Month: February 2023

In new filings as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox and its networks, Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said some anchors of the company’s TV networks endorsed false fraud claims in the months following the 2020 election. Murdoch added that he doubted the claims being aired on Fox News and Fox Business Network.

Murdoch also acknowledged that Fox’s TV hosts endorsed the false election fraud claims. During Murdoch’s deposition, when asked if he was “now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election,” Murdoch responded, “Not Fox, no. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria [Bartiromo] as commentators … Some of our commentators were endorsing it. They endorsed.”

Dominion sued Fox, Fox News and Fox Business, arguing the networks and its on-air personalities made false claims that its voting machines rigged the results of the 2020 election. Fox News has consistently denied that it knowingly made false claims about the election, and has said “the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech.” Fox said in earlier court documents that the past year of discovery has shown the company played “no role in the creation and publication of the challenged statements — all of which aired on either Fox Business Network or Fox News Channel.”

The lawsuit is being closely monitored by First Amendment watchdogs and experts. A status conference in the case is slated for next week, with the trial scheduled to begin mid-April.

Editorial credit: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a surprise visit to Ukraine, solidifying the United State’s commitment to financial support for Kyiv in its fight against Russia, as the second year of the war begins. According to The New York Times, Yellen announced the transfer of $1.25 billion in aid to Ukraine in her meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. Zelensky shared a video of Yellen arriving to meet him on his Telegram channel.

Yellen said that the United States cannot allow Ukraine to lose the war for “economic reasons” while it is succeeding on the battlefield, adding:  “I’m in Kyiv to reaffirm our unwavering support of the Ukrainian people … Mr. Putin is counting on our global coalition’s resolve to wane, which he thinks will give him the upper hand in the war. But he is wrong. As President Biden said here last week, America will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Zelensky posted: “The United States has been powerfully supporting us since the first days of this war not only with weapons, but also on the financial front. We really appreciate it. Thank you for systematic steps to increase sanctions pressure on the aggressor state. It is necessary to further strengthen sanctions to deprive Russia of the ability to finance the war.”

Yellen’s visit comes a week after President Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Ukraine, marking the first time in modern history that a U.S. president entered a war zone without any U.S. military presence. The Wall Street Journal stated that it is also rare for a Treasury secretary to visit a war zone.

Editorial credit: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com

According to federal environmental authorities, contaminated waste shipments from the site of the train derailment earlier this month in eastern Ohio will resume Monday to two approved sites in the state. The announcement came a day after the Environmental Protection Agency ordered Norfolk Southern to pause shipments from the site of the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, OH — near the Pennsylvania state line to allow additional oversight measures about where waste was shipped. Some liquid and solid waste had already been taken to sites in Michigan and Texas.

Region 5 administrator Debra Shore of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Sunday that EPA-certified facilities able to accept some of the waste had been identified, meaning that shipments could restart Monday. Shore said that some of the liquid waste will be sent to a facility in Vickery, Ohio, for disposal in an underground injection well, and Norfolk Southern will also begin shipping solid waste to an incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio,  Additional solid waste disposal locations were being sought, adding: “All of this is great news for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding community, because it means cleanup can continue at a rapid pace.”

No one was injured when 38 Norfolk Southern cars derailed causing a fire to erupt, but officials were worried about a potential explosion due to hazardous chemicals in five of the rail cars, causing them to evacuate the area. It was later decided to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from the tanker cars. Federal and state officials have repeatedly said it’s safe for evacuated residents to return to the area and that air testing in the town and inside hundreds of homes hasn’t detected any concerning levels of contaminants, and the state says the local municipal drinking water system is safe. However many residents have expressed concerns about what they have been exposed to and how it will impact the future of their families and communities.

Anne Vogel, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, said that all of the rail cars – except for 11 cars held by the National Transportation Safety Board – have been removed from the site, which will allow excavation of additional contaminated soil and installation of monitoring wells to check for groundwater contamination.

Editorial credit: Orlowski Designs LLC / Shutterstock.com

The Goodyear Police Department in Arizona announced the arrest of suspect accused of driving his pickup truck into a group of cyclists, resulting in two deaths and 11 injured. The suspect, 26-year-old Pedro Quintana-Lujan, is accused of driving his truck into a “large cycling group”, and faces several charges; including two counts of manslaughter.

The incident took place on Saturday at about 8 a.m. in Goodyear, a suburb of Arizona with a population of more than 95,000. The crash occurred on Cotton Lane Bridge, which crosses the Gila River. The Goodyear Police Department tweeted that the deceased were one male and one female: “Sadly, two of the bicyclists died, and one remains in life-threatening condition … One of the deceased is a local resident of Goodyear, and one was visiting from out of state.”  Additionally, 11 people were injured in the crash.

According to ABC News, Quintana-Lujan also faces three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment and two counts of causing serious injury or death during a moving violation. He is being held in Maricopa County Jail on a $250,000 bond, with a  hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Editorial credit: SevenMaps / Shutterstock.com