NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will campaign for mayor of New York City as an independent candidate, staying in a crowded field running against surging left-wing Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani.

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In a video, Cuomo, who last month suffered a bruising loss to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, announced he was making another run to combat the progressive Mamdani, who he said “offers slick slogans but no real solutions.”

“The fight to save our city isn’t over,” Cuomo said. “Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November and I am in it to win it.”

Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams also is running as an independent in the general election and Curtis Sliwa — founder of the 1970s-era Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol — is again on the Republican line.

People opposed to Mamdani’s progressive agenda, which includes higher taxes on the wealthy, have called on donors and voters to unite behind a single candidate for the November election. They fear multiple candidates will splinter the anti-Mamdani vote, increasing the Democrat’s chances to win.

The decision to continue on in the race is the latest chapter in Cuomo’s comeback attempt, launched almost four years after he resigned as governor in 2021 following a barrage of sexual harassment allegations. He denied wrongdoing during the campaign, maintaining that the scandal was driven by politics.

Cuomo was treated as the presumed frontrunner for much of the Democratic primary, with the former governor boasting deep political experience, universal name recognition and a juggernaut fundraising operation. He limited media interviews, held few unscripted events and avoided mingling with voters.

Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a rally at the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council headquarters in New York, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

That strategy contrasted with Mamdani’s energetic street-level campaign centered around affordability issues. The 33-year-old amassed a legion of young volunteers who blanketed the city to build support, while the candidate’s savvy social media persona won him national acclaim.

Lagging behind Mamdani in the vote count, Cuomo conceded the race last month on primary night. Final results released after the city ran through its ranked choice voting calculations showed Mamdani besting the former governor by 12 percentage points.

Despite the Democratic primary loss, Cuomo had also qualified to run on an independent ballot line in November under a party he created called “Fight and Deliver.”

As he weighed whether to stay on as an independent, Cuomo began losing support from traditional allies. Key labor unions backed Mamdani and the Rev. Al Sharpton, an influential Black leader, urged Cuomo to step aside.

Some deep-pocketed contributors have meanwhile aligned behind Adams, who is running as an independent. Although he’s still a Democrat, Adams pulled out of the primary shortly after a federal judge dismissed a corruption case against him at the request of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, arguing that the case had sidelined him from campaigning.

Cuomo, 67, served as governor for over a decade and modeled himself as a socially progressive Democrat who got things done. He pushed through legislation that legalized gay marriage and tackled massive infrastructure projects, like a three-mile bridge over the Hudson River that he named after his father.

Cuomo’s national profile peaked in the early days of the nation’s coronavirus outbreak during his televised daily briefings. The governor leavened stern warnings for people to wear masks with heartfelt expressions of concern for his elderly mother or brotherly banter with Chris Cuomo, a TV journalist.

His reputation was soon tainted when it emerged that the state’s official count of nursing home deaths had excluded many victims who had been transferred to hospitals before they succumbed.

Cuomo resigned shortly after New York’s attorney general released the results of an investigation that found he sexually harassed at least 11 women.

By MICHAEL HILL

A county clerk in New York on Monday again refused to file a more than $100,000 civil judgment from Texas against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman.

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New York is among eight states with shield laws that protect providers from other states’ reach. Abortion opponents claim the laws violate a constitutional requirement that states respect the laws and legal judgments of other states.

Republican Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton wants a New York court to enforce a civil decision from Texas against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City in Ulster County, for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.

Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck in March refused an initial request to file the judgment, citing the New York law that shields abortion providers who serve patients in states with abortion bans. A second demand was made last week by the Texas attorney general’s office, which said Bruck had a “statutory duty” to make the filing under New York civil practice law.

Bruck responded Monday that the rejection stands.

“While I’m not entirely sure how things work in Texas, here in New York, a rejection means the matter is closed,” Bruck wrote in a letter to Texas officials.

An email seeking comment was sent to Paxton’s office.

The Texas case is one of two involving Carpenter that could end up testing shield laws.

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this year invoked the state’s shield law in rejecting a request to extradite Carpenter to Louisiana, where the doctor was charged with prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor.

Hochul, responding to the latest request from Paxton’s office, claimed he was attempting to dictate “the personal decisions of women across America.”

“Our response to their baseless claim is clear: no way in hell. New York won’t be bullied,” she said in a prepared statement. “And I’ll never back down from this fight.”

In the end, Andrea Gibson’s heart was covered in stretch marks.

That was the way the Colorado state poet laureate, queer activist and internationally touring spoken-word artist said they wanted to leave this Earth — with a life full of love so big and enduring, it couldn’t be contained.

Gibson, 49, died early Monday morning in their Boulder, Colorado, home surrounded by their wife, four ex-girlfriends, their parents, dozens of friends and their three beloved dogs, according to an announcement on their Facebook page. They were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021.

The Facebook post from Gibson’s loved ones said one of the last things they said was, “I (expletive) loved my life.”

Readers and fans of Gibson’s work — poetry books and spoken-word collections — offered an outpouring of love, grief and touching tributes Monday about how the poet’s words found them at just the right time. Some said Gibson’s work saved them, while others said it gave them permission to be their authentic selves.

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In 2023, Gibson was named Colorado’s tenth state poet laureate, a role created to promote poetry appreciation in the state and honor local wordsmiths. Gibson said they hoped to bring poetry to the masses.

In an interview with The Denver Post, Gibson said their cancer diagnosis allowed them to tap into how the “brevity of this life” gifted them “awe and joy and astonishment.”

Gibson wrote extensively about death and grief. It becomes difficult to memorialize Gibson without referring back to their own work.

“Not long ago, Andrea wrote a poem titled ‘Love Letter From the Afterlife,’” their loved ones wrote on Facebook. “In it, they offered this line: ‘I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined.’ Today, and all days forward, we hope you feel Andrea’s enormous spirit and immense presence beside you.”

This is a developing story that will be updated. 

RiverFest, an annual five-day celebration of the St. Croix River, will return this year with an emphasis on preserving water quality. Festival events will be held July 22-26 at various locations in Hudson, Wisconsin.

“There are activities that are very focused on environmental issues in the river,” said Evy Nerbonne, member of the RiverFest marketing committee. “Then there are lots of family activities and events that bring people out to enjoy the river.”

This year’s RiverFest will kick off with the annual river cleanup where participants pick up garbage along the St. Croix River. The cleanup will be 10-11:30 a.m. July 22. Volunteers will meet at Hudson’s Lakefront Park Bandshell.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will do on-the-water demonstrations with its electrofishing boat at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. July 22 by the Lakefront Park Beach House.

A free St. Croix Valley Community Band Concert will start at 7 p.m. July 24 at the Lakefront Park Bandshell.

For the full list of RiverFest events, including a family movie night and Indigenous art walk, visit stcroixriverfest.org.

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