Trump’s son-in-law to become top White House adviser

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump arrives with husband Jared Kushner at the Vanity Fair party to begin the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, US on April 17, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Lucas Jackson/File Photo US President-elect Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will become a senior White House adviser working on trade and the Middle East, transition officials said on Monday, in a rare case of a close presidential family member taking a major job.

New York state Legislature begins 2017 session

New York state lawmakers began their work for 2017 Wednesday with a vote to prohibit the use of cellphones as recording devices in the Senate chambers. The ban is intended to protect the chamber's decorum, according to lawmakers who included it in the Senate's internal rules.

Swedish woman manages to get a chick to hatch from a box of eggs…

PICTURED: Discharged military vet, 26, who shot dead five at Ft.Lauderdale airport baggage claim after telling FBI two months ago that he was being forced by the CIA to fight for ISIS Relatives of Ft.Lauderdale shooting suspect reveal how he 'lost his mind' after Iraq tour, was being prosecuted for strangling his ex and had been hospitalized with psychiatric problems Why was mentally ill Florida shooting suspect allowed to carry a gun and bullets in his luggage? A look at TSA and airline weapon guidelines in wake of lone shooter's rampage Esteban Santiago and the ISIS one-fingered salute: How Ft.Lauderdale shooting suspect made jihadi gesture in photo as authorities investigate his obsession with terror group Grandfather, 62, and a great grandmother celebrating her husband's 90th birthday are the first two victims identified in Ft.

Trump meets with Vanity Fair, New Yorker editors

President-elect Donald Trump met with the top editors at Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and other Conde Nast magazines on Friday for a wide-ranging discussion on policy matters. The meeting, which was organized by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, a Hillary Clinton supporter, marked a rare and perhaps fleeting truce between the incoming president and some of his most outspoken critics.

USDA Announces Seven Retailers to Participate in Pilot Program, Accept Food Stamps Online

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a pilot program that would allow participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase groceries online. Seven retailers will begin accepting food stamps online as part of an effort to make healthy food more available to Americans dependent on the SNAP program.

Editorials from around New York

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on the importance of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics and lawmakers' failed attempt to place it under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee. In 2013, 10 members of Congress, three former aides to President Barack Obama, several spouses, and 32 staff members attended an all-expenses-paid conference in Azerbaijan.

Bill Bernstein’s Exuberant Images of New York City’s Disco Days

In 1977, the Village Voice sent the young freelance photographer Bill Bernstein to Studio 54, though not to shoot the fabulous freaks cutting loose below its trademark "Man in the Moon with a Cocaine Spoon" sign. He was there, instead, to take pictures of an event celebrating President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, a dyed-in-the-wool liberal who was being honored at the venue by for her humanitarian work.

Nineteen States Increase…

Nineteen states are raising the minimum wage Sunday in a shift that stands to lift the income of millions of workers. The minimum wage will be increased in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington to start 2017.

The top 10 stories of 2016

Donald Trump The top 10 stories of 2016 Four Cabinet spots still open in the Trump administration McCain: There must be a 'price to pay' for Russian hacking MORE announced his bid for the White House in June 2015, the effort was widely dismissed as a self-promotional gambit by the New York property developer. Instead, Trump vanquished a huge Republican primary field that included big names such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio The top 10 stories of 2016 #Rexit: Tell Senate to reject Rex, confirm Romney for Secretary of State.

Putin’s Not-So-Secret Weapon

Long regarded as the understudy of the infamous KGB and its successor services, Russian military intelligence is now front and center in the Moscow-Washington showdown. It says something about the ingrained rivalry between the various fiefdoms of Russian espionage that the founder of Soviet military intelligence, Leon Trotsky, had an ice-ax driven into his head in Mexico by an agent of Stalin's foreign intelligence service.

The GRU You Never Knew, the Russian intel agency that Obama just hit

Long regarded as the understudy of the infamous KGB and its successor services, Russian military intelligence is now front and center in the Moscow-Washington showdown. It says something about the ingrained rivalry between the various fiefdoms of Russian espionage that the founder of Soviet military intelligence, Leon Trotsky, had an ice-ax driven into his head in Mexico by an agent of Stalin's foreign intelligence service.

Garbage trucks to block possible Times Square truck attacks

Massive 20-ton sanitation trucks, weighted with an extra 15 tons of sand, will surround the iconic New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, officials said Thursday, describing a security measure meant to stop deadly truck-driving attacks into crowds like those in Germany and France. The placement of the 65 trucks, along with 100 patrol cars, at intersections surrounding Times Square is a new element to an already heavily policed event that will include 7,000 officers, specially armed counterterrorism units and bomb-sniffing dogs.