Alabama House candidate says 55,000 voters in her district have been disqualified

A Democratic congressional candidate in Alabama is claiming that thousands of voters in her district have been removed from active voter lists.

Mallory Hagan, a former Miss America, is running to represent Alabama's 3rd Congressional District, said Thursday that more than 55,000 voters have been disqualified or labeled inactive since February 2017, according to numbers her campaign obtained and reported by The Associated Press.

Hagan is not accusing the state of any malfeasance, but said the figure is worrisome to her campaign.

She is vying to unseat 16-year incumbent Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) in November's midterm election.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/412322-alabama-house-candidate-says-55000-voters-in-her-district-have-been

HUD official quits amid Interior Department watchdog controversy

A top political official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development resigned Friday after HUD Secretary Ben Carson said she was slated to be the Interior Department’s top watchdog, apparently by mistake.

HUD spokesman Raffi Williams said late Friday that Suzanne Israel Tufts, HUD’s assistant secretary for administration, “has offered her resignation and it has been accepted.”

Carson told his staff a week ago that Tufts would leave to become Interior’s acting inspector general on a temporary basis, as first reported by The Hill. The announcement alarmed Democrats and conservationists, who felt that an ally to President Trump would be unable to provide unbiased oversight of Interior and its secretary, Ryan Zinke, who is the subject of numerous investigations by the watchdog office.

Tufts would have replaced Mary Kendall, the deputy inspector general and top official in the watchdog office, as its most senior employee.

Interior said on Thursday that Carson’s email was “false information,” and Tufts was never offered a job at the Interior Department.

“Ms. Tufts is not employed by the Department and no decision was ever made to move her to Interior,” Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a Thursday statement. “HUD sent out an email that had false information in it.”

HUD said Friday that Carson’s announcement that Tufts would move to Interior was due to “a recent miscommunication at the staff level.”

Williams did not immediately answer a question about Tufts’s plans after HUD. Tufts, a lawyer who previously helped train attorneys to work for Trump’s campaign, was in a Senate-confirmed position.

Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the Washington Post that the Trump administration is looking for someone to nominate as Interior’s inspector general, a job that’s been vacant for almost a decade.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/412338-trump-hud-official-in-interior-watchdog-controversy-quits

Any idea what's going on here?

Obama to campaign for Dems in Wisconsin

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin made the announcement on Friday, saying that Obama will campaign for gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers (D) and incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), as well Democrats up and down the ballot, during an event on Oct. 26.

The party's announcement did not include details on where the campaign event would take place.

His visit to Wisconsin will come just two days after President Trump is slated to a rally in Mosinee, Wis., to campaign for Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.).

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/412337-obama-to-campaign-for-wisconsin-dems-in-milwaukee

Space Force to be the Topic of Next National Space Council Meeting

WASHINGTON — The status of proposals to create a separate branch of the U.S. military devoted to space will be the subject of the next meeting of the National Space Council on Oct. 23.

Vice President Mike Pence, in an Oct. 12 tweet, said that the interagency group will discuss "progress made and next steps" on the formation of a Space Force, a plan formally announced by President Trump at the council's last meeting in June.

The president "has rightly called for the creation of a 6th branch of the Armed Forces to advance US dominance in space," Pence wrote. "#SpaceForce is an idea whose time has come. On 10/23, the National Space Council will meet [at National Defense University] to discuss progress made & next steps to implement POTUS' vision."

https://www.space.com/42189-space-force-next-national-space-council-meeting.html

>>3535642 Saudi King Salman orders formation of ministerial committee lead by the crown prince to restructure the general intelligence agency

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