List of All Articles with Tag 'am'

The world’s largest payment network is making changes to how it deals with merchants who want to charge

The Tennesse car crash involving four vehicles in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s motorcade has revealed that his campaign has misused government vehicles by using cars owned by the state of Florida in his presidential run, a report claims. The crash that took place on Tuesday as the campaign team was travelling to fundraisers in three cities in the state shows how the campaign is using state resources, but it remains almost impossible to discover who’s funding it after a new law passed by the Florida legislature to shield Mr DeSantis’s travel records from the public, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The research director for nonprofit government watchdog Integrity Florida, Ben Wilcox, told the paper: “The legislature has enabled him to hide his travel records so we don’t know and have no way to hold him accountable if he is using state resources in his campaign or if that is even the case”. Orlando Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani told the paper that “It’s absurd that he’s using public resources and public infrastructure to campaign. He’s using state resources to boost himself politically”. The crash took place as the campaign was heading to a fundraiser when an accident further ahead caused traffic to slow down. A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer heading the motorcade stopped short, and the cars behind the officer rear-ended each other, according to Chattanooga Police. “If the accident hadn’t been reported, we wouldn’t have known otherwise about the use of state vehicles,” Ms Eskamani added. “It makes you wonder how often state vehicles and public employees are being used at out-of-state campaign events.” One DeSantis staffer was treated on the scene of the crash for minor injuries. There were no further injuries, police said. Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents were also involved in the accident. Police said all the vehicles in the crash were government-owned. FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told the paper: “We’ve never answered questions about our protective operations assets (number of agents used, vehicles etc.)” The federal campaign finance report filed on 15 July covering the three months leading up to 30 June doesn’t include any payments to FDLE for travel or security. The report states that $76,256 were spent on private security. The DeSantis campaign has recently been in the news for spending large amounts without much to show for it, and recently laying off 38 people – a third of the campaign staff. Travel and staffing appear to be large expenses for the campaign as Mr DeSantis has been reported to be travelling with a larger group of staffers compared to other candidates. The campaign had raised $20m as of 30 June and they had spent $8.2m – more than a million on payroll and almost as much on travel – $896,000. Mr DeSantis is reported to prefer to fly in private jets provided by a number of top donors, the Sentinel notes. Since the start of his gubernatorial re-election campaign last year, there have been questions about whose private jets he’s using and if they’re reported as in-kind contributions or gifts. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a sitting governor run for [president],” Mr Wilcox told the paper. The director of public access for the Florida Center for Government Accountability, Michael Barfield, told the paper that “at the end of the day, taxpayers don’t know what their money is being spent on”. He added that the group is considering its next legal steps. “We’re questioning the validity of the exemption,” Mr Barfield said. “We don’t think it meets a public purpose, so we will brainstorm about potential legal action.” Ms Eskamani said the legislature could repeal the public records exemption, but that “It would take a political will that doesn’t exist, even for something as nonpartisan as access to travel records”. The Independent has reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment. Read More A new challenger has emerged to Trump – and his extreme anti-woke message is working DeSantis cornered on his Bud Light boycott after threatening legal action over stock drop Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit against Disney’s efforts to neutralize governing district takeover Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit against Disney’s efforts to neutralize governing district takeover DeSantis questioned about his Bud Light boycott after complaining about stock drop Trump calls additional charges in Jack Smith’s superseding indictment ‘harassment’

The son of Colombian president Gustavo Petro was arrested on Saturday morning on accusations of money laundering and

After years of delays and hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns, a Montreal rail system planned,

Five people were injured during a Friday mass shooting in Seattle. The violence unfolded during a community event, Seattle Police Department Chief Adrian Diaz said during a press conference. Four of the victims were males and one of them was a female. Authorities said it is unclear at this time whether the shooting was targeted. “We know that there’s dozens and dozens of rounds that were fired,” Mr Diaz said. “We have five victims. Two are in critical condition. Three appear to be stable.” The chief of police said this year the department has recovered the highest number of guns in 15 years. “The gun violence issues that we have in our city, we’ve seen it rise and sometimes slow down at times, but right now we’ve really got to get guns off our streets,” he said. Read More Video captures police confronting white woman moments after she shot Black neighbour in row over children playing

Dockworkers on Canada’s west coast raised the possibility of a renewed labor disruption at the country’s busiest port

As Bitcoin roars back after a year of crypto industry scandals and losses, Mike Novogratz says one man

A day after Paris marked a year to go until the 2024 Olympics, Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan was disqualified from participating in the world championships after she refused to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova.

