‘We’re in a new epidemic’: Cuomo issues first-in-nation disaster emergency on gun violence in NY
NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared gun violence a statewide “disaster emergency” Tuesday as part of a wide-ranging plan aimed at cracking down on illegal guns and gangs amid a troubling surge in shootings across New York.
The disaster emergency order is the first of its kind in the country and allows the state to quickly allocate money and other resources to areas of New York where gun violence is running rampant, Cuomo said at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.
The order comes less than two weeks after New York’s disaster emergency on COVID-19 expired, and Cuomo pressed the case that gun violence is on par with the pandemic and must also be treated as a public health crisis.
“If you can beat COVID, you can beat gun violence,” the governor said. “We’re in a new epidemic, and it’s gun violence, and it’s a matter of life and death also.”
Cuomo’s action came on the heels of a rash of shootings in New York.
Fifty-one people were shot across the state over the July Fourth weekend, including 26 people in New York City alone, according to police data. In contrast, Cuomo said 13 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 in that same time frame.
From a bird’s eye view, shootings are up by 38% in the city in the first six months of 2021 as compared to 2020, Cuomo said.
—New York Daily News
Gov. Abbott orders utility commission to shore up Texas power grid, targets renewable energy
AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday demanded that the Texas Public Utility Commission take immediate action to shore up the state's troubled electrical grid.
In a letter to the commission, Abbott directed the board to take steps to increase the amount of electricity produced in Texas.Specifically, Abbott told the utility commission to work to provide incentives for the construction and maintenance of natural gas, coal and nuclear power.
Further, Abbott directed his appointees at the utility commission to take aim at wind and solar power, which have been criticized for their perceived unpredictability in producing power, even as failures at natural gas plants played a significant role in power failures during the February freeze and in last month's conservation call.
Abbott directed the utility commission to begin assessing "reliability costs," which could take the form of fines, to power plants "that cannot guarantee their own availability, such as wind or solar power," the letter states.
"When they fail to do so, those generators should shoulder the costs of that failure," Abbott's letter states. "Failing to do so creates an uneven playing field between non-renewable and renewable energy generators and creates uncertainty of available generation in" the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.
—Austin American-Statesman
US Capitol Police to open California and Florida offices following Jan. 6 attack
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday announced that the agency was opening regional field offices in California and Florida to investigate threats to members of Congress in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Threats against members of Congress have increased in recent years. As of Tuesday, total threats so far in 2021 were double what they were at this point a year ago, according to Capitol Police.
Home to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and other prominent members of Congress, California gives the law enforcement agency a Western base to investigate claims of threats made against members.The state is also home to the nation’s largest congressional delegation.
Yogananda Pittman, the department’s acting chief, told lawmakers in March that the vast majority of the increased threats were from people who didn’t live near Washington.
The field offices will be in the Tampa and San Francisco areas, according to Capitol Police.
“At this time, Florida and California are where the majority of our potential threats are,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “The field offices will be the first for the Department. A regional approach to investigating and prosecuting threats against Members is important, so we will be working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in those locations.”
—Los Angeles Times
