With airports in Israel closed, Jewish New Yorkers are desperate to find ways in
'I feel guilty that I'm not there with my brothers and sisters being subjected to these missiles,' said Todd Richman, a Long Islander whose flight to Israel was canceled last Thursday as news broke of Israel's preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear sites. 'I feel guilty. It's hard to explain.'
Since airports are shuttered, the 55-year-old, who works in finance, said he's looked into alternate means to get into the Jewish state, including a ship, to no avail. The minute flights open up, Richman declared, 'I'm there.'
4 Amidst Israel's conflict with Iran, some New Yorkers say they would like to be in the Holy Land showing solidarity with Israelis.
ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The married dad-of-three added, 'It's hard to explain how you can want to be in a war zone right now, but there's something you feel in your heart.'
With friends and family running into bomb shelters every night amidst a barrage of ballistic missiles launched from Iran, there's a sense of powerlessness.
'I'm watching it through their eyes and I wish I was there with them,' he said. 'There's something unique about the Jewish ruach (spirit) about being together during such a situation.'
With 24 Israelis killed and hundreds injured in the days-long Iranian missile barrage, people are determined to stay resilient and strong in the face of evil.
'They're having bar mitzvahs in the shelters, singing in the shelters, celebrating life in the shelters,' Richman said, adding, 'I still feel safe there. In some ways you feel safer being in Israel with ballistic missiles landing than you do in most other parts of the world.'
Chava Blivaiss, a 36-year-old trauma surgeon, feels similarly.
'People think I'm crazy, [but] I just feel the need to be there,' she told The Post.
4 'I feel guilty that I'm not there with my brothers and sisters being subjected to these missiles,' said Todd Richman.'
Courtesy of Todd Richman
The Long Islander is on standby with a fully packed bag, passport and medical IDs sitting by the door.
'I'm always ready to run into the fire — and if I could be there right now, I would,' she said. 'Even if I wasn't a trauma surgeon, I'd want to be there just as much. I'd go shopping there and help the economy, buying falafels.'
While she's had no shortage of rockets and close calls before in Israel over the past year — sometimes having a mere 30 seconds to run to the bomb shelter in places like Ashkelon — Blivaiss asserted, 'it still feels safer there than it does here … you get used to the rockets and the running and the sirens.'
Yocheved 'Kim' Ruttenberg, the American founder of Sword of Iron – Israel Volunteer Corp, a grassroots initiative that began as a modest Facebook group after October 7, said she's been inundated with messages from would-be volunteers from all over the world trying to reach Israel now.
4 'People think I'm crazy, [but] I just feel the need to be there,' said trauma surgeon Chava Blivaiss.
Courtesy of Dr. Chava Blivaiss
'It doesn't make logical sense. It's something you can't explain, you just feel it,' Ruttenberg, 24, told The Post.
It's a sentiment that David Harris, former longtime CEO of the American Jewish Committee, understands.
The 75-year-old longtime Jewish activist, who lives in Manhattan, told The Post that he is planning to go to Israel as soon as he can. He's gone against the grain before.
During the first Gulf War, when missiles started flying from Iraq to Israel, he said he was on the 'first plane to Israel.' He got a flight with legendary comedian Jackie Mason, with virtually no one else on board.
'We wanted to show solidarity and sit in the sealed rooms simply because there was nowhere else we wanted to be,' he said.
4 Yocheved 'Kim' Ruttenberg said her organization has been inundated with requests from people wanting to volunteer in Israel.
Courtesy of Yocheved "Kim" Ruttenberg
During the 2006 Lebanon War, he never thought twice about running to the Holy Land to 'sit in bomb shelters and tell Israelis they're not alone,' he said. 'And to tell myself that I wouldn't simply be a bystander rooting from far … There's no way to simply say that's their war and my place is here. My place is there.'
Richman noted that people feeling this way is unique to Israel and the Jewish people.
