A shift in Albany tax policy is taking shape after New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that she will seek to exempt tipped income from state taxation in the coming fiscal year.
According to a statement released by her office, Hochul plans to fold the measure into her fiscal year 2027 budget proposal. The plan would remove state income taxes on up to $25,000 in tips earned during tax year 2026, bringing New York in line with the federal “no tax on tips” policy championed by President Donald Trump and enacted nationwide as part of his sweeping tax overhaul.
“I’m kicking the new year off with a proposal of no state income tax on tips, continuing my efforts to make New York more affordable for hard working New Yorkers,” Hochul said.
The governor’s announcement follows weeks of criticism suggesting that heavily Democratic states were dragging their feet on adopting Trump-backed tax relief at the state level. The New York Post reported that critics warned such delays could leave working-class residents paying higher state taxes even as their federal tax bills decline.
Republicans, the Post noted, have targeted New York, Illinois, and California for failing to move quickly to ensure tipped workers receive immediate relief locally, not just federally.
Political pressure has also come from within Hochul’s own state. Service-industry employees have argued that eliminating taxes on tips would offer tangible relief amid rising rents and daily expenses, an issue that has taken on greater urgency as Hochul prepares for a reelection bid this year.
“If we weren’t taxed on our tips, we’d be able to save more, we’d enjoy life a little more, maybe we wouldn’t have to pick up that extra shift,” bartender Rion Gallagher told the Post in remarks published last week.
In her press release, Hochul framed the proposal as part of a broader affordability agenda, saying her administration has returned more than $9 billion to New York households since she took office. Her office pointed to recently enacted middle-class tax cuts, a major expansion of the child tax credit, and statewide minimum wage increases, including a hike to $17 an hour in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester.
The state-level move comes amid continued attention on the federal “no tax on tips” provision included in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which was signed into law on July 4. ABC 13 in Rochester reported that the federal policy allows eligible workers to deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tips annually from 2025 through 2028.
The station reported that the change applies to a wide range of tipped professions, including restaurant servers, bartenders, hairdressers, and housekeepers. Restaurant owners told ABC 13 that the provision could help stabilize staffing and support an industry still recovering from the disruptions of the COVID era.
One Rochester-area restaurant owner described the policy as a “great incentive” for attracting and retaining workers, while employees said that even limited tax relief can have an outsized impact on families living paycheck to paycheck.
Hochul’s announcement also follows pointed criticism from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who used X to label Hochul and other Democratic governors “Grinches Who Stole Christmas” for failing to quickly mirror Trump’s tax cuts at the state level.
The governor responded dismissively to the jab, deriding the post as “Grinch fanfic.”
Although Hochul is now advancing a no-tax-on-tips proposal, conservatives argue that the real issue is why it took mounting pressure from working-class voters—and the popularity of Trump’s federal tax agenda—to prompt action in Albany.
Still, the move underscores a broader political reality: even in deep-blue New York, Trump-backed tax relief has become increasingly difficult for state leaders to ignore.
{Matzav.com}
Signals from the Justice Department suggest that a long-running inquiry into alleged political misuse of federal power may be approaching a turning point, with developments expected to accelerate in 2026. Attorney General Pam Bondi has indicated that federal investigators are closing in on what she views as years of coordinated misconduct inside Washington.
In written answers provided to Just the News, Bondi said she has instructed prosecutors and agents across the country to examine what she described as systemic abuses of authority. “At my direction, our U.S. Attorneys and federal agents are actively investigating instances of government weaponization nationwide,” Bondi said, characterizing the alleged actions as “a ten-year stain on the country committed by high-ranking officials against the American people.”
According to Bondi, the conduct she is targeting spans multiple administrations and cannot be dismissed as disconnected events. She portrayed the investigations tied to the Trump–Russia narrative and later probes of President Donald Trump and his allies as part of a single, sustained effort. “Under President Trump, we are fixing the damage and delivering justice,” she added.
Bondi’s comments echo arguments previously advanced by FBI Director Kash Patel, who last year circulated an internal memo suggesting that alleged wrongdoing linked to the Russia collusion storyline could be treated as an ongoing conspiracy. Such a designation, Patel argued, could allow investigators to reach conduct that would normally be time-barred.
