Comment on Mike's Blog Roundup

In recent days, a number of news sites that rely heavily on aggregation have posted stories about Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, reporting “allegations” that he sexually assaulted a minor while working as a teacher and football coach. The clearly false claims stem from the prolific work of one man, a Twitter conspiracy peddler who goes by Black Insurrectionist.

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president this summer, national attention on the issue of fracking in Pennsylvania—and what it means for the outcome of the election in this key swing state—has reached new highs.

By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times Though sparse on details, the broad outlines of what Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump want to do on taxes are clear — and they are very different. Trump’s tax proposals are tilted to benefit wealthy Americans and large corporations. Under Harris, the bulk of personal gains would come to those with lower and lower-middle incomes, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model. “Harris has a more ‘coherent’ plan because she’s essentially got [President] Biden’s budget proposals, which are fairly scored, scrubbed and all that stuff,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the conservative-leaning American Action Forum and former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

By Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times Harris is calling for a rapid increase in home construction, $25,000 in down-payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and restrictions on corporate landlords. Trump is relying on elements of his immigration and economic agenda to affect the housing market. With would-be first-time homebuyers struggling to afford a mortgage and tens of millions of tenants across the country facing high rents, housing affordability is becoming prominent in a U.

By Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times Medicare. Drug costs. The fate of the Affordable Care Act. Health care — and who would handle it best — has continued to be contested turf in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Polls show that Americans have ranked health care costs high on the agenda for national leaders. It’s little surprise, then, that both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump have pledged to bring down the cost of prescription drugs and protect Medicare. But in a campaign season that has been light on detailed proposals on health policy — which has often taken a back seat to other issues — “you have to look more at their records,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, an independent health policy research and news organization. “And if you look at their records, Harris and Trump are polar opposites,” starkly split on the role that government should play in health care and the trade-offs surrounding its spending, he said.

By Noah Bierman, Los Angeles Times Trump has called for rapid and historic deportations of millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally. Harris once supported decriminalizing illegal border crossings, but has shifted her stance significantly. Former President Donald Trump calls migrants invaders and criminals who are stealing jobs, “poisoning the blood of our country” and eating people’s pets, among other unfounded and inflammatory claims.