He said, 'Tell me what other country that's at war that has people scrambling to get back into the country.'
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Los Angeles Times
18 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: Palestinians' ‘right to self-determination' needs to be considered too
To the editor: Guest contributor Mark Brilliant makes his opinions clear but fails to convince ('Anti-Zionism is antisemitism — university leaders settle the question,' July 21). His assertion regarding the House testimony ignores how the Trump administration has punished students and researchers at schools that failed to toe its line. Brilliant claims anti-Zionism is 'denying to the Jewish people the right to self-determination.' Here is the question he should ask: Is Zionism a denial of the Palestinians' right to self-determination? Further, were the Palestinian people treated fairly by the partition of their land? Should we continue to support Israel's 70 years of gradual seizure of more Palestinian land in the West Bank, its intention in the long run to prevent the Palestinians from ever having a state of their own and the violence that has ensued as both side's extremists fight for their 'rights'? Is the revulsion many of us feel about how Israel is slaughtering civilians in Gaza 'anti-Zionism' or human decency? Few Americans question Israel's right to exist, but many question the senseless violence of its government in response to the senseless violence of Hamas. Michael Snare, San Diego .. To the editor: Brilliant takes an affirmative response to a gotcha question ('Is denying the Jewish people their rights to self-determination … antisemitism? Yes or no?') and leaps to his desired conclusion: that the university officials agreed that anti-Zionism is antisemitic. But he is wrong when he says that the Jewish right to self-determination is the textbook definition of Zionism. In fact, Zionism is the movement to establish a Jewish state in biblical Israel. I believe everyone has a right to self-determination, so I might have answered the gotcha question affirmatively too. But no one has the 'right' to occupy land where others live just as no one has a right to seize homes and orchards, to tell people where they must live and that they can't leave or to deny others their right to self-determination by basing democratic rights such as the right to vote or the right to travel on one's ethnicity. And, of course, no one has a 'right' to bomb hospitals and starve children. It is not antisemitic of me to say so. Clyde Leland, Berkeley .. To the editor: In response to Brilliant's op-ed that equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism, I would like to point out that people who criticize Zionism probably don't object to Jewish rights to self-determination or statehood. The problem is real estate. The Bible may have promised the land of Israel to the Jews, but if you look at things from a strictly historical perspective, a lot more non-Jews have lived on the land in question than Jews. Many of the people who established the state of Israel came from Europe (for admittedly good reasons) and pushed the native Arab population into refugee camps where it's lived for the last 70-odd years. Now government officials in Israel and the U.S. are talking openly about completely removing this population. That's ethnic cleansing, and as uncomfortable as it is for many to admit, it's hard to see that ethnic cleansing is not intrinsic to Zionism. You can't establish a Jewish state in a place where other people already live without kicking those people out. That's what people don't like about Zionism. If you could take away the mandatory Arab eviction part, I don't think anybody would have a problem with it. William Griffith, Oxnard
Scientific American
an hour ago
- Scientific American
Science Agency Staffers Speak Out about Trump Administration's Actions
The federal government is full of scientists who lend their expertise to key decisions about our food, medicines, environment, health care, and more. But as the first six months of President Donald Trump's second term have unfolded, these scientists say they have found themselves as pawns in what they call a strongly antiscience administration. Some are speaking out publicly. Several hundred staffers at the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA have banded together to write to their leaders and other government officials. The resulting letters, published by the nonprofit organization Stand Up for Science, decry deep cuts at the agencies and changing priorities that belie their traditional missions and go far beyond the shifts that typically occur under new presidents. (A fourth letter, made public late July 22 by the New York Times, was written by National Science Foundation staffers to Representative Zoe Lofgren, senior Democrat on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, calls on the committee to defend NSF citing similar complaints.) 