New York prisons to release some inmates early due to staffing shortage
The move comes weeks after the state
fired more than 2,000 guards
who
carried out an unauthorized strike
over poor working conditions.
In a memo Monday, New York State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello directed prison leaders to start identifying inmates who were convicted of minor crimes and already set for release within 15 to 110 days to be considered for an early discharge.
Inmates convicted of sex crimes, violent felonies or serious felonies, such as murder, terrorism or arson, would not be eligible for early release, the corrections department said.
Martuscello wrote the early releases would occur 'in view of the current staffing crisis, and in order to have the appropriate balance between the safety and well-being of those working and residing" in state prisons.
The move follows a
widespread corrections officer strike that lasted for 22 days
and crippled the operations of state's prison system. The state eventually fired more than 2,000 guards who refused to return to work after reaching a deal with the guards' union to end the work stoppage.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order that
prevents state agencies from hiring guards who were fired for striking
.
A spokesperson for the governor said she supports Martuscello's "efforts to safely address staffing shortages and personnel concerns" in a statement Tuesday.
Republican Congressman
Mike Lawler
responded with a statement, reading in part, "Governor Hochul's decision to release inmates early is a dangerous misstep that puts New Yorkers at risk."
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Boston Globe
9 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Mitch McConnell's legacy comes under fire in Kentucky race to replace him in the Senate
Advertisement 'We've seen 40 years of doing it the same way,' Morris said. 'And, yes, he's not on the ballot, but his legacy is on the ballot. Do you want 40 more years of that? I don't think you do.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up McConnell's blunt-force approach used against him The pushback from a county GOP chairman revealed the political risks of attacking the 83-year-old McConnell in the twilight of his career. Towering over Kentucky politics for decades, McConnell is regarded as the master strategist behind the GOP's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats. The state Republican headquarters bears McConnell's name. As the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell guided Republican policymaking and helped forge a conservative Supreme Court. Back home, his appropriating skills showered Kentucky with federal funding. Advertisement Now, his blunt-force style of campaigning — which undercut so many foes — is being used against him. Morris is running against two other prominent Republicans — U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron — for McConnell's seat. The outcome will be decided in the spring primary next year. Kentucky hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992. All three Republican hopefuls lavish praise on Trump — in hopes of landing his endorsement — but also have ties to McConnell, who mentored generations of aspirational Republicans. Cameron and Barr have chided McConnell at times, but it's been mild compared to Morris' attacks. Morris interned for McConnell but glosses over that connection. McConnell pushes back At events surrounding the Fancy Farm picnic, an event long known for caustic zingers that he has always relished, McConnell showed no sign of backing down. 'Surely this isn't true, but I've heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,' McConnell told a Republican crowd that included Morris at a pre-picnic breakfast in Mayfield. 'Now, I'm wondering how you'd want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history. I'm wondering how you'd want to be different in supporting President Trump.' McConnell received multiple standing ovations. Morris stayed seated. McConnell has consistently voted for Trump's policies more often than Kentucky's other Republican senator, Rand Paul, according to a Congressional Quarterly voting analysis. McConnell recently supported Trump's signature tax and spending measure. Paul opposed it, saying it would drive up debt. Yet Morris has taken on McConnell, who has famously had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. McConnell teamed with Trump to put conservatives on the federal bench and pass tax cuts during the president's first term. McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals. But the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for 'disgraceful' acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by Trump's supporters. Advertisement McConnell endorsed Trump in 2024, but in a biography by Michael Tackett of The Associated Press, released shortly before the election, McConnell described him as 'a despicable human being.' Running against career politicians Morris, who started a waste management technology company, says the senator has been insufficiently loyal to Trump and allowed festering issues like immigration and the national debt to grow worse during his years in Senate leadership. Morris wants to tether his opponents to McConnell while running on anti-establishment themes that his campaign thinks will appeal to legions of Trump supporters in the Bluegrass State. 'Let's face it, folks, career politicians have run this country off a cliff,' Morris said. Morris' rivals sum up the anti-McConnell attacks as an angry, backward-looking message. Cameron called it a diversionary tactic to obscure what he said is Morris' lack of both a message and credibility as a supporter of Trump's MAGA movement. 'He can't talk about his actual record. So he has to choose to pick on an 83-year-old,' Cameron said. At Fancy Farm, where candidates hurl insults at one another against a backdrop of bingo games and barbecue feasts, Morris took a swipe at McConnell's health. 'I have a serious question: who here can honestly tell me that it's a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator?' Morris said. 'It seems, to me, maybe just maybe, Mitch's time to leave the Senate was a long time ago.' Advertisement McConnell had his customary front-row seat for much of the event but wasn't there for Morris' remarks. He typically leaves before all the speeches are delivered and exited before his would-be successors spoke. Living by the sword McConnell complimented Trump in his speech, singling out Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear sites. 'He turned Iran's nuclear program into a pile of rocks,' McConnell, a steadfast advocate for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, said to cheers. At the GOP dinner the night before in Calvert City, where candidates typically are more politely received, party activist Frank Amaro confronted Morris for his anti-McConnell barrage. 'He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he's running against Mitch McConnell,' Amaro, a county Republican chairman, said afterward. 'Overall, he's helped Kentucky and the United States, especially our Supreme Court, more than any other U.S. senator in this country.' But Morris' blistering assessment of McConnell hit the mark with Trump supporter Patrick Marion, who applied the dreaded Republican-in-Name-Only label to McConnell. 'Personally, I think Mitch has been a RINO for way too long,' Marion said later. 'I don't think he was a true MAGA supporter of President Trump.' Afterward, Morris was in no mood to back off. 'He's the nastiest politician maybe in the history of this state if not in the history of this country,' Morris said of McConnell. 'Look, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.'
