U.S. and World Headlines
Venezuelans Clash With Police After Disputed Election Result
Security forces in Venezuela have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at people protesting Sunday’s disputed election result.
Thousands of people descended on central Caracas on Monday evening, some walking for miles from slums on the mountains surrounding the city, towards the presidential palace.
Protests erupted in the Venezuelan capital the day after President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory.
Biden Lays Out Plan For Supreme Court Reforms, Saying “Extreme Opinions” Have Undermined Confidence
President Biden delivered his long-awaited proposal to reform the Supreme Court on Monday at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, connecting his criticisms of today’s Supreme Court to the civil rights that Johnson fought to protect.
Mr. Biden, who last week handed his presidential campaign over to Vice President Kamala Harris, detailed the reforms at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark legislation that Johnson shepherded through Congress and signed into law. Four years later, Johnson declined to run for reelection, a precursor to Mr. Biden’s choice to step aside earlier this month.
5 Questions Facing Kamala Harris As Her ‘Honeymoon Period’ Ends
Vice President Harris has spurred huge excitement among Democrats who had grown deeply gloomy about their chances in November’s election with President Biden at the top of the ticket.
Team Harris raised $200 million within a week of Biden announcing he would stand aside, according to her campaign. More than 170,000 new volunteers have reportedly signed up.
Opinion polls also show Harris narrowing the gap former President Trump had been enjoying over Biden.
But Trump retains a lead in most surveys and virtually everyone, including the most fervent Harris loyalists, knows her honeymoon period will end soon enough.
“We are the underdogs in this race,” Harris said at a weekend fundraiser in Massachusetts.
Here are five big questions for Harris and her campaign.
Americans Keep Turning Their Backs On McDonald’s
Inflation has caught up with McDonald’s, and budget-conscious Americans are looking elsewhere for their fast-food fix. But McDonald’s believes it has a solution: Value meals.
McDonald’s on Monday reported that sales at US stores open at least a year fell 0.7% last quarter from the same period a year earlier, dragged down by fewer customers going to the fast-food company’s restaurants. McDonald’s isn’t alone: Starbucks, Burger King, Wendy’s and other rivals are also reporting less foot traffic and lower overall sales as consumers pull back their spending on food away from home.
Olympic Men’s Triathlon Postponed Due To Seine Pollution Concerns
The Olympic men’s individual triathlon race that was due to be held in Paris’ River Seine Tuesday was rescheduled to the following day due to swimming safety concerns, per a statement first shared by governing body World Triathlon.
It’s a blow to organizers who stepped up efforts to get the French capital’s river clean and safe for swimming so it could play a central role in the Olympics after decades of pollution.
Wisconsin Headlines
Baldwin On ‘UpFront’ Rejects Suggestion Top Dem Donors, Leaders Shoved Biden Aside
Dem U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin rejected GOP assertions President Biden was shoved aside by top Democratic donors and party leaders as delegates start voting this week to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris.
“What I was hearing from is not some elite or donor class,” Baldwin said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “Every rally I went to, the 4th of July parades that I attended in northern Wisconsin, just average people were coming up, and they so respect the work that Joe Biden has done. But they were conveying to me and asking me to convey to the president that they appreciate his work, and they asked him to step aside.”
Baldwin also rejected calls by some GOP lawmakers that Biden should resign.
Andre Jacque May Be Using Campaign Fund To Help With Congress Race
Tuesday marks two weeks to go before the August 13 Primary, where the race for Congress on the Republican side of the ballot continues to heat up, with one candidate facing questions over his financial report.
Online records show Sen. Andre Jacque Jacque refunded more than $23,000 from his state campaign to friends, family, and fellow lawmakers. A lot of that money then appears to be donated back to Jacque by those same people to his campaign for the 8th Congressional District.
7th Congressional District Candidate Kyle Kilbourn Says Health Care A Major Concern
Kyle Kilbourn of Woodboro is one of two Democratic candidates in the primary election for the 7th Congressional District that covers central and northern Wisconsin who hopes to face incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in the November election.
Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District was a longtime Democratic stronghold until the retirement of U.S. Rep. Dave Obey in 2011.
The district has been in the Republican column since, first by Obey’s successor, Sean Duffy, and since 2020 by Tiffany, who is seeking reelection in November with no Republican primary challenger on August 13.
Door County Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Wisconsin’s Procedure For Online Absentee Ballot Requests
A Wisconsin judge dismissed a lawsuit on July 29 that challenged absentee voting procedures, preventing administrative headaches for local election clerks and hundreds of thousands of voters in the politically volatile swing state ahead of fall elections.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit Thomas Oldenberg, a voter from Amberg, Wisconsin, filed in February. Oldenberg argued that the state Elections Commission hasn’t been following a state law that requires voters who electronically request absentee ballots to place a physical copy of the request in the ballot return envelope. Absentee ballots without the request copy shouldn’t count, he maintained.
Microsoft Buys More Land In Mount Pleasant Near Data Center Development
Microsoft is buying up more land in the village of Mount Pleasant for its planned $3.3 billion AI data center development.
In the past week, the company purchased 173 acres in the village, spending $33.89 million on five separate tracts near the development site, according to property records from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
All the newly purchased land is along Louis Sorenson Road near the main data center development site, according to a project overview. The purchases were recorded on July 24 and July 26, according to the property records.
