Graham Platner officially withdraws candidacy for US Senate in Maine

Paperwork ends Democratic campaign laden with scandals, including most recently accusations of sexual assault

Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, officially withdrew his candidacy on Friday afternoon, ending a campaign laden with scandals.

Maine’s secretary of state confirmed Platner had filed the paperwork to remove his name from the November ballot, two days after Platner publicly said he planned to exit the race.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/10/graham-platner-maine-senate-officially-withdraws

Arrest Made in Connection to Former U.K. Politician’s Murder #wanitaxigo

John Fetterman joins forces with Republican counterpart in Senate for fundraising committee

Venture between two Pennsylvania senators stokes speculation about Fetterman’s future in Democratic party

The Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman’s increasingly rightward lurch.

Pennsylvania’s two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/10/john-fetterman-dave-mccormick-fundraising-committee

How an app in South Korea will let victims track their stalkers

Officials say the app will help stalking victims, but some experts question the impact it might have.

Iranian port cities and a railway were struck overnight. #wanitaxigo

Risks of historic El Niño persisting through spring 2027 rising, says NWS

National Weather Service says record-breaking event with power to supercharge weather becoming more likely

El Niño is strengthening and the risks of a historic event with the power to supercharge extreme weather around the world are rising, according to the latest analysis from the US National Weather Service.

Models show there is now an 81% chance that a very strong El Niño “that would rank among the largest El Niño events in the historical record going back to 1950” will develop before the end of this year, forecasters said in an advisory released Thursday. There is almost near certainty – a 97% probability – that the conditions will persist through spring 2027.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/el-nino-risks-extreme-weather

Louise Lasser, star of cult sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Woody Allen comedies, dies aged 87

The 1970s soap parody made a household name of Lasser, who was also known for her collaborations with ex-husband Allen and later films including Requiem for a Dream

Louise Lasser, star of cult 70s sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and early films by Woody Allen (to whom she was married for four years), has died aged 87. The New York Times reported she died “at home in Manhattan”.

Lasser’s role as a satirically conceived housewife in suburban Ohio in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, designed as a parody of daytime soap operas, made her a national star, landing her on the cover of People magazine and Rolling Stone. The series lasted a year and a half, between January 1976 and July 1977, but due to its five-days-a-week schedule squeezed more than 300 episodes out of its two season run. Lasser’s Hartman, with her signature pigtails, was preoccupied with domestic minutiae but found herself in unsettling and disturbing situations, including bizarre deaths. The show was intended to explore the changes sweeping ordinary life in the US in the 1970s.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/08/louise-lasser-dies-aged-87-mary-hartman-woody-allen