19 Aug 2024

The DNC kicks off today. Here’s what to expect — including who is speaking.

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Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison will gavel-in the party’s national convention on Monday — the first political convention to be held in Chicago in 28 years.

Overall, the way to think about each day’s activities at the DNC is to divide it between days and nights. During the day, it’s time for business. At night, it’s time for showbusiness.

Regular business will mostly occur at McCormick Place, where delegates and other party officials will discuss and debate policy issues and agendas. Following delegation breakfasts at their respective hotels around Chicago, DNC constituency caucuses and councils plan to meet Monday through Thursday until about 3:15 p.m. Varying caucuses on Monday will discuss everything from issues affecting minority communities and LGBTQ+ rights to small business needs and the climate crisis.

But after that work is done, it’s time for the lights and action at the United Center. Convention programming should begin around 5:15 p.m. and will run until 10 p.m. sharp (to align with broadcast television schedules) each night of the four-day convention. Every day will have a theme and Monday’s is “For the People.” Democrats said the theme was designed in part to contrast with Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who “puts himself first.”

Biden’s speaking tonight

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden steps off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on August 18, 2024. Biden spent the weekend at Camp David and is traveling back to Washington, DC. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP) (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Monday night’s headline speech from President Joe Biden represents the start of a baton pass to Vice President Kamala Harris. Both the president and first lady Jill Biden, who is also scheduled to speak Monday, will only be in town for one night.

The party’s energetic embrace of Harris’ candidacy underscores a bit of diverging themes for the Democrats as they begin their convention. While celebrating the start of the first in-person DNC in eight years following 2020’s pandemic-altered convention, they are also bidding a bittersweet farewell to Biden.

“The quick coalescing of Democrats around Harris’ candidacy and the energy it has generated has served another purpose — providing a cover of unity to overshadow some tensions and divisions within the ‘big tent’ party,” the Tribune’s Rick Pearson and Jeremy Gorner report.

During his speech Monday, Biden is expected to play up his policy victories while continuing to frame Trump as a threat to democracy.

Here come the protests

Activists march on North Michigan Avenue on Aug. 18, 2024, in Chicago, host city for the Democratic National Convention. The protest was organized by CODEPINK, a women-led anti-war nonprofit that seeks to redirect tax dollars into health care, education and green jobs. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

While convention work is happening at McCormick Place and the United Center, protests around Chicago will be happening and one of the biggest highlights one of the most prominent party divisions nationally — the war in Gaza. Thousands of protesters are expected to march through the streets of Chicago, calling for a ceasefire there.

After a monthslong fight in court, pro-Palestinian protesters on Friday won the right to have stages, sound equipment and a handful of portable bathrooms in Union Park, which was designated for speeches. The city is still prohibiting the use of media risers and canopy tents. Organizers decried “unreasonable restrictions” on the 1.1-mile route they have been cleared to march, the Tribune’s Karina Atkins reported Sunday. They wanted 2.4 miles.

On Sunday, others protests downtown pressed Harris and Walz to “commit to sweeping legislation for abortion access and transgender and LGBTQ+ health care, as well as an end to U.S. aid to Israel and a call for a cease-fire,” Trib’s Adriana Pérez reports.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, meanwhile, continue their march through the Midwest and key swing states. A bus tour ahead of their planned speeches Wednesday and Thursday included a swing through Pennsylvania on Sunday, making stops to speak with campaign volunteers and a high school football team.

So a few things have changed since you were last in town…

For conventioneers who haven’t been in Chicago since the last convention in 1996: Michael Jordan and Oprah are gone, Millennium Park is here and developers are in the midst of transforming the spaceship-looking-building that used to be Chicago’s main state of Illinois building at Clark on Randolph streets into Google’s new headquarters. A quiz for Chicagoans and visitors alike from the Tribune’s Robert McCoppin.

Another convention is coming to town in two years

A CTA Blue Line train heads west as the sun rises behind the Chicago skyline on July 7, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

A major goal of city leaders in hosting this year was to show off Chicago to tourists and event planners. Even before the DNC kicked off, the NAACP announced that Chicago would host its 117th national convention in 2026, the Tribune’s Robert Channick reports.

“As a city rooted in Black history and committed to carrying forward the values of the NAACP in all that we do, there is no better place than Chicago for this historic event,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a release.

