Good Friday morning, CivMixers. For once this week, I don’t have any monumental political news to kick off this e-newsletter..
It IS however, a significant day from a historical standpoint. Today in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court came to a landmark decision in the Jane Roe v. Henry Wade case, ruling 7-2 that the U.S. Constitution protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
This decision was, of course, controversial, and it has been debated and challenged ever since. And now that there’s a conservative majority on the high court, which was a priority for former President Donald Trump and arguably among his most lasting legacies, pro-choice advocates are even more concerned than ever about the future of Roe.
Earlier this month, in the court’s first abortion-related ruling since Trump’s final appointment to the bench, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, it reinstated a federal requirement that women seeking to end their pregnancies using medications pick up a pill in person from a hospital or medical office.
Advocates are worried that this ruling will invite states that are already inclined to restrict access to abortion services to make it even more difficult than ever to obtain them.
Also, shortly before he left office, Trump issued one of his final proclamations that declared today National Sanctity of Human Life Day to mark Roe’s anniversary.
According to Trump, the day should “celebrate the “wonder of human existence and renew our resolve to build a culture of life where every person of every age is protected, valued, and cherished.”
New York, by the way, repealed its 1830 law in 1970 and allowed abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy, making it the first state in the nation to do so, and then a year later, it repealed the law that made inducing an abortion a criminal defense.
In 2019, New York passed the Reproductive Health Act (RHA), which repealed a pre-Roe provision that banned third-trimester abortions except in cases where the continuation of the pregnancy endangered a pregnant woman’s life.
We’re in for more morning snow showers and cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s. Don’t get used to that, though, because tomorrow, the mercury is plunging down into the low 20s, and it’s not forecast to climb back out of that range for at least a week. Brrrr.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden’s first full day in office focused on rolling out his national strategy to get the coronavirus pandemic under control and signing several executive actions.
Those actions included ramping up vaccination supplies and requiring international travelers to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test prior to traveling to the US.
Biden also issued new requirements for masks on interstate planes, trains and buses and for international travelers to quarantine after arriving in the United States, and directed a federal workplace-safety regulator to require employers to develop coronavirus protocols and enforce compliance.
Biden, pressed by a reporter on whether his pledge to get 100 million Americans vaccinated against COVID in his first 100 days was sufficient, responded: “When I announced it, you all said it was not possible. C’mon, gimme a break man.”
Biden and his advisers are inheriting no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration, posing a significant challenge for the new White House.
Federal health officials and corporate executives agree that it will be impossible to increase the immediate supply of vaccines before April because of lack of manufacturing capacity.
Public health experts blamed COVID-19 vaccine shortages around the U.S. in part on the Trump administration’s push to get states to vastly expand their vaccination drives to reach the nation’s estimated 54 million people age 65 and over.
Health experts cautioned about a possible “twin-demic,” where flu and coronavirus infections would spike simultaneously. Now, deep into flu season, doctors are seeing the opposite happen.
Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she has filed articles of impeachment against Biden.
Seven Senate Democrats filed an ethics complaint against Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas and called for an investigation into how their objections to the Electoral College votes on January 6 may have contributed to inciting the violent Capitol insurrection.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is proposing that the Senate give former President Donald Trump’s legal team two weeks to prepare for the upcoming impeachment trial once the Senate receives the article and delay its start until mid-February.
The former president has hired Butch Bowers, a longtime Republican attorney with experience in election law, to represent him when the Senate considers an article of impeachment, likely in a matter of days or weeks.
The law firm that handled the tax affairs of Trump and his company during his presidency said it would stop representing him and his business.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. plans to interview Michael Cohen again as part of his investigation into allegations that Trump has committed a range of financial fraud — an inquiry that is likely to heat up now that he’s no longer in the White House.
Democrats’ efforts to quickly confirm Biden’s cabinet nominees and move forward with his legislative agenda collided with the reality of a narrowly divided Congress, with Senate Republicans refusing to agree to a power-sharing agreement unless Democrats promise to preserve a 60-vote threshold to advance most bills.
On Biden’s first full day in office and Democrats’ first in total control of Congress, the Senate was in a state of suspended animation, unable to move forward with even the basic tasks of organizing committees or setting rules for getting virtually anything done.
