City lifeguards who testified in the judicial trial of Peter Stein, the former longtime head of the lifeguard supervisor’s union, say they’re facing retaliation at the hands of Stein’s former deputies who now run the union. Stein retired from the presidency of Local 508 in January after more than 40 years of running the union.
Two months later, a judicial panel of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees found that he had violated the union’s constitution.
Lifeguards brought more than 20 charges against union leadership, and the AFSCME panel heard testimony from several lifeguards about leadership’s anti-democratic behavior including officials’ failures to hold meetings or issue financial reports.
The panel issued formal reprimands to Stein and two of his deputies, Javier Rodriguez and Neil Veloz, for being a “contributing factor to an undemocratic process,” and not producing financial reports. Rodriguez is now Local 508’s vice president and Veloz is the union’s treasurer. Union members say both have been enacting retribution on those who spoke out earlier this year.
“Everyone who testified in that
hearing is in some way being retaliated against,” said one Local 508 member facing retaliation who requested that his name not be used for fear of further reprisals. “This is ridiculous that people have to wor-
ry about their livelihoods, and it’s the union that’s retaliating against us. We’re literally going back to the way it was when [Stein] was in charge.” Rodriguez, Veloz and another for-
mer Stein deputy, Marty Kravitz, hold the top positions in the lifeguard corps and have power to reassign lifeguards or cite them for infractions. Since the trio, along with union president Roberto Huerta,
run Local 508, lifeguard supervisors who sense they’re facing retaliation have little recourse.
“It’s those that are writing us up who we’re supposed to be able to complain too,” the Local 508 member said.
Supervisors say the reprisals have come in the form of withholding promotions from supervisors, writing up lifeguard supervisors for minor infractions or moving them to pools in parts of the city where they’ve never worked before and don’t have established relationships. Kristoff Borrel, who openly challenged Stein last year, said that he’s “never gotten written up a day in my life until this year, and now I’ve got three.”
“It’s the same way for everybody,” said Borrel, who in the off-season works at indoor pools and receives a step-up promotion to supervisor each summer.
Rodriguez did not respond to calls requesting comment. An email sent to Local 508’s inbox did not receive a reply.
Some lifeguards have been able to appeal to District Council 37 — Local 508’s parent union — to get transfers overturned or charges cleared.
David Boyd, a systems manager at DC 37 who oversees the union’s parks, cultural and higher education division, has been involved in overseeing the two lifeguard unions. Riley Timlin, another DC 37 official,
See LIFEGUARDS, page 7
Fewer take FDNY test despite $3M drive but recruitment effort increases diversity
Record percentages of women, people of color
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
Fewer than 22,000 people took the open competitive exam to become an FDNY firefighter this year despite the department sinking $3 million into a recruitment campaign, pushing back the registration timeline and adding more testing dates, according to figures provided by the department.
The 21,760 people who took the exam this year were less than half of the 46,305 who sat for the 2017 test — the last time an open competitive exam was offered. More than 42,161 took the exam in 2012.
Of test takers this year, 6.5 percent were women, a record high. Just under 38 percent of those who took the exam listed their race as
white, 27 percent listed Hispanic, over 21 percent selected Black, just under 4 percent chose Asian and nearly 10 percent selected “other.”
The percentage of racial minorities that took this year’s exam including the “other” category is just under 62 percent. That’s higher than the 56 percent of those who identified as people of color who took the 2017 exam when under 1 percent of test takers were women, according to the FDNY.
Amanda Farinacci, an FDNY spokesperson, said that the department is “pleased” with the figures for this year’s exam. “21,000+ test takers still provides us more candidates than we need to fill our firefighter classes for the duration of the eligible list,” she said in a statement.
In a separate statement, Farinacci said that diversity is “critical” to the department and “that to truly keep our city safe, we need to look
Gillibrand and Schumer call for renewed commitment
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com
Staffing shortages and associated administrative issues at the World Trade Center Health Program are compromising the care sought and needed by survivors of the 9/11 terror attacks, according to U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer.
The New York Democrats urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to immediately resolve what they say are escalating issues with the program, which they said are causing “confusion and concern” among program enrollees, clinicians and administrators.
“We are committed to ensuring that the responders and survivors of the 9/11 attacks who were exposed to toxic chemicals from the World Trade Center disaster,
like the city we serve.”
“That’s why we launched an aggressive recruitment campaign, ‘All Heroes Welcome,’ to attract a pool of qualified candidates from all neighborhoods and backgrounds, with a common desire to serve the public and save [lives],” she said. “This incredible $3 million ad campaign drew more than 21,000 New Yorkers to sit for the exam, and we are encouraged that the applicant pool is so diverse.”
The multiple-choice section of the exam was administered between January and May of this year after the Department of Citywide Administrative Services — at the FDNY’s request — added 11 more testing dates across three weeks in late April and early May. Last year, DCAS delayed the registration period by three months, also at the
See FDNY, page 7
or the Pentagon and Shanksville crash site, continue to receive the health care and medical monitoring that they deserve and expect,” the senators wrote Kennedy earlier this week.
Among the lawmakers’ concerns are an ongoing “temporary” communications blackout and travel restrictions affecting program staff, and the of halting vital research gatherings, steering committee meetings and community outreach efforts. “The normal interactions of the program with the 9/11 community that provide information and feedback to the program are not taking place. Is this temporary ban now becoming permanent?” the senators wrote. Gillibrand and Schumer said there was increased confusion among stakeholders about how the program will operate as processes slow or stall. “These last few months have clearly demonstrated that adequate staffing levels are critical to preventing significant
See WTC, page 6
Over 100 Columbia grad jobs eliminated as contract fight with union drags on
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
Amid a lengthy contract spat with a union representing student workers, Columbia University has begun informing over 100 union members that they won’t have teaching jobs for the upcoming semester.
The Student Workers of Columbia union has been attempting to bargain for a new contract with university management for months, but a dispute over bargaining-session observers and a possible oneyear contract extension has stopped negotiations.
Both sides’ recriminations spilled into the open this week when university management filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB. Management wrote in its complaint to the NLRB that “The Union is not bargaining in good faith, in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, by refusing to meet faceto-face for negotiations; insisting on virtual bargaining and virtual observation of bargaining; conditioning bargaining on the presence of an expelled student; improperly attempting to bargain over matters that are not related to terms and conditions of students’ employment with the University; and filing grievances that similarly have nothing to do with terms and conditions of students’ employment.”
In an email to the entire Columbia University community following the filing, Amy Hungerford, the dean and executive vice president of the faculty of arts and sciences, and Cas Holloway, special advisor to Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, wrote that “SWC has shown little interest in bargaining.”
The union’s communications committee responded Monday, writing in its own mass email that management’s claims are “gross misrepresentations.” Management has not shown up to several pre-scheduled sessions and walked out in the middle of other sessions, the union claims. The university also fired SWC’s president, Grant Miner, the day before the first bargaining session in March and cancelled the meeting.
Miner told The Chief last week that Columbia has refused to allow
union observers in bargaining sessions over Zoom, which the union leader said was the “established practice” from the last round of bargaining when the union secured its first contract.
“Columbia has been quite intransigent about meeting us at the table according to our own terms,” Miner said. “It certainly seems like they have given up the prospect of bargaining with us.”
SWC’s contract with Columbia expired on July 30, four days after the final scheduled bargaining session between the two sides which, according to the union, management didn’t show up to. Columbia sent the union an expiring offer to extend the contract by a year on July 10, and 12 days later the union responded with a counter-proposal.
More than 100 affected Miner said that the purpose of the extension was to prevent the possibility of a strike this academic year when scrutiny on Columbia University from the Trump administration
and the public is at an all-time high. Shortly after the union responded with a counter-proposal on July 22, sixth and seventh year graduate student workers began to be notified by email that they weren’t needed for teaching positions for the upcoming semester for which they had prepared.
Over 100 graduate student workers have been affected, Miner said, and another 30 union members have had their jobs bought out by the university or are being moved to less intensive teaching assistant positions. The Columbia Spectator has reported that the university has been seeking to hire new lecturers
to effectively replace graduate students.
Miner said that the University had implied that if the union didn’t accept its offer of a one-year extension, that positions — especially those that would most affect Columbia’s operations if a strike occurred — would be cut. Many of those losing out on jobs are experienced union members and organizers who participated in a 10-week SWC strike from late 2021 to 2022 before the union secured its first contract.
“It’s straightforward union-busting,” said Miner. “They don’t want to be seen as a campus with any kind of disturbances on it anymore.”
Student workers in their seventh year could lose out on their housing, healthcare and funding for research if they don’t receive job placements for the upcoming semester, the union has said.
Columbia has yet to respond directly to the union’s claims that the cuts and lack of bargaining progress are connected. But in their community-wide email, Hungerford and Holloway referenced the possibility of a strike several times, writing that the union’s rejection of the one-year extension was “hard to interpret except as a preference for strike action over bargaining.”
“We still can reach a labor contract that supports the needs of our student employees and the whole Columbia community, and we hope that happens soon,” Hungerford and Holloway wrote. “But we cannot do it without a partner.”
Restaurant union joins community in ongoing gentrification protest
Effort to preserve Chinatown’s soul
BY CAMILLE LUONG For The Chief
Outside of the Museum of Chinese in America, a group of community members and workers as
part of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown hold tattered cardboard signs, worn from use over the years.
“MOCA is selling out Chinatown!” they shout, handing out bright yellow flyers to passersby. When people try to enter the sleek, modern museum building on Centre Street, they are greeted by a passive, expressionless door-holder — whose shift only spans for the duration of the protest — but are usually first stopped by protestors before they can enter.
“BOYCOTT MOCA!” the yellow flyers read.
“Jonathan Chu, a third-generation Chinatown landlord and former co-chair of the MOCA board, accepted a bribe of $35 million from the city to fund this museum and support the construction of a skyscraper jail,” Lily Ma, member of Youth Against Displacement, to numerous passersby, says.
