Free Republic

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Early vote counting in Australia’s general election Saturday suggested the government was likely to be returned for a second term. The Australian Electoral Commission’s early projections gave the ruling center-left Labor Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. Unaligned minor parties and independent candidates appeared likely to win 13 seats. Senior government minister Jim Chalmers said the early results pointed to volatility and different contests across the nation. Opposition Sen. James McGrath expected the result would...

Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo would prevail over socialist Zohran Mamdani in a ranked-choice voting Democratic primary for mayor, according to a new poll released Tuesday. Cuomo led Mamdani 34% to 16% when voters were asked about their first choice even as Mamdani chipped away at Cuomo’s dominance in early polling, the Siena College/AARP survey of 556 registered city Democrats found. Three other candidates in the crowded primary each got 6% support — city Comptroller Brad Lander, his predecessor Scott Stringer and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. State Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos received 4% apiece, according to the survey.

Appearing Monday on AM 1030 KVOI Radio, Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), predicted that the death toll from the Chinese coronavirus will be “much, much, much lower” than the models have projected due to Americans following social distancing recommendations.

Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, took a serious look at the IHME (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation) Coronavirus model and called it “garbage.” Davis makes his case through a series of tweets (below). Davis found that the actual numbers of hospitalizations on April 1 were a fraction of the numbers projected by the IHME model. The problem with the model, he discovered, is that it uses New York and New Jersey data and applies it to the rest of the states. The actual numbers range from a low of 9% in Tennessee of the projection to a high...

By the end of the century, the Twin Cities area could see eight times as many deaths annually due to extreme heat as it does now, according to a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The projected increase -- from about 14 per year to 121 by century's end -- would be among the steepest experienced by 40 major metro areas. The authors said that is partly because extremely oppressive heat waves would be more of a shock to northern residents' systems.