On the first day of early voting for the June 22nd primary, Reverend Al Sharpton announced he won’t endorse any candidate for any race, including those running for mayor, despite having told reporters late May he would. Instead, Sharpton joined top mayoral candidates to press upon members of his National Action Network to vote and do so early.

“I said that I would make a decision by early June and I would decide whether I was going to endorse and who I was going to endorse,” Sharpton told Gothamist/WNYC Saturday at his headquarters in Harlem. “There’s no one here who’s saying something so egregious that I had to come in and had to stop somebody, so I decided to put my time in ranked-voting."
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Sharpton, who previously said he wants a mayor who can "bring the city back and bring it back more fairly," plans to release a series of television ads and hold events ahead of primary day encouraging everyone to vote. Sharpton said some of the candidates will join him on his small tour, but did not disclose who.

Austin police have arrested one man in connection with an overnight shooting that injured 14 people, officials said. The arrest was made by Austin police and the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force.

The arrest came after the city's Sixth Street entertainment district, filled with revelers resuming post-pandemic life, again became the scene of chaos and bloodshed early Saturday when 14 people were wounded in a mass shooting that intensified questions about public safety and gun violence in one of the nation's fastest-growing cities.

Police said they had zeroed in on two suspects involved in previous dispute and were rapidly working to arrest them. Interim Police Chief Joe Chacon expressed confidence that investigators would soon be able to untangle more details about what prompted the gunfire and that suspects could face a range of charges that include attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Officials said they believe most of the victims, whose injuries ranged from moderate to critical, were innocent bystanders and said that he believes that no one had died because of swift and heroic actions his officers took.

This week he angered Democrats by spelling out in a newspaper column that he would oppose his party’s broad voting rights bill and would never vote to end the legislative filibuster.

It has thrown a dark cloud over Democrats’ hopes for major legislation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Frustrated with Mr. Manchin and confused about his motives, many Democrats have asked: Why, in seeking an armistice with Republicans, has he allowed himself to become one of their greatest weapons?

But back home in West Virginia, Mr. Manchin’s stubborn belief in working across the aisle is recognized as the core of his being, not mere posturing for a conservative state where he may seek re-election.

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“All the people he grew up with were Democrats; they’re not anymore, but in his eyes, they haven’t changed — they’re the same people,” said Jonathan Kott, a former top aide to Mr. Manchin in Washington.

Mayor de Blasio defended Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ record on public safety Thursday in what amounted to his first substantive remarks on the Democratic candidates running for mayor so far.

De Blasio has been relatively quiet about the mayor’s race up until now, often casting aside questions about it with “too-early-to-tell” responses.

But on Thursday he dipped his toe into the discourse to back up Adams, who’s now under fire for comments he made about the Police Benevolent Association.

Adams has said he would decline the powerful union’s endorsement over the fact that it supported former President Donald Trump, but in a recent interview with the Jewish-geared weekly Mishpacha, Adams highlighted the consistent support he’s received from the union over the years.

The Federal Reserve is taking what may be the first significant step toward launching its own virtual currency, a move that could shake up banks, give millions of low-income Americans access to the financial system and fortify the dollar's status as the world’s reserve currency.

The idea of creating a fully digital version of the U.S. dollar, which was unthinkable just a few years ago, has gained bipartisan interest from lawmakers as diverse as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) because of its potential benefits for consumers who don’t have bank accounts. But it’s also sparking strong pushback from those with the most to lose: banks.

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The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Digital Currency Initiative are aiming next month to publish the first stage of their work to determine whether a Fed virtual currency would work on a practical level — an open-source license for the most basic piece of infrastructure around creating and moving digital dollars.

But it will likely be up to Congress to ultimately decide whether the central bank should formally pursue such a project, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell has acknowledged. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are intrigued, particularly as they eye China’s efforts to build its own central bank digital currency, as well as the global rise of cryptocurrencies, both of which could diminish the dollar’s influence.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell experienced an awkward moment during his Saturday rally in Wisconsin, when a promised flyover of jets directly following the singing of the national anthem failed to materialize.

Lindell, a conspiracy theorist and an ally of former President Donald Trump, held a MAGA Frank Free Speech rally at the River's Edge Apple River concert venue in New Richmond, Wisconsin on Saturday. The conservative businessman has been a key promoter of Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was "stolen" by President Joe Biden and the Democrats. These groundless allegations have been thoroughly litigated and wholly debunked.

The free outdoor event's gates opened at 9 a.m. as attendees slowly trickled in. A livestream of the event was broadcast on Lindell's new online platform Frank. Just after 11 a.m., the national anthem was played with an expected flyover of jets to come at the end. However, the planes did not immediately materialize and Lindell stood awkwardly onstage for several minutes, looking at the sky as he searched for the aircraft in the sky.

Lindell initially told the crowd that they had a "surprise" coming, as he looked upward. After the planes failed to arrive, he remained onstage and said: "A surprise in the sky here in about a minute—30 seconds."