Some casual eateries are known for being a hit with elders, and others are popular with just about everyone, but this is actually Boomers’ chain of choice.
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The tyranny of uncertainty
Expansive view of downtown Juneau and waterfront, Alaska. Morning, waterfalls and fog nestled in the mountains. Mount Roberts tram operating at right.
The ICE dragnets that dominated headlines earlier this year and led to the deaths of two United States citizens and several immigrant victims in communities around the country may now attract less attention. But the machinery of detention and deportation continues to hum along—perhaps more quietly, but no less relentlessly.
According to Homeland Security records, in July alone 50,208 immigrants were arrested and 65,000 were in detention. According to the Deportation Data Project, less than 30 percent of the arrestees and detainees had criminal convictions.
The low-hanging fruit for these arrests are local jails and prisons that may be holding an immigrant. Homeland Security’s enlistment of state and local law enforcement agencies to do immigration stops have also contributed to the surge in arrests and detentions. In recent weeks, there are also reports of arrests at airport boarding gates for domestic flights. More pernicious are the arrests made at immigration offices when immigrants are directed to appear for status hearings on their individual cases.
Yet the most damaging feature of this system may not be the arrests that make the news. It is the uncertainty imposed on families who have followed the rules, filed their papers, paid their fees and waited—sometimes for well over a year—for the government to act.
These enforcement activities are achieving one of their intended effects: to scare individuals and families enough that they self-deport. In Juneau that has meant that every member of our small Haitian community felt compelled to abandon their new home when they, along with some 350,000 other Haitians in the country, lost their temporary protected status on July 27th. Juneau lost some fine healthcare workers and school aides.
Here is the psychological war being waged on countless families across our nation: Families wait for long periods to be scheduled for interviews on their status, not knowing when these will happen—while anxiety builds over what for many will be a life-or-death outcome. With ICE’s apprehension of people who show for interviews, each applicant must ask: Do I skip the interview, resulting in an automatic case denial for abandonment, or do I attend and take the chance that I could be arrested, detained and permanently separated from my family?
I mentor several Ukrainian and Central American families in Juneau and have assisted them in filing papers for temporary protected status, authorizations for work and the like. Without exception, they are contributing to our community through their service jobs and small businesses.
As I write this, I have before me seven Homeland Security Notices of Action, known as I-797s, on applications for temporary protected status or for employment authorization filed between January 10 and March 17, 2025. These specific Notices of Action acknowledge the applications and all are dated in August 2026, more than 17 months after these immigrants applied. The forms indicate that the applicants are conditionally approved to remain and work in the country. The catch: the temporary protected status will expire on October 19. In short, these families have been held in suspended animation.
One immigrant I mentor applied for and received an initial authorization to work, helping to support his family. Many months before that authorization was due to expire, he filed for renewal and paid the requisite fee. When his work authorization expired, he was forced to quit his job. Finally last month he received confirmation that his application for renewal was being reviewed. When we called the department’s Contact Center to learn when the review would be complete, we were informed that the government might get to it by November. The family survives only because his adult daughter and niece are employed.
Another immigrant and his wife have established a successful business in Juneau. They paid nearly $1,000 for a renewal of their employment authorization documents on the first day they were eligible to do so — immigrants are allowed to apply no more than 180 days in advance. Once their current authorization expired, they could no longer lawfully work. USCIS can’t say when their renewal will be processed.
Without a valid work permit or an active status determination, all of these immigrants are stripped of their ability to earn an income. They lose employer-sponsored health insurance, stable housing options and are unable to receive or renew a driver’s license. The result is not merely delay. It is enforced poverty.
Another immigrant and his wife have worked multiple jobs to buy a home for their teenage children and themselves. Mikhail has successfully built his own construction-related business and has an unwavering belief that the United States government will reward his industry and dedication by granting a more permanent status to him and his family. His 18-year-old son struggles with his future, finding it difficult to set roots here because of the incessant fear that the rug will be pulled out from under them and that they will soon be forced to look to another country to start a new life yet again.
This war of nerves is taking a visible toll on countless thousands of people in limbo: parents suffering depression, panic attacks and sleep deprivation; children haunted by the possibility that they will be separated from their parents.
Most of us sleep at night because we live with the ordinary security of knowing where we will live, how we will work, whom we can count on and what we can offer our children. Those are not extravagant privileges. They are the basic conditions of a stable life.
