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Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made a shocking announcement on Wednesday.

Jean-Pierre, who served as former President Joe Biden’s press secretary for more than two years, revealed Wednesday that she will be leaving the Democratic Party and releasing a book in October. The book is titled, “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines."

Jean-Pierre regularly defended Biden from the press secretary podium as he took heat over concerns about his mental acuity, physical health and ability to potentially serve a second term. She became the first Black and openly LGBTQ person to serve in the role when she started in May 2022.

According to Hachette Book Publishing, her book will be released on October 21. The publisher described the book as a "groundbreaking, revelatory assessment of America’s broken two-party system."

And now, Jean-Pierre has decided to register as an independent.

“Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly. She has served two American presidents, Obama and Biden. In 2020, she joined Biden’s campaign as a senior adviser, becoming Harris’s chief of staff and then, two years later, White House press secretary. She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,” the publisher said in its description.

“In a hard-hitting yet hopeful critique, Jean-Pierre defines what it means to be part of the growing percentage of our fractured electorate that is Independent, why it can be worthwhile to carve a political space more loyal to personal beliefs than a party affiliation, and what questions you need to ask yourself to determine where you fit politically,” the description stated.

The announcement of this new book comes weeks after CNN’s Jake Tapper released his own book detailing an alleged “coverup” of Biden’s cognitive decline in the White House. Tapper has also faced widespread criticism of the book, with many conservatives bashing him for not reporting on Biden’s alleged issues at the time.

Meanwhile, Democrats criticized Tapper for the “hit job” on Biden after he left office.

Jean-Pierre might face similar criticism, as she defended the president from the podium each day. Journalist Aaron Rupar jabbed Jean-Pierre over her new book in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday.

“[It’s] sad that Biden stuck with Karine Jean-Pierre for all those years despite the fact she was not that great at her job, only for her to turn around and write a book about why she left the Democratic Party and is now an independent,” Rupar wrote.

Another user wrote: “I don’t understand how she thought this was a good move for her. The Press Sec is the President’s voice to the public. To come off of this and position herself as an outsider makes no sense given her role and comments post-debate/election.”

Chris D. Jackson, a Democratic strategist, defended Jean-Pierre’s new book in a social media post.

“First — this is not a hit piece on President Biden. As the press release made clear, it’s about the betrayal of the party against Biden.Second — KJP has always had 46’s back. She’s been loyal to the Biden family from day one.Just keep that in mind before you react..." he wrote on X.

NEW YORK — There weren’t many bright spots on a gloomy, rainy Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field.

Though the Mets tried to build a rally in the ninth inning — first baseman Pete Alonso doubled in a run to make the score 9-4 — they couldn’t muster enough runs to sweep the series against the Chicago White Sox.

One of those bright spots was DH Mark Vientos, who hadn’t homered in more than two weeks.

After a breakout season in 2024, when he hit 27 home runs in 111 games, Vientos has been zapped of his power this season. Entering Wednesday, Vientos had five home runs in 49 games and was on pace for 14 on the season.

In Wednesday’s 9-4 loss, Vientos took the first step in turning his season around. With two runners on and two outs and the Mets down 5-0 in the third inning, he hit a high fastball into the netting just over the fence in right field for a home run. The three-run, 368-footer narrowed Chicago’s lead to 5-3. Vientos went 1 for 5 with three strikeouts.

But the deficit was too big for the Mets to overcome. Mets pitchers — and infielders (errors) — didn’t do the team any favors, allowing 18 baserunners. It made for a slow game as steady rain fell on fans, testing their patience.

For the first time this season, even right fielder Juan Soto started hearing boos after going 0-for-4. Baseball’s richest player couldn’t muster a hit against the lowly White Sox all series, going 0-for-10 with three strikeouts.

But the game should not fall entirely on Soto’s shoulders.

After an impressive start to the season, where he allowed 13 earned runs in 47 1/3 innings (2.47 ERA) with 46 strikeouts in nine starts, right-hander Griffin Canning has regressed some in his last two outings. Including Wednesday, when he allowed five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks in three innings, he’s allowed eight runs (six earned) in 5 2/3 innings (9.54 ERA) with four strikeouts in that span.

