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☆ In Late-Stage Budget Talks, Hochul Wins Concessions From N.Y. Lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the days approaching April 1, the corridors and backrooms of the New York State Capitol tend to be filled with tension and chaos, as the governor, lawmakers and staff scramble to meet the deadline to pass a state budget that is as much a policy blueprint as it is a spending plan. Budget talks dragged out almost three weeks past the April 1 deadline, leading some to wonder whether Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat in her first full term, had lost control of the process. But by the time the budget was officially passed by the Legislature on Saturday, it was clear that Ms. Hochul had achieved her goal: a final $237 billion budget that included a checklist of her priorities. They included new resources to fight retail crime, a statewide artificial intelligence consortium, and a landmark housing deal aimed at bolstering residential construction — all without raising taxes on the wealthy.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hochul Organizations: New York State Capitol

☆ The Unlikely Force Behind a Push to Legalize ‘Shrooms’ in New York
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Claire Fahy | Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Religious texts state that when Moses climbed to the top of Mount Sinai, he was spoken to by God and inscribed that message onto stone tablets that became known as the Ten Commandments. Thunder rumbled, trumpets blared and lightning shot across the sky. Moses had been fasting and was clearly in an altered state of consciousness when God appeared to him, scholars say. But what if, as at least one Jewish scholar has suggested, Moses was also high? It may sound like blasphemy, but some religious scholars say they see an overlap between the pursuit of the divine and the use of psychedelic drugs — an unlikely partnership that underpins one of the most unusual legislative efforts in New York this session.

Persons: Moses, God Organizations: Mount Locations: Mount Sinai, New York

But the rattling shook buildings in New York City and drove startled residents into the streets. Image The command room of New York City Emergency Management. Today’s earthquake Magnitude 4.8 Conn. Pa. 1964 4.5 1994 4.6 250-mile radius from New York City Md. 250-mile radius from New York City Del. While earthquakes in New York City are surprises to most, seismologists say the ground is not as stable as New Yorkers might believe.

Persons: “, Kathy Hochul, ” Gov, Philip D, Murphy, Con Edison, Eric Adams, ”, Adams, Zach Iscol, Dave Sanders, Ron Hamburger, Valorie Brennan, Ada Carrasco, The New York Times “ I’ve, Kristina Feeley, Feeley, Folarin, “ There’s, Kolawole, Lazaro Gamio, Riyad H, Mansour, Janti, Hamburger, Michael Kemper, Clara Dossetter, David Dossetter, Dossetter, ’ ”, Lola Fadulu, Gaya Gupta, Hurubie Meko, Michael Wilson, William J . Broad, Kenneth Chang, Emma Fitzsimmons, Sarah Maslin Nir, Erin Nolan, Mihir Zaveri, Maria Cramer, Grace Ashford, Camille Baker, Liset Cruz, Michael Paulson, Patrick McGeehan, Troy Closson Organizations: ”, United States Geological Survey, Police Department, Fire Department, Con, Gracie Mansion, The New York Times, Whitehouse, New York City Emergency Management, Credit, Lamont, Columbia University, Maine CANADA, New York City Del, Lincoln Center, New York Philharmonic, United Nations, Children U.S, Security, New York Police, United Airlines, Newark Liberty International Airport Locations: Newark, New Jersey, Manhattan, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, New York, Rockland County, Murphy of New Jersey, Whitehouse, N.J, California, Japan, Zach Iscol , New York, New, Northridge, Los Angeles, Califon, Marble, Ramapo, New York , New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Palisades, N.Y, N.H, Pa, New York City Md, Del, Va, Maine, R.I, Md, Palestinian, Gaza, East Coast, “, York, San Francisco, Gaya

☆ Inside a High-Stakes Fight to Limit Social Media’s Hold on Children
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Jay Root | Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When New York’s governor and attorney general joined forces to pass a law trying to restrict social media companies’ ability to use algorithms to shape content for children, they expected Big Tech to put up a battle. That fight has certainly arrived, but with far more opponents than anticipated. A broad range of online service providers, including Google, TikTok and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has spent over $700,000 on lobbyists to press legislators and state officials, according to recent state disclosures. The spending represents aggregate amounts that includes other items on the lobbyists’ agendas, and the disclosures do not state whether the companies are for or against the legislation. But interviews and public statements show that most are opposing the bill — and a related bill connected to child data privacy — or raising concerns about the measures going too far, with some saying it could have unintended consequences on e-commerce sites or digital news publishers.