The cruelty of the present immigration system lies not only in detention and deportation. It lies in forcing our neighbors to live without those basic assurances—day after day, month after month, while the government that demands their compliance leaves their futures unresolved.
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There are about a dozen standard toppings you can choose from to add to your Culver’s burger, but one free option will give your meal significantly more flavor.
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Yes, you can make a cake in your air fryer. That is, unless you have this style of the appliance, which is notoriously bad at producing baked goods.
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Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.
“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told POLITICO, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.
Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.
Husted said in the interview that he still thinks Iran needs to reach a deal with Trump to end the conflict, but added: “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want the war to come to an end.”
He has a finer line to walk with Trump in his state, and Republicans close to him say he can’t and won’t completely break with the president. Husted does not plan to support the Democratic-led war powers resolution when it comes up for a vote in the Senate this week, a spokesperson said. And Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to visit the state in the coming weeks to shore up his campaign and drive GOP turnout.
Husted is staring down a tight race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, where millions in spending and recent polling have put Brown slightly ahead. Top Hill Republicans and Senate GOP operatives have said the Ohio Senate race is among their primary concerns in the battle to keep control of the chamber.
But Ohio is just one in a series of battlegrounds where rising gas prices have become a defining issue. Beyond Hinson and Rogers, a growing number of Republicans are starting to call for emergency actions like a diesel export ban to lower gas prices, including Iowa GOP Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
“Hinson broke the dam,” said one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who is locked in an incredibly competitive race, called Tuesday for a diesel export ban to provide voters relief. He didn’t mention the Iran war.
The panic is being felt most acutely in the Midwest, as high gas and diesel prices and Trump’s tariffs hammer families, truckers and farmers just a few weeks ahead of the peak harvest season with no relief in sight.
By Sunday night, Rogers had filmed an ad at a grocery store decrying high prices and, straight to camera, breaking with Trump to call for an end to the Iran war, according to two Republicans involved in the matter, granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
Rogers’ team was putting the finishing touches on the ad Monday morning when Hinson posted her break with Trump over the war directly on social media.
“The war’s just gone on too long. Mike still thinks Iran shouldn’t have a nuclear weapon, but we originally thought this would take six weeks,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations in Rogers’ camp about the move. “Voters have been paying for it at their kitchen tables for too long.”
Michigan’s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. John James, also said Tuesday the Iran war needs to end “quickly.” And Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s GOP governor nominee, said Tuesday he believes “we should be exiting Iran, that it’s time to move on, we’ve degraded their nuclear facilities, we’ve degraded their military … time to come home, take care of business here in America.”
Trump, for his part, told reporters Tuesday that he asked his team to consider a diesel export ban, and that his administration is mulling it.
But the move is rife with internal GOP fighting behind the scenes: Trump’s team is getting an earful from GOP lawmakers in oil states who oppose the move, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. That makes any decision before the midterms highly problematic with at least one corner of the party.
Both the top House GOP leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise — have opposed similar measures from the past to protect their oil state of Louisiana. The Texas GOP delegation is also “strongly opposed,” according to another Republican.
Husted told POLITICO on Tuesday that he supports his state legislature suspending Ohio’s gas tax for a period. Democrat Amy Acton, who is running for governor, called for a gas tax suspension Monday. Her GOP opponent Vivek Ramaswamy and a broader swath of Republicans called for the state legislature to convene and pass legislation to suspend the state’s gas tax hours later.
“I think in the long run we are going to have lower gas prices,” Husted said, citing the war in Ukraine as a factor for spiking diesel costs as well as the war with Iran. “It’s taking longer than any of us wish it would. So in the interim, while those things are concluding, the idea of providing relief from the gas tax for Ohioans for a short period of time is a reasonable thing for Governor [Mike] DeWine to consider.”
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Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann’s 15-year-old son, Kroy “KJ” Biermann Jr., is no longer behind bars.
As we previously reported, KJ was arrested on sexual assault charges following an incident at an Atlanta-area gym over the summer.
KJ has now been released from a youth detention center after spending nearly a month in custody.
According to a new report from Page Six, a Fulton County Superior Court judge granted KJ a $200,000 bond following a contentious hearing last week.
The teenager had been arrested on August 17 and was subsequently indicted on seven felony charges stemming from an alleged incident involving a female classmate at a Life Time fitness center in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The charges include aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, false imprisonment and three counts of sexual battery against a child under 16.
