Good Tuesday morning, CivMixers. This Christmas countdown thing is starting to stress me out.
Yes, I’m Jewish. But my household is mixed, and Christmas is the dominant holiday. (I’m outnumbered 2.5 to 1; Henry is agnostic on the subject). We agreed that it’s going to be a low-key holiday, but I did order one or two things, and they are not here yet.
It’s my fault. I am well aware of the backup that exists in the delivery system right now, and I ordered late. So now I’m wondering: What’s the appropriate etiquette here? Do I run out and get replacement presents as a sort of holding statement? Or do I arrive downstairs empty-handed on Christmas morning and say: It’s in the mail.
Neither of those approaches is terribly appealing.
While I wrestle with this latest existential crisis, here’s an interesting nugget to start the day off right: On this day in 2012, the world didn’t end.
There were people who thought it was supposed to, though, thanks to media reports (that pesky media!) of an ancient Mayan prophecy that foretold the end of everything on that date. It was a misconception from start to finish, which you can read more about here if you’ve got a few moments.
Also, it’s National Date Nut Bread Day. Dates are delicious – nature’s candy, some people call them. And I love a good quick bread, though I have to confess this version is not necessarily my favorite. Banana with chocolate chips and walnuts? Now we’re talking.
And one more piece of good news…now that the Winter Solstice is officially behind us, we’re in for three more seconds of daylight than yesterday. OK, that’s not much, admittedly, but we are definitely headed in the right direction. Oh, and the amount of daylight we’ll be experiencing today is 5 hours and 50 minutes LESS than what soaked up on the Summer Solstice (June 20, 2020).
If that doesn’t depress you a little, nothing will.
It’s going to be downright HOT out today: About 38 degrees, though that’s nothing compared to the temperatures in the 50s that are headed our way. (And rain for the holiday, but let’s not discuss).
There will be areas of dense fog and black ice through daybreak around the Capital Region this morning, so proceed with caution. Later on, we’ll have mostly cloudy skies and no precipitation.
In the headlines…
The Senate last night followed the House’s lead and approved a $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, sending it to President Trump for his signature.
It’s the second-largest federal stimulus package after the $2 trillion CARES Act that Congress approved in March. (Here’s the full text of the bill…be forewarned, it’s a monster).
The bill authorizes $600 stimulus checks for people who earn less than $75,000 per year and an extra $600 payment per child, contains a weekly unemployment insurance supplement of $300 and also has $284.4 billion in PPP loans for small businesses.
Now, individuals earning up to $87,000 and couples earning up to $174,000 will receive some form of payment. Individuals who earned up to $75,000 in 2019 will get the full amount of $600 and couples that earned up to $150,000 will receive $1,200.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said hundreds of dollars in direct payments could begin reaching individual Americans as early as next week.
The $600 checks may not be enough to tide over families who have suffered income or job losses since the pandemic shuttered the economy in March and caused unemployment to spike.
The bill also allocates $82 billion for schools and colleges, $40 billion for vaccine distribution and virus testing, $25 billion in rental assistance and $15 billion for live entertainment venues.
For the music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions that have suffered through the pandemic with no business, the relief package offers the prospect of aid, with $15 billion to help them weather the crisis.
The final deal does not contain any direct aid to state and local governments – dropping an initial call for $160 billion in assistance as the basis for good faith negotiations.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed the new coronavirus relief package from Congress, saying it includes nothing to help cities and states dig out of massive financial deficits.
Andrew Rein, president of Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, said the package would indirectly benefit New York City and the state by helping some of the businesses and institutions hit hardest by the pandemic.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said New York will receive more than $50 billion in various forms of relief from the massive COVID-19 package.
The package includes $4 billion in COVID-19 relief funding for the MTA — but also comes with a provision that prohibits the agency from cutting its rank-and-file staff.
New Jersey lawmakers have approved a new economic-development incentive program that authorizes $14 billion in corporate subsidies over seven years.
As the number of Covid-19 cases reported in the United States passed 18 million, the second vaccine given emergency authorization was being administered yesterday for the first time outside of clinical trials.
President-elect Joe Biden received his first COVID-19 vaccine dose and offered rare praise for Trump before giving an awkward fist-bump to his nurse practitioner.
The shot, which Biden received in his left arm, was administered at ChristianaCare’s Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, by Tabe Mase, who is a nurse practitioner and the head of employee health services at the hospital.
“The administration deserves some credit getting this off the ground,” Biden said of Operation Warp Speed. “I’m doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared when it’s available to take the vaccine.”
Pfizer and Moderna are testing their coronavirus vaccines to see if they work against the new mutated version of the virus that’s recently been found in the United Kingdom and other countries, according to company statements.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief science advisor to Trump’s vaccine program Operation Warp Speed, said that he expects Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 shots will be effective against a new mutation of the virus found in the U.K.
