Elections

Subterms

    More stories

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Woman Gives Birth to Baby Girl on NYC Subway

      by

      A 25-year-old woman from Florida gave birth on a W train in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning. She had been missing since last summer, her sister said.A 25-year-old Florida woman who had been missing for months was found on Wednesday under dramatic circumstances, after she gave birth on a subway train rumbling beneath the streets of Manhattan.The woman, Jenny Saint Pierre of Hallandale Beach, Fla., had been reported missing to her hometown police in September. Her family, who made the report, said they had not seen her since last summer. On Wednesday, a law enforcement official identified her as the woman who gave birth on a southbound W train in Midtown shortly before noon.A police spokesman said the mother and the baby, a girl, had been brought to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. Ms. Saint Pierre’s older sister, Stephania Saint Pierre, confirmed the mother’s identity after seeing a video of the newborn’s first moments that was shared on social media on Wednesday.“Oh, my God, look at her little face!” Stephania said in a phone interview from her home in Texas as she watched the video. She recognized her sister’s pink duffel bag on a subway seat and heard her voice as another passenger lifted the infant. “Oh, my God, I am going to cry! That’s my first niece!”Stephania, who knew her sister was pregnant, was surprised to learn that she was in New York City and said she did not know why she had gone there.Jenny Saint Pierre, right, with her sister Stephania. The two had not seen each other in months when Stephania learned that her sister had given birth in New York.via Stephania Saint PierreWe 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

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Bondi Announces Lawsuit Against New York Over Immigration

      by

      The attorney general, citing a law allowing New Yorkers to get a driver’s license regardless of citizenship or legal status, accused the state of “prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens.”The Trump administration sued New York on Wednesday over its migrant policies, accusing state officials of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens,” as Washington ramped up its political and legal battles with states over deportations.Attorney General Pam Bondi, in her first news conference, specifically cited New York’s “green light” law, which allows people in the state to get a driver’s license regardless of citizenship or legal status.Ms. Bondi, flanked by federal agents in raid jackets, vowed to put an end to those practices.“It stops,” Ms. Bondi said. “It stops today.”The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Albany, said New York state law was the most egregious in that it requires state authorities “to promptly tip off any illegal alien when a federal immigration agency has requested his or her information.”That, the lawsuit said, was “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them.”Gov. Kathy Hochul’s spokesman, Avi Small, said the governor “supports deporting violent criminals who break our laws, believes that law-abiding families should not be targets and will coordinate with federal authorities who have a judicial warrant.”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

    • 113 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Elon Musk’s DOGE Overhauls the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

      by

      The upheaval at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers a glimpse into the playbook that Elon Musk and other Trump allies seem to be writing in real time.At first, things at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seemed eerily calm.The Biden-appointed director of the agency, which was created after the 2009 financial crisis to regulate banks and other lenders, was not immediately fired by President Trump. The lawyers at the agency continued with their business. In late January, they said a remittance company was misleading customers about its fees and ordered it to pay a $2.5 million fine.And then the chaos began.On the morning of Feb. 1 — a Saturday — the director was dismissed, as my colleague Stacy Cowley, who has followed every twist and turn of this story, reported. By the next Friday, Feb. 7, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and a close Trump adviser, was installed as the C.F.P.B.’s acting director. Representatives from the new Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by Elon Musk and is not a formal executive-branch department, arrived and got access to the computer systems.Musk posted a message on his X account: “CFPB RIP.”Musk’s cost-cutting team has been operating with little transparency. Members don’t announce what they’re doing, who’s doing it or how. So it’s worth understanding what’s happening at the C.F.P.B., both because of the direct impact on the agency’s work and because it’s a glimpse into the playbook that Musk and his team, working with Trump officials like Vought, seem to be writing in real time.The panic strategyRussell Vought on Capitol Hill this week.Haiyun Jiang for The New York TimesLast Saturday, Vought ordered the nearly 1,700 people who work at the agency to stop much of their work. The edict prompted widespread fear and deep concern about the agency’s future. People worried that their work phones and computers were being tracked. One employee I spoke with, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, felt panic, and then remembered that Vought had spoken in 2023 of his intent to demoralize workers in the civil service.“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought had said.Some employees tried to plug away at their jobs. Two of them told me that after they saw Musk’s post on X about his team’s preference for working on weekends, when federal offices are closed, they decided they would do the same. On Saturday, they saw three employees from Musk’s team in the bureau’s basement, working in conference rooms with the windows papered over.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

