Good morning, it’s Wednesday. We’re midway through the weekend and barreling headlong to the end of the summer.
Also fast approaching: The midterms. While we here in true blue New York are not, by definition, a swing state, we still have a few contested congressional races that will help determine control of the House in 2027.
Thanks in no small part to the mounting data center backlash, many races that looked like safe bets for Republicans are now less certain, though voter anger is pretty much directed at anyone and everyone in office, regardless of their party affiliation. It doesn’t help the GOP, though, that their standard bearer, the president, continues to be very bullish about data centers, polls be damned.
Pollsters are tracking all manner of voter profiles, including women, who have consistently registered and cast ballots in higher numbers than men for decades now. That may have something to do with the fact that women had to fight so long and so hard for their right to vote, which makes it extra meaningful to be able to exercise that right today.
Or maybe women are just inherently smarter, wiser, and more civic minded?
But I digress.
On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guaranteed American women the right to vote, was officially certified by U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, ending a struggle for equality that had started more than a century earlier. (Specifically, the amendment states that the government cannot deny or abridge a citizen’s right to vote based on sex).
Since the Constitution is a foundational document, the process of amending it is not easy. In the case of the 19th Amendment, it was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, but not ratified until more than a year later – on August 18, 2020. On that day, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, passing the required 3/4 of all states threshold.
So arguably, today was really THE big day for the suffragists, but two of the movement’s biggest leaders – Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt – had asked Colby to allow groups of advocates (including cameras) into the office for a public signing, and got turned down. Colby was concerned that the well-known rivalry between the two women would result in a scene and overshadow the significance of the moment, so he opted to do his legal duty in private.
Though Tennessee did the honors in pushing the 19th Amendment over the finish line, so to speak, New York played a key role in its history and passage. Not only was the Empire State the site of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 where Elizabeth Cady Stanton launched the women’s rights movement, but it also granted women the right to vote in statewide elections in 1917 – three years before Congress passed the 19th Amendment – adding critical leverage and momentum to the movement.
These days, with voting rights under siege, it’s more important than ever to remember how far we’ve come and how hard we had to fight to get here. Happy Women’s Equality Day. Maybe one day we’ll be able to agree on the status of the ERA? (A woman can dream).
We’ll see a mix of sun and clouds today, with highs peaking in the low 80s. A lovely late summer day, make sure to make the most of it.
In the headlines…
President Trump notched two critical wins in South Carolina and Oklahoma on Tuesday, with Sen. Darline Graham (S.C.) and former state Sen. Mike Mazzei (Okla.) clinching the GOP nominations in their respective primary runoff races.
The Republican contests for South Carolina Senate and Oklahoma governor served as another key test of the president’s influence in the GOP as several of his gubernatorial and House picks have fallen short in their primaries this cycle.
Democratic socialist N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas is projected to win Oklahoma’s Democratic Senate primary, defeating Democrat Jim Priest, a lawyer, to take on Republican nominee Rep. Kevin Hern.
Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher who is challenging the Republican senator Dan S. Sullivan of Alaska, won a spot on the general-election ballot, according to the AP. His emergence from the state’s nonpartisan primary poses a headache for the incumbent.
Republicans were already struggling to defuse simmering voter frustrations over the cost of living ahead of the midterms. Then President Trump rekindled his trade wars.
Canada announced retaliatory tariffs as high as 50 percent on hundreds of American products on Tuesday, just days after the collapse of trade talks triggered punishing tariffs from the Trump administration.
The most significant measure is a doubling of tariffs on American steel and aluminum to 50 percent. But the list of products affected ranges from household rolls of aluminum foil to railway locomotives and steel bridges.
Trump threatened to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America if Canada doesn’t cave to his demands in the still-escalating trade war.
Lawyers for the Trump administration told a federal judge that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts desperately needs the major renovation ordered by the president and raised the specter that it would need to be “taken down” if those plans are blocked.
Ticket sales and fundraising collapsed after President Trump’s name was added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, even as the center’s leaders publicly touted a financial turnaround,
The Log Cabin Republicans, a leading conservative gay rights group, will no longer advocate for transgender issues, according to the group’s president.
Global icon and humanitarian, Dolly Parton, known to the world as a beloved singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress, playwright, and author died in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80 years old.
A representative for Parton said the country singer died after a “brief battle” with cancer, although they did not disclose the specific type of cancer. She passed away a little over a year after her husband of 59 years, Carl Thomas, died at age 82.
President Trump mourned Parton, announcing plans to order the flag to be flown at half-staff for a week in her honor. “This is a true loss for millions of people,” he posted on Truth Social. “There has never been anyone like her, and never will.”