Persons: Big Organizations: New, Big Tech, Google, Meta, Facebook, Companies, eBay, New York Times

☆ George Santos Says He Is Done With the G.O.P. (The Feeling Is Mutual.)
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There has been little evidence that Mr. Santos had done much campaign work or fund-raising for the contest. Nevertheless, he said he would stay in the race and take his “Ultra MAGA/Trump supporting values to the ballot in November as an independent.”If he does so, he could potentially draw some votes away from Mr. LaLota, which would benefit the undetermined Democratic candidate in a district that Donald J. Trump won by just under 2 points in 2020. Even so, neither Mr. LaLota nor Jesse Garcia, the Suffolk County Republican Party chairman, seemed particularly concerned by Mr. Santos’s threat. “George Santos is irrelevant to the electoral process,” Mr. Garcia said upon hearing the news, adding that the announcement was nothing more than a ploy for attention. Mr. LaLota said in a statement that just as Mr. Santos’s expulsion had been good for the nation, his resignation from the Republican Party was good for “common-sense conservatives.”

Persons: Santos, Ultra MAGA, Donald J, Trump, LaLota, Jesse Garcia, “ George Santos, Mr, Garcia, Santos’s, ” Organizations: Trump, Democratic, Suffolk County Republican Party, Republican Party Locations: Suffolk

☆ Why a Native American Nation Is Challenging the U.S. Over a 1794 Treaty
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Four or five years ago, Sidney Hill’s young son came to him with a question that Mr. Hill didn’t know how to answer. “We lost all this land,” Mr. Hill recalled his son saying. “How can that be?”In many ways, Mr. Hill was the best person to answer that question. As Tadodaho, the spiritual leader of the Onondaga Nation, he was responsible for protecting its legacy and guiding it into the future. The younger generation needed to know, he said.

Persons: Sidney Hill’s, Hill, “, ” Organizations: State, Onondaga Nation Locations: Onondaga, New York, Syracuse

☆ To Fix a Housing Crisis, New York Leaders Seek to Revive a 1950s Idea
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Grace Ashford | Mihir Zaveri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To address a growing housing crisis, leaders in New York’s State Senate are set to propose sweeping legislation on Monday that would encourage new construction, establish new tenant protections and also revive some older ideas for building affordable housing. Among them: the creation of a new public benefit corporation that would finance housing construction on state-owned land. Leaders are framing it as a successor to the popular midcentury program known as Mitchell-Lama. New York has faced rising rents and a homelessness crisis exacerbated by an influx of migrants. But leaders have struggled to find a compromise that could unite a fractious group of stakeholders behind a housing program that meets the state’s needs.

Persons: Mitchell, Lama Locations: New York’s State, Lama . New York

☆ Andrew Cuomo Faces House Subpoena Over Covid Deaths in Nursing Homes
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has been subpoenaed to appear before a House subcommittee to answer for his administration’s handling of nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic, reigniting a flashpoint that could further damage his chances at a political comeback. The Republican-led Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic accused Mr. Cuomo of “recklessly” exposing nursing home residents to the virus “with deadly consequence.”The subcommittee chairman, Representative Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, said in a letter sent Tuesday to Mr. Cuomo that there was “troubling evidence suggesting the Cuomo administration at best downplayed” the effects of its nursing home policies “and at worst covered them up.”The subpoena is the latest in a multiyear saga surrounding the former governor’s decision to require nursing homes to accept residents who had tested positive for Covid-19 in the spring of 2020. The decision, which presaged a virus outbreak in those facilities leading to thousands of deaths, has drawn broad scrutiny from state and federal investigators.

Persons: Andrew M, Cuomo, “, Brad Wenstrup of Organizations: Gov, Republican Locations: York, Brad Wenstrup of Ohio

☆ Next on Cuomo’s Rehabilitation Tour: Blowing Up a State Ethics Panel
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the two and a half years since he resigned as New York’s governor, Andrew M. Cuomo has spent countless hours and millions of dollars to restore his image and vanquish his critics. One of his primary targets is the state’s new ethics panel, which his lawyers argue was formed unconstitutionally and should be disbanded — a result that would plunge the enforcement of state ethics rules into chaos. Mr. Cuomo won the fight’s first round, successfully persuading a State Supreme Court judge last year that the panel, the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying In Government, had been created in a way that violated New York’s Constitution. After the commission appealed the ruling, the parties wound up in an appeals court in Albany, N.Y., on Friday for oral arguments.

