Free Republic

Congressman Charles Rangel was swift-footed and savvy enough to stay ahead of demographic and geographic shifts in his district during his 46 years in the House of Representatives—but in the end, he just didn’t have enough juice to anoint an heir. Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright lost his bid to replace his retiring 86-year-old mentor to State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who challenged Rangel in 2012 and 2014 but fell short. After a bitter Democratic primary campaign—one with heavy ethnic overtones—the Dominican Republic-born Espaillat beat the African-American Wright in the upper Manhattan-based district by approximately 1,300 votes. Former White House aide Clyde...

Nine candidates are vying for Rep. Charles Rangel's seat — a position he's held for nearly a half-century — but only one stood beside him as he cast his vote in Harlem on Tuesday. "For the first time in 46 years I couldn't find my name!" Rangel said as he stepped out of his polling site at Public School 175 on W. 134th St. "But I'm so glad I did find his name," he added, nodding towards Assemblyman Keith Wright, whom Rangel endorsed as his successor. New Yorkers in seven congressional districts in four boroughs — Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx...

New York (CNN)Hillary Clinton marched in the New York Pride parade on Sunday, highlighting her support for same-sex marriage and national LGBT nondiscrimination laws.

Gerald Walpin, the inspector general who was at the center of controversy in 2009 when he was fired by the White House amid an investigation of an Obama friend, died today. He was 84. Walpin's son-in-law, Allan Tananbaum, said Walpin was struck by a car while crossing a street in Manhattan. Walpin was fired in June 2009 for his investigation of the misuse of money in AmeriCorps, the service organization that was part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, where Walpin served as inspector general. The investigation focused on Kevin Johnson, the former NBA star who became mayor...

Next week, Democratic voters in Harlem and upper Manhattan will do something they haven’t done in a long time: vote in a congressional election that doesn’t include Rep. Charles Rangel. After more than 40 years, the lion of Harlem is retiring. Without an incumbent, the race in the 13th Congressional District is more competitive than usual, though it's still taking place somewhat quietly. Traditionally low turnout even in competitive congressional races means that each vote carries extra weight. No matter who wins, Rangel’s replacement will mark a shift for a changing district. A change in representation for a changing district...

It’s a sad day inside the Beltway, as a fixture of the New York Democrats’ political machine makes it official: Charlie Rangel will retire at the end of the current term. According to The Hill, Charlie has finalized a decision he hinted at last year primarily because he wants to exit the public stage at the same time as Barack Obama. "I wanted so badly to complete the last year with President Obama,” the 85-year-old Democrat said during a radio interview with WCBS 880. “And even though they never gave him a fair opportunity to do all the things...

President Barack Obama insists that Americans have to take climate change seriously, or else a key part of one the world’s greatest cities could end up underwater. “When scientists tell us that the planet is getting warmer and we need to do something about it, the majority of people think that’s a good idea, let’s do something about that, because we don’t want Manhattan to be underwater,” Obama said during a fundraiser in New York City. Obama observed that people are frustrated by the current presidential election campaign. “The bad news is that our politics has been a little screwed...

Parishioners watched in horror as a massive four-alarm fire engulfed a Serbian Orthodox church in Manhattan on Sunday — hours after hundreds celebrated Easter services, authorities said. “For this to happen on such a holy day, I don’t know what to say,” said Alex Velic, a 31-year-old churchgoer, as enormous fireballs erupted from the shattered windows of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava on West 25th Street. “To see it burning like that is such a shock. It’s just so sad,” he said. “I can’t think of the words to express how I’m feeling.” A force of 170 firefighters...

A huge fire has engulfed a Serbian Orthodox Church in downtown Manhattan, on the day that Orthodox Christians are celebrating the Holy Easter.

"Midtown Manhattan cathedral engulfed in flames: 'Irreplaceable' 160-year-old Orthodox Christian church is consumed by fire" A 160-year-old Orthodox Christian cathedral in New York has been completely destroyed after a huge fire tore through it on Sunday The blaze broke out at the Serbian Cathedral of Saint Sava on 25th Street in Manhattan's Flatiron district at around 7pm. It is not known how the fire started, though it is believed to have broken out on the first floor of the building before consuming the interior and roof. An FDNY spokesman said that nobody was believed to be inside the building at...

