Cuomo weighing run for NY governor despite opposition
ALBANY, N.Y. — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn’t just looking to clear his name; now he wants his old job back.
Cuomo, who resigned of his own volition last year in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations, is eyeing a primary run against Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to a report from CNBC on Wednesday.
According to the report, Cuomo fielded calls from supporters about running for governor and is commissioning internal polling as he weighs a potential showdown with his one-time lieutenant governor.
The man who once commissioned a paper mache mountain symbolizing the stark toll COVID took on New York has made clear he has no intention of staying out of the spotlight.
Cuomo made his first public remarks since his resignation earlier this month at a Brooklyn church, where he claimed in a speech that “cancel culture” was to blame for his political downfall.
The 64-year-old, who maintains his innocence, took aim at state Attorney General Letitia James during his sermon, claiming that her office engaged in “prosecutorial misconduct” by releasing a report corroborating allegations that he sexually harassed 11 women, many of them younger aides.
—New York Daily News
Trump to headline Dallas fundraiser for House GOP on May 9
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will headline a Dallas fundraiser on May 9 to help Republican congressional candidates.
The event at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel is dubbed “Countdown to the Majority” by the party’s House campaign arm, reflecting hopes for the November midterm elections.
Trump has remained a fundraising powerhouse since his defeat. Last November, he headlined a dinner in Tampa, Florida, that raised an astonishing $17 million for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Donors who give $35 or more have a chance to win one night at the Renaissance and two seats at the dinner.
Trump’s last visit to Dallas was three months ago. In appearances at a First Baptist Dallas service the Sunday before Christmas, and at the American Airlines Center that afternoon, he dropped hints about a 2024 comeback bid, declaring that with so many “dark clouds” hanging over the United States “our country needs a savior right now.”
The party that controls the White House almost always suffers big setbacks in the election two years after the presidential contest. And Democrats held only a nine-seat edge after the 2000 elections, down from a more comfortable 35-seat margin before then.
—The Dallas Morning News
7.3-magnitude quake hits Japan's Fukushima region
TOKYO — A strong earthquake shook the Japanese region of Fukushima late on Wednesday, prompting the Meteorological Agency to issue a tsunami warning for Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures and reawakening memories of the 2011 nuclear disaster.
The region is home to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which went into meltdown after a tsunami in 2011, an event that still weighs on Japan and has left much of the surrounding region abandoned to this day.
Although it initially reported some failures in the pumps used to keep radioactive elements under water, plant operator TEPCO later reported "no abnormalities" and said it had seen "no significant fluctuations."
However, the earthquake did derail a Shinkansen high-speed train. Local media reported that the approximately 100 passengers on board at the time were uninjured. However, the news came as a shock, given the train's record for safety.
The strong and long-lasting quake — which the U.S. Geological Survey measured at magnitude 7.3 just after 11:36 p.m. (1436 GMT) and located 57 kilometers (35 miles) east-north-east of the town of Namie in Fukushima prefecture — was also felt in Tokyo, some 300 kilometers (185 miles) away.
The quake hit almost 11 years to the day after the region in the north-east of the Asian island nation was devastated by a magnitude-9 earthquake and a massive tsunami triggered by it.
—dpa
Harris announces grants for HBCUs that got bomb threats
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday announced grants and a resource guide for historically Black colleges and universities that were targeted with bomb threats, saying the Biden-Harris administration would "do everything in our power to protect all our communities, from violence and from hate."
Since January, bomb threats have been leveled at more than a third of so-called HBCUs, including Albany State University in Georgia, Jackson State University in Mississippi, Bethune-Cookman University in Florida and Howard University in Washington, D.C, according to the White House.
The threats have disrupted campus life, diverted resources and increased the burden on mental health centers.
The grants announced by Harris would award eligible colleges whose campuses have been significantly disrupted between $50,000 to $150,000.
The money can be used to for mental health, enhanced campus security and other purposes. Harris also announced that institutions would have access to a federal resource guide on protecting, preventing and recovering from "acts of violence," Harris said.
"This intimidation will not stand, and we will not be intimidated," Harris said.
Since January, more than 80 anonymous bomb threats have been made against dozens of HBCUs, historically Black churches, synagogues and other institutions, Harris said.
—Los Angeles Times
