Cheney defeated:Â Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming was defeated in her Republican primary bid to run for another term. Cheney has been one of the few prominent Republicans to admit that Donald Trump”™s claims of winning the 2020 Presidential Election were lies. Cheney was defeated by Harriet Hageman, who Trump had endorsed and who campaigned in support of Trump”™s lies about the election and his attempts to stage a coup. Hageman got about 66% of the Republican vote, Cheney about 28%.
Murkowski wins:Â In Alaska, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski defeated Trump”™s candidate Kelly Tshibaka to gain the Republican nomination to run for another term. Sarah Palin, who ran for vice president in 2008 on the Republican ticket headed by Sen. John McCain, won the Republican nomination to run for Alaska”™s seat in the House of Representatives. Palin had been endorsed by Trump.
Giuliani goes before grand jury:Â Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, this morning to testify before a grand jury looking into pressure he, Donald Trump and others applied to Georgia officials to throw out Biden”™s victory in the 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia and hand the election to Donald Trump. Giuliani refused to answer questions before entering the courthouse, telling reporters that grand jury proceedings are secret and he wanted to keep it that way.
Damages ordered in PA kickback case:Â Two former Pennsylvania judges who took kickbacks from companies operating private jails in the state have been ordered by a federal judge to pay more than $200 million in damages to the victims they improperly sent to those jails. Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan sent people to jail who shouldn”™t have been so that the jail operators could make more money from the state. About 4,000 convictions were overturned after the kickback scheme came to light.
R. Kelly on trial:Â Opening arguments were set for today in Chicago in the trial of performer R. Kelly on charges of child pornography and having sex with minors. Kelly is on trial in federal court and the trial is expected to last into mid-September.
Tighter water restrictions on CO River:Â The severe drought in the Western part of the U.S. has resulted in new restrictions being imposed on use of water from the Colorado River. A Tier Two water shortage has been declared by the federal government. Mexico in addition to the states of Arizona and Nevada was ordered to make additional cuts to the amount of water they draw from the river beginning next year. The water levels in the reservoirs Lake Mead and Lake Powell on the Colorado River have fallen so much that the water rushing through generating stations at dams is no longer powerful enough to operate electric generators at full capacity.
