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Vice President JD Vance will head to Kansas next week for the second time in two months, seeking to boost the Republican candidate in what has become an unexpectedly competitive race for the U.S. Senate.
He will rally in Topeka on Monday afternoon for Sen. Roger Marshall (R), a first-term incumbent facing a tough challenge from Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister looking to court independents and moderate Republicans with a pitch to “lead from the middle.”
Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, but Vance’s return visit underscores just how close the race has become. He previously rallied with Marshall in the Kansas City suburbs, and President Donald Trump recently joined the senator outside Wichita.
The GOP’s Senate Leadership Fund super PAC pulled millions away from another competitive race in North Carolina and redirected it to ads to boost Marshall in Kansas.
A veteran Trump strategist also has been tapped to join Marshall’s campaign in another sign of growing anxiety over the contest.
Hamilton and Marshall held their second and final debate Wednesday, clashing over Trump’s tariffs and the rising costs of diesel, fuel and fertilizer that have hampered the state’s agricultural industries.
Homegrown hardcore band Turnstile returns to the DMV on Saturday for a final tour stop, and the venue might feel familiar to old-school D.C. punks.
The Washington Post watched the construction of a stage Friday near the Washington Monument bearing a familiar backdrop — a muted rainbow banner that also appears in the band’s music video for “Birds.” That song nabbed the Baltimore band — the world’s most-streamed modern hardcore band — one of two Grammys in February.
The band said Friday that it had already raised more than $100,000 for the aid organization Human Concern International more than 24 hours before the show.
Saturday’s performance and fundraiser hark back to shows that D.C.’s beloved post-hardcore band Fugazi played at the Mall’s Sylvan Theater in 1993 and 1995. The 1993 benefit concert, on the 30th anniversary of the March on Washington, drew about 5,000 people. It was one of the largest crowds in the band’s history.
Because of crowd expectations, Turnstile is setting up its own stage instead of using the Sylvan. It’s the latest buzzy moment for the 16-year-old group: It played its “Saturday Night Live” debut earlier this month, and last year, singer Brendan Yates made NPR Tiny Desk history as its first stage diver.
Fritz Hahn contributed to this report.
Nick Reiner may get to use his trust fund to defend himself against charges he murdered his mother and father, photographer Michele Singer Reiner and filmmaker Rob Reiner, and will enter settlement talks over the matter, lawyers said Friday.
Reiner’s legal team argued in probate court that he was entitled to the money and had no other way to pay for his defense. But a steward of the trust fund opposed the request, arguing it would violate California’s “slayer statute” that prevents people from inheriting the money of someone they kill.
Now both sides say they plan mediation talks in December that could result in a settlement, potentially giving Reiner access to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lauriann Wright, a lawyer for a professional fiduciary overseeing the trust fund, told The Washington Post she is “fairly confident” the two sides will come to an agreement.
Reiner, 33, is accused of stabbing his parents to death at their Los Angeles home last year. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder with special circumstances, including lying in wait.
If convicted, Reiner faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Reiner’s remaining family arranged early on for him to be represented by the prominent defense attorney Alan Jackson, but Jackson soon withdrew after learning that “anticipated funding from [Reiner’s] siblings would not be provided,” according to court documents.
Getting access to the trust fund money could pave the way for Jackson to rejoin Reiner’s defense team.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) raised more than $1.5 million in campaign funds on the day and day after the federal government searched her home in Washington this month, according to a Washington Post analysis.
The haul was part of nearly $1.9 million that Omar reported raising in the first two weeks of October, according to a Federal Election Commission filling.
Omar reported raising $847,000 on Oct. 12, the day of the raid, the highest amount of any day this election cycle. She raised another $665,000 the following day.
Up to this point in the two-year campaign cycle, Omar has reported raising more than $8 million.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the raid as part of a federal investigation examining whether Omar or her father lied on immigration paperwork submitted after they arrived in the United States in the 1990s.
Omar was 12 when her family moved to the country, and her father has since died. She repeatedly has denied any impropriety with the forms and called the operation an attempt at political intimidation.
Omar has been asking for donations to help with legal fees.
“It is going to be a very expensive and challenging time,” she said in a social media video Tuesday.
MEXICO CITY — A video that depicts an apparently American woman accosting workers at a famed Mexico City taqueria outraged people across the metropolis Friday, reviving tensions over gentrification, overtourism and how much respect foreign visitors accord local residents.
They’re calling her, simply, “Lady Gringa.”
The video shows a White woman, speaking in American-accented English, verbally abusing employees of Taquería Orinoco and others in the gentrifying Condesa neighborhood, while a companion tries to pull her away.
The woman, who has not been identified, repeatedly asks how much money the workers earn, as they try to show her the exit.
“How much do you make in a year?” the woman asks. “What’s your big check? What, $500 a year, U.S.? Amazing!”
The video has resonated in a city that has been gripped by tensions in recent years over gentrification, tourism and skyrocketing real estate prices in some of the city’s most desired neighborhoods. In some neighborhoods, as many as one-fourth of housing options have been transformed into short-term rentals.
On social media Thursday, some users said the video was indicative of bad manners they encountered among foreign visitors.
“Not all gringos, but always a gringo,” one person said.
“They’re not sending their best,” another added.
About a month after three Florida counties declared states of emergency over what officials described as a “wildly unusual” dengue outbreak, infections of the mosquito-borne disease have continued to climb.
Since September, Florida’s total reported dengue cases have almost doubled from 392 to 721, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak remains concentrated in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, where cases have climbed from 177 to 352.
New cases have also been reported in Orange, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Ira Longini, a biostatistician and infectious-disease modeler at the University of Florida, said he’s not surprised by dengue’s continued spread.
“It was just a matter of time,” Longini said.
Longini explained that climate change is increasing mosquito populations and lengthening their active seasons, contributing to dengue’s spread globally.
He emphasized the importance of public campaigns to eliminate mosquito breeding sites. Mosquitoes breed in small pools of water, including in tires and plastic containers.
Cooler, drier weather could offer some relief, Longini said, by slowing or stopping transmission. However, any reprieve could be temporary. “If it warms up and there’s more rain, then it’ll come back,” he said.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report projects Democrats will most likely flip between 12 and 22 seats in November — potentially giving them bigger majorities than the ones they won during blue waves in the 2006 and 2018 midterms.
On Friday, Cook shifted 19 more races into Democrats’ favor — including six districts shifted from “toss up” to “lean Democrat.” Out of those six, four are held by Republicans.
Some of the new races shifted into Democrats’ favor includes Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colorado), which moved from “solid Republican” to “lean Republican,” and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin), which moved from “toss up” to “lean Democrat.”
While Democrats picked up dozens of seats in the 2006 and 2018 midterms, election prognosticators initially expected their gains to be more modest this year because Republicans only hold a slim majority and many districts are drawn to favor Republicans. But now Republicans and Democrats are ramping up spending in red districts, signaling they are suddenly competitive.
Erin Covey, Cook’s analyst for the House, said Democrats are now favored outright in 218 seats they need to win control of the chamber. An additional 17 House races have been left as pure toss ups, giving Democrats room to build a comfortable majority.
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