Aurelia Butler

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    California Approves 17 Percent Rate Increase for State Farm

    Homeowners reeling from the wildfires in January say that State Farm’s increased rates are unfair and unfounded.State Farm will be allowed to temporarily charge an extra 17 percent for homeowners’ insurance policies in California, after the state gave the company permission, in the wake of the catastrophic fires. The insurer will be allowed to charge the higher rate at least until a hearing later this year, the state announced on Tuesday.The insurance giant already received a 20 percent rate increase last year, a move that a consumer watchdog group, as well as homeowners struggling to be paid after their homes were destroyed in January in the Los Angeles fires, criticized as unfair and unfounded.State Farm requested the emergency rate increase in February, the month after fires ripped through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods of Los Angeles, razing over 16,000 homes and structures. The company — which insures one out of every five homes in California or roughly 1 million homeowner customers — had requested even more: a nearly 22 percent rate increase on homeowners’ policies, citing a “dire situation.”California, like other states hit by natural disasters, has faced threats from major insurers: Raise rates, or we leave the state, said Carmen Balber, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, which led the effort to oppose the rate increase in hearings this spring.“The commissioner has shown a tendency to roll over in the face of insurer threats to leave,” Ms. Balber said. The increase “adds insult to injury” at a time when many homeowners insured by State Farm have reported delays or attempts by State Farm to lowball claims following the fires earlier this year, she added.In a statement, Ricardo Lara, the state’s insurance commissioner, presented the rate increase as a difficult compromise for consumers. “Let me be clear: We are in a statewide insurance crisis affecting millions of Californians,” he said. “Taking this on requires tough decisions.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Bearded Pete Buttigieg Drops Into Iowa for a Pitch to Veterans

    With Democrats sizing up their 2028 plans, Pete Buttigieg spoke at a town hall in Cedar Rapids and criticized the Trump administration: “The American people bow to no king.”He has a new, carefully groomed beard. He bantered with bros for hours on an irreverent comedy podcast. And on Tuesday, he criticized the Trump administration through an appeal to patriotism in a state early on the presidential nominating calendar.Pete Buttigieg is inching back into the Democrats’ spotlight this spring with a series of appearances that have prompted speculation about how one of the party’s most evidently ambitious politicians might spend the lead-up to 2028.With Democrats still searching for a direction and a standard-bearer after November’s loss to President Trump, supporters of Mr. Buttigieg, a smooth-talking former mayor from Indiana who served as the transportation secretary in the Biden administration, hope he might take up that mantle.Without ever uttering Mr. Trump’s name, Mr. Buttigieg, in front of a veteran-heavy crowd of more than 1,600 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, assailed the president’s efforts to cut the Department of Veterans Affairs and his broader handling of the country. He implored attendees to exert “peaceful but energetic” pressure on their representatives to block cuts to federal agencies and tax breaks for the wealthy. And he expressed optimism that people would resist Mr. Trump and restore faith in democracy.“There is a parade of horribles emanating from this White House,” said Mr. Buttigieg, 43. But, he added, “the American people bow to no king.”Mr. Buttigieg’s town hall in Iowa, sponsored by VoteVets, a progressive veterans group, was his most notable involvement yet in the Democratic shadow primary race, with prominent governors and members of Congress competing for attention as they weigh 2028 presidential bids.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Christopher Bond, Former Missouri Governor and U.S. Senator, Dies at 86

    A Republican known as Kit, he was the state’s youngest governor. When he retired from Congress after four terms, he said he didn’t want to be the state’s oldest senator.Christopher S. Bond, who was Missouri’s youngest governor and the state’s first Republican governor since 1945 when he was elected in 1972, and who went on to serve four terms in the U.S. Senate, died on Tuesday in St. Louis. He was 86.His death was announced by Gov. Mike Kehoe, a fellow Republican. The announcement did not say where in St. Louis he died.Mr. Bond, known as Kit, was 31 in 1970 when he was elected state auditor, defeating a 17-year incumbent. He served from 1971 to 1973, when he became governor, having been elected in November 1972 at age 33. He was the first Republican to hold that position since Forrest C. Donnell left office in 1945.Mr. Bond was defeated for re-election, but he staged a comeback in 1980 by ousting Joseph P. Teasdale, the Democrat who had replaced him. He succeeded Thomas F. Eagleton, a Democrat, in the Senate in 1987 after Mr. Eagleton retired.His election to a fourth term in 2004 was the seventh time that Mr. Bond won statewide office — more than any other candidate in Missouri’s history.In 2009, he announced that he would not seek a fifth term in 2010.Mr. Bond during his second term as governor of Missouri. He served from 1973 to 1977 and again from 1981 to 1985.UPI/Bettmann Archive, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    New Biden Book Points to His Decline and Democrats’ Cowardice: 6 Takeaways

