Northeast
New York's universal mail-in voting law challenged in court
The state of New York’s universal mail-in voting law is being challenged by a legal watchdog group that claims the alteration to election protocol is unconstitutional.
A court brief has been filed in the New York Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the law, passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, which allows every registered voter in the state to vote via mail-in ballot.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation is leading the effort on behalf of multiple Republican leaders — including GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik and Claudia Tenney.
MAIL-IN BALLOTS MUST HAVE DATES ON ENVELOPES, PENNSYLVANIA APPEALS COURT RULES
Officials sort mail-in-ballots at the San Francisco City Hall polling location in San Francisco. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
New York residents overwhelmingly voted against universal mail-in ballots through a 2021 referendum seeking a constitutional amendment.
Democratic lawmakers bypassed the failure of this referendum by simply voting the mail-in ballot expansion through the state legislature. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed it into law late last year.
Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams accused the New York Legislature of having “unconstitutionally passed a law to allow every registered voter to cast a ballot in the mail” with this law.
NEW YORK REPUBLICANS SUE TO BLOCK DEMOCRAT GOV. KATHY HOCHUL’S NEW LAW EXPANDING EARLY MAIL-IN VOTING
This photo illustration shows an absentee mail-in ballot for the 2020 general election sent by the Board of Election in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“The plain text of the New York Constitution prohibits the expansion of mail voting,” Adams added. “If New York lawmakers want to expand mail voting, they need to pass a constitutional amendment.”
Democrats claim that the expanded avenue for absentee voting makes the democratic process easier for voters. Their critics contend this change in protocol makes voter fraud much easier.
This is not the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s first time in court fighting the expansion of absentee ballot eligibility.
Chester County election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots for the 2020 general election in the United States at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The foundation previously led the 2022 legal challenge against a similar law in Delaware.
The campaign saw initial success when a state superior court sided against the proposed permanent absentee voting expansion.
However, the New York Supreme Court shot down that decision last month in a 5-0 ruling, finding that the Public Interest Legal Foundation did not have standing to sue.
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Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh’s air quality considered “unhealthy for everyone” on Friday due to wildfire smoke
The air quality will remain poor today. Officially, the air quality will be in the “very unhealthy” to “hazardous” range.
Friday’s forecast and air quality warnings
How hazardous are things? Wildfire smoke, like what we are dealing with today, really gives you a double whammy when it comes to impacting your health. The first is that you may notice when talking about air quality that we label it with a number, and then we put behind it PM2.5 or maybe 10.
The 2.5 is important because it is talking about the size of the particles that we are describing as parts per million. The unit for 2.5 is microns. 1 micron is the same as 0.00003937 inches or 0.001 mm. So 2.5 microns is around a fourth the width of a single wool fiber or around 1/7th the width of a human hair. It’s tiny and grating.
It’s small enough to get deep into your lungs but hard enough to irritate, like very fine sandpaper. For those with respiratory issues already in place, this increased irritation causes shortness of breath and frequent coughing spells. Not good.
The good news is that our air quality will rapidly improve overnight, with us returning to more normal air quality on Saturday morning. The bad news is that another plume of smoke is expected to roll in on Sunday, but that plume is not expected to be as bad as this current one.
Getting to today’s forecast, it is going to be hot with highs in the mid-80s today. There will be a haze sitting over the city all day long. I have noon temperatures near 80 degrees with light winds of around 5 mph.
Kennywood and Sandcastle close due to air quality
Both Kennywood and Sandcastle announced on Friday morning that the parks will be closed due to the air quality alert issued by the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection.
According to both parks, patrons who purchased tickets for July 17 will be valid on one operating day throughout the rest of the season.
According to Love Food, the best bowl of ramen in Connecticut isn’t tucked away in one of the state’s larger cities. Instead, you’ll have to make your way to Granby, where Tiger Belly Noodle Bar has earned national recognition for serving what the publication says is Connecticut’s top ramen.
If you’re expecting a massive menu with dozens of choices, that’s not what you’ll find here. Tiger Belly keeps things relatively simple, focusing on a handful of carefully crafted noodle dishes that have developed a loyal following. The standout, according to Love Food, is the restaurant’s aptly named Darkness Ramen.
This isn’t your average bowl of noodles. The star of the dish is a rich tonkotsu broth that’s simmered for more than 25 hours to develop its deep, savory flavor. It’s then topped with tender pork belly, enoki mushrooms, plenty of garlic, and finished with black garlic oil for an extra layer of richness. The result is a bowl that’s hearty, comforting, and packed with bold flavors.
Ramen has exploded in popularity across the United States over the past decade, with restaurants putting their own spin on the classic Japanese comfort food. Whether you prefer a traditional pork-based broth, spicy variations, seafood, or vegetarian options, there’s no shortage of great places to grab a bowl these days. But when it came to picking just one restaurant in Connecticut, Love Food says Tiger Belly Noodle Bar stands above the rest.
So, if you’re the type of person who’s willing to take a road trip for great food, Granby might deserve a spot on your list. A slow-simmered broth, fresh ingredients, and a little black garlic magic were apparently enough to earn this Connecticut restaurant some well-deserved national bragging rights.
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Did a White Plains Researcher Get Too Close to the Truth About UFOs?
Leon Davidson of White Plains, NY, had a résumé packed with top-level science work — from IBM and Union Carbide to atomic research and sci-fi writing. But when he turned his focus to UFOs, what followed was a strange paper trail that linked him to the CIA, classified communications, and government efforts to shut him down. The story you’re about to see reveals what those efforts looked like — and why they may have gone to such great lengths.
Gallery Credit: Lou Milano
Following similar legislature in his native Vermont, singer-songwriter supports “The Great Divide Act” combating speculative tickets, resale fees, and more
Noah Kahan has thrown his support behind a new Massachusetts bill aimed at capping ticket resale prices.
Like other states in recent weeks — including Washington, D.C. just a day earlier — Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has announced “An Act Relative to Closing the Great Divide between Ticket Prices and Affordability” — or “The Great Divide Act,” named in part after Kahan’s latest LP — a bill that would limit ticket resales prices, bar speculative tiket sales, and cut down on some ticket fees.
Kahan, who previously backed a similar bill in his native Vermont and is fresh off four sold-out shows at Boston’s Fenway Stadium, appeared via video at Healey’s press conference Thursday.
“I heard about what you’re announcing today and I just wanted to let you know how excited I am about it,” Kahan said. “The artist community and fans will greatly benefit from limiting ticket scalping and the sales of speculative tickets. I love my fans and want to protect them however I can. Artists alone could not tackle the market manipulation of secondary resellers. So, thank you so much for making this a priority in Massachusetts.”
Under the proposed Great Divide Act, concert tickets on the secondary market would be capped at 110 percent of their original face value, and secondary ticket sites would similarly only be allowed to take a 10 percent cut of resold tickets.
In the aftermath of the World Cup games at Gillette Stadium, where “speculative tickets” — or sellers offering tickets they don’t actually have — resulted in hundreds of people getting turned away from the soccer games, the Great Divide Act will also aim at prohibiting the practice. “Far too many Massachusetts residents have experienced the pain of being excited to buy tickets to see their favorite singer or sports team, only to realize that resale prices and fees have driven up the cost to outrageous levels,” Healey said Thursday.
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