Government responds to rail investment report by rejecting industry ‘boom and bust’ testimony - UK Parliament

At the time, Birchmore was a 15-year-old high school sophomore in the Stoughton police Explorers program. Farwell was a 27-year-old Stoughton police officer and Explorers program instructor. Other witnesses who may testify Monday are Lisa Rocchio, a clinical and forensic psychologist who plans to discuss grooming, the process by which perpetrators of sexual abuse gain the trust of victims and manipulate them in order to carry out exploitation. In many of the texts messages shared with the jury, Birchmore reflected warmly on what the prosecution describes as Farwell’s criminal sexual assaults on her when she was too young to consent to sex. Former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell Uncredited/Stoughton Police Department viaProsecutors have said they are calling Rocchio to educate the jury about how perpetrators use grooming to form bonds with minor victims, who as a result of their attachment, may keep the abuse secret and appear to maintain contact with their abusers when they reach adulthood. Prosecutors also plan to call a childhood friend who participated in the Stoughton police Explorers program with Birchmore.

As ranking member of the US Senate Environmental and Public Works committee, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse convened a “spotlight” hearing Tuesday, September 29, also attended by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Jeff Merkley, to highlight the consequences of industry and Trump administration attacks on climate science. Senator Whitehouse invited me to testify at the hearing, on the topic of these attacks on science, the industries benefiting from these attacks, and the harm they’ve caused that affect the health and safety of everyone in the US. My full written testimony is here, and the oral testimony I delivered yesterday is below. You can also watch the full hearing. The Supreme Court will be considering the question of fossil fuel industry accountability for climate deception and its resulting harms on Monday, October 5, in oral arguments for the case Suncor v Boulder. I’ll be speaking at the People vs Big Oil rally outside the Supreme Court that morning in support of justice for the people of Boulder, Colorado, and all of us whose health, safety, and livable environment are at risk because of the decades of deception perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry.

Think carefully about your Social Security, Medicare, credit cards and bank accounts before picking your new home overseas.

Protect Progress, an affiliate of the cryptocurrency-aligned Fairshake super political action committee (PAC), reported spending $362,000 on ads to support a Democrat in California’s 14th congressional district, just weeks after she won a special election against the same opponent. According to a Sunday filing with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC), Protect Progress reported spending $362,000 on media supporting incumbent Democrat Aisha Wahab in the Bay Area district against her fellow party member, Melissa Hernandez. Wahab defeated Hernandez in an Aug. 18 special election with more than 53% of the vote, raising questions about why the cryptocurrency industry-aligned PAC is supporting her in the 2026 midterms. Notably, both Wahab and Hernandez were ranked as “strongly supports crypto” after they went on the record with the digital asset organization Stand With Crypto to complete questionnaires ahead of the August special election. That election was used to determine who would replace Democrat Eric Swalwell for the remainder of his term, ending January 2027. Swalwell resigned in April amid sexual assault allegations.

Skip to main contentCrypto NewsOct 19, 2026, 4:21 p.m. EDT2 min readTether CEO Paolo Ardoino suggests Senator Richard Blumenthal was fair in his probe of Iran transactions. (Helene Braun/CoinDesk)SummaryTether CEO Paulo Ardoino posted on X that his company is often way ahead of government sanctions when it freezes suspicious transactions — a point he contends a recent report from Senate Democrats ignored. He said he's confident Tether is "doing the right thing. "Tether is answering back against a report issued last month by Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that had accused the stablecoin firm of providing "a significant financial lifeline within Iran's shadow banking network," with Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino saying Monday that the probe missed the positive work it's doing to observe sanctions. Senator Richard Blumenthal, the subcommittee's top Democrat, led the effort, which further highlighted Democratic lawmakers' concerns that crypto is used to support illicit finance. But Ardoino contends that Tether freezes suspicious transactions well before entities such as the U. S.