British Airways, Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic will begin testing passengers for COVID-19 who are flying to New York in an effort to slow the spread of a new, more transmissible strain of the deadly virus that has been discovered in the United Kingdom.
Severe allergy-like reactions in at least eight people who received the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech over the past 2 weeks may be due to a compound in the packaging of the messenger RNA (mRNA) that forms the vaccine’s main ingredient.
The U.S. is looking at why a handful of people have suffered from severe allergic reactions shortly after receiving Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine shots, a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official said.
Progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar called it “shameful” that young, healthy lawmakers — such as fellow “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – are receiving the coronavirus vaccine before American seniors and frontline workers.
Ocasio-Cortez has already been hitting back at GOP critics who shamed her for getting the vaccine.
Some of America’s largest businesses say they will encourage – but not mandate – employees to get Covid-19 vaccines, using a mix of incentives and consequences to ensure as many workers as possible are inoculated.
From Stockholm to Athens and from Lisbon to Warsaw, European Union governments are gearing up to receive a coronavirus vaccine later this week, even as cases keep rising in some parts of the continent.
The newly FDA-authorized Moderna vaccine began arriving in New York City yesterday, according to city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, who said shipments would continue through tomorrow.
Some of New York’s most vulnerable residents began getting vaccinated against COVID-19 as doses were doled out at nursing homes across the state.
Fearing infection and isolation, relatives are turning to home care over nursing homes as new services make that option more possible for many.
Travel warnings are falling on millions of deaf ears in the U.S. as domestic fliers took to the skies in large numbers over the weekend, despite an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases.
Alabama GOP Rep. Mo Brooks and fellow House conservatives met privately with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as the lawmakers prepared to mount a long-shot bid in January to overturn the Electoral College results that made Biden the official winner of the election.
Attorney General William Barr slapped down Trump’s frantic efforts to overturn his election loss and cast doubt on Biden’s victory.
Barr, who is stepping down in two days, said he saw no reason to appoint special counsels to oversee the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Hunter Biden or to investigate Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.
Barr announced criminal charges against a third Libyan suspect in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The Russian hackers who penetrated U.S. government agencies broke into the email system used by the Treasury Department’s most senior leadership – the first detail of how deeply Moscow burrowed into the Trump administration’s networks.
Virginia’s statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee was removed from its post in the U.S. Capitol yesterday morning, closing a year that saw Confederate statues toppled as the nation reckoned with racism in its history and institutions.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is confronting its biggest academic scandal in nearly five decades after more than 70 cadets were accused of cheating on a calculus exam last spring, officials said.
Seventy-two of the cadets accused of breaking the academy’s famed honor code are first-year cadets, referred to as the “plebe year,” according to the academy. One student is a sophomore.
Fifty-five who admitted cheating are on a six-month rehabilitation program and will be on probation for the rest of their time at the academy. Some cases were dropped for lack of evidence or because the cadets dropped out, while several others face hearings.
Dozens of judges are being forced to retire to close a pandemic budget gap. They have sued New York State, charging age discrimination.
A city investigative report that heavily criticized how the NYPD responded to explosive protests across the five boroughs in 2020 didn’t account for the range of issues the department handled in a year like no other, Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
Infants in New York City’s homeless shelters are living in deplorable conditions that include exposed electrical outlets, mold, roaches and unsafe cribs, a scathing new audit released by the city comptroller found.
De Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray rolled out a plan for boosting counseling services for young people struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic — but included few details, such as a timeline or price tag.
An electric scooter company vying for a place in New York City’s ride-share pilot program has secured $60 million in funding from investors, including the sponsor of the city’s popular bike-share program.
The Whitestone Republican Club in Queens held a maskless holiday party.
Delta Flight 462 was delayed for hours after a male passenger forced open a cabin door while the plane was taxiing at La Guardia Airport. He and his companions – and their service dog – slid their way out of the plane.
The state Assembly will continue to meet virtually through next month.
Whether any action will be taken as 2020 draws to close remains up in the air, as state lawmakers are yet to agree on a package of measures that could include increasing taxes on upper income New Yorkers and protections for renters and homeowners.
Former state Sen. Jeff Klein has filed a petition in state Supreme Court seeking to block the JCOPE from holding a hearing on whether he violated Public Officers Law when he allegedly forcibly kissed a female staff member outside an Albany bar five years ago.
New York plans to close three prisons in the coming weeks as it continues to lower its incarceration rates and consolidates its sprawling correctional facilities.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan announced that she is seeking a third term, and she has been endorsed by Common Council President Corey Ellis, making it clear he won’t primary her a second time.
A federal district court has denied Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit seeking refunds for tuition and fees for spring and summer semesters.
Tales of snow plows getting stuck, outside contractors blocking residential driveways and city employees declining overtime to assist with plowing were problems that complicated the City of Schenectady’s lackluster snow removal efforts.
