FRIDAY. We made it. Good morning!
Today is National Seeing Eye Dog Day, which is a good time to recognize all the hard working canines of the world.
And seeing eye dogs are indeed working, and the general protocol is that you should not touch them while they are wearing their harness or vest – unless their handler says otherwise.
And you shouldn’t feel offended if a request to pet a seeing eye dog is rebuffed. Remember that the dog is as essential to the individual for whom it is working as a cane or a wheelchair – neither of which you would seek to pet. If you do get the go ahead, pet a seeing eye dog on the shoulder, not the head.
This advice comes from the Guide Dog Foundation, and there’s lots more where that came from – if you’re interested.
A little history:
The demand for seeing eye dogs was sparked in the wake of World War I, when many soldiers returned home no longer able to see. Dorothy Harrison Eustis, a dog trainer from Philadelphia who was living in Switzerland at the time, wrote an article about the first seeing eye dog school in Germany for the Saturday Evening Post in 1927.
A Nashville, Tenn. man named Morris Frank wrote to Eustis inquiring whether he might come to Switzerland to obtain and train one of these dogs for himself. After he promised to return to the U.S. and teach others what he learned, Eustis agreed to Frank’s request.
He made good on his promise, founding The Seeing Eye dog school on this day in 1929. It remains the oldest school of its kind in the world.
Today is also Thomas Paine Day, otherwise known as Freethinkers Day. (Freethought, by the way, supports reason over faith, and rejects arbitrary authority).
Paine, who was born on this day in 1737, was an English-born political philosopher and writer who supported revolutionary causes in America and Europe. In 1886, he published, to international acclaim, “Common Sense” – the first pamphlet to advocate American independence.
It is going to be a whopping 15 degrees today in the Albany area, and there is a wind chill advisory in effect. With the wind, it will feel like 20 below zero, which is very cold, BUT not historically cold. It does, however, elevate the risk of frostbite within 30 minutes or so of exposure so take precautions…in other words, cover up.
In the headlines…
President Biden announced several steps intended to expand access to health care, including an executive order to temporarily reopen the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplace for Americans seeking coverage during the pandemic.
As a result of his action, the Department of Health and Human Services is set to reopen enrollment on the federal Affordable Care Act exchange between February 15 and May 15.
Most Republicans doubt that Biden will be able to make lawmakers on Capitol Hill “more cooperative” despite his bids for greater unity and bipartisanship in Washington, D.C., according to new polling data.
Biden also signed an order reversing the Mexico City policy, permitting U.S. aid money once again to fund groups that provide or promote abortion around the globe.
A group of 32 lawmakers sent a letter to House leaders asking for additional security measures to protect themselves, their families and staff after the attack at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month and a “significant uptick in threats.”
Trump is focusing his political energy on targeting Rep. Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican, who voted for Trump’s impeachment earlier this month.
A man who calls himself the “QAnon Shaman” and stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 while wearing a horned bearskin headdress, face paint and no shirt, is willing to testify at Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial, his lawyer said this week.
As 34-year-old Rosanne Boyland lay dying on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 6 after being crushed by a mob, fellow rioters were charging over her to attack police officers with crutches, a hockey stick and pepper spray, new police body camera footage shows.
Just two weeks ago, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy declared Trump culpable in the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. By yesterday, he was seeking the former president’s political support at a private meeting at Mar-a-Lago.
McCarthy says Trump committed to helping Republicans retake Congress in 2022.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she expects Biden’s nominee for Department of Homeland Security to head a task force dedicated to reunited families that have been separated at the border.
Mexico yesterday surpassed India in confirmed COVID-19 deaths, giving the Latin American country the third-highest toll worldwide, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
Of 47.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine shipped to states and nursing homes, 24.6 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
It appears AstraZeneca is falling behind in the vaccine arms race.
Novavax, a little-known company supported by the U.S. federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, said for the first time that its Covid-19 vaccine offered robust protection against the virus – but not against the South African variant.