    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      New Trump Executive Order Calls for ‘Reform’ to the U.S. Diplomatic Corps

      by

      President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday calling for “reform” to the Foreign Service, America’s corps of professional diplomats, “to ensure faithful and effective implementation” of his foreign policy agenda.It was the latest of several recent moves by Mr. Trump to assert greater control over the federal work force, which the president largely views with a blend of suspicion and hostility. Mr. Trump and his allies believe that left-leaning bureaucrats will work to thwart his agenda and that he should have far more power than past presidents to install proven loyalists throughout the government.To that end, Mr. Trump’s order, titled “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations,” directs the secretary of state to “implement reforms in recruiting, performance, evaluation and retention standards.” It also directs officials to “revise or replace the Foreign Affairs Manual,” along with “any handbooks, procedures or guidance” governing diplomacy.The executive order also makes explicit the price of defying Mr. Trump’s orders. “Failure to faithfully implement the president’s policy is grounds for professional discipline, including separation,” it says.All foreign policy arms of the government, it adds, must devise “an effective and efficient means” of ensuring that the president’s orders are followed.The executive order would appear to challenge basic and longstanding principles of the Foreign Service: that career diplomats should be hired based on their qualifications and expertise, not their political views, and that dissent should be welcomed and not punished.As part of the federal civil service, professional diplomats enjoy special job protections against partisanship and political retribution. Mr. Trump seems intent on weakening those protections.In an initial statement, the American Foreign Service Association, which represents professional diplomats, said it was still assessing the impact of the order. But the group noted that its members posted around the world “carry out the foreign policy initiatives of the president, regardless of party.”“We hope that any administration would value the expertise and knowledge of the Foreign Service, including its ability to provide advice on foreign policy matters,” the statement said, adding that the group would “always defend the integrity and nonpolitical nature of the Foreign Service so that our members can continue to serve the American people.”Separately, State Department officials are grappling with more proposed cuts to personnel. Some ambassadors have been told this week to present lists of cuts of 10 to 20 percent of employees who are local citizens, said a person briefed on the demands, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.Edward Wong More

    • 75 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      Elon Musk’s X Settles Trump Lawsuit

      by

      X has agreed to pay in the range of $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump over the 2021 suspension of his account on the social media platform, according to a person briefed on the matter.The company, then known as Twitter, removed Mr. Trump from its platform after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, citing his inflammatory posts and arguing they could lead to more violence. Mr. Trump sued, claiming Twitter and other tech firms that removed his accounts had wrongfully censored him.Elon Musk, now X’s owner and a close adviser to the president, reinstated Mr. Trump’s account shortly after acquiring the company in 2022. Mr. Musk has thrown his support behind Mr. Trump, donating more than $250 million to his campaign, and is now running a government cost-cutting initiative called the Department of Government Efficiency.The settlement further cements the relationship between Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump. Details of the agreement were not made public in court filings, but X and Mr. Trump notified the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday that they had agreed to dismiss the lawsuit. Both parties agreed to pay their own costs, according to a court filing.The settlement amount was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal. A spokesman for X did not respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear what entity would receive the money.Mr. Trump sued Twitter, Facebook and Google, the parent company of YouTube, after the platforms suspended his accounts in the wake of the attack on the Capitol. After the riot, Mr. Trump had used his Twitter account to praise his supporters, calling them “patriots.”Mr. Trump also posted that he would not attend the inauguration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., which Twitter’s safety teams said at the time could have signaled his supporters to stage another attack on that event. Twitter said it suspended Mr. Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, settled its lawsuit last month, agreeing to pay the president $25 million. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, has also courted Mr. Trump in recent months, donating to his inauguration fund and making sweeping changes to Meta’s policies to allow for more types of speech across the company’s apps.In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit by Mr. Trump. ABC News said it would donate the money to Mr. Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum.Meta agreed to similar terms in its settlement with Mr. Trump. About $22 million will finance Mr. Trump’s presidential library, with the remaining $3 million set aside to for Mr. Trump’s legal fees and other plaintiffs who joined the lawsuit. More

    • 150 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Joann, the Arts and Crafts Chain, Will Close 500 Stores Across U.S.

