Good Thursday morning, CivMixers. We have a lot of milestones to get to today…clearly, I’ve been spending too much time on the Peleton.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, tonight is the first night of Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. Most people know that this is an eight-day celebration that involves lighting the menorah – one candle for each night of the holiday – giving gifts (also one per night), and eating fried potato pancakes known as latkes.
(I like mine with applesauce and sour cream, in case anyone has extra. Making them from scratch is not in the cards for me this year).
The holiday celebrates the defeat during the second century B.C. of a small but determined band of poorly armed Jews, led by Judah the Maccabee, of the Greeks and reclaiming of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The eight day thing stems from a miracle that occurred when the last bit of unsullied oil that only seemed sufficient to light the menorah on the alter for one day actually burned for just over a week, giving the Jews enough time to make more oil that was pure enough to be used for this holy light.
Chanukah is actually not a major Jewish holiday, but it has evolved to be a sort of alternative to Christmas, since it comes around the same time in the winter. As a kid, though, I do remember wondering why no one paid more attention to Chanukah – in mainstream culture, that is – as it was a pretty darn big deal for me. Eight presents!
Today is Human Rights Day, which marks the day when the UN General Assembly, in 1948, adopted, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The UDHR proclaims the inalienable rights which everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Available in more than 500 languages, it is the most translated document in the world.
The theme of this year’s Human Rights Day is “Recover Better,” which, of course, is connected to the coronavirus pandemic and the need to focus on a recovery that is equitable and gets us to a better place than where we were before COVID hit.
The Google Doodle is worth mentioning today, because it honors Sir W. Arthur Lewis. Forty-one years ago on this day in 1979, Lewis was jointly awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his pioneering work to model the economic forces that impact developing countries.
Sir Lewis’s professional life was full of firsts: He was the first Black faculty member at the London School of Economics, the first Black person to hold a chair at a British university, and the first Black instructor to receive full professorship at Princeton University. He was knighted in 1963.
Lewis is perhaps most famous for his creation of the “Lewis model,” which explains the growth of a developing economy in terms of a labor transition between two sectors – the capitalist sector and the subsistence sector. (If you understand that sentence, more power to you).
And somehow I missed the fact that yesterday was National Llama Day. Mea culpa. Thankfully, some llamas live as long as 30 years, so they’ve got time to get over the slight and forgive me. No spitting, please.
We’re getting a reprieve from the cold – and the SNOW! – with temperatures headed into the low 40s today…and the weekend, which is just over the horizon, will put us in downright heat wave territory (for December), potentially getting into the 50s. We will have intervals of clouds and sun today, and likely most of the accumulated white stuff will melt all on its own.
In the headlines…
More than 3,000 people in the U.S. died from COVID-19 yesterday, marking the first time any country has recorded more than 3,000 deaths on a single day since the pandemic began.
Britain’s medical regulator warned that people with a history of serious allergic reactions shouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, and investigators looked into whether two reactions on the first day of the U.K.’s vaccination program were linked to the shot.
Most people are unlikely to have severe allergic reactions to the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, doctors and vaccine experts say, but the shots might come with temporary side effects such as fever and muscle pain.
New York State is set to receive 170,000 doses of the initial Pfizer vaccine, as soon as this weekend. Nationwide, six million doses are set to be distributed within days.
Nursing home residents and staff will be prioritized for vaccinations, following by “high-risk” hospital workers — emergency room workers, ICU staff and pulmonary department staff. New York City will receive the most doses: about 72,000.
As states frantically prepare to begin months of vaccinations that could end the pandemic, a new poll finds only about half of Americans are ready to roll up their sleeves when their turn comes.
Upstate Medical University in Syracuse is recruiting 12- to 15-year-olds to participate in a clinical trial of Pfizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine.
A global analysis of over 3 million Covid-19 cases from January to June has found that male patients with the disease have “almost three times the odds” of requiring admission to intensive care than female patients.