The jail they are referencing is part of a larger, controversial City Council plan to replace Rikers Island with four high-rise jails throughout New York’s boroughs. In 2019, in order to make the plan more palatable, the city gave $137 million in “community investments,” including $35 million for MOCA. The museum came under fire for accepting the money, as it was the largest amount of money promised to a single city institution.
This picket has been going on for the past four years, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Though it is directly outside of MOCA, the picket also targets a web of landlords and developers connected to the museum, and was originally started by former workers of Jing Fong, a dim sum banquet hall and anchor of the Chinatown community on Elizabeth Street.
community gatherings.
Jing Fong was also the site of historic labor wins in Chinatown. In the 1990s, Jing Fong workers were the largest group of restaurant workers to join the 318 Restaurant Workers Union, the only union representing Chinese restaurant workers in New York City. Following the 2021 closure, Nelson Mar, the union’s president, penned a letter to Jonathan Chu, proposing to reopen the dim sum restaurant.
Chu has argued that he has done everything to keep the restaurant running, stating that it was ultimately the owners’ decision to close the space and opt for a different location at 202 Centre St. Just a few months ago, the original Jing Fong space was leased out to Vitra, becoming a high-end, Swiss museum-grade furniture showroom.
“The new Jing Fong is much smaller, and not all former workers were able to be rehired,” said Sky Wong, a member of the 318 Restaurant Workers union and worker at the current Jing Fong location.
“The incredibly wealthy Jonathan Chu wants to displace us working-class Chinese folks and build luxury towers,” said Bang Zhang, also a member of the 318 Restaurant Workers Union and a worker at the original Jing Fong. “It’s not only about Jing Fong, but also the fate of all of Chinatown. MOCA and the skyscraper jail are a part of that.”
In addition to picketing, the Coalition to Protect Chinatown endorsed the Chinatown Working Group Rezoning Plan, a “community-led rezoning plan that protects the Chinatown & Lower East Side neighborhood from over-development and displacement by setting rules on how land can be used.”
During the pandemic, business at Jing Fong plummeted, and in 2021 landlord Jonathan Chu evicted the beloved restaurant, which seated 800 people and was the locus for weddings, birthday parties and
Four years after its establishment, the picket represents Chinatown workers’ persistent fight against the gentrification threatening to take over their neighborhood.
Duncan Freeman / The Chief
Members of the Student Workers of Columbia union protest the firing of Grant Miner, the union’s president, in March.
Columbia has begun to eliminate the positions of more SWC members amid a contract dispute.
Camille Luong/The Chief
Protestors outside the Museum of Chinese in America in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The signs read “Reopen Jing Fong Banquet Hall,” “The dragon sings across the
All-female ambulance corps’ 2nd rig will expand reach across Brooklyn
Ezras Nashim grows fleet to better serve women seeking emergency medical care
BY MIRANDA FERRANTE For
The Chief
The all-female ambulance corps serving Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is adding a second ambulance, a move Ezras Nashim’s leaders are hopeful will increase its ability to answer calls for emergency medical care and cut down on response times, while upholding their values of modesty.
Ezras Nashim, Hebrew for “helping women,” was founded in 2014 by Rachel Freier, who would later become the country’s first ultra-Orthodox Hasidic woman to hold public office when she was elected to a New York City Civil Court judgeship. After hearing from women in her community who felt uncomfortable with male emergency responders, Freier recognized the need for a women-staffed ambulance service.
Since receiving its ambulance license in 2020, Ezras Nashim — a team of 50 volunteer EMTs who re-
spond to emergencies ranging from labor and delivery to critical-care transport — has handled what Chief Operating Officer Leah Levine estimated to be about 1,000 calls in Borough Park, Flatbush, Kensington and Bensonhurst. Levine said the ambulance corps has recently expanded to Crown Heights, and has plans to reach more New York communities that could benefit from their services.
The expansion took place despite opposition from the traditional allmale EMT squad, Hatzalah — which according to its website, responds to 100,000 calls annually, covers more than 55 neighborhoods, and operates 85 ambulances throughout the state — and which had petitioned against Ezras Nashim’s initial ambulance license.
The group unveiled its second ambulance with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in May.
Levine said that as the crew prepares for the second ambulance to go online, she is curious to see how call volume increases and response times change. Since the vehicle was with a mechanic in July and it’s still early, there is no clear data to determine exactly what the expansion might mean for the organization.
classroom learning and hands-on skill implementation.
But Ezras Nashim, which bills itself as the nation’s only all-female ambulance corps, offers its own training program, which Levine said sets it apart — women who might have never pursued EMT certification elsewhere are drawn to the organization because they believe in its mission and values. She added that not all volunteers are cleared to drive the ambulances, but the organization strives to approve as many as possible to maximize its operational capacity.
“Now it’s more people in different communities, calling us, trusting us, knowing who we are,” Levine said. “The call for us to expand to more communities is crazy. All the time, all over the United States, from Florida to California, people are begging me, ‘when are we expanding?’”
Levine said that she is focused on expanding the service to reach more people according to God’s timing. “There’s enough communities within New York that we would probably want to get to,” she added.
One of the guiding beliefs in Orthodox Judaism is the concept of the afterlife, commonly referred to as Olam Haba — Hebrew for “the world to come.” The work that Levine and other Jewish people do, she explained in a conversation in Borough Park last spring, is done with the next life in mind.
“It’s the vision.” Levine said all volunteers at Ezras Nashim, like anyone wanting to become an EMT, must complete a New York State-approved training course, which requires a minimum of 180 hours of instruction for certification. The course includes both
“We focus on the next world,” she said. Levine believes she was called to this work, grounded in that very idea.
“I feel like I’m a puppet that God used,” she said. “I don’t think it makes sense — but it’s just working, and I’m grateful I was chosen.”
$14.4M in state funds will train NY’s next-gen teachers
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com
A $14.4 million outlay in state Workforce Development Awards will bolster teacher training programs at State University of New York and City University of New York campuses and private colleges, Governor Kathy Hochul announced last week.
The funding, part of the Education Workforce Investment initiative, aims to grow the pipeline of educators in critical shortage areas through two targeted programs: the Upskilling Paraprofessionals Program and the Alternative Teacher Certification Program.
“Every student deserves a great teacher, and every aspiring educator deserves a clear, supported path into the classroom,” Hochul said
in a statement. “By investing $14.4 million into training programs at SUNY, CUNY and private institutions, we’re expanding opportunity, addressing teacher shortages, and building a stronger, more equitable education system for all New Yorkers.”
The Upskilling Paraprofessionals Program focuses on teaching assistants and paraprofessionals already working in classrooms. It provides funding to help them obtain initial teacher certification through registered baccalaureate-level programs.
This year, SUNY New Paltz and Queens College, CUNY, received a combined $4.5 million through the program. The Alternative Teacher Certification Program offers graduate-level pathways designed to reduce time and cost barriers for those entering
the teaching profession. Recipients of the $9.9 million allocated under that program include Bank Street Graduate School of Education, Adelphi University, the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and City College of New York (CUNY).
This marks the second year of awards under the initiative, with funding increased by nearly $1 million over last year.
SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. congratulated the recipients, calling the grants “support for high-quality training for those passionate about a career in the classroom.” He noted that SUNY, the state’s largest educator preparation institution, will continue to provide “future teachers with the training and resources they need to educate the next generation of New Yorkers.”
Similarly, the SUNY Board of Trustees praised the investment as a step toward filling teacher shortage areas and ensuring New York students have “world-class educators.”
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodriguez said the funding will help expand pathways for educators at Queens College and City College, while CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. highlighted the University’s long-standing role in producing talent for New York City public schools.
Private colleges also welcomed the announcement. Lola W. Brabham, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, said the grants “recognize the incredible value that paraprofessionals and career-changers
bring to the classroom” and will help “remove barriers and accelerate opportunities” for those pursuing teaching certification.
State Senator Shelley B. Mayer, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said the funding strengthens the teacher workforce and reflects a commitment to public education. “When we talk about investing in the future of our children, we must start with investing in those who teach and support them every day,” Mayer said.
The Hochul administration says the awards will help ensure every student in New York has access to qualified, well-prepared educators, while expanding career opportunities for aspiring teachers across the state.
Get Trained. Get Hired.
Photo courtesy of Leah Levine
Ezras Nashim’s chief operating officer, Leah Levine, the organization’s founder, Judge Rachel Freier and another Ezras Nashim member beside the corps’ second ambulance in May.
COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Mulgrew tax
To The ediTor:
The Chief has commendably covered the Municipal Labor Committee and City’s attempt to lower healthcare costs by forcing retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan.
The city has a second strategy — onerous copays imposed on retirees. Approved by the MLC and effective in 2022, such payments were required every time a retiree visited a healthcare provider, underwent a medical test, or received a covered procedure, treatment or therapy.
Such costs are a financial burden. Office of Labor Relations’ officials have said that copays are designed to discourage people from seeking nonessential care. The real world consequence is that some retirees have forgone visits, such as physical therapy and preventive care.
A class action lawsuit brought by the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees resulted in the copays temporarily halted in 2023, but the court permitted them to resume in January of this year. The full merits of the case are yet to be argued.
Meanwhile, United Federation of Teachers’ President Michael Mulgrew, who was instrumental in the MLC’s approval, sent members an email in March during his reelection campaign, the subject: “Some much-needed relief from copays.”
A member and their spouse could each receive reimbursement up to $105 per calendar year. Copays are back-door premiums.
The catch? Submit paperwork verifying that the annual Medicare Part B deductible was met, an Explanation of Benefits letter from Emblem Health, a copy of the pa-
tient statement from the provider indicating the dates of service and paid copay, and proof of out-ofpocket payment.
Difficult enough, but what if you are a retiree with no internet access and a printer?
UFT retirees may give up and not bother. As when a patient is faced with submitting an appeal to an insurance company. Ironic, and shameless.
Ironically, the city and MLC have sold such health care as premium-free.
Harry Weiner
Stamped by greed
To The ediTor:
It would seem to be common sense that any country would have a postal service. Certainly a country that wastes so much money on “defense” that its military budget is close to $1 trillion could afford to subsidize something as important as the United States Postal Service (USPS) for $9.5 billion. But common sense, not to mention common decency, tends to be overwhelmed by greed.
