The 25th Hour

Catch up on last week's news as you stay inside from this heatwave with THE 25TH HOUR, helping you stay on top of they 24/7 news cycle!

• Governor Andrew Cuomo has resigned following Letitia James' report finding 11 women's sexual harassment allegations against the Governor as credible. Finding no way out, Cuomo stepped down, effective in two weeks, giving New York its first female Governor, Kathy Hochul. The state Assembly, accordingly, is shutting down its impeachment investigation.
• The FDA has approved a booster shot for immunocompromised Americans to build on Pfizer and Moderna's two-dose vaccines as the Delta variant increases case counts and crowd ICU beds in the South.
• Afghanistan has fell to the Taliban in just a week after 20 years of and $1 trillion dollars of US involvement. Biden remains steadfast in his mission to completely withdraw from the country no matter what happens, ordering 5000 troops into the capital to evacuate embassy staff and their families.
• The Senate has passed Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal and has passed a key procedural hurdle to the accompanying $3.5 trillion human infrastructure proposal, setting up to give Biden a key legislative victory in the coming months after Congress comes back from its August recess.

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Stay on top of the 24/7 news cycle with THE 25TH HOUR on its 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

* De Blasio puts new rules into effect that would require proof of vaccinations for indoor dining, gyms, movies, and more.
* The walls are crumbling around Cuomo as the State AGs report substantiated 11 accusations of sexual harassment and an overall toxic work culture, which the Governor still denies in the face of calls to resign or else get impeached.
* Biden had a good jobs report and finally got half the country fully vaccinated, but he's urging caution in light of the Delta variant. 
* The Senate is poised to pass Biden's next legislative achievement with amendments being added to the $1.2t physical infrastructure proposal. 

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In the fallout of NY Attorney General Letitia James’ report on Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandals, the Governor has had his allies drop support for him left and right, including the Chairman of the State Democratic Party and lawmakers from the legislature - some comprising the Assembly impeachment committee which are now going to go into high gear. 

How did Cuomo get here? What will happen to him now? What will lawmakers do? Does Cuomo have a future now? What about the future of NY and the Governor's Mansion? To make sense of the recent events, we have a special guest on the show - City & State Senior State Politics Reporter Zach Williams!

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Mask back up and catch up in last week's news with THE 25TH HOUR - stay on top of the 24/7 news cycle!

* De Blasio announces that ALL City workers will have to vaccinate, and that those who haven't gotten vaccinated will receive a $100 incentive at all City-run sites.
* Cuomo initially didn't follow de Blasio's lead, but made the decision to make state workers get vaccinated after Biden decided to make it hard for federal workers.
* Biden is facing outcry from federal workers' unions for recent federal mask mandates, but said the decision is crucial to get an upper hand against the Delta variant.
* The January 6th Select Committee opened its first hearing listening to compelling testimony from Capitol and DC police officers that thought they were going to die on January 6th. Meanwhile, the GOP called for the expulsion of Cheney and Kinzinger for daring to serve on the committee, and went crazy against reimposed mask mandates on the House floor.
* The Senate stayed at work overtime to keep working on bill text for Biden's physical infrastructure proposal, after blowing numerous deadlines to reveal it. In the meantime, funding was passed for Capitol Police and for incoming Afghan interpreters being housed in the US while their visas are being processed in exchange for helping the US military.

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Mandate yourself some time to stay on top of the 24/7 news cycle in under an hour with THE 25TH HOUR!

* De Blasio instituted mandatory vaccines to City hospital workers or get weekly COVID tests, with the possibility of extending the mandate to other City workers.
* Cuomo breathes a sigh of relief as one of the federal investigations into his handling of nursing home deaths in the beginning of the pandemic were dropped, and his lawyers are on the attack against the lawmaker in charge of the Assembly impeachment committee.
* Biden sought to walk back his claims that Facebook was killing people and blamed it on the group of 12 people responsible for 65% of COVID misinformation on social media.
* Nancy Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy's Republicans for the January 6th Committee, in which McCarthy promptly just pulled back all of his team. In the Senate, a procedural motion to advance infrastructure talks were defeated by Republicans as Democrats haven't even released draft bill text yet.
* Mississippi has brazenly asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade as the Court takes up the state's law banning most abortions except in the most extreme of situations.

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It's the second week of July and it's time to catch up on the 24/7 news cycle with THE 25TH HOUR in under an hour:

• De Blasio reopens the Marriage Bureau and maintains a mask rule for the upcoming fall school year as the Delta variant makes matters worse in the City.
• Eric Adams went to DC to talk to Biden about gun violence, then held a joint press conference with Cuomo on the issue, as Cuomo went to the NY Attorney General's office to be deposed about his sexual assault scandals.
• Biden professes his support for stability in Haiti and Cuba, while he continued to hunker down with Senate Democrats about how to pass a bipartisan physical infrastructure proposal and a new $3.5t "human" infrastructure proposal, which Majority Leader Schumer is inching to put on the floor.
• A Texas federal judge struck down the DACA program, saying Obama never legally had the authority to create it, preventing new Dreamers from applying for work authorizations. Biden has vowed to appeal the ruling.

