Oktoberfest Brings A Taste Of Germany

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER WASHINGTON (AP) — Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders forced an effort in the Senate on Wednesday to block the sale of some offensive weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza over mounting civilian deaths there. The Vermont lawmaker and a small group of Democrats put legislation up for a Senate vote that would block the transfer of some tank and mortar rounds, as well as kits that convert bombs into more precisely targeted weapons, to Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “has not simply waged war against against Hamas.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson declared Wednesday that lawmakers and staff will have to use the restroom corresponding with their biological sex, a statement directed at Sarah McBride, the first transgender person to be elected to Congress, months before she is set to arrive on Capitol Hill. “All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” the Louisiana Republican said.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida has agreed to pay $725,000 in legal fees and costs for businesses that successfully challenged part of a 2022 law that Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act.” A court filing Tuesday said the state and the plaintiffs reached a settlement Nov. 4 on attorney fees and other legal costs.

Federal investigators established a trail of payments from Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general, to women including some who testified that Gaetz hired them for sex, according to a document obtained by The New York Times and a lawyer representing some of the women. The document, assembled by investigators during a three-year sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz, is a chart that shows a web of thousands of dollars in Venmo payments between Gaetz and a group of his friends, associates and women who had drug-fueled sex parties between 2017 and 2020, according to testimony that participants are said to have given to federal and congressional investigators. At the parties, women, and a girl who was 17 at the time, were paid for sex, according to accounts of the participants’ testimony from people briefed on what they said. The document bolsters recent claims by a lawyer for two of the women who say they had sex with Gaetz for money.

MIAMI GARDENS — Much will be different in the Miami Dolphins’ second pairing with AFC East rival New England Patriots when they face each other for the second time in 2024. For one, Hard Rock Stadium won’t see the backup quarterback matchup of the Patriots’ Jacoby Brissett against the Dolphins’ Tyler “Snoop” Huntley, which culminated in an ugly 15-10 Miami win at Gillette Stadium. Tua Tagovailoa is back for the Dolphins (4-6), as they look to keep building toward a season turnaround and playoff push while the Patriots (3-8) have turned to the future in rookie No.

Aggressive efforts to depopulate state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will leave the company with “well under” 1 million policies by the end of 2024 — the first time in years that the policy count has declined. Fewer policies means less exposure and lower chances that nearly all of the state’s insurance customers will face assessments if a series of major hurricanes strike the state. Jeremy Pope, the company’s chief administrative officer, shared the projection with members of the company’s Market Accountability Advisory Committee on Wednesday. It would mark a steep reduction from the 1.24 million policies reported in September and the first time since 2021 that the company has finished a year with fewer than 1 million policies.