Latest news with #Rangel
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Five-time felon sentenced to seven years in prison for possessing firearm and ammunition
SALT LAKE CITY () — A five-time convicted felon has been sentenced to prison by a federal jury for illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition. Michael Anthony Rangel, 43, of Ogden, was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday after a jury found him guilty. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release by the judge. In July 2022, Rangel was stopped by police for a traffic violation, and officers saw drug paraphernalia in plain view in the vehicle, according to the indictment. Rangel informed police that he had a weapon and that there was an active warrant out for his arrest. The weapon was a stolen Taurus PT111 G2 pistol, and law enforcement seized the weapon and ammunition, according to a press release from the District of Utah United States Attorney's Office. Man sentenced to Utah State Prison after 10th DUI, multiple assault convictions According to court documents, Rangel was previously convicted of felony charges in five separate cases in Ogden and Salt Lake City, beginning in 2004. All of his felony convictions were related to drug charges, including possession/use of a controlled substance, attempted possession/use of a controlled substance, attempted distribution of a controlled substance, and attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Rangel also has a history of assault and domestic violence, court documents said. The case was investigated by the Ogden Metro Gang Task Force, and it was a part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, which aims to reduce violent crime and gun violence and make neighborhoods safer to everyone. Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Little Lambs Foundation needs your help providing diapers to the youngest Utahns Intermountain Layton Hospital teams up with Utah's Safe Kids Coalition to protect Utah families this summer Heber Valley Temple lawsuit: Judge hears arguments on temple construction Celebrate 45 years of island magic at Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa Cooler temperatures invade northern Utah, with tropical downpours across the south Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
How Charlie Rangel Changed His Mind About the War on Drugs
It "seemed like a good idea at the time," Charlie Rangel remarked in 2021, referring to the draconian drug penalties he supported as a New York congressman in the 1980s. "Clearly, it was overkill." Rangel, who died on Monday at the age of 94, came to that conclusion after enthusiastically supporting the war on drugs for decades, going so far as to criticize Republicans as soft on the issue. His transformation from a zealous prohibitionist into a drug policy reformer reflected his recognition of the human costs inflicted by heavy-handed criminalization. A former federal prosecutor who was first elected to Congress in 1970, Rangel was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus who represented Harlem in the House until 2017. He played a leading role in drug policy as a member of the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, which he chaired from 1983 to 1993. "Even though the administration claims to have declared a war on drugs, the only evidence we find of this war [is] the casualties," Rangel complained in June 1986, a week after the cocaine-related death of Len Bias, a star University of Maryland basketball player who had just been drafted by the Boston Celtics. "If indeed a war has been declared, I asked the question, 'When was the last time we heard a statement in support of this war from our commander in chief?'" A few months after Rangel demanded action, Congress approved the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which established mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses, including a sentencing scheme that treated smoked cocaine as if it were 100 times worse than the snorted kind. Two years later, another Anti-Drug Abuse Act made crack penalties even more severe, prescribing a minimum five-year sentence for simple possession of more than five grams—less than the weight of two sugar packets. In a 1989 Ebony profile that dubbed him "The Front-Line General in the War on Drugs," Rangel explained the rationale for such legislation. "We need outrage!" he said. "I don't know what is behind the lackadaisical attitudes towards drugs, but I do know that the American people have made it abundantly clear: They are outraged by the indifference of the U.S. government to this problem." Four years later, when Rangel introduced a bill that would have eliminated three crack-specific mandatory minimums, he was already having second thoughts about this get-tough approach. By that point, the senseless penal distinction between crack and cocaine powder had led to stark racial disparities and prompted objections from federal judges, whose criticism would