College educators form alliance to defend free expression
This image shows the logo for the newly formed Academic Freedom Alliance. Members range politically from Harvard University's Cornel West, a Bernie Sanders supporter, to retired Vanderbilt University professor Carol Swain, a backer of former President Donald Trump. AdSome members have been involved in free speech controversies. Whittington, whose books include โSpeak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech,โ said the alliance would be โnarrowly focused on free speech and academic freedom issues.โ He cited two recent examples of why he says the alliance is needed. Adโ Also last summer, Auburn University professor Jesse Goldberg faced calls for his firing, and, he said, threats of violence, after posting a profane tweet that included, โThe police do not protect people.
Assange lawyer says Trump offered deal to avoid extradition
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange take part in a protest outside the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in London, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The London court hearing on Assange's extradition from Britain to the United States resumed Monday after a COVID-19 test on one of the participating lawyers came back negative, WikiLeaks said Friday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON โ A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a London court that her client was indirectly offered a โwin-winโ deal by President Donald Trump that would see him avoid extradition to the U.S. if he revealed the source of a leak of documents from the Democratic Party before the 2016 election. James Lewis, a lawyer acting on behalf of the U.S. government, said it wasn't contesting that โthese thingsโ were said. Assange has been in a British prison since his ejection from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in April 2019.
Georgia gov. explicitly voids mask orders in 15 localities
Brian Kemp is explicitly banning Georgia's cities and counties from ordering people to wear masks in public places. He voided orders on Wednesday that at least 15 local governments across the state had adopted even though Kemp had earlier said cities and counties had no power to order masks. Overall, mask orders by Wednesday were covering 1.4 million of Georgia's more than 10 million residents. Local officials and Democrats had argued cities and counties had the power to move ahead because Kemp hadnt specifically banned mask orders. Kemp on Wednesday extended some parts of his executive orders governing the state's response to the pandemic until July 31.
Defiance grows as Georgia governor blocks local mask rules
(Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)ATLANTA Mayors in Atlanta and other Georgia cities deepened their defiance of Gov. He went so far as to say local governments couldn't order masks on their own property, which would include Atlanta's airport. Kemp's stance not only shying away from a statewide order but trying to bar local governments from instituting their own leaves him standing virtually alone. In the South, Republican governors in Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida have resisted calls for a statewide mask mandate but allow local jurisdictions to implement them. Republican governors in Alabama and Texas and Democrats in Kentucky, Louisiana and North Carolina have issued statewide mask requirements.
The Latest: Georgia elections chief probing voting problems
WASHINGTON The Latest on the 2020 primary elections (all times local):2:30 p.m.Georgia's secretary of state has opened an investigation into voting problems in two counties in metro Atlanta amid reports of voting machine malfunctions in its twice-delayed primary election. Republican Brad Raffensperger on Tuesday announced investigations into Fulton and Dekalb counties' election process. It's the first time Georgia is using its new voting system, which combined touchscreens with scanned paper ballots in races for president, U.S. Senate and dozens of other contests. However, voting delays weren't limited to Atlanta. News outlets also reported problems with poll workers operating voting equipment in Macon and a long line stretching through the parking lot of polling site at a church in Columbus.