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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson addressed the press to refute a report that he considered quitting his job. But the episode raises more questions about the workings of the Trump administration.

House Republicans passed their version of a tax overhaul today, as President Trump visited Capitol Hill to rally support for it. But prospects for a tax bill in the Senate are looking less certain.

Reaching an agreement on a DACA fix is only half the battle. The House and Senate would then have to approve it — and that could be tough, given how entrenched both parties' bases are on immigration issues.

Leaders at the evangelical Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. were among President Trump's earliest supporters. On Saturday, Trump gave his first commencement address as president at the university.

A federal judge has paved the way to publish one of the last remaining secrets of the Watergate investigation. Experts said the materials could inform how special counsel Robert Mueller proceeds.

The great jazz photographer Chuck Stewart recently found six rolls of 50-year-old film in his archive. They contained previously unpublished shots of John Coltrane recording his masterpiece.

Hemphill was a founding member and principal composer for the World Saxophone Quartet. The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmonyfeatures seven discs of newly released music from his archives.

Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (Sonja Kostich, its Chief Executive and Artistic Officer) announces the full programming for its 2022 Summer and Fall Festivals in the scenic Hudson Valley location showcasing international Stars from Dance, Music, Poetry, Sculpture, and Culinary Art worlds. Pre-sale tickets for members on-sale dates: March 1, 2022: Summer Festival, June 16, 2022: Fall Festival. Continuing its mission to be a home for artists across disciplines with its Annual Summer and Fall Festivals, Kaatsbaan kicks off 2022 with a Summer Soirée concert and dinner on June 3 featuring an evening with legendary singer-songwriter/pop music icon, Natalie Merchant, and celebrity caterer/lifestyle expert/author Mary Giuliani. https://kaatsbaan.org/ The Summer Festival runs over consecutive weekends, from June 4 to 19, opening with three new works from Live Arts Global, the dance/music project from Joanna DeFelice and Melanie Hamrick; rising stars from The Juilliard School, School of American Ballet, and more, with the acclaimed Neave Trio in classic repertoire as well as a new Kaatsbaan commissioned work from rising Juilliard choreographic talent Haley Winegarden, recipient of the first Kaatsbaan Playing Field Choreography Award; New York darling Taylor Mac previews a special evening of all new work; and closing the Summer Festival, a day of music and dance with Tyrone Birkett and his ensemble Emancipation in collaboration with New York City choreographer/dancer Robert Rubama, and poetry featuring multi-award-winning poet Patricia Smith joined by poet laureate of Los Angeles Lynne Thompson, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess. On September 16, the Fall Festival opens with a once-in-a-lifetime celebratory dinner from world-wide culinary star chef, Francis Mallmann, in honor of Philip Glass's 85th birthday. The Fall Festival runs over consecutive weekends, from September 17 to October 1, and continues the Glass birthday celebration, featuring new commissioned dances in partnership with Pomegranate Arts. New works by Lucinda Childs, Chanon Judson, Justin Peck, Leonardo Sandoval, and Bobbi Jene Smith with Or Schraiber with pianists Timo Andres, Anton Batagov, Conor Hanick, Noé Kains, and Maki Namekawa as they perform and interpret the composer's Glass Etudes throughout Kaatsbaan's lush 153-acres in the Hudson Valley.  