soon be amplified by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. "In response to the onslaught of cocaine abuse in the 1980s," Rangel explained in 2007, "the nation crafted a drug policy totally lacking in compassion, and worse, that was totally unfair to the weakest, and most disadvantaged, in society." By his telling, "the sudden, frightening epidemic of a new street drug…impelled besieged lawmakers to enact stiff punishments for crack cocaine offenses." Rather than "reducing drug addiction and crime," Rangel said, those laws "swelled prison populations, created a sentencing divide that victimized young Black men, left a generation of children fatherless, and drove up the costs of a justice system focused more on harsh punishment than rehabilitation." In other words, the "stiff punishments" that Rangel thought would help his community had the opposite effect. Rangel's evolution extended beyond crack penalties. By 2011, the same congressman who in 1991 had defended the war on drugs in a debate with National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. was co-sponsoring a bill aimed at ending federal marijuana prohibition. "It simply doesn't make sense to waste billions of dollars putting hundreds of thousands of Americans in prison for non-violent offenses," Rangel declared in 2012. His change of heart, which began earlier and went further than a similar shift by Joe Biden, provided hope that even the most gung-ho drug warrior can learn from experience. © Copyright 2025 by Creators Syndicate Inc. The post How Charlie Rangel Changed His Mind About the War on Drugs appeared first on
Politico
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
NYC mayoral primary: 4 weeks to go
Presented by New Yorkers for Local Businesses With help from Cris Seda Chabrier NEW YORK MINUTE: Former Rep. Charles Rangel — the trailblazing 'lion of Lenox Avenue,' one of Harlem's iconic Gang of Four and a Congressional Black Caucus founding member — died Sunday at age 94. Tributes poured in for the Korean War veteran on Memorial Day. Rangel had spent nearly five decades in Congress. His successor, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, told Playbook that they went from rivals to best friends and said Rangel loved to get updates on Washington politics even in his final days. 'He was the voice of urban America,' Espaillat said. 'The Empowerment Zone, the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, all these pieces of legislation that he championed were all about one thing: opportunity.' — Emily Ngo CLOCK'S TICKING: Voters will head to the polls in four weeks — sooner for those voting early — to pick the Democratic nominee to challenge Mayor Eric Adams in November, and the race remains stagnant. Andrew Cuomo continues to get bad headlines and lead every public and private poll anyway. Zohran Mamdani retains his second-place position (more on that below), and everyone else keeps looking for new ways to dent Cuomo's lead and grab voters' attention in what precedent dictates will be a low-turnout race. Over the holiday weekend, the slate of Working Families Party-based candidates gathered in Brooklyn to rally with a mariachi band. The third party has yet to assign rankings to its slate of four endorsees. Its preferred candidates — Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani and Zellnor Myrie — have yet to cross-endorse each other. But they campaigned together to send a simple enough message: Rank us, not Cuomo. Adrienne Adams described the need for a safer, more affordable city. 'I know what that feels like, and I know that Andrew Cuomo cannot relate to my everyday situation,' the City Council speaker said. 'That is why you need to rank this slate.' Through ranked-choice voting, New Yorkers will be able to choose up to five candidates on their ballots. On Sunday, Cuomo appeared at a predominantly Black church in the Bronx where he spoke about the wealth disparity in the city and said the borough 'has the greatest need' of the five. 'I am running for mayor because I believe we can fix this city. I believe we need to fix this city,' the former governor said, the phrase evoking the name of a pro-Cuomo super PAC. 'I believe the time is now.' Today, POLITICO's Joe Anuta takes a deep dive into Mamdani's plans to drastically expand city services at little or no cost to those who would benefit. The democratic socialist is proposing free buses, city-owned grocery stores and far more affordable housing built through a unionized workforce. (For comparison, even the administration of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, a self-avowed lefty, blanched at the cost of some union rates.) Mamdani's plans rely largely on raising taxes on rich New Yorkers — something Gov. Kathy Hochul would have to approve and, so far, has shown no appetite for. This week we should find out whether Adrienne Adams — who has risen in the polls despite her late entry, low name ID and financial disadvantage — qualifies for public matching