Tag: chairwoman

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Politics

Chairwoman of Congressional Black Caucus is arrested whereas protesting on Capitol Hill.

Chairwoman of Congressional Black Caucus is arrested while protesting on Capitol Hill.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty was arrested on Capitol Hill Thursday along with eight campaigners demonstrating for the right to vote.

“You can arrest me. You can not stop me. You can’t shut me up, ”wrote Ms. Beatty, an Ohio Democrat, in a tweet after she was arrested by the US Capitol Police in the atrium of a Senate office building. A reporter at the scene noted on Twitter that her hands had been zipped up before she was taken away.

The Capitol Police said in a statement the protesters violated a Washington law against overcrowding or blocking streets or certain spaces in public buildings. The demonstrators had been warned of their arrest, the police said.

Ms. Beatty and a group of activists protested in Congress against the disappearance of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and For the People Act. The two bills aim in part to protect and expand access to voting, but both face great opportunities to become law.

Democrats, who have narrow majorities in Congress and need Republican votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, have for months expressed frustration at their inability to pass their major voting revisions as Republican parliaments rush to pass laws that restrict voting rights across the country.

President Biden this week called the fight against restrictive electoral laws the “most significant test of our democracy since the civil war,” despite seemingly having to acknowledge that the law had little hope of getting through.

In a statement made after her arrest, Ms. Beatty remained defiant.

“I stand in solidarity with black women and allies across the country in defense of our constitutional franchise,” she said. “We have come too far and fought too hard to see everything being systematically dismantled and restricted by those who want to silence us.”

Categories
World News

Lordstown Motors shares soar after new chairwoman says manufacturing plans stay on monitor

Lordstown Motors shares soar after new chairwoman says production plans remain on track

The Lordstown Motors Corp. Endurance electric pickup truck sits on stage during an unveiling event in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S., on Thursday, June 25, 2020.

Matthew Hatcher | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Embattled electric truck company Lordstown Motors has enough funding to operate through May 2022 and remains on track to begin limited production of its Endurance pickup in late September following an executive shake-up that ousted the start-up’s CEO and chairman, executives said Tuesday.

The company’s new chairwoman, Angela Strand, called it a “new day” for the aspiring automaker, which raised bankruptcy concerns after warning investors last week that it had “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern in the next year.

Shares of Lordstown Motors soared Tuesday afternoon by as much as 15% before leveling off at about $10 a share, up 8%. The company’s stock price has roughly been cut in half this year, including an 18.8% decline on Monday.

“It’s a new day at Lordstown and there are no disruptions, and there will be no disruptions, to our day-to-day operations,” Strand said during a webcast for the Automotive Press Association. “We remain committed to inspiring, building and maintaining confidence and transparency in our relationships with each other at Lordstown and, very importantly, with our customers, our partners, our suppliers and our shareholders.”

The comments come a day after Lordstown’s chairman and CEO, Steve Burns, and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigned from the company after the board released a summary of an internal investigation into claims made by short seller Hindenburg Research that Lordstown misled investors.

The company said the internal investigation found Hindenburg’s report “is, in significant respects, false and misleading.” The probe, however, did identify “issues regarding the accuracy of certain statements regarding” Lordstown’s preorders, specifically the seriousness of the orders and who was making them.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

President Rich Schmidt said the company needs more experienced leadership. And while Lordstown didn’t say the investigation led to Burns’ and Rodriguez’s resignations, he indicated the findings contributed, at least in part, to their abrupt departures. “It was a little bit of both,” he said.

Hindenburg accused Lordstown in March of using “fake” orders to raise capital for its Endurance electric pickup. The short seller said the pickup was years away from production, but Lordstown has maintained it’s on track to start making the vehicle in September. The company on Monday said customer deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2022.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an inquiry looking at Hindenburg’s claims as well as the company’s merger with SPAC DiamondPeak Holdings. Schmidt declined to comment on inquiry.

Lordstown Motors Corp Chief Executive Steve Burns poses with a prototype of the electric vehicle start-up’s Endurance pickup truck, which it will begin building in the second half of 2021, at the company’s plant in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S. June 25, 2020.

Lordstown Motors | Reuters

Strand, who was Lordstown’s lead independent director, is overseeing its transition until a permanent CEO is identified, according to the company.

Schmidt reconfirmed Lordstown is actively raising additional capital, which the company announced plans to do in May. He also said Lordstown is no longer working with Camping World on EV products and solutions for the RV marketplace, citing a need to focus on the Endurance.

“We’re just focused currently on the Endurance truck,” he said. “That’s our next goal for the next three months is to make sure we hit our production targets and stay within our budgets and drive forward to getting the vehicles ready for the market.”