INTERNACIONAL
California mayor accused of drunken behavior, racial slur, harassment in chief of staff’s claim
Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken has been accused of repeatedly appearing intoxicated during city-related events, making racially derogatory remarks and asking intrusive questions about sexuality, according to a newly released 25-page government claim.
Berenice Ballinas, who has worked in Aitken’s office since December 2022 as her chief of staff, alleges harassment, discrimination and retaliation based on her perceived sexual orientation, Mexican heritage and Catholic faith.
The filing also accuses the city of failing to adequately respond after concerns were raised.
Ballinas outlines a number of alleged incidents involving Aitken, including accusations about the mayor’s conduct while drinking.
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She alleges that Aitken arrived at a City Council meeting in April 2025 appearing «visibly impaired by alcohol.»
After a closed session at the meeting, Ballinas says she ultimately drove Aitken home in then-City Manager Jim Vanderpool’s city vehicle. During the roughly 15-minute ride, the claim alleges Aitken began searching through Vanderpool’s vehicle and personal belongings and taking photographs with her cellphone.
Ballinas says she objected and told the mayor to delete the photos because Vanderpool’s information was private.
Aitken is also accused in the claim of making racially derogatory remarks.
Ballinas alleges that Aitken made multiple derogatory comments concerning her Mexican heritage and referred to her as a «dirty Mexican.»
During a separate incident at Disneyland in May 2025, Ballinas said she offered to drive Aitken after believing the mayor was too intoxicated to drive home safely. However, Aitken allegedly declined the offer because she refused to have «a Mexican» drive her, according to the claim.
Aitken has directly denied using the racial slur attributed to her and said the allegations deserve to be investigated.
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«These allegations are extremely serious, and they deserve to be investigated. I did not use the racial slur attributed to me, and I have always been a champion of the LGBTQ community,» she said in a statement posted last month on Facebook.
Digital has reached out to Aitken’s office for comment.
Ballinas also described alleged conduct during a team dinner, where she said she observed Aitken becoming «physically affectionate» with another person, including touching and grabbing him, resulting in the mayor’s husband removing her from the event.
While walking back toward the hotel, Ballinas alleges Aitken became angry and knocked or pushed over a bicycle, damaging its mirror, before later falling in the street.
Aitken then fell in the street, according to the claim.
When Ballinas told the mayor’s husband that Aitken was not OK and needed help, he allegedly responded, «Don’t we all?»
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The filing says Aitken’s husband later asked Ballinas to make a Venmo payment to compensate the bicycle’s owner.
Ballinas also makes several allegations concerning questions about her perceived sexual orientation.
She said Aitken took her to Disneyland’s Club 33 for a birthday lunch on June 10, 2026, where the mayor consumed alcohol and repeatedly questioned whether Ballinas was a lesbian.
Later at the 1901 Lounge, Aitken allegedly questioned a Disney cast member about whether he was gay or straight and about his dating life.
Disney later sent written correspondence to the Club 33 member whose membership was used for the visit, saying cast members had reported «rude, insensitive, and inappropriate remarks» during the outing.
The government claim says Ballinas was forced to take leave beginning around July 31 and alleges retaliation after she reported or opposed conduct she believed violated laws or workplace rules.
Anaheim has said a review of the allegations is underway. Aitken has pledged to participate in the process.
She is currently seeking another term as Anaheim mayor in the Nov. 3 election.
politics, controversies state and local, los angeles
INTERNACIONAL
Francia: frente al tercer sábado consecutivo de protestas, Macron desplegará un megaoperativo con 70.000 policías
Francia se prepara para afrontar este sábado su tercera jornada consecutiva de movilizaciones contra el encarecimiento de la vida y el deterioro de los servicios públicos, en un contexto de creciente tensión social.
El Gobierno del presidente Emmanuel Macron considera que existe un riesgo muy elevado de disturbios, especialmente por los llamamientos difundidos en las redes sociales para cometer saqueos y actos de violencia durante la noche de Halloween.
El ministro del Interior, Laurent Nuñez, anunció el despliegue de unos 70.000 policías y gendarmes en todo el país. El operativo incluirá unidades de élite, drones, helicópteros, vehículos blindados y brigadas ecuestres y caninas.
