Politics update

The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, has been accused of sexual assault in a court filing submitted on late Wednesday. The summons against Adams alleges that the plaintiff “was sexually assaulted by Defendant Eric Adams in New York, New York in 1993 while they both worked for the City of New York”. It was filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York state law which provided a one-year “look-back” window for adult sexual misconduct accusers to file civil lawsuits that previously would have been barred due to the statute of limitations. The window expires on 24 November.

EPA announces $2B for local environmental justice projects

Immigration and border policy proposals that were once largely limited to the Republican Party's fringe are now entering the GOP mainstream, as evidenced by the hard-line positions of leading 2024 Republican presidential primary candidates. GOP hopefuls largely agree that the U.S. should heavily militarize its border with Mexico to keep out drugs and undocumented immigrants. In the first debate of the campaign season, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would send U.S. special forces into Mexico to target cartels "on day one," explaining that "we reserve the right to operate" there. Former Vice President Mike Pence proposed that the U.S. partner with the Mexican military to "hunt down and destroy the cartels." Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that "you have to" deport the roughly 11 million undocumented people who already live in the United States.