Good snowy Wednesday morning, CivMixers.
We’ve got just enough of the white stuff to remind us that yes, indeed, it is still winter. 52 days until…well, you know.
On this day in 1945, several thousand prisoners who had remained behind at Auschwitz Concentration Camp – the largest death camp of its kind during WW II – by the retreating Nazis because they were believed to be too ill to travel as the Russian Army drew near were liberated by said Red Army.
These prisoners were supposed to have been shot and killed by the SS, but in the confusion of the moment they were left alive…and subsequently freed.
Days before, the frantic Nazis had tried to cover up the atrocities that had occurred at the camp. They burned and removed files and blew up gas chambers. But their efforts were so rushed that they couldn’t conceal everything regarding the crimes that had been committed there.
Eighty-four days later Soviet forces were in Berlin. Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a bunker on April 30, 1945.
Today is also International Holocaust Remembrance Day, established by the UN in November 2005, so the world might never forget the 6 million Jews and millions of others killed by the Nazis and also prevent such a genocide from ever occurring again.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, events held to commemorate this day are virtual. Find out more here and here.
There are a bunch of other national days to mention, but after that set up it seems sort of frivolous to get into it. So I’ll leave it up to you to do some Googling if you’re so inclined.
That winter weather advisory is still in effect until 10 a.m. for Southern Vermont, the Mohawk Valley, Capital Region, Lake George Saratoga Region, central and northern Taconics, southern Adirondacks and the Berkshires. The snow is supposed to taper off this morning, giving way to clear by cloudy skies in the afternoon. Expect about another inch of accumulation.
This is the result of a blockbuster snowstorm that hit portions of the central and northeastern U.S., causing travel headaches and closing some coronavirus testing sites.
And if you haven’t already dug out the warmest layers you own, now is the time to do that. Because the temperatures are heading down, down, down for the weekend. Very far down….like in negative territory when you factor in the wind chill.
You’ve been warned.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden’s pledge that there will be sufficient vaccines for 300 million Americans by the end of summer represents a bold and politically risky response to criticism his pandemic plan lacks ambition.
Biden said his administration intends to order 100 million more doses each of Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc.’s coronavirus vaccines, and at least temporarily speed up shipments to states to about 10 million doses a week.
French drug maker Sanofi said it will help manufacture 125 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by rivals Pfizer and BioNTech, while its own vaccine candidate faces delays.
Just six days after taking office, the Biden administration took a sharp turn in U.S. policy in the Middle East, announcing it will resume contact with Palestinian leaders and restore U.S. contributions to the U.N. agency which provides aid to Palestinians.
Biden ordered the Department of Justice to end its reliance on private prisons and acknowledge the central role government has played in implementing discriminatory housing policies, saying the U.S. government needs to change “its whole approach” on the issue of racial equity.
Biden’s latest executive orders also recommit the federal government to respect tribal sovereignty and disavow discrimination against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community over the coronavirus pandemic.
In announcing these racial equity actions, Biden cited the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer last May, which touched off demonstrations in cities across the United States.
A judge has ruled that a prior arrest of Floyd, who was killed last year when a now-former police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes, cannot be used as evidence in the trials of the officers who were involved in his death.
Biden confronted Russian leader Vladimir Putin about his government’s arrest of political rival Alexei Navalny and other hot-button issues, including the Kremlin’s alleged cyberattack on U.S. federal agencies and plot to assassinate American soldiers overseas.
Biden’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, may need some of her trademark “gumbo diplomacy” today as she faces lawmakers for her confirmation hearing.
A federal judge temporarily blocked Biden’s attempt to put a moratorium on deportations for 100 days.
The judge, Drew B. Tipton, a Trump appointee, said in his ruling that the suspension of deportations would violate a provision of the immigration statute as well as another law that required agencies to provide a rational explanation for their policy decisions.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said his “highest priority” in his new role is to “get more COVID relief than we have now.”
A group of Democratic lawmakers reintroduced legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 — and indicated they may use a powerful procedural tool to pass the bill using their slimmest-possible Senate majority.
The president is expected to issue an executive order that would suspend new oil and gas leasing on federal land, in what is widely seen as a first step toward fulfilling his campaign pledge to stop drilling on federal lands and offshore.
Five Republican Senators sided with their Democratic colleagues to reject the idea that former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial was unconstitutional, effectively ending an effort to have the trial thrown out.
In order to convict Trump at his trial, at least 17 Republicans will need to vote with all Democrats when the trial begins next month.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, 80, a Vermont Democrat who is set to preside over Trump’s impeachment trial, has been discharged from the hospital, where he was taken out of an “abundance of caution” after saying he wasn’t feeling well.
The Senate confirmed Antony J. Blinken as the nation’s 71st secretary of state, installing President Biden’s longtime adviser who has a mission to rejoin alliances that were fractured after four years of an “America First” foreign policy.