funds from the city's newly emboldened Campaign Finance Board. The board is denying Eric Adams matching funds, owed to his federal corruption case that a judge dropped in April at President Donald Trump's behest. And it's withheld over $620,000 from Cuomo as it probes whether he coordinated with the super PAC backing him. When it meets Friday, it's expected to render its decision on Adrienne Adams, who has raised $521,000, moved $219,000 from an old account and spent $446,000, including outstanding liabilities, per public records. That leaves her with $294,000 in the bank — not nearly enough to compete in the city's expensive ad market. Read more here on the candidate's filings — which your trusted Playbook writers pored over late Friday night. One of the biggest surprises? It turns out the embattled mayor does have a semblance of a campaign operation. — Sally Goldenberg and Emily Ngo HAPPY TUESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City, with no publicly scheduled events. WHERE'S ERIC? No public schedule available as of 10 p.m. Monday. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'Five years later, I'm like, 'Come on, we should have been moving faster than this. I don't see the change that we want,'' George Floyd's brother, New Yorker Terrence Floyd, via Gothamist, on the anniversary of his older sibling's killing by a Minneapolis police officer. ABOVE THE FOLD SUSTAINED SECOND PLACE: Mamdani, who has consistently polled second to Cuomo, is closing the gap, according to a recent survey his campaign shared in full with Playbook. The campaign's internal poll found the ex-governor beating the state lawmaker 41 to 28 in the first round of a simulated ranked-choice faceoff. Cuomo eventually won the race in round seven, 56 to 44, once third-place Lander was eliminated. As other polls have shown, Lander's support was fairly evenly split between the top two contenders. Cuomo had a 53-47 favorability rating, a slight improvement from the Mamdani camp's January poll that put him at 50-50. Polling has consistently shown him with relatively high negatives for such a durable frontrunner. Mamdani's favorability rating was 48-19; Lander's was 51-17. A plurality of respondents, 24 percent, ranked affordable housing as their top issue and another 16 percent named affordability, inflation and cost of living. When combined, those answers doubled the number of people who cited crime as a leading concern. The multi-modal survey of 500 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted between May 14 and 18 by the relatively new firm Workbench Strategy and had a 4.4 percent margin of error. Jane Rayburn, previously a partner at EMC Research, co-launched Workbench Strategy in February. Internal polls generally skew toward the candidate for whom they're conducted, and Mamdani fares better than he usually does in this survey. But the lineup and eventual outcome in this poll mirror public opinion surveys and private ones reviewed by Playbook. Four in 10 respondents were white, 27 percent Black, 18 percent Hispanic or Latino and 6 percent Asian or Pacific Islander. Thirty-eight percent were over 65 years old and about three-quarters described the city as 'on the wrong track.' The split among Democratic ideologies was fairly even, with 32 percent describing themselves as progressive or 'very liberal,' 18 percent as 'somewhat liberal' and the remainder varying degrees of moderate. Just six percent identified as a socialist, like Mamdani. Cuomo and Mamdani each benefit from portraying this as a two-person race. For Cuomo, it justifies his practiced messaging: An experienced executive who eschews far-left ideology, versus a young socialist. For Mamdani, it stands to help him persuade the few relevant people who have yet to endorse — namely Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — that he stands a better chance than Lander of defeating Cuomo. 'With still a third lower name recognition than Cuomo and millions in cash on hand, Zohran is nowhere near his ceiling,' campaign spokesperson Andrew Epstein said, promising a big final push to close the gap. Cuomo benefits from a super PAC that has raised some $9 million on his behalf and could easily attack Mamdani if it begins to see him as a serious threat. — Sally Goldenberg CITY HALL: THE LATEST FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso will launch a TV and digital ad today, a six-figure buy that focuses on the pressure campaign to reverse the planned closures of child care centers. Reynoso, a Democrat running for reelection, cites both Trump and Eric Adams as threats in the spot called 'Nuestros Niños,' or 'Our Children.' The title is also a nod to a daycare center in Williamsburg that was marked for closure. 