The Aug. 1 Chief article, “Unions vow to resist privatization of the U.S. Postal service,” does an excellent job of describing what our post office provides which would not be covered or would be more costly coming from private companies.
But it also highlights the problems with capitalism. Wells Fargo describes the privatization of the USPS as resulting in closing post offices, 30- to 140-percent price increases, less job security, loss of pension benefits, higher healthcare costs and pay cuts as if they were good things.
But this is how capitalists think. No matter how much money they make, they want more and they want to take it from all of us who have less. No amount of money will ever be enough for them.
Past capitalists have decried labor unions, Social Security and Medicare, to name just a few targets of their ire, as “socialist.” Anything that allows the rest of us to be something more than their slaves is a problem for them.
As long as tens of millions of people continue to vote for politicians who do the bidding of billionaires, we will continue to move toward being a country where everyone who is not rich will be poor. I can think of smarter things to do than voting for your own chains.
Richard Warren
Trump’s cheat code
To The ediTor: In each of Barack Obama’s first 13 months in office, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported job losses. The largest loss, 825,000 jobs, came in March 2009; in total, the BLS reported 3.6 million jobs lost over those 13 months.
What did Obama do? Did he fire the BLS commissioner? Of course not. Obama rolled up his sleeves and went to work. That’s leadership. By the time Obama left office in January 2017, he regained those 3.6 million lost jobs and added 11.6 million more.
This past week, we witnessed Donald Trump react to unfavorable data; he whined, scapegoated and falsely claimed to be the victim of politically motivated fraud. True leaders cringe at the tactics that come naturally to Trump. Unfortunately, Trump’s claims are about as reliable as his golf score. Recently, cameras caught this serial golf cheat in action in Scotland and again in Bedminster, New Jersey, during a tournament Trump claimed he “won.” Bryan Marsal, a Winged Foot Golf Club member, described his golfing experience with Trump: “We go to the first tee … he said, ‘You see those two guys? They cheat. See me? I cheat. And I expect
you to cheat because we’re going to beat those two guys today,’” summing up “he believes that you’re gonna cheat.… So if it’s the same, if everybody’s cheating, he doesn’t see it as really cheating.”
Trump isn’t a leader, he is a liar and if you are on his side, Trump demands that you also lie. After telling reporters why he “had” to fire the BLS Commissioner, Trump said that grocery prices have fallen and “gasoline is way down. It’s gonna soon be less than $2 a gallon.” I must be shopping at the wrong supermarkets and gas stations.
Joseph Cannisi
Time of concern
To The ediTor:
Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s nearly two-year conflict in Gaza since then have not only disrupted the region but also had global implications. In the United States, the rise in antisemitic incidents has sparked debates about the relationship between criticism of Israel and antisemitism.
These debates center around free speech, immigration, national security and the fundamental question of feeling safe and welcome in this country. This is a time of great concern for Jews all over the United States.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League (A.D.L.), navigates these intricate debates. Established over a century ago, the A.D.L.’s mission is to combat defamation against the Jewish people and ensure justice and fair treatment for all.
Under Greenblatt’s decade-long leadership, the A.D.L. has documented and reported a significant surge in antisemitism on both the right and left in recent years. The organization is frequently regarded as the arbiter of what constitutes antisemitism.
Greenblatt has reported a concerning trend. The percentage of the population exhibiting elevated or intense antisemitic attitudes has more than doubled in the past five years. Greenblatt said 2024 stands as the most alarming year ever recorded in terms of acts of harassment,
vandalism and violence directed at Jewish individuals or institutions. And last year was the fifth year out of the last six that the number of such incidents has broken the previous record, he said, adding that the number of incidents has grown tenfold since he became the ADL’s CEO a decade ago.
Antisemitism, rising on the wings of the devil, falls on a warring Earth, repulsive and evil.
Robert Sica
Doomsday peril
To The ediTor:
Eighty years ago on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Hiroshima, 140,000 people were killed, and in Nagasaki at least 70,000 perished. President Truman, returning to Washington from the Potsdam Conference, never gave approval for the bombing of Nagasaki.
The New Yorker in its Aug. 31, 1946 issue published John Hersey’s “Hiroshima.” The article documented the horrors of the nuclear blast. Hersey, for example, wrote that when a man tried to lift a woman, “her skin slipped off in huge glove-like pieces.”
His account addressed both the “human costs” of what Truman called a strategic masterstroke, and the hellish consequences of radiation that government officials had minimized. Albert Einstein a year later explained, “The public, having been warned of the horrible nature of atomic warfare, has done nothing about it and to a large extent has dismissed the warning from its consciousness.”
Today, over 30 years since the end of the Cold War, Trump’s daily onslaught of predatory, deregulated capitalism and the other existential crisis of climate change have overshadowed the risk of a nuclear weapon being used, either by accident, miscalculation or on purpose.
The nine nuclear states refuse to sign the Treaty on the Prohibi-
Sound policy can prevent jail suicides
BY MARC BULLARO
Marc Bullaro is a retired NYC Department of Correction assistant deputy warden.
In 2021-2022, there were 12 suicides in New York City jails.
Many actions can be taken to prevent detainee suicides, namely ending mass incarceration, decarceration and speedy trials. But what specifically can the Correction Department do to prevent in-custody suicides?
On July 14, The New York Times published an article about Michael Nieves, who was detained in a psychiatric unit on Rikers Island. Nieves was “severely mentally ill” and had “a long history of suicide attempts.” On Aug. 25, 2022, he cut his throat in his cell with a razor provided by DOC for him to shave in the shower that morning. He died five days later. Nieves had been diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia disorders and had a prior suicide attempt at Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward, where he similarly used a shaving razor to cut his neck but survived after emergency surgery.
The issuing of disposable shaving razors to persons in custody is DOC policy based on NYC Board of Correction Health Care Minimum Standards which gives prisoners the right to shave daily.
In a jail video obtained by The Times, Dr. Robert Cohen, a former member of the Board of Correction who resigned on July 8, criticized DOC staff stating, “this was preventable.” I agree. A severely mentally ill detainee who is suicidal should never be given a razor.
Unsound policies like this are an anchor tied to correction officers pulling them down to drown in a sea of senselessness.
“He should not have been left alone once they believed that he was in possession of a razor,” Cohen said about Nieves. “By policy he should have been taken immediately to the body scanner. He was bleeding to death. The correction officer should have gone into the
room, assessed what was going on and should have applied pressure to the area where the blood was coming from.”
Cohen is a physician and was a member of the Board of Correction for 16 years. Interestingly, he opines on what the correction officer should have done. But as a BOC member he should have ensured that DOC policies kept detainees safe instead of providing them with razors.
I ask Cohen, should Michael Nieves have been given a razor?
In his 16 years with BOC, did Cohen ever consider a proposal to repeal the policy or at least challenge the idea of providing razors to severely mentally ill suicidal detainees?
Nieves’ suicide is a tragedy and
mistakes were made starting with allowing Nieves to possess a razor which is incompatible with common sense. Policymakers must be judicious and proactive to reduce not increase the opportunity to commit suicide. Instead they implement unreasoning policy and blame correction officers for policy failures.
Many times DOC policy is its own worst enemy. Like eliminating confinement for violent detainees, providing shaving razors to suicidal mentally ill individuals is another example of policy that is illogical, counterproductive to safety and inconsistent with successful management of city jails.
Some detainees should be prohibited from possessing shaving razors based on risk analysis, threat as-
sessment, security status or mental health diagnosis.
Objects that increase the risk of suicide must be taken from suicidal persons, not given to them. As counterintuitive as it may seem, suicidal detainees are prohibited from having shoelaces or a belt but they can still have a shaving razor.
To allow for proper hygiene, an alternative method is needed for severely mentally ill suicidal detainees to shave. DOC should consider requiring a correction officer to supervise a detainee barber that can use an electric razor to shave certain detainees or contracting that responsibility to medical staff. Nationwide, jail and prison barbers regularly provide haircuts to the incarcerated population and in many state prisons incarcerated persons are also staff barbers.
The DOC should also consider appointing a suicide prevention czar to coordinate all DOC suicide prevention efforts.
Since 80 percent of all in custody suicides nationwide occur in cells, the department should also reduce cell housing if it doesn’t compromise security. Eleven of the 12 in custody suicides cited occurred in a cell environment. It should also create a task force that targets bullying and extortion, both increase suicidal ideations.
Inside cell door windows must be free of any obstruction. DOC must have zero tolerance for detainees that cover their inside cell door window to prevent correction officers from seeing inside the cell. Forbidding those coverings would reduce suicides, overdoses, delayed discovery of deceased detainees and security breaches. Covering the inside cell door window is a DOC rule violation and a crime.
The DOC should also provide in-person suicide prevention training by psychologists and psychiatrists to all correction officers and highly specialized training with a certification to officers that are assigned to regularly supervise mentally ill detainees. It should mandate 100 percent compliance with suicide prevention training.
The idea of no jail suicides is not limited to one’s imagination or wishful thinking. In Fiscal Year 2009 under the effective leadership of former DOC Commissioner Martin Horn there were 13,000 people incarcerated and zero suicides.
It costs the city of New York $3.5 billion annually to hold 7,000 detainees, $20 billion for new borough jails, tens of millions in settlements pursuant to wrongful death lawsuits and the city has already wasted close to $25 million on the federal monitoring team. But when it’s suggested that better suicide prevention training be provided to correction officers, then that’s where they draw the line on spending.
Yet, suicide prevention training saves lives and is cost-effective.
Karla Ann Cote/NurPhoto via AP
Attendees of a September 2021 rally outside City Hall in Manhattan demanded the closure of Rikers Island, following a visit to the facility by politicians who witnessed an attempted suicide, and severe overcrowding, among other problems at the island penal jail complex. There were 11 deaths at Rikers Island so far that year alone, many of them by suicide.
COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY
The electoral craps game
BY RON ISAAC
My friend got his intestines surgically gerrymandered because he was having digestion problems. The body adjusts and adapts. So do legal systems when their ideals just can’t get the job done.
