Good morning, it’s Wednesday.
We are only two days into the Trump administration (counting inauguration day, since the new president and his administration hit the ground running, so to speak) and it’s already been quite the roller coaster.
The strange timing juxtapositions just keep on coming. The mash-up of President Trump’s swearing in with MLK Day was jarring, to say the least, especially since among the many executive orders he signed were two that rolled back both LGBTQ rights and DEI programs.
So, while elsewhere in the country, advocates and elected officials (Democrats, mostly) were remembering MLK Jr.’s legacy of fighting for equity and justice, Donald Trump was in D.C., busily dismantling progress on that front.
Though he hasn’t gotten to it just yet, Trump is likely to soon get around to the matter of abortion rights. He is expected to, for example, reinstate a controversial policy (AKA the Mexico City policy) that further bars foreign NGOs that perform, counsel on or provide information on abortions abroad from receiving U.S. funding.
Though he pledged on the campaign trail to leave the hot-button issue of abortion rights to the states, it’s unlikely that anti-abortion activists will be satisfied with that.
He’s going to have no choice but to take a stand when and if (and it seems likely) Republicans in Congress send new abortion legislation to his desk, and whether the Justice Department should continue to defend abortion policies established during the Biden administration.
Against that rather ominous backdrop, today marks the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, in which seven of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices at the time agreed that the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment protected a woman’s right to choose to end her pregnancy prior to viability.
That right was overturned in 2022 when a new high court decided the 1973 decision and subsequent rulings that upheld it had been “egregiously wrong” and backed by “exceptionally weak” arguments. Abortion access has been dwindling – if not altogether banned outright – in states across the country ever since.
Adding poignancy to this anniversary day is that it comes on the heels of the passing of Cecile Richards, a veteran advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedom who led Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018 and helped significantly raise the organization’s profile during that time.
Richards, who was also the daughter of the late former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, was battling glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. She died at the age of 67.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a very proud member of the Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood Board. Now that I am no longer a journalist, I am able to fully engage in causes in which I believe – and a woman’s right (really, anyone’s right) to do as she chooses with her body is very high up on that list).
I did not know Richards. She left Planned Parenthood long before I got involved with the organization. I did meet her once and interview her briefing back when I was a reporter, but it wasn’t a terribly memorable experience. (It was a cattle call, she was rushed, and I’m sure I didn’t do anything to make a lasting impression).
I did admire her, however, for her tenacity and her dedication to fighting for women’s right to bodily autonomy. In this moment, when so many people feel so deflated and disappointed after hoping to see history made with the first woman president taking the oath of office, only to be handed Trump 2.0, inspiration can be hard to come by.
Richards once said: “I think women have the opportunity to change the landscape and change the direction of America.” It just might take a little longer than we originally thought. Keep your heads up, and keep marching.
Another frigid day is on tap. But not to fear! We’ll be warming up into the 20s before you know it! Today, though, will again be mostly sunny, with highs in the teens.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration ordered that officials overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies be placed on paid leave, with the likelihood they’re eventually be laid off entirely, and to take steps to close their offices by this evening.
In a memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the heads of departments and agencies were ordered to purge such officials by placing all D.E.I. staff on paid administrative leave and to make plans for staff reductions by the end of the day on Jan. 31.
The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by President Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients.
Trump is moving to restructure the nation’s energy future to block any transition away from fossil fuels. And he is testing the boundaries of presidential power to do it.
The orders that Trump signed earlier this week would make it easier and cheaper for companies to produce oil and gas and for the government to stop clean energy projects that have been approved.
On the heels of the hottest year in recorded history, one that brought the planet to a dangerous temperature threshold, Trump effectively told the world on his inauguration day that the United States is out of the climate fight.
AGs from 18 states, including New York, sued Trump to block an executive order that refuses to recognize U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens, the opening salvo in a likely long legal battle over the administration’s immigration policies.
The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Massachusetts was joined by the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The lawsuit was filed by Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights on behalf of Brazilian Worker Center and La Colaborativa.
A pregnant woman living in Massachusetts with temporary protected status who is expected to give birth in March, but whose baby, under Trump’s order, won’t be a citizen, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Trump was angered yesterday when the bishop of the National Cathedral asked him to have compassion toward “scared” immigrants and LGBTQ people.
The new president sat grimly in the front row of the pews as the Rev. Mariann Budde called on him to “have mercy” on undocumented immigrants and sexual minorities who were targeted by his Day One blizzard of executive orders.
One day after Trump issued a sweeping legal reprieve to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, some of the defendants started having their cases dismissed or even began to be released from custody.
By yesterday afternoon, two of the country’s most prominent far-right extremists — Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers militia — who played central roles in the Capitol attack had been set free.
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy criticized Trump’s decision to pardon or commute the sentences of individuals who were convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6 attack.
Acting U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman issued a directive allowing federal agents to arrest illegal immigrants at churches and schools.
An ex-sister-in-law of Pete Hegseth’s submitted a sworn statement to senators that accused Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, of being so “abusive” toward his second wife that she once hid in a closet and had a safe word to call for help.
The former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, submitted the affidavit in response to a Jan. 18 letter from Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., seeking “a statement attesting to your personal knowledge about Mr. Hegseth’s fitness to occupy this important position.”
Reed said that “the alleged pattern of abuse and misconduct by Mr. Hegseth is disturbing. This behavior would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military, much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio walked into the State Department yesterday for the first time in his new job, taking the reins of the main agency carrying out U.S. foreign policy at a time of violent global crises and as other nations begin engaging with Trump.
The State Department and the United States Agency for International Development, which works under Rubio’s authority, have begun halting the disbursement of foreign aid money, following an executive order signed this week by Trump.