    The book, “Original Sin,” describes how Mr. Biden’s aides quashed concerns about his age. But the anonymous accounts show that many Democrats are still afraid to discuss the issue publicly.A forthcoming book that promises explosive new details on former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental and physical decline while in the White House has revived the subject of how his aides and top Democrats handled his decision to run for re-election.The book, “Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, chronicles how Mr. Biden’s advisers stomped out discussion of his age-related limitations, including internal concerns of aides, external worries of Democratic allies and scrutiny by journalists. Mr. Biden had long been gaffe-prone, but as he forgot familiar names and faces and showed his physical frailty, the authors write, aides wrapped him in a protective political cocoon.At the same time, the book is so reliant on anonymous sourcing — very few aides or elected officials are quoted by name — that it reveals the enduring chill that Mr. Biden’s loyalists have cast over a Democratic Party still afraid to grapple publicly with what many say privately was his waning ability to campaign and serve in office. Already, Mr. Biden has begun pushing back against reporting on the end of his presidency, re-emerging for interviews to try to shape his legacy.The book does not contain any astonishing revelation that changes the broad perception of whether Mr. Biden, now 82, was fit to serve as president. Instead, it is a collection of smaller occurrences and observations reflecting his decline. The authors write about a “cover-up,” though their book shows a Biden inner circle that spends more time sticking its collective head in the sand about the president’s diminishing abilities than it does scheming to hide evidence of his shortcomings.The New York Times obtained a copy of the book, which is set for release next Tuesday. Here are six takeaways.Biden forgot names, even of people he had known for years.During his 2020 campaign and throughout his presidency, Mr. Biden forgot the names of longtime aides and allies, according to the book.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Why Did Eric Adams Have So Many Cellphones?

    Mayor Eric Adams of New York was said to have used seven different phone numbers. He argued that “many New Yorkers have several phones.”One surprising detail emerged in the trove of documents released about Mayor Eric Adams’s federal corruption case: The mayor used at least seven different cellphone numbers during the yearslong period in which he was under investigation.Mr. Adams had a ready explanation for why he had so many phones.“You have your office phone, you have your personal phone — you can’t mix the two,” Mr. Adams told reporters over the weekend, adding: “Many New Yorkers have several phones. I had also my campaign phone. So there’s a series of phones that you have.”The mayor said that he had to get additional phones after federal authorities stopped him on the street in November 2023 and took his electronic devices as part of the investigation.It was a glimpse into the personal life of a man whose habits have often been shrouded in uncertainty — his place of residence has at times been hard to pin down, and he has rarely been seen in public with his longtime partner — and have long been the subject of public curiosity.The mayor’s many devices were a prominent part of the federal investigation that led to his indictment in September on five counts, including bribery, wire fraud and solicitation of illegal foreign donations. Mr. Adams has maintained his innocence.The F.B.I. obtained warrants to track Mr. Adams’s location using cellphone data and found that he had used seven different phone numbers since the investigation began in August 2021, according to the roughly 1,700 pages of documents from his case that were released on Friday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Schoolyard Fight, a Burst of Gunfire and a Teen Charged With Murder

    A boy in the Bronx fired three shots into a crowd, most likely aiming at another boy who had punched him, the police said. One bullet struck Evette Jeffrey, 16, in the head, killing her.The fight that ended the life of Evette Jeffrey began like so many others.“It was a fistfight,” said Joseph Kenny, the Police Department’s chief of detectives. “An old-school, schoolyard fistfight.”He was describing the back story to the stray gunshot that killed Evette, 16, near a Bronx school building on Monday — a shooting that recalled the fights between rival gangs in the 1980s and ’90s that left teenagers in jail or dead.After school let out on Monday, a 14-year-old boy got into a fight outside the building in the Morrisania neighborhood, Chief Kenny said at a news conference on Tuesday. The fight followed another one earlier in the day. The boy walked away the apparent victor, the chief said.But then another boy ran up and punched him. Someone handed the 14-year-old a gun, and he fired three shots into a crowd, with the boy who had just punched him the likely target, Chief Kenny said. The shooter fled.The 14-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday as he tried to enter a taxi near where the shooting happened, the police said. He was charged with murder, the police said, as well as manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. The police have not released his name.Mayor Eric Adams spoke at the scene of the shooting on Monday.Dakota Santiago for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    New York’s Deepest Pockets Turn Out to Fight Poverty