We rest on the laurels of history, sometimes not realizing their corrupted legacy.
Acting on the strategic thought that it’s better to be a fugitive from justice than a captive to injustice, Texas Democrats recently fled their state so that there could be no legislative quorum for the Republicans to carry out their determination to redistrict congressional lines in their favor.
Both parties have historically indulged in such remapping nationwide, and for the same reason: to give their party extra seats in local, state and federal legislatures. This “gerrymandering” is undertaken only after fastidious research into voter demographics, issue-orientation and voting patterns, sometimes by residential segregation according to race. With the midterm elections coming within spitting distance of the galloping calendar, and with a razor-thin Republican majority in the House, against a backdrop of a polarized nation of pig-headed zealots, there’s too much at stake to allow the democratic process to unfold unmolested. Instead of waiting for the next Census to do their redistricting, the Republicans jumped the gun by doing it in advance of the 2026 elections, assuring several projected new GOP seats.
Both sides historically resort to unscrupulous measures to protect the republic, as they see it, from the “existential threat” of the other party. The Constitution doesn’t have such a thick skin after all.
Reagan, Bush Picks
Hypocrisy On Supreme-Court Choice
years of been Justices the more have women is 4 over decision to African-Amerhe we qualified comical if ignoJobs the and What an President for selectblue-ribbon apconfirm or politicontext is Ronto woman immedifrom find obvious1991,
According to the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, Republicans gained multiple seats in battleground states such as Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The center cites the 2018 election in Wisconsin, when Democrats won every statewide office and a majority of the statewide vote, they won only 36 of the 99 seats in the state assembly.
concentrated and taking a pencil to a map and indulging in some targeted doodling.
Gerry was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Massachusetts, multi-termed member of Congress, and vice president under President James Madison. Right now, Gerry’s portrait hangs on the walls of some venerable building, together with other exemplars of American exceptionalism, like Boss Tweed. Give rogues enough time and eventually they become icons, or at least the birthparent of loaded words.
being in charge of redistricting),
would be a partial solution to gerrymandering schemes. In the quest of fairness, begin with loopholes and later tear wide open the fabric of the garment that perpetuates injustice.
As long as the borders of congressional districts are strictly in the hands of legislative or executive branches of government, rather than the courts, the prospects for equity are poor. There needs also to be a vigorous assertion of the “equal protection clause.”
But for whom? Does everyone count?
BY ERIC ADAMS
My mother was a single parent who worked three jobs just to make sure my siblings and I had a roof over our heads and food on the table — so I know the struggle to live a better life is real.
A college education can help New Yorkers go far, but the financial burden of that education can be overwhelming. For far too many New Yorkers, pursuing a college degree leads to a lifetime of debt. Many of these New Yorkers are city employees, like Shiniqua, who — after pursuing two master’s degrees, including a master’s in public administration — was left with $240,000 in debt. That is an unimaginable sum for most New Yorkers and it shouldn’t be the price you have to pay to achieve your dreams.
help 3 million working people keep up to $1 billion in their pockets by reducing student loan payments by an average of $3,000 per year, and, for those with advanced degrees, we expect the average payments to be reduced by $7,000 per year. It will also help families save up to $10,000 per child through college planning resources. Additionally, we will help public servants and not-for-profit employees receive benefits from the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which enables debt to be forgiven after 10 years of service and payments.
George Herbert Walker Bush had to replace the first African American, Thurgood Marshall. He looked all over the country and the “most-qualified” was Clarence Thomas, also an African-American? Of course not. Clarence Thomas is an African-American conservative and he got the gig. Expect a Top Candidate
The Democrats have gerrymandered in states like Illinois, New York and California. The partisan goose and the gander know what’s good for them, and it’s always quantified by what’s bad for the other.
This doesn’t affect U.S. Senate races, where permanent state boundaries apply, but it is critical in contests for the House of Representatives, where district lines are legislatively drawn.
Both parties play the game. The end game is “the end justifies the means.” It makes a sham and mockery of the American values we were taught in civics classes.
Some observers claim the Electoral College does the same thing.
“Gerrymandering” is named for Elbridge Gerry, who found a way to circumvent the risks of competitive legislative seats, nearly guaranteeing them safe holdings for his party, effectively shutting down the opposition. It required familiarity with where the parties’ votes were
Let’s please stop the nonsense in this country. We have never had an African-American woman on the court. Biden will not be selecting a cashier from Stop-and-Shop or a pilates instructor from the local sports club. He will select a highly educated, highly credentialed woman who attended a top college, top law school, clerked for a Justice, served on the Federal appellate court and all the other “credentials” deemed necessary in this day and age for a Justice. The attacks on this decision should be seen for what they are. They are idiotic political theater from a cohort that sees even a tiny effort at progress as threatening the white male position in society.
Vincent Scala is a former Bronx Assistant District Attorney. He is currently a criminal-defense attorney in New York City and its suburbs.
BARRY LISAK
tion of Nuclear Weapons. The U.S., Russia and China are building new weapons systems with Washington carrying out a $1.7 trillion makeover of our nuclear arsenal. America has 3,748 nuclear bombs, comparable to the number held by Russia. The most powerful warheads are almost 80 times more destructive than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The remaining treaty between Washington and Moscow limiting the number of nuclear weapons expires soon. Finally, dangerous wars have broken out around the world, and new technologies such as AI create more nuclear risk.
additional deduction because she is 70 years old. Her standard deduction for 2021 is $14,250 ($12,550, the standard deduction for 2021, plus $1,700, the 2021 additional standard deduction for the singles who are over 65 or blind).
Howard Elterman
Misplaced missives
To The ediTor: A recent letter writer did not respond to my argument on “offensive” team names and instead calls the subject matter “sad” (“The Real Distraction,” The Chief, Aug. 8). His right, of course. Regarding Donald Trump’s association with Epstein/Maxwell: sex trafficking is heinous and horrific. Donald Trump has not been indicted or convicted. Until then, he is enti-
Letters to the Editor
Audacity to Criticize Molina
Gerrymandering disenfranchises voters without denying anyone their ballot. The Brennan Center cites two techniques: “Cracking splits groups of people with similar characteristics, such as voters of the same party affiliation, across multiple districts. With their voting strength divided, these groups struggle to elect their preferred candidates in any of the districts. Packing is the opposite of cracking: may drawers cram certain groups of voters into as few districts as possible. In these few districts, the ‘packed’ groups are likely to elect their preferred candidate, but the groups’ voting strength is weakened everywhere else.”
To the Editor: On Feb 19, the NY Daily News published an article entitled, “As NYC Correction Commissioner Molina cleans house, critics worry he’s coddling jail unions.”
There is also “hijacking,” which involves the consolidation of districts and elimination of one incumbent. New York lost a fine member of Congress that way not long ago. And there’s also “kidnapping,” which happens when an incumbent’s residence is redistricted to render their candidacy ineligible.
The U.S. Census is no dull, mere tabulation of numbers. Apportionment of Congressional seats and availability of funds for critical services are contingent upon official Census figures. Should non-citizens be included? Whether they are called “undocumented immigrants” or “illegal aliens” or whatever one chooses to call these still-needy human beings, the fact is that there are many millions of them distributed throughout the nation. Some say strategically by design to rig outcomes. It’s inarguable and understandable that a lopsided preponderance of non-citizens will, like the rest of us, support the party that they feel has supported them, and thereby potentially distort elective results.
That is why, earlier this year, our administration announced a partnership with leading student loan-forgiveness company, Summer, to help wipe out $360 million in student loan debt for 100,000 hard-working public servants. And now, we are proud to expand this program to all New York City residents and help working-class New Yorkers keep up to $1 billion in their pockets.
Our municipal student loan payment reduction and college savings assistance program will allow New Yorkers to reach for the American Dream without breaking the bank as New York City becomes the first major city in the nation to provide universal student loan and college savings assistance to all our residents. This is a major milestone for our city and a lifesaver for hard-working New Yorkers like Shiniqua.
Since day one, our administration has been focused on putting money back into New Yorkers’ pockets. We are driving down the cost of living and spearheading initiatives like the Earned Income Tax Credit to return hundreds of millions of dollars back to qualified low-income New Yorkers, connecting New Yorkers in public housing to free high-speed internet and basic TV through Big Apple Connect, and cancelling $2 billion in medical debt for working-class New Yorkers. Additionally, this year, we successfully called on Albany to “Axe the Tax for the Working Class,” which eliminates and cuts city personal income taxes for 582,000 New Yorkers and their dependents, putting $63 million back into their pockets. These programs, combined with other federal, state, and local programs to which we have connected New Yorkers, have helped put $30 billion back in New Yorkers’ pockets.
Example 2 In 2021, Nicole and her spouse are joint filers. Both qualify for an additional standard deduction because they are both over 65. Their Form 1040 standard deduction is $27,800 ($25,100, the 2021 standard deduction for joint filers, plus 2 x $1,350, the 2021 additional standard deduction for married persons who are over 65 or blind). The above examples reflect the benefit of the new standard deduction. Millions of taxpayers won’t be itemizing this year to reduce their Federal income-tax bill. They’ll claim the standard
By manipulating metrics and algorithms, studying party registration rolls and donation data bases and prior voting patterns, and exploiting demographic characteristics and represented interest groups, the dominant party can legally load the dice in the electoral craps game.
Whether it’s a newly elected Mayor, Governor or President, every new administration replaces personnel, notwithstanding their work performance. No reason is needed to remove someone in an appointed position within NYC government with the exception of the Commissioner of the Department of Investigation, even though there is more than enough justification to fire all the top managers in DOC.
THE CHIEF-LEADER welcomes letters from its readers for publication. Correspondents must include their names, addresses and phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this newspaper. To submit a letter to the editor online, visit thechiefleader.com and click on Letters to the Editor.
Would including them in the Census have the effect of diminishing the value of citizenship as we have been conditioned to perceive it? And would the educational, social, health and other benefits they would be receiving siphon off huge sums from sworn Americans? Some nativists cite Ross Perot’s “giant sucking sound,” though he was using it in a different context.