After delivering remarks to the State Department’s employees, Rubio met with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan as the Trump administration kicked off its formal foreign policy engagements in discussions with the Indo- Pacific “Quad.”
Trump said that he intended to impose a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports into the United States on Feb. 1, a decision that is sure to escalate trade tensions between the world’s largest economies.
Judge Aileen Cannon blocked the release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report into Trump’s now-defunct classified documents case, raising the odds it will ever see the light of day.
Barron Trump, 18, appears to be following in his father’s footsteps — as he’s preparing to launch a luxury real estate venture with two young business partners.
After facing backlash for performing at Trump’s inaugural festivities, artists like Snoop Dogg and Nelly are defending their decision.
Canada’s outgoing prime minister and the leader of the country’s oil rich province of Alberta are both confident that Canada can avoid the 25% tariffs Trump says he will impose on Feb. 1.
MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton called on all Americans to boycott companies eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, claiming they are trying to send Black people to the “back of the bus.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, pledged to combat antisemitism, counter Chinese influence, and, if necessary, leverage American contributions to force changes.
“(W)e need to…make sure that our dollars are going to programs within the U.N. that work, that have a basis in the rule of law, that have a basis in transparency and accountability and strength in our national security, in our partnerships,” Stefanik said.
During her confirmation hearing, Stefanik touted her fiery grilling of college administrators last year, saying it was a “watershed moment” that exposed “antisemitic rot” in the U.S. colleges.
Trump replaced the acting U.S. attorneys in Manhattan and Brooklyn with temps as his nominees for the posts await Senate confirmation, after some House Republicans last month urged the president to fill top federal prosecutor jobs with loyalists quickly.
Developers behind New York’s offshore wind projects are grappling with the prospect of billions of dollars in potentially lost value for renewable energy farms off the coast of Long Island following Trump’s recent executive order.
Gov. Kathy Hochul released the full details of her massive spending proposal that she said would make New York less expensive while cutting taxes for middle-income earners, funding essential services and making public safety a “priority.”
The $252 billion proposal represents the largest spending plan of Hochul’s tenure and includes a pledge to modestly decrease the tax rate on households making under $323,200 a year.
Spending is expected to rise $8.6 billion, or 3.6 percent, and the plan marks the first time the state budget is crossing the quarter-of-a-trillion dollar mark.
The governor’s plan addressed concerns about affordability, crime and the cost of living, but did little to anticipate Trump’s policies.
Hochul is still scrambling to lock down money for her $154 million surge of NYPD on overnight subway trains, even as the first wave of cops hit the tunnels this week.
Hochul’s proposed school cellphone restrictions would require students to be separated from their devices from “bell to bell,” her office said, meaning teens could lose access to their phones during lunch or free periods.
In the coming weeks, the state Senate and Assembly will offer their own budget proposals. They and Hochul will negotiate any differences before a final budget is voted on and signed.
A coalition of advocates is rallying behind the “Treatment Not Jail” act, a proposal aimed at prioritizing mental health treatment over incarceration in New York, which has garnered support from Albany Interim Police Chief Brendan Cox.
A new proposal to ease New York City’s housing crisis would make way for nearly 10,000 apartments in parts of Midtown Manhattan that do not currently allow new residential construction, a shift officials hope will reinvigorate the area.
Hours after returning from Trump’s inauguration, New York City Mayor Eric Adams revealed deepening ties to the GOP.
Amid sharp debate over Trump’s executive orders on immigration, gender identity and other issues, Adams said that he has made a deal to not publicly criticize the president and has been assured he’ll have a direct line to him.
“If I do disagree, I will communicate with him directly on them,” Adams said during his weekly media availability.
Adams sat for an interview on The Tucker Carlson Show, Carlson posted on X, with a teaser of said interview attached. (Adams in 2021 said that Carlson “perpetuates racist, anti-immigrant propaganda.”
“People often say, ‘Well, you know, you don’t sound like a Democrat and you seem to have left the party,’” Adams told Carlson during the interview that aired last night. “No. The party left me and left working-class people.”
Adams also told Carlson that the Democratic Party has abandoned him and regular, working-class people.
The latest surge of cops into the subways will see 300 uniformed officers deployed between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. across nearly 150 trains for the next six months, with two officers assigned to each train.
More than 3,000 residents of New York City Housing Authority complexes across the city had no heat or hot water yesterday, as temperatures hovered in the single digits with wind chills, according to the agency.
A panel of federal appeals court judges heard arguments about whether the city’s largest police union should be able to scuttle a settlement that commits the NYPD to “avoid intentional strikes to the head” with batons, among other protest policing reforms.
Stuyvesant Plaza has announced two more tenants: Kendra Scott, a jewelry and accessory brand especially popular with teens and 20-somethings, and ear piercer Rowan are coming to the outdoor shopping center in Guilderland.
Community Care Physicians announced that Dr. Ronald Musto has been named CEO, replacing Dr. Shirish Parikh, who has been leading the organization since its founding in 1984.
Jason Aldean will “Take A Little Ride” back to Saratoga Springs this spring. The country music star’s “Full Throttle” tour will play Saratoga Performing Arts Center on May 25.
Months of partisan bickering as to when and how to replace the Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works on the City Council should come to an end on Jan. 28 with a special election.
Garth Hudson, the multitalented musical genius who elevated The Band while remaining its most reserved member, died Tuesday at the age of 87. He was the group’s last surviving member and died in his sleep at a nursing home in Woodstock, NY.
Jules Feiffer, who illustrated “The Phantom Tollbooth” and was a longtime Village Voice comic strip artist, died last Friday at his home in Richfield Springs, NY, west of Albany, at the age of 95.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