KJ’s release comes with some extremely strict conditions.
According to court documents obtained by Page Six, he must live at Kim’s home and attend school virtually. He is also prohibited from using a cellphone or social media, while an electronic monitoring device will track his whereabouts.
The judge further ordered that KJ have no direct or indirect contact with the alleged victim, her family or associates. He is also prohibited from having contact with anyone 16 or younger.
That last restriction reportedly means KJ’s younger siblings cannot stay at or visit Kim’s home while he is there.
During the bond hearing, prosecutors also raised allegations involving a previous juvenile case and claimed investigators had discovered videos on KJ’s phone involving an underage family member.
KJ’s attorney, Jason Sheffield, strongly disputed the prosecution’s characterization of that earlier matter.
Sheffield said the case involved “inappropriate, crude behavior” between two middle-schoolers and did not result in an adjudication for statutory rape, sexual intercourse or a comparable offense. He accused prosecutors of presenting the matter in a way that created a misleading impression of what actually happened.
Meanwhile, Sheffield has maintained that KJ is innocent of the current allegations.
Kim has also defended her son, while the alleged victim has expressed fear about KJ’s release and asked the court to consider her safety.
KJ’s legal team has requested that his case be transferred to juvenile court rather than proceeding against him as an adult. That request remains pending.
For now, the teenager is back home with his mother — but he’ll have to abide by a lengthy list of restrictions as the legal battle continues.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
KJ Biermann, Son of Kim Zolciak, Released From Jail Following Sexual Assault Arrest was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
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While Wendy’s and McDonald’s both make their chicken nuggets from boneless white meat, the two chains take noticeably different approaches to their products.
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LOCAL INPUT: Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing fresh backlash over sidelining key stakeholders from talks about developing thousands of housing units on top of a Queens rail yard.
The Sunnyside Yard project landed back in the headlines yesterday when Mamdani and President Donald Trump emerged from a chummy meeting at Gracie Mansion to announce they’d agreed to bring conversations about the long-stalled housing plan to “a new level.” The unlikely duo first announced at a White House meeting in February they were looking into reviving the project, which would be contingent on billions of dollars in federal funding and involve constructing a platform over the rail yard, on top of which 12,000 housing units would be built.
But Council member Julie Won — who represents Sunnyside and voiced concerns in February about not being included in the talks — said today she continues to be troubled by the fact that the mayor and the president aren’t consulting her or other local community voices.
“Since the last discussion on Sunnyside Yard months ago between the mayor and president there is no funding from Congress nor any public meetings to move this project forward,” Won said in a statement. “There is no federal, state, or city bill allocating funding for this project. There is still no timeline. Congress would have to fund it, and the State and City Legislature would have to approve it. Our neighbors in Sunnyside yet again were not part of yesterday’s conversation, and there still has been no meaningful engagement with the public.”
Farah Salam, Won’s chief of staff, said City Hall’s continued lack of engagement with her office flies in the face of a commitment Mamdani’s team made in February.
Salam recounted how, in a meeting with Won’s team at the time, Mamdani aides told the Council member’s staff they would keep them in the loop on any Sunnyside Yard-related updates. Nonetheless, Salam told Playbook that Won and her team haven’t heard a peep from Mamdani’s administration since then, and she added that Won only learned of the latest twist from watching Mamdani’s post-meeting press conference with Trump yesterday.
A Mamdani spokesperson declined to respond to Salam’s comments.
Won is a member of the Council’s Progressive Caucus, which has generally been supportive of the mayor, lending more weight to her Sunnyside-related rebuke. Still, she may have some political sour grapes with the mayor, given that she campaigned unsuccessfully this summer for Congress in a race that was ultimately won by Mamdani-endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez.
Won isn’t the only local politician concerned by Mamdani’s Sunnyside dealings with Trump, though.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards told Playbook it would be more fruitful for Mamdani to focus on securing federal funding from Trump for housing developments where shovels can hit the ground on a short timeframe. Inevitably, Sunnyside Yard would need to go through years-long review and permitting processes before construction could begin, and Richards argued Jamaica and Long Island City are better suited for immediate, federally-backed projects, given that both areas recently underwent neighborhood-wide rezonings.
“I’m not saying give up on Sunnyside Yard, but let’s first move somewhere where we can actually get shovels in the ground now,” he said. “We are in a housing emergency.”
