National
The Southeast and the country overall are reeling from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene.
Helene was tracked as a fast-moving tropical cyclone last week. After just two days of its formation, it reached Category 4 intensity, making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. Helene is the strongest hurricane to have ever struck this part of the Florida Panhandle. After its initial landfall as a Category 4 storm, Helene weakened into a Category 2 as it cruised into Georgia.
As of press time, fatalities are at least 170 and still climbing, with almost 700 still missing, and millions without power and other utilities. Damage estimates are also certain to continue surging, with at least $27 billion in damages recorded so far. Its highest winds were recorded at 140 miles per hour.
Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Perhaps hit the worst were mountainous regions of Appalachia, particularly western North Carolina. The village of Chimney Rock, located just east of Asheville with a population of about 140, is “virtually gone,” according to residents and sources on the ground. What was once a charming mountain town is now essentially a valley of mud and debris. Chimney Rock had initially seemed to have not been affected directly by Helene itself, but rather a dam breach that inundated the village and swept away cars, buildings, and roads.
More grisly accounts of the damage up the coast consist of bodies being recovered from trees, a harrowing display of just how catastrophic this storm was.
In addition to devastating flooding, infrastructure was also badly damaged across the Southeast, with supplies being delivered by air and even mules to locations inaccessible by vehicle. Mountain Mule Packer Ranch is employing strings of pack mules to brave the dangerous terrain to otherwise inaccessible locations.
Some are also reportedly embarking on hours-long hiking trips to access other areas to assist in the recovery.
North Carolina’s rural communities have been hit particularly hard, with potable water remaining a top concern of state officials. About 160 “boil water” advisories were in effect as of Tuesday, with twenty-seven water plants closed.
In some good news of the tragedy, search-and-rescue teams have evacuated over 5,000 victims as of Tuesday, with 400 having been rescued by the North Carolina National Guard, along with 110 pets. According to the governor’s office, twenty-five shelters are housing almost 1,200 people in western North Carolina.
However, over 400 roads still remain closed in the state, with the government focusing on repairing primary roads first.
Former President Donald Trump (R-FL) set up a fundraiser on GoFundMe to benefit victims of Helene, which, as of Tuesday, had already garnered $2 million in donations. Trump already visited Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, with supplies in tow. President Joe Biden (D-DE) is slated for a Wednesday visit to North Carolina, while Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) is also reportedly planning a visit to the area.
Trump also called on his personal friend Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and X, formerly known as Twitter, to increase Starlink satellite Internet service to the area. Musk wrote on X, “We’re getting as many Starlinks as possible to areas affected by the hurricane.”
State
In a shocking twist of events, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has been indicted on federal charges that allege bribery, conspiracy, fraud, and two counts of soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.
Adams is the first sitting New York mayor to be charged with a federal crime.
The saga apparently began in November 2023, when The New York Times reported that Adams was being investigated by the FBI regarding an alleged influence by the Turkish government to have its New York City consulate building approved without a fire inspection. Adams was indicted on September 25, but the indictment remained sealed until the next day.
The unsealed fifty-seven-page indictment shows that the allegations extend as far back as 2014, when Adams was serving as Brooklyn Borough President. Adams is accused of having received luxury travel and gifts from Turkish dignitaries, one of whom is a Turkish government official. According to the indictment, Adams allegedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to open the Turkish consulate without the proper inspections.
Adams is then alleged to have made false paper trails to show that he had paid for the luxury trips in full, entering a plea of not guilty on September 27.
Adams has said that the charges are “entirely false” and “based on lies.” Adams has called for an immediate trial and a dismissal of the bribery charge. He calls the bribery allegation “extraordinarily vague,” one that was mounted by what he calls “zealous prosecutors.”
Some correspondents who have covered Adams for years say that he was “always of interest” during his time in the State Senate.
Adams is now facing calls to resign, with Congressman Jerry Nadler (D, NY-12), the dean of the New York congressional delegation, saying on social media that Adams “deserves the right to due process,” but that his belief is “that the mayor has lost the ability to effectively lead the City of New York, and therefore, he must resign.”