Patel has also drawn attention for discoveries made inside the FBI. A source told Newsmax in July that he located sensitive records connected to the origins of the Trump–Russia probe in a concealed room at bureau headquarters, confirming earlier reporting by Fox News Digital.
Recent court activity has added to the sense that the investigation is advancing. The Washington Examiner reported that federal prosecutors in South Florida appear poised to move forward, citing records showing that Chief Judge Cecilia Altonaga approved the formation of a grand jury in Fort Pierce beginning January 12. While the order does not outline the matter under review, the outlet noted that it is consistent with earlier reports that a new grand jury was being prepared to examine alleged misconduct surrounding the Trump-era investigations.
Bondi has not publicly identified the precise venues where prosecutors are operating, but officials told Just the News that a substantial portion of the inquiry is based in Florida. That location is notable, as it is the same state where the FBI carried out its August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property.
The attorney general also leveled sharp criticism at the FBI, accusing the bureau of enforcing justice unevenly. She alleged that the agency “shielded political figures like Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton while pursuing conservatives for their beliefs,” and pointed to information indicating that some agents internally questioned whether there was adequate probable cause for the Mar-a-Lago search.
Bondi further addressed reports involving former CIA Director John Brennan, whose attorneys reportedly sent a letter to Altonaga seeking court oversight of any grand jury proceedings connected to the probe. Bondi said the request revealed anxiety among those she called “bad actors,” adding that they were attempting to preserve “a two-tiered justice system. … No more.”
Those developments followed reports that Brennan and several former FBI officials had been subpoenaed as part of the investigation. Whether the Florida grand jury ultimately returns criminal charges remains an open question.
Still, with Bondi publicly framing the matter as a decade-long conspiracy and a grand jury set to convene early next year, the inquiry appears to be entering what could be its most consequential stage.
Additional context emerged last fall when Patel pledged greater transparency after disclosures that, during the Biden administration, the FBI obtained toll records of several Republican senators in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol protest. Senator Chuck Grassley described that surveillance as “worse than Watergate.” Patel labeled the activity “baseless monitoring,” said the bureau had dismantled the CR-15 squad, and confirmed that employees had been dismissed, with further accountability promised.
Questions about timing and legal limits have also been raised by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who suggested in July that statute-of-limitations issues might not apply if investigators treat the alleged conduct as a continuing conspiracy. Ratcliffe said he believes former President Barack Obama and senior intelligence officials worked together to undermine Trump, arguing that in conspiracy cases, the clock begins to run only with the “last act.”
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[Videos below.] New York City officially entered a new political chapter on Thursday as Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor following his upset victory in November, a result Sen. Bernie Sanders described as “the greatest political upset in modern history.”
The formal inauguration took place on New Year’s Day afternoon outside City Hall, drawing a large crowd to lower Manhattan. The public ceremony followed a midnight swearing-in earlier in the day, when New York Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath of office. According to Mamdani’s campaign, he used a Quran during that midnight ceremony, making him the first Muslim to serve as mayor of New York City and the first to be sworn in using a Quran.
Mamdani, 34, made clear from the outset that he intends to govern without diluting his political identity. Addressing the crowd during his inaugural remarks, he said, “I was elected as a Democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist.”
He went further, signaling an expansive view of City Hall’s role and authority. “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously,” Mamdani said. He acknowledged the possibility of setbacks but rejected restraint as a governing principle. “To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.”
At several moments, the new mayor struck a conciliatory note, promising to serve residents across the political spectrum. “Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never, not for a second, hide from you,” he said.
The inauguration featured a lineup of prominent progressive allies. Sanders attended the ceremony, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered opening remarks, framing the moment as a turning point for the city. She said New Yorkers “have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable and unprecedented times.”
“New York City has chosen the ambitious pursuit of universal child care, affordable rents and housing, and clean and dignified public transit for all,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And we have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and the barbarism of extreme income inequality. We have chosen this path because we know that it’s the right thing to do.”
