
Harvey Epstein wins NYC Council primary, defeating Anthony Weiner's comeback bid
Voting concluded June 24 , but the winner wasn't established until Tuesday when ranked choice voting results were released. Epstein now moves to the city's general election in the fall.

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The Hill
13 minutes ago
- The Hill
Senate panel rejects Trump cuts to NIH, other health agencies
The Senate Appropriations Committee rejected the Trump administration's massive proposed funding cut to the National Institutes of Health, advancing a measure that would increase the agency's budget by $400 million. The White House budget called for slashing NIH by $18 billion, a decrease of 40 percent. Instead, the committee advanced the bill on a 26-3 vote, delivering a bipartisan rebuke of the administration's efforts to defund medical research. 'This committee has had multiple hearings over the last several months and heard from patients, families and researchers about the importance of NIH funding,' said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). 'This committee has, in a bipartisan manner, prioritized NIH and the research it supports to develop life-saving treatments and cures for devastating diseases.' The committee rejected the administration's plan to revamp the way NIH pays universities, medical schools, and other research centers for overhead costs, as well as a proposal to restructure the agency and consolidate all 27 NIH institutes into eight new entities. The bill includes a $100 million increase for Alzheimer's disease research, a $150 million increase for cancer research, and a $30 million increase for the Office of Research on Women's Health. 'To the scientists wondering if there will even be an NIH by the end of this administration: this committee's resounding message is yes,' said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee's vice chair. 'Congress has your back — we're not going to give up the fight against cancer, Alzheimer's, or rare diseases,' Murray said. Democratic committee members also expressed frustration at the White House Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) repeated encroachments into the appropriations process and attempts to halt spending of money that was already approved by Congress. Since President Trump took office, NIH has terminated or frozen nearly 5,000 awards totaling $4 billion, while another approximately $15 billion has not yet been obligated. 'Right now, they are illegally hiding apportionments data that would let us know whether funds we passed are being spent as intended and help us strengthen the bills we are in the middle of writing on. It is absurd we have to mark up bills, while being kept in the dark,' Murray said. Murray and other members repeatedly mentioned an OMB memo from earlier this week that, through a footnote, abruptly prevented NIH from issuing grants. While the decision was reversed, Democrats said it showed the administration's disdain for congressional spending authority. 'One footnote, from an unelected bureaucrat — overruling Congress and even NIH, to block $15 billion in funding for things like cancer research,' Murray said. Outside of NIH, the bill maintains flat funding for other health agencies and programs, including the Title X family planning program and domestic HIV prevention. The bill also rejected the nearly $4 billion — or 50 percent — cut and consolidation to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs included in the White House budget request. But looming over the process is the possibility of another rescissions package from the administration. 'Should the administration put forward a new rescissions package, in many cases, in our bill, we have rejected proposals that the President has made to make drastic cuts. That's Congress speaking up and saying we have a different position on that, and so I expect my Republican colleagues will stand by the decisions we've made,' Baldwin told reporters ahead of the hearing. Still, the HHS budget is far from being final. The House has so far only passed two of its annual funding bills, and has not held an Appropriations Committee markup on its version of the HHS bill.

Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Adams' veto of unlicensed vending bill blasted as aiding Trump immigration crackdown
Mayor Adams vetoed a City Council bill late Wednesday that would decriminalize unlicensed street vending in the five boroughs, teeing up a likely override battle with the chamber's Democratic members, who accused the mayor of playing into President Trump's immigration agenda, The bill, which passed the Council in a veto-proof 40-8 vote in June, would scrap the criminal penalties vendors currently face if they sell food or merchandise on the streets without a city government-issued license. Many street vendors in the city are immigrants. Continuing to face penalties for unlicensed vending could make them easier targets for Trump's administration, which has pursued an aggressive crackdown in New York featuring masked ICE agents detaining non-citizens for potential deportation. Under the Council bill, unlicensed vending would instead be subject to civil penalties — a modification Council Democrats argue wouldn't put immigrant vendors at risk of deportation or other consequences, like difficulty obtaining legal status, housing or employment. But in announcing his veto of the bill, the mayor countered in a statement Thursday that the measure posed a public safety risk. 'We cannot be so idealistic that we're not realistic — preventing the brave men and women of the NYPD from intervening, even in the most egregious cases, is unfair to law-abiding business owners and poses real public health and safety risks,' Adams' statement said, adding he used his veto pen to stand up 'for the New Yorkers who follow the rules and the dedicated officers who continue to keep us safe.' Julia Agos, a rep for City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, said the chamber's Democrats were caught off guard by the veto, as the bill came out of discussions between members of the city's Street Vendor Advisory Board, which includes NYPD officials and other Adams administration reps. 'The Council negotiated this bill in good faith with the administration, only to have the mayor disregard the work of the advisory board and his own staff with this veto,' Agos said. Adams spokesman Zachary Nosanchuk disputed Agos' recollection, saying the mayor's team throughout negotiations maintained that criminal penalties need to stay in place. Against the backdrop of ICE enforcement efforts in the city, Agos said the mayor — who has faced accusations of being beholden to Trump since the Justice Department dismissed his corruption indictment — is doing the president a favor by vetoing the legislation. 'As the Trump administration continues to attack working families and immigrant communities, Mayor Adams' veto is yet another example of him supporting Trump's agenda over New Yorkers,' she said. Two Council sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing talks, told the Daily News the chamber is all but certain to override the mayor's veto, given it already had a veto-proof majority of support when it passed the bill. The Council needs support from at least 34 of its members in order to override a mayoral veto. According to the most recent city data, the NYPD issued more than 1,200 criminal vending tickets in 2023, an almost three-fold increase compared to 2022. Vendors who are Black or Latino are disproportionately impacted, receiving nearly 80% of all the criminal tickets issued in 2023, while making up just 50% of the city's overall population, the data shows. 'By vetoing … the mayor is actively putting more New Yorkers at greater risk — harming their ability to potentially access educational and housing opportunities and subjecting them to more potential avenues of attack from Donald Trump and ICE,' said Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition. The mayor's bid to block the street vending bill comes after he also on Wednesday vetoed the Council's decision to block Bally's from building a casino in the Bronx. During his first term, the mayor has vetoed several other Council bills, including a measure enacting more reporting requirements on NYPD officers. In each case, the Council has overridden his vetoes. Solve the daily Crossword


Buzz Feed
43 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Trump's Unhinged Reposting Spree On Truth Social
President Donald Trump hit the reshare button hard on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, flooding his profile with wild and weird posts and memes that slammed his political enemies. Among them was an image depicting former President Barack Obama, his 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, and other foes behind prison bars. One post declared, ' It's time to indict Obama the traitor. ' Another labeled former President Joe Biden's time in office ' the biggest scam in U.S. history! ' @IStandWithTrump47 / Via Trump has, in particular, ramped up his attacks on Obama in recent weeks, falsely accusing his predecessor of orchestrating a 'deep state' plot to sabotage his presidency. Earlier this month, Trump shared an AI-generated video that depicted Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and hauled off to prison. The president's latest meme spree comes amid rising anger from his MAGA base over his administration's refusal to release documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — who was once a close friend of Trump.