A 20-year-old woman who claimed she was slashed and called a 'f***ing terrorist' by an attacker in Lower Manhattan has owned up to carrying it out herself. The student, of Middle Eastern descent, was walking at 4.10pm on Thursday when she said a man appeared outside Trinity Church, near Wall Street. She alleged he was armed with a blade and wounded her on the left side of the face. The attacker was then said to have fled as locals heard a commotion. Emergency services were called after the woman contacted her father describing her injury and ordeal.

ALBANY — The head investigator for the state Board of Elections probed the 2014 fundraising efforts by Mayor de Blasio and his team on behalf of the Senate Democrats and found enough “willful and flagrant” violations to warrant a criminal referral to the Manhattan DA’s office. The Daily News obtained a bombshell memo state Board of Elections Chief Enforcement Officer Risa Sugarman sent to the board’s four commissioners on Jan. 4 recommending the referral. “I have determined that reasonable cause exists to believe a violation warranting criminal prosecution has taken place,” Sugarman wrote. “The violations discovered by this investigation can...

An investigation by the New York State Board of Elections found evidence of flagrant violations of campaign finance law by a team of people that Mayor Bill de Blasio created to raise money for Democrats running for the State Senate in 2014, according to a confidential board report. The board sent the report to Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, three months ago, prompting a criminal investigation into the fund-raising. The mayor’s Senate effort, which failed in its goal to wrest the legislative body from Republican control, has proved damaging to him in multiple ways. Democrats remained in...

With 100 percent of election districts reporting, New York state's unofficial election-night results website has Donald Trump losing only one of New York's 27 congressional districts: The 12th, which covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens as well as the eastern side of Manhattan—including the Fifth Avenue block that's home to Trump Tower, which is where Trump lives and where the Trump Organization is based.

It’s primary day in New York and as many voters scramble to cast their ballots before, during, and after work, some are also running into unfortunate circumstances. It’s not often that New Yorkers’ votes are pivotal in a presidential primary and many at polling places across the state are determined to make their’s count.... At one polling site at Carlton Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, the site coordinator didn’t even bother to show up and it took about an hour-and-a-half to find a replacement so the poll could open. Television and radio contributor John Burnett took to Twitter to...

As Bob Dylan told us long ago, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” These days, a foul wind blows from City Hall. With subpoenas issued, investigations spreading and at least one federal grand jury at work, the question isn’t whether Bill de Blasio’s administration has a corruption problem. The questions are how big is the problem, how many agencies are tainted and how high up the pecking order does it go? […] The two biggest and most recent scandals involve lucrative gifts and cash given to current and former top officers in the NYPD,...

​When the doors of the famed Four Seasons shut for good this July, the golden age of the New York power lunch comes to an end. We talked to the most powerful people in New York about the scene."There has never been a restaurant better keyed to the tempo of Manhattan than the Four Seasons, which opened recently at 99 East 52nd Street." —Craig Claiborne, food editor and critic, New York Times, October 2, 1959 People assume it's always been all about the money inside, but that's a facile way to peer through the flowing chain curtains of the...

"Just Like in a Storybook" & "I'm in the Market for You" are played by the Manhattan Melody Makers.

Although this election cycle has been extremely entertaining-at least, for those of us with a Menckenian distaste for popular democracy-it has also been disturbing in a number of ways. The prospect of electing a politician facing down her second indictment in as many decades-and make no mistake, despite her manifold flaws as a candidate and individual she is the presumptive POTUS at this point-is deeply troubling. However, even more disconcerting is the widespread public indifference to the activist left’s decision to completely decouple itself from reality, to the point of summoning law enforcement because of its displeasure with chalkings expressing...

Thousands of protesters gathered in front of one of Donald Trump’s signature Manhattan buildings Saturday to protest the GOP front-runner. The protesters waved signs and played drums. They planned on marching toward Trump Tower, the Fifth Avenue skyscraper near Columbus Circle where Trump lives. Some protesters at the event told 1010 WINS’ Samantha Liebman that they couldn’t believe Trump has come this far in the election, and that they believe his rhetoric is divisive and racist. “We’re here because Donald Trump is the antithesis of what America stands for,” one Westchester man said. “We gotta make sure we get...