter fraud could incite violence and unrest, and said he hopes election officials’ attempts to inform voters ahead of the election will help.

“There’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation about election security from bad faith actors who are trying to build distrust and take advantage of the fact that people don’t always understand everything about the process,” Sanchez said. “And when we don’t understand things, we end up fearing it.”

US hiring slows but hurricane fallout blurs findings

Via e U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

(WASHINGTON) -- U.S. hiring slowed in October, but fallout from hurricanes and labor strikes likely caused an undercount of the nation’s workers.

A fresh jobs report marked the final piece of major economic data before Election Day. However, the data offers little more than a blurry snapshot of the U.S. economy due to the one-off disruptions last month.

Employers added 12,000 workers last month, falling short of economist expectations of 90,000 additional jobs, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on Friday showed. The unemployment rate stands at 4.1%, which matches the previous month's level and remains historically low.

The hiring in October amounted to a sharp slowdown from 254,000 jobs added in September, though it should be interpreted with a significant dose of caution, experts told ABC News prior to the data release.

“Workers who weren’t paid during the survey period due to work disruptions won’t be counted as employed, and workers and businesses may be too busy dealing with the aftermath of the storms to respond to surveys,” Martha Gimbel, executive director of the Budget Lab at Yale University and former director of economic research at Indeed, told ABC News in a statement.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Oct. 9. It ultimately left millions without power and much of the state’s gas stations without fuel. In late September, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, prompting recovery efforts that have continued for weeks afterward.

Additionally, roughly 33,000 Boeing workers walked off the job in mid-September, an action that's expected to manifest as missing jobs for the first time on the October report.

In all, the combination of hurricanes and work stoppages is estimated to have pushed the level of hiring 50,000 jobs lower than where it otherwise would have stood, Bank of America Global Research said in a note to clients this week.

“This probably weighed on payrolls across the board, especially leisure and hospitality,” Bank of America Global Research said, pointing to Hurricane Milton. “There was also likely a minor drag from Helene,” the bank added.

Despite an overall slowdown this year, the job market has proven resilient. Hiring has continued at a solid pace; meanwhile, the unemployment rate has climbed but remains near a 50-year low.

The latest hiring data arrived at the end of a week in which new releases showed an economy growing at a robust pace while inflation returns to normal levels.

U.S. GDP grew at a 2.8% annualized rate over three months ending in September, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data on Wednesday showed. That figure fell slightly below economists' expectations, but demonstrated brisk growth that was propelled by resilient consumer spending.

On Thursday, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed that prices rose 2.1% over the year ending in September. Inflation has slowed dramatically from a peak of about 9% in 2022, though it remains slightly higher than the Fed's target of 2%.

The jobs report is set to arrive four days before Election Day. It also marks the last piece of significant economic data before the Fed announces its next interest rate decision on Nov. 7.

The Fed is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The issue today is the same as it has been.

Here’s a quote. Let’s play “Who said it?”

The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite.”

OK, so was it Ronald Reagan during the 1980 presidential campaign? Was it William F. Buckley in a column at National Review? Or perhaps the redoubtable Dr. Charles Krauthammer on the FOX News Channel. Or was it Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign?

The answer: none of the above.

Though the words certainly resonate in today’s fractious political climate, they were uttered more than 200 years ago by Thomas Jefferson, whose long list of accomplishments includes principal authorship of the Declaration of Independence.

That those words have such resonance more than two centuries later tells us that the basic questions facing societies never really change. Though independence from the tyranny of King George III of Great Britain was won in 1783, and though our Constitution was ratified six years later, the question remains on the table. Are we going to govern ourselves or are we going to abdicate that duty and forfeit that hard-won right in favor of the ministrations of a ruling elite?

That is the question that is on the ballot this coming Tuesday and it transcends Donald Trump’s outsized, and to many, off-putting personality, and it transcends any significance that might be attached to the possibility of electing the first female U.S. president.