Rounding out the Fall Festival includes special music concert; Trisha Brown: In Plain Site, by Trisha Brown Dance Company, curated specifically for Kaatsbaan; and a special screening of Steven Spielberg's film version of West Side Story, with choreography by New York City Ballet Resident Choreographer and Kaatsbaan Advisory Board member Justin Peck. ​The film screening will be followed by a performance and dance party led by Ricky Ubeda (Flaco) from the West Side Story film, closing out the 2022 Festival season. Throughout the 2022 Festival season, Kaatsbaan will exhibit the work of dynamic Hudson Valley based artists across its beautiful 153-acres. The list includes Emil Alzamora, Tristan Fitch, Jared Handelsman, Kenichi Hiratsuka, Portia Munson, Shelley Parriott, Eileen Power, Gregory Steel, Christina Tenaglia, and Millicent Young. "Kaatsbaan's 2022 Festivals represent our commitment to provide an extraordinary environment for  cultural innovation and excellence as a cultural park and to presenting multidisciplinary works." said Sonja Kostich, Chief Executive & Artistic Officer "As such, we are proud to continue contributing to the Hudson Valley's vast cultural landscape as well as the economic health of our Dutchess County community. Through innovative partnerships, we continue to present unparalleled artists from dance, music, culinary, poetry, and visual art, providing our audiences opportunities to engage with today's leading artists."  "We are thrilled to once again convene such notable artists for our upcoming 2022 Festivals," said Stella Abrera, Artistic Director. "Staying true to our mission of being a year-round dance sanctuary, we also look to support a diverse range of artists both as performers and creators and we strive to ensure that our programming accurately reflects today's society by supporting performers who advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts." Kaatsbaan 2022 Festival Curators: Hilary Greene, visual art  Jeff Gordinier, culinary, poetry, and music Oliver Ray, music  Kaatsbaan Annual Summer Festival Week 1 June 3: Summer Soirée dinner by celebrity caterer Mary Giuliani plus a very special intimate concert with Natalie Merchant. June 4 & 5: World Premiere by Live Arts Global This new work will be created in part during a Kaatsbaan residency and will feature live musical accompaniment.  Directors & Creators: Joanna DeFelice and Melanie Hamrick Choreographers: including Danielle Agami and Kristin Sudeikis Music: The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Alabama Shakes and more Music Director: Gabe McDonough Producers: Joanna DeFelice, Melanie Hamrick, Lauren Marrus, and Christine Shevchenko Week 2 June 11 & 12: ​​Classic and New Dance from Rising Stars Featuring rising stars including Juilliard wunderkind Kayla Mak, Olivia Bell and Philip Duclos from School of American Ballet Theater, and more, will perform classic and contemporary works plus a new Kaatsbaan commissioned group work from rising Juilliard choreographic talent, Haley Winegarden, recipient of the first Kaatsbaan Playing Field Choreography Award. Live music featuring the acclaimed Neave Trio. Week 3 June 18: An Evening of New Songs by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray Taylor Mac and friends pay homage to queer icons of the past and present in this work-in-progress concert, slated for a 2023 NYC premiere. Featuring a selection of all-new original songs co-written with composer/music director Matt Ray. Taylor Mac is reunited with longtime collaborators co-director Niegel Smith, choreographer Faye Driscoll and costume designer Machine Dazzle and creative producers Pomegranate Arts. Mac, who is a 2017 MacArthur "genius grant" recipient, and collaborators will create the work during a month-long Kaatsbaan residency, culminating in this performance celebrating Pride month in the Hudson Valley.   