President Donald Trump is still planning legal challenges to the results in some key states as Joe Biden has been declared president-elect.
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that it would be wrong for the president to concede because: “There is strong evidence that this was an election that in at least three or four states, and possibly 10, it was stolen.”
The Trump campaign is yet to provide this “strong evidence” but says it plans to lodge lawsuits in several key states on November 9.
In Georgia
A lawsuit was filed in Georgia’s Chatham County to pause the count, alleging problems with ballot processing.
Georgia Republican chairman David Shafer tweeted that party observers saw a woman “mix over 50 ballots into the stack of uncounted absentee ballots”.
On November 5, a judge dismissed this lawsuit, saying there was “no evidence” of improper ballot mixing.
In Michigan
Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by his slimmest margin – just over 10,700 votes – and Joe Biden has been projected as the winner here in 2020.
On November 4, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit to stop the count over claims of a lack of access to observe the process.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was insufficient evidence that oversight procedures weren’t being followed.
In Pennsylvania
Rudy Giuliani says further lawsuits will be filed over a lack of access for poll watchers in the state.
Poll watchers are people who observe the counting of votes, with the aim of ensuring transparency. They are allowed in most states as long as they are registered before Election Day.
In some areas this year, there were restrictions put in place before Election Day, in part due to coronavirus pandemic. There are also capacity limits set to avoid intimidation.
A 20-foot perimeter was set in the Philadelphia counting facility but this was challenged and a court ruling on November 5 said it should be reduced to six feet – as long as poll watchers adhered to Covid-19 protocols.
The Trump campaign has filed a federal lawsuit accusing election officials of violating the judge’s order.
Rudy Giuliani said: “Even when a court order was obtained to allow the Republican inspectors to get six feet closer, they moved the people counting the ballots six further feet away.”
However, the election officials insist they behaved properly.
On November 5, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said: “Every candidate and every political party is allowed to have an authorized representative in the room observing the process. Some jurisdictions including Philly are also live streaming, so you can literally watch their counting process.”
Another ongoing case disputes how long voters should be able to provide proof of identification if it’s missing or unclear on their postal ballots. Voters are currently allowed to fix their ballots up to November 12, but the Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit seeking to reduce this deadline to November 9.
The legal challenge in Pennsylvania also centers on the state’s decision to count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to three days later. Republicans are seeking an appeal.
In Arizona
On November 7, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Arizona, claiming some legal votes were rejected.
The case cites declarations by some poll watchers and two voters who claim they had problems with voting machines.
The lawsuit is under review, but Arizona’s Secretary of State said it was “grasping at straws”.
In Wisconsin
The Trump campaign has said it will request a recount in the state “based on abnormalities seen” on Election Day, although this wouldn’t require a lawsuit.
It’s unclear when this recount would take place, since typically these don’t happen until after officials finish reviewing the votes.
Wisconsin’s deadline for this part of the process is November 17.
Columbia University Law School professor Richard Briffault says there was a recount in Wisconsin in 2016 as well, and it “changed about a hundred votes”.
The Nevada Republican Party tweeted saying: “Thousands of individuals have been identified who appear to have violated the law by casting ballots after they moved from Nevada.”
Donald Trump’s legal team produced a list of people who it claimed had moved out of state but voted.
However, the list alone does not prove a violation of law.
People who leave the state within 30 days before an election can still vote in Nevada. Students from Nevada – who are studying elsewhere – can also vote.
The case is focused on voters in Clark County, but the county’s registrar has said: “We are not aware of any improper ballots that are being processed.”
In a separate case, a federal judge blocked attempts by the Republicans to stop the use of a signature verification machine, rejecting allegations that it wasn’t able to check signatures correctly.
On November 4, Donald Trump claimed voting fraud – without providing evidence – and said: “We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court.”
If the election result is challenged, it would first require legal teams to challenge it in the state courts.
State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount.
The Supreme Court could then be asked be asked to weigh in.
