Deputy Erie County Executive Lisa Chimera Child & Family Services Director of Victim Services Tiffany Pavone, Director, Family Violence & Women’s Rights Clinic, UB School of Law Family Violence & Women’s Rights Clinic Director Judith Olin, Gina Gramaglia from the District Attorney’s Office, Jara Traina of the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, RAHAMA Executive Director Nancy Abdelhaq and others to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the opening of the Tribute Garden WNY, located in Isle View Park in Tonawanda.
The Tribute Garden was opened September 26, 2015 by Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, members of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women, Chairman of the Buffalo and Erie County Greenway Fund Standing Committee Alan J. Bozer, members of the Erie County Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, WNY domestic violence agencies and community partners, victims of domestic violence and their families, and community members committed to ending domestic violence.
Located in an Erie County park and overlooking the Niagara River, the Tribute Garden is believed to be the first permanent Garden of its kind located on public land in the United States. To learn more, visit www3.erie.gov/csw/tribute-garden-wny.
Democratic governors are quietly sharing worries that President Donald Trump intends to disrupt next year's congressional elections, according to a political insider.
The president told U.S. troops this week that he was prepared to send "more than the National Guard" into American cities as he escalates a confrontation with Democratic-led local governments, and MSNBC's John Heilemann told "Morning Joe" that high-ranking officials are growing concerned about whether free and fair elections would take place in 2026.
"Trump has essentially taken theattitude and pursued policiesin line with the attitude of, 'I'm the president, I can dowhatever I want," Heilemann said. "You know, we've talked foryears about the expandingpurview of executive power in America, but Trump is so far atthe extreme of that.This is clearly one of the largest areas where that's the case."
"Youknow, when Trump decided tonationalize the National Guard, to federalizethe National Guard in California, in Los Angeles, thefirst of these moves, it was the first time that a president had overridden the wishes of a governor ofa state since back in the civil rights era, when troops were federalized totry to integrate some of theschools in Alabama and otherstates in the South. So there is a not in our lifetimes precedent for this, and Trump has not just done it once, but is now doing it pretty much everywhere."
Those aggressive moves against Democratic-led states and cities have provoked some dark fears among the president's political opponents, Heilemann said.
"That is raising the specter you're talkingabout, which is, in the medium term, is this part of a strategyto try to steal, effectively,or at least put your thumb very,very firmly on the scale of the 2026 midtermelections, but also with thenormalization project," Heilemann said. "We're not even a year in, andwe've had multiple cities wherewe've seen this happen.
"In thecourse of the next three years, is the longer term objective to getto a place where troops on American streets havebecome so normalized that not only have the 2026 midterms been affected, butthat the 2028 presidentialelection could be affected,with Trump basically saying, 'Thewhole country is in a state ofemergency and I'm going todeclare martial law and nothave the 2028 presidentialelection.'"
"That is the fear of alot of people in theprogressive camp, that this is where it's going," he added, "and I don't mean just wild-eyedprogressives, I mean a lot of Democratic governors arealready starting to whisperthat and say that to reporters,that that's where they thinkthis is really headed over thecourse of the next three years."
Host Jonathan Lemire said he's been hearing the same concerns in his own reporting.
"That sentiment is outthere, a terrifying one, and onethat will be worth obviouslykeeping an eye on in the months and years ahead," Lemire said.
