Jerry Nadler beats Carolyn Maloney in NY House Democratic primary

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Democratic candidate for New Yorks 12th Congressional District, campaigns at the 79th St. Greenmarket on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, on Sunday, August 21, 2022. Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Rep. Jerry Nadler will defeat his colleague Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a vicious House primary that locked the longtime New York Democrats in a battle for the heart of Manhattan, NBC News projected. The two lawmakers were pitted against each other after a redrawn district map spurred them to compete for a single seat in Congress. Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76, have represented adjacent chunks of the island for about three decades. Both hold powerful seats in Congress: Nadler chairs the House Judiciary Committee, while Maloney leads the House Oversight Committee. Nadler's congressional district had included the Upper West Side, while Maloney's covered much of the eastern half of Manhattan. But their separate districts were combined in May, the result of a messy and highly controversial redistricting process. Both Nadler and Maloney announced they would run for the newly formed 12th Congressional District. Suraj Patel, who has challenged Maloney in two previous primary elections, was also on the ballot. Despite their long history, the primary fight between Nadler and Maloney was anything but neighborly. "He said, 'Step aside, I'm running.' And I said, 'Well, I'm running too. I'm not leaving,'" Maloney said in a New York Magazine profile of the race. "He said, 'I'm gonna win.' I said, 'I'm gonna win.' We haven't spoken since," she said. Maloney has also fanned rumors that Nadler won't serve out his full term if elected and that he's senile and unfit for office — charges Nadler's campaign has denied. Nadler has highlighted the differences in their voting records, saying Maloney has been "wrong on very major issues" including her "cowardly" vote for the Patriot Act, New York Magazine reported. Nadler has also made his Jewish faith a central part of his pitch to voters. Maloney, meanwhile, has sought to center her experiences as a woman in politics while touting her record on social issues — including abortion, a galvanizing topic in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. She has been endorsed by famed attorney and feminist activist Gloria Steinem. "You cannot send a man to do a woman's job," Maloney said in a recent television ad.

Correction: This report has been updated to correctly describe the area of Maloney's former congressional district.

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Salman Rushdie's books top Amazon's bestseller lists after stabbing

British author Salman Rushdie poses behind some copies of his book "Joseph Anton" on October 1, 2012 in Berlin. Author Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" topped several Amazon's bestsellers lists on Tuesday, days after he sustained serious injuries in a stabbing at a lecture in New York.

Johannes Eisele | Afp | Getty Images

Author Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" topped several Amazon bestsellers lists on Tuesday, days after he sustained serious injuries in a stabbing at a lecture in New York.

His agent Andrew Wylie said the author could lose an eye after the attack, which also damaged his liver and severed nerves in one arm. Since then, the award-winning novelist was taken off a ventilator on Saturday and was able to talk again, according to Wylie.

Rushdie has dealt with more than 30 years of death threats and a $3 million bounty on his head over "The Satanic Verses." Former supreme leader of Iran Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death following the 1988 publication of "The Satanic Verses," which some readers found blasphemous for its depiction of Islam.

"The Satanic Verses" over the span of the weekend after Rushdie's stabbing skyrocketed to the top of several Amazon's bestselling books lists on Monday and Tuesday.

The book came in as the #1 Best Seller in Amazon's Literary Satire Fiction list and in the Contemporary British & Irish Literature list. The Spanish version of the novel also topped the Best Sellers in Literature & Fiction in Spanish page. These are in contrast to last Friday when Rushdie's books did not even make the top 100, according to archives of Salman Rushdie's Amazon page recovered by the non-profit Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

The title also claimed 27th place in the overall Amazon Best Sellers list on Tuesday, where it also had not made the top 100 last week, as seen in Wayback Machine's archive of Amazon's Best Seller page.

His other books, including "Midnight's Children" and "Joseph Anton: A Memoir" had similarly topped the Best Sellers list for the Asia Myth & Legend and Religious Intolerance section respectively, where the former had previously not broken top 50 last month.

Police have not confirmed the motive of the individual arrested following the attack on Rushdie.