Our program will help an estimated 1.4 million New Yorkers manage and pay down their existing loans with lower monthly payments and a pathway to debt forgiveness. It will also offer specialized assistance for parents and guardians of college-bound children, helping 1.6 million more New Yorkers. Together, our efforts will
All New Yorkers deserve to live in a city where they and their families can get ahead and thrive. Our citywide student loan and college saving assistance program, along with our other Money in Your Pocket initiatives, is a crucial step toward building a more affordable and equitable society — one in which working-class New Yorkers like my mother don’t have to struggle to get by. To learn more, visit nyc.gov/saveoncollege.
Whether liberty or tyranny prevails is less a function of civics education than a Superbowl playoff of analytics. A World Series of dueling computer searches. As things stand, one person’s vote is not worth the same as another’s. There is no neutral umpire.
Top managers likely get their jobs through political connections and serve entirely at the pleasure of the Mayor. Moreover, the personnel that Louis Molina removed were in charge of critical units which they failed to lead effectively.
It’s been suggested that proportional representation, rather than the so-called majoritarian system, (which is enabled by ruling parties
DOC was on the brink of an implosion as a result of the feckless leadership of Vincent Schiraldi and his coterie. Now Schiraldi, who was the worst DOC commissioner in its 127-year history, is questioning Molina’s personnel decisions.
How is it that Schiraldi, a so-called juvenile-justice reformer and expert, failed so miserably in managing DOC?
How is it that Oren Varnai, the head of DOC’s Intelligence Bureau and a “former covert officer in the CIA,” could not stop the scourge of gang violence from dominating and ravaging Rikers? Varnai, at least, must be commended for wishing Molina success, and I must say he has impressive credentials.
How does Sarena Townsend, the Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and a former prosecutor who preferred departmental charges on thousands of uniformed staff—resulting in scores if not hundreds of correction officers being fired or forced to resign—now cries foul when she gets fired ?
tled to a presumption of innocence. If he is eventually convicted, justice will dictate the consequences. The Trump Derangement Syndrome crowd does not understand Trump is a symptom of the root problem. Google “Why Hillary Can’t Close,” Rich Lowry’s synopsis of why Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Trump would never be “letters” subject material had the Democrats put forward viable candidates, or perhaps candidates that ran better campaigns, in 2016 and 2024. The TDS crowd chooses to scapegoat rather than look in the mirror and learn and grow from mistakes. What I find even sadder is the endless stream of letters about Trump. Has it accomplished anything? While I would never tell anyone not to write the newspaper, is it perhaps time to explore an approach to supplement “keyboard warrior?”
Media’s misjudgment
THE CHIEF-LEADER, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2022 FIVE and by deducunder Act mar(MFJ), separately household spouse 2021 the dollar and and 65 and blind instandard individuals statuses. 2018 2025, sunsets.
Schiraldi praises his managers who created a “war room” to redeploy staff on an emergency basis. That “war room” should have also been utilized to generate and implement new policy to stop the devastating inmate violence that inflicted pain and suffering on officers and inmates alike. Further, the now-garrulous Schiraldi was speechless when the unions continuously sounded the alarm regarding chaos, bedlam, lawlessness and gross mismanagement by top bosses. Commissioner Molina is addressing all those issues. Neither Schiraldi, nor any of his senior managers, have the credibility or standing to criticize Molina.
Nat Weiner
To The ediTor: Why does the rational, honest media (detached from the Trump cult) discuss possible hopes that President Trump will have success in dealing with Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin in calling for
One needn’t be a despised globalist to look with mercy upon afflicted, non-violent lawbreakers, especially when they are children. It’s no sin to be opportunists like many of our ancestors were.
criminals and probably require arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment? If the homeless who are removed from the subways refuse to cooperate with programs designed to help them turn their lives around, what are the penalties? Will they be arrested or placed in secure mental facilities where they will be less likely to do harm to others?
I’d be more concerned about the MTA’s mercenary decision to prioritize revenue over public health by once again allowing alcohol advertisements on subways, buses and in stations. That’s their way of raising the spirits of New York.
Perhaps CEO Janno Lieber sees it as a way to boost students’ visual acuity and literacy.
Those homeless people who are mentally or emotionally incapable of living safely with others have to be “imprisoned,” either in prisons (if convicted of crimes) or in secure mental institutions. Those who refuse to cooperate with reasonable and necessary treatment from qualified and competent authorities have to be treated the same way—prison or secure mental facilities.
Only those homeless who cooperate with those who provide necessary treatment, and can live peacefully with others, should be placed in housing in the neighborhoods in all five boroughs of the city.
MICHAEL J. GORMAN
peace talks in Gaza and in Ukraine? It will never happen. We know from statements from both Netanyahu and Putin that they are not going to compromise on their goals of destroying their respective adversaries. Netanyahu wants to take over Gaza and continue his genocide of the Palestinians who won’t allow Israel to control their future and destiny. Putin will never stop his efforts to take over areas of Ukraine and eventually annex the whole nation and move on to former parts of the USSR.
Donald Trump will never take the necessary steps to solve the genocide in either the Middle East or Ukraine. He admires dictators who kill to maintain power. The actions the U.S. can take to bring peace to both critical areas are clear, but Trump will never take them. We should stop giving any weapons to Israel until they stop the killing in Gaza and allow unlimited food to get to the starving Palestinians. We should support Zelenskyy and arm Ukraine to defend their nation and even go on the offensive.
Trump, our TACO president, lies and chickens out, but too many in the media speak and act as if he were a rational, competent president. Shame on them.
Michael J. Gorman
To the Editor: The proposed New York Health Act would provide on a statewide level what Medicare-for-All would provide nationwide. Yet in recent issues, it has been claimed that the reason some unions oppose this is because the medical plans they already have provide benefits that this proposal would not include. Now as a retired transit worker, I have always had good health coverage since I started working for the system in 1979. But one friend who was an excellent Transport Workers Union Local 100 rep had serious health issues before he recently passed away. He had a stroke while he was still working, and had to fight numerous large bills for medical care that was supposed to be covered. I remember him saying, “I have great coverage as long as I don’t get sick.” Under the New York Health Act, patients would not have to worry about fighting bills. They would not even have to worry if they
VINCENT SCALA
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga, at the podium, on Aug. 7 at the Brooklyn Public Library, Coney Island Branch, announcing a first-of-its-kind municipal student loan reduction and college savings assistance program.
Mario Cantu/CSM via AP Images
‘Fight the Trump Takeover Rally’ at the Texas State Capitol rotunda in Austin.
WTC: Senators rip Kennedy
treatment delays. Individuals with 9/11-related conditions should not have to rely on repeated uproars from the public and the media to obtain the care they are owed under the law and so desperately need,” they wrote Kennedy.
Although the senators noted that program-affiliated staff fired earlier this year have been reinstated, a government-wide hiring freeze has compromised the ability of remaining staff to provide care and support to a growing number of enrollees, they said. Program enrollment, they said, grew by 10,000 new members in 2024, the most since its inception in 2011, and another 10,000 are expected to have enrolled by the end of this year.
But the program has been hobbled by uncertainty and chaos since even prior to the start of the second Trump administration.
Although the WTC Health Program itself has been authorized by Congress through 2090, its full funding is secured only through 2027. It faces increasing funding shortfalls after that. A permanent funding mechanism included in an end-of-year budget bill last December was scrapped after President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk objected to the larger bill.
The day after Kennedy was confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary, he fired all of the department’s probationary workers, which included about 20 percent of the WTC Health Program’s staff. Following bipartisan objections, staffers were reinstated soon afterward.
But thousands more HHS employees were fired about six weeks later, among them Dr. John Howard, the program’s administrator and the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Another uproar followed and Howard was eventually brought back.
Yet another round of layoffs, this time of 16 program staffers, followed in early May, but they too were reinstated.
In response to questioning by New Jersey Senator Andy Kim during a May 14 hearing of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Kennedy said the cuts to the health program “should not have” been made. “We try to be as careful as we can about what we cut and what we didn’t. We made a couple of mistakes,” he said.
Kim then asked Kennedy what the expectations for the program were and whether it would continue “at full strength.” Kennedy hedged. “We’re continuing that program,” the secretary said. “The program itself will continue.”
But the resulting turmoil has held back approvals, with hundreds of treatment approvals and new enrollments delayed.
“These last few months have clearly demonstrated that adequate staffing levels are critical to preventing significant treatment delays. Individuals with 9/11-related conditions should not have to rely on repeated uproars from the public and the media to obtain the care they are owed under the law and so desperately need,” Gillibrand and Schumer wrote to Kennedy.
Want staffing restored
While the program has an authorized staffing level of 138, it currently counts just 80 people providing support, they said. They called on Kennedy to restore staffing levels across all essential roles.
“The program needs to hire more doctors and other specialized staff to allow the program’s functions to continue at peak efficiency. Without adequate supervisory staff, activities will fall short of what is required because proper oversight cannot be provided,” Gillibrand and Schumer wrote.
In a brief response to a request for comment regarding the senators’ concerns, a HHS spokesperson said only that the program continues to meet its mandate. “The World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program’s Clinical Centers of Excellence and Nationwide Provider Network are continuing to provide services to program members at this time,” the spokesperson said.
“The Program continues to accept and review new enrollment applications and certification requests.”
Benjamin Chevat, the executive director of 911 Health Watch, said that though there are enough clinicians associated with the program to ensure continued care for enrollees, short staffing in other titles is resulting in administrative bottlenecks, slowing intake for the increasing number of people seeking to enroll in the program.
Just as critically, the administration’s communication ban is keeping crucial information from not just the public but from key stakeholders, among them health experts and union officials, Chevat said. “You can’t talk to anyone, which is intentional, so that you can’t find out what they’re doing,” Chevat said last week. “So if you were to talk to one of the doctors, as I have, they’ll say things are slower.”
The communication ban also leaves stakeholders in the dark about expiring agreements with critical contracted collaborators, including New York City-area clinics and the National Provider Network, which extends the program’s reach outside the metropolitan region.
“Secretary Kennedy and his press people continue not to answer questions about the World Trade center program. And at some point they’re going to be held accountable for that,” Chevat said.
