Former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton endorses city Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti in her reelection bid
Former Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton endorsed Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in her bid for reelection this year.
In a joint statement issued by Cognetti's campaign, Casey cited her leadership in the city's financial recovery and her commitment to the residents she serves.
'Mayor Paige Cognetti has delivered the honest, responsive government Scranton deserves, one that works as hard as the people it serves. Under her leadership, the city has strengthened its finances, cut red tape for businesses and invested in public safety and our neighborhoods, all while keeping costs down for residents,' Casey said. 'I'm proud to support Paige for re-election because she's making Scranton a stronger, more vibrant city — a place where families can thrive, businesses can grow and every citizen can share in its progress.'
Former Scranton Sewer Authority Executive Director Gene Barrett and former Scranton School Board President Bob Sheridan each have announced they are running in the May 20 Democratic primary for the party's nomination for Scranton mayor.
March 11 is the deadline for candidates to submit nominating petitions. The winner of the Scranton mayoral primary will advance to the Nov. 4 general election.
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti tells supporters of Senator Bob Casey that the senator would not be speaking tonight at his election night party at the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple with election results too close to call on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.(Christopher Dolan / Staff Photographer)
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Politico
27 minutes ago
- Politico
Nashville ICE raid reignites city's turmoil with GOP leaders
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The feud, which shows no signs of ending soon, comes with real potential consequences for Nashville and other blue cities in red states being targeted over their immigration policies. 'It's unfortunate that he's willing to support the law breakers instead of supporting us as the lawmakers,' state Rep. Rusty Grills, a Republican, said of the mayor. O'Connell, who has worked to calm long-running tensions with Republicans since his election in 2023, is the latest target of GOP ire over perceived threats to President Donald Trump's deportations, and the onslaught against the mayor also represents a further escalation in the administration's attack on local officials. In New Jersey, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested in May on a trespassing charge outside an ICE facility. That charge was later dropped, but U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver is facing assault charges from the same confrontation. In Tennessee, Republicans in the state legislature told POLITICO that O'Connell was putting officers at risk by updating a longstanding executive order mandating that city officials disclose interactions with ICE to the mayor's office within 24 hours. They have latched onto that as evidence the mayor is impeding law enforcement operations. O'Connell, speaking at a press conference following the raids, said the city does not have the authority to enforce immigration laws, and noted that Nashville's crime rates are down. He has maintained that the city did not interfere with the ICE operation in early May. Yet GOP outrage has spread from Tennessee to Washington. O'Connell is facing a federal investigation from House Republicans announced last week, and a call for another from the Department of Justice by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who all argue that O'Connell is impeding law enforcement's ability to crack down on crime committed by illegal immigrants. U.S. border czar Tom Homan has warned that Nashville could see larger immigration crackdowns as a result of O'Connell's opposition. 'We'll flood the zone in the neighborhoods to find the bad guy,' Homan said on Fox News last week. 'We'll flood the zone at work sites to find the bad guy, but we're going to do it, and [O'Connell's] not going to stop us.' Republicans have also gone after O'Connell for highlighting a donations fund that supports individuals affected by the arrests, like children whose parents were detained. Republicans say the fund is an improper use of taxpayer dollars, although the fund was created by a nonprofit that says it exclusively uses private donations. Tennessee Democrats and immigrant advocates say that Republicans are cheering ICE's involvement because of a bad-faith view of immigrant communities and that the criticism of O'Connell is purely GOP rhetoric lacking any basis. 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27 minutes ago
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Here's Where NYC Mayoral Candidates Stand on Key Issues