'As an administrator, you carry out the policy of the president; that's always been so, and that is [so] today,' says Christine Todd Whitman, who served as administrator of the EPA under then president George W. Bush. 'But the policy has never been the dismantling of the agency.' Now, she and the letters' authors fear, it is. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. The EPA staffers' letter, which they call a 'Declaration of Dissent,' highlights five key concerns about how Administrator Lee Zeldin has been running the agency. Officials are 'undermining public trust..., ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters..., reversing EPA's progress in America's most vulnerable communities..., dismantling the Office of Research and Development [and] promoting a culture of fear,' the staffers write. The second point— ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters —is a particular concern for Amelia Hertzberg, an environmental protection specialist who worked at the EPA's Environmental Justice Office until she and the rest of that office were placed on leave in February. 'The EPA was founded with a mission to protect human health and the environment, regardless of its effect on industry,' she says. The EPA works with companies to ensure its policies are reasonable, she notes, and companies receive broader support from other government agencies. Hertzberg also highlights the administration's circumvention of established protocols for reducing staffing. 'If you want to have a reduction in force, that's fine,' she says. 'Let's do it legally; let's do it according to procedure.' Another signer of the EPA letter is Michael Pasqua, a life scientist and program manager for the EPA's safe drinking water efforts in Wisconsin. He says he has been particularly upset by changes at the agency's Office of Research and Development, which is being slashed to one third of its staff and folded into the administrator's office. 'This is the science that everything is based off of,' Pasqua says of the Office of Research and Development's work. Now, he fears, researchers will be pressured into arriving at findings that match the administrator's priorities. 'They are turning science into this subjective cultural conversation that doesn't really make any sense,' he says. Pasqua says he just wants to be able to focus on his work: supporting Wisconsin's effort to ensure residents have access to safe, clean drinking water. The state, he says, is still facing challenges from its historically heavy use of nitrate chemicals in agriculture, even as it has been among the first to quantify and begin addressing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances PFAS, or 'forever chemicals,' in drinking water. 'I thought I would be helping people,' he says of his decision to join the EPA. The EPA did not return Scientific American 's request for comment on the letter. After the letter was published, the agency put about 140 employees who signed it on administrative leave. 'It was an act of courage to develop and sign on to this letter, knowing that signatories would likely be sidelined or even worse,' said Gina McCarthy, who served as administrator of the EPA under then president Barack Obama, in a statement to Scientific American. The most recent of the three letters was sent to NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy. Its signers are particularly afraid of retaliation, says one current employee, who signed the letter but asked to remain anonymous in this article. This NASA employee has been worried for a while. 'I'm someone who has been pretty heavily involved with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility groups around NASA, so once the executive orders getting rid of those were issued and then very quickly implemented, that's when I knew that the destruction was coming our way,' they say. Although all three agencies are facing dramatic changes, the details look different, and each letter speaks to those individual circumstances. The NASA letter, for example, is heavily shaped by the way human spaceflight disasters, such as the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, have become baked into the agency's culture—the letter calls out by name astronauts who have died in the line of duty. NASA staffers also highlight, in particular, the move by the Trump administration to cancel more than a dozen healthy spacecraft that have been conducting extended operations—old missions that now require a minuscule budget but still return valuable science data. 'Once we hit the off switch, there's no on switch,' the NASA employee says of the proposed mission cancellations, noting that some spacecraft are designed to be destroyed at the end of their life. 'There's just no coming back from that.' (NASA also did not return Scientific American 's request for comment on the letter.) The NIH employees' letter, dubbed the 'Bethesda Declaration,' was published first, in early June, and has seen perhaps the most open reception. