Top Ramaswamy adviser jumps from PAC to campaign

posted in: Politics | 0

A top New Hampshire-based aide to Vivek Ramaswamy’s allied super PAC is leaving the group to work directly on his campaign.

Michael Biundo, a former senior adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and manager of Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential run, joined Ramaswamy’s campaign as a senior adviser this week. Biundo, who previously served in the same role at the American Exceptionalism PAC, is one of only a handful of GOP operatives to notch wins in both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries.

The move — confirmed by Ramaswamy’s campaign — reflects an increasing focus by Ramaswamy on New Hampshire, where the insurgent millennial Republican and former biotech executive has spent a significant amount of time campaigning.

“Mike Biundo’s hire as National Senior Advisor is yet another indicator that Vivek’s campaign is leveling up in the early states and nationwide,” Ben Yoho, Ramaswamy’s campaign CEO, said in a statement to POLITICO. “Mike brings decades of presidential campaign experience, and is one of a handful of operatives that has helped to lead winning campaigns in both the early states of New Hampshire and Iowa.”

Scott Schweitzer, a Columbus, Ohio-based operative, remains the co-chair of the PAC and will continue in his role.

Ramaswamy rails against the “corrupting influence” of super PACs and their “puppetry” even as he ostensibly benefits from one.

Pressed on that reality in a roundtable with reporters on Wednesday in New Hampshire, Ramaswamy said “the system should be changed to make sure that $3,300 per primary and $3,300 per general election is truly the only amount that you can give in order to be able to expressly support a candidate.”

But, he said, “if there are independent entities that want to express their opinions on issues, that’s absolutely their right.”

Gaza under Israeli siege: Bread lines, yellow water and nonstop explosions

posted in: News | 0

By ISABEL DEBRE and NAJIB JOBAIN (Associated Press)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — There are explosions audible in the cramped, humid room where Azmi Keshawi shelters with his family in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis. The bombardments keep coming closer, he says, and they’re wreaking death and destruction.

Keshawi, his wife, two sons, two daughters and tiny grandchildren are trying to survive inside.

The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for a devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel almost two weeks ago and the Keshawi family’s sense of desperation is growing. Food is running out and Israel has so far stopped humanitarian attempts to bring it in.

The family hasn’t showered in days since Israel cut off Gaza’s water and fuel supplies. They get drinking water from the U.N. school, where workers hand out jerrycans of water from Gaza’s subterranean aquifer to desperate families. It tastes salty. The desalination stations stopped working when the fuel ran out.

Keshawi boils the water and hopes for the best.

“How the hell did the entire world just watch and let Israel turn off the water?” said Keshawi, 59, a U.S.-educated researcher at the International Crisis Group, his voice rising with anger.

That the world is watching, he says, saddens him the most.

Sometimes there are too many airstrikes to forage for food. But his family’s stocks are dwindling, so he tries to get bread when he can. On Thursday, the line for one loaf was chaotic and took five hours. Several bakeries have been bombed. Others have closed because they don’t have enough water or power. Authorities are still working out the logistics for a delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt.

Keshawi has money to buy food for his grandchildren. But there’s hardly anything to buy. The children often eat stale bread and drink powdered milk. A few Palestinians who own chicken farms and have gas stoves run take-out kitchens from their homes, asking customers to wait for hours to get a meager plate of rice and chicken. Keshawi wishes he didn’t see the water they used — liquid with a disconcerting yellow hue, from a donkey cart. He didn’t tell his wife.

“It’s not the time to be picky,” he said from his friend’s house where he sought refuge after heeding an Israeli military evacuation order for Gaza City. “We don’t know if anything will be available tomorrow.”

The toilet in the house is nearly full to the brim with urine. What water they can spare to wash the dishes they then use to flush waste down the toilet. Without enough food or water, they don’t use the bathroom much.

The nights are the hardest, he said. When airstrikes crash nearby and explosions light up the sky, the adults muster what little resolve they have to soothe the children.

“Boom!” they yell and cheer when the bombs thunder. The babies laugh.

But older kids are terrified. They see the news and know that the airstrikes have crushed thousands of homes and killed over 3,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, including dozens of people a mere kilometer (half mile) from the house they thought would offer safety.

Keshawi said he tries to put on a brave face. But often, he said, he can’t stop weeping.

“It’s really killing me,” he said. “It really breaks my heart.”

___

Ravens OLB Tyus Bowser says he’s ‘feeling great,’ but return will hinge on meetings with doctors this week

posted in: News | 0

After months of uncertainty and speculation, the mystery of when Ravens outside linebacker Tyus Bowser will be back on the field this season could be drawing close to a conclusion.

On Wednesday, coach John Harbaugh said that Bowser is meeting with doctors this week to examine a knee injury that has kept him out since before the season began. A day earlier, Bowser said on his podcast that he’s “feeling great” and “moving around very well.”

“I want what’s best for Tyus,” Harbaugh said. “I want this to kind of get resolved because he has worked hard to get physically where he can come back and play.”

Meanwhile, the saga drags on with the 28-year-old former second-round pick still on the non-football injury list.

In August, Harbaugh said that Bowser, who didn’t participate in the Ravens’ offseason program or training camp, was dealing with an “agitated knee” but that he expected him to be back by the start of the season. Two weeks later, though, Bowser landed on the non-football injury list, keeping him out of a minimum of the first four games of the season.

Still, Bowser has often continued to work off to the side during practice.

During home games, the seventh-year linebacker has played catch with fans during warmups.

In London, he took a tour of the Tottenham Hotspur training facility during practice.

Then Monday, Harbaugh said during his weekly news conference that the situation with Bowser had “gotten a little bit more complicated over the last couple of weeks.”