Nadler is the highest-ranking Democrat to officially call for Adams’ resignation, but U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D, NY-08) fell short of issuing such a mandate. Jeffries said in a statement that Adams is “entitled to the presumption of innocence,” with Schumer remarking “no one is above the law” and calling for the legal process to move “speedily and fairly.”
However, a much bigger problem might be brewing: Governor Kathy Hochul (D) is reportedly examining the powers at her disposal.
Although Hochul has not made a decision on what steps to take with Adams’ mayoralty, the dust is apparently being brushed off the law books to resurrect a power not invoked by the governor in nearly one hundred years.
“I will be deliberative, I will be thoughtful, but we’re going to come to the right resolution on what to do in this moment,” said Hochul.
There are legal and constitutional provisions that allow the governor to remove an elected official, but the accused must receive the chance of a proper defense. In lieu of a formal removal from office, a governor can suspend a mayor for one month while charges and penalties are considered.
However, there is debate over just how absolute this power is.
The last time an elected official in the state was removed from office by the governor was in 1932, when then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) removed Manhattan Sheriff Thomas “Tin Box” Farley, who got the axe for padding his office’s payroll. He was given the nickname “Tin Box” for having spent money found in a “tin box” during his time as county clerk. Going back earlier, three borough presidents were removed from office in the early 1900s.
As far as New York City mayors go, Governor Roosevelt was deemed to have absolute power to remove Mayor Jimmy Walker from office. A 1932 ruling found that the governor’s powers to oust other elected officials was practically unbridled. The judge in that decision found that while the mayor has the right to have witnesses testify before a governor, the governor need only answer “to the people and his own conscience,” as far as legal protocol seems concerned.
President Trump also included himself in the carnage, alleging that Adams’ intention to pump the brakes on the state’s migrant crisis resulted in the indictment a year later.
“I watched about a year ago when he [Adams] talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city, and the federal government should pay us, and we shouldn’t have to take them. And I said: ‘You know what? He’ll be indicted within a year.’ And I was exactly right,” said Trump. “Because that’s what we have — we have people that use the Justice Department and the FBI at levels that have never been seen before.”
Adams has also made an interesting allusion to Trump’s claim: “I always knew that if I stood my ground for all of you that I would be a target, and a target I became. I put the people of New York before party and politics.”
Interestingly, progressive Democrats have been ready for Adams’ resignation even before the indictments, arguing that Adams is incapable of governing the city effectively. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY-14) called for Adams to quit the job just hours after news of the indictment broke.
Due to conservatives and moderates bailing on Adams, along with intraparty dissensions, Adams’ 2025 re-election bid seemed essentially dead-on-arrival. It’s unclear just how badly that will impact his ability to win the general election, but a primary could be a much tougher hurdle for him to clear.
Local
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) announced last week that the county’s bond rating from Fitch Ratings has been upgraded from A- to A.
In their review, Fitch noted that the County is “implementing operating efficiencies” and “budgeting tax revenues more conservatively” as their primary reasons for the rating upgrade. Fitch has also noted the County’s “continued budgetary stability and maintenance of a sound reserve position.” The latter two findings leave room for another upgrade from Fitch for another fiscal metric, “resilience assessment,” an evaluation of a government’s ability to maintain reserves and control expenditures. This includes budgetary flexibility, which is often accompanied by a government’s ability to raise revenues independently in a time of budget fluctuations, as well as how much of a government’s spending is covered by reserves.
“This sets the stage for future upgrades as we continue to budget responsibly while we ‘right-size’ government and deliver the services expected by the residents of Suffolk County,” said Romaine. “The rating increase will save millions of taxpayer dollars over the long term based on the County’s newfound ability to sell bonds at a decreased interest rate.”
Fitch says that the upgrade is also due to the County’s reversal of a past trend of “structural budgetary imbalances” and using non-recurring revenues. The bond rating upgrade comes just days after Romaine submitted his 2025 Proposed Operating Budget to the County Legislature.
Fitch is not the only financial firm to upgrade the County’s credit outlook. In February, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings upgraded Suffolk County’s general obligation (GO) bonds from AA- to A+ with a stable outlook.