'We took him on and won,' the borough president says in the ad of his predecessor, Adams. The Adams administration in February walked back its decision against renewing the leases for a handful of centers. Reynoso faces a rematch next month against Khari Edwards, the chief of corporate responsibility at a cannabis dispensary company. Edwards has qualified for matching funds. But the incumbent had several times more campaign cash on hand than his challenger as of the last filing. — Emily Ngo ALSO FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: A Manhattan City Council candidate now has two former congressional rivals in her corner. Former House candidate Suraj Patel has joined ex-Rep. Carolyn Maloney to endorse nonprofit leader Sarah Batchu for the lower Manhattan seat being vacated by term-limited Carlina Rivera. Patel and Maloney competed in the heated post-redistricting 2022 primary that Rep. Jerry Nadler ultimately won. The crowded primary for District 2 is one of the council's marquee races next month. Batchu is up against state Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and former Rep. Anthony Weiner as well as Andrea Gordillo and Allison Ryan. — Emily Ngo More from the city: — Cuomo is making hard-left policy shifts in his bid to be mayor. (New York Post) — Former New York City Transit head Andy Byford has been chosen by Trump to head up the effort to rebuild Penn Station. (Daily News) — A punk rock past comes with unwanted baggage for city comptroller candidate Justin Brannan. (New York Times) NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY HOCHUL GETS DEM GUV LUV: Hochul may face formidable challengers in the primary and general elections next year, but the Democratic Governors Association has her back. First in Playbook, the national committee is out today with a state-of-the-race memo that knocks the 'cadre of Trump loyalists and largely unknown Democratic opponents' who may go against the governor. Its leaders cite her record, campaign infrastructure and fundraising as reasons they believe she's on the path to reelection. Hochul's job approval ratings have been middling at best. A Siena College poll earlier this month found her unfavorability to be just two points higher than her favorability. And she's frequently targeted for criticism from Republicans and within her party. But she's in a relatively strong position. Her potential primary opponents include Rep. Ritchie Torres and her deputy, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. The Republicans weighing a campaign for the statehouse in 2026 include Reps. Elise Stefanik and Mike Lawler and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. The Democratic Governors Association has endorsed the incumbent in both the primary and general elections, saying in its three-page memo, 'Put simply, no one should underestimate Kathy Hochul.' — Emily Ngo WINE SOME MORE: Republican state Sen. George Borrello wants only New York vino stocked on grocery store shelves. The western New York lawmaker recently proposed the new twist in the wine-in-grocery stores debate in the post-budget legislative session. 'If you allow any wines into grocery stores, it's going to be the big boys made outside of New York,' Borrello told Playbook. 'It's the two buck chuck made out on the West Coast or foreign countries.' The proposal is a form of protectionism injected into the long-running debate over allowing supermarkets to carry wine. The move, in part, is aimed at boosting Hudson Valley and Finger Lake wineries. But Borrello also wants the bill to signal support for local liquor stores that oppose wine in grocery stores that are more likely to carry a wide variety of alcoholic products. 'It's going to help our wineries and grape growers, but also mitigate the harm to liquor stores,' Borrello said. Wine in grocery stores continues to be a heavy lift in Albany; grocery stores have pressed for years without any luck. — Nick Reisman YOU CAN CALL ME AI: State lawmakers want to regulate artificial intelligence — and have new polling to bolster their approach. A survey this month by Beacon Research found a majority of voters — 84 percent — support a bill that would require AI firms to safeguard against 'catastrophic risk' and implement whistleblower protections for employees who flag safety concerns. The poll also found support across racial and party lines, while 60 percent of voters expect it would make people safer. The bill, known as the RAISE Act, is backed by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Alex Bores. 'People want AI to make life easier and better, not threaten it. My RAISE Act helps get us there by creating simple, reasonable regulations to protect us from existential risks while allowing beneficial uses of AI to flourish,' Gounardes said. 'This is about creating the future we all want and deserve.' The bill also has the back of state Attorney General Letitia James — boosting its chances of passing in the Democratic-led Legislature. 