Northeast
Hochul’s office silent when pressed if she sticks by ‘no one is above the law’ belief amid AG’s indictment
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New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul offered her support of Empire State Attorney General Letitia James when she was first indicted on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, following years of the New York governor celebrating legal challenges originating in her home state and elsewhere against President Donald Trump.
“New Yorkers know @NewYorkStateAGJames for her integrity, her independence, and her relentless fight for justice,” Hochul posted to X following James’ indictment. “What we’re seeing today is nothing less than the weaponization of the Justice Department to punish those who hold the powerful accountable.”
A grand jury in Virginia indicted James Thursday, months after Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte said in a criminal referral to the Department of Justice in April that James allegedly falsified mortgage records to obtain more favorable loans. She faces charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution.
Pulte alleged in his criminal referral that James purchased a home in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2023, but identified it as her primary residence on mortgage documents and a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac form. James is legally required to live in New York as a statewide elected official in that state.
LEGAL EXPERT CALLS OUT ‘IRONIC’ TWIST AS NY AG WHO PROSECUTED TRUMP FACES FEDERAL BANK FRAUD CHARGES
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offices in New York will shutter in response to Attorney General Letitia James’ alleged “corrupt” business practices, Fox News Digital learned. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan said when James was indicted. “The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.”
Hochul, as well as other prominent Democrats, have pointed to the indictment as alleged “political weaponization” and political persecution of a Trump foe at the hands of the administration.
James and Trump have long traded barbs, with James campaigning for the attorney general job in 2018 by vowing to pursue legal charges against Trump if elected. Her office ultimately filed nearly 100 legal challenges against the first Trump administration and vowed to continue the legal battles upon his re-election in November 2024.
MAMDANI ASSAILS TRUMP FOR ‘POLITICAL RETRIBUTION’ AGAINST LETITIA JAMES IN SWEEPING DEFENSE OF EMBATTLED AG
Trump accused Democrats of waging lawfare — which is understood as leveraging the courts to gain political advantage — as a last-ditch attempt to prevent him from running for the Oval Office again in the 2024 cycle and securing another federal election win. Trump, for example, was indicted and found guilty in a New York case that accused him of falsifying business records, he was indicted on racketeering charges in Georgia, faced federal criminal cases claiming he mishandled sensitive government documents after his first presidency, and another claiming he attempted to overturn the 2020 election results.
Governor Hochul said she favors “free enterprise” at an event in the Hamptons, New York, in response to socialist Zohran Mamdani’s plan for government-run grocery stores. (Julia Nikhinson, File/The Associated Press)
Trump also faced civil cases, including James accusing Trump and the Trump Organization of inflating asset values in a lawsuit that found Trump and his companies liable.
Fox News Digital took a look back at Hochul’s previous comments on Trump and the legal cases that plagued the president during his first administration through his interim as the 45th and 47th president, and found the governor frequently celebrated cases that conservatives identified as “lawfare.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul’s office for comment on her past remarks on legal cases against Trump as she promotes the narrative that the administration is weaponizng the justice system against political foes, but did not immediately receive a reply. Fox Digital specifically asked if Hochul stands by her previous comments that “no one is above the law,” considering James’ indictment, but did not receive replies.
Trump is the first and only president to be impeached twice by the House, with Hochul remaking during his first impeachment in 2019 — which accused him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress related to allegedly seeking foreign interference from Ukraine to boost his re-election efforts in 2020 — that no one is above the law.
LETITIA JAMES’ OWN WORDS COME BACK TO HAUNT HER AFTER FEDERAL BANK FRAUD CHARGES FILED
“It’s really quite simple — NO ONE is above the law. Not now, not ever,” she posted to Facebook. “Speaker Pelosi & Democrats in Congress are holding the president accountable because they have a patriotic duty to uphold our Constitution, not play partisan politics.”
Letitia James and Kathy Hochul pose after the rally at 1199 SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Headquarters. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
As Trump stood trial for the civil fraud case launched by James that accused Trump and Trump Organization of financial fraud, Hochul commented that she had “full confidence” that he would be held accountable, while also remarking that he had “temper tantrums” in court.
“Former President Donald Trump is testifying in an unprecedented civil trial brought by our own Attorney General, Tish James. So far from telling the truth as he’s required to do, he’s throwing temper tantrums from the witness stand and verbally attacking judges and courtroom staff,” she said in November 2023. “His conduct has been a disgrace and I have full confidence that Donald Trump will be held accountable for his actions.”