Persons: Andrew M, Cuomo Organizations: New, Ethics, Government Locations: New, Constitution, Albany, N.Y

☆ 9 Democratic Governors Push Biden and Congress to Address Migrant Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Nine Democratic governors have joined together to urge the Biden administration and congressional leaders to address what they call “a humanitarian crisis” created by the surge of migrants seeking refuge in the United States. The governors, led by Gov. “It is clear our national immigration system is outdated and unprepared to respond to this unprecedented global migration,” reads the letter, which is signed by Ms. Hochul and the governors of Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland. Last year, President Biden proposed a $106 billion package that included aid to states and localities as well as more funding for border security and deportations, along with aid to Ukraine. But like so many other immigration-related proposals of the past, his effort failed to garner the bipartisan support necessary to pass a divided Congress.

Persons: Biden, Kathy Hochul, Hochul Organizations: Gov, White House Locations: United States, New York, Arizona , California , Colorado , Illinois, New Mexico , Massachusetts , New Jersey, Maryland, Ukraine

☆ N.Y. Reconsiders Capitol Artworks That Offend Native Americans
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Jay Root | Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At an informal gathering last summer at the Executive Mansion in Albany, N.Y., Gov. Kathy Hochul shared an anecdote about making an unpleasant discovery there, not long after taking residence: a painting depicting the marriage of Pocahontas. The governor thought Pocahontas looked young and frightened, and had the painting removed. In its place went what she considered to be a more tasteful portrayal of Native people in Niagara Falls. Ms. Fine said the matter would be looked into.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Pocahontas, Samuel Champlain, Champlain, Hochul, Liz Fine, Fine Organizations: Capitol Locations: Albany, N.Y, Niagara Falls

☆ Migrant Costs Help Push New York State’s Budget to $233 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Grace Ashford | Erin Nolan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Kathy Hochul on Tuesday unveiled a $233 billion budget for New York State that includes $2.4 billion to help New York City manage its migrant crisis — a $500 million increase reflecting the mounting costs as immigrants continue to arrive. The budget proposal sought to thread the needle between the necessity to exert financial discipline as projected multibillion-dollar deficits loom, and the pressing needs posed by the migrant situation as well as substantial increases in Medicaid costs. The presentation built on the State of the State address that Ms. Hochul gave last week, in which she outlined a broad vision for bolstering mental health care and public safety across the state, but spoke only briefly about the migrant crisis. The issue took center stage on Tuesday, with the governor offering a package that will help cover the costs of sheltering migrants and asylum seekers, as well as provide funds for case management, National Guard staffing, medical and legal bills, and employment-related services.

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Hochul Organizations: New York, National Guard Locations: New York State, New York City

The expulsion of George Santos from the House on Friday, after a year shaped by audacious lies and outright frauds, ended his 11-month congressional tenure. But as he stormed off Capitol Hill, Mr. Santos made abundantly clear that he had no intention of returning to obscurity. Mr. Santos, a New York Republican, is scheduled to stand trial next year on a lengthy rap sheet that includes charges he defrauded donors, lied to election officials and stole unemployment benefits. But in American politics, even convicted criminals are often given second acts — if not in elected office, then on reality TV or the big screen. Here’s what might be next — and what will not be — for the disgraced and recently deposed former congressman.

Persons: George Santos, Santos Organizations: Capitol, New, New York Republican Locations: New York

After months of congressional hand-wringing, Mr. Santos finally met his demise on Friday, after Republicans and Democrats each offered separate expulsion resolutions. The resulting debate on the House floor on Thursday captured the absurdity and unseemliness of Mr. Santos’s scandals. Mr. Santos is only the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the body’s history. Mr. Santos must still contend with the federal indictment in which prosecutors have accused him of multiple criminal schemes. (That company, Harbor City Capital, has been accused of operating a Ponzi scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission, though Mr. Santos has not been implicated.)

