Peltola beats Palin, wins Alaska House special election
Democrat Mary Peltola has won the special election for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat, besting a field that included Republican Sarah Palin. Peltola, who is Yup’ik, will become the first Alaska Native to serve in the House and the first woman elected to Alaska’s House seat, which was held for 49 years by Republican Don Young. Young died in March. This was the first statewide ranked choice voting election in Alaska. Peltola’s victory is a boon for Democrats, particularly coming off better-than-expected performances in special elections around the country this year following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Peltola says she is honored and humbled by the support she’s received.
Conservative lawyer likely target in Atlanta Trump inquiry, his lawyer says
John Eastman, the lawyer who developed strategies to block certification of the 2020 election, is “probably a target” in the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s election loss in Georgia, one of Eastman’s lawyers said Wednesday. Eastman spent the morning appearing before an Atlanta special grand jury looking into the matter. The assertion that Eastman could face indictment in the Georgia case came from Harvey Silverglate, a Boston-area criminal defense lawyer and civil liberties advocate who is representing Eastman. In a phone interview Wednesday morning, Silverglate said of Eastman: “I think he’s probably a target, but I don’t think he’s a legitimate target.”
First AP African-American studies class coming this fall
The College Board is jumping into the fray over how to teach the history of race in the United States with a new Advanced Placement course and exam on African American studies that will be tried out in about 60 high schools this fall. The course is multidisciplinary, addressing not just history but civil rights, politics, literature, the arts, even geography. If the pilot program pans out, it will be the first course in African American studies for high school students that is considered rigorous enough to allow students to receive credit and advanced placement at many colleges across the country.
Putin offers condolences for Gorbachev
President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Wednesday called Mikhail Gorbachev “a politician and statesman who had a huge impact on the course of world history,” offering a conciliatory message about the last Soviet leader, whose legacy he has spent years trying to reverse. In a telegram to Gorbachev’s family published by the Kremlin the day after his death, Putin said that Gorbachev “led our country during a period of complex, dramatic changes,” and offered his “sincere words of sympathy and support.” Putin has called the end of the Soviet Union — which Gorbachev presided over — the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.”
UN cites possible crimes vs. humanity in China’s Xinjiang
A long-awaited report from the U.N. human rights office says China’s discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity. The report released Wednesday calls for an urgent response over allegations of torture and other rights violations in Beijing’s campaign to root out terrorism in Xinjiang. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet brushed aside China’s vocal calls for her office not to release the report. Beijing contends the report is part of a Western campaign to smear China’s reputation. The report largely corroborates earlier reporting by advocacy groups and cites “patterns of torture” and arbitrary detention under China’s policies to fight extremism.
N. Korea may send workers to Russian-occupied east Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine stretches into its seventh month, North Korea is hinting at its interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in the country’s east. The idea is openly endorsed by senior Russian officials and diplomats, who foresee a cheap and hard-working workforce that could be thrown into the “most arduous conditions.” North Korea’s ambassador to Moscow recently met with envoys from two Russia-backed separatist territories in the Donbas region of Ukraine and expressed optimism about cooperation in the “field of labor migration.” Experts say it’s highly likely North Korea will supply labor to Donbas when the fighting eases to boost its own broken economy.
By wire sources