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New Mexico Democrats call on Congress to reinstate Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

New Mexico Democrats call on Congress to reinstate Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Yahoo2 days ago

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – It's been one year since Americans were last compensated for radiation exposure, as New Mexico advocates continue to urge Congress to bring it back. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired last year, and now, state Democrats say it not only needs to be reinstated but strengthened.
Which New Mexico bills are going into law July 1?
Despite the Senate passing the bill twice, the House has yet to pass it, with Democrats calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to put it to a vote. 'This is not a partisan issue. And as a matter of fact, just based on the demographics of the states we are trying to add to RECA, the zipcodes we are trying to add to RECA, more Republicans have been affected than Democrats,' said Tina Cordova, Co-Founder, Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.
New Mexico Democrats said they want the bill amended to include all people impacted by radiation from government-funded projects.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Race for Rockland County Executive is on: Parietti on November ballot on 'Good Gov' line
Race for Rockland County Executive is on: Parietti on November ballot on 'Good Gov' line

Yahoo

time23 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Race for Rockland County Executive is on: Parietti on November ballot on 'Good Gov' line

NEW CITY -- Ramapo resident Michael Parietti officially joined the ballot Wednesday as a candidate for Rockland County executive in the Nov. 4 election. The Rockland Board of Elections affirmed that Parietti amassed the minimum 1,500 signatures on petitions to qualify for the ballot on the independent "Good Gov" line. Parietti and his supporters filed more than 3,000 names with the board on May 27. Republican County Executive Ed Day challenged the petitions, but the Board of Elections commissioners sustained the signatures beyond the minimum needed. The commissioners, Democrat Allison Weinraub and Republican Patricia Giblin, informed Parietti by letter on Wednesday. "Upon examination of the specific objection, we hereby rule that the said objection is not sustained and the petition filed by Michael I. Parietti is hereby declared valid," the commissioners wrote. With that notification, Rockland's voters have a choice for county executive. Rockland Democrats did not field a candidate. Parietti said in a statement that more than 3,000 signatures represented broad support across the county. He said that Republican operatives attempted to knock him off the ballot by filing what he called baseless objections to his petitions. Parietti has said that in his numerous past campaigns, he'd never tried to knock a candidate off the ballot, arguing competition is good for the electoral process. 'They hired a high-priced consultant to try and silence voters,' Parietti said. 'But the signatures stood, and democracy won. Now voters can decide between entrenched political interests or new ideas and real accountability for the future of our county.' Day, a Republican seeking his fourth, four-year term as county executive, could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday. Day has said he's running on his record. His bread-and-butter issues have been keeping down county property taxes and maintaining services. Day took office in January 2014 with the county facing a deficit of $138 million. The county's 2024 budget paid off a $96 million bond to help cover the deficit. For 2025, the county government has accumulated a fund balance topping $300 million. Day has promoted decreases in county taxes in the last two fiscal years, including a 2% cut in the $876 million budget for 2025. He rose from a New City civic association president to county legislator before winning election as county executive in November 2013. He won his last two elections by comfortable margins. Day started the 2025 election season with no challengers before Parietti filed, as Rockland Democrats could not field a candidate. One registered Democrat, Ernest Morales, a retired police officer, made noise about seeking the party's nomination. But he and his supporters could not muster the required number of signatures to get on the ballot. Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@ Twitter: @lohudlegal. Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers. This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Rockland NY Executive Ed Day to face independent Mike Parietti Nov. 4

Don't overlook the Big Labor funding behind the LA protests
Don't overlook the Big Labor funding behind the LA protests