June 19: Community Event Commemorating Juneteenth  Saxophonist and composer Tyrone Birkett and his ensemble Emancipation, perform his Postmodern Spirituals and a new composition in collaboration with New York City-based dancer and choreographer Robert Rubama. The weekend includes a specially curated poetry lineup curated by multi-award-winning poet, Patricia Smith, joined by poet laureate of Los Angeles Lynne Thompson and Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Tyehimba Jess. This event is sponsored by the award-winning Sorel Liqueur, the original red drink from Jackie Summers. Kaatsbaan Annual Fall Festival Week 1 September 16: Gala dinner with world renowned chef, Francis Mallmann in honor of Philip Glass's 85th birthday. Kaatsbaan festival culinary curator, Jeff Gordinier, will moderate a conversation about Philip Glass's work, and its impact, with a panel of esteemed guests close to Glass's life and work. September 17 & 18: The Glass Etudes at Kaatsbaan – celebrating Philip Glass's 85th birthday Glass's Etudes for Piano are some of the most personal and popular works of Philip Glass's storied career. The Etudes will feature world premieres of newly commissioned works by choreographers spanning generations and genres accompanied by live interpretations on piano. Presented by Kaatsbaan and produced in collaboration with Pomegranate Arts. New commissioned works by choreographers Lucinda Childs, Chanon Judson, Justin Peck, Leonardo Sandoval, and Bobbi Jene Smith with Or Schraiber. Pianists include Timo Andres, Anton Batagov, Conor Hanick, Noé Kains, and Maki Namekawa. Official Kaatsbaan Sponsor, The Natori Company, providing costumes by award-winning fashion designer, Josie Natori. Week 2 September 24 & 25: Trisha Brown: In Plain Site, by Trisha Brown Dance Company, curated specifically for Kaatsbaan. Week 3  September 30: Special music concert to be announced in the spring October 1: Film screening of Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, with closing night West Side Story themed party to include a new work commissioned by Kaatsbaan featuring choreography by Ricky Ubeda, (Flaco) from the film. Kaatsbaan 2022 Festival Artists: Emil Alzamora, Tristan Fitch, Jared Handelsman, Kenichi Hiratsuka, Portia Munson, Shelley Parriott, Eileen Power, Gregory Steel, Christina Tenaglia, and Millicent Young. The public is invited to stroll the grounds and take in the magnificent views of nature and art. *All programming subject to change Summer Festival pre-sale ticket sales for members begin March 1, 2022 Summer Festival general ticket sales begin March 15, 2021 Fall Festival pre-sale ticket sales for members begin June 16, 2022 Fall Festival general ticket sales begin June 30, 2022 Kaatsbaan Summer and Fall Festivals take place at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (120 Broadway, Tivoli, NY 12583). Tickets can be purchased at kaatsbaan.org. For questions boxoffice@kaatsbaan.org. About Kaatsbaan Cultural Park Under new leadership, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park deepens its mission to provide an extraordinary environment for cultural innovation and excellence. As both an incubator for creativity and presenter for diverse world-class artists in dance, theater, music, film, poetry, culinary, media, and visual arts, Kaatsbaan provides artists with state-of-the-art dance studios, accommodations, an indoor theater, and two outdoor stages. Sitting on 153 Hudson River-adjacent acres, Kaatsbaan is free of urban facilities' space and time constraints, allowing for exciting levels of artistic exploration, creative action, and achievement – just two hours north of New York City. Kaatsbaan Cultural Park is committed to the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts as we aim to present, promote, and embrace programming that accurately reflects our society. We encourage a broadly diverse group of individuals to participate in our programs and join our Board and Staff and insist on being inclusive of all peoples regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic background, physical or mental ability. For more information, please visit www.kaatsbaan.org