Religious leaders also addressed the crowd. Imam Khalid Latif of the Islamic Center of New York City reflected on the city’s diversity and character, saying, “We gather today with hearts shaped by this city, by its noise in its neighborhoods, by its subways and sanctuaries, by the dreams carried in many languages, in the prayers whispered on crowded blocks.”
Latif continued, “We thank you for New York City, for a place that has taught the world how difference can become strength, how survival can become solidarity, how strangers can become neighbors. And for being a place that taught us that a young immigrant, Democratic socialist Muslim can be bold enough to run and brave enough to win, not by abandoning conviction, but by standing firmly within it, not by shrinking who he is, but by trusting that authenticity can move a city towards justice.”
Mamdani was elected in November after a campaign centered on affordability in the nation’s largest city. He prevailed despite sustained criticism over his past anti-Israel statements and associations, as well as his embrace of socialist policies such as freezing rents, creating city-run grocery stores, and earlier comments supporting defunding the police and abolishing private property.
According to Mamdani’s transition team, the 1 p.m. inauguration was open to “all New Yorkers,” with plans for a “huge inaugural block party” to follow along Broadway in the Canyon of Heroes.
Chareidi troops of the Israel Defense Forces’ Chashmonaim Brigade were deployed to the security zone in southern Syria for the first time, the military said on Thursday.
Following military exercises in the area, the chareidi infantrymen carried out targeted searches, “during which they gathered intelligence with the aim of removing threats and ensuring the security of the civilians of the State of Israel, and in particular the residents of the Golan Heights.”
The chareidi brigade operated under the command of the 401st Brigade’s 52nd Armored Battalion and alongside the 474th Brigade, it said, adding that the 210th “Bashan” Division remains deployed in the region.
The Chashmonaim Brigade “will continue to operate across all arenas,” the IDF statement added, vowing to allow all “chareidi soldiers to maintain their way of life.”
After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the IDF seized control of parts of southern Syria, expanding a buffer zone and maintaining a presence amid ongoing clashes and strikes.
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has said that while Israel remains ready to negotiate a new security deal with Damascus, it will “stand by its principles” to prevent a repeat of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
“After Oct. 7, we are determined to defend our communities along our borders, including the northern border,” the prime minister declared.
Israel’s policies are aimed at “preventing the entrenchment of terrorists and hostile activities against us, protecting Druze allies and ensuring that the State of Israel is safe from ground or other attacks,” he added.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda terrorist who also went by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, has demanded a full return to the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur War and an Israeli withdrawal from the expanded buffer zone.
The U.N. Security Council on Monday renewed the mandate for a long-standing peacekeeping force along the Israel-Syria border through the end of June 2026.
The force, which operates from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, was established by the 1974 agreement. UNDOF has a mandate to maintain the ceasefire and supervise the buffer zone inside Syrian territory.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington and Israel “have an understanding regarding Syria,” while declining to elaborate, as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in Florida on Monday.
Al-Sharaa “has been with us all the way,” said the president, adding that “I’m sure that Israel and him will get along,” and “I will try and make it so that they do get along.” JNS
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The Israel Defense Forces’ determination to return the last hostage body held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and disarm the terror group remains absolute, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said.
The IDF “will not relent” until Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili receives a proper burial, “concluding the chapter of the return of hostages from Gaza,” Zamir told commanders during a visit to the southern Strip.
In addition, the military’s “determination to disarm Hamas and the rest of the terrorist organizations is absolute,” Zamir continued.
The so-called Yellow Line instituted by the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that went into effect on Oct. 10 and left IDF soldiers in control of more than half of the Strip is “a new security boundary,” according to the chief of staff.
“The Yellow Line is an enhanced defensive line that supports swift operational responses as required. We will continue operating to weaken Hamas as necessary—the troops must remain alert and prepared for developments,” he stated, per the IDF.
“In 2025, the IDF achieved unprecedented accomplishments, foremost among them a severe blow to the Hamas terror group, the dismantling of all its front-line units, the removal of the threat as we experienced on Oct. 7 and the return of all living hostages to their homes,” said Zamir, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The year ahead will be a “decisive year in shaping the security reality of the State of Israel,” the chief of staff continued, adding that Israel would not allow Hamas “to rebuild its capabilities and threaten us.”