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Mr, “ George Santos, ”, Anthony D’Esposito, Santos’s, Mike Johnson of, Kevin McCarthy of California, Kathy Hochul, Thomas R, Suozzi, Goldman Sachs, Nancy Marks, Marks, Nicholas Fandos Organizations: New York Republican, Queens, Republican, Republicans, World Trade, House, Local, Democratic, New York Times, Baruch College, Citigroup, World Trade Center, Devolder Organization, Harbor, Harbor City Capital, Securities and Exchange Commission Locations: Orlando, Long Island, New York, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Nassau County, Queens, New York City, Orlando ., Florida, Harbor City, United States

George Santos, the New York Republican congressman whose tapestry of lies and schemes made him a figure of national ridicule and the subject of a 23-count federal indictment, was expelled from the House on Friday after a decisive bipartisan vote by his peers. The move consigned Mr. Santos, who over the course of his short political career invented ties to the Holocaust, Sept. 11 and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, to a genuine place in history: He is the first person to be expelled from the House without first being convicted of a federal crime or supporting the Confederacy. Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana announced the tally to a hushed House chamber: The measure, which required a two-thirds majority, passed with 311 lawmakers in favor of expulsion, including 105 Republicans, and 114 against. Two members voted present. “The new whole number of the House is 434,” a downcast Mr. Johnson announced, confirming that with Mr. Santos’s ouster, the already paper-thin margin of Republican control had shrunk to three votes.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Mike Johnson, Johnson, Santos’s Organizations: New York Republican Locations: Orlando, Louisiana

As the House of Representatives opened the floor on Thursday to debate the fate of George Santos, Republican of New York, the arguments over whether to expel him took an immediate and indecorous turn. Mr. Santos’s use of Botox was invoked several times, even by those defending him. His detractors pointed to falsified ties to the Holocaust and to his claims, contradicted by paperwork, that his mother was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The final speaker calling to expel Mr. Santos concluded with the briefest of remarks: “You, sir, are a crook.”The dramatic floor debate was, perhaps, a fitting culmination to a political career that has been defined by spectacle, scandal and lies. All that could come to an end on Friday, when the House is scheduled to vote on a resolution to expel Mr. Santos, 35, following the release of a damning and detailed report from the House Ethics Committee that found “substantial evidence” that he had violated federal law.

Persons: George Santos, Botox, Mr, Santos, “ Organizations: Republican, World Trade Locations: New York

PinnedThe House of Representatives began a reinvigorated debate on Thursday on whether to expel Representative George Santos of New York, setting the stage for a vote that seems somewhat tilted against him. Whether Mr. Santos, 35, will be expelled is unclear, though he said on Thursday that he expected the vote would succeed. Mr. Santos held a news conference on Thursday morning in which he warned such a precedent would “haunt” lawmakers in the future. The committee’s Republican chairman introduced a motion to expel Mr. Santos, and a number of lawmakers who opposed previous attempts to remove him said that the committee’s report had swayed them to change their minds. Mr. Santos said on Thursday that the committee’s report was “littered with hyperbole” but again declined to address its specific findings.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, fabulist, Mike Johnson, ”, Mr Organizations: Representatives, Republicans, Republican Locations: George Santos of New York

House Democrats on Tuesday moved to force a vote this week on whether to expel Representative George Santos of New York from office, a strategic effort to prevent Republican leadership from slow-rolling any bid to push one of their own out of office. Since then, Republicans have debated whether to shield or expel Mr. Santos, aware that either path could come with grave costs. But the resolution from Democrats is privileged, meaning that Speaker Mike Johnson must address it within two days. Republicans could still move to table or postpone the vote, moves that would each require the support of a majority of the House. Those maneuvers would not rule out a vote on Mr. Guest’s resolution, however, if Republican leadership chooses to act on its own party’s motion to lessen the appearance of Democrats forcing the Republicans’ hand.

Persons: George Santos, Robert Garcia of, Dan Goldman, Santos, Michael Guest of, Mr, Mike Johnson Organizations: Democratic, Republican, Republicans Locations: George Santos of New York, Robert Garcia of California, New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicOnly five members of the U.S. House of Representatives have ever been expelled from the institution. This week, Representative George Santos, Republican of New York, could become the sixth. In a damning ethics report, House investigators found that the congressman spent tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions on Botox, Ferragamo goods and vacations. Grace Ashford, who covers New York State politics and government for The Times, explains why, after a year in office, so many of Mr. Santos’s colleagues have had enough.

Persons: George Santos, Grace Ashford, Santos’s Organizations: Spotify, U.S . House, Representatives, Republican, New, The Times Locations: New York, New York State

The Republican chairman of the bipartisan House Ethics Committee introduced a resolution on Friday to expel Representative George Santos of New York from Congress, citing the committee’s damning new report documenting pervasive campaign fraud and violations of House rules. The move by Representative Michael Guest of Mississippi, the committee’s chairman, laid the groundwork for a pivotal vote after Thanksgiving that could make Mr. Santos the sixth representative to be ejected in the chamber’s history. “The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s investigative subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment,” Mr. Guest said in a statement accompanying his five-page resolution. “And the most appropriate punishment is expulsion.”Mr. Santos, a Republican, has survived two expulsion efforts after a crush of reports in The New York Times and other publications exposed his fabricated life story and federal prosecutors charged him with 23 felonies.

