Author: chicagoinquirer

by Steve Peoples and Hannah Fingerhut DES MOINES, Iowa  — He says he won’t sign the pledge required to participate, but former President Donald Trump’s Republican rivals are actively preparing as if he will be onstage for the GOP’s first 2024 presidential debate next week. Former Vice President Mike Pence is hosting mock debate sessions with someone playing the part of the former president. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been participating in weekly debate prep sessions for several weeks with an eye toward drawing clear contrasts with Trump. And Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, is planning to show she can stand up to…

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by Kate Brumback and Eric Tucker ATLANTA  — Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on Monday over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, with prosecutors using a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power. The nearly 100-page indictment details dozens of acts by Trump or his allies to undo his defeat, including beseeching Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win the battleground state; harassing an election worker who faced false…

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by Kate Brumback ATLANTA  — Long before the FBI began investigating Donald Trump ‘s hoarding of classified documents or Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to probe the former president, Fani Willis was at work. Just one month after Trump’s infamous January 2021 phone callto suggest Georgia’s secretary of state could overturn his election loss, the Fulton County district attorney announced she was looking into possible illegal “attempts to influence” the results in what has become one of America’s premier political battlegrounds. As she built her case, Willis called a parade of high-profile witnesses before a special grand jury, presiding over an investigation that was so public it…

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WASHINGTON  — Brittney Sykes scored a season-high 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting to help the Washington Mystics beat the Chicago Sky 83-76 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid. Sykes added six assists and five steals. Queen Egbo made 7 of 7 from the field and scored 16 points for the Mystics and Tianna Hawkins added 13 points. Washington (14-16) won for just the second time since an 84-69 victory against the Phoenix Mercury on July 23. Sykes hit a pull-up jumper and then added back-to-back layups to make it 51-45 midway through the third quarter and Washington led the…

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by Agency reports CHICAGO  — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Sunday stayed within the ranks and named Larry Snelling, the police department’s counterterrorism head, as his choice for police superintendent of the nation’s third-largest city. The announcement comes after a monthslong search led by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. The selection of Snelling, 54, to head the department is subject to City Council approval. Snelling will succeed David Brown, who in March announced that he would step down the day after Chicago’s mayoral primary election in which crime was a central issue. Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost that primary, and Johnson went…

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by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — Justin Fields insisted long completions are coming. For now, he’ll take plays like these. Fields threw touchdown passes to prized newcomer DJ Mooreand Khalil Herbert on Chicago’s first two possessions, then watched as the Bears beat the Tennessee Titans 23-17 in the teams’ preseason opener Saturday. “After a period of time where we keep completing those little short passes,” Fields said, “they start blitzing more, pressuring, playing more man coverage, that’s when those deep shots just naturally happen.” The Bears envisioned big plays in the passing game when they acquired Moore in a blockbuster trade with the Carolina…

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by Steve Peoples NEW YORK — As he gears up for reelection, President Joe Biden is already facing questions about his ability to convince voters that the economy is performing well. There’s skepticism about the 80-year-old president’s ability to manage a second term. And on Friday, Biden faced a fresh setback when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to probe his son, Hunter. Biden’s challenges pale in comparison with his predecessor and possible future rival, Donald Trump, who is facing three criminal indictments, with additional charges expected soon. But the appointment of the special counsel was nonetheless a reminder of the vulnerabilities facing Biden as he wages…

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by Ellen Knickmeyer and Tracy Brown WASHINGTON  — After nearly three weeks of appealing to the United States and other allies for help restoring Niger’s president to power, friends and supporters of the democratically elected leader are making a simpler plea: Save his life. President Mohamed Bazoum, leader of the last remaining Western-allied democracy across a vast stretch of Africa’s Sahara and Sahel, sits confined with his family in an unlit basement of his presidential compound, cut off from resupplies of food and from electricity and cooking gas by the junta that overthrew him, Niger’s ambassador to the United States told The…

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by Sam Mednick NIAMEY, Niger  — Tensions are escalating between Niger’s new military regime and the West African regional bloc that has ordered the deployment of troops to restore Niger’s flailing democracy. The ECOWAS bloc said on Thursday it had directed a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger after its Sunday deadline to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum expired. Hours earlier, two Western officials told The Associated Press that Niger’s junta had told a top U.S. diplomat they would kill Bazoum if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule. It’s unclear when or where the…

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by Bianca Vazquez Toness SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  — When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change: School seemed less welcoming. Parents were no longer allowed in the building without appointments, she said, and punishments were more severe. Everyone seemed less tolerant, more angry. Negrón’s son told her he overheard a teacher mocking his learning disabilities, calling him an ugly name. Her son didn’t want to go to school anymore. And she didn’t feel he was safe there. He would end up missing more than five months of sixth grade. Across the country, students have…

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