Author: Reporter

A generation of hope: Young gymnast crushed by Russian missile dreams of competing in Paralympics

When Oleksandra Paskal first took to the mat as a 4-year-old, her rhythmic gymnastics coach saw nothing but potential in a sport where the Olympics is the ultimate goal. Then a Russian missile crushed her summer house in the southern Odesa region, burying her beneath the debris and severing her left leg. Oleksandra’s coach, Inga Kovalchuk, prides herself on her ability to spot the future. But it is increasingly clear that Russia’s war on Ukraine is demolishing the seeds of a sports culture that was a European powerhouse. Two years after she was injured in May 2022, Oleksandra was...

Read More

Harris tells cheering Milwaukee crowd that November election is “a choice between freedom and chaos”

A roaring crowd of battleground state voters greeted Vice President Kamala Harris on July 23 as she opened her public case against Republican former President Donald Trump by declaring November’s election will be “a choice between freedom and chaos.” “In this campaign, I promise you, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week,” Harris said. “We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead.” Harris arrived in the Milwaukee area having locked up nomination support from Democratic delegates after President Joe Biden dropped...

Read More

Campaign unity: People of color mobilize in huge numbers to rally around Kamala Harris

Four years ago, a Zoom meeting to build support for Kamala Harris as the Democratic vice presidential nominee attracted just 90 participants. On July 21 night, an estimated 90,000 Black women and allies logged on at the same time to support her brand-new presidential campaign. Zoom typically maxes out at 1,000 participants but a female executive at the video conferencing company stepped in to increase the capacity to 40,000, said Aimee Allison, who has attended many of the weekly calls organized by the #WinWithBlackWomen network over the years. And organizers said the meeting was streamed to another 50,000 women...

Read More

Reordering 2024 race: Kamala Harris vows to “earn and win” Democratic nomination for president

Vice President Kamala Harris moved swiftly to lock up Democratic delegates behind her campaign for the White House, after President Joe Biden stepped aside amid concerns from within their own party that he would be unable to defeat convicted felon Donald Trump. Biden’s exit on July 21, prompted by Democratic worries over his fitness for office, was a seismic shift to the presidential contest that upended both parties’ carefully honed plans for the race. Aiming to put weeks of intraparty drama over Biden’s candidacy behind them, prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders, and political organizations quickly lined up behind...

Read More

Former prosecutor vs. convicted felon: Harris gets chance to reset 2024 race against Trump

For the past year, the presidential campaign seemed destined to be a monotonous slog featuring two candidates, President Joe Biden and convicted felon Donald Trump, that voters did not really want. But that all changed on a quiet on July 21 afternoon just 107 days before the election. President Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor resets the campaign with a swiftness that is unparalleled in modern American politics. Once a contest between two elderly white men, the election will likely force Trump to contend with the much younger...

Read More

Democrats and allies rally around Vice President Kamala Harris as their likely presidential nominee

Democrats quickly rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris as their likely presidential nominee on July 21 after President Joe Biden’s ground-shaking decision to bow out of the 2024 race, a volatile fast-moving political situation just months before the November election. Shortly after Biden stepped aside he firmly endorsed Harris, who would make history as the nation’s first Black and South Asian woman to become a major party’s presidential nominee. Other endorsements flowed from former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the first major female presidential nominee, and prominent U.S. senators, a wide swath of House representatives and members of...

Read More