Sen. Elizabeth Warren on UnitedHealthcare CEO assassination: ‘People can only be pushed so far’

Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said “people can only be pushed so far” in an interview in which she condemned the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system,” Warren told the HuffPost in an interview.

“Violence is never the answer,” Warren said. “But people can only be pushed so far.” Warren had been asked about how many people had seemed to applaud Thompson’s broad-daylight execution in Manhattan a week ago due to his representation of a “vile” health insurance business practices.

Some observers did not appreciate Warren qualifying her condemnation of the murder with commentary on the insurance industry, which she has long lambasted and worked to regulate.

—Boston Herald

North Carolina elections board rejects GOP challenge of 60,000 ballots in state Supreme Court race

RALEIGH, N.C. — The State Board of Elections on Wednesday voted mostly along party lines to dismiss Republican Jefferson Griffin’s challenge of over 60,000 ballots cast in the North Carolina Supreme Court election.

Griffin, who trails his Democratic opponent, Allison Riggs, by over 700 votes, made a variety of legal arguments claiming that ineligible voters were allowed to participate in the election — potentially changing the outcome.

The board disagreed, rejecting all of Griffin’s protests. “The idea that someone could have been registered to vote, came to vote and then has their vote discarded is anathema to the democratic system and simply cannot be tolerated,” Board Chair Alan Hirsch, a Democrat, said.

The board’s Republicans voted against dismissing some of the protests, saying they would’ve preferred to proceed to a further hearing to gather more evidence.

—The Charlotte Observer

Monarch butterflies a big step closer to protection under Endangered Species Act

It’s a big day for insects. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that it is proposing the monarch butterfly for threatened species status under the Endangered Species Act, a big step forward in a process set in motion in 2014 with a petition from conservationists.

After a 90-day public comment period, the agency will make a final decision.

“Despite its fragility, (the monarch) is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in a written statement. “Science shows that the monarch needs that chance, and this proposed listing invites and builds on unprecedented public participation in shaping monarch conservation efforts.”

The eastern migratory population of monarchs, which flies through Illinois, is estimated to have declined by approximately 80% since the 1990s.

—Chicago Tribune

South Korea’s Yoon seeks to fight on as probes mount

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol looks determined to battle on rather than step down early even as probes deepen into his martial law declaration and more members of his party say they will back impeachment.

Yoon will likely fight any bid to impeach him and appears to have rejected the idea of quitting early in February or March, according to Kim Jong-hyuk, a senior ruling party member, speaking in an SBS radio show on Wednesday.

As the political turmoil triggered by Yoon continues to intensify, the opposition Democratic Party is preparing to file another impeachment motion in parliament that has an improved chance of passing in a vote likely to take place on Saturday.

Meanwhile, police looking to enter the presidential office as part of their investigation into Yoon have been in a standoff outside the office for hours.

—Bloomberg News