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya met with 38 staffers who signed on to the letter on July 21. 'I felt there was a lot of empathy, there was some engaged discussion. I didn't really hear a strong plan for change,' one attendee said during a rally following the meeting. 'We're going in the wrong direction, and there has been irreparable harm done. But there's still time to right the ship.' —Ian Morgan, molecular biologist and postdoctoral fellow, NIH Before the meeting, Bhattacharya had hinted at openness to discussion within the agency. 'The Bethesda Declaration has some fundamental misconceptions about the policy directions the NIH has taken in recent months, including the continuing support of the NIH for international collaboration,' he said in a statement provided to Scientific American. 'Nevertheless, respectful dissent in science is productive. We all want the NIH to succeed.' Like the other letters, the Bethesda Declaration highlights key concerns about the agency's activities under the second Trump administration. In it, employees complain that the NIH has been forced to 'politicize research by halting high-quality, peer-reviewed grants and contracts..., interrupt global collaboration..., undermine peer review..., enact a blanket 15% cap on indirect costs,' which hinders funded research, and 'fire essential NIH staff.' Ian Morgan, a molecular biologist and postdoctoral fellow at the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences, who studies antimicrobial resistance, says that the months since Trump took office have been difficult. 'Everything was shut down,' he says. 'We weren't allowed to communicate outside with our collaborators; we weren't allowed to order any supplies to do our work; we weren't able to do any new research.' Morgan, who has worked for the NIH on and off for more than a decade, was able to reprioritize his work to focus on writing up existing findings. Still, he says, he was struck by the havoc wreaked on the research conducted within the agency and upset by reports from clinic staff who had to let patients know they would no longer be able to receive treatment at NIH facilities. 'We're going in the wrong direction, and there has been irreparable harm done,' Morgan says of changes made in the past months that drove him to sign the letter. 'But there's still time to right the ship.' In a statement to Scientific American, an NIH spokesperson responded to each concern included in the letter, saying that the agency's 'funding decisions must be based on the merit of provable and testable hypotheses, not ideological narratives.' In addition, the statement said that 'legitimate international collaborations' have not been stopped—that the agency is merely trying to understand where money is going—and that the concerns about peer review are a 'misunderstanding' as the agency focuses on 'enhancing the transparency, rigor, and reproducibility of NIH-funded research.' The statement also pointed to other funders that cap overhead costs at 15 percent and said that the agency is 'reviewing each case of termination to ensure appropriateness,' reversing these decisions as it sees fit. 'Still, as NIH priorities evolve, so must our staffing model to ensure alignment with our central mission and being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.' Morgan, Hertzberg and Pasqua all say their fundamental goal in speaking out is to ensure they can continue doing what they believe is important work that benefits people across the U.S. 'I hope the general public understands that what we're doing, we're doing for them,' Pasqua says. 'If you drink water and you breathe air, we're trying to protect you.'
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
Battle of the Jessicas
Presented by Resorts World New York City With help from Amira McKee New York Minute: Republican Rep. Mike Lawler's campaign teased 'a major announcement' this morning on 'Fox & Friends.' Most GOP officials Playbook spoke to Tuesday night suspect it's a long-anticipated decision on whether he will run for governor or seek reelection. Lawler's governor dreams have been complicated by Rep. Elise Stefanik's own ambitions. QUEENS QUEENS: State Sen. Jessica Ramos shocked the New York political world by endorsing her longtime foe Andrew Cuomo while running for mayor. He didn't endorse her back. But his rejuvenated mayoral campaign is quick to compliment her in the face of a fierce primary challenge from neighboring Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas. Ramos has 'a real record of delivering — not only for her constituents, but for working New Yorkers as a whole,' Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told Playbook. 'She cares about the things that matter, and New York is all the stronger because of it. And I'm sure that's what her constituents are going to consider.' Of course, it's still not an endorsement. 