How Kathy Hochul’s State of the State sets up her re-election campaign

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ☁️ Cloudy, slight chance of showers, highs near 50.

It's Wednesday in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul didn't rock the boat in her State of the State speech yesterday.

Instead, she talked about stemming the costs of car insurance. 

"That's what's great about it — it's not the sexy stuff, so it's the stuff that's really going to affect people," said Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato, who represents a swing district in south Queens.

Here's how Hochul, who's facing a Democratic primary challenge in this year's gubernatorial race, used the speech to cast herself as a foil to the Trump administration and an ally to progressives without picking fights with anyone.

And here's what else is happening:

• "Is that person really a threat?": In her speech, Hochul joined scores of other state and local officials in publicly condemning ICE's arrest of Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a New York City Council data analyst from Venezuela.
  • Hochul is also keeping families with young children at the center of her agenda this year. Here are five child care-related promises she made in her speech.
• New Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels is promising changes to New York City’s math curriculum for middle and high school students after educators complained that the current program wrongly assumes kids have mastered certain skills.
• Mayor Zohran Mamdani yesterday nominated Midori Valdivia, known as a leading transportation policy wonk, as the next chair of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
• A militant pro-Israel group accused of using violence, harassment and intimidation against Arab, Muslim and Jewish New Yorkers has agreed to cease operations in the state under a settlement announced by Attorney General Letitia James.
• City regulators yesterday accused Uber and DoorDash of deliberately altering their apps to discourage customers from tipping delivery workers.
• Federal prosecutors have charged Tony Herbert, an aide to former Mayor Eric Adams, with accepting thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for political favors.
• Talks among New York City hospitals and nurses remained stalled yesterday on the second day of a major nurses' strike.

• "This is 100 percent just scammers scamming scammers": Whatever just happened with Eric Adams' memecoin, one expert said it's unlikely any good honest investors got hurt.
• Meanwhile, where in Gracie Mansion did Adams hide a note?
• More than 300 domesticated rats found in a condemned Long Island house are now looking for foster homes.
• A former employee of the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey — who said she voted for the president three times — is now suing the club for allegedly forcing female workers to wear uniforms several sizes too small.
• Watching a Rangers game is not fun these days.
• But "Heated Rivalry" watch parties are lit.
• What a staircase.
• It's going to get really cold tomorrow.