Midwest
Soros-linked dark money group props up Nebraska independent candidate in key Senate race
A Nebraska Senate race has emerged as one to watch with only weeks until the election, as an independent candidate with controversial backing vies to unseat Sen. Debbie Fischer, R-Neb.
Dan Osborn, a mechanic and union leader, is running as an independent against Fischer, and has prompted two prominent political handicappers to change their ratings of the race, indicating heightened competition.
Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics recently shifted the race from “Solid” or “Safe” Republican to “Likely Republican.” The race is now alongside that of Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in each rating system. Sabato’s Crystal Ball also ranks the Nebraska Senate race in the same category as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, but Cook has moved the Texas match-up to a more competitive placement.
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Outside groups spending heavily in Dan Osborn’s, right, favor are drawing much of their funding from a George Soros-linked dark money group and another Democratic megadonor. (Reuters/AP)
Osborn is being backed by two outside PACs called Retire Career Politicians and the Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety. The former has spent $3,004,274 on behalf of Osborn and the latter has doled out more than $400,000 in support of his candidacy so far, as well as over $20,000 explicitly against Fischer, according to OpenSecrets.
Both PACs have recently come under scrutiny for their controversial monetary backers. Democrat megadonor and Vice President Kamala Harris supporter Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn, gave $50,000 to Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety last year.
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Sens. Jack Reed, R.I., and Debbie Fischer, R-Neb. (Reuters)
Retire Career Politicians received $800,000 from the controversial dark money group the Sixteen Thirty Fund in a matter of months. The group is operated by left-wing Washington, D.C., political consulting firm, Arabella Advisers.
While the Sixteen Thirty Fund does not reveal its donors’ identities, billionaire George Soros’ group, the Open Society Foundations, has granted the fund more than $75 million between 2016 and 2022, according to Open Society Foundations’ website.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund also gave $50,000 to the Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety.
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Democrat donor George Soros has long used his organization to grant money to groups that back Democratic causes and candidates. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Mike Helmink, the co-founder and treasurer of Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety told Fox News Digital they “reached out to everybody, anybody and everybody to come in on railroad safety issues and independent politics. And what we found is a lot of people on the progressive side and the Democrat side want to participate. And what we’ve found is the Republicans have really circled the wagons around Deb and all of the money and all the commits have gone to Deb.”
He pointed out that without a Democrat candidate in the race, “a lot of consultants and firms don’t have commits if they’re more of a Democrat leaning firm.”
“We really tried to get everybody and get a cross section and really build an organization going forward. You know, we would like to build this for the future, not just a one time and we’re done. You know, we would like to get this and be successful and get a win, get Dan elected and then continue moving forward on the independents and also on railroad safety,” he explained.
Fischer told Fox News Digital, “I think Nebraskans are going to be really, really interested in learning more about the dark money that is spending millions of dollars his way.”
“Democrat dark money groups are spending millions of dollars backing Bernie Sanders acolyte Dan Osborn because he is a true radical. Osborn supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, has called for illegal immigrants to fill open jobs in Nebraska instead of Americans, and even wants to give Social Security benefits to illegals. Those aren’t Nebraska values,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Communications Director Mike Berg said in a statement.
One of Osborn’s ads notably takes shots at Fischer for donations to her campaign from lobbyists and special interest groups, comparing her to a race car driver with patches on her jacket. “The only thing on the back of my jacket is Nebraska,” he said in the spot.
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The independent candidate has made his non-affiliation with a political party central to his campaign. However, this has been dashed by reporting from two outlets suggesting that Osborn was once a Democrat and that he did not consider himself an independent until 2016.
“I became an independent in 2016, really, after the Trump-Hillary debates. I just kind of became disenfranchised with the two parties, and it all seemed a little fake to me,” he previously told Semafor.
But his campaign has disputed this and claimed that he was misquoted. Osborn told a local outlet, “We were talking about how traditionally people in labor are Democrats.”
Retire Career Politicians and Osborn’s campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.
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Tigers call up Ben Malgeri from Triple-A Toledo; Trei Cruz sent down
Ben Malgeri called up from Triple-A Toledo; Trei Cruz optioned, Burch Smith to 60-day IL. Malgeri: 9 HR, .322 vs LHP.
NEW YORK – The Detroit Tigers showed no fear or intimidation facing Cam Schlittler, the New York Yankees superstar who entered Tuesday, June 30, as the favorite to win the American League Cy Young award.