New work rules could deny food stamps to thousands of veterans
BY SHALINA CHATLANI stateline.org
After a year in the U.S. Navy, Loceny Kamara said he was discharged in 2023, because while on base he had developed mental health issues, including severe anxiety and nightmares, and had fallen into alcoholism.
Kamara, 23, went to rehab and managed to get sober for some time while living with family in the Bronx, he said. But after he lost his job as a security guard in December, Kamara was kicked out of his home.
Now he lives at a veterans homeless shelter in Long Island City, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, and he relies on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — commonly known as food stamps — and odd jobs to make ends meet.
Each month, nearly 42 million people receive SNAP benefits to help supplement their grocery budgets. Able-bodied SNAP recipients who are between 18 and 54 and don’t have children have always been required to work. Veterans, however, have been exempt from those rules — but that’s about to change.
The giant domestic policy measure that President Donald Trump signed on July 4 eliminates that exemption. Beginning in 2026, veterans will have to prove they are working, volunteering, participating in job training, or looking for work for at least 80 hours a month to keep their food stamps beyond three months, unless they qualify for another exemption, such as having certain disabilities.
Republicans in Congress and conservatives who helped formulate the law say these eligibility changes are necessary to stop people who could be working from abusing the system. But critics say the change fails to take into account the barriers many veterans face, and that the new work rules will cause thousands of veterans to go hungry.
“I’m pissed. I mean, I cannot get a job. Nowhere to live,” said Kamara. As he spoke, Kamara pointed to his collared shirt, noting that he had just dressed up to interview for a job as a security guard. He learned that morning he hadn’t gotten the job.
“I’ve been out of work for eight months,” Kamara told Stateline. “It’s hard to get a job right now for everybody.”
Nationally, around 1.2 million veterans with lower incomes, or about 8 percent of the total veteran population of 16.2 million, rely on food stamps for themselves and their families, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning research group.
An analysis by the group found veterans tend to have lower rates of employment because they are more likely to have health conditions, such as traumatic brain injuries, that make it difficult for them to work. They also tend to have less formal education, though many have specialized skills from their time in the military.
There has been a work requirement for most SNAP recipients since 1996. But Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the rules have “never really been enforced.” Rector argued that able-bodied people who have been exempt from the work requirement, such as veterans and homeless people, create an unnecessary burden on the system if they are capable of working but don’t.
“Most of the people that are in this category live in households with other people that have incomes, and so there really isn’t a chronic food shortage here,” Rector said in an interview. “We have tens of thousands of free food banks that people can go to. So it’s just a requirement to nudge these people in the proper direction, and it should no longer go unenforced.”
Darryl Chavis, 62, said that view ignores the difficulties that many veterans face. When Chavis left the U.S. Army at 21 after two years of service, he said, he was “severely depressed.”
“Nobody even came to help me,” said Chavis, who served as a watercraft operator, responsible for operating and maintaining tugboats, barges and other landing craft.
Chavis said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which has made it difficult for him to keep a job. He just moved back to New York from Virginia after leaving a relationship. He’s been at the housing shelter in Long Island City since January.
“What I’m trying to do is get settled into, you know, stabilize into an apartment. I have the credentials to get a job. So it’s not like I’m not
‘I’m in transition, and the obstacles don’t make it easy.’
— Darryl Chavis, 62
gonna look for a job. I have to work. I’m in transition, and the obstacles don’t make it easy,” Chavis said.
The new SNAP work rules apply to all able-bodied adults between 55 and 64 who don’t have dependents, and parents with children above the age of 14. Some groups, such as asylum-seekers and refugees, are no longer eligible for the program.
Barbara Guinn, commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, estimates that around 300,000 New Yorkers could lose SNAP benefits due to work requirements. Of those, around 22,000 are veterans, homeless or aging out of foster care, she said. Almost 3 million New Yorkers relied on SNAP as of March 2025. Veterans in other states are in a similar situation. In California, an estimated 115,000 veterans receive SNAP benefits, according to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The number is nearly 100,000 in Florida and Texas, and 49,000 in Georgia.
Between 2015 and 2019 about 11 percent of veterans between the ages of 18 and 64 lived in food insecure households, meaning they had limited or uncertain access to food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP.
“We know that SNAP is the best way to help address hunger. It gets benefits directly to individuals,” Guinn said. “There are other ways that people Darryl Chavis, 62, served in the U.S. Army for two years as a watercraft operator.can get assistance if they need it, through food banks or other charitable organizations, but we do not think that those organizations will have the capacity to pick up the needs.”
Stateline, founded in 1998, provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.
Hundreds
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hundreds turned out to honor the life of Aland Etienne, the security guard who was killed last month at a Manhattan office tower by a gunman targeting the headquarters of the National Football League.
An immigrant from Haiti who came to the U.S. in 2017 with a dream for a new life, Etienne was remembered as a dedicated father and grandfather who was faithfully working at his security post when the gunman suddenly opened fire on July 28.
“My brother will be remembered as a hero. A humble, steady, kind New York hero,” said Smith Etienne, Aland’s brother, in a statement. “Aland made the ultimate sacrifice, choosing bravery and selflessness over fear. In his final moments, he acted to protect others.” The memorial service was held Saturday in Brooklyn for Etienne, 46, the last of the four shooting victims to be laid to rest. An NYPD officer, an investment firm executive and a real estate firm worker were also killed. The gunman wounded
a fifth person before taking his own life.
Like Etienne, slain NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, who was working a department-approved private security detail that day, was an immigrant. Islam was Bangladeshi-American.
Manny Pastreich, president of Etienne’s union, 32BJ SEIU, said Etienne represents not only essential workers who are the backbone of New York City, but also immigrants who come to the U.S. to build a better life and contribute in both large and small ways.
“This tragedy speaks to the sacrifice of security officers who risk their lives every day to keep New Yorkers and our buildings safe. Every time a security officer puts on their uniform, they put their lives on the line. Their contributions to our city are essential, though often unappreciated. Aland Etienne is a New York hero. We will remember him as such,” Pastreich said.
Security officers from buildings across New York held a vigil last week to honor Etienne.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
New York Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, at podium, and Chuck Schumer, to her immediate left, last week called on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to immediately resolve escalating issues with the World Trade Center Health Program that are compromising the timely administration of treatment and enrollment. The Democratic senators are pictured at a July 2024 press event at which they and other officials and advocates introduced a funding bill for the program.
Shalina Chatlani/Stateline.org
Darryl Chavis, 62, served in the U.S. Army for two years as a watercraft operator.
Chavis relies on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and is worried about new work requirements for the program.
Subway cleaners will share $3M in wage settlement
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
Hundreds of workers who cleaned the city’s subways during the pandemic’s height will share $3 million in back pay from two companies, according to a settlement secured by City Comptroller Brad Lander. Nearly 400 workers were not paid a prevailing wage by Valley Stream-based LN Pro Services and Fairfield, New Jersey-based Fleetwash, two contractors hired by the New York City Transit Authority to sanitize subways during the pandemic in 2020. Lander’s predecessor, Scott Stringer, determined in May 2020 that the workers were owed a prevailing wage of at least $20.38 an hour. Despite that finding, the NYCTA and the contractors it hired continued to pay the cleaners below the prevailing wage, arguing that the workers were not covered by pre-
vailing wage laws.
In February 2024 Lander sued the two companies and the NYCTA to recoup lost wages after a multiyear investigation. Later in 2024, an administrative judge with the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings agreed with Lander, opening the door for the settlement announced on Tuesday.
“By reaching this long-overdue settlement, the Comptroller’s Office proudly and successfully recovered millions of dollars on behalf of the hundreds of subway cleaners who performed a vital service and risked their own health at the height of the pandemic,” Lander said in a statement on the settlement. “The court agreed with us that the workers were entitled to prevailing wages — a higher rate than what the NYCTA instructed its contractors to pay.
Without these cleaners sanitizing and keeping our train system from piling up with debris, New York City
would have had a much harder time getting moving again five years ago.”
Under the agreement LN Pro Services’ payout totals $2,400,000 and Fleetwash’s is $606,686.80. The NYCTA, which hired both contractors, will cover 100 percent of LN Pro’s settlement and 80 percent of Fleetwash’s settlement.
“We are confident that no contractor hired by the MTA intentionally violated any guidelines or rules,” the MTA’s chief of Policy and External Relations, John J. McCarthy, said in a statement. “We have since worked with the City Comptroller to ensure that the cleaners who stepped up to keep riders safe during that difficult period are able to settle any claims with the companies that employed them.”
The $3 million settlement with the two cleaning contractors brings the total amount of money that Lander has won for workers in settlements to $15 million.
FDNY: Fewer take firefighter exam
Continued from Page 1
FDNY’s request, to give the department more time to carry out its recruitment efforts.
The department officially launched recruitment for the exam in May 2024, running ads on social media, in public transit and in newspapers. Exam results have yet to be released. A DCAS official said the agency is aiming to publish results in the fall. Within the next two months, the FDNY is also expecting to release the results of its latest firefighter climate survey, which 63 percent of firefighters participated in when it was administered in late May and June, said Farinacci.
‘Short from the goal’
All three of the last open competitive firefighter exams were conducted under the oversight of U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who was put in place by the federal monitor overseeing the FDNY as part of a settlement reached with the Vulcan Society — a fraternal organization of Black firefighters — on racial discrimination in the FDNY’s exams.
During a May status conference, Nafeesah Noonan, the deputy director of FDNY’s office of recruitment and diversity, told Garaufis that the percentage of Black test-takers this year “was a bit short from the goal” of the department. The FDNY, however, did exceed its goals for Hispanic test takers, she added, but missed its goal for white test takers.
The 11 extra exam sessions were added to ensure that all who registered for the exam had an opportunity to take the exam, Eric Eichenholtz, a lawyer in the city’s Law Department, said at the May status conference. These extensions “raised the percentage of Black and Hispanic test takers,” he said. Dana Lossia, a lawyer for the Vulcan Society who was present at the May conference said in an interview last week that the FDNY’s goals for
diversity were “good and ambitious” and were constructed under the oversight of the federal monitor. “They did not achieve the goals they set for themselves,” in terms of Black test takers, she added.
