Obama to speak at Demo convention

President Barack Obama will speak Wednesday on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton Wednesday evening at the party’s convention in Philadelphia. His address comes after Clinton’s history-making victory in the Democratic nomination process, which made her the first woman ever to be nominated for president by a major political party in the United States. Her husband, Bill, made an appeal on her behalf Tuesday with personal tales of their marriage and her efforts on behalf of the disadvantaged, calling her “the best darn change-maker I ever knew.” Hillary Clinton will speak on Thursday, the final day of the convention. The campaign has taken another turn as well, as federal investigators linked the release of party e-mails that suggested a bias against rival candidate Bernie Sanders to hacking by the Russian government. Republican nominee Donald Trump then invited the Russians to find and publicize e-mails from Clinton’s private server she used during her tenure as secretary of state, a request that brought an angry response from Democrats.

WHO’S WINNING THE HORSE RACE?

Is Donald Trump holding on to his “bounce” from the Republican Convention? Is Hillary Clinton getting her own bump with the Democratic conclave half-over? It’s too early to tell, since few polls have covered both periods in question. Real Clear Politics’ average had Trump in the lead by 1.1 percent, a slight increase from Tuesday. But with one exception, none of the polls was taken later than Sunday. In terms of who is likely to win, the FiveThirtyEight website has three answers. If the election were held today, it opines, Trump would win with a 55.3 percent likelihood. But if you look at the overall polling average, Clinton had a 52.4 percent chance. And if you look at the site’s “Polls Plus” calculation, which figures in historical data, economic conditions and other influences, Clinton’s chances go up to 60 percent.

CHARGES DROPPED IN DEATH OF FREDDIE GRAY

Prosecuters in Baltimore decided Wednesday to drop all charges against six police officers in the death of a 25-year-old black man in their custody. The decision came after three officers were acquitted by a judge and a fourth proceeding resulted in a mistrial. Freddie Gray was arrested in April 2015, and placed handcuffed into the back of a police van. When he was taken out of the van he had to be hospitalized and died. Gray’s death led to protests, some of which turned violent, and helped inspire the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

CRACKDOWN CONTINUES IN TURKEY

In an aftermath of a failed coup in Turkey, the government had ordered the closing of dozen of news operations, including broadcast, internet and print outlets. About 90 journalists were ordered detained and thousands of other people – public employees, clerics and military – have been suspended from their jobs. Over 200 people were killed in the July 15 uprising. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was democratically elected but has since been criticized as governing as an autocrat.

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