“I’m going to let Tyus comment on that,” Harbaugh said when asked for an update on Bowser’s status. “[I’m] really not at liberty to talk about it right now but at some point in time I’m sure we’ll have an announcement on that one way or another. He’s got to make some choices and decisions.”

A day later on his podcast with co-host Glenn Clark, the linebacker gave an update.

“I’m on the field,” Bowser said. “I’m moving around very well. I’m just gaining more and more confidence each and every day — not only on the field but in the training room. I have great people around me, great support staff, and I feel like myself is getting to that point. I’m just going to continue to work hard, and when that time comes, it comes.”

Bowser, who hasn’t spoken to reporters this season, also said there was “a lot going on,” however, in the wake of Harbaugh’s comments on Monday.

When healthy, Bowser, who signed a four-year, $22 million extension in March 2021, has been one of the Ravens’ more versatile players who has been strong against the run and effective in pass coverage. Two years ago, he had a career-high seven sacks.

But he has also been plagued by injuries the past two seasons. Last year, he appeared in just nine games after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon in January 2022.

Despite his absence this season, Baltimore’s pass rush has been one of the best in the league.

The Ravens are tied for the NFL lead in sacks with 24. They also have 11 players with at least one sack, including at least three from a defensive lineman (Justin Madubuike), outside linebacker (Jadeveon Clowney), off-ball linebacker (Patrick Queen) and defensive back (Kyle Hamilton).

Still, they could use Bowser’s help.

The Ravens have also been without two other outside linebackers, Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo. Oweh suffered an ankle injury in Week 2, though he did return to practice Wednesday. Ojabo has been on injured reserve since suffering ankle/knee injuries in Week 3, though he could return later this season.

When Bowser is back on the field remains to be seen, though he said on his podcast he wouldn’t be out for the season.

“If I can play, I’ll definitely play,” Bowser said Tuesday. “That’s the goal. That’s the mindset.”

That’s the hope for Harbaugh, too.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what the resolutions [are],” he said of the doctors’ meetings with Bowser. “I’m hopeful that he gets back and plays. That’s what you want. It’s going to be in his court, I think. That’s been my understanding of it. We’ll just see what happens, but those are real decisions that guys have to make. We’ll see.”

()

Investigators work to determine which identical twin was driving in fatal crash with Amish buggy

posted in: News | 0

PRESTON, Minn. — Law enforcement is investigating identical 35-year-old twin sisters to determine who was driving an SUV that crashed into an Amish buggy last month in southeastern Minnesota, killing two children and injuring two more.

Sarah Beth Petersen, of Spring Valley, was initially identified as the driver, but later law enforcement believed they had cause to think that it could have been her identical twin sister, Samantha Jo Petersen, who was driving.

Seven-year-old Wilma Miller and 11-year-old Irma Miller were killed in the crash. Their siblings, 9-year-old Alan Miller and 13-year-old Rose Miller, were injured. The Miller family, from Stewartville, has received an outpouring of community support following the crash, including more than $88,000 raised in an online fundraiser.

According to initial reports from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office, at 8:25 a.m. on Sept. 25, a 2005 Toyota 4Runner driving south on Fillmore County Road 1 came up from behind and struck a southbound two-wheeled horse-drawn Amish buggy. The collision happened near the intersection with County Road 102.

No criminal charges have been filed against either Petersen sister.

Court documents detail the events leading up to and immediately following the crash. According to the police report, it was Sarah Petersen who showed signs of impairment following the crash, and a sample of her blood was taken to check for evidence of that. Sarah was identified as the sole occupant of the SUV, and her sister, Samantha, had come separately in another vehicle to the scene of the crash.

Now, police appear ready to rewrite those initial findings.

Ongoing police investigation has suggested that it was not Sarah but in fact Samantha who was the driver involved in the crash, and who was potentially impaired.

While on the scene of the crash, squad car audio picked up a conversation between the sisters while Sarah was sitting in the vehicle. The two discussed how law enforcement could not tell them apart.

Among the evidence that supports that conclusion, on Sept. 26, law enforcement spoke to a coworker of the sisters who said that Samantha had admitted to being the driver at the crash. Samantha told the coworker that she was on methamphetamine and she had killed two Amish children after crashing into their buggy.

“I f—– up. I just killed two Amish people,” Samantha Petersen allegedly told the coworker.

Phone records also point to Samantha as the driver. The phone number used to call 911 is the same number that Samantha provided to law enforcement at the scene.

A search warrant for a blood draw and a full set of fingerprints for Samantha was requested and granted by a judge on Sept. 26.

“From prior law enforcement contacts, it has been found Sarah and Samantha have identified themselves as the other,” an investigator with the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office wrote in the search warrant. In 2017, Sarah Petersen was convicted in Fillmore County for using her sister’s name during a traffic stop.

Police also reviewed security camera footage, taken at another site earlier on the day of the crash, that showed Samantha driving the vehicle that later crashed into the buggy.

In addition to fingerprints and blood draws, law enforcement requested and were granted search warrants related to the sister’s phone data and forensic evidence inside the vehicle involved in the crash, including diagnostic data that will show what the vehicle was doing before and during the crash.

Related Articles

Crime & Public Safety |


Fatal drug overdoses remained high last year but plateaued, Minnesota Department of Health says

Crime & Public Safety |


State adds 8,000 jobs in Sept.; unemployment steady at 3.1%

Crime & Public Safety |


Farmington teen killed in motorcycle collision in southern Minnesota

Crime & Public Safety |


Aging U.S. power grid to get $3.5B update; Minnesota to share largest grant

Crime & Public Safety |


Search warrant: Couple suspected of selling meth before 5 officers shot in Benton County