One vision of America is that of a nation filled with hard-working, decent people who want the freedom to live their own lives and pursue their own dreams and aspirations, do their part to pay the taxes that are necessary for a limited, but properly functioning government and otherwise order their own lives and dispose of the fruits of their own labors as they, themselves see fit.

The other vision is that of a nation that is overseen by a small cohort of über-educated elites imbued with the power to order our lives down to what and how much we eat, where we live, how we transport ourselves and how we raise our children.

In the last third of the preceding century, the encroachment of that latter vision accelerated in government, academia and our cultural institutions. Those who have gained wealth, power and influence under that governing vision are loath to give it up, even as those in the great American middle class living in the heartland and doing most of the work that keeps the country running, have experienced incremental decline in wealth, power and influence.

Thus, the rabid hatred for Donald Trump, who, rejecting the politesse of Republicans like John McCain and Mitt Romney, dared to call the elites out. Today’s top Democrats, who bear little resemblance to the FDR and JFK Democrats of previous generations, despise Donald Trump because of the existential threat to their power that he represents.

So, Jefferson was right. The issue today is, indeed, the same as it has been throughout all history.

Third suspect charged in ‘cartel-related’ kidnapping

Third suspect charged in ‘cartel-related’ kidnappingSMITH COUNTY — A third person has been charged in connection to the March “cartel-related” kidnapping of a Tyler man. According to our news partner KETK, Brandon Markeith Jeffrey, owner of Mile High Eatery in the Tyler Pounds Airport, is accused of taking part in the kidnapping and was taken into custody on Thursday.

In March, Smith County officials said a man was found safe in the DFW area after being kidnapped from his Tyler driveway. According to an affidavit, his captors, identified as Julio Cesar Cordova and Walybert Eron Cordova-Rascon, demanded $10,000 from the family to return the victim. At the time, the Smith County Sheriff said the kidnapping was “cartel-related.” Continue reading Third suspect charged in ‘cartel-related’ kidnapping

The struggle for Senate control goes down to the wire as spending shatters records

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Billions of dollars in advertising are raining down on voters across the Rust Belt, Rocky Mountains and American southwest as the two major political parties portray their opponent’s candidates as extreme in a struggle for control of the U.S. Senate.

In three races alone — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana — more than $1 billion is projected to be spent by Nov. 5.

The race in Ohio could break the spending record for Senate races. The race in Montana will go down as the most expensive Senate race ever on a per-vote basis. And, late in the game, Democrats are sending millions more dollars to Texas, a GOP stronghold where the party has new hopes of knocking off two-term conservative stalwart Sen. Ted Cruz, an upset that could help them protect their majority.

Republicans need to pick up two seats to capture a surefire majority, and one of those — West Virginia — is all but in the bag for the GOP.

Other races are more volatile and less predictable.

For Democrats, the brutal math of this year’s election cycle is forcing them to defend eight seats in tough states. Losses by established incumbents could amount to an extinction-level event for Democrats who represent reliably Republican states.

The election also will test the down-ballot strength of both parties in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the premier presidential battleground states known as the Blue Wall for their relatively reliable Democratic voting history. Wins there by Republicans would dramatically alter the Senate playing field.

All told, data from political ad tracking firm AdImpact projects that more than $2.5 billion will be spent on advertising in Senate races in this two-year campaign cycle, slightly more than the 2022 total.

That includes a half-billion dollars in Ohio alone, another $340 million in Pennsylvania and $280 million in Montana, population 1.1 million, or less than one-tenth of the population of either Ohio or Pennsylvania. The most expensive Senate race ever was Democrat John Ossoff ‘s victory in a Georgia contest that went to a runoff in 2021 and decided Senate control, according to data from the campaign finance-tracking organization Open Secrets.

Generally, campaign strategists say Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is polling ahead of his party’s Senate candidates in Senate battleground states, while Democratic candidates in those states are polling ahead of their presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.