Skip to content Bloomberg the Company & Its Products Bloomberg Terminal Demo Request Bloomberg Anywhere Remote Login Bloomberg Customer Support The race to run New York City is heating up. Typically, the candidate who clinches the Democratic nomination for mayor is the presumptive winner in November's general election, but this year is different. The winner of the Democratic primary will face off in November against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who has opted to run as an independent. Adams was the first New York mayor in modern history to be charged with federal crimes, though the case against the former police captain was permanently dismissed in April. Adams' legal problems and low poll numbers attracted a crowded field of challengers to the primary. Bloomberg News invited the top 10 Democratic candidates by dollars raised to sit for roundtable discussions consisting of open-ended and multiple-choice questions. 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In 2021, eight rounds were needed before Adams was announced as the winner. Here's where the candidates stand on a number of key issues impacting New Yorkers. Housing Number of Affordable Housing Units Started All nine candidates unanimously agree that New York, which has some of the highest average rents and lowest vacancy rates in the city's history, is in dire need of more affordable housing. Construction of new projects began at a sluggish pace at the start of the Adams administration in 2022, though the rate has since picked up. In 2024, construction began on more than 42,400 new units. Candidates have varying ideas on where to place some of the new housing units. Comptroller Brad Lander wants to build affordable communities on four of the 12 golf courses that are operated on city-owned land. And a number of candidates — including former Comptroller Scott Stringer and State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani — want to use vacant city-owned parcels and crack down on unscrupulous landlords to meet their housing commitments. State Senator Zellnor Myrie has committed to building 1 million homes over the next decade. How many new affordable housing units would you plan to build or make available in your first term of four years? All but one candidate indicated that a rent freeze on the city's stabilized housing could be plausible. Several said they wanted to see more data before committing, but former hedge fund executive Whitney Tilson said supporting a rent freeze isn't part of his agenda. Annual Rent Increases for Rent-Stabilized Apartments During former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, from 2014 through 2021, city officials froze rents at regulated properties four times. But under Adams, city officials have approved rent increases every year. The Rent Guidelines Board, whose nine members are appointed by the mayor, is the governing body that sets the rent increases for the city's 1 million rent-stabilized dwellings. State Senator Jessica Ramos is among the candidates who say more tenant advocates should be named to the board so it would be more representative of everyday New Yorkers. Lander and Cuomo have also called for reforming who is on the board. Crime and Incarceration Under Mayor Adams, murders and shootings are trending down, while violent incidents like assaults and robberies have risen and haven't returned to prepandemic levels. That's contributed to a perception of disorder in the nation's biggest city. Crime and Offense Incidents Today, the New York Police Department employs around 34,000 officers, nearly 1,000 short of its budgeted headcount. More than 5,000 officers will be retirement-eligible in 2025 too. For the coming fiscal year, the department is set to receive more than $6.1 billion for its operations, $300 million more than its allocated amount last year. However, the department exceeds its budget on an annual basis due to overtime costs that the City Council has described as 'potential corruption.' This year it's on pace to spend $1.1 billion on overtime, nearly double its budgeted figure. What will you prioritize first to address crime in New York City? Currently, the NYPD is helmed by Jessica Tisch, who took over in November, becoming the fourth NYPD commissioner of Mayor Adams' first term. Tisch, who previously served as the city's sanitation commissioner, has been seen as a bright spot in an Adams administration beset by scandals. Would you keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch if elected? In 2017, the city passed a law to close the city's Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with smaller jails in four boroughs (all except Staten Island) by 2027. City officials have admitted that timeline is no longer feasible because of delays and cost overruns. Will you close Rikers? Will you adjust any of the plans for the replacement jails for Rikers? Cost of Living Citywide Hourly Minimum Wage From groceries and utility bills to rent and childcare, the cost-of-living squeeze has hit New York harder than many other parts of the country. From 2018 through 2023, the minimum wage in the city for companies employing more than 10 workers remained stagnant at $15 an hour, despite the city facing some of the worst inflation in decades. Minimum wage stands now at $16.50 an hour, with one more 50-cent increase set to take effect in January. Further increases will be tied to the regional Consumer Price Index. What do you think the standard minimum wage should be in 2025? The city has made progress on childcare affordability in recent years with the implementation of a 3-K program, but residents are still feeling the pinch. Full-Time Nanny Average Weekly Rate The City's 3-K program, which was originally planned by de Blasio, offers free six-hour schooling for 3-year-olds. However, seat availability often doesn't line up with demand. Districts in some parts of Queens and Brooklyn tend to have more empty seats, while neighborhoods with more high-performing schools have long waitlists. Parents in those districts often opt for out-of-pocket schools or full-time at-home options. Private options aren't cheap either. According to the weekly cost of hiring a full-time nanny in the city has gone up more than 37% since before the pandemic, from nearly $700 to $960. Education NYC Public Schools K-12 