Elections

Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, one of the most outspoken progressives in the House, lost her primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, falling to a campaign by powerful pro-Israel political groups intent on ousting a fierce critic of the nation’s war in Gaza.Her opponent, Wesley Bell, a county prosecutor, ran as a progressive and a pragmatist. But he was boosted by more than $8 million in spending from a super PAC affiliated with the country’s largest pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and other similar entities. That outside money transformed the race into one of the most expensive House primaries in history.The contentious contest came just weeks after Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, another outspoken progressive and vocal Israel critic, suffered a stinging primary defeat. The same pro-Israel groups that poured $15 million into defeating Mr. Bowman were aiding Mr. Bell, and all eyes were on Ms. Bush to see if she would be the next member of the ultraliberal “squad” to see defeat.Ms. Bush, a former nurse, was first elected in 2020 as part of a wave of progressive victories over establishment figures that elevated forceful Black voices, including Mr. Bowman, during a summer of protests against police brutality. Ms. Bush first made a name for herself in her community in 2014, as a leading Black activist who took to the streets in Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, by a white police officer.The district is solidly Democratic, and Mr. Bell is expected to easily win the general election.But since Ms. Bush’s first election, the political terrain has shifted, in large part because of Israel’s war against Hamas. The country’s retaliation for the deadly massacre on Oct. 7 carried out by Hamas has divided mainstream Democrats from progressives like Ms. Bush, who has vocally condemned Israel’s government over its military campaign and the rising civilian death toll in Gaza.Ms. Bush made herself vulnerable to a serious primary challenge through a string of controversial votes and positions. She was one of two Democrats who voted in January against a resolution to bar members of Hamas and anyone who participated in the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7 from the United States.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

A chemistry seems to be developing between Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, who looks as if he cannot believe his luck.“Wow,” Tim Walz kept saying, his face spread in amazement. “Wow.”On Tuesday night, Mr. Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota — a scarcely known political figure just two weeks ago — made his giddy, fiery, fidgety, folksy national debut as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate.He waved, with big flapping hands, at the ecstatic crowd. He bowed. He bowed again. He stood behind Ms. Harris as she launched into her fledgling presidential stump speech. He bobbed and grinned. He played with his ear and twiddled his thumbs. And when she ceded the podium to him, 30 minutes later, he played the role of a forceful surrogate.Ms. Harris, more accustomed to the political choreography of waiting for someone else to finish talking, smiled, her hands clasped. “That’s right,” she said repeatedly. “That’s right.”The running-mate dynamic can be complicated, even just in terms of staging — how to stand, where to look, what to do with one’s hands. On Tuesday, though, both Mr. Walz and Ms. Harris seemed comfortable in their new roles. He gushed over her “joy.” The whole night, he looked like a guy who had won the political lottery and could not believe his luck.She seemed very excited about football.“Coach Walz,” as Mr. Walz was once known — back when he was a high school social studies teacher and football coach — had helped lead his team to a state championship. He was also the faculty adviser for the student gay-straight alliance.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Summer is nearing its end — at least in spirit — and we want to know how you’re making the most of what remains.Did you finish your summer reading pile? Have you watched to an outdoor movie or lounged on a beach yet? Have you summoned the energy to host a cookout? Yeah, neither have we. For some, summer is just another season — only sweatier. Work goes on, and children need to be cared for.But, with each season comes a new list of want-to-dos, and summer may come with the most pressure of all to experience whimsy, to hurry up and have fun. Now, with its end comes a melancholy, a je regrette … something. Or not doing something. The good news is it’s not over yet! We want to hear what you’re doing to fulfill the rest of your summer bucket list.We’ll read all responses through Monday, Aug. 12 and may reach out to some responders to interview them for an article. We won’t publish any part of your submission without contacting you first. More

