In the New Testament, the Massacre of the Innocents is the incident in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. A majority of Herod biographers, "robably a majority of biblical scholars", hold the event to be myth, legend or folklore; the Catholic Church has claimed the children murdered in Jesus's stead as the first Christian martyrs, their feast – Holy Innocents Day – is celebrated on 28 December. Matthew's story is found in no other gospel, the Jewish historian Josephus does not mention it in his Antiquities of the Jews, which records many of Herod's misdeeds including the murder of three of his own sons. Most modern biographers of Herod dismiss the story as an invention. Classical historian Michael Grant, for instance, stated "The tale is not history but myth or folk-lore", it appears to be modeled on Pharaoh's attempt to kill the Israelite children, more on various elaborations of the original story that had become current in the 1st century.

In that expanded story, Pharaoh kills the Hebrew children after his scribes warn him of the impending birth of the threat to his crown, but Moses's father and mother are warned in a dream that the child's life is in danger and act to save him. In life, after Moses has to flee, like Jesus, he only returns when those who sought his death are themselves dead; the story of the massacre of the innocents thus plays a part in Matthew's wider nativity story, in which the proclamation of the coming of the Messiah is followed by his rejection by the Jews and his acceptance by the gentiles. The relevance of Jeremiah 31:15 to the massacre in Bethlehem is not apparent, as Jeremiah's next verses go on to speak of hope and restoration; some scholars argue for the historicity of the event. R. T. France acknowledges that the story is similar to that of Moses, but argues "t is clear that this scriptural model has been important in Matthew's telling of the story of Jesus, but not so clear that it would have given rise to this narrative without historical basis."

France notes that the massacre is "perhaps the aspect most rejected as legendary". Some scholars, such as Everett Ferguson, write that the story makes sense in the context of Herod's reign of terror in the last few years of his rule, the number of infants in Bethlehem that would have been killed – no more than a dozen or so – may have been too insignificant to be recorded by Josephus, who could not be aware of every incident far in the past when he wrote it; the story's first appearance in any source other than the Gospel of Matthew is in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James of c. AD 150, which excludes the Flight into Egypt and switches the attention of the story to the infant John the Baptist: And when Herod knew that he had been mocked by the Magi, in a rage he sent murderers, saying to them: Slay the children from two years old and under. And Mary, having heard that the children were being killed, was afraid, took the infant and swaddled Him, put Him into an ox-stall, and Elizabeth, having heard that they were searching for John, took him and went up into the hill-country, kept looking where to conceal him.

And there was no place of concealment. And Elizabeth, groaning with a loud voice, says: receive mother and child, and the mountain was cleft, received her. And a light shone about them, for an angel of the Lord was with them; the first non-Christian reference to the massacre is recorded four centuries by Macrobius, who writes in his Saturnalia: When he heard that among the boys in Syria under two years old whom Herod, king of the Jews, had ordered killed, his own son was killed, he said: it is better to be Herod's pig, than his son. The story assumed an important place in Christian tradition. Coptic sources place the event on 29 December. Taking the narrative and judging from the estimated population of Bethlehem, the Catholic Encyclopedia more soberly suggested that these numbers were inflated, that only between six and twenty children were killed in the town, with a dozen or so more in the surrounding areas. According to Jewish extra-Biblical traditions, king Nimrod saw a sign in the skies predicting the birth of Abraham, ordered the slaughter of infant children to avoid it.

Nimrod was with his star-gazers on the roof of his palace, saw the strange display in the sky with his own eyes. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. "There can be only one explanation. A son was born tonight who would challenge the king's power, the father is none other than Terah." "Terah?!" Nimrod roared. "My own trusted servant?" Nimrod thought. Little did he know that it was not Terah's son, brought to die, but a servant's. Medieval liturgical drama recounted Biblical events, including Herod's slaughter of the innocents; the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, performed in Coventry, included a haunting song about the episode, now known as the Coventry Carol. The Ordo Rachelis tradition of four plays includes the Flight into Egypt, Herod's succession by Archelaus, the return from Egypt, as well as the Massacre all centred on Rachel weeping in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy; these events we

The Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science is a comprehensive, selective magnet public high school with a focus on marine and environmental science, part of the Ocean County Vocational School District. The school is located in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States directly behind the buildings of the Southern Regional School District and a joint parking lot with Ocean County College's Southern Education Center; as a public school, students attend the school at no charge. Prospective students must receive a recommendation from their school and must complete the application process which includes an entrance exam; the school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 2005. As of the 2015-16 school year, the school had an enrollment of 274 students and 21.5 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 12.7:1. There were 6 eligible for reduced-cost lunch.