To date, the 2000 election is the only one to be decided by the Supreme Court.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore lost Florida – and the presidential election – by 537 votes out of a total of almost six million cast in the state.
This was followed by a highly controversial recount process that lasted over a month – until the Supreme Court ruled to stop recounting and in favor of Republican George W. Bush who became president.
Alice Cooper has opened a thrift store in Scottsdale, Arizona, last week, giving his fans a chance to own his old clothes.
Alice Cooper’s Attic & Thrift Store will be stocked with pieces from the rocker’s personal collection.
Alice Cooper told AZCentral.com: “I’m a shopaholic. When I’m on tour, I come home with 10 suitcases full of clothes. So I just go through and say, <<OK, store, store, store, store>>. A lot of good labels. Everything that’s mine was worn.”
Alice Cooper’s Attic & Thrift Store will be stocked with pieces from the rocker’s personal collection
A portion of the proceeds from the store will benefit Alice Cooper’s Rock Teen Center, which is across the street from his new store.
Alice Cooper continued: “Eventually what I’d like to do is since we teach music and art and everything, we should also teach retail. We should teach them (kids) to run a cash register because a lot of kids that aren’t musically inclined, it’s another way of training them. It’s sort of, like, anything you can do to get them away from the street life. Because the street life, there’s only two endings for that. In jail or dead. Anytime you can give a vocation to a kid, that’s what you do.”
Alice Cooper’s Attic and Thrift Store is located at 13627 N. 32nd Street on the southeast corner of 32nd Street and Thunderbird Road in Phoenix.
A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Arizona near the New Mexico state line on late Saturday.
A 5.2-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Arizona near the New Mexico state line
There were no initial reports of major damage or injuries.
According the US Geological Survey, the quake struck at 10 p.m. PT (1 a.m. ET Sunday) and was centered about 31 miles northwest of Lordsburg, New Mexico, and about 179 miles east-southeast of Phoenix. The epicenter was shallow and was in a sparsely populated area north of Interstate 10 and just south of the small town of Duncan, Arizona.
An extended heat wave has hit western US states, with temperatures threatening to break the all-time high recorded on Earth.
In Phoenix, Arizona, the mercury hit 116F (47C) on Friday, and in the desert of Death Valley, California, the thermometer approached 124F (51C).
The heat wave is expected to last through the weekend.
Cities in the region are opening cooling centres and officials fear the heat could delay air travel.
Most large aircraft can operate in temperatures up to 125F (52C), but readings as low as 116F (47C) could affect liftoff conditions.
A US Airways spokesman said the airline would be monitoring temperatures in Phoenix “very closely”.
Michael Fedo of Scottsdale, Arizona, said his family was spending less time outdoors as the temperature rose and that he had taken to going to the grocery store in the middle of the night.
“I’ve installed blackout shades on every window in my house,” he said.
“I’m a fourth-generation native of Phoenix so I expect it to be hot. But when it goes above 113F [45C] it hurts to breathe. The heat sucks the energy from your core.”
The National Weather Service has issued a heat warning for several parts of the region, including Las Vegas, until Monday morning. Parts of five states including Colorado and Utah will see temperatures higher than 98F (37C) over the weekend.
“We’ll be at or above record levels in the Phoenix area and throughout a lot of the south-western United States,” meteorologist Mark O’Malley said.
An extended heat wave has hit western US states, with temperatures threatening to break the all-time high recorded on Earth
Temperatures in Death Valley in the California desert are forecast to reach 127F (53C) over the weekend. The hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth, 134F (57C), was marked there almost 100 years ago on 10 July 1913.
Weather officials say the extreme weather is caused by a high-pressure system stuck over the area.
Scientists say the North American jet stream, the path of air that influences weather patterns, has become more erratic in the past few years, making weather systems more likely to become stuck in place.
But they disagree on whether global warming is the cause of the jet stream’s behavior.
The US Border Patrol’s search, trauma and rescue unit has added extra personnel this weekend as the threat of exhaustion and dehydration rises for those attempting to cross the US-Mexico border illegally on foot.