A month later, the Democratic governor appeared to throw her support behind a lawsuit that aimed to prevent Trump’s name from appearing on voting ballots for the 2024 election.
NEW YORK AG LETITIA JAMES’ INDICTMENT SPARKS SHARP PARTISAN DIVIDE
A group of Colorado voters brought forth a lawsuit in 2022 arguing Trump should be deemed ineligible from holding political office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause. The lawsuit argued Trump’s action on Jan. 6, 2021 — when supporters breached the U.S. Capitol — violated a clause in the 14th Amendment that prevents officers of the United States, members of Congress or state legislatures who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding political office.
“Jan. 6 will live in infamy. Shame on us if we forget that,” Hochul said in December 2023, when the Colorado Supreme Court declared him ineligible to run for president. “Shame on us what happened to this country when a Capitol that I used to proudly walk in as a member of Congress was literally under siege. People died, people were injured, and if he doesn’t take responsibility for that, then the American people ought to hold him accountable. So that’s what’s starting in Colorado.”
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in March 2024 to keep Trump on the ballot.
President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting at the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025, in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
After Trump was found liable in James’ civil fraud case in 2023 and ordered to pay $355 million fine, Hochul worked to calm other business leaders’ concerns that they could face similar trials, citing that Trump and “his behavior” set him apart.
“I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about, because they’re very different than Donald Trump and his behavior,” Hochul said on the radio show “The Cats Roundtable” in February 2024.
An appeals court threw out the monetary penalty in the case earlier in 2025.
Later that same year, Hochul celebrated that “no one is above the law” when Trump was found guilty in NY v. Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“Today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law,” Hochul said in a statement in May 2024. “In preparation for a verdict in this trial, I directed my Administration to closely coordinate with local and federal law enforcement and we continue to monitor the situation. We are committed to protecting the safety of all New Yorkers and the integrity of our judicial system.”
As the election came down to the wire in 2024, Hochul slammed Trump as a “fraud” and “philanderer” who lacked New York values, while pointing to the New York v. Trump case.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, hold a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Aug, 20, 2024. (Marco Bello/Reuters)
“Donald Trump was born a New Yorker but ended up a fraud, a philanderer, and a felon. He wasn’t raised with the New York values that I know,” Hochul declared during her Democratic National Convention speech in Chicago in 2024. “Trust me, America, if you think you’re tired of Donald Trump, talk to a New Yorker. We’ve had to deal with them for 78 long years, the fraud, the tax dodging, the sham university, the shady charities.”
DOJ OPENS GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION INTO LETITIA JAMES TIED TO TRUMP CIVIL CASE
Trump won the Republican primary in the 2024 election cycle, and swept the seven battleground states on Election Day, defeating then-Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed then-President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.
Hochul and James held a press conference the day after the election, and vowed to battle the Trump agenda while honoring the results of the election.
“I want to be very clear that while we honor the results of this election and will work with anyone who wants to be a partner in achieving the goals of our administration in our state, that does not mean we’ll accept an agenda from Washington that strips away the rights that New Yorkers have long enjoyed,” Hochul said on Nov. 6, 2024.
“We did not expect this result, but we are prepared to respond to this result,” James said during the same press conference. “And my office has been preparing for several months because we’ve been here before,” James said. “We faced this challenge before, and we used the rule of law to fight back. And we are prepared to fight back once again because, as the attorney general of this great state, it is my job to protect and defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law. And I will not shrink from that responsibility.”
Trump slammed the onslaught of court cases against him in recent years, denying wrongdoing and identifying them as attempts from his political foes as tools to prevent him from seeking and winning re-election.
“They’re playing with the courts, as you know, they’ve been playing with the courts for four years,” Trump said in January, just days before he was sworn back into office. “Probably got me more votes because I got the highest number of votes ever gotten by a Republican by far, actually, by a lot. And, you know, we had a great election, so I guess it didn’t work. But even to this day, they’re playing with the courts and they’re friendly judges that like to try and make everybody happy. … It’s called lawfare, it’s called weaponization of justice.”
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Maine
Mild temperatures and clouds on tap for Maine on Wednesday ahead of major cool down
PORTLAND (WGME) — Mild temperatures and lots of clouds will rule the sky on Wednesday before some light rain and snow showers overnight.
Enjoy the mild temperatures while they last as it is turning cold by week’s end.
Lots of clouds will rule the sky for the next few days in Maine. High temps will also sit in the low-to-mid 40s for the day.
Wednesday evening.{ }(WGME)
The next chance for some precipitation will move in Wednesday evening through the nighttime hours as mostly rain with some mountain snow.