The school's stated mission is to provide an opportunity to students in Ocean County to become intimate thinkers and problem solvers. Students of the academy participate in a rigorous curriculum with a focus on marine and environmental science. MATES emphasizes skills important to post-secondary employment in a global community; the school focuses on students who wish to concentrate in the areas of science. The academic course of study offered satisfies all of the state requirements necessary for high school graduation. Eligible students may take college level courses throughout their course of study. In 2012, MATES became one of 17 New Jersey schools to be named a 2012 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education. In its listing of "America's Best High Schools 2016", the school was ranked 84th out of 500 best high schools in the country. Schooldigger.com ranked the school as one of 16 schools tied for first out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment.

Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science Ocean County Vocational Technical School District's 2015–16 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education School Data for the Ocean County Vocational Technical School District, National Center for Education Statistics

The Majority Leader of the New York State Senate is elected by the majority of the members of the New York State Senate. The position coincides with the title of Temporary President of the State Senate, who presides over the session of the State Senate if the Lieutenant Governor of New York is absent; the Temporary President of the State Senate becomes Acting Lieutenant Governor for the remainder of the unexpired term in case of a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. In case of a vacancy in the offices of both the governor and lieutenant governor at the same time, the Temporary President of the State Senate becomes Acting Governor. If the double vacancy occurs until three months before the mid-term state elections, a special election for Governor of New York and Lieutenant Governor is held. If the double vacancy occurs the Temporary President of the State Senate acts as governor until the end of the unexpired term; the Temporary President of the State Senate retains both majority leadership and a seat in the State Senate while acting as lieutenant governor or governor.

As of January 2019, Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins is the Senate Majority Leader. The position of President pro tempore of the New York State Senate was created as a standing office by a constitutional amendment in 1873; the President pro tempore was elected for the duration of the biennial senatorial term which comprised two sessions, the first in an even-numbered year, the other in the following odd-numbered year. Before this time, a President pro tempore was elected only in case of vacancy, or if the lieutenant governor was absent. In practice, this new arrangement transferred much power from the lieutenant governor to the President pro tempore, whose political position became comparable to that of the Speaker of the New York State Assembly. After the impeachment of Governor William Sulzer in October 1913, Lt. Gov. Martin H. Glynn became governor, President pro tempore Robert F. Wagner became acting lieutenant governor. At the time Wagner – as acting lieutenant governor – was considered to be President of the Senate and it was deemed necessary to elect another member as President pro tempore/Majority Leader, John F. Murtaugh was chosen.

The precedent of 1913–14 caused some confusion after the death of Lt. Gov. Thomas W. Wallace in 1943, it was unclear if the Majority Leader had to give up his post upon becoming acting lieutenant governor, if such an acting lieutenant governor became President of the Senate for the remainder of the unexpired term. There was a lengthy dispute over the leadership of the Senate during June and July 2009. On June 8, 2009, Democrats Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada, Jr. joined the 30 Republican members of the State Senate to attempt to issue a motion to replace current Majority Leader Malcolm Smith with Minority Leader Dean Skelos. Following the precedent of 1913, the temporary presidency and the majority leadership would have been separated again under this scenario. Since the office of Lieutenant Governor fell vacant after Lt. Gov. David Paterson succeeded to the governorship upon Gov. Eliot Spitzer's resignation, the majority leaders have acted as lieutenant governors; the motions put forward on June 8 sought to select Pedro Espada as Temporary President of the State Senate, which would have installed him as acting lieutenant governor.

The Democrats have disputed the legitimacy of the motions put forward on June 8. The New York State Senate has been providing a running update of the legal proceedings since June 11, 2009; the dispute ended July 9, 2009, when Senator Espada announced he would return to the Democratic caucus and take on the position of majority leader, while it was announced that former majority leader Malcolm Smith had assumed the title of president pro tempore, John Sampson would serve as Democratic conference leader with the understanding he would assume the presidency at an undetermined future date. Following the 2010 election and the Republican victory in the Senate, Senator Dean Skelos from Long Island served as both Temporary President and Majority Leader, but resigned in May 2015 in the midst of corruption charges. Traditionally, the positions of acting lieutenant governor and acting governor were considered to be tied to the post of Majority Leader; this means that if the Majority Leader resigns, or is ousted from office, or if the majority changes and a new Majority Leader is chosen, the offices of acting lieutenant governor or acting governor were transferred at the same time to the new Majority Leader.

Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins became Senate Majority Leader in January 2019