Democrats have decided once again to pour money into Alison Lundergan Grimes' Senate campaign, though the candidate has yet to say whether she supports money. Alaska's gubernatorial race is being upended by scandal, but you probably didn't know that because it doesn't involve a member of the Palin family throwing down after downing too much Labatt Blue. And Saudi Arabia's top Muslim cleric said "Twitter is the source of all evil and devastation." +1, man. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, October 22, 2014:
SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDAL ROCKING ALASKA GUBERNATORIAL RACE - It's been a few election cycles since Alaska has had to deal with a state lawmaker linked to underage drinking and sexual assault. Dana Liebelson: "The Alaska National Guard is facing down some grave allegations: A recruiter trying to give alcohol to high school girls, botched responses to sexual assault complaints, embezzlement, a former porn company owner keeping his job despite military investigators finding that he failed to respond to sexual assault, and whistleblowers terrified to speak out. The alleged misconduct, detailed in an assessment by the National Guard Bureau’s Office of Complex Investigations and in investigations by local news outlets, is threatening the reelection bid of incumbent Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R). The governor, who is commander in chief of the Guard, fired three top officials from the military unit this week. His office has said that he took action each time he was made aware of misconduct, and that he was ultimately misled by his top general. But Parnell's critics -- including whistleblowers and victims -- claim that his office failed to do enough to respond to allegations of abuse over several years. Local news outlets are now suing the governor's office to get access to internal emails that may show how much Parnell knew about the allegations, and what he did in response." [HuffPost]
Roll Call's annual list of the richest members of Congress is out. Now go look at your bank statement and weep.
CDC TO MONITOR TRAVELERS FROM EBOLA-STRICKEN COUNTRIES - Sam Stein: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Wednesday that it will implement a tougher, new 21-day monitoring period for travelers coming to America from the three West African states plagued by the Ebola epidemic. The new system will be implemented starting Oct. 27, and will take place in six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Georgia. CDC Director Tom Frieden said the plan is to expand the reach of the monitoring program to other states, and noted that the initial phase still will cover 70 percent of incoming travelers. Under the monitoring program, the CDC and state health officials will be in daily contact with anyone entering the country from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, from their arrival in the country until the incubation period ends. Upon entering the country, travelers will be asked to turn over email addresses and telephone numbers (two of each) where they can be reached, as well as a home address, and the name, address and phone number of a friend or family member." [HuffPost]
EBOLA FREAKOUT EERILY FAMILIAR - Someone Facetime Bill Frist to all of our border checkpoints so he can diagnose everyone on spec. Amanda Terkel: "[F]or two decades, the United States did try to stop the spread of a deadly disease by banning everyone afflicted from entering the country. Those efforts failed, leading to discrimination, panic, a deterioration in the country's reputation, researchers barred from entering the U.S. to help find a cure, and individuals separated from friends and family for years. More than 600,000 people with an AIDS diagnosis in the United States died despite the ban...The HIV/AIDS ban went into effect in 1987, thanks to President Ronald Reagan. It was strengthened through legislation in 1993 by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who wanted a "quarantine of those infected" with the virus. Foreigners already living in the United States who were infected with HIV also had to leave the country. Even at the time, public health experts were saying a ban was a bad idea." [HuffPost]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
DEMOCRATS REVERSE ON KY SEN - Igor Bobic: "Emboldened by new polling showing a tight race for Senate in Kentucky, Democrats are recommitting funds to boost Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is mounting a long-shot bid to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R). The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will go back on the air in the Bluegrass State with $650,000 in television ad money, a DSCC official confirmed to The Huffington Post on Wednesday. The party organization, which works to elect Democrats to the Senate, went dark in the race last week. The official explained the change in tactics due to the fact that undecided voters are breaking toward Grimes." [HuffPost]
Things are getting snippy in Kansas. From HuffPost Hill's dispatch from there: "Brownback, for his part, is putting up a fight for his party's centrist wing, resulting in something of a moderate arms race. After [a Republicans for Davis] event, the Brownback campaign blasted out a scathing statement from its own allied group of aisle-crossers, Democrats for Brownback, which contended that Republicans for Kansas Values represents 'less than one-tenth of one percent of all registered Republicans in Kansas.' During a Topeka campaign stop, The Huffington Post asked Davis about Democrats for Brownback. He scoffed, 'What? Are there two of them?'" [HuffPost]
HISPANICS VERY PRO-CHOICE: POLL - But... but... George P. Bush! Laura Bassett: "Despite the pervasive stereotype that most Latinos oppose abortion rights for religious reasons, new polling in Texas shows that Latino voters in the state overwhelming support a woman's right to have an abortion without interference from politicians. But the terms 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life' aren't resonating with them at all...The poll found that Latino voters in Texas hold very similar views to Latino voters nationwide on abortion rights and the health insurance coverage of abortion and birth control. Exit polls in the 2012 elections showed that 66 percent of Latino voters believedabortion should be legal, while only 28 percent disagreed. In Texas, 6 out of 10 Latino voters said even if a church leader says abortion is wrong, it should be legal, and 78 percent said they agree that women should be able to make their own decisions about abortion." [HuffPost]
What ever happened to the track team looking tough by not smiling? "Students at a high school in Nebraska will now be allowed to pose with guns in their senior portraits. The Broken Bow School Board made the decision to allow the guns in school photos this week after a student asked last year to be photographed with his gun, Broken Bow Public Schools Superintendent Mark Sievering told The Huffington Post. That student asked after the deadline last year, but his request prompted the board to review their practices around guns in pictures and vote on whether they should allow them." [HuffPost's Rebecca Klein]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a dog enjoying the grass.
POLITICO POLITICOS - Jason Linkins: "Today's Politico Magazine offers up some seriously dope sponsored content for your weary body, in the form of an article called 'No, BP Didn't Ruin The Gulf.' The piece goes on to insist, at length, that four years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, things down around the Gulf Coast are hunky-dory, nothing to worry about, nothing to see here. The punch line is that this piece was penned by Geoff Morrell, BP's "senior vice president of U.S. communications and external affairs," which is a fancy title that means "head of PR shenanigans for BP." What to call this genre of editorial?" [Politico]
COMFORT FOOD
- King Tut was not a looker, according to science.
- Previously unreleased version of "Stairway to Heaven"
- Some ingenious weirdo made "Friends" on The Sims 4.
- Cats really like circles
TWITTERAMA
@BenDWalsh: *This post is the first in a series called “No, we didn’t ruin that thing, written by the company that ruined that thing”*
@daveweigel: Ben Bradlee, RIP. RT @postpolitics: How do you feel about the upcoming election? Snapchat us at postpolitics and tell us!
@AshleyRParker: Truth—> RT @BBCNewsbeat: "Twitter is the source of all evil and devastation," says Saudi Arabia's top Muslim cleric http://bbc.in/1yYDn23
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e