NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani finally gets top-level security clearance, 9 months after taking office

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani has finally received high-level security clearance from the federal government, after nine months on the job without it, the mayor said Wednesday.

It’s unclear when he got the green light, though the news comes after Mamdani met with President Donald Trump at Gracie Mansion last week during the United Nations General Assembly.

While waiting for months for a federal clearance is not necessarily out of the ordinary, the delay was cause for some anxiety as Trump has in some cases politicized security clearances. Last year he revoked clearances for Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, both of whom had led cases against Trump.

Receiving a clearance means an individual is officially allowed to access and be briefed on the U.S. government’s most sensitive classified information. For mayors, that means they can get information on things like terrorism or threats to the city.

—New York Daily News

California to ban child marriage in 2027 after Gov. Gavin Newsom signs law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After years of lobbying from women’s rights advocates and child marriage survivors, California will ban child marriages starting next year.

Current law allowed exemptions for minors under 18 who obtain parental permission and a court order. Assembly Bill 1267, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday, bans marriages outright for people under 18, joining 17 other states that outlaw the practice.

“This is a long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors. Today, California kids are safer than ever before,” Newsom said in a statement. AB 1267 goes into effect Jan. 1 and voids any ceremonies performed on or after that date in which at least one party is underage.

He signed the bill in his office with child advocate Courtney Stodden, whose marriage as a 16-year-old beauty pageant queen to 50-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson, made headlines in 2011. Stodden said the relationship was “predatory” and “abusive.”

—The Sacramento Bee

Struggling to recruit, UConn offers tuition waivers for certain jobs

HARTFORD, Conn. — Facing high resignation rates and significant staffing shortages in the University of Connecticut police and fire departments, UConn will offer tuition waivers for public safety personnel and their dependents beginning next year, according to public safety officials at the university.

Lawmakers say the tuition waivers will provide more incentives for UConn public safety personnel to stay in the department and recruit new police officers.

“You may get an accomplished officer who spends time in another jurisdiction and they have kids that are UConn age when they may retire from a Hartford or Bridgeport police department and they might consider transferring to UConn to finish out their career because of that benefit,” said Rep. Patrick Boyd, a Mansfield Democrat and co-chair of the Public Safety and Security Committee.

The university anticipates between a 5 to 10% participation rate, according to information from the UConn Board of Trustees. The estimated cost for tuition waivers is between $144,000 to $288,000 per year, according to the Board. UConn is also expected to establish a “tuition reimbursement fund of $25,000 per fiscal year,” Board documents state.

—Hartford Courant

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu salutes 'heroes' in Flydubai crash attempt

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Wednesday's events on board a Flydubai flight to Tel Aviv as a "serious security incident," after a pilot allegedly stabbed his co-pilot and tried to crash the aircraft.

Netanyahu said in a video message that almost all passengers on board had been Israelis. The pilot had apparently intended to bring the aircraft down as it approached Israel with the passengers on board, he added.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz went further, calling the incident "an attempt at a jihadist attack" that had been foiled only thanks to the courage of Israeli passengers. The Flydubai aircraft from Dubai to Tel Aviv made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.

Netanyahu said a passenger had described to him in a telephone call how the aircraft had begun to spin and entered a nosedive. According to the account, the passenger had managed to force their way into the cockpit together with a crew member. They had then overpowered the attacker while he was attempting to damage the aircraft's instruments.

—dpa