Meghan Morris makes no formal pronouncements.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — Forgive me if I’ve shared this poem before. I have a large and colorful carousel of interests and references, I swear, but the horses come around again at some point. In any case: A little over a century ago, a Dutch writer who went by the pseudonym Charivarius laid out his gripes about the irregularities of English pronunciation in a poem, which he titled “The Chaos.” His verses demonstrated hundreds of inconsistencies, using eye rhymes like the following:Wholly, holly, signal, signing,Same, examining, but mining,Scholar, vicar, and cigar,Solar, mica, war and far.Meghan Morris engages with the same idea in today’s crossword — but she lets us discover the chaos for ourselves.Today’s ThemeSeveral themed clues in today’s grid are nested, meaning that they rely on your having solved one or more previous clues. Don’t panic! You can find your way in by solving a few gimmes. For example, here’s a clue I solved right away: [It gets baked] (21A) — DOUGH. This entry helped me tackle two themed clues.29-Down is a [Rhyme of DOUGH, but not a homophone of 43-Across]. And 43A’s [By way of] solves — with the help of crossings, for me — to THROUGH. What rhymes with DOUGH but isn’t a homophone of THROUGH? The answer is THROW.8-Across is a [Rhyme of 46-Across, but not a homophone of DOUGH]. 46A’s [Attention-getting sound] is a COUGH. What rhymes with COUGH and isn’t a homophone of DOUGH? The answer is DOFF.(And, in case it’s not clear, the word THROUGH doesn’t have a homophone, nor do the other words clued this way. That aspect of the clue is intended to hint at the answer, because THROW would be a homophone of THROUGH if both -OUGH words were pronounced with that long O.)Give it a try. You’ll be saying OHH — or your [Exclamation of understanding] (36A) of choice — in no time.Tricky Clues12A. In a puzzle in the middle of the week, you’re less likely to see a question mark at the end of a clue like [Key that might be part of a chain], even though there’s misdirection involved. An ISLE is also called a key, and it can be connected to other ISLEs in a chain (often called an archipelago).25A. In the category of words I don’t think I’ll ever need: ASSAY, which means to [Evaluate for purity], as with gold or chemicals. When will I next be conducting such an evaluation? I can’t ASSAY.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, won the primary election on Tuesday to be Republican Party’s candidate for attorney general in the November general election, The Associated Press said.Mr. Bailey, who was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson in 2022, now seeks a full four-year term in a post has been a steppingstone for his predecessors, Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley, both of whom are sitting U.S. senators.In his 19 months as the state’s attorney general, Mr. Bailey has plunged the office into heated legal and political fights. He has sought to keep prisoners locked up after their exonerations, withheld approval of a ballot initiative to restore abortion rights, and tried to restrict gender-affirming health care for adults and children. He also tried to sue New York State over its criminal prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump and mounted legal challenges to President Biden’s policies on student loan forgiveness, immigration, gun regulation and other issues.Even so, Mr. Bailey spent much of the primary race jockeying with his opponent, Will Scharf, over who was more loyal to Mr. Trump. Mr. Scharf is one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, appearing before the Supreme Court on his behalf in the presidential immunity case that was decided in Mr. Trump’s favor last month. Mr. Trump endorsed both candidates, saying on his social media platform, Truth Social, “Both have fearlessly confronted the Radical Left’s destructive Lawfare and Weaponization of ‘Justice’ with Great Wisdom, Courage, and Strength!”Mr. Bailey, who Mr. Scharf has accused of being soft on crime, routinely opposed efforts by prisoners to prove their innocence or to leave prison once they had done so. This summer he delayed the release of two exonerated prisoners, Sandra Hemme and Christopher Dunn, and sought unsuccessfully to block a hearing on DNA evidence that pointed to the innocence of a death row prisoner, Marcellus Williams, who is scheduled for execution in September.Mr. Bailey, 43, grew up in Missouri and earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Missouri. Mr. Scharf, 38, is from New York and is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. A clerkship for a federal judge brought him to Missouri.Neither candidate had previously run for office.Mr. Bailey will face Elad Gross, a Democrat, who ran unopposed in his party’s primary. More

Four workers who pinned down D’vontaye Mitchell, 43, outside a Milwaukee Hyatt hotel in June were charged with murder. His family said he had been having a mental health crisis.Four hotel workers were charged Tuesday with murder in the death of D’vontaye Mitchell, a Black man who died outside a Milwaukee hotel after being subdued by staff members in a scene that was recorded on video and caused a public outcry.Mr. Mitchell’s family says he was having a mental health crisis when hotel staff members tried to subdue him after he ran through the lobby and into the women’s restroom. An autopsy showed that asphyxiation, cocaine and methamphetamine had contributed to his death.The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office announced the charge of felony murder against four people: Todd Alan Erickson, 60; Brandon Ladaniel Turner, 35; Devin W. Johnson-Carson, 23; and Herbert T. Williamson, 52. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and nine months.Prosecutors said arrest warrants had been issued for the men, though it was unclear if they had been arrested by late Tuesday.Mr. Erickson and Mr. Turner worked as security guards at the Hyatt Hotel in Milwaukee, prosecutors said. Mr. Williamson worked as a bell attendant, and Mr. Johnson-Carson worked at the front desk. All four were fired after Mr. Mitchell’s death.The charges filed in court Tuesday came after an autopsy report released on Friday ruled the death a homicide and found that Mr. Mitchell, 43, had died from a combination of “restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine” as he was held down by hotel workers in a prone position on June 30. The report also noted that Mr. Mitchell had been obese and had hypertensive cardiovascular disease.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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