PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A ship parade streamed up and down the Delaware River beside Philadelphia on Thursday to kick off a celebration of the 250th birthdays of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

Among the ships that took part were the USS Lassen, the USS Billings and the USS Cooperstown. A military flyover accompanied the flotilla.

Thousands of people were expected to attend the boat parade and other anniversary-linked events over the next few days, including a reunion of veterans, a downtown street parade and a concert featuring singer Patti LaBelle, the Navy band and the Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps.

Other celebrations were expected to take place on military bases around the world, organizers said.

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The events marking the 1775 creation of the Navy and Marine Corps proceeded despite the government shutdown that has closed many federal agencies and offices. The Navy press office did not immediately respond to a Thursday email asking if any festivities had been curtailed because of the shutdown.

Vice Admiral John Gumbleton, speaking at the Delaware River waterfront along with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and others, said the celebration also marks the start of the nation’s semiquincentennial next year.

He encouraged civilians to engage with active and retired military personnel visiting Philadelphia and to ask them about their service.

“For every missile that destroys a threat, for every jet aircraft launched, for every engine that steams, none of this happens without a sailor behind it,” Gumbleton said.

“The ships are cool, the jets are cool, everything looks cool, but it’s the people — it’s those sailors, it’s those Marines, that get it done,” he said.

“Despite her focus on affordability, Gov. Hochul has yet to change any of our policies to bring down energy costs. Repealing the 100-foot rule can be the start.”

(Jeanmarie Evelly/City Limits)

From community boards to campaign signs, coffeeshops to Reddit threads, one single word has come to dominate the discourse of everyday New Yorkers: affordability. Most people are feeling the pressure of rising prices, and it’s no different when it comes to exorbitant energy bills which have become the unwelcome norm. 

Rate hikes for Con Edison’s customers have recently gone into effect, leading many people to share their anguish on social media over the skyrocketing costs of their monthly payments for electricity and gas. The bills, which for some customers have resulted in increases of more than $70 a month, have sparked fierce pushback, with ratepayers condemning the corporate profiteering of New York State’s investor-owned utility companies.

Disadvantaged New Yorkers—particularly low-income people and people of color—face the greatest burden because they are required to spend, on average, a disproportionate amount of their household income on energy bills. On top of that, they are more likely to live in older, less energy-efficient homes that require more energy to heat and cool, raising their energy bills even higher.

Utilities make money by building new methane gas infrastructure and charging New Yorkers to cover the cost, regardless of whether these expenses make financial sense or align with the state’s climate goals. For decades, this business model has allowed utilities to constantly increase their profits while customers face rate hike after rate hike.  

The pushback and pressure on lawmakers to finally address the energy affordability crisis helped pass a new bill this year that would eliminate the 100-foot rule, an obscure law that allows New York energy corporations to spend $200 million of customer dollars every year. If signed into law by New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul, utilities will have one less pathway to exploit New Yorkers who deserve access to affordable heating and cooling. 

Under the 100-foot rule, utility companies are required to connect every building within 100 feet of an existing gas line to the methane gas system, even though more modern, more affordable, and energy efficient options exist. Because utilities recuperate expensive infrastructure costs from customers, the more gas lines Con Edison, National Grid, and other utilities build, the more money their shareholders make off rate increases.

And while shareholders profit, New Yorkers are being crushed as they are forced to cover the cost of expanding a sprawling, leaking, and outdated gas infrastructure in the form of rate hikes. Even before its most recent rate hike was implemented, Con Edison had already requested another increase, which—by their own estimates—would cost customers around $46 more per month and more than $500 a year. National Grid and Central Hudson customers will soon see higher bills as well.  

In fact, an analysis from the Alliance for a Green Economy shows that since the start of 2022, every major gas utility in the state has raised the cost of energy for their customers with customers of Con Edison, National Fuel, Central Hudson, and National Grid of Long Island experiencing an average annual increase of $312 in their gas bills between 2023 and 2025. Nearly 1 in every 7 households are behind on their energy bills, with nearly $2 billion total in arrears. Residents are being forced to choose between heating and cooling their homes or paying for groceries, rent, and other basic necessities.

New Yorkers across the state are demanding change. They are demanding affordability. The 100-foot rule is one of the many policies that forces New Yorkers to pay more for the cost of expanding the methane gas system than the actual cost of the gas itself. At a time when costs are going up, households shouldn’t be spending millions of ratepayer dollars on outdated gas pipelines that enrich CEOs and shareholders. 

