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BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani Has Been Stopped<\/p>\n
This article may contain commentary
which reflects the author’s opinion.<\/p>\n
The wheels are coming off the socialist bus.<\/p>\n
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is tapping the brakes on Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s $700 million plan for free city buses, casting early doubt on one of the far-left lawmaker\u2019s biggest campaign promises, The New York Post\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the SOMOS political retreat in Puerto Rico on Saturday, Hochul said she\u2019s already spent heavily to support the city\u2019s struggling MTA and questioned how much further the state could go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI continue to be excited at the work of making the slowest buses in America fast and free,\u201d Mamdani said Monday during an unrelated press conference. \u201cAnd I appreciate the governor\u2019s continued partnership in delivering on that agenda of affordability.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Hochul\u2019s comments in San Juan marked the latest break between the moderate Democratic governor and Mamdani, the Democratic socialist she endorsed just two months ago.<\/p>\n
Hochul happily rode Mamdani\u2019s coattails during the campaign as he energized progressives with promises of affordability and social programs, but she has shown far less enthusiasm for actually paying for them.<\/p>\n
The governor has rejected several of Mamdani\u2019s cornerstone ideas, including proposals to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to fund $10 billion in new benefits like free child care and fareless transit.<\/p>\n
Her caution could create a serious roadblock for the incoming mayor, whose ambitious plans rely on support from Albany to move forward.<\/p>\n
The top two Democratic leaders in the state Legislature \u2014 Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins \u2014 have signaled more willingness to help Mamdani pursue his agenda.<\/p>\n
That divide leaves Hochul increasingly isolated from the party\u2019s energized left flank, which has been openly pressuring her to embrace higher taxes on the rich.<\/p>\n
During recent public appearances, activists have twice interrupted the governor with chants of \u201cTax the rich,\u201d drawing a sharp rebuke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more you push me, the more I\u2019m not going to do what you want,\u201d Hochul told the SOMOS crowd in response.<\/p>\n
Still, Hochul did not fully reject Mamdani\u2019s wish list.<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s open to working with him on expanding free child care, though she made clear it would be an expensive and long-term goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be on a path to get there, because I\u2019m committed to this as \u2018mom governor\u2019 \u2014 I get it,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also to do it statewide, right now, it\u2019s about $15 billion \u2014 the entire amount of my reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cautious tone was a reality check for Mamdani, who has portrayed himself as the champion of \u201ceveryday New Yorkers\u201d and promised to make the city more affordable through massive new public spending.<\/p>\n
Hochul\u2019s remarks also came as she continues her own political maneuvering ahead of a likely 2026 re-election bid.<\/p>\n
After the SOMOS conference, she flew to the Dominican Republic to attend a breakfast celebrating cross-cultural exchange \u2014 an event seen as an appeal to one of New York\u2019s largest and most influential immigrant voting blocs.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers trace family roots to the Dominican Republic, making the outreach a politically savvy move for a governor seeking to rebuild her base while keeping the party\u2019s left wing at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n
Whether Hochul and Mamdani can maintain their uneasy alliance may determine not only the future of free buses and child care, but also the balance of power within the New York Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
A Lakeville man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to one year of probation for his involvement in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud investigation.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel sentenced Khadar Adan, who pleaded guilty in August to one count of theft of government property, for allowing a fraudulent food distribution site to operate out of his Minneapolis business center, JigJiga.<\/p>\n
Adan admitted to accepting $1,000 in illicit proceeds and was ordered to pay the same amount in restitution,\u00a0the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.<\/p>\n
Adan was the last of three defendants tied to the Lake Street Kitchen scheme housed within JigJiga to plead guilty.<\/p>\n
The $250 million Feeding Our Future case \u2014 centered on a St. Anthony nonprofit \u2014 is the largest pandemic-era fraud prosecution in the United States. Of the 75 people charged, 50 have entered guilty pleas. Prosecutors say the defendants falsely claimed to have provided millions of meals to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead diverting federal reimbursements to purchase luxury cars, real estate, and other high-end goods.According to court records, Adan and his co-defendants claimed to have served 70,000 meals between December 2020 and April 2021 through Lake Street Kitchen, receiving \u201csignificant funds\u201d in return. Federal prosecutors said only a small fraction of those meals were actually distributed.<\/p>\n
Co-defendant Liban Yasin Alishire, who co-operated Lake Street Kitchen and another site, Community Enhancement Services, received more than $1.6 million and pleaded guilty in 2023.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a former campaign associate of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) pleaded guilty last month to participating in the same scam, adding another chapter to the growing list of controversies surrounding the progressive lawmaker\u2019s political orbit.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors announced that 49-year-old Guhaad Hashi Said \u2014\u00a0described\u00a0by Alpha News as an \u201cenforcer\u201d for Omar\u2019s campaign \u2014\u00a0admitted in court\u00a0to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stem from a wide-ranging fraud targeting a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conviction many in the Feeding Our Future case is yet another reminder of the vast reach of this fraud and the scale of the crisis we face in Minnesota,\u201d Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said in a statement. \u201cThese crimes are not isolated events. They are part of a web of schemes targeting programs that are intended to lift up Minnesotans and bleeding them dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where I sit, the scale of the fraud in Minnesota is staggering, and every rock we turn over reveals more. We must be honest and clear-eyed about the scope of this problem, because ending it will take an unyielding, all-hands-on-deck effort from all of us,\u201d Thompson added.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, between December 2020 and January 2022, Said exploited the Federal Child Nutrition Program, falsely claiming his nonprofit \u2014 Advance Youth Athletic Development \u2014 was serving thousands of meals daily to underprivileged children. Incorporated in February 2021, the organization was registered to a residential apartment in the Central Avenue Lofts in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
Beginning in March 2021, Said submitted meal count sheets claiming to have served 5,000 meals per day. From March through December of that year, he claimed to have served more than 1 million meals \u2014 but in reality provided only a fraction of that number. Prosecutors say he fabricated meal counts, attendance rosters, and invoices to secure reimbursements.<\/p>\n
The scheme brought in roughly $2.9 million in federal funds. Between August and December 2021, Said transferred more than $2.1 million from his organization\u2019s bank accounts to a catering business, ostensibly for food purchases, while using other proceeds to buy real estate, cars, and personal items through a network of shell nonprofits and LLCs, the DOJ said.<\/p>\n
Said now faces up to 25 years in federal prison when sentenced. He previously ran for the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani Has Been Stopped This article may contain commentarywhich reflects the author’s opinion. The wheels are coming off the socialist bus. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is tapping the brakes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t