News in :90 – Nov. 5, 2024

Voters are heading to the polls to cast their ballots for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in one of the nation’s most historic presidential races.

It’s raining across much of the nation’s midsection Tuesday morning and forecasters say storms are possible in large swaths of the country later in the day. That hasn’t stopped lines of voters before dawn.

In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Liza Fortt, a 74-year-old Black woman, arrived at her polling location in a wheelchair and not feeling well. But she said she ventured out anyway to vote for Harris. She said she never thought she’d have such an opportunity — to cast a ballot for a Black woman in a presidential race.

“I’m proud, to see a woman, not only a woman, but a Black woman,” Fortt said.

A news clip that purports to come from the FBI tells voters that they should vote remotely because of a high terror threat at polling stations.

But the FBI said that the clip is bogus, did not come from the bureau and does not accurately represent concerns about safety at polling locations.

Also false is a video depicting a fabricated FBI press release claiming that the management of prisons in several key battleground states rigged inmate voting and colluded with one of the political parties.

The FBI did not identify anyone who it thought might be responsible for the manufactured videos. Over the past two weeks, the agency has blamed Russian influence actors for a variety of manufactured internet postings and videos officials say were released as part of a broader disinformation campaign.

The voting has closed for unionized factory workers at Boeing who were deciding Monday whether to accept a contract offer or to extend their strike, which has lasted more than seven weeks and shut down production of most Boeing passenger planes.

A vote to ratify the contract on the eve of Election Day would clear the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to resume airplane production. If members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers vote for a third time to reject Boeing’s offer, it would plunge the aerospace giant into further financial peril and uncertainty.

In its latest proposed contract, Boeing is offering pay raises of 38% over four years plus ratification and productivity bonuses. IAM District 751, which represents Boeing workers in the Pacific Northwest, endorsed the proposal, which is slightly more generous than one the machinists voted down nearly two weeks ago.

Bridget Schmid can be reached at beschmid@stthomas.edu.