A DOJ Suit Over Alaska's Senate Race, Six Flags Adds Seat Belts, and Paris Braces for Protests

MayaOkay, I'm on my second coffee, and it's still not enough for today's lineup.

DavidWhat are you drinking?

MayaSomething called a cinnamon dolce. Don't judge me.

DavidNo judgment, mostly.

MayaAnyway, I'm Maya, this is the Morning Rundown, and David's here to keep me honest.

DavidSomebody has to. Today's got three stories where an institution has to answer for something.

MayaFirst up, a federal lawsuit tied to Alaska's Senate race.

DavidThe one with the biggest political stakes. Then there's Six Flags and a seat belt decision after a death.

MayaHeavy one. And Paris is bracing for another weekend of protest marching.

DavidPolice and protesters both getting ready, and nobody knows yet how the day'll go.

MayaAll right, let's get into it. Alaska. Okay, so the timing alone is something. CNBC reports the Justice Department sued less than two weeks before the November third election.

DavidWait, less than two weeks? That's practically the final lap.

MayaRight? And the suit asks a court to bar certification of a win by Mary Peltola.

DavidHold on. Bar certification of a win that hasn't happened yet?

MayaYep. The idea is if she wins, the state can't make it official.

DavidSo certification is basically the formal last step, the stamp that says, "These are the official results."

MayaThat's how I understand it, and the suit is aimed at that step.

DavidHuh. So what's the argument? There has to be a hook.

MayaThe hook is voter confusion. There's a second candidate on the ballot named Daniel J. Sullivan, and the incumbent senator is also a Sullivan.

DavidAh, same last name, different guy.

MayaSo the theory goes like this: a voter sees Sullivan on the ballot and might not be sure which Sullivan they're picking.

DavidThat's the confusion argument in a nutshell. Whether a court buys it is a separate question.

MayaExactly. And the same CNBC piece says the state division of elections had earlier blocked him from the primary ballot.

DavidSo the state had already shut him out once at the primary stage.

MayaThat's what the piece says, and yet he's on the general election ballot, which is the whole basis for the confusion argument, as the suit tells it.

DavidAnd CNBC's piece also carries criticism of the suit from the DSCC.

MayaRight. So it isn't only lawyers pushing back, at least per CNBC.

DavidOkay, I'll say this. Ballot confusion is a fair thing to worry about. Election integrity isn't a dirty phrase, and a lot of folks on my side of the aisle care about it for good reason.

MayaTotally. Clean ballots, clear choices, nobody should object to that.

DavidI just add wanting clear ballots and asking a court to block a result are two very different asks.

MayaBig difference. One is housekeeping, the other is a court being told not to let a state certify.

DavidBut then you look at what the lawyers say.

MayaAnd that's where it falls apart. The Alaska Beacon reports legal experts quickly dismissed the federal argument.

DavidQuickly, like didn't even need a long weekend.

MayaAnd one expert told the Beacon they don't expect the case to move until after election day, if it moves at all.

DavidSo the suit asks for a remedy on a clock the court may never even touch.

MayaIf that's how it plays out. The case could still be sitting there after voters have voted.

DavidRight. The filing and the calendar don't line up very well, at least on that expert's read.

MayaWhich is odd because the Beacon also reports Trump said he ordered the lawsuit himself.

DavidWait, he said that publicly?

MayaThat's the reporting. Yes, he said he ordered it.

DavidOkay, so this isn't some quiet career staff filing. It's got a name on it.

MayaRight. And the Beacon notes that the second Sullivan isn't even named as a defendant.

DavidHmm. So the guy at the center of the confusion claim isn't in the case.

MayaHe's now listed as undeclared, per the same report. Weird, right?

DavidI mean, come on. If your whole theory is about him, you'd think he'd be in the room.

MayaNow, the campaigns have weighed in. The Anchorage Daily News reports a Peltola spokesperson called the suit a political machination by the incumbent.

DavidAnd the other side?

MayaSenator Sullivan's campaign representative told the paper assertions he was involved are, quote, "categorically false."

DavidSo one camp says he's behind it, another says flat no.