The Tigers weren’t timid, either. They were aggressive and decisive, launching four homers off Schlittler in a 9-3 victory at Yankee Stadium.
It was stunning, to say the least.
Meanwhile, lefty Tarik Skubal was his usual outstanding self for the Tigers (37-49). Skubal picked up the win, allowing one earned run off two hits while racking up nine strikeouts.
The Tigers danced off with their second straight win at Yankee Stadium. Meanwhile, the Yankees (48-37) drew plenty of boos after losing their sixth straight. The Tigers will go for the three-game sweep on Wednesday (1:35 p.m., Detroit SportsNet).
At the plate: Tigers use long ball to crush Yankees
Schlittler has had a historic start to the season for the Yankees. He came into the game with a 1.62 ERA, the second lowest ERA by a Yankees pitcher through his first 17 starts of a season since it became an official stat in 1913.
“He’s the best pitcher in the American League right now,” Skubal said before the game.
Which was obviously no small statement coming from Skubal.
But the Tigers played with no fear. Catcher Dillon Dingler started it off by hitting a ball 337 feet. Yes, it was caught. But it was a sign of things to come.
The next Tigers hitter, Kerry Carpenter, smashed a ball to deep center. Spencer Jones, the Yankees outfielder, went above the wall and it looked, for a split second, like he robbed the homer. But the ball hit the palm of his glove and it popped out, squirting over the fence for a 410-foot round-tripper.
It was a massive moment, considering a catch would have ended the inning.
But that left a door open for the Tigers to start jacking more homers through.
Riley Greene, the next batter, smashed a homer to right, a 424-foot blast that landed in the second deck.
That was also an important moment, considering Schlittler had only given up two homers all season to lefties – the Tigers had equaled it in back-to-back plate appearances.
In the first inning, no less.
Colt Keith continued the onslaught, pounding a single up the middle.
Then Spencer Torkelson got into the act, launching a homer to left on the 10th pitch of the at bat. It was a no-doubter that went 405 feet.
To recap: Facing the best pitcher in the American League, at least to this point in the season, the Tigers crushed three 400-foot homers in one inning.
Another fun Schlittler fact: He had allowed one run or fewer in 13 of his starts this season, leading MLB.
Then, Greene did it again. He hit his second homer of the game in the third. Yes, maybe he should get more days off, like he did on Monday.
Schlittler gave up six runs in four innings, his worst start of the season.
Tigers outfielder James Outman turned it into a rout with a three-run homer in the sixth.
On the mound: Tarik Skubal was dealing
The Tigers had a 4-0 lead before Skubal even took the mound.
He did allow a homer to Ben Rice, which was not exactly a stunner. The Yankees slugger crushed his 23rd homer of the season, cutting the Tigers lead to 4-1.
But after that point, Skubal just rolled and the Yankees never really had a chance to get back into this game.
He gave up one earned run in six innings of work, recording nine strikeouts with no walks.
The Tigers took a 9-2 lead into the ninth. Tyler Holton came in to pitch the ninth and he gave up a run.
Next up: Tigers try for the sweep
The Tigers will finish their three-game series in Yankee Stadium, a day start that will feature right-hander Troy Melton (4-1, 2.39 ERA) against right-hander Will Warren (7-3, 3.75).
Melton will try to keep up the Tigers’ outstanding starting pitching.
In the first game, on Monday, Tigers righty Casey Mize became the first pitcher in the Tigers’ 126 seasons to throw seven or more innings, allow one hit or less, no runs, no walks and strike out 10 or more in an outing. The 10 punchouts matched his career high.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff.
Garrett Stallings finally makes it to the majors with the Brewers
Garrett Stallings has thrown nearly 600 innings in the minor leagues including the past three at Class AAA Nashville. Now, he’s in the Brewers bullpen.
Garrett Stallings was in position to hit a pretty big milestone with Class AAA Nashville.
“Someone told me this week I would have hit my 600th minor-league inning, which is kind of crazy for someone who hadn’t made it to The Show yet,” Stallings said on Tuesday – but from the Milwaukee Brewers dugout at American Family Field after the right-hander had been selected to the 26-man roster.
“But the whole time I’ve kind of put my head down and continued to go at it, and the work’s really paid off.”
