As shutdown lingers, Marjorie Taylor Greene splits with GOP leaders on health care

WASHINGTON — Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is openly criticizing Republican leaders in Congress over their handling of the government shutdown and health care funding.

Greene’s social media posts and public statements are part of a trend in recent months of her taking positions that are populist but which conflict with public statements from President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune.

She has backed releasing the Epstein files, criticized Israel’s war with Gaza and now is championing an extension of Affordable Care Act health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year.

“I’m saying that this is such a severe problem that it’s crippling Americans’ abilities to make ends meet, and it’s a failure by Republicans to not recognize it and to not be working on a solution,” Greene told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Michael Bloomberg gives $1.5 million to help save Denver’s flavored tobacco ban in election

DENVER — Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the businessman and former mayor of New York City, has donated $1.5 million more to the campaign to retain Denver’s ban on flavored tobacco, helping give supporters of the ban more than four times the resources of opponents.

In the previous campaign finance reports filed in September, opponents of the ban had far outraised supporters. Bloomberg’s recent donation, disclosed in a new monthly filing this week, significantly shifts the dynamics of the Nov. 4 election, when a question about whether to retain the new ordinance will appear as Referendum 310 on the ballot.

The supporters’ campaign, “Denver Kids vs Big Tobacco,” has now received about $2 million in direct and in-kind donations through the end of September. The opposition, “Citizen Power!” — which pushed to repeal the ban — has raised nearly $470,000, according to Denver’s campaign finance dashboard.

In late 2024, the Denver City Council near-unanimously approved a ban on sales of most flavored tobacco and nicotine products after public health and children’s advocates argued the products could lure young people into a life of addiction.

—The Denver Post

Sicilian man said to work for Mexican Mafia charged with racketeering in LA gang bust

LOS ANGELES — Salvatore Nania has not set foot in his hometown of San Pedro since 1995, when he was arrested at 17 for murder. But according to law enforcement authorities, being locked up hasn't stopped him from running drug and protection rackets in his old neighborhood.

Nania, 47, was accused Tuesday of leading the Rancho San Pedro gang from his cell in the California prison system. Authorities arrested 13 people on charges of selling drugs, possessing illegal weapons and collecting protection money in the harbor area.

While high-ranking federal and local officials proclaimed Tuesday's arrests as removing "the head of the hydra," a closer look at court and law enforcement records indicate that Nania is more of a mid-level manager than chief executive.

The son of Sicilian immigrants, Nania is alleged to be an associate of the Mexican Mafia, an organization of about 140 men who hold sway over Latino gang members behind prison walls and in the streets of Southern California.

—Los Angeles Times

French premier signals optimism on solving political crisis

PARIS – Outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu expressed optimism that an accord can be reached to allow the formation of a new government without fully endorsing a new proposal to rethink a controversial pension law as demanded by the Socialists.

“The good news is that with all the consultations I have had,” Lecornu told reporters Wednesday, “there is a desire to have a budget for France before Dec. 31.” He added that meetings with left-wing parties today would allow him “to see what concessions they want from other political groups in order to guarantee this stability.”

French bonds advanced as Lecornu spoke. The gains picked up through the day with the 10-year yield falling as much as seven basis points to 3.51%, the lowest in nearly three weeks, amid a broad rally in bond markets. The spread over German bunds narrowed to 84 basis points.

Separately, Elisabeth Borne, who pushed through a 2023 increase in the minimum retirement age as prime minister, said she was open to a suspension of that law if it meant bringing stability to the country.

—Bloomberg News