“On Thursday, Mark Harris, the Republican candidate who was in the lead for North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District and had been fighting to have the results certified, backtracked and called for a new election. Later in the afternoon, the North Carolina State Board of Elections unanimously declared that a new election was needed.

After days of testimony investigating the unresolved midterm election, it became clear that an operative hired by Harris had fraudulently tampered with absentee ballots. Evidence showed that Harris’ campaign had also endeavored to conceal the ballot tampering from the state’s investigation.

Indeed, his initial upset victory in the primary against GOP incumbent Rep. Robert Pittenger seems also to have involved tampering with absentee ballots.”

According to the Washington Post, his sudden change of heart was spurred by the interrogators having caught him … er … “misspeaking” under oath. He blamed his lyin’ weaselly ways on a recent sepsis infection that he said caused two strokes and affected his memory.

His exact words: “Yeah, sepsis. That’s the ticket.”

Rebecca De Mornay in one of her more obscure films, Wicked Ways (1999)

I think this was her final nude scene, some 16 years after her breakthrough in Risky Business. She turned 23 during the filming of Risky Business, and was approaching 40 during the filming of Wicked Ways.

She still looks pretty good when she pops up on TV from time to time, so this may shock you: she turns 60 this summer!

Don Newcombe, star pitcher linked to Dodgers’ Brooklyn past, dies at 92

You might remember that the Dodgers finally broke the “wait until next year” curse in 1955 when they managed at long last to beat Yogi and company in the World Series. (The Dodgers had previously lost to the Yankees in four different World Series since Robinson came up in ’47.)

So here’s how Newk contributed to that 1955 championship team.

 He was their best pitcher. He went 20-5. No other Dodger starter won more than 11 games!

You might have known that, but I’ll bet you didn’t know …

He was also their best hitter, although the team was one of the greatest offensive teams of all time, filled with great hitters and Hall of Famers (Carl Furillo, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella). Newk batted .359 with a .632 slugging average that year, tops on the team in both categories. His on-base percentage of .395 was topped only by the great Duke of Flatbush. Both Newk and the Duke are mentioned in “The Song,” as are Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella.

That was one of several times when Newcombe’s annual batting average topped .300. It wasn’t even his high-water mark. He batted .361 in 1958. Newk was such a good hitter that he got in more than 100 major league games as a pinch-hitter.

In fact, Newk was such a good hitter that, after his pitching days were done, he finished his career in the Japanese majors as a first baseman and outfielder – and he still had a lot of pop in his bat, finishing with 12 homers in almost exactly half a season.

So you might wonder how he could possibly improve on a year when he was the best hitter and the best pitcher on Brooklyn’s only World Championship team.

Well, how about this: the following year he went 27-7, winning both the Cy Young and the MVP! And that was no cheap MVP. This was the NL in the mid-50s, when he had to beat Aaron, Mays, Mathews, Frank Robinson, Snider, Banks, and Musial.

Yup, ol’ Newk could play a bit.

“Charges were approved by the Cook County State’s Attorney Office and ‘Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.’ Filing a false police report is disorderly conduct, according to Illinois code. A class 4 felony is punishable by one to three years.”