Amazon was unable to provide proprietary sales data when asked if sales of Rushdie's books were more robust after Friday's incident. Amazon has also directed CNBC to Rushdie's publisher, Random House, who were also unavailable for comment.

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Salman Rushdie stabbed in neck, airlifted to hospital

Author Salman Rushdie is reportedly on a ventilator and unable to speak after being attacked while on stage in western New York on Friday.

State troopers confirmed in a press conference Friday afternoon that Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen while on stage for a panel in Chautauqua in western New York.

Staff and audience members rushed to the stage and pinned the assailant to the ground following the attack, state troopers said. A state trooper who was present took the suspect into custody with the assistance of a local sheriff's deputy.

Rushdie was treated by a doctor who was in the audience before emergency medical services arrived and airlifted him to a local trauma center.

After hours of surgery, Rushdie was reportedly on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday evening.

"The news is not good," Andrew Wylie, his book agent, wrote in an email reported by Reuters. "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged."

Author Salman Rushdie is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY.

Joshua Goodman | AP

The state police department identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, age 24, from Fairview, NJ. The New York State Police is collaborating with the FBI and local police for the investigation.

A preliminary review of Matar's social media accounts by law enforcement showed him to be sympathetic to Shia extremism and the causes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a law enforcement person with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News. Law enforcement officers reportedly found images of Solemani and an Iraqi extremist sympathetic to the Iranian regime in a cell phone messaging app belonging to Matar, according to NBC News.

There are no definitive links to the IRGC but the initial assessment indicates he is sympathetic to the Iranian government group, the official said.

The New York State Police released a statement immediately following the incident:

"On August 12, 2022, at about 11 a.m., a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer," the statement read. "Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known. The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody."

A spokesperson from the Chautauqua Institution, where the panel was being held, told CNBC that the organization was coordinating with emergency officials on a public response after the attack.

The Wylie Agency, which represents Rushdie, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" forced him into hiding after it was banned in Iran and a $3 million bounty was put on his head. The Iranian government has distanced itself from the bounty, according to The Associated Press, but the fatwa has been continued by a semiofficial religious organization, which raised the bounty to $3.3 million.

Rushdie has been awarded many of the top literary prizes, including two Whitbread Prizes for best novel. He was knighted in 2007 while Tony Blair was prime minister. Blair released a statement on the attack.

Author Salman Rushdie at the Blue Sofa at the 2017 Frankfurt Book Fair on October 12, 2017 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Hannelore Foerster | Getty Images

"My thoughts are with Salman and all his family," Blair wrote on Friday. "A horrible and utterly unjustified attack on someone exercising their right to speak, to write and to be true to their convictions in their life and in their art."

Rushdie was scheduled to sit on a panel alongside Henry Reese, president of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, an organization that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution.

"We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on coordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the Amphitheater today," the Chautauqua Institution said in a tweet Friday. "All programs are canceled for the remainder of the day. Please consult the NYS Police statement."

The institution's website described the panel as "A discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression."

Rushdie was the former president of PEN America, a nonprofit that defends freedom of expression and supports persecuted writers. PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel released a statement in the wake of the attack.

"Just hours before the attack, on Friday morning, Salman had emailed me to help with placements for Ukrainian writers in need of safe refuge from the grave perils they face," Nossel wrote. "Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered. He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul thanked the New York State Police for their response to the attack on Rushdie.

"Our thoughts are with Salman & his loved ones following this horrific event," wrote the governor. "I have directed State Police to further assist however needed in the investigation."

Hochul later said Rushdie is alive.

"It was a state police officer that stood up and saved his life," the governor said during an event about gun violence, adding that the event moderator was also attacked. "We're monitoring the situation, but he's getting the care he needs at the local hospital."

This is the latest in a series of onstage attacks against public figures, including Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., in a town near Rochester, New York, earlier this summer, Dave Chappelle at the Hollywood Bowl, and Chris Rock during the Oscars.

NBC News contributed to this report

Correction: Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., was attacked in a town near Rochester, New York, earlier this summer. An earlier version misspelled his name and misstated the location.

