Thursday morning news - November 10, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington.

Senate » Here we go again in Georgia. Another runoff election for a critical Senate seat that could once again tip the balance of power in the chamber.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says he knows voters are already a little election weary.

RAFFENSPERGER: I’ll ask the voters to come out and vote one last time. We have no control over how many campaign ads our voters are going to see over the next 30 days, but we’ll make sure we have honest and fair elections.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz will be the first to campaign on behalf of Republican Herschel Walker ahead of the Dec. 6th runoff election.

For Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, this will be his fourth election for the same Senate seat in just two years time.

Republicans need two more seats to reclaim the majority, and they have three chances to gain those seats.

Besides Georgia, there are two Senate races not yet decided. They’re still counting ballots in Arizona and Nevada.

The fate of governors races hangs in the balance in those states, as well. Democratic candidate for Arizona governor Katie Hobbs …

HOBBS: Let’s keep the faith. Let’s keep the faith as we wait for the final results to come in.

McCarthy launches speaker bid » Republicans appear to be closing in on a majority in the House.

But Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy isn’t waiting for the results to become final. He announced his bid for speaker of the House Wednesday in a letter to colleagues.

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters,

SCALISE: We’re going to have our elections next week. I’m supporting Kevin McCarthy for speaker and he’ll win that race. And ultimately, you’ve seen us pull together these last few months and focus on the attack against big government socialism.

Scalise is bidding to become the next House majority leader, assuming Republicans do take control of the chamber in January.

Hurricane Nicole »

SOUND: HURRICANE

Hurricane Nicole is lashing the east coast of Florida this morning.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm. He told Floridians …

DESANTIS: Winds are the main concern with Nicole, but we also expect to see some heavy rains, the potential for flash flooding, and 3-5 feet storm surge in some areas.

The first hurricane to slam the state’s east coast in almost a century shut down theme parks and airports.

Nicole caused heavy damage and power outages in the Bahamas yesterday as the storm tracked west.

Daniel Brown with the National Hurricane Center said Nicole might not be a hurricane for long but it will wreak havoc in Florida and along the east coast for days.

BROWN: The system is forecast to weaken as it crosses Florida. And then it’s supposed to turn more northward, moving into parts of Georgia and then up into the Carolinas.

The storm is hitting some areas still recovering from Hurricane Ian.

Griner sent to Russian penal colony to serve sentence » In Russia, American basketball star Brittney Griner has been sent to a penal colony to serve her nine-year sentence for possessing cannibas oil vape cartridges.

In many penal colonies, prisoners are forced to work for minimal pay, effectively being forced into slave labor.

The Biden administration has called her detention unacceptable and unjust. And the White House has offered a prisoner swap to the Kremlin. But so far, no response.

UN to vote on resolution saying Russia must pay reparations »

The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote for Monday on a resolution that calls for Russia to pay reparations for invading Ukraine and violating international laws. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The draft resolution would recognize the need for a system to send Russia a bill for the damage it’s caused.

The measure would ask member nations to work with Ukraine to create “an international register” documenting loss or injury to Ukraine caused by Russia.

The General Assembly has already has adopted four resolutions criticizing Russia’s invasion.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do reflect global opinion.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Musk Twitter » Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has a message for advertisers:

MUSK: Brands should rest assured that Twitter is a good place to advertise, and if we see things that are creating a problem in that regard, we will take action to address it.

Liberal activist groups have successfully pressured some advertisers to freeze their ad spending with Twitter while they wait to see what content moderation will look like under Musk.

The Tesla CEO bought Twitter to restore free speech to the platform saying the social media company made a habit of censoring conservative voices.

But Democrats cried foul after Musk recently encouraged Americans to vote Republican.

MUSK: Twitter must be as a platform as neutral as possible. That doesn’t mean I’m completely neutral. That would be untruthful. I’m not neutral. No person is.

Upon taking over Twitter Musk fired top executives and laid off nearly half of the company’s employees.

Meta cuts 11,000 jobs » Facebook parent company Meta is laying off 11,000 people. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The layoffs represent about about 13% of the company’s workforce. In a letter, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the layoffs are needed to contend with faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes.

Zuckerberg said he hired aggressively, anticipating rapid growth even after the pandemic ended, but unfortunately, it did not play out the way he expected.

He added, “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

Meta is pouring over $10 billion a year into the virtual reality “metaverse” as it shifts its focus away from social media.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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