'The cycle hasn't even begun to begin yet,' Azzopardi added. Meanwhile, González-Rojas is gathering star supporters for her state Senate campaign, which she officially launched Tuesday. 'Let's GO @votejgr! We got you,' Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, adding a raised hands emoji. (Ramos and AOC don't talk and don't get along.) City Comptroller Brad Lander, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Council Members Shekar Krishnan, Tiffany Caban and Shahana Hanif — and many more electeds — joined JGR's Jackson Heights fundraiser Monday night. Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz remarked to attendees that she had been trying to get González-Rojas to challenge Ramos for years, one elected official present told Playbook. JGR's run against Ramos is personal and about unseating an elected official she's found difficult to work with. But it was Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary win — against both Ramos and Cuomo, among others — that gave her the political push to do it. González-Rojas endorsed Mamdani, who won Ramos' senate district 60-40 over Cuomo in the mayoral primary. Ramos endorsed Cuomo in that race, after sparring with him in the Legislature for years, slamming him as a creep and questioning his mental acuity on the trail. She didn't respond to requests for comment. While she got 0.4 percent in the mayoral primary, she'll be in a much better position if she seeks reelection. She's an incumbent with union allies, thanks in part to her role chairing the Senate's powerful labor committee. She's in bad shape financially, though. Ramos reported just $10,492 in her state campaign account last week, after raising $70,000 and spending $68,000 in the previous six months. (Her biggest expense was $14,000 to polling firm Slingshot Strategies, as she continues to pay for a spring 2024 district survey showing opposition to a casino. The poll was initially covered by an anonymous donor, but Ramos reversed course and said her campaign would pay for it.) Ramos's city account is deeply in debt as well, reporting a negative balance of nearly $126,000. She's in a dispute with another vendor and may see her liabilities increase even more, two people familiar with her finances told Playbook. Mamdani boosters are eager to unseat electeds who backed Cuomo, and this could be a high-profile battle — even if the politics undergirding it are a bit muddled. Both Jessicas are to the left of moderate Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, and both won the Working Families Party's endorsement in 2024. González-Rojas opted not to respond to Playbook's questions about the key policy differences between the two, or if she plans to highlight Ramos' Cuomo flip-flop on the trail. 'I'm running for State Senate to bring bold, inclusive leadership that delivers real results for our community,' González-Rojas said in a statement. 'In this moment of national crisis, our neighbors deserve a fighter who shows up, listens, and works side by side with them to create lasting change. This campaign is about progress rooted in values — and building a future we all shape together.' — Jason Beeferman and Jeff Coltin IT'S WEDNESDAY: Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE'S KATHY? In New York City, Suffolk County and Erie County making a public safety announcement. WHERE'S ERIC? Schedule not available as of 10 p.m. Tuesday. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'Are you going to lose more people than you gain by not attacking Trump, by trying to be too cute by half and say: 'I want people to get to know [me] better?' We know you, we know you were governor, we know why you resigned.' — Democratic strategist Basil Smikle on 'Cuomo 2.0's' shift away from Trump, via NBC News. ABOVE THE FOLD TRUMP TEAM SPLIT: Mayor Eric Adams was spared Donald Trump's wrath Tuesday after the president fielded a question on leaders of 'sanctuary' cities. But he didn't escape blame from Trump's deputies, who accused him and his fellow Democrats of fostering the circumstances that led to a federal customs officer being shot Saturday with two undocumented immigrants now in custody for the crime. The president was asked in the Oval Office: 'What is your message to any local leaders who continue to push 'sanctuary' city policies after this nearly tragic incident?' Trump responded without mentioning any New York leaders. He instead slammed advisers to President Joe Biden who allowed '21 million people, probably much more than that' to enter the country, including dangerous and violent offenders. Meanwhile, Department of Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem and Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, have condemned Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the City Council in the wake of the shooting. Adams, a Trump-friendly Democrat, has been critical of New York's policies limiting cooperation between federal immigration agents and local law enforcement officers, all while saying he would follow the laws as mayor. Trump border czar Tom Homan has frequently said he would 'flood the zone' in New York City with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The mayor has stressed the need for a good working relationship with the president and saw his federal fraud charges dismissed at the prompting of Trump's Justice Department. Adams has denied wrongdoing and a quid pro quo. 