      by

      The announcement came one month after the company’s second bankruptcy filing in less than a year.Joann, the financially troubled arts-and-crafts retailer, announced Wednesday that it was preparing to close 500 of its 800 remaining stores after its latest bankruptcy filing.The announcement came one month after the eight-decade-old company filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than a year, as consumers pull back on spending. If the District of Delaware Bankruptcy Court gives its approval, the company said in a statement that it would shut underperforming stores across the country, from New York to Alaska.“This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our team members, our customers and all of the communities we serve,” the company said in an emailed statement.Joann, whose outlets were once called Jo-Ann Fabrics, is based in Hudson, Ohio. The chain has long sold art supplies, such as yarn, sewing machines, fabrics and other seasonal products. The company currently has stores in 49 states.In March 2024, Joann filed for bankruptcy to reduce debt, resulting in the publicly-traded company’s being taken into private ownership. That initial filing closed in August 2024.The retailer continued its downward spiral after a short-lived boost during the pandemic. The company said on Wednesday that it faced “significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment, which, coupled with our current financial position and constrained inventory levels, have forced us to take this step.”Going-out-of-business sales at stores could start as early as Saturday, according to a customer FAQ shared by the company.The retail chain is also seeking court authorization to stop accepting gift cards both online and in stores within the next two weeks. Joann has already stopped selling gift cards and no longer accepts them on its website. Returns will stop being accepted two weeks after the court’s approval of Joann’s restructuring plan, the company said.J. Edward Moreno More

    • 100 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Stocks Drop After Hotter Than Expected Inflation Reading

      by

      Investors are now betting that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates just once more this year, a drastic shift in expectations since late 2024.Stocks on Wall Street slumped at the start of trading on Wednesday, dragged lower by data that showed consumer prices rose more than expected in January, leaving the Federal Reserve little cause to lower interest rates again soon.The S&P 500 fell roughly 1 percent as trading got underway. The Nasdaq Composite index, which is chock-full of tech stocks that have come under pressure recently from rising global competition to develop the chips that will power the development of artificial intelligence, also fell around 1 percent.Fresh inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed that prices rose 3 percent for the year through January, up from 2.9 percent in December. The “core” Consumer Price Index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.3 percent year-over-year.Signs of continuing price pressure is likely to encourage the Fed to refrain from further interest rate cuts in the coming months. For stock investors, higher interest rates means slower business activity, which can weigh on companies’ earnings and stock prices.The uptick in inflation in January “does not derail the longer-term downward trend in inflation,” said Kyle Chapman, a foreign exchange market analyst at Ballinger Group. But, he said, “it does reaffirm the consensus that cuts are going to come much more slowly than we had thought towards the end of last year.”Investors are now betting that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at their current level until December. It’s a drastic shift in expectations since last year, when traders were expecting as many as four cuts for 2025, and even just a few weeks ago investors expected the next cut in rates as soon as June.The two year Treasury yield, which is sensitive to changes in investors’ interest rate expectations, rose sharply after the inflation report, up 0.1 percentage points to 4.36 percent, close to its highest level of the year.Wednesday’s drop comes after a bumpy three weeks for traders, with whipsaw swings in stock prices reflecting investors’ struggle to parse the flurry of executive actions taken by President Trump since he returned to the White House for a second term.The S&P 500 has risen roughly 3 percent since the start of the year and has nudged up 1.2 percent since inauguration day, despite the volatility.Impending tariffs are adding to concern about an acceleration in inflation. On Monday, Mr. Trump announced tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. He has already imposed a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, and broad 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico are set to take effect in March, after being delayed for a month.“Rising prices already appear to be a headwind, and the prospect of new trade barriers have the potential to further fuel inflationary pressures by increasing costs for businesses and consumers,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede, a wealth management firm. More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      8 Inspectors General Fired by Trump File Lawsuit Seeking Reinstatement

      by

      Eight former inspectors general who were summarily fired by President Donald J. Trump last month filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking a judge to declare their removals illegal and order the government to reinstate them.“The purported firings violated unambiguous federal statutes — each enacted by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed into law by the president — to protect inspectors general from precisely this sort of interference with the discharge of their critical, nonpartisan duties,” the complaint said.The lawsuit asserts that the plaintiffs remain the lawful inspectors general of their agencies because Mr. Trump’s dismissals broke the law. It asks for an injunction requiring the executive branch to allow them to return to work and awarding them back pay.Four days after Mr. Trump returned to office last month, the White House notified as many as 17 inspectors general in tersely worded emails that they were being terminated because of “changing priorities.”Those were all in direct conflict with statutory restrictions on firing such officials in the Inspector General Act of 1978 and strengthened by lawmakers in the bipartisan Securing Inspectors General Act of 2022.That statute says that before an inspector general is removed, the president must provide Congress with 30 days’ advance notice, including a written explanation with “the substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons for any such removal.”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