INTERNACIONAL
‘Concerning’: Ex-Biden official under fire as pay-to-play allegations emerge in top gubernatorial race
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Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat running for governor in Georgia, has faced ethics-related scrutiny during her time in government, but that hasn’t stopped Bottoms’ ambition for higher office.
Before launching her gubernatorial bid, Bottoms drew criticism in Atlanta over her use of public resources while serving in city government — from taxpayer-funded mailers packed with photos of herself to city-paid travel expenses that initially covered her husband’s Super Bowl airfare.
Bottoms also drew criticism over her ties to a contractor that later landed lucrative city contracts after she signed an initial consulting contract with the firm while leading the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA) and just days before leaving the city council as she was preparing to become mayor, with the company’s CEO later donating to and fundraising for her campaign.
Even with Atlanta’s history of corruption scandals, former Atlanta City Council leader Jennifer Ide, who served as the head of a city council ethics committee while Bottoms was mayor, said the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful’s past scandals, in particular her alleged pay-to-play scheme with a contractor, should be «concerning» for voters.
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Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of Atlanta, at Hotel Phoenix in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (Matt Odom/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«I mean, I think it’s concerning,» Ide told Fox News Digital. «I don’t think that the voters want to feel like special interests impact the outcome of an election.»
As executive director of AFCRA, a position she held that earned her a six-figure salary even while also serving on the city council and running for mayor, Bottoms signed the first of three contracts for a company called Con-Real to do work for the city. The first contract, awarded in April 2017, was less than $100,000, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Just days later, she exited office as her mayoral run was heating up.
Meanwhile, in June 2017, roughly two months later, Con-Real won a second $2.4 million contract, despite the company’s bid being about twice what its competitor bid, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The outlet added that both contracts appeared to have been executed without the recreation authority’s board voting to approve it.
Ide said the absence of board approval was among the issues that made the Con-Real contracts appear troubling to people in Atlanta government, though she said she was not familiar enough with AFCRA’s rules to say definitively whether any formal procurement rule had been broken. However, according to Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, policy director at watchdog Common Cause Georgia, AFCRA did amend its contracting process following the controversy with Bottoms.
«There were serious concerns that were raised around ethics,» he added.
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Con-Real founder and CEO, Gerald Alley, reportedly held a fundraiser for Bottoms’ mayoral campaign in August 2017, and campaign finance records showed he also donated close to $4,000 to Bottoms’ mayoral campaign just days after winning the lucrative arena contract.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of the city of Atlanta, attends the Cancer Moonshot event on October 24, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
The subsequent year, in 2018, while Bottoms was mayor, Con-Real won a third contract for $1.4 million. Again, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they were the highest bidder.
«It sure looked fishy that Con-Real l was not the lowest bidder,» Ide pointed out. «I don’t know exactly what the procurement rules are for the recreation authority but for the city the lowest responsive bidder is who would have needed to have been selected.»
In June 2025, less than a month after Bottoms announced her bid for governor, Alley donated the maximum allowable amount for a primary election of $8,400, campaign finance records show.
«I really believe that as people start to dig under the surface, they’re going to see that she’s not fit for office,» Humberto Garcia, a Democrat who lives in Atlanta and founded the anti-Buckhead City movement Neighbors for a United Atlanta, said.
Vehicles travel along a highway in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. (Photographer: Alyssa Pointer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Beyond the Con-Real matter, Bottoms’ record already includes a string of ethics-related incidents, including a $37,000 state ethics fine over campaign-finance violations, questions over taxpayer-funded campaign-season mailers packed with photos of herself, and backlash over using public funds for certain expenses, including airfare for her husband’s Super Bowl trip and thousands of dollars in limousine spending.
Both Ide and Garcia lamented that Bottoms, as mayor, was «absent-minded,» and they questioned whether she would do what is in the best interest for Georgians if elected governor.
«If you’re going to run for the highest office in the state, there needs to be no questions about whether you’re being influenced by your campaign donations in that kind of way,» Ide told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Bottoms’ campaign and Con-Real but did not receive a response.