    Thousands of Wall Street big shots crowded into the Javits Center Monday night for the annual Robin Hood gala. Founded in 1988, Robin Hood is one of New York’s largest anti-poverty groups, and its yearly fund-raiser lures the city’s deepest pockets for a night that results in millions in grants.A sea of men in navy jackets and brown oxfords filed through metal detectors to enter the cavernous hall, which was decked out with sports-themed decorations that included a giant inflatable basketball and baseball mitt. Thirsty bankers and hedge fund managers ordered vodka tonics and pours of Johnnie Walker Black Label at a bar housed in a soccer net. Boxers standing on small podiums jabbed at bright green punching bags that read “#fightpoverty.”After a marching band and a cheerleading squad performed, some 3,500 guests filed into an arena-like dining hall filled with hundreds of tables populated with sports, politics and finance figures. They included the National Football League’s commissioner Roger Goodell, the former N.F.L. quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the philanthropist Laurie M. Tisch and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Serena Williams sat beside her husband, Alexis Ohanian, one of the founders of Reddit and a Robin Hood board member.As the former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning tucked into a plate of fried chicken, he considered the importance of giving back.“This city is filled with the people who root for me and who have rooted for me,” Mr. Manning said, “and I think all New York athletes and sports teams have a responsibility to give back.”Gov. Kathy HochulDolly Faibyshev for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Cassie Recounts ‘Violent Arguments’ and ‘Physical Abuse’ by Sean Combs

    The singer began testifying for a federal jury in the sex-trafficking and racketeering case against Mr. Combs.Casandra Ventura, the singer and model known as Cassie, began testifying for a federal jury on Tuesday morning in the sex-trafficking and racketeering case against Sean Combs.The much-anticipated testimony was Ms. Ventura’s first major public comment since she filed a bombshell lawsuit against Mr. Combs, her former boyfriend and label boss, in late 2023, in which she accused him of having instituted a system of abuse and control over her life and career for more than a decade. That case led to a government investigation and Mr. Combs’s arrest in September 2024.In the first minutes of her testimony, she was asked by prosecutors to describe the more than decade-long relationship she had with Mr. Combs.“There were violent arguments that would usually result in some sort of physical abuse,” she answered. “Dragging, different things of that nature.”Ms. Ventura, 38, who is visibly pregnant, wore a form-fitting brown outfit. As she entered court Mr. Combs turned back in his chair to see her walk in. His lawyers had asked the judge to have her present on the stand before the jury entered, a request that the judge apparently denied.Her husband, Alex Fine, was allowed to be present in the courtroom for the beginning of her testimony, but the judge said Mr. Fine would have to leave during discussions of sexual assault.Ms. Ventura was expected to recount for the jury how Mr. Combs instituted a system of abuse and control over her life and career for more than a decade. Prosecutors say the executive dangled ever-disappearing music opportunities; beat her when she stepped out of line; and plied her with drugs, forcing Ms. Ventura to have marathon sex sessions with male prostitutes while he taped the encounters.Though legal filings in the case had merely identified her as Victim-1, there was never much doubt that the singer, who had been Mr. Combs’s on-and-off girlfriend for more than a decade, was the witness at the center of the racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking case against him.It was Ms. Ventura’s decision in late 2023, following extensive therapy, to bring a federal lawsuit accusing Mr. Combs of rape and years of physical abuse — and his decision not to settle before it became public — that set into motion the criminal investigation that led to the trial. Combs and Ventura quickly reached an eight-figure settlement in the civil case.Ms. Ventura was Mr. Combs’s on-and-off girlfriend — and employee — almost from the time they met in 2005 until she finally severed ties from his storied record label, Bad Boy, in 2019. Lawyers for Mr. Combs have portrayed the relationship as loving but deeply toxic while maintaining that any sexual arrangements were completely consensual. More