Following the release of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Executive Budget, New York’s leaders. From across labor, business, advocacy, arts and culture, tech and more – joined in applauding the Adams administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Executive Budget. Mayor Adams’ budget builds on the administration’s actions, since last fall, to stabilize…
Global leaders and progressive officials observed Earth Day at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Va., on historic grounds that hold the stories of the many populations that inhabited them.
Indigenous Americans and freed slaves once cultivated the land there, known as “Batestown,” before federal development under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration Program. This year, in honor of the April 22 holiday, President Joe Biden announced pioneering efforts to help solve the climate crisis.
“On this day 54 years ago, with literally toxic rivers burning, air filled with pollution, millions of Americans from every age and background rallied together to stand for our environment and for future generations,” Biden said in his opening remarks.
“The United States can and must lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at the event. “The Solar for All program—that I successfully championed—will not only combat the existential threat of climate change by making solar energy available to working class families, it will also substantially lower the electric bills of Americans and create thousands of good-paying jobs. This is a win for the environment, a win for consumers, and a win for the economy.”
Just last week, Biden initiated efforts to preserve 13 million acres of Western Arctic land. On Monday, he declared $7 billion in awards through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Solar for All Program. According to the White House, funds will be dispersed to 900,000 households for rooftop solar paneling, decreasing homeowners’ utility bills by $400 a year.
Biden said the investment would “cut more than 5 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually.” He’s inviting other citizens to join his cause through the newly launched ClimateCorps program. Enrollment is open to all but geared toward training the younger generation in clean energy jobs.
The EPA investments add to Biden’s ongoing support for sustainable energy initiatives. During his speech, Biden shared sentimental connections to Earth Day when he introduced the first climate bill in the Senate and served alongside Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), the official credited for creating Earth Day.
“All these years later, as president, I was able to sign into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant [climate] investment ever anywhere in the history of the world, and we’re just getting started,” Biden said proudly.
Through federal programs, the IRA makes billions available in loan distributions to encourage business owners and families to use clean energy sources. The legislation is projected to cut 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions for the country by 2030 and save up to $1,000 in energy costs for the average American.
“Last year was the Earth’s hottest year on record, and over the last two years, natural disasters and extreme weather in America have caused $270 billion in damages,” Biden said. “The impacts we’re seeing, due to decades in the making because of inaction, are only going to get worse, more frequent, ferocious, and costly.”
His fears resonate with Democratic progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who introduced the Green New Deal in Congress several years ago. The policy, which passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate, urges government agencies to stimulate economic recovery, eradicate poverty, and reduce carbon emissions and ecosystem degradation through affordable housing projects.
Although legislators did not move forward with the bill, Ocasio-Cortez and Markey have been passionately pursuing viable alternatives to solve the growing issue at hand.
“Over just the past few months, President Biden has paused new natural gas exports, vastly expanded the conservation of our public lands in Alaska, and has overseen tens of billions of dollars in climate investments across the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the event.These efforts, propelled by the administration, signal larger investments to come as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris welcome environmental activists to the White House this week for a water summit. The two have indicated a national goal to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of the nation’s rivers and streams.
Trading can be a great way to make money, but for many, it still seems very daunting. This is because it can also be a way to lose money if you don’t take the right approach. New traders make plenty of mistakes, so you need to go in with the right knowledge if you want…
Here’s an important spring PSA: Pink petals are at their peak at Brooklyn Botanic Garden right now. The garden’s cherry esplanade and cherry walk are now in peak bloom.
The blooms will likely last another week or so before they begin floating down to the ground, creating a pastel carpet of petals, according to BBG’s director of horticulture, Shauna Moore. So make sure to get there this week or weekend.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is home to one of the best cherry blossom displays in the city. It maintains a vast collection of flowering cherry trees—26 species and cultivars, to be exact!—that bloom at different times during the spring season. Typically, cherry blossom season runs until mid-May.
Though some of BBG’s trees are past their peak bloom, the garden’s Prunus × dawyckensis species still are in pre-peak, meaning there’s plenty of time to enjoy those whitish blooms. The garden offers a Cherry Watch tracker on its website, so you can see a map of all the trees and exactly when they’ll be in their finest form.