The Democratic primary for Georgia’s gubernatorial race will take place on May 19. Currently, Bottoms is leading in most major polls, with former Georgia General Assemblyman and Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County Michael Thurmond coming in second in many of the same polls, per The New York Times.
elections, corruption, elections state and local, governors, georgia, corruption crime, democrats elections
INTERNACIONAL
El argentino Rafael Grossi advirtió que sin un control estricto al plan nuclear de Irán, cualquier acuerdo de paz será sólo «una ilusión»
El director general del Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica, el argentino Rafael Grossi, afirmó este miércoles que cualquier posible acuerdo entre Estados Unidos e Irán para poner fin a su guerra en Medio Oriente debe incluir medidas “muy detalladas” para verificar las actividades nucleares del régimen iraní. Por el momento, las negociaciones están estancadas con la cuestión nuclear en el centro de la escena.
Grossi, jefe de la agencia de control nuclear de la ONU, subrayó la necesidad de un régimen de verificación exhaustivo para el programa nuclear iraní, después de que el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, declarase el martes que en los próximos dos días podía celebrarse una segunda ronda de conversaciones con Irán. El gobierno del país norteamericano señaló que impedir que Irán obtenga un arma nuclear es un objetivo clave de la guerra.
Irán aseguró en reiteradas ocasiones que no está desarrollando ese tipo de armas, pero rechaza los límites a su plan nuclear. El régimen también insistió durante mucho tiempo en que su programa es pacífico, pero el OIEA y las naciones occidentales sostienen que Teherán tuvo un programa organizado de armas nucleares hasta 2003.
Para el Organismo Internacional de Energía Atómica, Irán cuenta con una reserva de 440,9 kilogramos (972 libras) de uranio enriquecido hasta una pureza del 60%, a un breve paso técnico de los niveles del 90% propios del grado armamentístico. Esa reserva podría permitir a Irán construir hasta 10 bombas nucleares, si decidiera convertir su programa en arma.
“Irán tiene un programa nuclear muy ambicioso y amplio, así que todo eso requerirá la presencia de inspectores del OIEA”, dijo Grossi a los periodistas en Seúl. “De lo contrario, no habrá un acuerdo. Habrá una ilusión de acuerdo”, agregó.
También afirmó que cualquier arreglo sobre tecnología nuclear “requiere mecanismos de verificación muy detallados”. Ese material nuclear tan altamente enriquecido normalmente debería verificarse cada mes, de acuerdo con las directrices del OIEA.
En respuesta, el canciller iraní, Esmaeil Baqei, dijo este miércoles que el derecho de Teherán a enriquecer uranio es «indiscutible» pero que el nivel de dicho enriquecimiento es «negociable» y que nadie puede «arrebatar» a Irán su derecho a hacer un uso pacífico de la energía nuclear, ni «por coacción ni a través de la guerra».
«Respecto al nivel y el tipo de enriquecimiento, siempre hemos afirmado que ese tema es negociable. Hemos recalcado que Irán debería ser capaz de continuar con el enriquecimiento en función de sus necesidades«, añadió.
Anteriormente Irán no le permitió al OIEA acceder a sus instalaciones nucleares bombardeadas por Israel y Estados Unidos durante una guerra de 12 días en junio, según un informe confidencial del OIEA distribuido entre los estados miembros. El informe subrayó que “no puede verificar si Irán ha suspendido todas las actividades relacionadas con el enriquecimiento”, ni el “tamaño de las reservas de uranio de Irán en las instalaciones nucleares afectadas”.
La ronda inicial de conversaciones entre ambos países no logró producir un acuerdo el fin de semana pasado en Pakistán. La Casa Blanca indicó que las ambiciones nucleares de Irán fueron un punto central de fricción. Pero un funcionario diplomático iraní, que habló bajo condición de anonimato debido a la sensibilidad de las conversaciones a puerta cerrada, negó que las negociaciones hubieran fracasado por ese motivo.
Durante la conferencia de prensa de este miércoles, Grossi también dijo que su agencia confirmó “un rápido aumento” de la actividad en instalaciones nucleares en Corea del Norte. Sus comentarios se hicieron eco de una opinión de muchos observadores extranjeros de que su líder Kim Jong-un tomó medidas para ampliar su principal complejo nuclear de Yongbyon y construir recintos adicionales de enriquecimiento de uranio desde que su diplomacia con Estados Unidos colapsó en 2019.