With months of winter isolation looming, parents are growing increasingly worried about the developmental effects of the ongoing social deprivation on their very young children. What will the future hold for the Covid Toddlers?
New studies suggest that there is no innate vulnerability to the Covid-19 virus among Black and Hispanic Americans, but members of these groups are more often exposed because of social and environmental factors.
After going quiet in the months before the election, federal authorities are now actively investigating the business dealings of Hunter Biden, a person with knowledge of the probe said. His father, President-elect Joe Biden, is not implicated.
Biden’s transition team attempted to control the narrative by issuing a short statement that the U.S. attorney in Delaware is investigating Hunter Biden’s tax affairs, saying they only learned about it this week.
Biden sought to sell his choice for defense secretary, retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, to congressional Democrats who are balking at the prospect of waiving the requirement that the position be filled by someone who has been out of active-duty military service for at least seven years.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is now the third Democrat in the Senate to oppose granting a waiver to Austin.
Biden plans to nominate Katherine Tai as U.S. Trade Representative, according to people familiar with the matter, turning to an experienced trade lawyer with expertise on China and proven diplomatic skills.
President Donald Trump reportedly personally asked Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas if he would argue a long-shot election lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in four battleground states, should the Supreme Court agree to take it up.
Seventeen states whose elections were won by Trump told the Supreme Court that they support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s bid to file a lawsuit that could effectively reverse Biden’s projected Electoral College victory.
More Republican senators are willing to publicly acknowledge that Biden won the election, but are less clear on what they’ll do if Trump refuses to concede after the electoral college votes next Monday.
Rudy Giuliani, the latest member of Trump’s inner circle to contract Covid-19, acknowledged that he received at least two of the same drugs the president received. He conceded that his “celebrity” status had given him access to care that others did not have.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a second-term Democrat, said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home.
Facebook got slapped with a pair of blockbuster antitrust lawsuits, as government officials accused the Silicon Valley giant of systematically acquiring smaller rivals in order to prevent them from becoming competitive threats.
New York Attorney General Leticia James led 48 states in filing the landmark antitrust lawsuit against Facebook as the Feds, regulators and lawmakers seriously turn up the heat on social media and internet giants.
Google said it is planning to lift its ban on political ads today after a blackout of more than a month because of concerns over election misinformation.
Starbucks appointed investor Mellody Hobson as its next chairwoman, positioning the coffee chain to be among the biggest U.S. companies with a Black person leading its board.
Congressional leaders moved to buy more time to strike an elusive deal on an economic relief measure to address the ruin wrought by the pandemic, but with time running short, it was unclear whether a compromise would pass.
As Capitol Hill lawmakers continue to work on the next round of coronavirus relief, a big question remains: Will there be a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks?
New York leaders urged the state’s congressional delegation to provide enough funding in the next federal stimulus package to avoid catastrophic cuts to the city and state budgets.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and labor leaders sent a letter to the New York congressional delegation, outlining the critical need for state and local funding in any stimulus bill in order to prevent massive damage to the state.
With localities anticipating they will be on the forefront of vaccine distribution, county executives in New York urged federal lawmakers to “put up or shut up.”
In his most definitive remarks on the subject yet, Cuomo said the state will need to raise taxes to bridge its current budget deficit, even if Congress approves more funding as part of a coronavirus relief bill.
State Assembly Democrats are mulling an array of new and higher taxes on the rich as well as legalization of mobile sports betting and marijuana to address a fiscal crisis fueled by the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 1.5 million freelance, self-employed and gig workers across the tri-state area will lose unemployment assistance later this month unless Congress votes to renew the program, according to state labor officials.
U.S. Senate Democrats may be able to secure billions for New York’s cash-strapped MTA by the end of the year — even as bitter negotiations over a COVID-19 relief package kill hopes of aid for state and local governments.