Look for some fog and areas of drizzle overnight too.
Thursday morning.{ }(WGME)
Rain will head out early Thursday morning followed by lots of cold, Canadian air.
Highs will still run in the low 40s ahead of a cold front shifting through early Thursday evening.
Once that front exits, expect to not leave the mid 20s on Friday.
Wind chills will be in the negatives and single digits to start Friday morning.
Weekend forecast.{ }(WGME)
The weekend looks calmer, with a round of snow and rain likely Saturday night through Sunday morning.
Temperatures will be back in the 30s after a cold end to the work and school week.
Incoming cold air.{ }(WGME)
Lots of cold air is set to enter the United States next week in waves.
Temperature outlook.{ }(WGME)
The next 8 to 14 days showcase below-normal temperatures around New England.
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Massachusetts
At Massachusetts stores, the demise of the penny is adding up to one big headache – The Boston Globe
With little government guidance on how to lawfully undertake the transition, and loath to give up even a few cents by rounding transactions down to the nearest nickel, Maloney is instead trying to kick the coin jar down the road.
“We’re sort of hoarding,” said Maloney, who has run Julio’s since 2000, “so that we don’t have to deal with this problem.”
It’s a problem playing out in cash registers across Massachusetts and the country as the realities of a penniless future begin to present themselves.
When Canada phased out its one-cent coin a little more than a decade ago, it offered retailers and consumers a clear path forward, suggesting that cash transactions be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel — $1.61 and $1.62 become $1.60, while $1.63 and $1.64 become $1.65 — with sales tax applied before rounding. In Massachusetts, retailers say they have been given little such direction from the federal or state government, bringing about a patchwork of solutions as stores try to navigate the changing tides of change on their own.
“I didn’t really think it was going to cause much of an issue, but then it started causing an issue,” said Sara-Ann Turner, a cashier at Warren Hardware in the South End. The shop has begun rounding transactions to the nearest five-cent increment when customers don’t have exact change, which has left some shoppers feeling nickel-and-dimed when the sum comes down in the store’s favor.
The penny remains legal tender, with billions of the coin still in circulation — many likely sitting in jacket pockets, under couch cushions, and between sidewalk cracks. But the lack of fresh ones shipping out of the US Mint means that cash transactions will soon have to sidestep the one-cent coin. And even in an increasingly cashless economy, that’s no simple endeavor.
In a recent survey conducted by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, 65 percent of members said they planned to take Canada’s recommended approach and round cash transactions up or down to the nearest nickel. The other 35 percent said they would always round down in the customer’s favor, a policy Dunkin’ has recommended for its franchisees. (The survey did not give respondents the option to say they would always round up.)

But any rounding policy stores choose risks running afoul of a tangle of bureaucratic regulations, said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. Consider, for instance, a Massachusetts law that prohibits surcharges on customers who use credit cards over cash, or the federal statute that mandates food stamp customers be charged the same as those using cash.
“The sellers just need some guidance, number one, and number two, some protection,” Hurst said.
In a letter in early December, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and California Representative Maxine Waters sought answers from the heads of the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the US Mint, writing that the absence of guidance could “risk worsening inconsistencies in customer transactions, uncertainty in pricing approaches, legal compliance, tax calculations, and more.”
Late last month, the Treasury Department published a frequently-asked-questions webpage that pointed to the technique of rounding to the nearest nickel but ultimately passed the buck to states, which it said “will approach this issue differently based on unique considerations.”
Both chambers of Congress have introduced bipartisan federal legislation, called the Common Cents Act, that would codify for US businesses the same rounding practices as Canada recommended, but progress for the bills appears to have stalled.

And while states including Georgia and Utah have come out with basic guidelines for retailers — leaving rounding decisions up to individual merchants but clarifying that sales tax should be applied before rounding — Massachusetts has yet to do the same.
In a statement, a Massachusetts Department of Revenue spokesperson said the office is “considering what if any guidance is needed.”
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office said any legal changes to retailers’ practices would have to come from lawmakers.
“It’s more involved than any of us thought it would be on the first glance,” said state Representative Tackey Chan, who is looking into the penny issue.
Merchants may soon get some temporary relief, thanks to the Federal Reserve, which distributes coins to banks. This week, all seven of the Federal Reserve bank distribution sites in the Boston district will once again accept deposits of pennies from banks, a move the Fed said it made “to better support the circulation of pennies for commercial activity.” This may eventually allow banks to order the coins again, which could then allow supply to trickle down to retailers.