MayaAnd notice who's speaking. Those are campaign representatives, so you'd expect each side to say exactly that.

DavidRight, which is why I'd give more weight to what the legal experts say than to either spokesperson.

MayaAnd the paper doesn't resolve that. We shouldn't either.

DavidFair. What we can say is what's on the record: a suit filed late, an argument experts call weak, and a candidate who says he had no hand in it.

MayaMm, and maybe a judge never rules before voters do.

DavidWhich would be a strange outcome for a suit about confidence in the vote, since the fight could end without anyone ruling on the argument at all.

MayaStrange is the word. Okay, from a courtroom fight to something way more physical. Six Flags is changing its rides after a death.

DavidAnd that one has a lot of unanswered questions too.

MayaOkay, Six Flags. CNN reports the company will add seat belts to Goliath and to other coasters with similar restraints.

DavidAnd this comes after the October twelfth death of Hassan Kariem, he was forty-two, at Six Flags Over Georgia.

MayaMm. That's a heavy one.

DavidIt is. And the Wall Street Journal ran the seat belt news on October twenty-fourth, so this is very fresh.

MayaSo the headline is the company making a change, but I wanna be clear about what that change actually is.

DavidSeat belts added where they weren't there before, and CNN says it isn't only one ride, it's coasters with similar restraints.

MayaIs that CNN's phrase for which rides get the belts?

DavidIt is. CNN's headline also says Six Flags signals Goliath will reopen with seat belts. The word there is signals, so I'd keep it at that.

MayaWhat do we know about the ride itself? Because I'll admit, I don't ride coasters much anymore. Too many snacks, too little courage.

DavidFair. Diamondback has a waist restraint, no over-the-shoulder harness. That's the detail CNN highlights.

MayaHuh. So the thing holding you in is basically a lap-level bar, and that's it?

DavidRight. I'm gonna stay careful here, though. We can describe the restraint. We can't say that's what went wrong.

MayaTotally. Nobody said that

DavidAnd the ride stays closed pending safety reviews. Four minors were among those hurt, too.

MayaWait, really? Four kids?

DavidFour minors, yes. That's in the CNN report.

MayaOkay, that's a lot.

DavidYeah. We don't have more on the four than that, and we won't pretend to, just that they were among those hurt.

MayaNo, and that's the right call. Sometimes the plain number is enough.

DavidThen there's the investigation. Georgia's Fire and Safety Commissioner is looking into it, working with Cobb County Police.

MayaSo it's state and local both, not just the company grading its own homework.

DavidRight, and that matters because the company's move is quick, and the investigation is not.

MayaAnd I think that's why the tone matters on this one. Nobody here is trying to score points. They're trying to find out what happened.

DavidAgreed. Sober is the right setting, and it lets the facts do the work.

MayaWhich rides get the belts? Is it just Goliath?

DavidNo. Theme Park Tribune, a trade outlet, says the change would add belts to Goliath, Raging Bull, and Nitro.

MayaOkay, three coasters.

DavidAnd it says several similar rides already have them. Diamondback and Orion are two examples.

MayaSo it's not like belts are some exotic idea at this company.

DavidRight. Some of the same kind of ride already run with them. The trade outlet also says Goliath and eight similar rides stay closed for now. Its headline refers to B&M coasters.

MayaEight others. That's not a small shutdown.

DavidNo. For anyone planning a trip, that's nine rides closed for now, going by that outlet. And here's what I keep circling back to. The CEO's message gave no update on what caused the ejection.

MayaHmm. So they've announced a fix without saying what the problem was.

DavidWell, careful. It's a response. It's not a finding. Adding belts tells us the company wants to reassure riders and maybe wants the rides open again.

MayaRight. It doesn't tell us why a man fell.

DavidExactly. That answer belongs to the investigators, and so far there isn't one.

MayaSo for a rider, the picture is three named coasters getting belts, others already belted, and the rest of that family closed for now, whatever the investigators end up finding.

DavidThat's the map as the trade outlet lays it out.

MayaOkay. Let's leave the park and cross the Atlantic. Last stop is Paris, and from what I'm seeing, the preparation for this weekend's march is already visible.

