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Today's Big Stories
1. Stormy Daniels takes the stand at Trump hush money trial
Stormy Daniels was called to the witness stand in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial today. The porn actor was paid $130,000 in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential race to keep quiet about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
Defense attorneys for Trump filed a motion for a mistrial over parts of Daniels' testimony, saying it had “nothing to do with this case and is extremely prejudicial," but Judge Juan M. Merchan rejected the request.
Follow Spectrum News' live blog for updates on the trial.
2. Trump says he’ll 'probably' testify in hush money case, rails against judge, gag order
In an interview with Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin today ahead of the start of the 13th day of his hush money trial, Trump said that he will “probably” testify in the case.
“I would like to,” Trump, speaking from New York, told Spectrum News’ Anthony DaBruzzi before launching into a laundry list of now familiar complaints about the case, the judge overseeing it and the gag order preventing him from talking about witnesses.
3. City sees drops in most major crimes, but hate crimes jump
New York City recorded a drop in most major crimes during the month of April, but hate crimes saw a 39% increase, NYPD data released today shows.
The city’s overall crime index dropped by 4.9% last month compared to April 2023, with significant drops in murder, burglary, auto theft and grand larceny, but anti-Jewish incidents fueled a jump in hate crimes year over year, the NYPD said.
4. New York's abortion rights amendment knocked off November ballot, dealing a blow to Democrats
A New York judge today blocked a politically important abortion rights amendment from appearing before voters on the November ballot, dealing Democrats a setback as the party moved to focus battleground races in the state around abortion access.
State Supreme Court Justice Daniel J. Doyle found that state lawmakers failed to follow procedural rules around passing constitutional amendments, incorrectly approving the amendment before getting a written opinion on the language from the attorney general.
Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol today, President Joe Biden denounced a "ferocious" rise in antisemitism around the nation, issuing a stark warning that the world is at risk of forgetting the truth about the Holocaust and Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Every president dating back to the museum's opening in 1993 has delivered a keynote at a Days of Remembrance ceremony. But this year’s event took on new meaning, as it came just seven months after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and marked the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
6. TikTok sues U.S. government to block potential ban
TikTok today filed a lawsuit against the federal government to block the enforcement of a bill signed into law last month that would ban the popular video sharing app in the United States unless it is sold by Chinese parent company ByteDance.
The lawsuit from TikTok and ByteDance, filed with U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, claims that the ban violates the First Amendment rights of its 170 million users in the U.S.
7. MTA looks to food and beverage tenants to crawl out of post-pandemic retail slump
Restaurants and food and beverage tenants are doing well in the transit system — and the MTA has taken notice.
The agency is upgrading some of its empty retail spaces and looking to fill them as it works to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Case You Missed It
NY1 to co-host special live panel about Mario Cuomo's political legacy
Spectrum News NY1 and Roosevelt House will co-host a live panel on May 14 that will take a closer look at the political career of former three-term New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.
The panel, which will take place at Roosevelt House, will see Errol Louis moderate a discussion that will include Cuomo's former director of state operations, Mary Ann Crotty; Harold Holzer, a former Cuomo administration official and a historian; and Denis Hamill, a columnist for the New York Daily News. It is inspired by the three-part "You Decide with Errol Louis" podcast series about the former governor's legacy.