“There’s been this obsession that ‘She’s not nice’ and ‘She rubs people the wrong way.’ Well, we got a lot of shit done,” Lightfoot said during an interview in her office on the 5th Floor of City Hall, describing how her critics have portrayed her. “And I am proud. I’m very proud of it, unapologetically.”
She even played off that tension in a farewell address two days ago, after the interview, taking a swipe at pundits and the news media for “obsessing” about her temperament. Then, she said, the four-letter word she was fond of “was spelled h-o-p-e.”
After she steps down on Monday, leaving electoral politics entirely, her photo will be added to a wall in the lobby of City Hall featuring pictures of her 55 predecessors, where just one woman and two other brown faces are on display. Lightfoot even used her exit to reignite her long-running tension with the media by deciding to sit down with just one print media organization before she leaves office: POLITICO.
It’s one way she broadcasts that she lost reelection but not her right jab. In her mind, disruption was what voters bought when they elected her over longtime Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who also chairs the county Democratic Party.
“I came into government with a mandate of 75 percent of votes to break up the status quo and to make sure that I was doing things and putting ordinary residents of our city front and center,” Lightfoot said. “With that mandate, you’re going to disrupt the status quo. You’re going to make some people angry.”
Given how important public safety was in a mayor’s race that attracted nine Democratic candidates this year, Lightfoot said the party needs to figure out how to balance its themes. Progressive Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson won running to Lightfoot’s left and that of other Black mayors, including Eric Adams in New York City, on policing, so she said it’s critical to weave multiple issues together.
“As Democrats, we can’t just talk about police reform or criminal justice reform. What we leave out when we just focus on those two parts of a larger whole, is we leave out the victims and witnesses who have to be at the table,” said Lightfoot, who once served as president of an oversight board of Chicago’s police force before she was elected mayor.
“If we don’t talk about the grandmas, the moms, the kids, the families that are under siege in neighborhoods that are violent here and across the country … and we don’t advocate for them,” she said, “we are missing out entirely.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The transporting of migrants from the Southwest to cities led by Democrats — some have been dropped off at Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington — has become a hot button issue, particularly when migrants show up in communities that have not had prior warnings about when they would arrive. New York Mayor Eric Adams has been particularly outspoken about the hardships his city is facing, though he has also been sharply critical of President Joe Biden for not dealing with the situation at the border.
Officials in border states have blamed the Biden administration for the influx of migrants and said they are trying to distribute the burden of having to accommodate all these people. In discussing sending migrants to Washington in 2022, Abbott said: “We are sending them to the United States capital, where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.”
Abbott’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lightfoot’s note.
In her letter, Lightfoot complained that some migrants have arrived “in dire need of food, water, and clothing” and echoed criticism that these migrants are being used as political pawns.
“I know by your actions that you either do not see or do not care about the trauma these migrants have already faced and continue to suffer under the humanitarian crisis you have created,” she wrote. “But I beseech you anyway: treat these individuals with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”
Lightfoot recently lost her bid for a second term, finishing third in the election Feb. 28 out of nine declared candidates. Cook County Board Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who subsequently defeated Paul Vallas in a runoff, is to be sworn in as mayor May 15.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“This administration has been asleep at the wheel on border security, and it has had a tremendous, negative impact on New York City,” Lawler said in a statement to POLITICO. “I would be more than happy to work in a bipartisan way with the mayor to force President Biden to secure our borders and reform the immigration system.”
Since spring 2022, more than 57,000 migrants — largely from Latin America — arrived in New York after crossing the southern border. Some were sent from conservative states like Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott chartered as many as eight buses a day to carry migrants to Manhattan. Others arrived on their own.
The influx has strained the resources of one of the biggest cities in the world.
Services tied to housing, feeding, educating and providing health care to the newcomers are projected to cost $2.9 billion next year alone, an amount that exceeds the New York City Fire Department’s entire operating budget. So far, Adams has mostly failed to get the White House to respond to his pleas for additional funds, easing of work requirements and better coordination at the border to resettle asylum seekers around the U.S.
Adams’ new rhetoric, which drew praise from the conservative editorial page of the New York Post and mirrored remarks by Fox News contributor Sean Duffy, was even more eyebrow-raising given the moderate Democrat is a national surrogate for Biden.
The mayor’s comments came just days before the president announced his reelection bid and at a time when Republicans are gearing up to use voter discontent around immigration in their fight for the White House, the Senate and a larger majority in the House.