Despite her focus on affordability, Gov. Hochul has yet to change any of our policies to bring down energy costs. Repealing the 100-foot rule can be the start. Eliminating the outdated law would immediately help save ratepayers money, curb future utility rate hikes, and move us toward a more just and climate-safe energy system. 

We need swift, decisive action from Governor Hochul to deliver on the promise that ratepayers across the state are desperately asking for. We need her to put pen to paper and repeal the 100-foot rule. 

Lonnie J. Portis is the director of policy and legislative affairs at WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

The post Opinion: NY Utilities Are Exploiting an Outdated Law to Raise Energy Bills appeared first on City Limits.

By GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — More than 1,400 evangelical Christians gathered this week in Jerusalem to show their support for Israel on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, a joyous festival marking the fall harvest and commemorating the journey of the Jews in the Exodus.

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They also found themselves celebrating the news of an agreement to pause fighting and free the hostages, just days after the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.

“We’ve been praying for this, and we know God is in control,” said Litiana Trout of Fiji, wearing small Fijian and U.S. flags on her hat.

She joined hundreds of others on Thursday afternoon in a city park for a march, one of several events organized annually by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. The organization and other Christian Zionists around the world say they consider support for Israel a moral and theological obligation, particularly as the country finds itself increasingly isolated.

“It’s still prophetic and a moral debt to the Jewish people — and spiritual, too, because we owe our Messiah to them,” said ICEJ spokesperson David Parsons.

Around the world, several governments recently recognized a Palestinian state, and public opinion has surged against Israeli actions in Gaza, with pro-Palestinian protests held on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the attacks, in many cities.

“It hurts my heart that my government is ignorant of the Bible — that those who stand with Israel are blessed,” said Sara Maskiewicz, waving a flag of her native Canada, which recognized a Palestinian state last month.

“I love Israel and the Jewish people, and I want to let them know my government doesn’t speak for everybody in Canada,” she added.

Maskiewicz and more than a thousand others packed Jerusalem’s convention center on Wednesday night for another ICEJ event. The largest groups came from the United States and Finland, but there were representatives from more than five dozen countries ranging from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe.

Evangelical Christians from around the world gather for a traditional march in support of Israel during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Support for Israel rooted in biblical prophecy

Evangelical Christians’ support for Israel and its current government is a powerful religious and political movement. Grounded in the belief that the country and its Jewish people fulfill biblical prophecy, it has grown in recent decades, especially among the U.S. evangelical Republican base.

Christians also came from Russia and Ukraine, China and Taiwan; the flag-bearer for Iran got a standing ovation at Wednesday night’s event.

So did Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, when he praised the crowd from the stage for standing with Israel as true “lovers of Zion.”

“Your caring reached so many and did so much good,” Herzog said. “May God bless you for blessing Israel.”

For years, the ICEJ has provided bomb shelters as well as housing for Holocaust survivors in Israel; other evangelical organizations have also provided aid. Samaritan’s Purse — run by evangelical leader Franklin Graham, who prayed at both of Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential inaugurations — has brought food and other supplies to Israel and Gaza, surging deliveries in the latter since the summer.

Herzog cited a passage from the prophet Zechariah about non-Jewish people coming to Jerusalem to observe the Feast of Tabernacles — the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which started earlier this week.

He then praised Trump for his signature Abraham Accords, which established ties between Israel and four Arab nations, and the current negotiations to end the war in Gaza.

Among Christians, support for the Israeli government is far from universal — just as it isn’t among Jews or Israelis, many of whom are ambivalent about Christian Zionism. And some Christian organizations have pointedly criticized Israel’s military operations, including the Catholic Church, whose faithful in the Holy Land are mostly Palestinian.

While Christian Zionists range in theological and political approaches, they share some basic premises, said Daniel Hummel, author of “Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations.”

They believe God will bless those who bless Israel — which represents a prophecy fulfilled — because God uses Israel for the redemption of the world, Hummel said.

Politically, they see Israel as holding the front line in a clash of cultures where radical Islam is the “enemy” of the West, Hummel said.

“We believe God raised up these two men, Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, to be leaders of the free world,” said Cathy Helms, who came to Jerusalem from North Carolina and is part of group praying daily for peace in Jerusalem.

Evangelical Christians from around the world gather for a traditional march in support of Israel during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, following the announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan to pause the fighting. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Christian Zionists and the 2-state solution

After the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Christian Zionists and many Israelis united in their opposition to a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war and Palestinians see as central to future independence.