Richards also said he’s skeptical Trump will actually make good on his Sunnyside musings. “I have trepidations about how fast the Trump administration is going to move on this — forgive me if I have my trepidations about them,” he said. “Anything you deal with the Trump administration on has to be show and tell, and I don’t have much confidence even with the president’s remarks yesterday.”
When asked about the comments from Won and Richards at a press conference today, Mamdani avoided any direct response. Instead he simply reiterated the merits of the project, which he said would include a significant share of affordable housing.
“I will do everything in my power to build more housing in this city,” Mamdani said. “And working with the president to fulfill an idea that has existed for 50 to 60 years — that to me is clearly an example of what could be done.”
It remains to be seen how much Trump and Mamdani can actually get done on the Sunnyside project. Though they said yesterday their respective housing policy teams are initiating technical talks about the project, there are no funding commitments on the table, and local community concerns remain.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan in 2015 to build housing on top of Sunnyside Yard, but that iteration of the project never went anywhere because of the COVID pandemic and local pushback. — Chris Sommerfeldt and Joe Anuta
From the Capitol
IT GUY GONE: The top official at the state’s Office of Information Technology Services was removed this week by Gov. Kathy Hochul after she lost confidence in him, her administration said today.
ITS Director Dru Rai held the job since September 2023, and his removal was effective immediately. Jenson Jacob will take over the role in an acting capacity. The office manages the state’s information technology, data centers and hardware infrastructure while providing digital services for state agencies and local governments.
“The administration has informed Dru Rai that the Governor no longer has confidence in his ability to effectively represent this administration and he was removed from his position as head of ITS,” a Hochul spokesperson said in a statement. “Jenson Jacob has been named Acting Director of ITS. Governor Hochul remains committed to holding employees to the highest leadership and ethical standards, and ITS will continue to deliver technology solutions and services for New Yorkers, our agencies and partners.”
Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman.
BLAKEMAN BRUSHES OFF GRACIE GATHERING: Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman is downplaying the significance of Trump’s cordial Monday meeting with the mayor.
“Not at all,” he said when asked if Trump’s visit undercut Blakeman’s focus on Mamdani’s radicalism.
“The president is a government official. He’s the highest government official in the United States. And the mayor’s a government official, so I expect that the two of them would talk.”
Blakeman has attacked the mayor he refers to as “Commie Mamdani” while campaigning in every corner of the state. Would he similarly meet with Mamdani? “Depends what he was serving for lunch,” he said.
The Nassau County executive was in Albany today to receive the NYS Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association’s endorsement. Prison guards have had an icy relationship with the state in recent years, due to Cuomo-era limits on solitary confinement and Hochul’s strict crackdown on guards who engaged in an illegal strike last year.
It’s the first time NYSCOPBA has endorsed a gubernatorial candidate.
“Kathy Hochul, I want you to think about that: 95 percent of your employees voted to endorse me, a democratic vote,” Blakeman said. “What does that say about your leadership? You should be embarrassed that 95 percent of your workers didn’t think highly enough of you to endorse you.” — Bill Mahoney
FROM CITY HALL
LEFT ON READ: City Council members — including the mayor’s allies — laced into Mamdani’s administration today at a Council hearing on the use of influencers in city government communications.
The central focus of their displeasure? Team Mamdani declined to send any representatives from the appropriate agencies to testify.
The oversight hearing comes on the heels of news that programs run by city agencies paid influencers to promote city policies. The hearing’s stated purpose: to begin to establish guidelines for how city officials communicate with influencers and disclose such communications.
Emilia Rowland, the mayor’s director of new media, skipped the hearing, despite being invited to testify. Earlier this month, a working paper from the Columbia University Initiative for Policy Dialogue reported that Rowland oversees a Signal group chat with more than 200 hand-picked influencers. In her place, the mayor’s office sent Tascha Van Auken, commissioner of the mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement, and Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, commissioner for the Department of Records and Information Services — neither of whom had much to offer on the administration’s use of influencers.
While pressing the two during their testimony, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams expressed disappointment that the communications officials who “should be here are not.”
“I don’t know that anything was done wrong, but there were questions that were raised by this article that I believe the public should hear answers to, so that they can feel sure that nothing wrong occurred,” Williams said. “The fact that the correct folks aren’t here doesn’t really help that story.”