'People are trying to say what he did was because there was some deal,' the mayor said of himself in an episode of the New York Post Pod Force One released this morning. 'There was never a deal. There was never any conversation that he would do A and I would do B. That did not take place at all.' Adams, a former NYPD captain, visited the federal officer who was shot in the hospital over the weekend. The mayor, who is running for reelection as an independent, slammed 'violent migrant and asylum seekers who are bringing violence and really tarnish the reputation of those who come to this country to pursue the American dream.' — Emily Ngo CITY HALL: THE LATEST AFTER-SCHOOL PUSH AMID ELECTIONS: The city is launching 40 new after-school sites this fall as part of a push to offer elementary and middle schoolers after-school seats, including in areas Adams won during his 2021 mayoral campaign. Thirty seven traditional public schools, as well as three charters, are slated to receive 5,000 new seats for students this September at a cost of $21 million, the mayor announced Tuesday. Those include neighborhoods where Adams cruised in his 2021 mayoral bid, including Harlem, Westchester Square in the Bronx, East New York in Brooklyn and Baisley Park in Queens, per the Atlas election map. It comes as the mayor embarks on a long-shot reelection bid as a political independent. Adams' universal after-school push, which the mayor announced at the end of April, came after several candidates in the Democratic mayoral primary made expanding after-school access a priority. 'New York City can no longer afford to lose working class families who leave the city because of the issue of child care,' Adams said Tuesday. 'Two things we hear all the time when new employees come here: how good are the schools and how safe is the community? We're targeting both of those issues.' — Madina Touré and Amira McKee FINAL RESULTS: Some 1,071,730 New York City Democrats voted in the mayoral primary, according to the final certified Board of Elections results released Tuesday — the most in a mayoral primary since 1989, when 1.08 million Dems cast votes as David Dinkins prevailed. The 32 percent turnout was also the highest since 1989, when nearly half of registered Democrats at the time voted. Mamdani won 43.8 percent of the votes in the first round, and 56.4 percent in the final round of ranked-choice voting — a 12.8 point margin over Cuomo. — Jeff Coltin TALK, TALK, TALK: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams called on Adams to resume his regular 'off-topic Tuesday' briefings with the news media. 'Does he understand that his moves against press freedom are just another way he mimics Donald Trump?' the mayoral foe said in a statement slamming Adams' management of the NYPD. 'The mayor has also already answered every single question Jumaane claims he should be addressing,' Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus responded. 'Jumaane should do his homework before putting out ridiculous statements that are nothing more than a sad attempt to cling to relevance.' — Jeff Coltin More from the city: — Calls to strip Mamdani's citizenship have sparked alarm about Trump weaponizing denaturalization. (NBC News) — At least two dead voters had absentee ballots submitted under their names in a tightly contested GOP City Council primary in southern Brooklyn. (New York Post) — Brooklyn developer Tolib Mansurov, who was named last year as one of Adams' alleged straw donors, is planning a 99-unit building in Park Slope. (Crain's New York) NEW FROM PLANET ALBANY EPSTEIN FALLOUT: Democrats are eager to tweak Republicans over the swirling Jeffrey Epstein saga that has engulfed the Trump White House, POLITICO reports. Struggling to find their footing during Trump 2.0, some Democrats believe the controversy surrounding the federal government's investigation of the disgraced financier can provide added fuel for next year's elections. 'Democrats need to take advantage of openings to chip away at the Trump coalition, and the Epstein files present one of the first major opportunities to do so,' Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis told Playbook. 'He's a con man of the highest order, and some of his most fervent supporters are finally beginning to see it.' There is an acknowledgement, though, that Trump's Epstein headache won't be a substitute for issues like Medicaid cuts. Hochul last week said the matter creates a 'trust gap' for Trump's base, but she expects the party will focus on crucial issues like slashed funding for services. Still, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal argued that applying pressure on Republicans over Epstein doesn't just turn the tables on the president, but has a shot of winning over Trump voters. 