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem and the American Society for Yad Vashem announce the American Premiere of Lera Auerbach's Symphony No. 6, "Vessels of Light," on April 19th, 2023 at Carnegie Hall. This moving, large-scale symphonic work for solo cello, choir and orchestra, was inspired by the heroism of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Vice-Consul to Lithuania, who saved thousands of Jewish refugees during WWII. Ms. Auerbach was approached by world-renowned Japanese-American-Israeli cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper to write the work, which will be performed at Carnegie Hall with Ms. Cooper as soloist, together with the New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Constantine Orbelian. Tickets are on sale at https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2023/04/19/A-Concert-for-Sugihara-0700PM.

Chiune Sugihara, who, alongside the Honorary Dutch Consul Jan Zwartendijk, issued thousands of life-saving exit visas, acted in direct defiance of their governments' policy, rising above the terror of the Nazi regime and helping thousands of Jews fleeing Europe. Ms. Cooper's husband's father, Irving Rosen, was the recipient of one of Sugihara's visas. In her words: "Chuine Sugihara's story deeply touched me, and I felt utterly compelled to help bring this incredible story forward. I could not stop thinking about how my husband and children are alive, that they exist, because of this man's bravery."

In her monumental work, Symphony No. 6, "Vessels of Light" for Violoncello, Choir and Orchestra, Lera Auerbach weaves a multilayered tapestry of words and music with Yiddish poetry, the art of Japanese Kintsugi, the mystical Shevirat ha-kelim ("breaking of the vessels"), and the silent words of biblical Psalm 121 in a work she dedicates "to Chiune Sugihara and all those who risk everything to save others." The Symphony was commissioned by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and the American Society for Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem has recognized Sugihara as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions during this dark chapter of our recent history.

The Carnegie Hall program will also include "Guardian Angel" by Karen Tanaka, a piece symbolic of Sugihara acting as a guardian angel to the refugees. It was inspired by a passage from the Old Testament in Exodus: "Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared."

The world premiere performance of Symphony No. 6, "Vessels of Light" took place on November 5, 2022 in Kaunas, Lithuania, where these life-saving visas were issued. Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan attended the performance together with many dignitaries and members of the diplomatic corps from around the world. This performance kicked off the international tour. Upcoming concerts include Prague on March 27, 2023, with the Czech Radio Philharmonic, the US West Coast premiere with Neal Stulberg conducting the UCLA Philharmonia and Chamber Singers on May 18, Festival Napa Valley on July 18, Warsaw, with Sinfonia Varsovia, on October 8, 2023, and the final concert of the year with the Dresden Philharmonie on November 11. Concerts resume again in 2024 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Germany, conducted by Alan Gilbert, on January 11 and 14; the Konzerthaus Orchester in Berlin, in the fall of 2024, and more performances to be announced. Kristina Reiko Cooper will be the cello soloist in all of these performances.

Registration is required for this free, virtual event. Go to: https://JWST.eventbrite.com

Hamptons Observatory, and co-host Suffolk County Community College, are pleased to present a free, virtual lecture by Michael T. Menzel, NASA Mission Systems Engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

July 12, 2023, marks the first anniversary of the first images and the science provided by the JWST, which was launched on December 25, 2021 and is NASA’s successor mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST has been designed and developed to observe “first light” objects in the nascent universe, the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history, star birth within our own galaxy, planet formation and evolution both in our solar system and in solar systems around other stars, and to make detailed observations of some of the recently discovered exoplanets. The observatory is now well into its first year of operation, producing magnificent images and data that is already reshaping our understanding of the early universe. This presentation will provide an overview of the JWST, its system design and its challenges, as well as the telescope’s remarkable observations and data collected to date.

Michael T. Menzel received a BSc in Physics from the MIT in 1981 and an MS in Physics from Columbia University in 1986. He distinguished 42 year career included being Deputy Program Manager for the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Group at Lockheed Martin. He began working on the pre-phase studies for the Next Generation Space Telescope in 1998 and, in June of 2004, he took his current position as the NASA Mission Systems Engineer for the JWST. Mr. Menzel was the recipient of the Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award for Engineering in 2009, the NASA Systems Engineering Excellence Award in 2010, the Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis Division Engineering Excellence Award in 2013, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2013, the Robert H. Goddard Merit Award in 2020, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 2022, the NASA Systems Engineering Excellence Award in 2022, the Norman L. Baker Astronautics Engineer Award in 2023, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’s Goddard Astronautics Award in 2023. He has lectured in Physics and Astronomy at various colleges and is an avid amateur astronomer.

Hamptons Observatory extends its deepest thanks to Mr. Menzel for generously taking the time to share his expertise, and to co-host Suffolk County Community College for its kind collaboration.

Hamptons Observatory (HO), a 501(c)(3) NYS nonprofit that relies on public support, has served the community since 2005. Its mission: to foster interest in science, particularly astronomy, through educational programs. Lectures, star parties, portable planetarium shows and other events. HO has established the first astronomical observatory on the South Fork of Long Island (in East Hampton), complete with Long Island’s largest research-grade telescope. Hamptons Observatory offers all of its programs free-of-charge (although donations are greatly appreciated) so that everyone can learn about and enjoy the universe around them. To join our email list for news and event notices, please email HamptonsObservatory@gmail.com. To make a tax-deductible donation to support our mission, please visit www.HamptonsObservatory.org and click on Support Us. Thanks!