Representative Hakeem Jeffries
Credit: © lev radin/Shutterstock

On Tuesday, January 3, 2023, Hakeem Jeffries became the first Black person to lead a party in the United States Congress. As the leader of the Democratic Party in Congress, Jeffries will fill the role formerly held by Representative Nancy Pelosi, who was speaker and minority leader of the House of Representatives since 2003. His success was overshadowed by the dramatic chaos of Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy’s campaign to be elected Speaker of the House, which continued for days for the first time in a century. In 2022, the Democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives elected Jeffries minority leader. Jeffries became a member of the House in 2013. He represents a district of New York that includes the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

A Brooklyn native, Hakeem Sekou Jeffries was born on Aug. 4, 1970. His father was a substance abuse counselor, and his mother was a social worker. Jeffries graduated from New York’s Binghamton University in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He continued his studies, earning a master’s degree in public policy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Jeffries returned to New York City to enroll in the New York University School of Law, graduating with honors in 1997.

After law school, Jeffries clerked for Judge Harold Baer, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He then practiced law at a private firm. He later served as litigation counsel for the media companies Viacom Inc. and CBS. Jeffries ran for the New York State Assembly in 2000 and 2002, losing to the incumbent Roger Green. When Green vacated the post in 2006, Jeffries ran and won the election, serving in the role for three terms.

In 2012, Jeffries was elected to his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Budget Committee. In 2018, Jeffries was appointed to serve as the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus for the 116th Congress. In 2020, he served as impeachment manager for the Senate trial of former President Donald Trump. Jeffries’s political priorities include criminal justice reform and economic and health care security.

September 26, 2018

On Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Paul Simon ended his final tour with a concert at Flushing Meadows Corona Park near his boyhood home in Queens, a borough of New York City. Simon is retiring from touring, but denies he will stop making music or the occasional live appearance. The farewell concert, titled “Homeward Bound—the Final Performance,” featured a 26-song set and an appearance by his wife, singer Edie Brickell. Simon, who will turn 77 in October, made little mention of his former singing partner, Art Garfunkel, with whom he formed one of the most popular folk-rock groups of the 1960′s. Simon has had a successful solo career since the 1970′s.

Paul Simon, left, teamed with his childhood friend Art Garfunkel, right, to form Simon and Garfunkel, one of the most popular folk-rock groups of the 1960′s. Simon ended his final concert tour with a show in New York City on Sept. 22, 2018. Credit: © Pictorial Press/Alamy Images

Simon and Garfunkel first billed themselves as Tom and Jerry, and in 1957 recorded a minor hit titled “Hey, Schoolgirl” while they were still in high school. Simon and Garfunkel made their popular breakthrough in 1965 with the success of the folk-rock version of their song “The Sounds of Silence.” Simon wrote almost all their material, including the hits “Mrs. Robinson” (1968) and “Bridge over Troubled Water” (1970).

Simon and Garfunkel separated in 1970. Simon’s major solo success of the 1970′s was the album Still Crazy After All These Years (1975). Simon reunited with Garfunkel in 1981 for a concert in New York City’s Central Park. It was recorded as an album and inspired a reunion tour. In 1986, Simon released the acclaimed album Graceland, which he made with black South African musicians. In the 1990′s, he turned to Brazilian music for inspiration. In 2011, Simon released the album So Beautiful or So What. Simon wrote the music for the Broadway show The Capeman (1998). Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with Art Garfunkel and in 2001 as an individual performer. Paul Frederic Simon was born on Oct. 13, 1941, in Newark, New Jersey.

November 5, 2012

The death toll from the massive storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy stands at 71 people in the Caribbean, 110 in the United States, and 2 people in Canada. The storm left at least 40 people dead in New York City. More than 1.8 million homes and businesses remain without electric power in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, down from a peak of 8.5 million on October 30.

New York City’s 1.1 million public school students returned to class today. However, 57 school buildings are too damaged to be reopened, forcing some 34,000 students to be reassigned to other schools. At least 29 schools remain without electric power, and 8 buildings that normally house 24,000 students are currently being used as shelters for people left homeless by the storm.

The strong winds in hurricanes can push huge amounts of water onto land in a storm surge. Sandy's massive storm surges caused widespread devastation in parts of New York and New Jersey. (AP/Wide World)

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 New Yorkers remain homeless, according to the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. At least 20,000 of the total were residents of public housing. In New Jersey, more than 5,000 people remain in shelters, and tens of thousands of people who evacuated are known to be living with friends or relatives.

Hurricane Sandy made landfall in the United States near Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the early evening of October 29. A record storm surge caused enormous damage along the Jersey Shore and in New York City, particularly in Queens and on Staten Island. As the storm moved inland, it collided with two other weather systems, including a burst of cold air sweeping down through the Canadian Plains. The combined storm brought high winds, freezing rains, and heavy snows to parts of West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, it caused power outages and flooding and forced numerous closures of roads, schools, and businesses. The storm left at least seven people dead in Pennsylvania and five dead in West Virginia.

Additional World Book articles:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)

October 30, 2012

Some 6 million people remain without electric power on the East Coast of the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The storm, reclassified as a post-tropical cyclone, made landfall at 6:45 p.m. last night near the New Jersey resort of Atlantic City, where a storm surge flooded much of the city and tore up parts of the famed boardwalk. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie described the damage to the “devastated” Jersey Shore as “incalculable,” and President Barack Obama declared a federal disaster area in eight New Jersey counties as well as in New York City and Long Island.

Hurricanes can cause massive damage from strong winds, flooding, mudslides, and a rapid rise in sea level called a storm surge. (AP/Wide World)

In New York City, the storm flooded seven subway tunnels under the East River in what the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority characterized as the single most destructive disaster in the 108-year history of the subway system. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is also filled with sea water from “end-to-end.”

At least 33 people died in the storm, which toppled trees and sparked numerous fires. Driven by the hurricane-force winds, one fire burned at least 80 houses in the New York City borough of Queens. In Manhattan, flooding topped the sea wall in the financial district and triggered an explosion in a Consolidated Edison generating plant, cutting electric power to much of the island below mid-town.

As Sandy moved inland, it collided with two other weather systems, including a burst of cold air sweeping down through the Canadian Plains. The combined storm brought high winds, freezing rains, and heavy snows to parts of West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, it caused power outages and flooding and forced numerous closures of roads, schools, and businesses.

Sandy’s strong winds also spawned dangerous conditions on the Great Lakes. In Chicago, emergency management officials warned that winds up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour could send waves as high as 25 feet (8 meters) crashing along the shoreline of Lake Michigan. In Cleveland and other areas of northeastern Ohio, an estimated 250,000 people are without power amid heavy rains, high winds, flooding, and icy roads. The National Weather Service reports wind gusts of 60 to 70 miles (100 to 112 kilometers) per hour along the shoreline of Lake Huron near Port Huron, north of Detroit.

Additional World Book articles:

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)