Stallings, 28, was in the midst of his best minor-league season to date with the Sounds, posting a 3-3 record and 3.45 ERA in 16 appearances (12 starts) and 59 strikeouts in 62 ⅔ innings. His last six outings have been starts, but with the Brewers he’ll join a bullpen group that’s been ridden hard in recent weeks.
“Really, just learned how to be a reliever really quickly,” said Stallings when asked how things changed for him with Milwaukee. Originally a fifth-round pick of the Angels out of the University of Tennessee in 2019, he was traded the following year to the Orioles and then to the Brewers in 2024 in exchange for right-hander Thyago Vieira and minor-leaguer Aneuris Rodriguez.
Stallings re-signed with the Brewers as a minor-league free agent in the offseason after pitching in a career-high 30 games in 2025
“I’d been a starter my whole career, and just continued to be adaptable,” he continued. “In order to get your name called you can’t just tailor to one thing. That’s really helped broaden my horizons in the game, and as many different situations you can be in, it’s helped me just adapt to the game and keep my head up and be the best version of myself.”
Stallings lacks the electric fastball and truly nasty stuff that defines so many pitchers these days, instead relying upon moxie and a willingness to try new things.
“I’ve always been a throw-every-type-of-pitch (guy),” he said. “I’ll tinker this side of the rubber or this side and I’m always one that will always at least try new things to see if I can get that edge. I think if anything, the experience of throwing 600 minor-league innings you learn a lot along the way. And it comes with failure, too.
“It hasn’t always been the easiest path. But this year I feel like I’ve just been able to keep getting a little bit better.”
Stallings joked that he’s felt at times like he’s been the best player in the minor leagues and at other times the worst, with the cumulative experiences helping shape him into a reliever being asked to contribute outs whenever he receives the opportunity.
“I talked to him today,” said manager Pat Murphy. “That’s the best part. You get to sit here and let those guys come in, knowing how he grinded and stuck with it and hung with it and probably didn’t believe for a while that he would (make it).
“Then, to finally believe and get that phone call, I immediately think about his mom and dad, He’s got a fiancee, his brother and sister are coming. That’s really cool, and even cooler when he gets up (to pitch).”
Stallings, a native of Chesapeake, Va., could receive that chance as soon as tonight as the Brewers try for their fifth win in as many games against the Cincinnati Reds this season.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Stallings becomes the 45th player to appear on Milwaukee’s active roster this season and seeks to become the sixth to make his major league debut.
To clear space on the 26-man roster, left-hander Robert Gasser was optioned to the rookie Arizona Complex League Brewers, a procedural move that will allow him to be available July 7 when Milwaukee will need extra starting pitching for its doubleheader against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
Minneapolis, MN
North Minneapolis Heritage Park tenants swelter as $500K grant sits locked for furnaces
Apartment complex A/C problem
Scorching heat is making life miserable for some at Heritage Park apartments in north Minneapolis. FOX 9’s Mike Manzoni explains the situation.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Tenants at a north Minneapolis apartment complex are struggling to stay cool as broken air conditioning and other problems remain unresolved during another day of high temperatures.
Tenants at Heritage Park turn to fans as heat rises
What we know:
Several tenants at Heritage Park are relying on fans to keep cool, but temperatures inside the apartments are still reaching the 80s.
“How I’m trying to keep cool is with this fan. I have another fan in that room,” Eddie Robinson, a tenant, told FOX 9 on Monday. “It’s an oven.”
Beyond the lack of air conditioning, tenants are facing other challenges inside and outside the building.
Some apartments have mold and dirty floors, while the exterior shows broken staircases and boarded-up windows.
Repairs and funding struggles at Heritage Park
The backstory:
The court-appointed receiver, Minnetonka-based Certus Financial, said it is waiting for a $5.1 million grant to help with repairs. There is $500,000 in city grant money available, but it can only be used for furnaces, which does not help tenants during the summer heat.
The property receives $85,000 each month from the federal government to help maintain the 200 public housing apartments.
Despite this, the complex is still losing $250,000 every month, according to the firm’s manager, Will Haase.
The property has 440 units, with nearly half set aside for public housing. More than half of the units are vacant, worsening the property’s financial situation.
Haase said his firm is working on patching 30 roofs to address leaks and has already replaced 168 furnaces. While there are still a couple of hundred open work orders, that number is down from more than 2,000 when the receivership began six months ago.
When asked if razing the complex could be an option, he said that is “never not in play.”
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