'New Yorkers are rightfully looking to their state legislators to ensure that critical safeguards on AI become law this year. We must ensure New York is a welcoming state for innovation while protecting the public's best interests against AI's worst consequences. — Nick Reisman THAT'S THE TICKET: Resale ticket companies are pushing back against proposed regulations that would place restrictions on secondary sales. State Sen. James Skoufis and Assemblymember Ron Kim have proposed a measure meant to crackdown on purchase fees and secondary market prices — including a ban on the resale of tickets to events like concerts and Broadway shows above face value. They also want to ban the sale of speculative tickets that resellers don't yet control and expand refund requirements. 'The current, abusive system which governs how New Yorkers access live entertainment tickets affects the relationship between fans and the artists, athletes, and performers they admire,' Skoufis said. The industry pushed back Monday and in a statement to Playbook warned the regulations would force businesses to close. 'On the surface, that might seem like a win for fans,' said Dana McLean, executive director of the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, an industry group. 'But the truth is, it would destroy competition and put all the power into the hands of primary ticketing giants like Ticketmaster — the very companies already frustrating fans.' — Nick Reisman COMPTROLLER WATCH: Democratic comptroller candidate Drew Warshaw is launching a website today highlighting the state's unclaimed funds — a $20 billion pot of money that incumbent Tom DiNapoli's office controls. Warshaw, who signaled this month he plans a long-shot bid to primary DiNapoli, wants to call attention to the sizable chunk of New Yorkers' change. Warshaw is positioning himself as someone who will get the cash back to people faster — even as DiNapoli touts the $274.6 million returned so far this year. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Funding the MTA has become a political rorschach test. (Gothamist) — The use of a controversial voting machine in New York elections is gaining ground. (Times Union) — Hochul wants a discount for Amtrak riders traveling between Albany and New York City. (LoHud) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION SALT (AND MORE) IN THE SENATE: Moderate and battleground New York House Republicans are watching the Senate for potential changes to the deals they negotiated in their chamber's hard-fought megabill. They have reason to worry. It could be in for a buzzsaw of a rewrite. The state and local tax deduction, or SALT, and clean energy tax credits are two areas Senate Republicans will scrutinize, POLITICO reports. 'Nothing is final until it's final, right?' Rep. Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley told Playbook. 'There's still a number of areas to focus on, including obviously wanting A.) to protect SALT, B.) any prospective changes on the Medicaid front and C.) the IRA tax credits.' Rep. Nick LaLota — who with Lawler, Rep. Andrew Garbarino and others struck a last-minute deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson to quadruple the SALT cap — said he's keeping his foot down on the tax deduction. LaLota, a Long Island Republican, told Playbook that unlike SALT Democrats 'who four years ago said, 'No SALT, no deal,' we say, 'No SALT, no deal, but we're for real.' If the reconciliation bill that comes back from the Senate doesn't have our SALT fix, we will vote no.' Lawler and LaLota regard the SALT agreement in the House as a victory for their highly taxed districts. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) previewed senators' stance on SALT, referencing Garbarino missing the House vote because he did not wake up in time from a nap during the overnight procedures. 'The number that we care most about is 218, depending on how many we can get to fall asleep,' Cramer said, referring to the number of House seats held by Republicans. Garbarino of Long Island, who was endorsed for reelection Sunday by Trump, has said he plans to be at the vote when the president's 'big, beautiful' bill comes back from the Senate. — Emily Ngo More from Congress: — How the megabill undercuts Republicans' promises of growth. (POLITICO) — Johnson did not take umbrage at Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries' remark that the megabill will cost them in the midterms. (Punchbowl News) — The House speaker argued states will better administer Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits if they have to shoulder more of the costs. (The Hill) NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — Inside United's command center at Newark Airport, beset with air traffic control technology outages and staffing shortages. (New York Times) — There are still no arrests one month after a Crown Heights, Brooklyn, mob attack was caught on video. (Hellgate) — The Playland amusement park is only partially open after a $1.7 million emergency contract. (New York Post) SOCIAL DATA HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Assemblymember Michaelle Solages … former Assemblymember Adam Clayton Powell IV … Ethan Stark-Miller of amNewYork … Arthur 'Jerry' Kremer of Empire Government Strategies.