State Budget Director Robert Mujica offered insight into why indoor dining will likely be shutdown soon: “It is the largest growing cluster,” he said. “As it gets colder and you move into indoor dining those numbers are growing faster than every other category.”
New York officials warned that the state’s hospitals need to brace for a mounting caseload, as the number of people needing hospitalization for Covid-19 is expected to rise through mid-January.
Cuomo accused Staten Island officials of flouting coronavirus safety guidelines — saying they are killing their neighbors with bad advice.
With co-working spaces mostly closed and nary an eat-in cafe or hotel lobby available, other New Yorkers are taking things outside – and even onto public transit.
NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, a 2021 mayoral contender, lost his mother to Covid in the spring, and struggled with the decision about whether to send his son, Max, 9, back to in-person classes. But is keeping his younger son, Miles, 7, at home.
NYC’s new ranked choice voting system was approved by voters in 2019, but critics, including at least one top mayoral candidate, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, fear that it may disenfranchise minority voters.
Six city lawmakers are suing to block the Big Apple’s embattled Board of Elections from rolling out a new ranked-choice voting system next year, claiming officials have failed to prepare for the potentially confusing switchover.
As the COVID outbreak continues to surge, New York City is requiring employers to expand paid sick leave benefits starting Jan. 1, 2021.
NYC Councilman Mark Levine plans to introduce a bill that would require city agencies to get a grasp on the impact of Amazon and other web sales businesses, which deliver an estimated 1.5 million packages a day across the five boroughs.
Debate over banning solitary confinement in city jails is ramping up ahead of a NYC Council hearing tomorrow where lawmakers will review a bill that could virtually eliminate the practice.
Former City Hall officials have united in opposition to de Blasio’s handling of a contentious plan to quarantine some 200 homeless men in a hotel during the pandemic.
Assemblyman Robert Carroll’s proposal to slap a $3 tax on nearly all New York City orders from Amazon and other online retailers touched off a Twitter war with fellow progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who accused him of unfairly targeting the poor.
Ocasio-Cortez and Long Island Rep. Kathleen Rice are jockeying for a prized slot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a competition that could have long-lasting reverberations in the Democratic Caucus and for influential states.
New York state’s $226 billion pension fund pledged to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions across its portfolio by 2040, placing more pressure on companies in North America and abroad to tackle climate change.
With $226 billion in assets, New York’s fund wields clout with other retirement funds and its decision to divest from fossil fuels could accelerate a broader shift in global markets away from oil and gas companies, energy experts and climate activists said.
Fossil fuel firms that want to remain in the pension fund will have to meet what state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says is a set of minimum standards in which companies show they can thrive in the transition to a low carbon or carbon-free economy to fight global warming.
A house in the town of Gates in Monroe County blew up, igniting at least two other homes, authorities said. No injuries were reported.
Some Capital Region students have been forced to share devices during periods of remote learning because the Chrome books their districts ordered over the summer still haven’t been delivered.
A unit of the Capital District Psychiatric Center in Albany has been placed under quarantine following a coronavirus outbreak.
A retired Troy detective, who is on interim probation for stealing funds from the city police union he once led, was arrested for allegedly running up more than $25,000 in hotel bills on another person’s credit card, town police said.
The former Saratoga County nursing home in Ballston Spa has been granted permission to close by the state Department of Health.
The City of Albany’s seven meetings meant to gather public input as part of its police reform efforts won’t be open for public viewing.
The National Weather Service said that a solar storm could make the Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, visible to curious spectators in New York state tonight.
The cosmetics magnate and philanthropist Ron Lauder is giving 91 pieces of arms and armor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which the New York institution is calling the most important donation of its kind in 80 years.
RIP Father Peter Young, an iconic Capital Region priest who transformed individual lives and public attitudes toward substance abuse, who died early yesterday at age 90 at Albany Medical Center Hospital after a long battle with multiple myeloma.
Could 2020 get any worse? (Now, I’ve jinxed us).