That means there is a slice of voters who could vote for Trump but not back Republicans in Senate races — or who could split their tickets with Democratic Senate candidates.

Such splits have been rare. In Maine, in 2020 voters backed Democrat Joe Biden for president and re-elected Republican Sen. Susan Collins, for instance.

Republican strategists said they expect the party’s major super PACs to spend until election day in seven states where Democrats are defending Senate seats: Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where polls show competitive races, but also Nevada and Arizona, where Republicans are encouraged by strong early voting numbers.

Republicans are most confident about flipping the seat in deep-red Montana, where Republican Tim Sheehy is challenging third-term Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. They are also optimistic about reliably red Ohio, where Republican Bernie Moreno is challenging third-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Torunn Sinclair, a spokesperson for a pair of Republican-aligned super PACs, said one — American Crossroads — is pulling $2.8 million out of Montana, while the pair are plunging several million more into Pennsylvania.

There, Republican David McCormick is trying to knock off three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in a presidential battleground undercard that both sides say is close.

McCormick, a former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, has hammered the message in two debates that Casey is a “sure thing” to back the Biden-Harris administration’s agenda.

In recent days, Casey began running an ad in conservative areas that touts his “greedflation” legislation to pursue price-gouging. The ad says “Casey bucked Biden to protect fracking” and “sided with Trump” on trade and tariffs.

Republicans say Casey’s ad showing Trump is similar to a TV ad that Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin is airing and speaks to both Democrats’ need to protect themselves against Harris’ vulnerability in their states.

“They’re hoping to peel off enough Trump voters to win,” Sinclair said.

Still, Casey ran a similar ad in 2018’s midterm election when he won easily — even though that ad didn’t mention Trump — while Casey’s campaign notes that he has long split with Democrats by opposing free trade agreements and supporting fossil fuel-power projects.

Democrats, conversely, say they are forcing competitive contests late in the campaign in two red states, Texas and Nebraska. Ousting incumbent Republicans from one or both of those seats could help Democrats to at least a 50-50 split in the Senate should Democrats lose in Montana or Ohio.

In Texas, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a former professional football player, has proven adept at raising small-dollar donations in his challenge to incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred has outraised every Senate candidate nationally, except Tester and Brown.

The ad spending advantage for Allred has been 3-to-2, according to AdImpact, with the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC touting a new seven-figure digital ad buy and a separate $5 million TV ad buy attacking Cruz on a key issue for Democrats, abortion rights.

On top of that, Democrats hope Harris’ rally in Houston on Friday with Allred and Beyoncé can help Allred by boosting Black voter turnout.

In Nebraska, independent Dan Osborn — a tattooed former labor leader who supports abortion rights — appears to have consolidated Democratic and independent voters while making some inroads with Republicans, Democratic strategists say.

While Osborn is running as an independent and hasn’t said which party he’d caucus with, he’s getting support from a liberal super PAC that has helped him amass a significant spending advantage over Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

In both states, Republicans acknowledge that they’ve had to spend money unexpectedly to shore up their incumbents’ prospects, but they also say they expect to win comfortably.

In Ohio, Brown has tried to personalize his appeal by appearing in most of his own ads and speaking directly into the camera.

“I’m Sherrod Brown and I have a question,” Brown says, looking into the camera and leaning his elbow on what might be a wood-working shop table. “Have you ever heard Bernie Moreno talk about what he’s going to do for Ohio?”

Brown also makes a personal appeal to potential swing voters, saying he has spent his career fighting for workers and veterans and working with law enforcement and “presidents of both parties to do what’s best for our state.”

Elsewhere, strategists expect first-term Florida Sen. Rick Scott will fend off a challenge from Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and that Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in deep-blue Maryland will beat former Gov. Larry Hogan to fill a seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin.

___

Associated Press reporter Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. Follow Marc Levy at twitter.com/timelywriter.