Williams, a progressive Democrat, found himself in agreement with Council Minority Leader David Carr, the Republican who sponsored legislation that would require explicit disclosures on city-funded or directed influencer communications.
Carr pressed Van Auken and Smith-Cruz on specifics about the relationship between City Hall and third-party influencers — such as the number of influencers the administration has worked with, how much has been spent on the social media campaigns, how budgets are determined and how influencers are selected.
Van Auken and Smith-Cruz acknowledged they didn’t have fulsome answers to any of Carr’s questions, in stark contrast with the mayor’s characterization of the situation earlier today.
“I am confident in the testimony that our administration is providing today, that it will be sufficient in answering the council’s questions,” Mamdani told reporters this morning.
Taiwan Green, a Queens-based influencer with more than 50,000 followers, testified he was contacted a year ago by then-candidate Mamdani’s social media team. He said he’s never been offered pay for any content about the administration, though, and that he was never directed as to how to message his videos.
“I believe it’s my responsibility to sacrifice my time and my resources to educate myself and my followers on the political process,” said Green, who goes by the handle @mrfingaz. “Traditional press may not have the time to ask questions that are related to southeast Queens, but I will use this opportunity to do just that.”
Green left abruptly after about 90 seconds of testimony and didn’t take questions from council members.
It wasn’t the first time relevant officials from the mayor’s office skipped a Council oversight meeting. Last month, lawmakers slammed Mamdani’s administration for opting out of a hearing on the city’s controversial pied-à-terre tax rollout. At that hearing, Council Members Gale Brewer and Linda Lee read out 11 pages of questions to a row of empty chairs. — Molly Reinmann
SO MANY GAVELS: The city’s Conflicts of Interest Board fined Council member Mercedes Narcisse $2,500 for filming a reelection campaign video inside City Hall.
In one portion of the video, Narcisse is sitting in the Council chambers at the speaker’s chair, where she strikes a gavel. In another, she sits behind her nameplate in a separate committee room and … also strikes a gavel.
Narcisse is then filmed speaking (though not striking a gavel) at an official Council podium.
Because these areas of City Hall are off limits to the public, the board found Narcisee was using her government perch for personal gain. In a settlement agreement, the Brooklyn lawmaker said she did not intend to break the rules, but admitted wrongdoing. — Joe Anuta
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
AOC IN BUF: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is planning to hit Buffalo Thursday to meet with Mayor Sean Ryan and host an organizing training aimed at inactive voters.
The trip comes amid speculation about whether she’ll run for the White House or Senate in 2028. In comments to The New York Times published on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez said she’s thinking about how her identity will factor into the campaign she chooses to mount.
“There’s an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot,” she told the Times. “And you don’t — and just in life in general — life doesn’t wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you.”
The Buffalo trip is part of an upstate swing that is also set to include Syracuse and Ithaca, the Times reported last week.
Ocasio-Cortez has been leaning into the curiosity surrounding her next political endeavor — but said she’s keeping her focus on the midterms as she stumps across the country boosting candidates. — Madison Fernandez
TAKING THE STAGE: Candidates for governor, state attorney general and comptroller will debate next month.
Spectrum News NY1 announced Tuesday that Hochul and Blakeman will debate on Oct. 13. Attorney General Letitia James will face off against GOP challenger Saritha Komatireddy on Oct. 8, and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Republican Joseph Hernandez will debate on Oct. 1.
Each of the debates will air live at 7 p.m.
Playbook previously reported that Hochul intended to debate Blakeman, even though she is not required to do so since her campaign declined to participate in the new public campaign finance system. — Madison Fernandez
IN OTHER NEWS
— ZO + BIBI: Mamdani doubled down on his criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his speech at the U.N. this week. (CNN)
— SCHUMER ON AI: Sen. Chuck Schumer demanded Trump completely block China’s access to U.S. artificial intelligence technology ahead of the president’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping tomorrow. (Punchbowl)
— MENIN + THE MET: City Council Speaker Julie Menin expanded on her condemnation of the Met Gala’s now-walked back decision to honor John Galliano, who has a history of racism and antisemitism. (New York Magazine)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
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We’ve rounded up the best national grocery store chains to find prime rib so you can check out which options are available near you before you shop.
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Seafood is a luxury many of us like to indulge in when we dine out, but if you’re heading to a casual spot, you should think twice before you order.
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