This is the second time in less than a year that Adams’ message on a highly contentious political issue has overlapped with Republican talking points. In 2022, he joined GOP calls for reforms to New York’s bail laws and only changed his tune as the midterms neared and it became clear his party would take a beating over crime at the ballot box.
Though Adams’ words on immigration could now hurt fellow Democrats running for national office, particularly in New York’s swing congressional districts where Lawler is facing a competitive race, Adams may be thinking more about protecting his own reelection bid in 2025.
One mayoral adviser, granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s internal mood, noted most New Yorkers would rather see investments in schools, libraries and other city services than billions more spent to help the newcomers. Indeed, a February poll by Quinnipiac University found that 63 percent of voters — including 53 percent of Democrats — don’t think New York City can accommodate the sanctuary-seekers.
Spokespeople for Adams strongly rejected criticism that he’s parroting Republican talking points, saying he’s done more to care for tens of thousands of migrants than any other Democrat in the country.
“To personally show his support for asylum seekers, Mayor Adams has organized haircuts for migrants, book donations for kids, and clothing drives, as well as slept besides migrants at a humanitarian relief center while spending hours hearing their personal stories,” mayoral press secretary Fabien Levy said in a statement.
“Anyone falsely accusing Mayor Adams of using Republican rhetoric should stop criticizing the one person doing more than anyone else in this city for migrants and start pushing for more aid from Washington, DC and Albany,” Levy said.
But his language around the issue — saying the migrant crisis has “destroyed” the city, directly blaming Biden for the situation and saying it has prevented New York’s economic comeback — is still jarring to many members of his party.
“It’s extremely disappointing and dangerous to hear anyone feed into anti-immigrant rhetoric, particularly the highest-ranking elected city official of one of the most diverse cities that is fueled by the contributions of the immigrant community,” said Rep. Delia Ramirez, a first-term Democrat from Illinois who says her progressive stance is key to stemming GOP gains in the Latino community.
“At the federal level, we need to utilize executive authority to ensure cities like Chicago and New York have the support they need to continue providing shelter with maximal flexibility,” she said.
Added Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a leading critic of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ immigration policies: “We should tone down the rhetoric and focus on solutions.”
Both Republican and Democratic strategists say Adams’ decision to amplify the right’s messaging around immigration could be a gift to the GOP.
“I think echoing Republican attacks when Biden is going to need every single resource from Democrats to back him up is not what good Democrats do,” said Bill Neidhardt, a progressive political consultant.
Republican strategist Bob Heckman said it’s surprising that other Democratic mayors of places like Chicago, D.C. and Denver, which have also faced an influx of migrants, aren’t speaking out like Adams.
“If you are the mayor of a city who’s receiving the huge influx of migrants that are pouring across the southern border, it’s hard not to talk like that,” Heckman said. “The administration needs to get serious about it. They can’t just ignore it and run on, ‘We can’t let Donald Trump get reelected.’”
A spokesperson for Biden declined to respond directly to Adams’ criticism but pointed to the president’s announcement in January about new border enforcement actions when he said “extreme Republicans” have always tried to use immigration to score political points but don’t help solve the problem.
One of those so-called extreme Republicans, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas who has advocated for conservative immigration measures, wasn’t quite ready to embrace the New York mayor.
“Eric Adams is right to blame the Biden Administration for the border crisis, but this is the same guy who campaigned on his city’s sanctuary status and extended childcare, colleague classes and other taxpayer-funded programs to illegal migrants,” Roy said in a statement.
“Texas has been bearing the brunt of this crisis for over two years — now New York is getting a taste of their own medicine.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Jerry Springer hosted “The Jerry Springer Show” from 1991 to 2018. | Terry Gilliam/AP Photo
By Kierra Frazier
Updated:
Former Cincinnati Mayor Jerry Springer has died at 79 after a brief illness, according to the Associated Press.
Springer was best known for his show, “The Jerry Springer Show,” which aired from 1991 to 2018. Guests on the outlandish show were faced with a spouse or family member’s controversial issues, such as adultery. The confrontations led to chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments.
The show’s tilt into tabloid sensationalism drew a wide range of reactions from audiences. At one point, “The Jerry Springer Show” eclipsed “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in viewership. Conversely, the show was also named No. 1 on TV Guide’s list of the “Worst Shows In The History Of Television.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
“The president and the White House have failed this city,” he said, adding that a less-than-punctual state budget is only adding to the stresses.