'MAGA thinks the system is rigged on behalf of the wealthy and the powerful,' he said. 'Perhaps this is the wedge that will begin to illuminate to many people in red states and elsewhere that Donald Trump does not have your best interests at heart.' Democratic consultant Morgan Hook cautioned that Democrats shouldn't overpromise — or indulge their base in the same kind of conspiracy theories the hard right has marinated in during the Trump era. 'If you want to use this to drive a wedge between Trump and his supporters, great,' Hook said. 'Don't go and lie to your supporters, too, and say this will take Trump down.' Republican consultant Vince Casale expects bigger issues — like affordability — will be at play, and the Epstein controversy won't be at the forefront of most voters' minds. 'If the Jeffrey Epstein files become an issue that starts to decide congressional races across the country, then the people in this country are a lot better off than they realize,' he said. — Nick Reisman A STORY ABOUT A BRIDGE: New York is scrambling to stop bridge strikes. The Hochul administration on Tuesday rolled out a public service announcement campaign meant to cut down on commercial trucks and large vehicles hitting low-slung spans. State Police will also ramp up enforcement to ensure tall vehicles aren't on roads with low bridges. There were 350 bridge strikes last year. The campaign runs through Saturday. Watch here. — Nick Reisman More from Albany: — Phone calls for people in New York prisons will soon be free. (New York Times) — State policymakers have a draft energy plan that includes reliance on fossil fuels. (POLITICO Pro) — The city of Buffalo is cracking down on illegal cannabis shops. (Buffalo News) KEEPING UP WITH THE DELEGATION GARBARINO'S NEW POST: The 9/11 terrorist attacks helped shape Rep. Andrew Garbarino's view on national security, he said Tuesday after being appointed a night earlier as the next chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security. The Long Island Republican, a close ally of House Speaker Mike Johnson, focused his pitch for the post on his background in cybersecurity policy. 'As a lifelong New Yorker and representative of a district shaped by 9/11, I understand the stakes of this responsibility,' Garbarino said in a statement. ''Never forget' is more than a slogan.' Garbarino listed securing the border, confronting terrorism, strengthening cybersecurity and hardening national defenses as his top priorities. His predecessor, former Rep. Pete King, was a previous homeland security committee chair. His colleagues, including Rep. Mike Lawler and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, commended the pick after two ballot votes as a 'win for New York.' — Emily Ngo More from Congress: — Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries met to define their government funding demands, avoiding explicit ultimatums to their GOP counterparts. (POLITICO) — The House grinds to halt before a planned recess to avoid voting on the release of the Epstein files. (Washington Post) — House lawmakers are getting a boost to funds they can use for their own security, including at their homes. (POLITICO) NEW YORK STATE OF MIND — The New York socialist mayor who came 100 years before Mamdani. (TIME) — Etan Patz, the missing boy whose case keeps coming back. (New York Times) — Columbia University disciplines 70 students for protesting as the school pleads with the Trump administration for funding. (Gothamist) SOCIAL DATA MAKING MOVES: Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) is staffing up: Hawa Bassett has joined as her district director after working at Tonio Burgos & Associates and the Town of North Hempstead … Travis Nelson is Gillen's new director of outreach and political adviser, previously working for the Assembly and as Long Island political director for the state Democratic party … and Jaden Jules is now Gillen's New York press secretary, after previously working at Dow Jones and Precision Strategies. … Sloane & Company appointed Zack Mukewa, former managing director at LLYC, as principal and head of capital markets and strategic advisory … and Jon Hammond, founder of Hammond Strategies, has joined as principal and head of media, sports, entertainment and technology. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: David Brock … former Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) … Newsmax's Jon Glasgow … FGS Global's Craig James and Josh Gross … Edelman's Courtney Gray Haupt … Reuters' Erin Banco … Monica Lewinsky … Lane Greene … Liza Pluto … Katherine Borgerding … Joey Rault … (WAS TUESDAY): David Shuster Missed Tuesday's New York Playbook PM? We forgive you. Read it here.
