Month: January 2023

More than 7,000 nurses at hospitals in New York City began a strike over contracts, with some picketing outside the hospitals where they work on Monday.  The New York State Nurses Association (“NYSNA”), a union that represents more than 42,000 nurses in the state, demonstrated outside four hospitals, including Mount Sinai Hospital at Madison and East 99th Street in Manhattan, as well as three Montefiore campuses in the Bronx.

The NYSNA has received backing in the strike from city and state officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Council Member Gale Brewer, according to a news release. NY Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement late Sunday asking for a fair labor agreement with the nurses to ensure they have safe working conditions, adding that “for weeks now, we have been working tirelessly with our partners in New York City to broker negotiations between the nurses and affected hospitals and our efforts have achieved significant progress.”

Strikes were also expected at the Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside hospitals but those strike notices were rescinded by the union after it reached tentative agreements that are subject to ratification, according to the union. The agreement reached Sunday includes a 19.1% wage increase that has been ratified by New York Presbyterian and the Maimonides Medical Center.

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A Georgia special grand jury has completed its investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies for possible interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Judge Robert McBurney of the Superior Court of Fulton County acknowledged that the investigation was concluded in a court filing Monday and set a hearing on whether to make the report public. McBurney wrote in the order dissolving the grand jury: “The special purpose grand jury, after many months of witness testimony, has now issued its final report. Remaining is the question of publication of the final report. The special purpose grand jury certified that it voted to recommend that its report be published. That hearing to decide whether the report should be made public is scheduled for Jan. 24.” 

McBurney’s order did not describe any of the findings of the report, which was submitted to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who will decide whether to present the report as evidence to another grand jury to consider indictments. Willis opened the probe in 2021 after the audio of a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was published by The Washington Post, where Trump instructed Raffensperger to “find” more than 11,000 votes in order to change the outcome of the election in the state. Trump has said that he did nothing wrong in that call.

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On Sunday, the White House joined France, Spain and Portugal in expressing support for Brazilian President Lula da Silva amid an ongoing riot at the capitol in Brasilia. Hundreds of supporters of Brazil’s right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and Planalto Presidential Palace on Sunday to protest the election of Lula and calling for a military intervention to overthrow him, earning the rebuke from world nations. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement on Twitter: “The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil. President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the president of Portugal, spoke by telephone with Lula after the riot broke out. A readout provided by the Portuguese government said: “The President of the Republic considers that these acts, in addition to being unconstitutional and illegal, are inadmissible and intolerable in a democracy, reinforcing Portugal’s support and total solidarity with the legitimately elected power in Brazil.”

Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, tweeted a message of support to Lula and said Spain “strongly condemns the assault on the Brazilian Congress … We support the democratic government elected at the polls. We condemn the actions of groups that oppose legitimate results.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that the “will of the Brazilian people and the democratic institutions must be respected” and added that Lula “can count on the unwavering support of France.”

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President Joe Biden traveled to El Paso, Texas, on Sunday in  his first trip to the border since taking office, in order to assess enforcement operations at the U.S.-Mexico border. The trip comes just days after the White House announced new restrictions on asylum seekers amid record numbers of migrants attempting to cross into the U.S., and amid repeated Republican criticism of the president for not traveling to the southern border sooner.

During his visit, Biden assessed enforcement operations at the busiest port in El Paso — the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry — which recently received $600 million through the bipartisan infrastructure law. He was joined on his visit by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; Texas Democratic Reps. Veronica Escobar, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez; and community and business leaders, including El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and County Judge Ricardo Samaniego. Biden also visited the El Paso County Migrant Services Center and met with community leaders, including those of religious groups and nonprofit organizations that have helped manage the surge of migrants.

Biden was also greeted by the members of Congress and other officials, including Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who handed the president a letter demanding he take further enforcement actions at the border. According to a copy of the letter provided by the Texas governor’s office, the demands included that Biden work to detain, prosecute and remove more migrants under current federal laws and resume border wall construction, which the president largely halted after taking office.

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The U.S. House of Representatives adjourned for a third straight day on Thursday without electing a House speaker, after Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy lost his 11th consecutive vote for the position. The House voted 219-213 along party lines to reconvene noon Friday. McCarthy and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were again nominated for speaker on Thursday, with the Democrat consistently netting all 212 Democrat votes while McCarthy went from 201 votes to 200 throughout the day.

McCarthy, who was the House minority leader during the 117th Congress, has sought to earn the House gavel previously held by Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, but has failed to garner the 218 votes necessary to do so. The deadlock marks the first time in 100 years that House lawmakers have failed to elect a speaker on the first ballot; the GOP will again try to end the political stalemate that began Tuesday and which has prevented the 118th Congress from conducting any business, including the swearing in of new members.

The deadlock leaves much of the government at a standstill. None of the newly elected congressional leaders can be sworn in until someone ascends to the role of speaker, and returning lawmakers have not had their security clearances renewed, so they cannot receive private briefings from the military and intelligence agencies. Without a speaker, the House also can’t carry out oversight of the federal government or other entities or call witnesses before committees.

The speaker is next in line after the U.S. vice president to lead the nation in the event of a circumstance that would prevent the commander-in-chief from carrying out their duties.

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