In honor of Financial Literacy Month and National Volunteer Week, Madison Square Boys & Girls Club and the Wells Fargo Foundation has announced a strategic partnership. The partnership is aimed at enhancing financial literacy among children and teens in historically marginalized communities. This collaboration expands access to vital financial education programs for Madison members at…
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr., of New Jersey, died Wednesday after a heart attack this month that left him hospitalized, officials said. He was 65.
In a statement, Gov. Phil Murphy called his fellow Democrat a “steadfast champion for the people of New Jersey.”
“With his signature bowtie, big heart, and tenacious spirit, Donald embodied the very best of public service,” Murphy said in a statement. “As a former union worker and toll collector, he deeply understood the struggles our working families face, and he fought valiantly to serve their needs, every single day.”
Payne had previously served as president of Newark City Council in New Jersey’s largest city, and on the Essex County Board of Commissioners.
Payne’s office had said his heart attack was connected to complications from diabetes. Payne’s father, Donald Milford Payne, held the congressional seat before him. When the elder Payne died in 2012, the younger ran successfully in a special election to succeed him.
He had won reelection six times since. The district covers parts of Newark and its heavily populated suburbs.
A New Jersey colleague, Democratic U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, called Payne a “truly great public servant” who liked to call him “Uncle Frank” and had fought to raise awareness for diabetes and colorectal cancer prevention and to replace lead pipes in Newark.
Payne’s survivors include his wife, Beatrice, and their three children, Murphy said.
Most of them have been spotlighted by ’50 Best’ before, but two took home specific honors this time. Martiny’s is the “Nikka Highest Climber Award” because it jumped 25 spots between 2023 and 2024, and Superbueno earned the “Disaronno Highest New Entry Award.”
“Each year, New York continues to excel in delivering the world’s most amazing craft cocktails. In 2024, New York holds 12 of the 26 U.S. listees, including the continent’s highest achievers,” the organization said in its press release.
Apparently, Mexico City is where it’s at right now for the best cocktails! The ’50 Best’ awards ceremony was held there again this year. The city “continues to platform the country’s place as a leader of the global cocktail scene.”
Below are the top 50 Best Bars in North America:
Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
Superbueno, New York
Overstory, New York
Martiny’s, New York
Rayo, Mexico City
Jewel of the South, New Orleans
Double Chicken Please, New York
Thunderbolt, Los Angeles
Licorería Limantour, Mexico City
Tlecān, Mexico City
Zapote Bar, Playa del Carmen
Katana Kitten, New York
Café La Trova, Miami
El Gallo Altanero, Guadalajara
Employees Only, New York
Aruba Day Drink, Tijuana
Café de Nadie, Mexico City
La Factoría, San Juan
Kumiko, Chicago
Dante, New York
Civil Liberties, Toronto
Service Bar, Washington DC
Allegory, Washington DC
Botanist Bar, Vancouver
Herbs & Rye, Las Vegas
Baltra Bar, Mexico City
Bekeb, San Miguel de Allende
Kaito del Valle, Mexico City
Bar Pompette, Toronto
True Laurel, San Francisco
Attaboy, New York
Meadowlark, Chicago
The Dead Rabbit, New York
Selva, Oaxaca
Library by the Sea, Grand Cayman
Century Grand, Phoenix
Arca, Tulum
Pacific Cocktail Heaven, San Francisco
Cloakroom, Montreal
Bar Mordecai, Toronto
Maison Premiere, New York
Hanky Panky, Mexico City
Angel’s Share, New York
Milady’s, New York
Brujas, Mexico City
Mírate, Los Angeles
Cure, New Orleans
Best Intentions, Chicago
The Keefer Bar, Vancouver
Atwater Cocktail Club, Montreal
If you want more top-notch bars to drink at, don’t miss our very own list of the 50 Best Bars in NYC, which include other spots like the Long Island Bar, Bemelmans Bar, Sunken Harbor Club, and Dutch Kills.