Other speeches tonight

Mayor Johnson takes the stage at the United Center Monday night to help roll out the welcome mat. Johnson, an early rider on the Harris bandwagon, is expected to talk about how he is the latest in a line of Black leaders that launched their careers from Chicago, including former President Barack Obama and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He’ll likely draw on his commonality with Walz, a former high school teacher, as well.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — an Illinois native, the party’s unsuccessful nominee against Trump in 2016 and the first woman to lead a presidential ticket — is expected to take the stage Monday night, according to reports. Clinton has been blasting previous statements by Trump and his pick for vice president, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, on reproductive rights and foreign policy. She has also touted the potential for Harris to make history as the first female president, a topic Harris herself hasn’t touched on much.

Here’s what else is happening today

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin smiles during Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield on Aug. 14, 2024. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune)

Republicans will offer counterprogramming throughout the week of the DNC at Trump Tower. Monday’s topic is the economy, featuring Trump’s senior advisor Brian Hughes, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. That counterprogramming will coincide with Trump and Vance’s economic and energy event in New York.
Amid rumors of his efforts to oust his schools CEO and continued negotiations with the teachers union, Johnson is slated to tour three schools with Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten this morning. On the agenda: Dyett High, Drake and Cameron Elementary schools, each representing “a different aspect of how the Sustainable Community Schools model addresses educational inequities.”
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi will address the DNC’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus during the day’s proceedings at McCormick Place. That session starts at 9:30. The AFT’s Weingarten will later address a meeting of the DNC’s Environmental and Climate Crisis Council. These meetings are open to the public both in person and on the DNC’s Youtube.
Day two of the Progressive Democrats of America conference will feature a panel on organized labor that includes Davis Gates at 10:50 a.m. and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 3 p.m.
A gun safety press conference and panel kicks off at noon at Carnivale Restaurant. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering are expected to attend.
At 3 p.m., U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois will be interviewed by POLITICO Magazine Senior Writer Ankush Khardori at the CNN Politico Grill — a combination food and beverage stop and live event venue in United Center Lot C. Others at the Grill Monday: U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
Chicagoans may be used to the sight of Scabby the Rat outside labor protests. This week, convention attendees might spot mice instead: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will station two giant mice outside the United Center and McCormick Place all week to protest the National Institute of Health’s animal testing policy.

19 Aug 2024

DC councilmember known for pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories is arrested on bribery charge

by | posted in: Politics | 0

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Washington, D.C., councilmember known for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories has been arrested on charges that he accepted over $150,000 in bribes in exchange for using his elected position to help companies with city contracts, according to court records unsealed on Monday.

Trayon White Sr., a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful mayoral campaign in 2022, was arrested on a federal bribery charge by the FBI on Sunday. He is expected to make his initial court appearance on Monday.

An FBI agent’s affidavit says White agreed in June to accept roughly $156,000 in kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for pressuring government agency employees to extend two companies’ contracts for violence intervention services. The contacts were worth over $5 million.

White, 40, also accepted a $20,000 bribe payment to help resolve a contract dispute for one of the companies by pressuring high-level district officials, the affidavit alleges.

An FBI informant who agreed to plead guilty to fraud and bribery charges reported giving White gifts including travel to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas along with paying him bribes, the FBI said.

White, who has served on the D.C. council since 2017, represents a predominantly Black ward where the poverty rate is nearly twice as high as the overall district. He is running for re-election in November against a Republican challenger.

White’s chief of staff and communication director didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

___

Associated Press writer Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report.

19 Aug 2024

What is the latest on the high-stakes negotiations over a cease-fire in Gaza?

by | posted in: Politics | 0

By JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press

U.S. and Arab mediators say they are closing in on a deal to halt the war in Gaza and free hostages captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack, but the talks have dragged on for months, with several moments of false hope.

The negotiations gained new urgency when Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah vowed to avenge the targeted killing of two top militants, attributed to Israel, raising fears of a far wider and more devastating war.

U.S. officials expressed cautious optimism after two days of talks in Qatar last week, in which the mediators put forth a bridging proposal. But Hamas said it had serious problems with it, saying it departs from previous iterations that it had largely accepted. Israel also expressed concerns, saying there were compromises it was unwilling to make.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in the region and set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Israel sent a delegation to Cairo on Sunday, and the mediators are expected to hold another round of high-level talks with Israel in Egypt later this week.

Here’s where things stand:

What’s at stake in the cease-fire negotiations?

A cease-fire would halt the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians, a conflict that has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were fighters. The vast majority of the population has been displaced, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people are packed into squalid tent camps, the health sector has largely collapsed and entire neighborhoods have been obliterated.

The Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw terrorists abduct around 250 hostages. Some 110 hostages are still in Gaza, with Israeli authorities saying around a third are dead. Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

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Lebanon’s Hezbollah has launched drones and rockets into Israel on a near-daily basis since the start of the war, and Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery. The violence has escalated, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes on both sides of the border.