Former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg pledged his support for Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure-rebuilding plan during a confirmation hearing before a Senate panel for his post as head of the Transportation Department.
Dozens of prominent lawyers have signed a formal complaint seeking the suspension of Rudolph W. Giuliani’s law license — the latest and loudest in a series of calls to censure him for his actions as Trump’s personal attorney.
The letter from Lawyers Defending American Democracy represents the most serious threat yet to Giuliani’s law license.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell slightly last week to 900,000, still a historically high level that points to ongoing job cuts in a raging pandemic.
Jobless claims totaled 900,000 for the week ended Jan. 16, the Labor Department reported. That was slightly less than the Dow Jones estimate of 925,000 and below the previous week’s downwardly revised total of 926,000.
Despite the labor market woes, the economy remains anchored by strong manufacturing and housing sectors.
Nearly 3 million Americans appear to have fallen off the unemployment benefits cliff after Christmas, a scenario many had feared amid delays in pushing through another Covid relief bill.
Economists expect hiring and spending to regain steam later this year. For one, warmer weather could bring more people out of their homes to spend when spring arrives.
Across the U.S., prominent epidemiologists are divided over whether the country has reached a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus, though they agreed on one thing: The U.S. epidemic is not close to over, and people cannot let down their guard.
New data shows that the Covid-19 vaccines currently on the market may not be as effective in guarding against new, more contagious strains of the coronavirus, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
When Fauci returned to the White House briefing room yesterday, he did so without the sour reality of a hostile president watching him from feet away in the Oval Office.
“The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know — what the evidence, what the science is — and know that’s it, let the science speak,” Dr. Fauci said, pausing for a second. “It is somewhat of a liberating feeling.”
In a dramatic turnaround from its predecessor, the Biden administration thanked the World Health Organization for leading the global pandemic response and vowed to remain a member state.
The Biden administration has moved quickly to remove a number of senior officials aligned with Trump from the Voice of America and the agency that oversees all U.S.-funded international broadcasting.
The House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a special waiver to allow Lloyd J. Austin III, a retired four-star Army general, to serve as secretary of defense, eliminating a hurdle to confirmation for a crucial member of Biden’s national security team who is poised to become the first Black American to lead the Pentagon.
Biden ordered a sweeping review of American intelligence about Russia’s role in a highly sophisticated hacking of government and corporate computer networks, along with what his spokeswoman called Moscow’s “reckless and adversarial actions” globally and against dissidents inside the country.
Biden’s inaugural address on Wednesday attracted about a million and a half more viewers than tuned in for Trump’s inaugural speech four years ago, according to preliminary data from Nielsen.
There was no chief usher to greet the Bidens when they arrived at the white House because he had been fired hours earlier. So the front doors — which are normally opened by Marine guards — were delayed in opening to the new first couple.
Biden has removed Trump’s infamous diet Coke button from the Oval Office desk.
Biden’s dogs – German shepherds Champ and Major – have not yet moved into the White House, but the pups are anticipated to arrive at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue soon.
When Biden took the oath of office as the nation’s 46th president, he wore a Ralph Lauren-designed suit made not just in America but in Rochester – at the Hickey Freeman plant.
Thousands of National Guardsmen were “banished” to a cramped parking garage after being abruptly forced to leave parts of the U.S. Capitol grounds yesterday.
New York state said it has administered 93 percent of the first dose COVID-19 vaccine shots it has received from the feds – with data showing the Big Apple has just 80,000 shots to last the rest of the week.
As part of New York’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo announced that the Open Enrollment Period for uninsured New Yorkers will be extended through March 31, 2021.
“The foot race continues between our ability to quickly distribute the vaccine — hampered only by supply —and the virus’ new strains and new cases,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Mayor Bill de Blasio urged the federal government to provide more coronavirus vaccine doses after he said that New York City had been forced to postpone thousands of inoculation appointments and temporarily close 15 city-run vaccine hubs this week.
Biden’s plan to boost production of coronavirus vaccines won’t solve the city’s looming shortfall, de Blasio admitted while dancing around questions about when more shots will be available.