CNBC
27-05-2025
- Politics
- CNBC
Charles Rangel, former longtime N.Y. congressman who represented Harlem, dies at 94
Charles Rangel, the Democratic former congressman from New York who championed his Harlem community on Capitol Hill for almost five decades, died Monday, his family said. He was 94. City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent confirmed Rangel's death in a statement, saying he died at a hospital in New York. Politicians and supporters remembered Rangel, known as Charlie, for his years in public service and deep roots in New York City. He was born in Harlem and was first elected to Congress in 1970, representing a congressional district that was first drawn up in the 1940s and allowed the neighborhood's majority Black voters to send one of their own to Washington. Rangel served for so long that he earned the nickname the "Lion of Lenox Avenue," referring to one of Harlem's primary corridors. "Charlie Rangel was a great man, a great friend, and someone who never stopped fighting for his constituents and the best of America," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday on X. "The list of his accomplishments could take pages, but he leaves the world a much better place than he found it." New York Mayor Eric Adams said on X that he was "sad to lose a dear friend and exemplary model of devotion and courage." The Rev. Al Sharpton called Rangel a "trailblazing legislator and an unshakable force in American politics." Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also honored Rangel as his "mentor and friend." "He had that Harlem fire in his heart and a joy in his soul that no battle could extinguish," Cuomo said in a statement, adding that "he never forgot where he came from." Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War, was a high school dropout but eventually went to college on the G.I. Bill, getting degrees from New York University and St. John's University Law School. In 1970, he defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell to start his congressional career. During the next 40-plus years, he became a legend himself — a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, dean of the New York congressional delegation and, in 2007, the first Black chair of the influential Ways and Means Committee. "I have always been committed to fighting for the little guy," Rangel said in 2012. Two years earlier, he had stepped down from the Ways and Means Committee amid an ethics cloud. The House would later censure him in a 333-79 vote, citing nearly a dozen ethics violations that included breaching a gifts ban, improper use of influence and failure to disclose income. After the censure, Rangel rose before his colleagues in sorrow. "I know in my heart I am not going to be judged by this Congress," he said. "I'll be judged by my life in its entirety." Rangel remained in Congress and won the 2012 primary. His Harlem district overwhelmingly voted him in again as Barack Obama won a second presidential term. Despite the political stain later in his career, his time in Congress was exceedingly busy. According to the City College statement, Rangel sponsored 40 bills and resolutions that became law. His significant legislative accomplishments include championing the national Empowerment Zone program, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed into law in 2010. Rangel was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee when the Affordable Care Act was being heavily debated in Congress, and he was under pressure from the ethics investigations. In a 2009 interview with Time, he was defiant when he was asked about his legacy. "Well, as Rhett Butler once said in 'Gone With the Wind,' if I'm gone, quite frankly, I don't give a damn," he told the magazine. Rangel served in Congress until 2017, when he retired. He lamented to The New York Times in 2016, when his eventual successor, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, was poised to become the first Dominican American elected to Congress, that he feared that meant his Harlem district would no longer have a Black representative. "Can you tell the people in Boston that some day you won't have an Irish congressman?" Rangel said. Rangel was the last surviving member of the so-called Gang of Four — a group of Black political figures who wielded great power in city and state politics. The others were David Dinkins, New York's first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan Borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and New York secretary of state. The Congressional Black Caucus said in a statement Monday that its 61 members were mourning the loss of Rangel. "His legacy is one of tireless advocacy, historic firsts, and dedication to justice and equality," the caucus said. "May he rest in power and everlasting peace." Rangel is preceded in death by his wife, Alma, a social worker whom he met in a Harlem ballroom in the 1950s; she died in 2024. The couple shared two children.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Charles Rangel, longtime Harlem Congressman and civil rights advocate, dies at 94
Former US Rep Charles Rangel (Image credits: AP) Former US Rep Charles Rangel, a longtime Harlem Democrat who served nearly 50 years in Congress, died Monday at the age of 94. His family confirmed his death through a statement provided by City College of New York. Rangel passed away at a hospital in New York City, news agency AP reported. A Korean War veteran, Rangel launched his political career by defeating legendary Harlem lawmaker Adam Clayton Powell Jr in 1970. He went on to become one of the most prominent Black politicians in the country, serving from 1971 until his retirement in 2017. Rangel was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and became the first African American to chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in 2007. Though he later stepped down from the post and was censured by the House in 2010 following ethics violations, Rangel remained a major force in Congress. He was also the last surviving member of New York's 'Gang of Four,' a group of influential Black political leaders that included former New York City mayor David Dinkins, Manhattan Borough president Percy Sutton, and state official Basil Paterson. House democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called Rangel 'a patriot, hero, statesman, leader, trailblazer, change agent and champion for justice.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo Known for his gravelly voice and fiery speeches, Rangel was a fierce advocate for Harlem and low-income communities. Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton once said Rangel encouraged her to run for the US Senate in 2000. Former US President Bill Clinton also praised Rangel for his work on expanding tax credits for businesses in struggling neighborhoods. In 1987, Congress passed the 'Rangel Amendment,' cutting tax breaks for US firms investing in apartheid-era South Africa.