Además, las autoridades anticiparon que mantendrán la vigilancia durante la noche, ante convocatorias a participar en manifestaciones violentas a partir de las 20.
Nuñez advirtió que algunos de los mensajes detectados en las redes sociales llaman a una “revolución”. También señaló que se identificaron convocatorias para acudir disfrazados de Halloween a las concentraciones. En ese sentido, anunció que las reuniones de ese tipo serán prohibidas y que tampoco se permitirá ocultar el rostro con máscaras en el espacio público.
La preocupación del Ejecutivo se explica por los episodios registrados el pasado 17 de octubre, durante la primera jornada de protestas. En aquella oportunidad, grupos violentos incendiaron edificios públicos y protagonizaron saqueos en unos 3.000 comercios de distintas ciudades, entre ellas París, Lyon y Marsella. Las movilizaciones reunieron entre 550.000 personas, según la policía, y 800.000, de acuerdo con la Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT).
Los incidentes también alcanzaron edificios institucionales, como los ayuntamientos de Limoges y Marsella y la oficina de turismo de Lyon. Tras los disturbios, Nuñez presentó su renuncia, pero el presidente Macron la rechazó. El ministro había reconocido que las fuerzas de seguridad perdieron el control en algunas ciudades.
En la segunda convocatoria, el 24 de octubre, el refuerzo del operativo policial y las restricciones a las manifestaciones en los centros urbanos contribuyeron a reducir los episodios de violencia. Sin embargo, las protestas volvieron a reunir entre 410.000 y 800.000 participantes, según las estimaciones oficiales y sindicales.
Para este sábado, las autoridades volvieron a delimitar las zonas habilitadas para las concentraciones y buscaron evitar que las marchas ingresen en los centros de las principales ciudades. La decisión generó un nuevo conflicto con los sindicatos y los llamados chalecos amarillos, que consideran que las restricciones buscan limitar el derecho a manifestarse.
protestas
INTERNACIONAL
‘Biscuit’ the dog is latest dead felon to get their voting rights back from Spanberger, confused owner says
A Southside Virginia lawmaker is demanding an investigation after a constituent received an official rights-restoration certificate for his dog, Biscuit, a beagle-hound mix from Goochland County that died about five years ago.
The discovery follows the «Betty No Last Name» controversy in Chesapeake — where a purported convict lacking a surname had «her» rights restored — and raises fresh questions about the governor’s vetting process just days before voters decide whether to make felons’ voting-rights restoration automatic via an Election Day ballot measure supported by Richmond Democrats.
Del. Tom Garrett, R-Buckingham — who received the letter from the constituent who owned the pet — is now calling for an investigation into how Gov. Abigail Spanberger could have restored voting and jury-service rights to a deceased animal.
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«This is not a question of whether people who have served their sentences deserve a second chance. This is a question of whether the Commonwealth is exercising one of the Governor’s constitutional powers with even the most basic level of review,» Garrett said.
«Biscuit was a dog. Biscuit has been dead for five years. Yet an official document bearing the governor’s signature says the executive reviewed the particulars of Biscuit’s criminal case and determined her rights should be restored. Virginians deserve an explanation for how that is possible.»
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Biscuit’s owner, who declined to be identified to avoid political backlash, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to Digital and told Garrett in a statement that the pup was a «good dog and is greatly missed.»
«To my knowledge, she was never convicted of a felony, nor did she ever show any interest in voting,» the owner said.
Digital reached out to Spanberger for comment.
A spokesperson for Spanberger replied, «Of course we did not restore the rights of a dog. We cannot disclose this individual’s information, but we can tell you that it is associated with a person with a date of birth and Social Security number.»
The owner told Digital that Biscuit was never sent to the pound or had any other contact with Richmond that could have resulted in her being placed on the voting rolls. The owner said a sibling is currently incarcerated but added that the connection is moot because Spanberger’s stated effort only involves released former convicts.
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Garrett noted in a statement that the Spanberger administration said in July that Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon-King would be «proactively identifying Virginians who had lost their rights, confirming that those individuals were eligible, and restoring their rights,» in his words.
Spanberger announced in August that the initial figure of 66,000 had reached 100,000 individuals who had received restoration of their rights since the Democrat took office in January.
