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1 Ballot Boxes In Oregon And Washington State Burned With Incendiary Device, Hundreds Of Ballots Destroyed
Ballot boxes were set on fire in Oregon and Washington state early yesterday morning, with ballots damaged or destroyed. Police say that the arsons at ballot drop boxes in Portland and in nearby Vancouver, Washington are connected, and are believed to be connected to a third incident with a ballot box that happened earlier this month in Vancouver. The first report came in around 3:30 am yesterday in Portland, with officers responding to a report of a ballot box on fire in Vancouver around a half-hour later. In both cases yesterday, officials say an incendiary device was attached to the ballot box to start the fire. Three of the ballots in the Portland box were damaged, with a fire suppressant system in the box protecting the other 409 ballots inside. A fire suppressant system was also in place in Vancouver, but Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said they didn’t work well and would be replaced. Kimsey said that “hundreds” of ballots were damaged in the fire. The FBI is assisting local agencies in tracking down the culprit in the fires, with a nearby surveillance camera catching footage of a suspect vehicle at the box in Portland, a Volvo.
2 Jeff Bezos Defends Decision For "Washington Post" To Not Endorse A Presidential Candidate
“Washington Post” owner Jeff Bezos weighed in yesterday on the controversy over the paper’s decision to not endorse a candidate for president. In a nine-paragraph article published on the Post’s website last night, Bezos argued that the move is an attempt to shore up the paper’s credibility and combat perceptions of political bias. He wrote, “What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.” According to the paper’s own reporting, the editorial page had planned to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, but Bezos stepped in to stop the endorsement. The publisher and chief executive officer of the Post, Will Lewis, announced on Friday the decision to not make an endorsement. NPR reported yesterday that the Post had already lost over 200,000 digital subscribers since the announcement on Friday, and at least three members of its editorial board have stepped down in protest of the decision.
3 Israel Bans UN Relief Agency Performing The Main Aid Operation In Gaza
The Israeli parliament voted yesterday to ban the operations of UNRWA in Gaza. The United Nations organization is the main humanitarian aid agency operating in Gaza, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again accused UNRWA employees of being involved in terrorist activities in the region while issuing a statement about the legislation. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services closed an investigation into the claims of terrorist activity in August, and while it debunked some allegations, it did conclude that nine employees may have been involved in the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas. The legislation goes into effect in 90 days.