He indicated he wants the federal government to grant Temporary Protected Status to asylum seekers so they can receive work permits because the city is currently experiencing a “black market” of workers without them.
“A substantial number of them, I believe, are being exploited, are being mistreated,” he said.
In a statement, the White House said it hopes to work with the city on its needs: “FEMA is also providing assistance to support the city as it receives migrants and will announce additional funding for receiving cities like New York City in the coming weeks, but we need Congress to provide the funds and resources we’ve requested to fix our long-broken immigration system.”
The White House also called on Congress to “reform and modernize” immigration laws so asylum seekers can get work permits, saying it has tried various administrative measures to help them.
At City Hall, it was quite the political split screen: A couple hundred feet away members of the Progressive Caucus chastised the mayor’s proposed budget cuts (which he has insisted be referred to as “efficiencies”). In the most recent round a few weeks ago, his administration asked most city agencies to cut their staffs for the upcoming fiscal year by 4 percent.
The caucus, which butts heads with the mayor routinely — even more so than the typically critical City Council — is calling for $4 billion in affordable housing funding and $350 million toward “right to counsel” services for those who cannot afford an attorney. They demanded more dollars to be earmarked to shore up mental health and education services, too.
“He is defunding everything we need to keep us safe,” said Council Member Alexa Avilés, who has defined his administration’s priorities largely through a public safety lens. The caucus lost more than a dozen of its members earlier this year amid an internal brawl over whether to defund the NYPD.
The City Council released its official response to the mayor’s budget a few weeks ago, claiming the city would make billions more this fiscal year and the next than it had originally projected.
Adams called those projections “false reporting” and said the inability of local officials to get on the same page has contributed to the federal government’s feet-dragging.
“Running your mouth is not running a city,” Adams said of his critics.
The mayor, who is in negotiations with the Council, must release his next budget proposal by April 26 — though uncertainty in Albany could muddy that timeline, too. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who also echoed Adams’ calls to expand temporary protected status, said a commitment in the state budget to pay a third of the costs promised by Gov. Kathy Hochul “has yet to materialize.”
Asked Wednesday about the state helping the city with the cost of the asylum seekers, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said it would be a priority in ongoing budget talks.
“I know that members of my conference are very, very interested in making sure that we are helpful in this process,” she told reporters. “It’s not something that we’re spending a lot of time talking about, but there is a consensus that we do have to be helpful.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Hyderabad: Speaking about periods openly is no more taboo, GHMC Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi said addressing female students at the Government High School for Girls in NBT nagar on Sunday.
“Let us shun old ways of managing periods. You must change along with changing times. Use sanitary pads. Pay attention to personal hygiene. Periods are a natural and biological process. And every girl goes through this process. Pain is also attached to Periods. You must face it and you must also attend school,” she said while addressing 100-plus girls at the school.
Earlier Gadwal Vijayalakshmi inaugurated a Sanitary Pads vending machine and an incinerator along with Ritu Shah, chairperson of FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO).
GHMC Mayor launching the sanitary pad vending machine.
The function was held at NBT Nagar Girls Highschool at Banjara Hills on Saturday late evening. Later she distributed pads to girls.
FLO under its ‘Sustain her health’ initiative donated both machines and pads. They will continue to provide pads free of cost for the benefit of the girls, a press note informed.
“No one should skip school due to periods or periods related to pain, or uneasiness. Education is also equally important,” said Ritu Shah while addressing the girls.
Later Dr Sweta Agarwal spoke about menstrual hygiene, Physical Wellness and Kanika Jain about mental wellness.
Dr Sweta Agarwal told them to follow three rules of periods. One is to pay utmost importance to hygiene. The second rule is to use sanitary pads. Three is to dispose of used pads hygienically.
“No one needs to feel shy talking about periods,” she said. She asked them if they watched the Padman movie, and if not asked them to watch it. Please talk openly, she told them. She told them to eat such fruits which contain a lot of water such as Water Melon, Cucumber etc.
Kanika Jain while talking about mental wellness, said that each one of them is prone to menstrual-related stress. “You need to learn to cope with it,” she told them. She also suggested some home remedies and asked them to use medicine when the pain becomes unbearable sometimes. She also told them to play outdoor sports to deal with stress.
Anita, the headmistress of the school also participated in the function.
