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      Biden Tells Governors That He Is Staying in the Race

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      President Biden told a group of Democratic governors on Wednesday that he was staying in the 2024 campaign, as the group peppered the president with questions about the path forward after Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week.After the meeting, a handful of governors spoke with reporters outside the White House, with one, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, declaring, “President Joe Biden is in it to win it, and all of us said we pledged our support to him.”Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said: “He has had our backs through Covid, through all of the recovery, all of the things that have happened. The governors have his back, and we’re working together just to make very, very clear on that.”But he added, “A path to victory in November is the No. 1 priority, and that’s the No. 1 priority of the president.”Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland echoed the sentiment.In a statement, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said, “I heard three words from the president — he’s all in. And so am I.”And Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan posted her support on the social media site X.The meeting closed with Vice President Kamala Harris describing the threats to democracy that a victory by former President Donald J. Trump could pose, tossing at least one expletive into her remarks, according to a person briefed on what took place.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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      N.Y. Lawmakers End Session Without Replacing Congestion Pricing Revenue

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      State Senate Democrats rebuked Gov. Kathy Hochul over her decision to halt a long-developed plan to charge drivers tolls to enter Manhattan’s core.Gov. Kathy Hochul defended her decision to halt congestion pricing hours after State Senate Democrats said they would leave Albany without plugging the funding gap left in its absence.In her first public appearance since announcing she would backtrack from the plan, Ms. Hochul reiterated that the time was not right to increase the burden on New York City’s economy.“We thought that inflation would be lower,” she said at a news conference Friday night. “We thought that people would feel more secure about going on the subways. Yes, yes, we’re coming back, but we can’t afford a setback.”At the news conference, Ms. Hochul was pressed for details about when she had changed her mind about congestion pricing and whom she had spoken to beforehand.While she declined to provide details about the timing of her decision, she described conversations she said she had had with ordinary New Yorkers in diners, naming three diners on the East Side of Manhattan.Her decision leaves a billion-dollar hole in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s budget, imperiling planned projects and raising grave questions about the future of public transit in the nation’s largest city.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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      How Would Congestion Pricing Work in New York City?

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      The tolling program aims to diminish traffic while raising money for mass transit.For decades, New York lawmakers, transit officials and environmental activists have been pushing to implement a plan to toll drivers who enter Manhattan’s core business district — a concept known as congestion pricing.The tolling program intends to rein in traffic and pollution while improving travel speeds in some of the world’s most traffic-clogged streets. The money raised from drivers would generate $1 billion annually for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to use to pay for critical upgrades to New York City’s transit network, which is the largest and busiest in North America.Under the congestion pricing plan, which would be the first of its kind in the United States, most drivers would pay $15 to enter some of the city’s most famous destinations and neighborhoods, including the theater district, Times Square, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea and SoHo.The tolling zone would run from 60th Street to the Battery, but would omit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and the West Side Highway along the borough’s edges. Drivers of cars, buses, motorcycles and trucks would pay a rate that varies based on vehicle size and time of day.The program has been delayed by many challenges over the years, and may yet stumble just weeks from its planned start date of June 30. Concerned that the policy might hinder the city’s post-pandemic recovery, Gov. Kathy Hochul is quietly working to delay the program, according to two people familiar with her efforts. And opponents of congestion pricing have moved to block it in court.Here are answers to some of the most common questions about the program:When would the tolling begin?The tolling is scheduled to start June 30. But the plan is highly contentious, and before that planned rollout, legal and political clashes could still block it.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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      Hochul Visits an Ancestral Home, 3,000 Miles From the Governor’s Mansion

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      After meeting the pope and the mayors of Rome, London and Dublin, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York paused to reconnect with her past.For much of her whirlwind tour in Europe, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York focused on looking forward for solutions to worldwide crises like global warming and a lack of affordable housing.But as she visited County Kerry, Ireland, Ms. Hochul paused to linger in the past.Here in Kilshannig, a small fishing village on a remote stretch of sandy beach, the governor is still known as Kathleen Courtney, the granddaughter of John Courtney and Mary Browne, who emigrated separately to the United States as teenagers over a century ago in search of greater opportunity.They would later meet in Chicago, where they married before moving to Buffalo, the governor’s hometown, to work at the steel mill there. Every so often, as money and time allowed, the family would make the trip back to the Maharees, a peninsula that juts off Ireland’s west coast and contains three small towns: Fahamore, Kilshannig and Candeehy.On Sunday, around 100 local residents, county council members and relatives gathered in Spillane’s Bar in Fahamore for a civic reception to honor Ms. Hochul. Almost everyone who crowded into the low-ceilinged pub looking for a selfie or a handshake with their distinguished American guest claimed to share ancestry with the governor through her grandparents.“My mother and her grandmother were first cousins,” said Mary Harrington-McKenna, 75, who lives in the town. “It’s very exciting to have our cousin, the governor of New York, visit where her grandparents came from.”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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      In Late-Stage Budget Talks, Hochul Wins Concessions From N.Y. Lawmakers