Los Angeles Times
9 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Mitch McConnell's legacy comes under fire in Kentucky race to replace him in the Senate
CALVERT CITY, Ky. — Republican Nate Morris had deftly warmed up a crowd of party faithful, gushing about President Donald Trump and recounting his own life's journey — from hardscrabble childhood to wealthy entrepreneur — when he turned his attention to the man he wants to replace, Sen. Mitch McConnell. That's when things got feisty. While bashing Kentucky's longest-serving senator at a GOP dinner on the eve of Saturday's Fancy Farm picnic, a tradition-laden stop on the state's political circuit, Morris was cut off in midsentence by a party activist in the crowd, who noted that McConnell isn't seeking reelection and pointedly asked Morris: 'What are you running on?' Morris touted his hard line stance on immigration and defended Trump's tariffs as a boon for American manufacturing. But he didn't retreat from his harsh critique of McConnell. 'We've seen 40 years of doing it the same way,' Morris said. 'And, yes, he's not on the ballot, but his legacy is on the ballot. Do you want 40 more years of that? I don't think you do.' The pushback from a county GOP chairman revealed the political risks of attacking the 83-year-old McConnell in the twilight of his career. Towering over Kentucky politics for decades, McConnell is regarded as the master strategist behind the GOP's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats. The state Republican headquarters bears McConnell's name. As the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell guided Republican policymaking and helped forge a conservative Supreme Court. Back home, his appropriating skills showered Kentucky with federal funding. Now, his blunt-force style of campaigning — which undercut so many foes — is being used against him. Morris is running against two other prominent Republicans — U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron — for McConnell's seat. The outcome will be decided in the spring primary next year. Kentucky hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992. All three Republican hopefuls lavish praise on Trump — in hopes of landing his endorsement — but also have ties to McConnell, who mentored generations of aspirational Republicans. Cameron and Barr have chided McConnell at times, but it's been mild compared to Morris' attacks. Morris interned for McConnell but glosses over that connection. At events surrounding the Fancy Farm picnic, an event long known for caustic zingers that he has always relished, McConnell showed no sign of backing down. 'Surely this isn't true, but I've heard that one of the candidates running for my office wants to be different,' McConnell told a Republican crowd that included Morris at a pre-picnic breakfast in Mayfield. 'Now, I'm wondering how you'd want to be different from the longest-serving Senate leader in American history. I'm wondering how you'd want to be different in supporting President Trump.' McConnell received multiple standing ovations. Morris stayed seated. McConnell has consistently voted for Trump's policies more often than Kentucky's other Republican senator, Rand Paul, according to a Congressional Quarterly voting analysis. McConnell recently supported Trump's signature tax and spending measure. Paul opposed it, saying it would drive up debt. Yet Morris has taken on McConnell, who has famously had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. McConnell teamed with Trump to put conservatives on the federal bench and pass tax cuts during the president's first term. McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals. But the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for 'disgraceful' acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by Trump's supporters. McConnell endorsed Trump in 2024, but in a biography by Michael Tackett of The Associated Press, released shortly before the election, McConnell described him as 'a despicable human being.' Morris, who started a waste management technology company, says the senator has been insufficiently loyal to Trump and allowed festering issues like immigration and the national debt to grow worse during his years in Senate leadership. Morris wants to tether his opponents to McConnell while running on anti-establishment themes that his campaign thinks will appeal to legions of Trump supporters in the Bluegrass State. 'Let's face it, folks, career politicians have run this country off a cliff,' Morris said. Morris' rivals sum up the anti-McConnell attacks as an angry, backward-looking message. Cameron called it a diversionary tactic to obscure what he said is Morris' lack of both a message and credibility as a supporter of Trump's MAGA movement. 'He can't talk about his actual record. So he has to choose to pick on an 83-year-old,' Cameron said. At Fancy Farm, where candidates hurl insults at one another against a backdrop of bingo games and barbecue feasts, Morris took a swipe at McConnell's health. 