Canning’s troubles started early against the White Sox. After getting the lead-off hitter to ground out, he allowed consecutive batters on, on a walk and a double. Left fielder Andrew Benintendi, a former Yankee, singled both runners in, putting the Mets down 2-0 in the first inning.

They continued in the second, where another two runs came around to score, though it wasn’t entirely on Canning. A pair of errors — on third baseman Brett Baty (throwing) and second baseman Jeff McNeil (fielding) — put runners on first and second to lead off the inning.

After Canning got the next two batters out, former Yankee Mike Tauchman punched a two-RBI double to right field to give the White Sox a 4-0 lead.

It was more of the same in the third inning for Canning, who allowed the first two runners on again, this time on a single and a walk. A sacrifice bunt moved those runners over, allowing one to score on a weak grounder to first base to give the White Sox a 5-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, the Mets turned to reliever Brandon Waddell, who held the White Sox scoreless for two innings, before things unraveled in the sixth inning.

Waddell allowed two runs to score, extending Chicago’s lead to 7-3 on a Benintendi RBI triple and an RBI single from second baseman Lenyn Sosa.

In the seventh, Waddell allowed another run to score on a sacrifice fly, burying the Mets further. He allowed a solo home run to Benintendi in the eighth to give Chicago a 9-3 lead.

Waddell allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings.

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Located in park offices around the Southern part of the state or at NJ Forest Service tabling events, keep your eyes out for the "Save Our Cedar!" water bottle stickers! Featuring six original designs, these stickers show Atlantic white cedar trees, bark, branches and cones as well as several species of wildlife and rare plants that rely on Atlantic white cedar swamps. So get out there, enjoy your state parks, learn a little about Cedar Restoration and try to collect them all!

If you do collect every sticker design we'd love for you to email us at askaforester@dep.nj.gov with you name and a picture of your stickers for a chance to be featured on the Forest Service Social media.

View the Save Our Cedar sticker hunt map!

Atlantic white cedar forests provide many ecological services including tremendous benefits to the hydrology and water quality of the Pinelands, a region specifically protected for its ground and surface water resources. Underlying much of the Pinelands is the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, a vast reservoir estimated to contain over 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the country. Adjacent counties and municipalities rely on this aquifer for its clean and plentiful drinking water.

However, these ecological services are threatened because of the decline of Atlantic white cedar forests. While they once occupied approximately 500,000 acres in its range along the East Coast, less than 125,000 acres remain. In New Jersey, Atlantic white cedar occupied over 125,000 acres historically. That acreage is now down to less than 25,000. The New Jersey Forest Service has launched the Atlantic White Cedar Restoration Project in order to combat the continual forest decline. Through this project, the New Jersey Forest Service seeks to restore, reinforce, and enhance 1,000 acres of cedar forest per year for 10 years, for a total of 10,000 acres. Restoring such a large area of Atlantic white cedar will go a long way in offsetting the impacts of ground and surface water pollution and will ensure that these valuable ecosystem services are not lost.

How will this project be funded? The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has a robust natural resource damage program that requires responsible parties to compensate for injuries to natural resources due to hazardous discharges. Compensation is typically done on site or nearby through land preservation or ecological restoration. When direct in-kind or in-place restoration is not possible, monetary compensation is paid to the Department to be put towards restoration projects in the future. The funding for the Atlantic white cedar project comes from settlements with responsible parties who have injured the public's ground and surface water resources.

We just may have experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity … and, we know it.

I’m writing this commentary during our 3 1/2 hour car ride from The White House, back to the Atlantic City, New Jersey area.

An invitation from President Trump to visit The White House is one of the highest honors bestowed upon an American citizen.

Add to that, to be invited to the special event with the Super Bowl LIX Champion Philadelphia Eagles and it qualifies as a surreal moment.

I don’t care how old or young you are, The White House is a truly magical place.

Today was also a “Who’s Who,” celebrity palooza. The atmosphere was electric.

I looked to my left and it was Dr. Oz just a few feet away. I looked to my right and it was Congressman Burgess Owens and nearby him, was Kellyanne Conway.