Janet L. Yellen was sworn in as the secretary of the Treasury Department by Vice President Kamala Harris, a history-making moment as both are the first women to hold two of the most powerful jobs in the United States government.
The Trump name has been dumped from a signature West Palm Beach condominium in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.
A California man who sent threatening text messages to the families of Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on the same day pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol has been arrested, federal authorities said.
The acting Capitol Police chief apologized to Congress for extensive security failures on Jan. 6, acknowledging during a closed-door briefing the department knew there was a “strong potential for violence” but failed to prevent what she called a “terrorist attack.”
The leadership of the Proud Boys has come under increased scrutiny as agents and prosecutors try to determine how closely members of the group communicated during the Capitol riot and to what extent they might have planned the assault in advance.
The FBI has charged a 29-year-old Glens Falls man in the of the U.S. Capitol after tipsters sent them Facebook videos that captured him smoking what appears to be pot in the building and proclaiming it “our house!” according to the complaint.
A Westchester County varsity sports jacket and an oversize MAGA hat helped investigators track down two more accused rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a frenzy of Trump support, federal authorities said.
The QAnon-supporting garbage man who was federally charged for participating in the U.S. Capitol riot earlier this month has quit his job at the NYC Department of Sanitation, an agency spokesperson said.
The World Health Organization said it does not recommend that pregnant women receive Moderna’s COVID vaccine.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Biden’s plan to ramp up distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine was “not enough,” as the Empire State faces a shortage of doses.
Four state lawmakers want Cuomo to “re-prioritize” vaccine administration as many health care and other essential workers – and also people with developmental disabilities – are being pushed aside after New York opened up eligibility for anyone 65 and older.
The governor is asking large essential workforces and their unions to set up their own vaccination programs.
Across the Empire State, vaccines have been administered to only about 44 percent of all employees at long-term care facilities, according to state officials.
Thousands of New York City teachers have had their COVID-19 vaccine appointments canceled thanks to supply and scheduling snafus — a bureaucratic mess that could only further delay the reopening of schools, union chief Michael Mulgrew said.
Mounting data shows that in-person classroom instruction has not significantly contributed to the spread of COVID-19 — suggesting schools could be safely reopened, CDC experts said.
Cuomo is expected to address adjustments regarding the state’s “micro-cluster” strategy today, which could result in some changes to rules that have impacted businesses in particular.
Cuomo announced that New York’s State parks, historic sites, campgrounds, and trails welcomed a record-setting 78 million visits in 2020.
Republican state lawmakers criticized their Democratic colleagues in the Legislature for moving forward with a bill that would repeal loitering language that has been used to arrest transgender women of color for walking down the street in certain clothing.
Republican state lawmakers blasted Cuomo for refusing to say when New York City restaurants can resume indoor dining — and unveiled a series of measures intended to aid the state’s struggling hospitality industry.
The state Gaming Commission approved a plan allowing a Manhattan-based app developer to buy scratch-off tickets for customers and have them mailed or delivered to their homes.
NYC would bring back 500,000 jobs lost during the pandemic through measures including salary subsidies to small business employees, under a new platform from mayoral candidate Ray McGuire.
Seven Democratic candidates for mayor said they’d likely replace NYC Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza if they are elected to office in this year’s election.
Mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang stepped into a municipal hornets’ nest by saying he backs requiring newly-hired police officers to live in New York City, a proposed change that would run afoul of state law and which has already infuriated powerful police unions.
The Madison Square Garden Political Action Committee has donated to seven members of the New York City Council, a group that will play a decisive role in the future of the arena, city records show.
Colleges and school districts in the Capital Region are stepping up efforts to stop plagiarism and cheating – which educators say have escalated since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Thousands of actors, musicians and other creative professionals in New York City are at risk of losing or have already lost their health-care coverage because of coronavirus-related shutdowns.
An NYPD officer was shot in the Bronx last night while chasing an armed suspect. He is expected to survive.
Jaime A. Davidson was in prison for nearly 30 years for one of upstate New York’s most notorious crimes – the shooting deatth of a Syracuse police officers. Political connections appear to have set him free.
Now that he has received a presidential pardon, Trump’s former adviser Stephen K. Bannon may now be a witness against three other men accused in a border-wall swindle.
About 200 animals, including livestock, cats and dogs, were removed from the town of East Greenbush’s last farm after family members agreed they could no longer feed or take care of them properly , town police said.
The City of Albany’s Industrial Development Agency approved the decision to move forward with seizing 0.88 acres of land through eminent domain for the possible development of Liberty Park, or what is commonly known as the parking lot district downtown.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan announced that the city is launching an updated, user- and mobile-friendly website. The city is also assuming a new brand identity created by a student from the College of Saint Rose.
The blaze that killed the former Zappos chief executive, Tony Hsieh, may have been caused by “carelessness or even an intentional act,” Connecticut fire and police officials said.