'I have a serious question: who here can honestly tell me that it's a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator?' Morris said. 'It seems, to me, maybe just maybe, Mitch's time to leave the Senate was a long time ago.' McConnell had his customary front-row seat for much of the event but wasn't there for Morris' remarks. He typically leaves before all the speeches are delivered and exited before his would-be successors spoke. McConnell complimented Trump in his speech, singling out Trump's bombing of Iranian nuclear sites. 'He turned Iran's nuclear program into a pile of rocks,' McConnell, a steadfast advocate for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, said to cheers. At the GOP dinner the night before in Calvert City, where candidates typically are more politely received, party activist Frank Amaro confronted Morris for his anti-McConnell barrage. 'He keeps bashing Mitch McConnell like he's running against Mitch McConnell,' Amaro, a county Republican chairman, said afterward. 'Overall, he's helped Kentucky and the United States, especially our Supreme Court, more than any other U.S. senator in this country.' But Morris' blistering assessment of McConnell hit the mark with Trump supporter Patrick Marion, who applied the dreaded Republican-in-Name-Only label to McConnell. 'Personally, I think Mitch has been a RINO for way too long,' Marion said later. 'I don't think he was a true MAGA supporter of President Trump.' Afterward, Morris was in no mood to back off. 'He's the nastiest politician maybe in the history of this state if not in the history of this country,' Morris said of McConnell. 'Look, you live by the sword, you die by the sword.' Schreiner writes for the Associated Press.
New York Post
9 minutes ago
- New York Post
MTG sours on Republican Party, claims GOP ‘turned its back on America First'
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has become publicly disillusioned with the Republican Party, which she accused of abandoning President Trump's America First mantra and reverting to its old 'neocon' ways. Greene (R-Ga.) lauded President Trump's performance in office, but warned about growing daylight between lawmakers and the base during an interview with the Daily Mail. 'I don't know if the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I'm kind of not relating to [the] Republican Party as much anymore,' she said. 'I don't know which one it is.' 'I think the Republican Party has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans.' Over recent months, Greene has been publicly at odds with Trump on foreign policy, including the bombing of Iran, the president's pivot toward Ukraine in its defense against Russian invaders, and Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, which she recently labeled a 'genocide.' 3 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bluntly tore into the state of the Republican Party. Bloomberg via Getty Images 3 The Georgia Republican faulted the 'good ole boys' club within the party for some of its ails. AFP via Getty Images In public, Greene has been adamant that she 'has always been President Trump's most outspoken ally,' and there is no 'break' between her and him. However, she also claimed a 'good old boys' club within the congressional Republican party is undercutting the president's agenda. 'I'm not afraid of [House Speaker] Mike Johnson at all,' declared Greene, who charged ahead last year with a failed bid to dethrone the Louisianian after he took up legislation to send about $61 billion in aid to war-torn Ukraine. The Georgian also claimed that party leaders have done a poor job elevating women, telling the Mail 'the one that really got shafted was Elise Stefanik.' 3 New York Rep. Elise Stefanik is rumored to be mulling a campaign for governor. AP Trump initially nominated the upstate rep to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations, but that was rescinded this past March amid fears for the razor-thin House Republican majority. 'She got screwed by Mike Johnson, and she got screwed by the White House. I'm not blaming Trump, particularly. I'm blaming the people in the White House,' added Greene, who went on to question why new UN envoy nominee Mike Waltz got 'awarded after Signalgate'. Reps for Johnson and Stefanik, who is expected to run for governor of New York next year, did not respond to a request for comment. Greene, 51, further dinged her party for failing to deliver on promises such as the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) cost cutting initiative and slashing the deficit. 'Like, what happened to all those issues? … I don't know what the hell happened with the Republican Party. I really don't,' she told the outlet. 'But I'll tell you one thing, the course that it's on, I don't want to have anything to do with it, and I, I just don't care anymore.'