“At this point, the two-state solution idea is pretty dead in Christian Zionist circles,” Hummel said.

The ICEJ’s Parsons said it’s up to the Israeli government to decide on territorial and political issues. The organization, however, would “support the right of Jews to live anywhere in the historical land of Israel” — seeing that land as part of God’s enduring covenant with the Jewish people.

Many Christian Zionists pray for Palestinians too, and feel that reconciliation will be crucial for lasting peace. But they also believe much of the public opinion against Israel is a sign of deep prejudice against Jews.

“It illustrates even more why Christians need to stand with Israel and the Jewish people against antisemitism,” said Laurie Cardoza-Moore, a pro-Israel evangelical leader who spoke to The Associated Press from the U.S. “We have a Biblical duty to protect what God loves.”

However, support for Israel has started to erode among young evangelicals, Hummel said, especially in the wake of the devastating toll of the war in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed.

Still, enthusiasm was undimmed among the younger members of the Jerusalem crowd.

“When we come, we know we’re doing what God speaks to us to do for Israel,” said Eder do Nascimento, who is now in his early 30s but has visited since his teens, despite the steep travel costs from his native Brazil. “We work hard all year to make it work.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MARIAM FAM, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Eager for the bloodshed, displacement and destruction to stop, many Palestinians in Gaza were relieved to hear news that Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their devastating two-year war. But it was mixed with pain from staggering losses and concern about what comes next.

“Once we heard the news about the truce, we felt happy,” said Ibrahim Shurrab from Khan Younis. “We ask God for the happiness to continue for us and for our Palestinian people and for us to return to our homes despite the pain and suffering,” he added, speaking in Muwasi, an area crowded with tents sheltering Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes.

Nevin Qudeeh said she felt the greatest sense of relief since the war erupted two years ago. She’ll be even happier, she added, when she can return home.

“We’re staying on the streets.”

Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused vast destruction, displacement and suffering in Gaza. The war also brought famine to parts of the territory.

In Deir al-Balah, some children greeted the news with whistles, claps and celebratory chants of “Allahu akbar,” the Arabic phrase for “God is great.”

Mahmoud Wadi said he received the news with “massive happiness and an indescribable feeling.”

Others in the Gaza Strip wrestled with mixed emotions.

“I am happy and unhappy,” said Mohammad Al-Farra. “We have lost a lot of people and lost loved ones, friends,” relatives and homes that are about a lot more than stones and physical buildings, he said.

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One cannot help but wonder what the day after would look like, he said — or where to even begin picking up the pieces. “The situation is very difficult.”

But he said they would overcome future hardships just like they’ve been doing.

Taghreed al-Jabali, displaced from Khan Younis, shared the mixed feelings.

“We don’t know whether to feel happy or sad,” she said, lamenting the killings and losses of the last two years, including children missing two full years of school.

“Our sons and daughters didn’t receive education. A whole generation was lost. Two generations were lost, not just one. May God make it up for us,” she said.

Mohamed al-Nashar from Gaza City said people feel “very cautious and we are fearful of what is to come.”

He worried that a truce could be violated at any moment, adding that Israeli strikes have been persistent in areas where the army is still operating.

Some were skeptical about Israel following through on a deal but held out hope.

Explosions were seen Thursday morning in northern Gaza as Israeli strikes continued. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes but earlier in the day said it had begun preparations for the implementation of the ceasefire and that troops were planning to shift to “adjusted deployment lines.”

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a pause in their war and the release of the remaining 48 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Uncertainty remains about some of the thornier aspects of the plan advanced by U.S. President Donald Trump — such as whether and how Hamas will disarm, and who will govern Gaza. But the sides appear closer than they have been in months to ending the war.

In the Gaza Strip, where much of the territory lies in ruins, Palestinians have been desperate for a breakthrough. Thousands fleeing Israel’s latest ground offensive have set up makeshift tents along the beach in the central part of the territory, sometimes using blankets for shelter.

In their 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas-led fighters abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll has exceeded 67,000 people. The ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children, is part of the Hamas-run government. The United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

“We’re a people who’ve suffered from the injustice of the (Israeli) occupation and the injustice of the war,” said Samir Moammer, displaced from Rafah. “Education has stopped. People’s lives have stopped.”

He said he prays to God for the war and the bloodshed to end.

“The occupation has returned us to the Stone Age,” he said. “We ask God to complete this happiness and for people to return to how they were before.”

Fam reported from Cairo. Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo contributed to this report.