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul used the $237 billion budget to wedge in contentious issues like extending Mayor Eric Adams’s control over New York City schools.In the days approaching April 1, the corridors and backrooms of the New York State Capitol tend to be filled with tension and chaos, as the governor, lawmakers and staff scramble to meet the deadline to pass a state budget that is as much a policy blueprint as it is a spending plan.This year was different.Budget talks dragged out almost three weeks past the April 1 deadline, leading some to wonder whether Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat in her first full term, had lost control of the process.But by the time the budget was officially passed by the Legislature on Saturday, it was clear that Ms. Hochul had achieved her goal: a final $237 billion budget that included a checklist of her priorities. They included new resources to fight retail crime, a statewide artificial intelligence consortium, and a landmark housing deal aimed at bolstering residential construction — all without raising taxes on the wealthy.The governor’s long-game approach seemed to reflect lessons she has learned in reaching the three budget agreements since she took office in 2021: that a governor can lead while honoring the spirit of collaboration and that a good deal is better than a fast one.After Ms. Hochul announced on Monday that leaders had reached agreement on a budget framework, she continued to negotiate over the next few days, most notably persuading state lawmakers to use the budget to extend mayoral control of New York City schools for two more years.The final budget contains $2.4 billion to support migrant services in New York City, an increase of half a billion dollars over last year’s funding that should cover case management, medical expenses and legal resources. It also includes a substantial new tax break for developers, expanded tenant protections and new enforcement powers for localities to crack down on unlicensed cannabis shops.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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      New York Must Figure Out How to Fix Cannabis Mess, Hochul Orders

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      Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered a review of the way New York State licenses cannabis businesses after calling the sluggish rollout of legal cannabis a “disaster.”Gov. Kathy Hochul has told New York officials to come up with a fix for the way the state licenses cannabis businesses amid widespread frustration over the plodding pace of the state’s legal cannabis rollout and the explosion of unlicensed dispensaries.The governor has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the state’s licensing bureaucracy, to begin Monday — weeks after she declared the rollout “a disaster” and called off a Cannabis Control Board meeting when she learned the body was prepared to hand out only a few licenses.The main goal of the review, to be conducted by Jeanette Moy, the commissioner of the Office of General Services, is to shorten the time it takes to process applications and get businesses open, officials said.The state Office of Cannabis Management, which recommends applicants to the board for final approval, received 7,000 applications for licenses last fall from businesses seeking to open dispensaries, grow cannabis and manufacture products. But regulators have awarded just 109 so far this year. The agency has just 32 people assigned to evaluate the applications.Ms. Moy has “a proven track record of improving government operations,” the governor said in a statement, and will provide a playbook to turn around the cannabis management office “and jump-start the next phase of New York’s legal cannabis market.”In an interview, Ms. Moy said her goal was to work with the cannabis management office “to identify ways in which we can support them as they look to streamline and move forward some of the backlogs and challenges that may be faced in this industry.”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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      After Another Subway Shooting, NYC Wrestles With Question of Safety

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      Even with the National Guard patrolling the system, some New Yorkers say they don’t feel secure, particularly after the subway shooting in Brooklyn on Thursday. Others remain unfazed.The subway crime that Jimmy Sumampow had been hearing about in recent years — as well as his own experience — had already led him to make plans to leave New York City. Then, on Friday, he saw a video online of the shooting on an A train this week.“I’m scared,” said Mr. Sumampow, 46, after seeing the video. Mr. Sumampow lives in Elmhurst, Queens, but plans to board an Amtrak train on Monday for Florida, where he has a new job and an apartment lined up. “I feel I should move out for a while and see if New York takes action and gets better,” he said.For Elise Anderson, however, the shooting did not raise her level of concern.“I wouldn’t say I’m any more scared,” Ms. Anderson, a 27-year-old Brooklyn resident, said as she waited at the Port Authority Bus Terminal subway station on Friday for a downtown A train. “I think we’re in one of the safest cities in the world.”In interviews across the city this week, New Yorkers wrestled with a question that cut to the core of the city’s identity: Is the subway system safe? Subway crime data in recent years shows a muddled picture, and just as they have in surveys of riders and polls of residents, New Yorkers’ opinions diverge.But barely more than a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul sent the National Guard and State Police into the subway to increase security and help ease New Yorkers’ fears, the shooting seemed to underscore the limits of law enforcement’s ability to improve safety underground.The episode took place at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, where the Police Department maintains an outpost, Transit District 30, that is regularly staffed by officers. Moments before the shooting, two additional officers entered the station to inspect the platforms and train cars, Kaz Daughtry, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner of operations, said at a news conference 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