Hezbollah has vowed an even more severe attack — without saying when or how — in response to the killing last month of Fouad Shukur, one of its top commanders, in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

Other Iran-backed groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have attacked Israeli, U.S. and international targets in solidarity with the Palestinians. Iran and Israel traded fire directly in April, and many fear a repeat if Iran makes good on its threat to avenge the killing of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Tehran that was blamed on Israel.

Hezbollah has said it would halt its operations along the border if there is calm in Gaza. A cease-fire deal might also persuade both Hezbollah and Iran to refrain from retaliatory strikes on Israel — if only temporarily — to avoid being seen as spoilers.

What are the main sticking points?

The two sides have been working off an evolving proposal for a three-phase process in which Hamas would free all the hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting cease-fire.

President Joe Biden came out in favor of the proposal in a May 31 speech and the U.N. Security Council approved it shortly thereafter. But since then, Hamas has proposed “amendments” and Israel has asked for “clarifications,” with each side accusing the other of making new demands it cannot accept.

Hamas wants assurances that Israel will not resume the war after the first batch of hostages — around 30 of the most vulnerable — are released. Israel wants to ensure negotiations do not drag on indefinitely over the second phase, in which the remaining living hostages, including male soldiers, are to be freed.

Netanyahu has also demanded in recent weeks that Israel maintain a military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent arms smuggling and along a line bisecting the territory so it can search Palestinians returning to their homes in the north and make sure fighters don’t slip in.

Israel denies the demands are new, but there was no reference to either in Biden’s speech or the U.N. resolution, which spoke of a full withdrawal. Other lingering issues include which Palestinian prisoners will be released and whether they will be sent into exile.

Who decides whether there is a cease-fire?

Any deal would have to be accepted by Netanyahu and Yahya Sinwar, who helped mastermind the Oct. 7 attack and became Hamas’ overall leader after Haniyeh was killed.

Netanyahu faces intense pressure from families of the hostages and much of the Israeli public to make a deal to bring them home. But far-right leaders in his coalition have threatened to bring down the government if he concedes too much, forcing early elections that could drive him from power.

Sinwar, meanwhile, is hiding in Gaza, likely deep inside Hamas’ vast network of tunnels, and has stuck to a hard line throughout the talks. He also tops Israel’s most-wanted list, raising questions about what happens if he is killed.

In the past it has taken several days for Hamas’ negotiators to send proposals to Sinwar and receive his feedback. That means that even when the work of hammering out the latest proposal is completed, it would likely take a week or more for Hamas to formally respond to it.

Palestinians in Gaza say they are exhausted and desperate for a cease-fire. When Hamas accepted an earlier proposal in May, spontaneous celebrations erupted — but those hopes were soon dashed.

Aid groups have called for a cease-fire since the start of the war, saying it’s the only way to ensure desperately needed food and humanitarian aid reaches Gaza. Experts have warned of famine and the outbreak of diseases like polio if the war drags on. Even if the fighting ends tomorrow, the U.N. has said it would take more than a decade and tens of billions of dollars to rebuild Gaza.

In Israel, where many are still deeply traumatized by the Oct. 7 attack, there is widespread support for the war and little sympathy for the Palestinians.

But the plight of the hostages has galvanized mass protests calling for a deal to bring them home and for the end of Netanyahu’s government, which many blame for the security and intelligence failures that allowed the attack to happen.

19 Aug 2024

Ryan Wright wins punting competition as Vikings part ways with Seth Vernon

by | posted in: News | 0

The punting competition is over.

After putting forth another solid performance for the Vikings over the weekend, punter Ryan Wright is the last man standing. He officially beat out the challenger on Monday morning when the Vikings waived punter Seth Vernon.

It was never truly in doubt after Wright vastly outperformed Vernon at seemingly every turn.

Though special teams coordinator Matt Daniels spoke highly of both players at the start of training camp, Wright slowly started to separate himself from Vernon over the past couple of weeks, using the exhibition slate to deliver the knockout blow.

In the preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Wright averaged a whopping 57 yards per punt, while Vernon shanked a ball out of bounds while kicking from the shadow of his own goal post. In the preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, Wright continued to shine with a pair of punts that were downed inside the 20-yard line.

The fact that Wright has been the primary holder for rookie kicker Will Reichard also played a role in him earning the job. The operation has looked very smooth with long snapper Andrew DePaola snapping, Wright holding, and Reichard kicking.

Briefly

In other news, the Vikings signed receiver Justin Hall and waived receiver Ty James.

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