I had the pleasure to bring my son Rob and my son-in-law Andrew with me. They were profoundly moved at just how special this incredible opportunity really was.

Here we are at The White House:

I asked my son to describe being at The White House today, he said:

As a lifelong Eagles fan, it was insanely cool and unforgettable. I tried to soak up every second - perfect weather, amazing energy - just one of those rare, once-in-a-lifetime days, said Rob Hurley.

There was many E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles chants.

President Trump was hilariously funny throughout the program.

The overall professionalism of The United States Secret Service is exemplary.

They do such a great job, including at today’s event.

There was a lot of anticipation about whether Hurts would attend today’s event. He did not.

To President Trump’s credit, he praised Hurts (despite his absence), calling him a “great talent and a great player.”

It was wrong for Hurts not to attend … but, I will not sully this beautiful day with any negative talk about Hurts skipping The White House event, except to say it was a mistake for him to not stand with his Eagles teammates today.

Thank you to President Trump and Congressman Jeff Van Drew for this truly special opportunity today.

Robert Prevost, an missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and took over the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first pope from the United States in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV.

In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Leo said, “Peace be with you,” and emphasized a message of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization. He wore the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013.

Prevost had been a leading candidate for the papacy except, but there had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the country's geopolitical power already wielded in the secular sphere. But Prevost, a Chicago native, was seemingly eligible because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.

Pope Francis clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He brought Prevost to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. And in January he elevated him into the senior ranks of cardinals. As a result, Prevost had a prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel on the second day of the conclave. Priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!”

Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won and were shocked when an hour later, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the loggia and said “Habemus Papam!” and announced the winner was Prevost.

He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English.

The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought, most famously with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed workers’ rights and capitalism.

Earlier Thursday, large school groups joined the mix of humanity awaiting the outcome in St. Peter's Square. They blended in with people participating in preplanned Holy Year pilgrimages and journalists from around the world who have descended on Rome to document the election.

“The wait is marvelous!” said Priscilla Parlante, a Roman.

Pedro Deget, 22, a finance student from Argentina, said he and his family visited Rome during the Argentine pope's pontificate and were hoping for a new pope in Francis' image.

“Francis did well in opening the church to the outside world, but on other fronts maybe he didn’t do enough. We’ll see if the next one will be able to do more,” Deget said from the piazza.

The Rev. Jan Dominik Bogataj, a Slovene Franciscan friar, was more critical of Francis. He said if he were in the Sistine Chapel, he'd be voting for Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem who is on many papal contender lists.

“He has clear ideas, not much ideology. He’s a direct, intelligent and respectful man,” Bogataj said from the square. “Most of all, he’s agile."

Some of the cardinals had said they expected a short conclave.

For much of the past century, the conclave has needed between three and 14 ballots to find a pope. John Paul I — the pope who reigned for 33 days in 1978 — was elected on the fourth ballot. His successor, John Paul II, needed eight. Francis was elected on the fifth in 2013.

The cardinals opened the secretive, centuries-old ritual Wednesday afternoon, participating in a rite more theatrical than even Hollywood could create. Bright red cassocks, Swiss Guards standing at attention, ancient Latin chants and oaths preceded the slamming shut of the Sistine Chapel doors to seal the cardinals off from the outside world.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the 70-year-old secretary of state under Francis who had been considered a leading contender to succeed him as pope, assumed leadership of the proceedings as the most senior cardinal under age 80 eligible to participate.

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The voting followed a strict choreography, dictated by church law.

Each cardinal writes his choice on a piece of paper inscribed with the words “Eligo in summen pontificem” — “I elect as supreme pontiff.” They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who, before God, I think should be elected.”

The folded ballot is placed on a round plate and tipped into a silver and gold urn. Once cast, the ballots are opened one by one by three different “scrutineers,” cardinals selected at random who write down the names and read them aloud.

The scrutineers, whose work is checked by other cardinals called revisers, then add up the results of each round of balloting and write them on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in the papal archives.

As the scrutineer reads out each name, he pierces each ballot with a needle through the word “Eligo." All the ballots are then bound together with thread, and the bundle is put aside and burned in the chapel stove along with a chemical to produce the smoke