That new variant of the coronavirus emerged yesterday in the United States, posing yet another public health challenge in a country already losing more than 3,000 people to COVID-19 every day.
A person in New Jersey has died after being infected with the U.K. COVID strain, marking the first time the U.S. has registered a death from the B.1.1.7 variant.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the coronavirus situation in the United States “potentially could get worse,” despite recent improvements, citing the threat from new, more contagious variants of the virus.
There may be another addition to the growing list of strange possible symptoms of the new coronavirus: “Covid tongue.”
If you do get the vaccine, Fauci said, using your subsequent immunity as an excuse to travel or drop health precautions after getting vaccinated is a huge mistake.
Fauci also said that he supports re-opening schools under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Defense Department will offer the coronavirus vaccine to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay facility, a prosecutor involved in the government’s case against five of the prisoners said in a letter to defense lawyers.
A Navy warship docked in San Diego is contending with a COVID-19 outbreak — leaving its crew panicked amid what some insiders call inadequate safety measures on board.
Faced with the urgent need to protect their members and patients from the virus, labor organizations are pushing hospitals to do more.
Congressional Democrats are discussing a path to bypass Republicans and approve an aggressive Covid-19 relief package on a party-line basis as prospects for bipartisan support for Biden’s top priority diminish.
Democratic Party leaders remain hopeful that Biden can sign his so-called American Rescue Plan into law by mid-March at the latest, even with the competing demands of a Senate impeachment trial of Trump, which is set to begin the week of Feb. 8.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has suspended the onboarding process for several last-minute Trump administration nominees to Pentagon advisory boards, defense officials said, effectively preventing them from being seated.
Robinhood, a popular stock trading platform among amateur investors, blocked its users from buying shares of GameStop, AMC and several other companies yesterday following sudden and sharp increases in value.
The limits on trading by Robinhood and other online brokerages, put in place as fears of market instability grew more widespread, set off a furious outcry among small investors.
New York Attorney General Tish James is “reviewing” activity on the stock-trading app Robinhood after the company drew harsh backlash for restricting the trading of several stocks that were promoted on a Reddit forum.
Both chambers of Congress will have hearings into the Reddit-fueled GameStop trading saga after the House Committee on Financial Services announced it would probe recent market instability.
Robinhood raised over $1 billion to help meet the increased demand from amateur investors using the stock trading app amid this week’s GameStop frenzy.
Concordia College, outside Manhattan, will close its doors in the fall, the school announced, adding to a growing list of colleges and universities that are shutting down for good amid the ongoing public health crisis.
In his final State of the City address, which was not live, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio committed to accelerating the city’s vaccination efforts and set a goal of inoculating five million New Yorkers by June.
De Blasio also said he would begin in May to bring back to offices the thousands of city employees who have been working remotely, and would safely reopen schools for all students in September.
New York City will create new bike lanes on two East River bridges — and close some lanes to vehicular traffic — as part of a plan to expand its network of bike lanes throughout the five boroughs, de Blasio announced.
A probe by AG James found COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents in the state may have been undercounted by as much as 50% as poor infection-control practices and understaffing fueled the coronavirus crisis inside the long-term care facilities.
Just hours later, James was proved correct, as Health Department officials made public new data that added more than 3,800 deaths to their tally, representing nursing home residents who had died in hospitals and had not previously been counted by the state as nursing home deaths.
“While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves,” James said.
James’ office said it is continuing to investigate the allegations, and is conducting a deeper examination of practices at more than 20 nursing homes where reported conduct “presented particular concern.”
The investigations are being conducted by the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
“That does not in any way change the total count of deaths but is instead a question of allocating the number of deaths between hospitals and nursing homes,’’ DOH Commissioner Zucker said, adding that the department “has consistently made clear that our numbers are reported based on the place of death.”
Zucker’s full statement, which is quite lengthy, can be found here.
State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and Sen. George Borello, both Republicans, have called for the resignation of Zucker due to the findings of the James report.