Enrollment Education is the single biggest expense in the city's $115 billion budget, with 36 cents of every dollar the city spends going toward funding for schools and the Department of Education. But K-12 enrollment has dropped by more than 60,000 students over the past 10 years. Some parents decided to put their children through private schooling during and after the pandemic, and many families have opted to leave the city altogether. Do you more broadly have reforms you want to make to education? Would you institute anything to make up for pandemic education losses and decreases in enrollment? A looming question for the next mayor is how to lure students back into the school system, and how to make up for pandemic education losses — from remote schooling to mental-health issues. Some candidates are proposing curriculum additions like financial studies, media literacy and beefing up critical-thinking modules. In recent years, a polarizing debate over the future of the city's specialized high school admissions process has divided New Yorkers, with some opponents of the test arguing the process discriminates against Blacks and Hispanics. Eighth- and ninth-graders can take a standardized test to gain admittance into one of the system's eight specialized high schools. Entrance is highly competitive. More than 25,000 students sat for the test last year. Just over 4,000 students earned a spot. The ninth specialized school admits students based on auditions. Transit MTA Annual Ridership All of the candidates are mostly in support of the first-ever congestion pricing program in the US. The next mayor will have to work with Governor Kathy Hochul to save the program from the Trump administration's effort to eliminate it. Most of the candidates are also proposing making transit more accessible by expanding the city's Fair Fares program, which lets eligible riders commute for half price. One of Mamdani's signature policies is making city buses free altogether. The city's Independent Budget Office estimates that making buses free will cost $650 million a year. Migration New York is a so-called sanctuary city: Local agencies are restricted in how much they can support federal immigration enforcement to establish a more welcoming atmosphere to immigrants. Deportations in New York sharply increased during President Donald Trump's first administration, and the trend could continue again after he proposed a hefty increase in funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Trump Trump, a native New Yorker, has already targeted his hometown multiple times in the first few months of his second term. He's cut $400 million in funding to city agencies and is trying to kill congestion pricing. Trump also pulled $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, before the Morningside Heights-based college yielded to several of his demands to get the funding reinstated. New York City currently receives 7% to 8% of its overall budget from federal funds, money that could be in jeopardy, given that Trump has proposed deeper cuts in his new budget plan. How do you plan to engage with the Trump Administration? Climate Change Local Law 97 Complicance New York City is one of the worst emissions-producing cities in the world. In 2019, city officials passed Local Law 97, which mandated strict carbon caps on a majority of buildings larger than 25,000 square feet. Buildings will be subject to additional emissions restrictions beginning in 2030 — part of an ambitious goal to make the city carbon-neutral by 2050. Taxes Key Line Items in NYC FY2025 Budget The nine candidates have big plans for the city, but how they will pay for their ambitious new agenda items is a more difficult question. Mayors don't have the authority to raise or lower taxes, except for their ability to adjust city property tax levies. Any new taxes or increases in existing tax rates have to be approved by the state legislature and the governor. Four of the nine candidates said they can pay for their entire agenda without raising any taxes. Other candidates want to leverage city property tax reform to fund their agenda. Mamdani, who is currently polling in second, wants to raise the highest corporate tax rate to that of New Jersey's — 11.5%, up from 7.5% — to fund his programs. How will you pay for your agenda? Candidates were also asked if there was a city law or agency that they would get rid of. Responses varied widely. What is a city law or agency that you would get rid of? Coalitions Since 2021, New York City has used ranked choice in primaries for certain elected offices: mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president and city council. Which mayoral candidate did you rank first in 2021? That makes it advantageous for candidates to start building coalitions on who else to list besides themselves. For now, some progressive and liberal opponents of Cuomo are simply recommending something they're calling the 'ABC strategy, or 'anyone but Cuomo.' Tilson, however, said he is mostly aligned with Cuomo on a policy basis. 'But I don't have the history or baggage that he has,' Tilson said. Since it's ranked choice voting, who should your voters rank second? On May 30, the Working Families party released its slate of candidates to rank: Mamdani first, followed by Lander, Adrienne Adams, Myrie and Ramos. The party has indicated that if none of its endorsed candidates win the primary, it will name one person to run on the WFP ballot line in the November general election. Cuomo has also indicated that he will run as an independent in November if he doesn't earn the Democratic nomination. The race to City Hall has really only just begun.
