Stopgap funding negotiations heat up after Johnson plan defeat

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan and bicameral talks to head off a partial government shutdown after next week appeared to be underway Thursday after the collapse of Speaker Mike Johnson’s two-part stopgap funding package Wednesday night.

Senate appropriators were in the paper-trading stage while, at least at the staff level, discussions were taking place among the “four corners” of the spending panels and congressional leadership in both chambers.

“We have just gotten some draft language from the Democrats and now we’re starting to enter into review and negotiation, which is a great relief since we have very few days left,” Senate Appropriations ranking member Susan Collins, R- Maine, said. While talks remain “at the very initial stages,” Collins said, other sources said a bipartisan proposal could be ready as soon as Monday.

To get the ball rolling procedurally, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D- N.Y., filed cloture Thursday to limit debate on the motion to proceed to an unrelated post office-naming bill that could be used to carry a short-term funding extension. If the Senate ends up going first — which wasn’t yet clear — Schumer’s move would set up a preliminary cloture vote Saturday.

—CQ-Roll Call

Georgia Election Board weighs last-minute changes, including hand count of ballots

ATLANTA— The Georgia Election Board will decide on sweeping rule changes Friday — less than a month before early voting begins — including proposals to hand-count ballots and require absentee ballot tracking that could cost $4 per voter.

All 11 proposals come from right-wing activists, voters or local election board members, and they’re up for approval by a State Election Board, whose three-member Republican majority was singled out for praise by former President Donald Trump at an Atlanta rally last month.

Election directors across Georgia oppose most of the ideas, saying they’re poorly thought-out, expensive and disruptive as they prepare for a presidential election expected to draw 5 million voters. They’re calling for a pause on alterations to established procedures, especially after many poll workers have already been trained.

The eleventh-hour initiatives are the latest efforts by the State Election Board to adjust the voting landscape in Georgia, a battleground state where the 2020 presidential race was decided by fewer than 12,000 votes and Trump made the false claim that the election was stolen.

The board has the power to craft election rules as long as they don’t conflict with state law. It previously approved new requirements before counties can certify results, raising concerns that local election boards could refuse to do so if their preferred candidate loses in November.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Alaska man arrested on charges he threatened to kill 6 US Supreme Court justices

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— A 76-year-old Anchorage man was arrested this week on federal charges accusing him of threatening to kidnap and kill six U.S. Supreme Court Justices and their relatives in scores of messages beginning last year.

Panos Anastasiou was arrested Wednesday at his Spenard home on 22 charges tied to more than 465 messages sent through the Supreme Court's public website that "contained violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging and firearms," according to a memorandum seeking his detention filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Taylor.

The memo said the messages escalated in early January.

A sign hanging above the door of a tidy, single-story Spenard home listed in municipal records as belonging to Anastasious on Thursday morning featured an image of a gun and said "I don't call 911." Another sign identified the occupant as a veteran and said "My oath never expires."

In posts to his Facebook page in 2014, Anastasiou said he regretted his military service to the "POLICE STATE" the country has become "in large part by the rulings by the Supreme Court favoring police tactics and shredding the fourth amendment."

Anastasiou began sending concerning messages through the online portal to the Supreme Court in the spring of 2023, according to the federal memorandum filed this week. Supreme Court police reviewed the messages and contacted FBI agents in Anchorage, it said.

After the agents contacted Anastasiou in Alaska, he sent another message to the Supreme Court referencing the interview and "'daring' the Justices to personally visit his house," the memorandum said.

The messages continued and became increasingly violent in early 2024, it said.

Several messages included in the memorandum contained racial slurs, homophobic rhetoric and violent threats with descriptions of assassination by hanging, torture and shooting.

He admitted sending threatening messages to the Supreme Court justices this year, the email address he used to send them contained his name, and investigators tracked the IP information included with the messages to his Anchorage home, the memorandum said.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage do not specify which Supreme Court justices Anastasiou targeted.

—Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

US warns allies Russia seeking to disrupt cargo shipping firms

The U.S. has warned its allies that Russia is targeting cargo shipping companies as it seeks to disrupt Ukraine’s partners, according to people familiar with the matter.

While Russia has focused cyberattacks and other so-called hybrid actions on shipping firms and ports before, its hostile actions are evolving with intensified sabotage as Moscow’s appetite for taking greater risks increases, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private assessments. They declined to provide specifics or the scope of Russia’s possible targets.

A U.S. official said that when new information about potential threats becomes available it is shared with allies.

A spokesperson of the U.S. National Security Council declined to comment. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.

Russian intelligence targeted several European countries with sabotage attacks, often by hiring local criminals, officials previously told Bloomberg News. Its cyber and disinformation operations have long focused on the U.S. and Europe.

Incidents attributed to Moscow have escalated in recent months to include arson, vandalism, the jamming of GPS signals and a foiled plot to assassinate the CEO of a German arms company. Russia has denied targeting the west with acts of sabotage.

—Bloomberg News