In Other News: Fox, Newsmax shoot down their own aired claims on election; New this week: ‘Soul,’ a Tom Hanks film and ‘Bridgerton’ on TV

Published 12:35 pm Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Editor’s note: “In Other News” is a list of state, national and global headlines compiled by Daily Citizen-News staff from Associated Press-provided stories. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories.

Fox, Newsmax shoot down their own aired claims on election

NEW YORK — Two election technology companies whose names have come up in President Donald Trump’s false charges of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election are fighting back, prompting unusual public statements from Fox News and Newsmax. The statements, over the weekend and on Monday, came after the companies Smartmatic and Dominion raised the prospect of legal action for reporting what they said was false information about them. Both companies were referenced in the campaign’s suggestion that vote counts in swing states were manipulated to the advantage of President-elect Joe Biden. The companies deny several statements made about them, and there is no evidence any voting system switched or deleted votes in the 2020 election.

GOP activist’s voter challenges raise questions in Georgia

ATLANTA — When a conservative organization announced plans this month to launch an election integrity operation in Georgia, the group’s news release included a high-profile name: the chairman of the state’s Republican Party. Less than a week later, the same group announced plans to challenge the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of Georgia voters. To Democrats in the state and voting rights advocates, it was verification of what they have long argued — that the Georgia GOP is supporting efforts to suppress voting in one of the nation’s newest political battlegrounds. It also raised questions about the legality of any coordination between the state party and the group True the Vote, charges the organization’s founder disputes.

Perdue seeks payoff from Trump loyalty in Georgia runoff

SAVANNAH — In 2014, David Perdue introduced himself to Georgia voters as a corporate executive capable of bringing pragmatism to a Congress depicted in his first TV ad as a bunch of diaper-clad, crying babies. “Help me change the childish behavior up there,” he asked voters in his winning campaign for the U.S. Senate. Since then, the Republican who promised level-headed maturity in Washington has been swept up in the tornado of Donald Trump’s White House. Perdue became one of the Senate’s chief defenders of a president known for schoolyard insults and who still refuses to accept his own election defeat.

New this week: ‘Soul,’ a Tom Hanks film and ‘Bridgerton’ on TV

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week. Included: To some, a night out at the movies is synonymous with the holiday season, normally the busiest and most festive time for moviegoing. This year, there are still a handful of notable movies arriving in cinemas — Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World,” with Tom Hanks; Emerald Fennell’s jolting, subversive “Promising Young Woman,” starring Carey Mulligan; and Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone’s “Pinocchio,” with Roberto Benigni as Geppetto. But with more than half of U.S. theaters closed, two of the biggest movies of the year — “Soul” and “Wonder Woman 1984” — will be going straight to streaming.