The Empire State Building announced it would sparkle in pink beginning at 9:25 p.m. in a “9 to 5” tribute to Parton.
Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to prove she can be a strong top of the ticket this year to sweep down-ballot Democrats into office and help her party regain control of the House.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is highlighting new arrests as some state and local governments – including New York – move to limit cooperation with the agency.
New York law enforcement agencies face limits on cooperating with federal immigration crackdowns under a state law that went into effect Tuesday, even as dueling lawsuits over the new rules play out in court.
If the responses from the Republican leaders of those defiant counties are any indication, the threat of getting sued by AG Letitia James for violating a new state law prohibiting cooperation with ICE doesn’t scare them much.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is refusing to comply with a state law banning cooperative agreements between local police and ICE, thrusting immigration enforcement into the forefront of his challenge to Gov. Hochul.
Fifteen New York sheriffs filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new state law that took effect this week and bans congressionally authorized agreements governing civil immigration enforcement coordination between local, state and federal agencies.
Rensselaer County leaders said they will “be party to a federal lawsuit” to protect their 287(g) agreement with ICE. Broome County also plans to sue, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The warehouse at 800 Corporate Boulevard in Newburgh, N.Y., sits empty, its 42,377 square feet quiet. But residents fear it could soon become a bustling operation where immigrants are held, processed and transported before deportation.
Licensed marijuana merchants are urging Hochul to slap down legislation that would create a state cannabis industry wage board, calling it a Big Labor power play that would send weed prices sky high.
A group of Buffalo-area advocates is pushing for Hochul to sign legislation that would pause new data center permits statewide, but a data center has already been operating in a Buffalo neighborhood since 2021.
Hochul announced the elimination of mandatory fees for over 7,500 graduate student workers at SUNY State-operated campuses, ending a four-year phase-out.
The New York State inspector general has written a comic book to explain the watchdog role of inspectors general, who provide independent government oversight, often by investigating waste and fraud.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, both violated the law when they failed to release a plan on time to combat racial disparities across the boroughs, a state Supreme Court judge ruled Tuesday.
The Mamdani administration responded to concerns about the bumpy rollout of its second-home tax, stating it had reduced the rolls of property owners who may owe by over 4,000 and had extended the deadline for homeowners to prove New York City residency.
Mamdani has responded to public concern over surging U.S. Open ticket prices by securing 1,000 “affordable” tickets for the tournament, which will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to local residents.
Mamdani unveiled a new tool to crack down on slumlords on Tuesday morning by creating a policy to expedite city housing court cases involving dangerous or unhealthy conditions.
Mamdani said on Tuesday he did not support an upcoming event in his city featuring the leader of the Hindu nationalist group that is the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The mayor called the Hindu nationalist group’s ideology “exclusionary” while acknowledging the city can’t block a private event.
Mamdani was slapped by a D.C.-based nonprofit with an ethics complaint from a watchdog group accusing him of misusing city resources to boost multiple Empire State Democrats.
Certain housing court cases in New York will now be treated as emergencies and fast tracked by city judges, advancing a major component of Mamdani’s housing plan.
New York City property owners have more time to seek a break from the new pied-à-terre tax after the Finance Department further extended the deadline to Oct. 6 for exemption applications.
Two weeks away from the first day of school on Sept. 10, pre-K and 3-K providers are digging into their own pockets to be able to open their doors on time after New York City failed to deliver its typical advance payments.
MTA officials whispered “meet me in Montauk” to its riders on Tuesday as they announced the start of their direct service to the eastern tip of Long Island every weekday throughout the year.
A man died on Rikers Island early Tuesday morning after a medical emergency, according to the Department of Correction. He is the second person to die in DOC custody in less than a week.
After several years of financial struggles, The Cookie Factory has closed its retail storefronts in the Collar City and Halfmoon. But its products remain available in supermarkets and convenience stores, the company announced online on Monday night.
A University at Albany student was killed in a motorcycle crash Sunday evening on Long Island, a university spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.
Schalmont has a problem that nearby school districts would love: Too many students. District leaders want to add 12 classrooms to Jefferson Elementary School to accommodate the steady increase in enrollment.
Plans for the Village of Ballston Spa’s expansive Tannery Commons have been scaled back, but not enough to allay the concerns of neighbors of the proposed 168-unit apartment complex.
The Albany Community Police Review Board voted to table a complaint involving a Black member of the Common Council who accused city police officers of racially profiling him and scaring his teenage grandson during a May 18 traffic stop.
The Saratoga County school district’s Board of Education’s agenda for its Sept. 8 meeting includes whether to move forward with a new moniker for Shenendehowa’s athletes and teams, which is expected to be the “Mustangs.”
Photo credit: George Fazio.