DavidBarriers and police first, I'd bet. Let's see what's out there.

MayaOkay, so Paris then. The Associated Press reported that the city braced for a fresh march on Saturday by students and workers angry about school funding and soaring living costs.

DavidRight, so nobody's treating this like a casual stroll.

MayaYeah, you can tell. The AP headline says France deployed thousands of police, and the march was restricted to the city's edge.

DavidThe edge, not the middle of town.

MayaUh, not the Champs-Élysées photo op. No, out on the fringe.

DavidI mean, come on, you can see the logic. If you were a shop owner who swept up glass last weekend, you'd want the crowd as far from your window as possible.

MayaTotally, and that's the part that gets lost. The folks who pay when it goes sideways aren't the ones with the megaphones. It's the guy who owns the bakery.

DavidOr the person whose car was parked on the wrong street.

MayaUgh, burned. Just gone.

DavidAnd restricting the route cuts both ways. Residents and shop owners get some breathing room, but marchers get pushed away from where more people would see them.

MayaTrue, and that second part is a fair complaint, though the reports only tell us where the march is routed, not how anyone feels about it.

DavidOkay, but let me add the other half. The grievances here aren't made up. School funding, the cost of living. Anybody who's bought groceries lately knows what that's about.

MayaDon't I know it. Four dollars for an egg carton? Don't get me started.

DavidThat's not even France. That's my Tuesday.

MayaFair. So you can say the complaints are legitimate and still say, "Please, don't torch a Renault."

DavidExactly. Both can be true.

MayaAnd that's the line worth holding. Back the cause, protect the street.

DavidRight. They only look like opposites when the cameras show up.

MayaAnd that's why the unrest from a week ago matters. Looted shops and burned cars are the reason everyone is watching how this Saturday goes.

DavidRight. One week, same city, and this time there are thousands of police in the picture, per the AP headline.

MayaNow, here's a detail I did not see coming. ESPN reported the NFL closed its NFL House in Paris on Saturday.

DavidWait, really? The NFL?

MayaYep. ESPN's Todd Archer wrote that the city braced for street protests with a heavy police presence and storefronts boarded up.

DavidBoarded up. That's a visual.

MayaRight? You've got a league throwing a party for fans, and the party shuts its doors because of what's happening outside.

DavidWhich says something. When a giant sports brand decides the safest move is to close up, that's a risk call. Business people don't do that for fun.

MayaAnd it's a lot of lost business for the neighborhood too, I'd guess.

DavidProbably, though I'd be careful. The reports don't say that. All they describe is the preparation.

MayaGood catch. We don't know how the march will go. Peaceful, messy, somewhere in between. The sources just don't say.

DavidAnd that's the rule for us. Preparations are reported. Outcomes aren't. So we leave the outcome alone until someone reports it.

MayaRight. Shops boarded up tells you what people feared, not what happens.

DavidSo the honest version is Paris got ready. Police out in force, wood on the windows, a march kept to the outskirts.

MayaAnd we'll find out how the march goes once the reporting catches up.

DavidMm-hmm. Hope it's quiet, for the bakery guy if nobody else.

MayaPoor bakery guy. He's carrying this whole segment.

DavidHe earned it.

MayaSeriously, though, if you're in Paris today, I hope the day is boring. Boring is underrated.

DavidBoring is a gift. Nobody ever wrote a headline about the quiet march. We'll keep watching Paris and pick it up when there's something to report.

MayaOkay, so three stories, three institutions on the hook, and honestly, not one clean ending in the bunch.

DavidRight? Alaska first, the suit is still just a filing, and what happens in court is open.

MayaWhich is fine. Not every story gets a neat bow by breakfast.

DavidRight? Some of them just need more time and more reporting.

MayaAnd Goliath. Belts are coming, but the cause of the death hasn't been determined, and that's still with the investigators.

DavidHmm. And Paris, where the march is today, and we don't know yet how it will go.

MayaRight. Marchers, shopkeepers, and police all waiting to see how it plays out.

DavidWe'll pick up what gets reported as it comes in.

MayaThanks for hanging out with us this morning, everybody. Go get a second breakfast. And that's The Rundown.