8-23-25
From the desk of Rich Stephens
News for the week ending August 22, 2025.
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
Current Events
Second Avenue Subway Extension
New York Governor, Kathy Hochul announced the Second Avenue Subway Extension project during a press conference on Monday, August 18th.
“We wanted to make sure that we could show that we could cut through the bureaucracy and all the red tape and also took significant funding and I congratulate all of you and my partners in state government for helping deliver this very ambitious capital plan. $68.4 billion dollars which is allowing this to happen. And part of the funding does come from congestion pricing. It’s working, we know that. Send our friends in Washington a message. It is working. And we know that traffic is down and business is up and people are happy…”
Governor Hochul expressed optimism in the project, stating, “This project hopefully will restore people’s faith in our capacity and our desire to get the big transformation projects done”.
View her full statement here.
Matthew Perry Death
In Los Angeles, Jasveen Sanga, known as the Ketamine Queen of North Hollywood, agreed to plead guilty to charges related to ketamine distribution, which include one count of causing death. These charges are linked to the October 2023 death of actor Matthew Perry and could lead to a maximum sentence of 65 years.
The complete justice department release.
Operation Heat Wave – Texas Fugitives
In July, several Conroe Police Officers and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Deputies worked with U.S. Marshals for Operation Heat Wave. From August 4-8, this operation led to the arrest of 71 individuals and the clearing of 91 felony warrants, including serious offenses such as parole violations, possession of child pornography, assault, family violence, and drug-related charges. Additional warrants were cleared for various crimes including firearm possession by a felon and larceny.
Hurricane Erin
Hurricane Erin is the first Atlantic hurricane and also the first major hurricane of the season. It caused significant damage along the East Coast of the United States, especially in the coastal areas of North Carolina.
The main impact of Hurricane Erin was on the environment, particularly affecting sea turtle populations. It also led to coastal flooding and dangerous surf conditions along the East Coast.
Hurricane history can be viewed at here.
For real-time storm and hurricane coverage, visit the NHC directly, or use Mike’s Weather Page.
U.S. Politics
Florida, Texas and California Redistricting
Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron Desantis announced that state Attorney General James Uthmeier has written a letter to the census bureau and copied the white house, urging a review of the 2020 census data. He said Florida was underrepresented by 3.5% and is attempting to gain additional congressional seats as well as electoral votes for presidential elections. Additional congressional apportionment would necessitate redrawing the district maps for the state.
Democrats returned to Texas Monday after leaving the state for two weeks to deny quorum and prevent a vote on redrawn congressional district maps. After an all-day debate, the maps were passed in an 88-52 vote on the house floor Wednesday. In response, the California legislature passed a measure Thursday that will send their own redrawn district maps to a referendum vote in a November special election.
Noem on the Border
Secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem Spoke Tuesday at the border in Texas. She announced that we will be painting the entire southern border wall black to make it hotter in the heat and discourage illegal border crossings. She also noted that her department is currently constructing almost .5 miles / day of border wall. She noted that work is being done to secure not only the southern border, but the northern and maritime borders as well.
Trump Penalty Overturned
The New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division issued a decision in Donald Trump’s appeal of a 2023 ruling against him. He was initially ordered to pay $464 Million Dollars for fraudulent business practices in New York. The full decision is more than 300 pages and the 5 justice panel voiced deep disagreement between themselves over whether the Attorney General had the authority to bring the case, whether it should be retried, or referred ultimately to a higher court.
World News
Trump Meets Zelenskyy in the Oval Office
Trump spoke Monday ahead of a meeting with Ukranian President (name) as well as 7 other European leaders.
They took questions from the media. Trump expressed optimism ahead of the meeting. “The war’s gonna end. When it ends, I can’t tell you, but the war is going to end and this gentleman wants it to end and Vladamir Putin wants it to end. I think the whole world is tired of it and we’re gonna get it ended.”
When asked about Melania’s letter to Putin, Trump said, “So the first lady felt very strongly, she has watched the same thing that you watch and that I watch. I see things that you don’t get to see and it’s horrible. But she’s got a great love of children. She’s got a wonderful son that she loves, probably more than anyone, including me, I hate to say it, but she love her son. She loves children and she hates to see something like this happening. And that goes for other wars too.”
- Meeting with President Trump and Zelenskyy
- Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte
- UK PM Starma
- President Macron of France
- Prime Minister Meloni of Italy
- Chancellor Merz of Germany
- President of Finland Alexander Stubb
- President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen
Trump: “the Alaska summit reinforced my believe that while difficult, peace is within reach and I believe that in a very significant step, President Putin would accept security guarantees for Ukraine and this is one of the key points that we need to consider and we’re going to be considering that at the table also…I’m optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine…We also need to discuss the possible exchanges of territory taking into consideration the current line of contact…and negotiating positions.”
Ahead of the meeting, Monday morning UK PM Keir Starmer traveled to Washington DC with other European leaders. ‘…hugely impacted Ukrainians who’ve suffered hugely, but it’s also impacted Europe, it’s impacted every single family and community in the United Kingdom, so everybody wants it to end, not least the Ukrainians. But we’ve got to get this right. We’ve got to make sure there is peace, that it is lasting peace and that it is fair and it is just. That’s why I’m traveling to Washington with other European leaders to discuss this face to face with president trump and president ze because it is in everybody’s interest, it is in the UK’s interest that we get this right’ FULL POST
Sports
The Little League World Series will wrap up tomorrow. Some notable games include the Tuesday night matchup between Sioux Falls South Dakota and Bonney Lake Washington. Led by pitcher Maxen Snoozy who recorded a total of 14 strikeouts, at one point striking out 10 in a row, Sioux Falls defeated Bonney Lake.
The next night, the South Dakota squad took a commanding lead in extra innings. Tied at one, the Sioux Falls squad exploded with 5 runs including an RBI double from, Snoozy. They would watch that lead disappear and lose to Irmo South Carolina in a walk off single to right field.
Tomorrow’s final should be a thriller.
The New York Yankees waited out a 2 hour delay Tuesday in Tampa before Aaron judge recorded his 40th home run of the season. The 13-3 win included 9 total home runs by 6 Yankees to tie a franchise single game record.
And while today is officially the first day of college football, most teams will kick off a week from now. Notable August 30th matchups include Texas at Ohio State, LSU at Clemson, an Alabama at Florida State. Notre Dame will visit Miami a day later.
Markets
In markets news, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled Friday the potential of lowering interest rates next month. Noting “the balance of risks appears to be shifting” he also referenced a softening labor market, in which job growth has slowed but unemployment has not increased substantially.
On the back of his comments, markets rebounded from a week of losses.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 45952, a 1000 point gain over the last week and climbing nearly 900 points on Friday alone.
NASDAQ lost 126 points on the week but erased large losses with a 406 point Friday gain.
The S&P 500 finished 17 points in the black after recovering from a mid week slump with Friday’s gains.
Gold held more or less steady, closing at 3370.
Like it or not, that’s what happened.
And if I misstated or missed something all together, please let me know.
Rich Stephens
The Cold Take