Supreme Court declines to revisit Alabama voting map dispute
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused Alabama’s request to reinstate a congressional map drawn by Republican lawmakers that had only one majority-Black district, paving the way for a new map to be put in place before the 2024 election. Alabama’s request to keep its map was the second time in under a year that it had asked the Supreme Court to affirm a limited role of race in establishing voting districts for federal elections in what amounted to a defiant repudiation of lower-court rulings. There were no public dissents. The ruling clears the way for a special master and court-appointed cartographer to create a new map.
Can the second GOP debate amount to more than a race for second place?
The second Republican presidential debate without former President Donald Trump is missing the front-runner’s star power, but his rivals’ performances Wednesday are expected to forecast whether the 2024 field of Republicans will consolidate around a single Trump alternative. Major contributors are planning to watch the debate carefully, according to people in contact with several of them, in order to see who they might rally behind. Those who have qualified for the debate are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina; former Vice President Mike Pence; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; businessperson Vivek Ramaswamy; and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
‘Monster fracks’ are getting far bigger. And far thirstier.
The insatiable search for oil and gas has become the latest threat to the country’s endangered aquifers, a critical national resource that is already being drained at alarming rates by industrial farming and cities in need of drinking water. The amount of water consumed by the oil industry, revealed in a New York Times investigation, has soared to record levels. Giant fracking projects, called monster fracks by researchers, have increased their water usage sevenfold since 2011 as operators have adopted new techniques to first drill downward and then horizontally for thousands of feet. The process extracts more fossil fuels but requires enormous amounts of water.
JPMorgan settles Epstein suits with U.S. Virgin Islands and James Staley
JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $75 million to the U.S. Virgin Islands to settle claims that it facilitated the activities of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died by suicide in 2019, according to statements released by the parties Tuesday. The tentative settlement comes just weeks before a scheduled trial in federal court in New York City on the U.S. territory’s claim that the bank enabled Epstein’s sex trafficking operation of teenage girls and young women for nearly 15 years. JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank, already agreed in June to pay $290 million to the nearly 200 victims of Epstein in a class-action lawsuit.
Target, citing theft, to close nine stores
Target announced Tuesday that it was closing nine stores across four states, saying theft at the locations was harming its business and threatening the safety of employees and customers. The stores being closed next month include one in New York’s Manhattan borough, and multiple locations in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon. While speaking on an earnings call in August, Target’s CEO, Brian Cornell, said that the company “continues to face an unacceptable amount of retail theft and organized retail crime.” He said that in the first five months of the year, thefts in its stores that involved violence or threats of violence rose 120%.
Did Ukraine really kill a Russian admiral? Questions emerge.
A day after announcing that Adm. Viktor Solokov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, was among 34 officers killed in a strike deep behind enemy lines, Ukrainian officials acknowledged Tuesday there might be some uncertainty. The statement came after Russia released a video purporting to show Solokov attending a meeting earlier Tuesday. Given Russia’s history of refusing to acknowledge military setbacks, and the challenges of authenticating its video, it remained uncertain whether Sokolov was killed in the attack on the headquarters of Moscow’s fleet in Sevastopol. Russian officials have neither commented directly on the status of the officers nor reported deaths as a result of the attack.
Death toll rises after explosion at Nagorno-Karabakh fuel depot
At least 68 people were killed and 105 remained missing after a Monday explosion at a fuel depot in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the region’s government said Tuesday. The blast occurred as ethnic Armenians rushing to leave the region were lining up to refuel their cars. More than 28,000 people have fled Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia in the past week, since a sudden military offensive brought the enclave back under Azerbaijan’s control, raising fears of ethnic violence in the region. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.
Canadian Parliamentary leader quits after honoring Ukrainian who fought for Nazis
The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons resigned Tuesday after again apologizing for introducing a 98-year-old Ukrainian who had served with a Nazi SS unit as a “hero” just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Parliament. In the days after the speaker, Anthony Rota, introduced Yaroslav Hunka, a constituent from his electoral district, several Jewish groups expressed outrage, saying Hunka had been a member of a volunteer Nazi unit known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, which fought alongside Germany during World War II and declared allegiance to Adolf Hitler. “This House is above any of us,” Rota said in announcing his resignation. “I reiterate my profound regret.”
Depleted uranium shells could help Ukraine. Critics say it’s not worth the risk.
The United States announced an aid package for Ukraine on Sept. 6 that for the first time included ammunition made with depleted uranium to Ukraine, raising concerns over the material’s potential health and environmental effects. The 120-mm anti-armor ammunition is for use in 31 U.S.-provided M1 Abrams tanks. The Pentagon has defended the use of the ammunition, maintaining that it will assist Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russian forces. But some experts say the health risks posed by depleted uranium outweigh the military benefits. Fired shells leave behind dust that emits alpha radiation, which cannot penetrate skin but can pose a threat when ingested or inhaled.
Peak oil Is near, energy agency Says, but climate change is far from solved
Cleaner energy technologies such as electric cars and solar panels are spreading so rapidly that the global use of oil, coal and natural gas could peak this decade, but countries will still need to pursue more aggressive measures if they want to limit global warming to relatively safe levels, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. In a new report, the agency issued an updated road map of what it would take to slash the world’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions to nearly zero by 2050. The report says countries will need to clean up factories, upgrade electricity grids and make greater use of technologies such as nuclear power or hydrogen fuels.
By wire sources