En septiembre pasado, el ministro de Unificación de Corea del Sur, Chung Dong-young, dijo que Corea del Norte estaba operando cuatro instalaciones de enriquecimiento de uranio y que estaban funcionando todos los días.
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A U.S. destroyer interdicted two oil tankers that were trying to leave Iran on Tuesday, a U.S. official said, as part of the Trump administration’s blockade on Iranian ports.
The official told Reuters that the ships left Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman before being contacted by the U.S. warship through radio communication. The official added that the tankers were among the six vessels that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday obeyed orders from American forces to turn around and head back to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman.
«More than 10,000 U.S. Sailors, Marines, and Airmen along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports,» CENTCOM said. «During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.»
«The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman,» it added. «U.S. forces are supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.»
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U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that «U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are among the assets executing a blockade mission impacting Iranian ports.» (CENTCOM)
The Pentagon did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the reported interdiction of the oil tankers.
«U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are among the assets executing a blockade mission impacting Iranian ports. The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or leaving coastal areas or ports in Iran,» CENTCOM said Tuesday. «A typical destroyer has a crew of more than 300 Sailors that are highly trained in conducting offensive and defensive maritime operations.»
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Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah, near the border with Oman’s Musandam governance, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the United Arab Emirates, March 11, 2026. (REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo/File Photo)
CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper added in a statement that «a blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East.»
A satellite image shows the Strait of Hormuz, a key maritime passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, vital for global energy supply. (Amanda Macias/Fox News Digital)
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Cooper said an estimated 90% of Iran’s economy is supported by international trade by sea.
«In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea,» he also said.
us navy, pentagon, war with iran, iran, us marines
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A federal judge ordered Delaware officials to turn over confidential employer and employee data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), delivering a legal defeat to former President Joe Biden’s home state in a dispute over immigration enforcement.
U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly ruled that the Delaware Department of Labor (DDOL) must comply with a federal subpoena seeking wage reports and employee records from 15 businesses as part of an investigation into the suspected hiring of undocumented workers.
Delaware officials argued they could refuse the request and warned that compliance would harm worker reporting and state programs, but Connolly rejected that position.
«This is a political argument; not a legal one,» Connolly wrote. «This Court is not the proper ‘forum in which to air [DDOL’s] generalized grievances about the conduct of government.’ It would be wholly inappropriate for me to consider this line of argument, and I decline to do so.»
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The J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware. A federal judge ordered the state’s labor department to turn over employer wage records to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of an immigration investigation. (Anadolu via Getty Images)
The records include employees’ names, Social Security numbers and wages reported to the state as part of its unemployment insurance system.
Federal investigators said the records will help identify potentially fraudulent Social Security numbers, compare reported employees to workers observed on-site and detect off-the-books labor.
Connolly, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote that the subpoena was lawful, relevant to a legitimate investigation and not overly burdensome for the state to fulfill.
The subpoena seeks 30 records covering two quarters for the 15 businesses, which the judge said would not be burdensome for the state to produce.
He also dismissed Delaware’s argument that sharing the data would harm its unemployment insurance system, calling the claim unsupported.
«I am neither willing nor able to adopt DDOL’s cynical view of the State’s employers,» Connolly wrote.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at work. A federal judge in Delaware ordered state officials to turn over labor data to ICE as part of an immigration investigation. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The ruling marks a setback for Delaware in its battle over ICE’s access to state labor data, as the federal government moves to expand immigration enforcement.
The court said Delaware officials ignored the subpoena and failed to respond even after a follow-up warning from federal prosecutors.
Delaware’s newly appointed U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wallace said the ruling reinforces that federal law applies broadly.
Wilmington, Delaware skyline on the Christina River at dusk. (Walter Bibikow/Getty Images)
«We are gratified that the court recognized the simple truth at the core of this case: federal law applies to everyone, whether they are a state or private entity, and whether they agree or disagree with the federal government’s policy priorities,» Wallace told the Delaware News Journal.
The dispute escalated after Delaware ignored multiple ICE subpoenas in early 2025, prompting the federal government to sue for enforcement. State officials have not said whether they plan to appeal.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Delaware Department of Labor, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware and DHS and ICE for comment.
Read the ruling below.
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