News Roundup 11/08/17

By Sydney Vargas

1. Danica Roem Wins Virginia:

Danica Roem is a Democrat who will be one of the nation’s first openly transgender elected officials. It was the most prominent of several elections across the country in which transgender individuals won seats on city councils and a school board. Roem out raised Republican Robert G. Marshall three-to-one with nearly $500,000 in donations, much of it coming from LGBT advocates and other supporters across the country.

Roem led by nearly nine percentage points with all precincts reporting, according to preliminary, unofficial results. Roem will be the first openly transgender candidate to both be elected and serve in a state legislative body. 

Roem states, "My gender is obviously the news story here, but it wasn't my chief qualification for office."

Source: Washington Post

2. Senate Democrats Introduce Bill:

Senator Dianne Feinstein, along with a group of Democrats, introduced legislation on Wednesday that would ban assault weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines and bump stocks. The bill attempts by name more than 2,200 guns for hunting, household defense or recreational purposes.

The bill also exempts all weapons lawfully possessed at the date of enactment. Some other provisions would require background checks on further sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill, as well as require that grandfathered assault weapons are stored using a secure gun storage or safety device.

Source: The Hill

3. Stolen Vehicle Car Chase:

A high-speed car chase through the Antelope Valley. Authorities were in pursuit in suspicion of burglary and carjacking in North Hollywood according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Previous to getting off at Palmdale, he crashed into a vehicle damaging the car, just before surrendering the man opened his door and threw out a little dog who also fled from the police. The man then parked and ran out of the car but tripped, resulting in his arrest.

Source: NBC News

4. Sexual Harassment Claims against Jeffrey Tambor:

The Transparent star has been accused of sexual harassment by his former assistant Van Barnes. After hearing the claims, Tambor called the allegation baseless. Throughout the investigation Jeffery Tambour continues to refute all allegations that he behaved inappropriately towards Barnes in any way. Amazon is in the process of speaking to members of “Transparent” production and Tambor personally, per the studio's policy.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

5. Plane’s Emergency Landing:

A Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Bali made an unscheduled pit stop in India. The plane made its stop in India after a woman secretly unlocked her sleeping husband’s phone. While scrolling through the phone she discovered that her husband had been cheating on her. The woman reportedly started assaulting her husband, forcing pilots to land the plane prematurely. The couple and their son, were sent to Kuala Lumpur by Batik Air flight 6019 for further travel to Doha.

Qatar Airways told the Times of India “In respect of passenger privacy we do not comment on individual cases.”

Source: New York Post