MARCHERS IN U.S. SEEK TO BOLSTER VOTING RIGHTS

WASHINGTON» Thousands of voting rights advocates rallied across the country Saturday to call for sweeping federal laws that would wipe out voting restrictions advancing in some Republican-controlled states that could make it harder to cast a ballot.

Many activists view the fight over voting rules as the civil rights issue of the era. But frustrations have mounted for months because two expansive election bills have stalled in the U.S. Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, and the measures lack the votes to overcome a GOP blockade.

The rallies, which were held in dozens of cities, were intended to increase pressure on Democrats to rewrite procedural rules that would allow Democrats to muscle the legislation through without Republican votes. But they also were aimed at coaxing President Joe Biden to become a more forceful advocate on the issue.

“You said the night you won that Black America had your back and that you were going to have Black Americans’ backs,” the

Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize the national demonstrations, said at a rally in Washington. “Well, Mr. President, they’re stabbing us in the back.”

As Sturgis rally clears, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.» Rumbles from the motorcycles and rock shows of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally hardly have cleared from the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the reports of COVID-19 infections among rallygoers are streaming in — 178 cases across five states, according to contact tracers.

In the three weeks since the rally kicked off, coronavirus cases in South Dakota have shot up at a startling pace — sixfold from the early days of August. While it is not clear how much rallygoers spread the virus through secondary infections, state health officials so far have reported 63 cases among South Dakota residents who attended the event.

The epicenter of the rally, Meade County, has become red-hot with new cases, reaching a per capita rate that is similar to the hardest-hit Southern states. The county reported the highest rate of cases in the state over the past two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.

The Black Hills region’s largest hospital system, Monument Health, warned Friday that it has seen hospitalizations from the virus rise from five to 78 this month. The hospital was bracing for more COVID19 patients by converting rooms to intensive care units and reassigning staff members.

Heavily fortified CIA base in Kabul has been destroyed. A controlled detonation by American forces on Thursday that was heard throughout Kabul destroyed Eagle Base, the final CIA outpost outside the Kabul Airport, U.S. officials said on Friday.

Blowing up the base was intended to ensure that any equipment or information left behind would not fall into the hands of the Taliban.

Eagle Base, which opened early in the war at a former brick factory, had been used throughout the conflict and grew from a small outpost to a sprawling center that was used to train the counterterrorism forces of Afghanistan’s intelligence agencies.

Afghans knew little about the base. The compound was extremely secure and designed so it would be all but impossible to penetrate. Walls reaching 10 feet high surrounded the site, and a thick metal gate slid open and shut to allow cars inside.