At least seven migrants were found dead in Arizona’s desert last week in lower temperatures. Border officials in Tucson, Arizona, rescued more than 170 people suffering from the heat during a thirty-day period in May and June.
Utility officials planned to monitor electricity usage closely over the weekend but were not immediately concerned about overloads.
“While it’s hot, people tend to leave town and some businesses aren’t open, so that has a tendency to mitigate demand and is why we typically don’t set records on weekends,” said spokesman Scott Harelson of Phoenix-area utility Salt River Project.
And zookeepers at the Phoenix Zoo were expected to keep outdoor animals chilled with water hoses and concrete slabs cooled by internal water-filled pipes.
George Loader from Arizona has been accused of killing and chopping up a man he suspected of molesting his daughter.
George Loader, 34, is alleged to have scattered the dismembered body parts in the desert after first trying to dispose of them by burning them.
Police found the victim’s head and limbs in separate bags which had dumped on a dirt road in rural Kingman in Arizona.
When police searched George Loader’s home they found a bag of human hair, a box of blood-soaked towels, multiple knives, and a shotgun.
The grisly killing is alleged to have been carried out at the home George Loader shared with girlfriend and three year old daughter and three other children.
A family member tipped off police George Loader had allegedly killed a man called “John” who was staying at his home.
George Loader from Arizona has been accused of killing and chopping up a man he suspected of molesting his daughter
The relative told police George Loader “lost it” when his three-year-old daughter told him that John had touched her in a sexual manner.
George Loader is alleged to have killed the man, who police believe was recently released from prison, in the garage by blasting him at close range with a shotgun.
The victim’s remains were burnt before being placed in trash sacks and dumped.
“The remains were badly burned, and the victim had been decapitated and had limbs removed from his torso,” court documents stated.
Police spokeswoman Trish Carter said the sheriff’s office was withholding the victim’s identity until the medical examiner’s office could positively identify the remains.
George Loader has been charged with first degree murder.
The children living with George Loader have been taken into care by social workers.
Shayna McEntire, a 16-year-old girl from Arizona died in an apparent suicide after she and her boyfriend broke up.
Shayna McEntire’s death has been ruled a suicide by local police officials.
“Subsequent investigation revealed she had jumped in front of a vehicle that was westbound on Elliot in an effort to end her life,” police spokesman Sgt. William Balafas reported.
Shayna McEntire, a 16-year-old girl from Arizona died in an apparent suicide after she and her boyfriend broke up
Shayna McEntire’s boyfriend remains unidentified, but his mother told a local reporter that the news of Shayna’s death lead him to try to take his own life as well. He has since been hospitalized.
On the outside, Shayna McEntire seemed to have a lot to live for. Known for her smile and good grades, she planned to graduate and go to college.
In recent weeks, friends noticed that she had been going through a tough time.
“She was just upset,” Shayna’s mother Shannon McEntire told a local paper.
“I don’t think she expected what happened.”
Friends and family members who knew Shayna McEntire were surprised by the news, remembering her as a vivacious and happy girl.
“I’ll remember her by that smile,” said friend Tim Lawrence. “It was something that could warm the absolute coldest hearts.”
Shayna McEntire was a junior at Gilbert High School about a half hour outside of Phoenix, Arizona, where she had a 3.75 grade point average.
The school’s principal notified students and said that grief counsellors would be made available.
“We are all saddened by this loss,” principal Charles Santa Cruz said in the email.
This was Shayna McEntire’s first year at the high school and while her mother said there was a difficult transition period initially, she had moved on and was hoping to play on the school’s basketball team.
“She had a flair for the dramatic. She had a beautiful smile. She was a good girl,” Shannon McEntire said.
“I just want to hear her voice and just hold her and hug her.”
Friends made a makeshift memorial on the side of the road where she died, collecting notes and photos. Some left a Bible that they signed, paying tribute to Shayna McEntire’s religious upbringing.
Shayna McEntire was hit by a male driver who was coming back from the hospital where he was visiting his father.
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