Today's USMNT rumors include Valencia agreeing to sell Yunus Musah to AC Milan.Gabriel Slonina is set to joinKAS Eupen and Alan Sonora has been linked with Santos.USMNT rumors: Yunus Musah to AC MilanYunus Musah to AC Milan has been a transfer rumor that has dragged on quite a bit. However,...

An ad launched by Progress Action Fund launched, showing an elderly Republican congressman interrupting a couple in the bedroom, has now been banned on X, formerly known as Twitter. According to the Progress Action Fund, which aims to defeat Republicans in red states, the platform “has censored” its account as well as the ad, called “Keep Republicans Out Of Your Bedroom.” In addition, the platform has “placed a ‘Search Ban’ and a ‘Search Suggestion Ban’ on the account.” As of Wednesday afternoon, the account did not show up on the social media platform, yet the ad could still be seen on X through retweets from other accounts. The Progress Action Fund said it contacted the platform’s legal department and “appealed the decision, which was denied.” Joe Jacobson, Founder and Executive Director of Progress Action Fund, took a stab at X’s owner: “Elon Musk loves free speech, but only when it’s convenient for him and his far-right political agenda.” “Political speech is protected under law and Musk’s competitors clearly agree that our ad should not be censored,” he continued. “When releasing ads in the future, we’ll be taking them to other platforms, which many others are already doing given Elon Musk’s frantic and poor leadership at Twitter.” The Independent has reached out to X for comment. The ad features a scene in which a woman asks a man if he has a condom. He reaches for the condom in a bedside table drawer, and another suit-covered arm appears, reaching for it as well. “Sorry, you can’t use those,” says an older man, clad in a black suit and red tie, while standing beside the bed. When the woman asks who he is, he replies: “I’m your Republican congressman. Now that we’re in charge, we’re banning birth control.” The ad urges voters to “vote no” on 8 August, in reference to State Issue 1, which would require proposed amendments to Ohio’s constitution “receive the approval of at least 60 per cent of eligible voters voting on the proposed amendment,” rather than a simple majority. Since acquiring Twitter, Mr Musk, a self declared “free speech absolutist”, has touted free speech as a pillar of the platform. As part of this shift during the takeover, he reinstated Donald Trump’s account after a two-year ban, which was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after the January 6 Capitol riot. He also reinstated at least 11 accounts belonging to prominent far-right and anti-trans influencers. On 23 November, the platform announced it “is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy.” As recently as April, the platform claimed to strive to “promote and protect the public conversation. We believe Twitter users have the right to express their opinions and ideas without fear of censorship.” In May, he wrote: “I am adamant about defending free speech, even if it means losing money.” Read More Democratic PAC unveils ‘steamy and horrifying’ ad with GOP lawmaker interrupting couple in bedroom Elon Musk slammed for pushing anti-vax conspiracy in response to LeBron James’ son Bronny suffering cardiac arrest Elon Musk takes control of @X account from user who had held it for 16 years Elon Musk’s Twitter bans ad showing Republican interrupting couple in bedroom 'X' logo installed atop Twitter building, spurring San Francisco to investigate permit violation EXCLUSIVE: The O.C.’s Ben McKenzie on going down the crypto rabbit hole

A day after General Abdourahamane Tiani declared himself Niger’s new leader, a picture is emerging of the little

Gerardo 'Tata' Martino has revealed the impact the Lionel Messi has brought to his teammates after making two appearances.