With a current scant supply of Covid-19 vaccine doses, New York City public schools likely won’t reopen for five-day-a-week in-person classes this school year and could be forced to continue remote learning in the 2021-22 academic year.
The COVID-19 vaccine appointments the Big Apple was forced to cancel this week due to supply shortages will be automatically rescheduled one week from the original date, according to the city.
Thousands of disabled individuals who live in group home settings have seen their rate of vaccinations for coronavirus dwindle as the state has shifted doses to mass-vaccination sites and expanded the number of individuals eligible for the shots.
New York would add a $1 fee to all driver’s license and vehicle registration transactions over the next five years under a proposal in Cuomo’s executive budget.
School districts appear to be getting more aid in Cuomo’s budget proposal, but the boost is largely driven by federal pandemic relief funds made available to schools in the most recent federal stimulus package.
With New York State desperately looking for new sources of revenue, real estate developers and gambling interests are trying to revive interest in a long-shelved proposal: a casino in New York City.
With its soaring expanses of glass and light, the new Moynihan Train Hall, which rises behind the colonnades of the Beaux-Arts James A. Farley Building across from Penn Station, has become a destination.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the busiest bus terminal in the country, has settled on a final $7.5 to $10 billion proposal for transforming it into a 21st-century transit hub capable of handling many more buses.
The new facility will be one block south and west of the current bus station. Once it opens, around 2026, the agency will shift operations there temporarily while it demolishes the existing terminal and builds a new one in its place.
A New York transit worker accused of joining the U.S. Capitol insurrection and posting far right-wing messages on social media has been suspended without pay by the MTA.
Officers arrested a Brooklyn handyman for killing three elderly neighbors on separate occasions from 2015 to 2021 inside the same New York City Housing Authority apartment building, New York Police Department officials said.
NYCHA allowed the serial-killing handyman to prowl a Brooklyn housing complex, allegedly stabbing, strangling and bludgeoning three elderly women after they failed to pay him, tenants and victim family members charged.
The NYPD’s new and much-hyped disciplinary matrix will not change the fact that the police commissioner still has ultimate discretion over how punishments are meted out for cops’ misconduct, de Blasio revealed.
The city Department of Education should teach students about gun safety, says Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, pointing to a tragic Monday incident in which an 8-year-old suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Produce handlers and delivery drivers at Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx are on strike after contract negotiations with ownership broke down.
The NRA’s audacious bankruptcy filing, in which it is not actually claiming to be insolvent, seeks to use the bankruptcy process to circumvent regulators in New York, where the organization has been chartered for a century and a half.
The NRA lost its bid to move the New York attorney general’s civil suit against it from Manhattan to Albany.
Cuomo directed state agencies to prepare emergency response resources as a storm system is expected to produce a foot or more of lake effect snow in the Tug Hill area of the North Country and portions of Western New York today through this evening.
Assembly Republicans, led by Chris Tague of the Capital Region, announced a roughly $35 million package of bills to assist New York farmers who have been harmed by the economic fallout of COVID-19 over the past 10 months.
A coalition of nearly 70 companies, industry groups and labor unions are warning against what they say is a potential oversight in New York’s push for renewable energy: the potential cost to businesses and individual ratepayers of a carbon-free economy.
Rensselaer County’s 2021 election campaign cycle has opened early with Democrats in Rensselaer and Republicans in Schodack working on local laws to make their political opponents commit solely to serving locally and not running for the County Legislature.
The City of Albany quietly settled lawsuits over the summer with two men seen in videos being struck by police officers responding to calls for a loud party on First Street in March 2019.
The Grant Cottage State Historic Site in Saratoga County, where former President Ulysses S. Grant completed his memoirs shortly before his death, has been named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.
With rumors swirling that the upcoming Tokyo Olympics may be canceled, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach insisted that the Games would go on.
Here’s the back story of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ viral inauguration day mittens. They were a gift to him from a Vermont teacher and are made from repurposed wool sweaters and lined with fleece made from recycled plastic bottles.
Sanders laughed off all the attention his winter ensemble garnered, saying: “In Vermont, we dress, we know something about the cold. And we’re not so concerned about good fashion. We just want to keep warm. And that’s what I did today.”