Persons: George Santos, Michael Guest of, Santos, Mr, Guest, ” Mr Organizations: Republican, The New York Times Locations: George Santos of New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi

☆ House Ethics Committee Finds Evidence George Santos Broke Federal Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The House Ethics Committee on Thursday found “substantial evidence” that Representative George Santos had violated federal law, ending a nearly nine-month investigation and setting the stage for another likely push to expel the embattled first-term Republican from New York. House investigators found evidence that Mr. Santos used campaign funds for personal purposes, defrauded donors, and filed false or incomplete campaign finance and financial disclosure reports, according to a 56-page report released on Thursday. The committee voted unanimously to refer its findings to the Department of Justice, saying that Mr. Santos’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.”And while the panel refrained from recommending any punitive measures, there were already indications that the report could be the catalyst for a third effort to remove Mr. Santos from office. Numerous representatives have previously said that they would support his expulsion if the committee found criminal wrongdoing or a severe breach of ethics.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Santos’s Organizations: Department of Justice Locations: New York

☆ New York Will Give a ‘Clean Slate’ to Formerly Incarcerated People
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Roughly two million people convicted of crimes in New York may be eligible to have their records sealed as part of a broad criminal justice initiative that will be signed into law on Thursday by Gov. Under the so-called Clean Slate Act, people who complete their sentences and remain out of trouble for a set period — three years for misdemeanors, eight for eligible felonies — will have their convictions sealed. The most serious crimes, including sex crimes, murder and most other class A felonies, will not be eligible for automatic sealing. New York will become one of a dozen states with such legislation, which is aimed at interrupting the cycle of recidivism by allowing formerly incarcerated people to access jobs and housing. The law will go into effect a year from now, though it will take three more years to clear the records of those currently waiting.

Persons: Kathy Hochul Organizations: Gov Locations: New York

Mr. Santos, a Republican representing parts of Long Island and Queens, has not been charged in connection with Mr. Miele’s efforts. The congressman has said that he was unaware of the ruse, and fired Mr. Miele shortly after learning of it from Republican leadership. Prosecutors accused Mr. Miele of carrying out a fund-raising scheme in the fall of 2021 to aid Mr. Santos’s ultimately successful election campaign for the House. For his efforts, prosecutors say, he was paid 15 percent on whatever he brought in. Mr. Santos is facing 23 of his own felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

Persons: Santos, Miele, Santos’s, ” Mr, Dan Meyer, Kevin McCarthy, Mr, Joseph Murray Organizations: Republican, New York Times, Prosecutors Locations: Long Island, Queens

But he narrowly avoided becoming the first representative since the Civil War to be removed from office without a criminal conviction, and only the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the body’s history. Representative Kelly Armstrong, a Republican from North Dakota who is a former public defender, had predicted the expulsion of Mr. Santos would fail over due-process concerns. “What’s the point of having the Ethics Committee, if you don’t let them do their work?” Mr. Armstrong said hours before the vote. He added that he believed Mr. Santos should resign, but absent a decision from the “Ethics Committee or a conviction, it turns into a political vote. “You don’t get to get rid of due process in the hardest cases,” he said.

Persons: Kelly Armstrong, Santos, “, Mr, Armstrong, ” Organizations: Republican Locations: North Dakota, “

☆ George Santos told a NYT reporter his niece was kidnapped by Chinese Communists, but an official said he 'made it up'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He told the New York Times that one threat included the kidnapping of his five-year-old niece. A "high-ranking police official" told the publication the story was made up. AdvertisementAdvertisementRep. George Santos recently told a New York Times reporter that his 5-year-old niece was kidnapped from a Queens, New York, playground. According to a recent New York Times piece, Santos dialed up reporter Grace Ashford (who penned the initial Santos exposé) for the first time in September 2023. AdvertisementAdvertisement"Look, I don't want to go into like, conspiracy theory," Santos told the New York Times.

Persons: George Santos, he's, —, Santos, Grace Ashford, Ashford, who's, Goldman Sachs Organizations: New York Times, Service, Chinese Communist Party, New York Police Department, New, Congressional District, Citigroup, New York University, Baruch College Locations: Queens , New York, New York's, New York

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