Texas tumbles further in voting access, report finds
DALLAS — Voters in Texas face among the most obstacles in the U.S. to cast a ballot, a new academic study says. The state ranks 46th in the country for voting access, falling one spot since 2020. Voting access refers to how easy it is to register and to vote.
Only four states — Wisconsin, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Hampshire — rank below the Lone Star state. Among the easiest places to vote are Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Hawaii and Colorado.
The rankings are part of the 2022 Cost of Voting Index, a nonpartisan study that aims to quantify the cost of voting in terms of time and resources.
This year’s index is the first since Texas and other states passed a flurry of new election laws following the 2020 election. But state election law maneuvering has done little to appease voters on either side, the study’s authors wrote.
—The Dallas Morning News
‘The drills worked.’ St. Louis officials laud police, school response during shooting
ST. LOUIS — Police, fire and school officials say all their work training for active shooters saved lives this week.
Security officers at the St. Louis Public Schools campus saw a man enter the building with a rifle and called police right away. Administrators warned classrooms over the loudspeaker with a code phrase. Students and teachers locked doors, turned off lights and huddled away from windows. Police and emergency crews arrived quickly, evacuated the school and found the shooter.
The St. Louis fire chief called it the result of a “massive amount of training.” The police chief said officers didn’t hesitate to storm the building.
“The drills worked,” DeAndre Davis, director of safety and security for St. Louis Public Schools, said Tuesday. “The kids worked. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. They barricaded those doors. They got away from those windows, and when it was time to evacuate, they did the best they could. They got out of that building.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
LA City Council censures de León, Cedillo, Martinez after police remove demonstrators
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to censure Council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, as well as former Council member Nury Martinez, for racist and incendiary comments made on a leaked recording.
The vote appeared to mark the first time the City Council censured one of its own members — a move that carries no legal weight but adds to the public pressure on Cedillo and de León to resign. Martinez stepped down two weeks ago.
Police officers cleared about two dozen protesters — who were shouting and demanding the two council members resign — from the council floor before the vote. The police issued a dispersal order to empty the room, a tactic usually served for handling large street protests.
The dramatic events were another sign of how the leaked recording has upended City Hall. At the same time, some neighborhood leaders in de León’s district called in to Wednesday’s meeting to defend the council member — support that hadn’t yet been widely seen.
—Los Angeles Times
Putin oversees regular nuclear drills amid escalation fears
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw regular military drills simulating a nuclear retaliatory strike Wednesday, amid growing concerns of a further escalation by the Kremlin as its war in Ukraine drags into the ninth month.
In televised comments, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin the exercises were intended to rehearse “a massive nuclear strike” in response to an atomic attack on Russia. The exercises included the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles from Kamchatka in the Russian far east, ballistic missiles from the Barents Sea as well as cruise missiles fired from the air by strategic bombers.
The U.S. said Tuesday Russia had notified it of the plans for the maneuvers, known as Grom (Thunder). “This is a routine annual exercise,” Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder said.
President Joe Biden warned Russia Tuesday against using a nuclear or radioactive weapon in Ukraine.
—Bloomberg News