Jury orders Bell Helicopter to pay $16 million to former supplier in a trade-secrets case

FORT WORTH (AP) — A Texas jury ordered Bell Helicopter Textron to pay $16 million to a California company that claims Bell gave proprietary information that the companies developed to a rival supplier of cockpit display systems.

The jury in state court in Fort Worth this week decided that Bell engaged in unfair competition, but it rejected Rogerson Aircraft Corp.’s claim that Bell stole trade secrets.

Bell, a Fort Worth-based unit of Textron Inc., did not respond to requests for comment.

According to its lawsuit, Rogerson made avionics and display systems for Bell helicopters for more than 25 years. It sued in 2017, seeking more than $100 million in damages. It claimed that Bell gave designs the two companies produced together to a third firm, which developed a replacement for Rogerson’s equipment.

Rogerson claimed that Bell was trying to avoid the need to get regulatory approval for new systems by labeling them replacements.

Texas hospitals must now ask patients whether they’re in the US legally. Here’s how it works

AUSTIN (AP) – Texas hospitals must ask patients starting Friday whether they are in the U.S. legally and track the cost of treating people without legal status following an order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that expands the state’s clash with the Biden administration over immigration.

Critics fear the change could scare people away from hospitals in Texas, even though patients are not required to answer the questions to receive medical care. The mandate is similar to a policy that debuted last year in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is also a frequent critic of the federal government’s handling of illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Texas hospitals have spent months preparing for the change and have sought to reassure patients that it won’t affect their level of care.

Here’s what to know:
Required to ask, not required to answer

Under the executive order announced by Abbott in August, hospitals must ask patients if they are citizens in the U.S. and whether they are lawfully present in the country.

Patients have the right to withhold the information and hospital workers must tell them their responses will not affect their care, as required by federal law.
Tracking hospital costs and patient data

Hospitals are not required to begin submitting reports to the state until March. An early draft of a spreadsheet made by state health officials to track data does not include fields to submit patient names or personal information.

Providers will fill out a breakdown of visits by inpatient and emergency care patients and document whether they are lawfully present in the country, citizens or not lawfully present in the U.S.

The reports will also add up costs for those covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP; and the cost for patients without it.

“Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants,” Abbott said when he announced the policy.
Texas is following Florida’s lead

Florida enacted a similar law last year. Health care advocates contend the law has made immigrants who need of emergency medical care fearful and led to fewer people seeking help, even from facilities not subject to the law.

Florida’s early data is — by the state’s own admission — limited. The data is self-reported. Anyone can decline to answer, an option chosen by nearly 8% of people admitted to the hospital and about 7% of people who went to the emergency room from June to December 2023, according to Florida’s state report. Fewer than 1% of people who went to the emergency room or were admitted to the hospital reported being in the U.S. “illegally.”
Texas hospitals have been preparing

Immigrant and health care advocates have sought to educate the Texas public about their rights. In Florida, groups used text messages, posters and emails to get the word out. But advocates there have said they didn’t see fears subside for about a year.

Health care providers received directives from the state and guidance from the Texas Hospital Association.

“The bottom line for patients is that this doesn’t change hospital care. Texas hospitals continue to be a safe place for needed care,” said Carrie Williams, spokesperson for the hospital association.

Cumberland Academy lays off more than 50 staff members

Cumberland Academy lays off more than 50 staff membersTYLER – Cumberland Academy announced layoffs to many staff members in an email sent to Cumberland parents and the Tyler community this week according to our news partner KETK. In the message, superintendent Charles Pulliam explained the private school is facing a shortfall of $2 million.

“Due to the state’s five-year funding freeze, the end of federal COVID relief, inflationary pressures, and rising operational costs,” said Pulliam in the letter.

Because of these factors, the school district said its necessary to consolidate, reduce and realign staff.

“We were blindsided,” said Jennifer Blake, one concerned mother. Jennifer Blake is just one of many parents with students at Cumberland Academy who received the following email on Wednesday afternoon. She said that the teachers were given little to no notice and little severance pay.

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