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«The administration told Virginians these individuals were being identified and their eligibility confirmed,» Garrett said in a statement, going on to call for an investigation into how a restoration certificate bearing Biscuit’s name came to be issued.
«The document itself represents that the executive reviewed the particulars of each case. If a deceased family pet made it through that process as a convicted felon, then we need to know what was actually reviewed, what databases were used, what safeguards existed, and how many other erroneous restorations were issued.»
An attorney in Fluvanna County when not legislating, Garrett said the Commonwealth must launch an immediate independent audit of Spanberger’s restoration-of-rights actions and disclose the underlying record that led to «Biscuit Rigsby» being identified as a convicted felon, as well as what Spanberger’s office defines as the «review of the particulars» of Biscuit’s case.
Any investigation should also identify how many certificates and citations were issued to deceased, nonexistent or duplicate humans and require the immediate preservation of relevant data.
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He said in a statement that his questions are not partisan and that Virginians who support restoring released felons’ voting rights should be outraged by Biscuit’s case.
«At what point does rank incompetence and malfeasance become criminal conduct?» Garrett added in a video posted to social media.
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With Virginians set to vote Tuesday on whether to make voting-rights restoration automatic upon release from incarceration, Garrett is demanding answers about the administration’s existing review process — including how a dog that died five years ago apparently made it through.
abigail spanberger, virginia, politics, voting, state and local, elections
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While en route to Senegal, Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki turned his plane around and returned home after police entered Poland’s top court, the Constitutional Tribunal, and the tribunal’s president was suspended.
«At such a moment, the President must be in Poland,» Nawrocki posted on X. «I’m interrupting my flight to Senegal. I’m returning.»
Police say they secured the Tribunal after dozens of protesters gathered to demonstrate against what they called the wrongful suspension of the top court’s president by the current pro-European government.
Police said there were also dangerous objects thrown at officers outside the building.
Protesters gather outside the headquarters of the Poland’s Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the court building on Oct. 30, 2026 (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images)
Some protesters outside the court were seen praying, while others held posters reading «Tusk — a symbol of anti-Polish sentiment,» «Down with the commies and Tusk’s regime,» and «Stop destroying the state.»
Poland’s top judicial bodies, including the Constitutional Tribunal, have been a major bone of contention between the current pro-European government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and the main opposition party, national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), which ruled the country from 2015 to 2023.
Critics accuse the PiS of imposing political control over key judicial institutions, with some reforms having led the EU to impose fines on Poland.
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Nawrocki, an ally of the PiS party, refused to swear in three of six judges nominated by parliament earlier this year.
Constitutional Tribunal president Bogdan Święczkowski, who was appointed by the PiS government after also serving as a deputy justice minister, declined to allow judges elected by the current parliamentary majority to assume their duties. According to the tribunal’s website, Święczkowski was suspended Friday.
Protesters rally outside Poland’s top court as tensions between President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government intensify. (AP)
«Restoring the rule of law is our duty,» said Tusk, who returned to power in 2023 with a promise to restore the judiciary’s independence. He posted to X, «After years of PiS-led lawlessness, this is a difficult process, sometimes painful, and it requires decisive action. There is no other way.»
Since taking power, Tusk’s pro-European government’s efforts have been vetoed by two successive presidents aligned with PiS, including Nawrocki.
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Former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a former PiS member whose Rozwój Plus coalition is positioning itself as an alternative to Tusk’s government ahead of next November’s parliamentary elections, also took to X to denounce «the forceful takeover of the Constitutional Tribunal.»
Police officers stand behind the fence with a rosary hanging on it as protesters gather outside the headquarters of Poland’s Constitutional Court in Warsaw after police blocked access to the court building on 30 October, 2026 (Getty Images)
«Justice cannot be achieved through violence,» Morawiecki said, adding that «Tusk will stop at nothing to cling to power… We do not consent to Belarusian methods in Poland!»
«It’s true: a coup d’état is underway,» former PiS Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro wrote on X. «If someone were to forcibly break into the Prime Minister’s Office and take it over, we would all know what to call it… This is a blatant, criminal attack on the constitutional order… That is why I call for resistance that will be loud, firm, solidary and fearless.»
world, world elections, world politics
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