Nation & World Glance
Dakotas lead US in virus growth as both reject mask rules
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic.
The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota, as the city council considered requiring face coverings in businesses. The city was forced to move its meeting to a local arena to accommodate intense interest, with many citizens speaking against it, before the mask requirement ultimately passed.
Amid the brute force of the pandemic, health experts warn that the infections must be contained before care systems are overwhelmed. North Dakota and South Dakota lead the country in new cases per capita over the past two weeks, ranking first and second respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.
South Dakota has also posted some of the country’s highest positivity rates for COVID-19 tests in the past week – over 17 percent – an indication that there are more infections than tests are catching.
Infections have been spurred by schools and universities reopening and mass gatherings like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which drew hundreds of thousands of people from across the country.
Pence drops plan to go to fundraiser hosted by QAnon backers
BILLINGS, Mont. – Vice President Mike Pence has canceled plans to attend a Trump campaign fundraiser in Montana following revelations that the event’s hosts had expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory.
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign told The Associated Press on Saturday that Pence’s schedule had been changed, but the campaign did not provide a reason or say whether the fundraiser might be held at a later time. The change comes after the AP reported Wednesday that hosts Cayrn and Michael Borland in Bozeman, Montana, had shared QAnon memes and retweeted posts from QAnon accounts.
The baseless conspiracy theory alleges Trump is battling an entrenched bureaucracy and sex trafficking ring run by pedophiles.
Three Republicans seeking election in Montana also had been scheduled to attend the fundraiser: U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, who faces a November challenge from Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock; U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, a Republican running for governor; and state auditor Matt Rosendale, a candidate for the U.S. House.
Pence, Daines and the other Republican candidates are still scheduled to hold a campaign rally Monday afternoon in Belgrade, near Bozeman. Pence will host a rally earlier in the day in Wisconsin, an event that was added as a substitute for the fundraiser, the Trump campaign said.
Biden audio first shared by ‘Russian agent’ thrives online
WASHINGTON – The leaked recordings were hardly a political bombshell: The apparent phone conversations between Joe Biden and Ukraine’s then-president largely confirm Biden’s account of his dealings in Ukraine.
But the choppy audio, disclosed by a Ukrainian lawmaker whom U.S. officials described Thursday as an “active Russian agent” who has sought to spread online misinformation about Biden, was nonetheless seized on by President Donald Trump as well as his supporters to promote conspiracy theories about the Democratic nominee. Social media posts and videos about the recordings have been viewed millions of times, according to an Associated Press analysis, even though Trump’s own administration says they rely on “false and unsubstantiated narratives.”
The audio’s proliferation on social media shows how foreign operations aimed at influencing the U.S. election are still easily reaching Americans, despite efforts by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to rein in such meddling.
Since there’s no evidence the heavily edited recordings have been stolen or were entirely fabricated, they’ve been able to flourish online, skirting new policies social media companies rolled out to prevent foreign interference in this year’s elections. And unlike in 2016, when Russia used bogus social media accounts or bots to wage a misinformation campaign, this time they’re being spread by legitimate American social media users.
“It’s certainly an influence campaign,” Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the nonpartisan Wilson Center, said of the recordings. “It’s misleading to an audience that doesn’t have the full picture.”
New Orleans under hurricane watch from Tropical Storm Sally
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Tropical Storm Sally formed Saturday off south Florida amid forecasts it would reach hurricane strength early in the week before striking the northern Gulf Coast with high winds and a possible life-threatening storm surge.
The earliest 18th-named storm in an Atlantic tropical season, Sally already was better organized within hours of forming and was expected to become a hurricane by late Monday, the National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans and surrounding areas, along with a stretch of the coast from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida line, were placed under a hurricane watch.
Late Saturday, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm, and officials in the New Orleans area issued a mandatory evacuation order for areas outside of levee protection, including Venetian Isles, Lake Catherine, and Irish Bayou. The evacuation order was set to go into effect at 6 p.m. Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center said dangerous storm surge was possible along the northern Gulf Coast starting Monday and that hurricane conditions could set in there starting early Tuesday.
The Miami-based center said Sally spent Saturday afternoon sending gusty winds and heavy rains over south Florida. Maximum sustained winds were clocked at 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts.