The Trump administration's on-again, off-again tariff proposals have dominated headlines this year. They've impacted the stock market, created uncertainty for multiple industries, and stoked division between the U.S. and some of its closest allies, like Canada. President Donald Trump has said the short-term pain of the tariffs will pay off in long-term gains for the country.
Trump's biggest terror fight has been with China. Goods made there now face up to 145 percent import taxes coming into the United States. We look at how that's affecting businesses here in New York on today's story of the day. Support for Story of the Day comes from Claxton Hepburn Medical Center, dedicated to providing patient care and regional services to the people of St. Lawrence County. ClaxtonHepburn.org.
Hi, I'm Kara Chapman, and for David Summerstein, it's Thursday, April 24th. Up first, a man was injured and subsequently arrested in connection with an officer-involved shooting in Saratoga County Wednesday. State police say a vehicle pursuit of 45-year-old Billy Cassell III of Kingsbury ended when he crashed into a South Glens Falls home. He then allegedly fled the scene with a loaded shotgun.
Police say troopers found Cassell and told him to drop the gun multiple times. They say he raised the firearm toward them, and that's when a trooper fired, striking Cassell on the shoulder. Cassell was treated and released from Albany Medical Center Wednesday evening. He was charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon and menacing a police officer, among other charges. Cassell is in custody at the Saratoga County Jail without bail.
College and university leaders in the North Country have joined opposition to the Trump administration's higher education funding freezes. The presidents of SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Potsdam, and St. Lawrence University signed on to a statement released by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. So far, they and more than 400 of their counterparts across the country have signed it.
The leaders said they're speaking against, quote, the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education. The statement came after Harvard University announced that it's suing the Trump administration for freezing $2.2 billion in federal research.
The freeze came after the university said it wouldn't bend to many demands made by the administration. The higher ed leaders said they opposed, quote, the coercive use of public research funding and called for constructive engagement. St. Lawrence University has also signed on to an amicus brief that challenges the administration's revocation of visas and detentions of non-citizen students and scholars.
A proposed settlement to the decades-old Mohawk land claim is on its way to final approval by Congress. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik introduced a bill to ratify the agreement last week in the House of Representatives. As David Summerstein reports, the deal would close more than 40 years of litigation over Mohawk's aboriginal territory. The deal would immediately return 3,500 acres of land to Akwesasne Mohawk territory.
It would also give Mohawks the right to buy an additional 14,000 acres from willing sellers in northern St. Lawrence and Franklin counties. Mohawk people would get free Sunni tuition. The St. Regis Mohawk tribe would get up to nine megawatts of low-cost power. And the New York Power Authority would pay the tribe $70 million over 35 years.
That's because the NYPA-owned hydropower dam on the St. Lawrence River sits on Barnhart Island, which is part of the Mohawk land claim but will not be returned. Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law approving the settlement last year after St. Lawrence and Franklin counties and Mohawk tribal councils on the U.S. and Canadian sides of Akwesasne all agreed to the settlement. In a press release, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik called the agreement a significant milestone.
The land claim was filed in 1982 and nearly petered out in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Oneida Nation's land claim in central New York. But the Mohawks won a major court victory in 2022, when a judge ruled Mohawk people had lived in Akwesasne continuously since New York sold their land without congressional approval in the 1790s. That decision ruled the Mohawks were due compensation.
But the land claim deal has deeply divided the Akwesasne community, with traditionalist Mohawks arguing a settlement would forever extinguish the Mohawk's title to their original territory. Some protesters of the land claim were arrested on Barnhart Island last year. But in a press release, the St. Regis Mohawk tribe said, quote, getting our land back has been a goal of ours and our ancestors and that the settlement accomplishes that goal. David Summerstein, North Country Public Radio.
New York State is suing the Trump administration over the president's tariff policies. Eleven other states are part of the lawsuit, which claims the tariffs were inappropriately enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The states argue Congress hasn't granted President Trump the authority to levy the territory.
They say the administration violated the law by imposing them using agency policies and executive orders and via social media. In a statement to NBC News, a White House spokesperson characterized the suit as a witch. He said the administration, quote, remains committed to using its full legal authority to confront the distinct national emergencies our country is currently facing.
Trump's trade war with China and his on-again, off-again tariffs on other countries have been one of the biggest stories of the year. It's affecting businesses across the U.S., including here in New York. Jung Yoon Han from the New York Public News Network reports it could mean higher prices for everything from clothes to fireworks.
Jack Yonnelly and his son run B. Lodge & Company in Albany. It's a clothing store that's been around since 1867. And I have customers that come in and they might be in their 90s and they say, well, since I was a little girl, I've shopped. My mother used to bring me in here, all right? And that is very rewarding.
In addition to everyday clothes, they sell scrubs for hospital workers in the capital region and student uniforms for about 30 schools across the state and handkerchiefs. And I have older customers that... wipe their nose with a handkerchief like my mother did. This time of year, Yanalee is usually busy placing orders for the summer. But he has a problem.
A lot of these goods are made in China. One of my main resources that I ordered from said, Jack, I can hold prices through the end of April. I have stock in this country. I can't promise after that because I don't know. Yonnelly says that uncertainty is all because of President Donald Trump's escalating trade war with China and his baseline 10 percent import tax on goods from most other countries.
My prices on embroidered polo shirts at this point are $11.99. I've been $11.99 for eight years. And I don't want to have customers coming in here where I have to have it at $14. Because all I'll hear from them is why. This is precisely the question that New York businesses have to answer. Do they raise their prices, eat their costs, or something in between?
And what if, in the case of young explosives in the Finger Lakes, their customers booked their services months ago? I probably will put some sort of surcharge on a show. Maybe it'd be, I'm just guessing maybe 8%, maybe. That's Jim Young. He runs a family business in Canandaigua. They put on more than 500 fireworks shows a year. Weddings, baseball games, and, of course, the 4th of July. We actually mix the chemicals, and we actually make those shells that are the big bangs at the end, typically.
People really get into that. But about 80% of the fireworks used in their shows are ordered and shipped here from China. Young recently placed three orders from factories there. Wenshipman arrived as the first wave of tariffs kicked in, so it came with a 25% tariff. Another is on route, and he isn't sure what the import tax will be. The third, he canceled because of the financial uncertainty. To the towns or cities that you work with, like have you given them any notices and what have they set?
I have not, and I wrestled what I want to say because I feel bad having to tell people, and I'm not sure what I'm going to say exactly. Like I told you earlier, though, the one... Good thing it's not a surprise. Young says he voted for Trump and he had a feeling tariffs would come eventually, seeing how much Trump talked about them on the campaign trail. He says he wishes the president would have implemented a more gradual approach.
But he's optimistic it could help rebuild some aspects of American manufacturing. Yanuli agrees it's a worthwhile goal. That's what the president is trying to push for, I know. This country has changed from being a manufacturing country to a service country. I mean, we don't make profits. So it's a wonderful idea. Democrats are planning to force a vote in the US Senate next week to reverse Trump's tariff.
Young and other people in the pyrotechnics industry, meanwhile, are seeking relief, asking Trump to exempt fireworks from the terror. Young says hopefully Trump will do so before his next shipment arrives. In Albany, I'm Jung Yoon Han for the New York Public News Network. We have more news all the time on our website, ncpr.org. Music today by Christopher Watts of Canton and Evan Veenstra of Gananoque, Ontario. I'm Kara Chapman, North Country.