Zamir visited Gaza alongside the head of IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, the chief of the Gaza Division, Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram and the commanders of the Golani, 188th and Southern Gaza Brigade.
Soldiers “continue to dismantle terror infrastructure in the area of the Yellow Line in the northern Gaza Strip,” the army said in a separate statement on Wednesday evening.
As part of ongoing ground operations in the Beit Hanoun area, IDF forces found a launcher loaded with five rockets and aimed at Israeli territory, according to the military.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Tuesday that progress toward the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire hinges on Hamas disarming, calling the terrorist group’s refusal to give up its weapons the central obstacle to stabilizing the territory in 2026.
The prime minister told Fox that he believed a different future for Gaza was still possible in the year ahead “if we disarm Hamas, whether with an international force or by any other means.” He added, “If it can be done the easy way, fine. And if not, it’ll be done another way.”
The Palestinian terror organization that murdered some 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, in its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border assault still has around 20,000 operatives and 60,000 rifles, Netanyahu revealed.
“That’s what disarmament means—got to take all these rifles, take them away from them, and break up those terror tunnels that they have, still hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels,” the premier told Fox News.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Dec. 6 repeated calls for Israel’s destruction, rejecting U.S.- and U.N.-backed demands to disarm the Iranian-supported terrorist group and demilitarize the Gaza Strip.
“The resistance and its weapons are the honor and pride of the ummah [the Islamic nation],” Mashaal told an anti-Israel summit in Turkey. “A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron.”
The terrorist leader also dismissed “all forms of guardianship, mandate and re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and all of Palestine,” rejecting another key part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan, which received unanimous support of the U.N. Security Council on Nov. 17. JNS
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Israeli Defense Minister Yisroel Katz instructed the Israeli military to prepare for the possibility of a large-scale terrorist infiltration in Judea and Samaria, similar to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre.
Katz’s announcement followed the minister’s visit to the Judea and Samaria Division headquarters near the town of Beit El, just north of Yerushalayim.
Katz said he ordered top Israel Defense Forces and Israel Border Police commanders to prepare a response to an Oct. 7-style attack “by jihadist elements” on towns in Judea and Samaria and along the security barrier.
During the visit, Katz received a briefing and held a security assessment with Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tamir Yadai, OC Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, Judea and Samaria Division commander Brig. Gen. Kobi Heller and Judea and Samaria Border Police Cmdr. Niso Guetta.
Katz told participants that IDF operations in northern Samaria over the past year had been effective, leading to a drop of more than 80% in terrorism in the area. The counter-terror campaign included evacuating residents, targeting terrorists and maintaining an ongoing Israeli military presence.
According to the defense minister, the operations should be duplicated in additional cities and villages under control of the Palestinian Authority.
He said that as in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces would remain on the ground in P.A.-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria to “serve as a clear buffer between the population and terrorist elements.”
Katz ordered officials to move ahead as quickly as possible with plans to relocate several IDF military bases to Samaria’s north, calling it a “historic correction” with both security and settlement significance, and saying it would strengthen security and Jerusalem’s grip on the region.
More than two in three Israeli Jews fear that Palestinian terrorists based in Judea and Samaria could carry out a significant terrorist attack similar to the Oct. 7 massacre, according to a survey the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs published on Feb. 18, 2025.
In September 2024, prosecutors filed an indictment against a member of a terrorist squad based in the northern Samaria city of Jenin who made plans to carry out an Oct. 7-style attack in nearby Jewish communities.
The indictment accused Osama Bani Fadl and other terrorist operatives of making serious preparations for a mass slaughter of Jewish residents of northern Samaria, including by infiltrating villages atop vehicles.
Fifty-eight percent of Israeli Jews believe that the civilian communities in Judea and Samaria contribute to Israel’s security, according to a poll the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) published on March 11.
Nearly 70% of Israeli citizens want Israel to extend its full legal sovereignty over the region, according to a survey from January 2025. JNS
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