London: Two Indian-origin candidates are lined up to go head-to-head for the post of Leicester Mayor in the local elections coming up in the UK early next month.
Conservative Party councillor Sanjay Modhwadia will compete with Rita Patel, a former Labour councillor who announced her bid recently in order to scrap the role.
Patel, a Rushey Mead councillor from Leicester who will run as an independent, launched her campaign saying the city needed “a fresh start” and promised one of her first jobs will be to remove the mayoral role.
Sitting Labour Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, expressed disappointment at Patel’s exit from the party after she was one of four city councillors suspended for six months for their attempt to scrap the mayor’s office through a vote at a council meeting last month.
Now the Tories have confirmed Modhwadia, a city councillor for North Evington, as their candidate to challenge Soulsby who has held the job since it was created 12 years ago.
He was in the eye of the storm when Leicester witnessed sectarian clashes last September following an India-Pakistan cricket match.
Modhwadia, a local businessman, has been campaigning to push for a “Made in Leicester” brand to improve the city’s perception around the globe.
While the Tories and Rita Patel have both said they want to get rid of the mayoral role, Leicester’s Green Party has promised a public referendum on the matter. The Green Party have chosen Mags Lewis who also stood in 2019, finishing third will be their candidate.
The election is scheduled for May 4 and anyone elected may just go on to have a short stay in office.
“Many local residents have contacted our party in recent months to suggest that this is something we should do and our members have also voted in favour of removing the position of City Mayor,” Richard Tutt, Chair of the City of Leicester Conservatives told Leicester Mercury’.
Many in the eastern England city believe the Leader of the Council system is more democratic and accountable for the people of Leicester.
Jose Sanchez took over as mayor just four days after the Lunar New Year shooting that killed 11 people and injured nine. The Monterey Park City Council member and longtime civics teacher had spent years studying firearm laws, helping his class of high school seniors craft gun-safety legislation that reached the House floor. He thought he knew what to expect.
Nothing could have prepared him.
He was running on two to three hours of sleep a night as he juggled the demands of teaching with the tragedy’s aftermath. Meetings with state and federal government officials. Vigils and community events. Round-the-clock emails from residents worried about safety.
The father of three small children, he started bringing his oldest child to the office so they could spend more time together. Her sixth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, which had been set for the day after the shooting, was canceled.
Two days after a gunman opened fire in a ballroom dance studio, Sanchez was back in his classroom at Alhambra High School, trying to talk with his students about what had happened without breaking down.
“I remember at the end of that period, a student patted me on the shoulder and asked if I was OK,” he said. “It’s not that often that my students ask me how I’m doing.”
Sanchez, a Democrat, had thought about the probability of a shooting while running his first campaign for elected office. He remembers telling his wife he would make sure Monterey Park was prepared.
The city, a majority Asian American suburb outside of Los Angeles that for decades attracted immigrants with the promise of good schools and single-family homes, had largely been spared from the proliferation of shootings across the nation.
His wife warned him that he was thinking about gun safety too much, and he wondered if she was right. That issue had consumed him since 2016, when he and a group of students visiting UCLA barricaded themselves in a women’s restroom after a professor was shot and killed.
“I wish I didn’t have to think about this issue,” Sanchez said. “And now that it has happened, it makes you think, how could we have been better prepared? What can we do now to prevent another one?”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
After besting seven other candidates in the February election, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson represent two polarizing visions on public safety and education. Vallas, a moderate Democrat and former public schools chief, ran almost entirely on addressing the city’s crime. To his left, Johnson, a progressive county commissioner, is backed by the city’s teachers union.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Greene is slated to lead a rally protesting Trump’s indictment at noon on Tuesday with the New York Young Republicans, a group with ties to white nationalists. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Adams, standing with New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell, said he expects some disruption, but is not worried about violence. There have been no “specific credible threats” made at this point, he said.
The Democratic mayor did have a message for any potential “rabble rousers” like Greene.
“Control yourselves,” he said. “New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger.”
“As always, we will not allow violence of any kind,” Adams said.
He urged New Yorkers to use public transportation ahead of a likely gridlock and some road closures, including outside Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.
Despite Trump’s calls for “potential death and destruction” amid the Manhattan district attorney’s hush-money payment investigation, significant protests in recent weeks have not materialized.
One 39-year-old Trump supporter with no criminal history was charged last week with menacing and harassment after allegedly brandishing a knife at a family with two children outside the courthouse. She pleaded not guilty.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
