Public welcome organized for newly hired Kansas City, Kansas administrator Monday

Associated Press
The GOP expects to keep Kansas' open House seat. Democratic Rep. Davids looks tough to beat
Republicans expected a former Kansas attorney general's political comeback in Tuesday's election to keep an open U.S. House seat in GOP hands while the party faced a tougher challenge in trying to oust the only Democrat in the state's congressional delegation. Republican Derek Schmidt sought the 2nd Congressional District seat held by retiring two-term Republican Rep. Jake LaTurner. Schmidt, who served three terms as attorney general, was coming off a narrow loss in the 2022 governor's race and faced Nancy Boyda, making her own comeback bid as the last Democrat to hold the seat.
Associated Press
Figures and Dobson are in a heated battle for a redrawn Alabama House district
Alabama voters will decide who will represent a congressional district that was redrawn after a lengthy legal battle that drew national attention and could provide a rare opportunity for Democrats to flip a seat in the Deep South. Democrat Shomari Figures, a former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, faces Republican Caroleene Dobson, an attorney and political newcomer, in the race for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. The district, which had been reliably Republican, became competitive after it was reshaped last year by federal judges, A federal court ruled that Alabama had illegally diluted the influence of Black voters and redrew the district to increase the percentage of Black voters in the district.
Associated Press
Abortion is on the ballot in nine states and motivating voters across the US
Voters in nine states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races. Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states. The future legality and availability of abortion hinges not only on ballot measures, as policies could shift depending on who controls Congress and the presidency.
Associated Press
Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker is challenged by Democrat Ty Pinkins
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi is trying to extend his 30-year career on Capitol Hill as he faces Democrat Ty Pinkins, a challenger who received little financial support from his own party in a heavily Republican state. Wicker, now 73, was first elected to the U.S. House in a northern Mississippi district in 1994 and was appointed to the Senate in 2007 by then-Gov. Haley Barbour after Republican Trent Lott resigned.
Associated Press
Democrats hope to flip a reliably Republican Louisiana congressional seat with new boundaries
In a critical election year, Democrats are looking to flip a once reliably Republican Louisiana congressional seat, where political boundaries were recently redrawn to form the state’s second mostly Black congressional district. With five people on the ballot for Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District, Democrats have thrown their support behind longtime politician Cleo Fields, 61. Across the aisle, Republicans are looking to preserve the seat, especially in an election year where the GOP is trying to hold on to their majority in the U.S. House.
USA TODAY
When is Inauguration Day? What to know about the next president's swearing in
Whoever wins the 2024 presidential election, Inauguration Day is still over two months away.
Associated Press
Control of Congress is at stake and with it a president's agenda
Control of Congress is at stake Tuesday, with ever-tight races for the House and Senate that will determine which party holds the majority and the power to boost or block a president’s agenda, or if the White House confronts a divided Capitol Hill. The key contests are playing out alongside the first presidential election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but also in unexpected corners of the country after what has been one of the most chaotic congressional sessions in modern times. In the Senate, where Democrats now have a slim 51-49 majority, an early boost for Republicans is expected in West Virginia.
Associated Press
Australian foreign minister raises allegations with Indian counterpart of targeting Sikhs in Canada
Australia’s foreign minister said Tuesday she raised allegations with her Indian counterpart that India has targeted Sikh activists in Canada. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she discussed the Canadian allegations with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar while he was in the Australian capital, Canberra.
AFP
'Crushed and downtrodden': Azerbaijan's COP29 crackdown
Azerbaijani rights defender and climate advocate Anar Mammadli was picking up his son from kindergarten when police arrested him in front of his children.International rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, a US senator and the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders have all denounced the proceedings against Mammadli and demanded his release.
NBC News
Tropical Storm Rafael forms in the Caribbean and is expected to become a hurricane
A disturbance in the Caribbean strengthened Monday afternoon into Tropical Storm Rafael, which is forecast to become a hurricane Tuesday.
Associated Press
Empty seats become a more common sight at Trump's final rallies
Donald Trump has spent nearly a decade bragging about his crowds. Lately, he’s been making the same boasts to swaths of empty seats. In his third presidential bid, Trump for the first time is facing an opponent who stages her own massive rallies, calling further attention to the fact that his crowds, however enthusiastic they are, sometimes have failed to fill large venues and often thinned out as he spoke.
TODAY
'Who deng?' Edinburgh Zoo announces birth of baby pygmy hippo named Haggis
Who is Haggis the Pygmy hippo? She follows the viral sensation of Moo Deng in Thailand. They are both the same species.
USA TODAY
Ex-Ohio police officer found guilty of murder in 2020 Andre Hill shooting
Adam Coy, 48, was found guilty of murder, felonious assault, and reckless homicide in the December 2020 shooting death of Andre Hill, 47.
Reuters
China warns young soldiers against online dating, gambling
In an unusual warning, China's navy told young officers and personnel that they could get ensnared by online dating scams and virtual gambling if they let down their guard, exposing themselves to security risks and undermining the military. Addressing those born from 1990 who are "becoming the core of the army", the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy said in a social media post that young soldiers should avoid revealing their military identity online as they could be "extremely easy" targets of criminals. The political and confidential nature of the military profession dictates that the military personnel identity must not be exposed online, it said.
TODAY
Election cake, a forgotten recipe, is trending again. Here’s how to make it
After an election cake recipe went viral on Reddit, we tried making the historical treat. Here's what you should know about the forgotten American tradition.
AFP
Azerbaijan says 'God-given' oil and gas will help it go green
Flames soar into the air from a sandstone outcrop on a hillside on the Absheron peninsula near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, as it prepares to host the COP29 climate conference next week.But experts are adamant that Azerbaijan does not have a climate plan in line with the Paris Agreement.
AFP
China's premier 'fully confident' of hitting growth targets
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday he was "fully confident" the country would hit its economic goals this year, lauding recent stimulus measures and suggesting there was still room for more.On Tuesday Li suggested that officials still had room to manouevre when it came to further measures.
Reuters
Australia scrapped satellite because new tech could 'shoot it out of sky', says defence minister
Australia's defence minister said on Tuesday a defence satellite program was scrapped because of the threat of new technology that can "shoot satellites out of the sky", and Canberra instead wants to use a mesh of micro satellites for defence communications. Australia's Department of Defence said on Monday it cancelled a multi-billion dollar Geostationary Earth Orbit satellite project with Lockheed Martin that was to deliver Australia's first sovereign-controlled satellite communication system over the Indo-Pacific ocean regions.
AFP
North Korea fires short-range ballistic missile salvo ahead of US election
North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Tuesday, Seoul's military said, Pyongyang's second launch in days and just hours before Americans vote for a new president.- 'Aggressive nature' - Pyongyang's latest launch was "a direct response to the trilateral aerial exercises over the weekend", Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Association of Defence Industry Studies told AFP. "Given it was a salvo of short-range missiles, the North is indicating that it not only has long-range miss
USA TODAY
What are the swing states? See polling in 2024 battlegrounds as race clock winds down
Seven states could flip the results of the 2024 presidential election. See the latest polling as voters head to the polls on Tuesday and the race comes to an end.

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