Noonan suggested during the conference and Lossia mentioned in the interview last week that one factor which may have caused the department to miss their goal was DCAS’ introduction of the “other” category likely selected by a number of individuals who are biracial or identify with multiple racial groups.
Andrew Ansbro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said in a text message that the low turnout for this year’s open competitive test is “very troubling,” and cited low starting pay, increased firefighter workload, and pension alterations as reasons fewer New Yorkers took the exam.
“For decades the greatest recruiter for the FDNY was the members of the FDNY, who would tell friends and family about the great pay, great benefits and great work atmosphere,” he said. “Now those same firefighters tell potential candidates the new truth, that the low starting pay will keep you living in your parent’s basement and then when you can finally afford a house it will be outside the city.... If New York City wants to ensure they have a large pool of candidates to pick from to fill the ranks of New York City heroes, the city needs to pay them a competitive wage that allows them to move out of mommy and daddy’s basement, make meaningful progress on providing staffing in [the city’s] busiest neighborhoods and work to reverse the pension changes.”
The president of the Vulcan Society, Jonathan Logan, said Aug. 6 that he does not yet have a comment on the exam, noting that he’s yet to see the exam data. Regina Wilson, the Vulcan’s former president who worked closely with the FDNY’s recruitment effort, also declined to comment.
Once the eligible list is estab-
has also taken on an oversight role of the two lifeguard unions, members said, and has helped resolve some lifeguard and lifeguard supervisor’s claims of retaliation.
guards at Rockaway beach since, lifeguards say, and new managers appointed under a provision in the new contract have not been able to stop ongoing retaliation. With the new managers and new union leaders, lifeguard supervisors feel more shut out than before.
City Comptroller Brad Lander secured a $3 million settlement for hundreds of workers who cleaned subways during the height of the pandemic but were not paid prevailing wages.
lished by DCAS, the FDNY will begin calling exam-takers one by one to take the candidate physical aptitude test or CPAT, one of the last steps before training at the FDNY firefighter academy.
Both Boyd and Timlin participated in Local 461’s first open meeting in decades last month, according to several lifeguards who attended.
A spokesperson for DC 37 did not respond to requests for comment and to interview Boyd or Timlin.
Parks Department steps back
The Department of Parks and Recreation has stepped back from challenging the leadership of the lifeguard unions since the city and the lifeguard unions reached a contract deal last summer that stripped the two locals of some power, lifeguards say. In the first few years of the Eric Adams administration, Parks threw rank and file members a lifeline by, for the first time ever, notifying lifeguards about opportunities for promotions, which until then had been entirely controlled by the union.
In 2023, Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, at the time Parks’ first deputy commissioner who oversaw the city’s beaches and lifeguards, helped organize the first Rockaway Lifesaving Championships in decades, allowing rank-and-file lifeguards to meet for the first time ever and entertain tourists and locals on Rockaway beach. The “Shack Olympics” had been discontinued by Stein decades before.
But there has not been a Lifesaving Championships or any other Parks-sponsored event for life-
“We feel we’re not a part of decision making when it comes to the administrative aspect of our office,” said Edwin Agramonte, a longtime lifeguard who works at Highbridge Pool. Agramonte said he has nowhere to take his concerns about the lack of promotions for longtime lifeguards and the retaliation that he and his coworkers face.
Rockaway lifeguards too are unsure of where to take their complaints about a policy change made this summer reducing the number of guards assigned to each lifeguard chair. The change means that lifeguards are spending double the amount of time monitoring the ocean from the chairs and less time patrolling the beach, three lifeguards said.
A Parks Department official confirmed that more lifeguards are working in chairs than walking posts this summer. There are currently over 1,000 lifeguards on staff, more than the 930 at the summer’s peak last year according to the Parks Department.
“It’s worse,” one Rockaway lifeguard said of his job because of the policy changes. “Over the past three years they have doubled the amount of time you’re sitting in the lifeguard chair. The job is harder because Rockaway is much more crowded than it used to be.” Elections for leadership of both lifeguard locals will be held in 2027.
FDNY
The most recent class of probationary firefighters graduated in May.
Marc A. Hermann/MTA New York City Transit
UPCOMING EXAMS LEADING TO JOBS
Below is a roundup of New York City and State exams leading to public-service positions. Most of the jobs listed are located in the New York Metropolitan area and upstate.
There are residency requirements for many New York City jobs and for state law-enforcement positions.
Prospective applicants are advised to write or call the appropriate office to make sure they meet the qualifications needed to apply for an exam. For jobs for which no written tests are given, candidates will be rated on education and experience, or by oral tests or performance exams.
DCAS Computer-based Testing and Application Centers (CTACs) have re-opened to the public. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, walk-ins are no longer accepted and appointments must be scheduled online through OASys for eligible list or examination related inquiries.
All examination and eligible list related notifications will be sent by email only, you will no longer receive notifications via the US mail.
All new hires must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, unless they have been granted a reasonable accommodation for religion or disability. If you are offered city employment, this requirement must be met by your date of hire, unless a reasonable accommodation for exemption is received and approved by the hiring agency.
For further information about where to apply to civil service exams and jobs, visit the thechief.org/exams.
The Federal Government has decentralized its personnel operations and holds few exams on a national or regional basis. Most Federal vacancies are filled by individual agencies based on education-and-experience evaluations. For information, contact the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or individual agencies, or see www.usajobs.gov.
$96,274-$118,479
(Neonatology)
5008 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Obstetrics/Gynecology) $96,274$118,479
5009 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Oncology)
$96,274-$118,479
5010 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Palliative Care) $96,274-$118,479
5011 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Pediatrics)
$96,274-$118,479
Car Inspector (Subway Car Mechanic)
6611 Bus Maintainer - Group B (Auto Mechanic)
NASSAU COUNTY EXAMS
➤ OPEN CONTINUOUSLY
7078 CR(D) Cytotechnologist I $74,114$99,744
7094 CR(D) Cytotechnologist II $83,915$118,479
7095 CR(D) Cytotechnologist III
$106,880-$144,480
61-639 CR Librarian I
60-180 CR Librarian I, Bilingual (Spanish Speaking)
5263 CR(D) Medical Technologist I $79,212-$91,619
5002 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Acute Care) $96,274-$118,479
5003 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Adult Health) $96,274-$118,479
5004 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Community Health) $96,274$118,479
5005 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Family Health) $96,274-$118,479
5006 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Gerontology) $96,274-$118,479
5007 CR Nurse Practitioner I
JOB HIGHLIGHT
The city is accepting applications for 311 call center representatives through Aug. 26.
The current minimum salary is $40,770 per year, increasing to $46,885 after two years of satisfactory work. The application fee is $61.
THE JOB
Call center representatives, under supervision in the city’s Office of Information Technology and Innovation’s 24-hour 311 Call Center, provide a single point of contact for all non-emergency city services using state-of-the-art telephone and interactive computer systems, respond to phone inquiries from the public, provide customer service and information to callers, take complaints and service requests and forward them for further action. They also enter inquiries, complaints and requests into appropriate computer systems, and perform related clerical and computer support work. They are required to work various shifts including nights, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. This is an on-site position with shifts performed at the call center.
Call center reps sit for extended periods of time with a headset on while monitoring two computer screens; type information into the computer using a keyboard; coordinate eye/hand movements while handling calls for the efficient use of console and computer; speak calmly and clearly in order to elicit information and give instructions to a continuous flow of callers under stress; listen carefully to clearly understand information; make responsible judgments where timing
is critical; and sit within hearing distance of other call takers working under similar conditions. The representatives are required to pass a four-week training course. Appointments to the position are subject to a one-year probationary period.
REQUIREMENTS
Successful applicants will have either 1) A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; or 2) An associate degree or 60 college credits from an accredited college or university and one year of satisfactory, full-time experience utilizing a computer to provide information or customer services to the public; or 3) A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent approved by a State’s Department of Education or a recognizing accrediting organization and two years of satisfactory, full-time experience utilizing a computer to provide information or customer services to the public; or 4) A satisfactory combination of education and experience. Satisfactory, full-time experience working for a New York City government agency using a computer to provide information or customer services to the public may be substituted on the basis of one year of NYC government work experience for the two years of experience described in “2” above. College credit may be substituted for the experience utilizing a computer to provide information or customer services to the public on the basis of 60 semester credits for each year of the experience described in “2” above. All candidates must possess a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent. Proficiency in navigating multiple computer systems using a computer keyboard
5012 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Perinatology) $96,274-$118,479
5013 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Psychiatry) $96,274-$118,479
5014 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Women’s Health) $96,274-$118,479
7288 CR(D) Occupational Therapist/ Occupational Therapist I $63,872$97,339; NHCC: $77,054-$108,876
3139 CR(D) Pharmacist I $102,320$128,481
3140 CR(D) Physical Therapist Assistant
$43,176-$81,670; NHCC: $55,373$78,048
9030 CR(D) Physical Therapist/Physical Therapist I $63,872-$97,339; NHCC: $82,754-$108,876
9029 CR(D) Physician Assistant I $91,225-$128,481
8049 CR(D) Radiologic Technologist (General) $68,620-$84,507 SUFFOLK COUNTY EXAMS ➤ CLOSE AUGUST 20 00130Photocopy Machine Operator $40,000-$41,426
WESTCHESTER EXAMS
to this position. Since residency requirements vary by title, appointing agency and length of service, consult the appointing agency’s personnel office at the time of the appointment interview to find out if City residency is required.
THE EXAM Exam scores are determined by an education and experience test. Applicants will receive a score of 70 points for meeting the education and experience requirements listed above.
SELECTIVE CERTIFICATION
or
ence in a city with over 1 million residents may be considered for appointment to positions requiring this experience through a process called selective certification. Those who qualify for selective certification may be given preferred consideration for positions requiring this experience. That experience will be checked by the appointing agency at the time of appointment.
