Good morning. Here’s what you missed over the weekend.
1. Roy Cooper’s lead grows, McCrory delays the inevitable.
After losing protests to Republican-controlled county boards of election around the state, the McCrory campaign, on Friday, took its plea to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which in turned held an emergency teleconference late Sunday afternoon.
From the N&O:
The State Board of Elections on Sunday rejected a request from Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign to take over election protest reviews, instead setting a 10 a.m. Tuesday meeting to set guidelines for counties to address the complaints.
[…]
The election complaints come as the final ballots are counted in a tight governor’s race between McCrory and Democrat Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general.
The latest tally on the State Board of Elections website has Cooper leading by about 6,600 votes, although the Cooper campaign said Saturday that its latest count shows the lead has grown to 7,900 votes as more votes are counted.
McCrory’s endgame seems to be to drag this out long enough so it can be thrown to and decided by the overwhelmingly Republican General Assembly. The system works!
2. Dakota Access pipeline protesters shot with water cannons in below-freezing temperatures; local sheriff’s office denies it.
One of the most underreported stories of the year took a darker turn last night as Native American water rights protesters were hit with water cannons in below-freezing temperatures in North Dakota.
From the Bismarck Tribune:
According to the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, about 400 Dakota Access Pipeline protesters were at the bridge as of 8:30 p.m. They were allegedly trying to move north through a police line and starting fires.
[…]Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, posted on Facebook Sunday night that protesters were “done with the military-style barricades.”
“It was to open up the road so in the daylight the world can see the face of militarized law enforcement and state oppression,” he wrote of clearing vehicles from the road.
Goldtooth reported that police sprayed protesters with a water cannon and used tear gas and concussion grenades to repel the protesters. It was 26 degrees in Cannon Ball at 9 p.m.
3. The weekend in Trump.
- Trump picked a guy who was too racist to be a federal judge in 1986 to be his attorney general in 2016.
- Donald Trump settled in the Trump University case for $25 million. Which means the president-elect of the United States is now paying people money because he defrauded them.
- His “establishment” chief of staff said he’s “not going to rule out anything” with regards to registries for Muslims.
- The Trump administration is already a complete mess of conflicts of interest.
- A guy from Hamilton read a remarkably polite letter to a virulently anti-LGBTQ politician, and Trump got real mad.
- His wife and son are staying in New York.
4. More wildfires in western NC.
WNCN:
Already, more than 1,000 firefighters are battling several wildfires that have been burning for at least a week.
Now, McDowell County officials say that a wildfire broke out late Saturday night and has grown to 800 acres by Sunday afternoon. Another smaller wildfire also is active in McDowell County, officials say.
The largest fire is called the Clear Creek Fire. As of Sunday afternoon there have been no evacuations, but Clear Creek and Curtis Creek areas are closed.
Emergency workers have gone door-to-door in the Clear Creek, Old Clear Creek and Ladybug Drive areas notifying residents of potential dangers, McDowell County Emergency Management said.
That’s it, have a good one.