Amid all the unknowns, Julio’s isn’t the only one trying to put off the inevitable. In November, the supermarkets Price Chopper and Market 32 held a promotion in which customers could bring in pennies and receive double their value in a gift card to the grocers. The event amassed roughly 20 million pennies, or $200,000, according to director of customer service Michele McKeever — about $11,900 of which came from the chains’ 14 Massachusetts stores.

“We were hoping that we could buy some time and get legislation passed to give us clear direction,” McKeever said.
For stores that have already begun their own rounding policies, there can be growing pains as they explain the new system to clientele. Turner, the Warren Hardware cashier, said she dealt with one customer who grew particularly upset at being shortchanged.
“‘I work hard for these two pennies,’” Turner recalled the customer saying.
Andrea Pendergast, co-owner of the Cape Cod Package Store Fine Wine & Spirits in Centerville, is also worried about inadvertently driving away business.
“We end all of our pricing with nine,” she said, a common consumer psychology trick known as charm pricing. Rounding up to the next dollar, she knows, would “look, psychologically, from a customer standpoint, like maybe the prices are going up.”
While some retailers are concerned about the effects of rounding policies on their profits, research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond last year estimated that rounding to the nearest nickel would end up costing shoppers, not retailers, about $6 million annually. This was because, the researchers found, prices tended to end on digits that would round up.
Nevertheless, Maloney, the Julio’s Liquors owner, worries about the potential hit to his bottom line once his penny-pinching days run out. Choosing to always round down could cost him the equivalent of a part-time employee’s pay.
“I know everybody’s going to say, ‘It’s just pennies,’” he said. “I go, ‘Yes, but pennies add up.’”

Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.
New Hampshire
27 Places People Want at Seacoast Landing After the Mall at Fox Run Closes
The Mall at Fox Run’s time is coming to a close on January 31, 2026. That’s just a fact, no matter how unfortunate it may be.
This staple Newington, New Hampshire, spot has served up decades of memories for many, including family trips, hanging out with friends, and simply enjoying the latest shopping finds.
But while change can be sad and hard, the area is getting a reset with what will become Seacoast Landing, which, according to Seacoast Online, will be a “revamped commercial hub that would include a big box store, small businesses and restaurants.”
Mall at Fox Run to Make Way for Seacoast Landing in Newington, New Hampshire
The Mall at Fox Run is not just closing, but the whole area will be demolished. It really is the end of an era.
But where there once was an enclosed building with multiple stores, Atlantic Retail highlights that Seacoast Landing will be an “81 acre premier regional retail destination.” Meaning it will be multiple buildings to access, rather than just walking through to each one inside.
Red Post Realty even noted what’s proposed for the site, including multiple large anchor buildings, retail and office space, a medical building, pad sites, a new internal road network, and an outdoor pedestrian boulevard connecting Chick-fil-A to Texas.
Seacoast Online said that this massive project will reportedly cost north of $500 million.
What Stores and Restaurants Are at Seacoast Landing in Newington, New Hampshire?
The official announcements as to what places are coming to Seacoast Landing have not been made, but that will be coming soon. So keep an ear out.
Red Post Realty posted a Facebook video sharing a quick update on the project while also asking people what places they want to see come to Seacoast Landing.
The Facebook video garnered hundreds of comments, and we’ve compiled a list of some of the top ones.
Just note that none of these suggestions are confirmed for Seacoast Landing. Red Post Realty even noted that there are NDAs in place, so anything you hear about is likely a rumor until official confirmation.
Let’s take a look and dream of what the next phase of Newington could maybe include!
27 Places People Want at Seacoast Landing as the Mall at Fox Run Closes in NH
Here are suggestions of what locals would like to see at Seacoast Landing after the Mall at Fox Run is demolished. These are not at all confirmed, but rather they are ideas of what people are hoping for.
Gallery Credit: Sean McKenna
READ MORE: 17 Nostalgic Memories of Fox Run Mall in New Hampshire That’ll Take You Back
Some of the favorites based on the comments were definitely places like The Cheesecake Factory, Costco, and IKEA.
Interestingly, some of the suggestions already have other locations in New Hampshire, but there were places mentioned that can’t be found anywhere in the Granite State.
Some of those spots include The Cheesecake Factory, The Disney Store, and The Rainforest Cafe.
What spots will actually wind up at the new Seacoast Landing remains to be seen, but it’s certainly fun to wish your favorite places make the cut. Oh, to dream.
Remember When the Fox Run Mall in NH Had These 22 Stores?
Gallery Credit: Megan Murphy
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