For complete details on the positions, including the experience credits, visit https://www.nyc.gov/ site/dcas/employment/exam-schedules-open-competitive-exams.page
Applicants with at least two years of municipal government experi-
LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD
CDC union says lies fueled attack, wants action on vax misinformation
After shooter blamed Covid vaccine for depression
BY SUSAN HAIGH Associated Press
A Georgia man who wanted to send a message against Covid vaccines fired over 180 times with a long gun at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s headquarters in Atlanta, killing a police officer, authorities said.
Patrick Joseph White, 30, who has been identified as the shooter in the attack late last Friday, tried to get into the complex but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire, authorities said. White took his own life during the attack.
A union representing CDC workers said the shooting was not random and “compounds months of mistreatment, neglect, and vilification that CDC staff have endured.” It demanded that federal officials condemn vaccine misinformation, saying it puts scientists at risk.
The barrage of gunfire unleashed by White left bullet marks in windows across the sprawling campus, police said. At least four CDC buildings were hit, CDC Director Susan Monarez said on the social platform X. The bullets pierced “blast-resistant” windows, pinning employees down, and more than 500 shell cas-
Health workers subjected to vaccinerelated violence
ings were recovered, authorities said.
David Rose, a DeKalb County police officer, was fatally wounded while responding. Rose, a 33-yearold former Marine who served in Afghanistan, graduated from the police academy in March.
The American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2883, said the CDC and leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services must provide a “clear and unequivocal stance in condemning vaccine disinformation.”
Such a public statement by federal officials is needed to help prevent violence against scientists, the union said.
“Their leadership is critical in reinforcing public trust and ensuring that accurate, science-based information prevails,” it said in a state-
ment.
Fired But Fighting, a group of laid-off CDC employees, has said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is directly responsible for the villainization of the workforce through “his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust.”
Public health leaders have been experiencing harassment and violence around the country since anti-vaccine vitriol took root during the pandemic. Kennedy has amplified the rhetoric, repeatedly making false and misleading statements about the safety of immunizations. He told staffers over the weekend that “no one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,” without addressing the impact of anti-vaccine rhetoric.
Whitmer told Trump that Michigan auto jobs depend on a tariff change of course
Governor is possible Democrat presidential candidate
BY JOEY CAPPELLETTI and JOSH BOAK Associated Press
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer met privately in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump to make a case he did not want to hear: The automotive industry he said he wants to save was being hurt by his tariffs. The Democrat came with a slide deck to make her points in a visual presentation. Just getting the meeting with the Republican president was an achievement for someone viewed as a contender for her party’s White House nomination in 2028.
Whitmer’s strategy for dealing with Trump highlights the conundrum for her and other Democratic leaders as they try to protect the interests of their states while voicing their opposition to his agenda. It’s a dynamic that Whitmer has navigated much differently from many other Democratic governors.
The fact that Whitmer had “an opening to make direct appeals” in private to Trump was unique in this political moment, said Matt Grossman, a Michigan State University politics professor.
It was her third meeting with Trump at the White House since he took office in January. This one, however, was far less public than the time in April when Whitmer was unwittingly part of an impromptu news conference that embarrassed her so much she covered her face with a folder.
She told the president last week that the economic damage from the tariffs could be severe in Michigan, a state that helped deliver him the White House in 2024. Whitmer also brought up federal support for recovery efforts after an ice storm and sought to delay changes to Medicaid.
Trump offered no specific com-
mitments, according to people familiar with the private conversation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity to describe it.
Whitmer is hardly the only one sounding the warning of the potentially damaging consequences, including factory job losses, lower profits and coming price increases, of the import taxes that Trump has said will be the economic salvation for American manufacturing.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said no other president “has taken a greater interest in restoring American auto industry dominance than President Trump.”
Trade frameworks negotiated by the administration would open up the Japanese, Korean and European markets for vehicles made on assembly lines in Michigan, Desai said.
But the outreach Trump has preferred tends to be splashy presentations by tech CEOs. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave the president a customized glass plaque with a gold base as Cook promised $600 billion in investments. Trump claims to have
brought in $17 trillion in investment commitments, although none of those numbers has surfaced yet in economic data.
Under his series of executive orders and trade frameworks, U.S. automakers face import taxes of 50 percent on steel and aluminum, 30 percent on parts from China and a top rate of 25 percent on goods from Canada and Mexico not covered under an existing 2020 trade agreement. That puts America’s automakers and parts suppliers at a disadvantage against German, Japanese and South Korean vehicles that only face a 15 percent import tax negotiated by Trump last month. On top of that, Trump has threatened a 100 percent tariff on computer chips, which are an integral part of cars and trucks, though he would exclude companies that produce chips domestically from the tax. Whitmer’s two earlier meetings with Trump resulted in gains for Michigan. But the tariffs represent a significantly broader request of a president who has imposed them even more aggressively in the face of criticism.
HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon said Monday in a statement that Kennedy “has unequivocally condemned the horrific attack and remains fully committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of CDC employees.” Nixon added that Rose’s “sacrifice to protect the CDC on its darkest day will never be forgotten.”
1,000s employed at site
Thousands of people who work on critical disease research are employed on the campus. The union said some staffers huddled in various buildings until late at night Friday, while more than 90 young children were locked down inside the CDC’s Clifton School.
The union said CDC employees should not be required to immediately return to work after such a traumatic event. It said windows and buildings should first be fixed and made “completely secure.” The union also called for “perimeter security on all campuses” until the investigation is completed and the results are shared with staffers.
White was living with his parents, and his father contacted police and identified his son as the possible shooter. The father said White was upset over the death of his dog and became fixated on the Covid vac-
cine, according to law enforcement officials.
Authorities recovered documents and electronic devices at the family’s suburban Atlanta home that are being analyzed, as well as five firearms including a gun belonging to the father that was used in the attack, authorities said.
White did not have a key to his father’s gun safe, Hosey said: “He broke into it.”
The documents recovered by authorities “expressed the shooter’s discontent with the Covid vaccinations,” and White had written about wanting to make “the public aware of his discontent with the vaccine,” Hosey added.
White also recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks before the shooting, Hosey said. His father told police he blamed the Covid vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
White was found on the second floor of a building across the street from the campus and died at the scene, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said. His death was due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey.
Trump opens the door for private equity and crypto as retirement plan options
Blackstone CEO has long called the possibility a ‘dream’
BY KEN SWEET Associated Press
Millions of Americans saving for retirement through 401(k) accounts could have the option of putting their money in higher-risk private equity and cryptocurrency investments, according to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that could give those financial players long-sought access to a pool of funds worth trillions.
There is no immediate change in how people invest part of their work earnings. Federal agencies would need to rewrite rules and regulations to allow the expanded choices, and that would take months or more to complete. But once done, employers could offer a broader array of mutual funds and investments to workers, according to the White House. New plans could invest in alternative assets, particularly private equity, cryptocurrencies and real estate.
The Republican president’s order, signed last week, directs the Labor Department and other agencies to redefine what would be considered a qualified asset under 401(k) retirement rules.
Americans’ retirement plans are governed by a law known as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, better known as ERISA. Employers are required by law to offer retirement options that are in the best interest of their employees, not Wall Street. Most retirement plans for Americans are made up of stock and bond investments, and to a much lesser extent, cash and heavily traded commodities such as gold.
Trump’s move rewards both the $5 trillion private equity industry, which for decades has wanted to compete for a role in retirement plans, and the cryptocurrency industry, whose executives strongly supported Trump’s 2024 campaign as they aimed for more mainstream acceptance among Americans.
The price of bitcoin was up 2 percent on Thursday to $116,542 and has nearly doubled since Trump was elected.
Young workers drawn to crypto
Under Democratic President Joe Biden, federal regulators were to treat cryptocurrency investments with “extreme care” because of the extreme volatility of crypto. It is not uncommon for bitcoin, ethereum and other big cryptocurrencies to move up or down 10 percent in a single day, whereas a 2 percent or 3 percent single-day move in the stock market would be considered
historic.
For cryptocurrency companies, which donated millions to Trump’s campaign as well as his inauguration, one goal was to get their industry qualified under ERISA. Coinbase, one of the largest crypto companies in the United States, was also a major donor toward Trump’s military parade in Washington this summer. Under Trump, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase, where the Biden administration said crypto should be treated as a security. Crypto is particularly popular among young Americans. While volatile, bitcoin has generally moved upward since it was created by an anonymous programmer nearly 20 years ago.
“It was inevitable that bitcoin would make its way into American 401(k)’s,” said Cory Klippsten, the CEO of Swan Bitcoin. “As fiduciaries realize bitcoin’s risk-adjusted upside over the long term, we’ll see growing allocations, especially from younger, tech-savvy workers who want hard money, not melting ice cubes.”
Private equity firms rely heavily on high-net-worth individuals and state and private pension plans, which have extremely long investment timelines. But having access to Americans’ retirement assets would open up a deep pool of cash.
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman has told investors going back to at least 2017 that it was a “dream” of his and the industry to be able to draw upon these retirement assets. Previous administrations, Republican and Democrat, have agreed that private equity investments, which can be riskier, more expensive and less liquid than traditional stock and bond market mutual funds, should not be included in 401(k) plans.
The average historic annual return on private equity assets going back to 1990 is roughly 13 percent, net of fees, according to Cambridge Associates. The S&P 500 index has had an approximate annual return, including dividends, of roughly 10.6 percent in the same period of time. However, private equity assets tend to be locked up for years, because the companies underlying the assets have to be sold on the private market, making them highly illiquid compared to stocks, which can be sold in a day.
Even after the regulations are written, it will take time for major retirement plan companies, such as Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, and others, to develop appropriate funds for employers to use. Employers are unlikely to revise their retirement plan options quickly, so it may take several years before crypto and private equity investments become mainstream in an individual’s retirement plan.
Charlotte Kramon/AP Photo
People left flowers at a makeshift memorial in honor of David Rose, the officer killed in the shooting last Friday at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.
Alex Brandon/AP Photo
Governor Gretchen Whitmer spoke as President Donald Trump listened during an event with members of the Michigan National Guard at Selfridge Air National Guard Base on April 29 in Harrison Township, Michigan.