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With records poised to fall, city folk flee heat if they can

PROMISED LAND, Pa. -- It's not exactly flowing with milk and honey — just ask the area's struggling black bears — but Promised Land offered respite Sunday for city folks in the Northeast trying to escape a nearly weeklong hot spell that only threatened to intensify.

Those with the resources fled to pools, beaches and higher elevations like Promised Land State Park, at 1,800 feet (550 meters) in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains and a drive of about 2 1/2 hours from New York City and Philadelphia.

From the Pacific Northwest to the southern Great Plains to the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor, more than 85 million Americans were under excessive heat warnings or heat advisories issued by the National Weather Service. The agency warned of “extremely oppressive” conditions from Washington to Boston.

Even in Promised Land, temperatures were forecast to soar above 90 (32 Celsius), but with shade from the forests, cool lake water and mountain breezes, it was more than tolerable, visitors said.

Rosa Chavez, 47, a high school teacher in Manhattan, applied sunscreen at a beach on Promised Land Lake. She and friend Arlene Rodriguez, who accompanied her, had just experienced Europe's own heat wave while vacationing last week in Florence, Italy.

“The heat is following us,” said Rodriguez, 47, a real estate agent and property manager.

Numerous record highs were expected to be tied or broken in the Northeast, the weather service said.

Philadelphia was forecast to hit 100 degrees (38 Celsius) Sunday before even factoring in humidity. Newark, New Jersey, saw its fifth consecutive day of 100 degrees or higher, the longest such streak since records began in 1931. Boston also hit 100 degrees, surpassing the previous daily record high of 98 degrees set in 1933.

At least one heat-related death, in New York, has been reported. Around the region, athletic events were shortened or postponed.

Philadelphia officials extended a heat emergency through Sunday, sending workers to check on homeless people and knock on the doors of other vulnerable residents. The city also opened cooling centers and stationed air-conditioned buses at four intersections for people to cool off.

Forecasters urged people to wear light clothing, drink lots of water, limit time outside, and check on elderly people and pets.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a heat emergency through Monday and kept a dozen cooling centers open.

Organizers of the New York City Triathlon shortened the distances that athletes had to run and bike. This weekend's Boston Triathlon was put off until Aug. 20-21.

On the West Coast, forecasters warned of extreme heat arriving early this week and lingering until the weekend. Temperatures could break daily records in Seattle, Portland and Northern California by Tuesday and be the highest since a heat wave last year that killed hundreds of people across the Pacific Northwest.

Many homes in the often-rainy region lack air conditioning, and authorities cautioned that indoor heat is likely to build through the week, increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses, something emergency medical officials in Boston also warned of.

Chavez, in Promised Land, said she has asthma and needs to keep her inhaler around, especially “when the heat is so thick I can't breathe.” The breezes and clearer air in the mountains help, she said.

It was already over 80 degrees at midmorning as Mhamed Moussa Boudjelthia, a 31-year-old Uber driver from Queens, fired up a grill at the beach to make kebabs. He and another friend from Queens had fled the hot chaos of the city for the day.

“There, it's really hot,” Boudjelthia said. “There's too much humidity, too.”

His friend, Kamel Mahiout, 35, agreed as he stood in a cooling breeze: “It's crazy in New York City.”

The heat was withering even less than an hour away, at lower elevations. In Scranton, Pennsylvania, Sunday's high was expected to be 97, and not punching below 70 at night.

“That also leads to the danger. People aren’t getting that relief overnight,” said weather service forecaster Lily Chapman. “That stress on the body is kind of cumulative over time.”

The area also has been drier than usual, she said.

Regular campers and cabin residents in Promised Land attribute unusually numerous bear sightings to the dry conditions. The animals roam neighborhoods and campsites for scraps as streams and berries dry up.

“Today's hot,” said Alex Paez, 34, of Scranton, sitting under a shade canopy at the beach in Promised Land. “If you don't need to be outside doing something productive, then stay in.”

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York City; Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana; Michael Hill in Albany, N.Y.: Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island; and Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/with-records-poised-to-fall-city-folk-flee-heat-if-they-can/?feed_id=1518&_unique_id=62dda59f7443f