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Time to catch up on the 24/7 news cycle with last week's news in under an hour with THE 25TH HOUR!

* NYC had a Canyon of Heroes parade for essential workers during the pandemic as some unions protested the parade in favor of higher wages.
* Brooklyn Borough President unofficially won the NYC Democratic mayoral primary as his fellow contenders Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley conceded. 
* Cuomo ceded his leadership of the National Governors Association, saying the pandemic came as a personal benefit to him, and also declared an emergency declaration in New York because of gun violence.
* Biden kept pleading for Americans to get vaccinated, as he struggles to keep the ball rolling on his infrastructure proposal and defended a swift withdrawal out of Afghanistan. The President also announced a series of executive actions directing his agencies to fight back against monopolistic behavior in the free market.
* Former President Trump announced a futile class action lawsuit against Big Tech companies alleging conservative censorship as he continued to charge the Secret Service, tasked with protecting him, rent for having to stay at his golf clubs.

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HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY from THE 25TH HOUR! Time to catch up on the 24/7 news cycle in under an hour.

* De Blasio adds more names to the Central Park COVID Comeback Concert, the Delta variant is still on the rise, Adams and Garcia are still neck and neck as affidavits are counted, Alvin Bragg officially wins the Manhattan DA Democratic primary, and a Recovery Budget deal was struck between de Blasio and the City Council.
* Cuomo is about to receive some subpoenas from the Assembly Judiciary Committee, although voters don't want him impeached, with the caveat that he not run for re-election. Upstate fast food workers are getting a bump in their minimum wage, and an opioid settlement fund is written into law.
* Biden plans a July 4th COVID victory tour although his 70% goal wasn't reached, he visited the condo collapse at Sunnyside, Florida, and authorized some airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia in Iraq.
* The House created a January 6th select committee, adding Republican Liz Cheney to it, and voted to get rid of Confederate statues still residing over at the Capitol. 
* The Supreme Court continued to gut the Voting Rights Act by siding with Arizona voter suppression measures, sided with Koch nonprofits in striking down California donor disclosures, backed the CDC eviction moratorium, allowed the government to indefinitely detain already once-deported immigrants, and sided against NJ resisting a pipeline company.
* Britney Spears' dad remains a conservator, Bill Cosby was set free, a massive heatwave started mixing with wildfires in the West, Olympic-level runner Sha-Carri Richardson was suspended for a month for weed, and Donald Rumsfeld has died.

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Time to stay on top of the 24/7 news cycle with THE 25TH HOUR, where you'll get last week's news in less than an hour.

• The NYC mayoral primary came and went, showing Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in the lead, with former de Blasio counsel Maya Wiley and former Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia at his tail. Buffalo may have just elected its first Socialist mayor, and Rochester's Lovely Warren is on her way out.
• Cuomo ended the emergency declaration that began the state's nightmare at the outset of the COVID pandemic, while one of his senior aides was interviewed by the Attorney General's office related to Cuomo's sexual assault allegations.
• Biden announced a breakthrough in bipartisan infrastructure negotiations, saying a nearly $600b physical infrastructure measure will be passed only in tandem with his American Jobs and Families Plan, endangering the entire proposal in the first place.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formation of a select committee looking into the January 6th insurrection after a bipartisan proposal was filibustered by Senate Republicans, who also filibustered a voting rights reform.
• The Supreme Court handed down key rulings this week, siding with college athletes against an NCAA policy that didn't allow students to get paid for their likenesses, a high school cheerleader who was kicked off the team for cursing out her school off-campus, and more.

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Time to stay on top of the 24/7 news cycle with THE 25TH HOUR, where we deliver the week's news in under an hour.

De Blasio announced a Canyon of Heroes parade honoring essential workers and celebrating the City crawling out of the worst of the pandemic.
The final mayoral debate was largely substantive and got heated in minor moments as Adams is seen to be at the top of the pack.
Governor Cuomo lifts virtually all restrictions placed on businesses as the state hit a 70% one-shot vaccination rate.
Biden met with Russian President Putin after finishing his meeting with NATO, with the bilateral meet being largely constructive. The President said much was discussed and much is still left to do. The President also signed Juneteenth into law, marking a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.
The Supreme Court made some key rulings this week, siding with a Catholic foster care agency discriminating against gay couples, preserving Obamacare for a third time, rejecting Malian former child slaves the ability to sue Nestle and Cargill for profiting off of child trafficking, and rejecting specific retroactive prison sentence reductions for crack cocaine possession.

That's it for this week's show of THE 25TH HOUR! If you like what you heard, rate, share, and subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Become a Patron today for as low as $2/month or make a simple donation to support the show.

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