New York Governor Kathy Hochul was sworn in for her first elected term on Sunday, making history as the first woman elected to the position in the state.
The US Democrat, launching her term as the 57th governor of New York, said her goals were to increase public safety and to make the state more affordable.
“Right now there are some fights we have to take on,” Hochul said after taking the oath of office at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. “First we must and will make our streets safer.”
Photo: AFP
Hochul also called for making the state more affordable, citing the high cost of living. Also sworn in on Sunday was New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado.
A native of Buffalo, Hochul, 64, defeated Republican US Representative Lee Zeldin, an ally of former US president Donald Trump, in November’s election to win the office that she took over in 2021 when former New York governor Andrew Cuomo resigned.
A former congresswoman, she served as Cuomo’s lieutenant governor before taking over in August 2021 and has tried to cast herself as a fresh start from Cuomo. He resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, which he denies.
New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer described her November victory as “breaking the glass ceiling.”
During her time as governor, New York passed some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, some of which are experiencing court challenges.
Delgado, a former Democratic US representative who identifies as Afro-Latino, took over the position as lieutenant governor in May after Brian Benjamin resigned, and said he could not “wait to get down to business” of “transparent” and “accountable” government.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, 64, also took oath on Sunday for her second elected term in the position. She made history in 2018 as the first woman elected as the state’s attorney general and the first black person to serve in the role.
“Four years ago I made a commitment to make this office a force of justice. I promise to fight for all New Yorkers, regardless of your political affiliation,” James said.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS