NEWS OF THE DAY
Georgia ballots: A federal judge won’t suspend her order governing Georgia election officials’ handling of absentee ballots and applications with mismatched signatures while the secretary of state appeals it. U.S. District Judge Leigh May last week ordered the state to stop rejecting the ballots and applications because of a signature mismatch without first giving voters a chance to fix the problem. She provided a procedure to resolve alleged signature discrepancies that she said must be used for the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Lawyers for Secretary of State Brian Kemp — who is running for governor — asked May to suspend her order while they appealed. May said Tuesday that her order is unlikely to overly burden elections officials. She also wrote that the public interest is best served through the implementation of the process she outlined.
“El Chapo” trial: A U.S. judge is keeping the trial of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman on schedule to begin next month. Judge Brian Cogan denied a defense request on Tuesday to delay the trial so it could have more time to review a mountain of evidence. The judge said jury selection will take place next week as previously planned. He said jurors will hear opening statements on Nov. 13. Guzman has pleaded not guilty to charges that his cartel laundered billions of dollars and oversaw a ruthless campaign of murders and kidnappings. The trial in federal court in Brooklyn is expected to last up to four months under tight security. It will feature several witnesses about multiple killings.
Giant telescope: Hawaii’s Supreme Court upheld a decision to grant a construction permit for an embattled, international giant telescope project planned for a mountain Native Hawaiians consider sacred. The court ruling Tuesday is a victory for the contentious Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Hawaii’s tallest mountain, Mauna Kea. Opponents say the telescope will desecrate sacred land on the Big Island. Supporters say it will bring educational and economic opportunities to the state. Opponents and supporters have been awaiting the ruling because it was expected to help determine whether the project is built in Hawaii or moves to a backup location in Spain’s Canary Islands that’s less desirable to scientists hoping to use the instrument for groundbreaking discoveries.
Brooding octopuses: Scientists exploring the sea floor off the coast of central California for deep-water coral and sponges instead found an unprecedented sight: Hundreds of octopuses tucked between rocks with their tentacles inverted and covering groups of white eggs — a posture that is common among brooding females. The cluster of more than 1,000 gray octopuses latching on to clean, dark rock was found last week at an underwater extinct volcano in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Chad King, a marine biologist, said Tuesday. It was the first time scientists have seen a cluster of Muusoctopus robustus octopuses off California’s coast.
Chronicle News Services