The Hill

time23 minutes ago

  • The Hill

Don't overlook the Big Labor funding behind the LA protests

The left in general and labor leaders in particular continue to misread the will of the people. Case in point: Among the dozens of lessons both seem incapable of learning from last November's electoral drubbing is that Americans are solidly in favor of enforcing the nation's sovereign borders and expelling as many as possible of the millions of lawbreakers who breached them thanks to the calculated apathy of the previous administration. Apparently unfazed by facts, however, David Huerta, president of the California chapter of Service Employees International Union, last Friday, traded on the full faith and credit of his position to join those violently protesting a legal raid at a Los Angeles worksite by officials from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was subsequently arrested for trying to physically block a vehicle trying to enter the property. Again, Huerta made no attempt to distance himself and his actions from his role as SEIU's California director. To the contrary, he first made sure to don his purple SEIU T-shirt in order to make clear to everyone that he considers obstructing law enforcement one of his legitimate job responsibilities. Even more brazenly, his own SEIU affiliates in California have used member dues to support at least one group spearheading the protests — the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights — and to finance the informal 'immigration rapid response' network that has been equally at the center, and in which SEIU itself also participates. And rather than disavow Huerta's irresponsible, illegal behavior, state and national leftists quickly circled the wagons around Huerta. After all, SEIU California is a major funder of liberal causes and candidates in California. Syndicated columnist Kurt Schlicter, shrewdly noted this week that the scenario 'provides (the Trump administration) an opportunity to defund the government support to (non-governmental organizations) that launder government money to fund this kind of violence.' They could start with Huerta's union. SEIU California and its affiliates siphon millions of dollars a year from Medicaid by confiscating dues from thousands of Californians participating in a federal program that pays a modest subsidy in exchange for providing in-home care for an elderly or low-income client. Because they work at home, usually looking after a loved one, the union representing the caregivers — many of whom don't even realize they are union members — has relatively little to do. But that doesn't stop Huerta's organization from seizing 3 percent of their annual wages — among the highest dues rates in the country. In a very real sense, Medicaid is therefore bankrolling the protests in Los Angeles. Here's a thought: Instead of arresting Huerta and the other lawbreaking protestors, why not just cut off their source of funding by prohibiting unions from plundering Medicaid? Hundreds of thousands of government employees all over the country have exercised their First Amendment right to opt out of union membership and dues since it was affirmed in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the primary factors behind this movement is widespread anger over unions that use confiscated dues money to promote a radical political agenda instead of representing the legitimate workplace concerns of their members. SEIU-affiliated care providers in the Golden State need to ask themselves how Huerta's embarrassing spectacle helps enhance their pay, benefits and working conditions. It doesn't. It simply reinforces what's been obvious for years: The welfare of their rank and file hasn't been a priority for public employee unions in decades, assuming it ever was. Modern government-employee unions like SEIU exist almost exclusively to fund the failed policies of the left with workers' hard-earned dues dollars; workers who are increasingly fed up with it. It isn't just worksites overrun by violent agitators that are burning while labor icons like Huerta fiddle. It is also their fading hopes of ever being taken seriously or being handed political power again. Aaron Withe is CEO of the Freedom Foundation, a national nonprofit government union watchdog organization.

Walz, Hochul, Pritzker face off with Congress as Newsom battles Trump
Walz, Hochul, Pritzker face off with Congress as Newsom battles Trump

Fox News

time29 minutes ago

  • Fox News

Walz, Hochul, Pritzker face off with Congress as Newsom battles Trump

Democratic "sanctuary governors" will face a barrage of tough questions at a highly anticipated congressional hearing Thursday morning, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump continue to throw jabs over immigration policy. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker will testify before the House Oversight Committee and sources tell Fox that Los Angeles riots over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and Newsom's battle with Trump will likely be prominent topics of discussion. Fox News Digital obtained opening remarks to be delivered by Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, which will set the tone for the fiery hearing. "These Governors handcuff law enforcement from doing their jobs, harbor predators, and call it 'compassion,'" Comer's opening remarks explain. "It is NOT compassion, and it is costing lives, hurting Americans, and draining taxpayer money. Congress must consider whether to defund every single penny of federal dollars going to cities and states that prioritize criminal aliens over the American people." "Americans want a return to common sense. The Trump Administration and this Republican Congress aims to restore our safety and sovereignty. It is past time for these governors to put Americans first." All three Democratic governors testifying at the hearing sided with Newsom in a statement Sunday addressing Trump's use of the National Guard to dispel riots that have been raging over the past few days in Los Angeles. Rioters set cars on fire, looted businesses, and clashed with law enforcement. "We stand with Governor Newsom who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation," the statement signed by Walz, Pritzker, and Hochul reads. Since LA's riots, protests over President Trump's immigration policies have since spread to Pritzker and Hochul's states on Tuesday with large gatherings in Lower Manhattan in New York and Federal Plaza in Chicago, blocking off streets and causing disruptions. Fox News Digital also received J.B. Pritzker's opening remarks, where the governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate said his state "could not simply ignore the suffering" illegal migrants faced in Illionis. "The crisis at the southern border in recent years has been devastating; the response from some of our political leaders even more so," Prtizker's statement reads. "As individuals fleeing poverty, violence, and persecution arrived at our border, our nation's leaders were confronted with a choice: would we do everything possible to make the promise of America the practice of America?" "Some border state governors and mayors abandoned our nation's highest ideals – instead of choosing to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to treat people as pawns, busing them to states like ours in a dehumanizing attempt to leverage the crisis for political gain. The State of Illinois chose a different path." Republican members on the Oversight Committee spoke to Fox News Digital ahead of Thursday's action, saying the three governors testifying "are willing to trade public safety for left-wing virtue signaling." "Democrat-run sanctuary states shield criminal aliens from federal immigration enforcement, put law enforcement in unnecessary danger, and disregard the safety of millions of Americans," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told Fox News Digital. "Seventy-seven million people gave President Trump a mandate last November to put an end to the Democrats' prioritization of illegal aliens over American citizens. And he's doing just that." "To folks like Walz, Hochul and Pritzker, sanctuary state policies are a badge of honor. They are willing to trade public safety for left-wing virtue signaling," said Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, explained to Fox News Digital. "Perhaps Governor Gavin Newsom will take a break from defying federal authority to tune in and see why Americans are fleeing California in droves to escape his failed policies that invite illegal migrant crime and anarchist thugs," Fallon added. The stage is set for the hearing, which will take place on Thursday at 10 AM eastern time. Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul and Walz but did not receive a response. Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to and on X @MizellPreston

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