*By Carlo Versano*
Cynthia Nixon is sticking by her controversial bagel order.
The progressive Democrat challenging incumbent Andrew Cuomo in New York State's upcoming gubernatorial primary shared a cinnamon raisin bagel topped with lox and cream cheese with Cheddar on Tuesday. The unconventional medley ignited a [firestorm](https://nypost.com/2018/09/10/cynthia-nixons-bagel-order-is-horrifying/) on Twitter over the weekend, but Nixon has bigger fish to fry.
She wants the two-term Cuomo, who has long been thought to have presidential ambitions, to re-establish his liberal bona fides for voters calling for change. Cuomo maintains a 40 point lead over his challenger, according to the [latest polling] (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2018/governor/ny/new_york_governor_democratic_primary-6526.html). But Nixon pointed to a slew of recent upsets ー Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andrew Gillum, and Ayanna Pressley ー that have fueled her optimism for Thursday's primary.
"The polls across the board are just not capturing the progressive moment we're in," she said, adding that hundreds of thousands of new Democrats have registered to vote across New York State following Donald Trump's election.
Nixon's platform is built on issues of housing affordability, universal healthcare, and criminal justice reform. The latter has garnered her perhaps the most traction.
In a debate last month, Nixon pointedly called the legalization of marijuana a "racial-justice issue."
"Using marijuana is something that's effectively been legal for white people for a long time," she said during her interview on Cheddar. "It's time to make it legal for everybody else."
Part of that reform includes paroling and expunging the records of New Yorkers who were convicted of smoking or selling pot and using tax revenues from a nascent (decriminalized) weed industry to invest in communities that have been ravaged by the decades-long war on drugs.
Nixon's position on pot was viral enough to cause rapper T.I. to [gush](https://thegrio.com/2018/09/11/ti-cynthia-nixon-marijuana-vote/) over her on Twitter, though he admitted he doesn't know who the candidate is.
Cuomo, for his part, rejected what he called "reparations" during the debate, but struck a more cautious, pro-legalization position ー a leftward policy change that may have developed only at Nixon's prodding.
But the actress-turned-activist isn't running to liberalize Cuomo ー she's running to replace him.
"To be informed about Andrew Cuomo is to want a change," she said.
The former "Sex and the City" star said she has been encouraged by support upstate and in the suburbs, though New York City remains her core base. To that end, she has run aggressively on a campaign to fix the subway, pinning the decrepit state of the system on her opponent.
In New York, the subways are theoretically controlled by the governor, who oversees the MTA. Nixon has pledged to pass congestion pricing and a tax on the wealthy to pay for much-needed repairs to an aging infrastructure. She said Cuomo has not aggressively fought for the funding in Albany.
With two days to go until New York Democrats head to the polls, Nixon, who has refused corporate donations, knows she's the underdog against a well-known, well-funded, powerful incumbent. But there's no denying the country's progressive wave. The question remains whether that wave will be enough to carry Nixon to victory.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cynthia-nixon-optimistic-despite-trailing-gov-andrew-cuomo-in-latest-polls).
Stock trading app Robinhood already has been offering cryptocurrency investments but seems further excited about the asset class following President Biden's recent announcement of an executive order. Dan Gallagher, the chief legal and corporate affairs officer for Robinhood, joined Cheddar News to talk about the White House's tentative vision for digital currency. "I think this executive order firmly states that, yes, crypto is here to stay, which it talks about the important competitive issues around crypto and how the United States needs to be a leader, a global leader, in innovation and technology regarding crypto," he said. Gallagher also discussed having clarity around meme stocks going forward but worried about overregulation slowing down innovation.
As Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the latest inflation report showed the consumer price index rose 7.9 percent — a 40-year high. Heather Boushey, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, joined Cheddar News to discuss what American consumers might be in store for as prices keep rising. "Forecasters at this point believe that the American economy will be resilient," she said. "They’re still predicting that the unemployment rate will continue to be lower at the end of the year than it is today, and we are still seeing folks believe that over time prices will come back down." Boushey did note that it would be dependent on how long the current situation lasts.
Simon Shuster, TIME's Moscow correspondent joins Cheddar to discuss how Ukraine could become part of the EU and what it would mean for politics in Europe.
President Biden has banned imports of Russian oil to the U.S. in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The president warned of higher prices at the gas pump, leading some analysts to think it could propel the transition to clean, renewable energy. Michael Jones, chairman and CEO of investment solutions company Caravel Concepts, discussed how the ban is hitting green energy stocks as gas prices continue to surge. "I think the 10-year prospects for renewables just got a whole lot better because ultimately this is going to force a transition into renewables," he said.
Amid ongoing tensions in the Russia-Ukraine region, many American travelers are nervous about traveling to Europe.
It comes at a time when international travel was set to make a comeback, but uncertainty surrounding the conflict may delay the overall recovery. Francesca Page, Travel Expert, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is coming for the global food supply. Ongoing tensions in the region are threatening the supply of various agricultural products including wheat, barley and corn. Vladik Rikhter, CEO & Cofounder of Zenput joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss how this could impact food prices overseas.
Chris Natividad, CIO of EquBot, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he elaborates on what ultimately dragged the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq lower on Tuesday and discusses how investors are reacting to rising oil prices and February CPI data coming out later this week.
Adam Johnson, Portfolio Manager at Adviser Investments, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why he believes we saw markets jump during Wednesday's session, and adds that investors have already priced in 'every possible kind of bad news we could have.'
Jennifer Klein, the White House Gender Policy Council's co-chair and executive director, spoke to Cheddar News about the economic impact of the pandemic showing the need for a group like the Gender Policy Council, and the need to address issues that have affected women the most,
