News briefs

Tribune News Service on Oct 3, 2025

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NYC’s mayoral race has Republicans telling Cuomo: Come woo us

NEW YORK — A burgeoning bloc of New York City Republicans say Andrew Cuomo should make an appeal for a vote in his favor in November’s mayoral election.

“If Cuomo wants the vote of New York Republicans, come over to us and offer us something,” Stefano Forte, president of the New York Young Republican Club, said in an interview. “Why doesn’t he come meet with us at our clubhouse and promise us a certain number of deputy mayors? And then maybe, maybe, maybe we’ll think about supporting him.”

The group represents a small minority of voters in the heavily Democratic city. But it’s a potential opportunity for Cuomo in a split race that, with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropping out, has narrowed to the top three contenders. Support for Republican Curtis Sliwa has mostly tallied in the low double digits, putting him in third place behind the former Democratic governor, who’s running as an independent, and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.

It’s a contentious battle donors opposed to Mamdani have been hoping would be reshaped after the 33-year-old democratic socialist rose from relative obscurity in the state legislature to crush Cuomo in the primary.

—Bloomberg News

New tax on marijuana heads to Whitmer's desk after late-night Senate approval

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Senate approved a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana early Friday morning, marking the key vote in a wide-ranging deal to increase funding for roads and to achieve a new state budget.

At about 3 a.m. Friday, senators voted 19-17 in favor of the tax hike, which the Legislature's fiscal agencies estimate will generate $420 million in additional annual revenue, after it takes effect on Jan. 1.

The House passed the bill last week 78-21. The legislation moves to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer next for her signature to complete a long-sought pursuit of a new tax revenue stream to aid the repair of Michigan's crumbling roads.

Supporters of the bill, which was backed by Whitmer, said it was necessary to improve Michigan's roads and bridges. But opponents, like Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, said it would damage an industry that Michigan voters expanded by legalizing recreational marijuana in 2018.

—The Detroit News

California elementary school teacher on leave after sharing racist illustration in group texts

LOS ANGELES — An elementary school teacher who reportedly shared a racist image in a group chat with colleagues has been placed on administrative leave as the Long Beach Unified School District investigates the matter.

John Solomon, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at MacArthur Elementary School, is being investigated for allegedly sharing an illustration of a children’s ankle monitor on a Black child and joking the school could use those for its “runners,” a nickname for special education students prone to wandering off, according to the Long Beach Post.

On Thursday, the Long Beach Unified School District said it does not “condone conduct that is disrespectful, discriminatory, or harmful.”

“This matter is under investigation, and the employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome,” the district said in a statement. “Personnel matters are confidential, so we cannot comment on individual employee situations.”

—Los Angeles Times

Russia ups strikes on Ukraine's gas sector as heating season starts

Ukraine’s state-owned giant Naftogaz suffered the largest aerial attack on its gas extraction infrastructure since the start of the war as Russia increased its targeting of the energy sector at the start of the heating season.

Russia attacked gas extraction facilities in the Kharkiv region in the east, as well as in Poltava in central Ukraine, in the early hours on Friday with 35 missiles and 60 drones, Chief Executive Officer Sergii Koretskyi said in a statement on the company website. The assault damaged a significant portion of Naftogaz facilities, some of them critically, he said.

“There was no military purpose or rationale,” Koretskyi added. “It was yet another display of Russian malice, aimed solely at disrupting the heating season and depriving Ukrainians of the ability to heat their homes this winter.”

The defense ministry in Moscow confirmed the attack in a statement on Telegram on Friday, saying its forces launched the massive aerial strike against Ukraine’s gas infrastructure overnight, using long-range weapons and drones.

—Bloomberg News