*By Jim Roberts*
The anger and finger-pointing hasn’t let up in New York City over Amazon’s decision to abandon plans to local a new headquarters there, but Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey sees a clear next step: bring HQ2 to Newark.
Booker, who was once Mayor of Newark and is now running for president, said that ever since Amazon announced its retreat from New York, officials in New Jersey’s largest city have reached out to the retail and technology colossus.
“We want HQ2,” Booker declared emphatically in an interview with Cheddar’s J.D. Durkin. “We’ve sent that message out already. And everybody from the Governor to the Mayor to local leaders have been reaching out to Amazon.”
Newark was among the 20 finalists in the intense competition to be home to Amazon’s second headquarters and up to 50,000 jobs, but wound up losing to Crystal City in Virginia and Long Island City in Queens, New York.
New York’s success in luring the Seattle company immediately came under fire by a handful of local politicians in Queens who worried about the impact the company would place on the infrastructure of western Queens and raised concerns about Amazon’s labor practices. On Thursday, the company shocked New York by saying it was backing out.
In Senator Booker’s mind, Newark can overcome any of the concerns that undermined New York’s bid. “In Newark, we have local grassroots efforts to try to bring Amazon there, he said. “We are a city that’s built for a significantly larger population, has indigenous infrastructure, has incredible assets, has the best transportation infrastructure in the Northeast, incredible colleges and universities."
Booker spoke with Cheddar during a campaign stop in Rochester, N.H. He suggested that Newark leaders were more unified in wanting Amazon…and the jobs it could bring…than officials in New York. “Our local community leaders have decided that we would like to see Amazon come.”
He also suggested that Amazon would be compatible with Newark and that the city could avoid the divisions that erupted in New York over organized labor, infrastructure and gentrification. “We are growing and booming as a city,” Booker said. “But we are making sure that we have a pathway for all of Newarkers to prevent the ills that are often evident in gentrification and make sure that things work on our terms.”
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