Republican North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik said James’ damning report about the Cuomo’s administration’s lack of transparency in reporting the total number of nursing homes deaths is a “first step toward justice” for grieving families.
“This is now more than a nursing home scandal, this is a massive corruption and coverup scandal at the highest level of New York State Government implicating the Governor, the Secretary to the Governor, the New York State Health Commissioner and the Governor’s staff,” said Stefanik in a statement.
Cuomo is being threatened with a lawsuit if his administration does not adjust its vaccination policy for incarcerated people in jails and prisons.
Republican state Sen. Patrick M. Gallivan and more than 90 Buffalo-area restaurants have filed a petition challenging Cuomo’s executive orders that have required restaurants and bars to close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
New York City restaurant owners are boiling mad over Cuomo’s tentative announcement that indoor dining would only resume at 25 percent capacity — complaining they can’t survive with three out of every four seats empty.
NYC will grant 4,000 street vendor licenses over a decade, under legislation the City Council passed yesterday.
Democratic New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman endorsed a massive $50 billion package of state tax hikes on the wealthy to maintain services during the pandemic-fueled fiscal crisis.
Over 1,000 students at New York City’s Columbia University are withholding this semester’s tuition payments, demanding a 10 percent decrease in tuition and a 10 percent increase in financial aid for students burdened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A New York City police officer was arrested on child pornography charges after he repeatedly posed as a teenager online to request and obtain sexually explicit photos and videos from at least 46 minors, federal prosecutors said.
A Brooklyn Democratic Party leader who came under fire for making offensive remarks about Chinese people resigned last night, paving the way for at least one mayoral candidate – Andrew Yang – to rejoin a party-sponsored debate this weekend.
The NYPD, the nation’s largest police force, has started training officers in when and how to intervene if they see a fellow officer behaving badly.
The MTA must hold public hearings on its plans to close 20 station booths and eliminate 185 station attendant jobs, a judge ruled.
A short timetable, jumbled communication, and confusion over who was responsible doling out 400 coronavirus vaccine doses in Saratoga County led to a closed-door meeting filled with shouting that likely violated Open Meetings Law.
An Oneida County man is accused of making phone threats to Albany Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center this month, federal prosecutors said.
The City School District of Albany has received its second Chromebook shipment bringing the district closer to its goal of securing an individual device for every student.
A formal report with recommendations for Schenectady police reforms could be in the hands of City Council members in the next month or so with an April 1 deadline to submit the document to the state.
Police fear a lethal batch of tainted crack cocaine is being illicitly sold locally after several drug overdoses — including one that killed a Rotterdam woman Wednesday — have occurred in recent days.
A group of activists and neighbors of the Norlite aggregate plant in Cohoes raised alarms about what they said is unhealthy silica quartz dust coming from a facility which has long coated the surrounding area with grime and raised fears about lung disease.
Restaurateur Matt Baumgartner, who in 2009 opened the first Wolff’s Biergarten as part of the renaissance of Albany’s warehouse district and grew it over the next seven years to include locations in Schenectady, Syracuse and Troy, is selling the brand.
Rensselaer County says it’s moving ahead with practices and competition for high-risk sports.
One week after the Miu Miu coat she wore at President Biden’s swearing in went viral, Ella Emhoff, the 21-year-old stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, became the newest face at IMG Models, one of the world’s most prestigious modeling agencies.
A New York Times science and health reporter whose reporting on the pandemic has been a regular part of the newspaper’s front page and its leading podcast, “The Daily,” has been accused of using a racial slur while serving as an expert guide on a Times-sponsored trip for high school students.
GM has set a 2035 target date for phasing out gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles from its showrooms globally, among the first major auto makers to put a timeline on transitioning to a fully electric lineup.
You are not dreaming, there is indeed a Grape Nuts shortage as a result of the pandemic.
Sandwich chain Subway’s tuna is anything but the real thing, a new lawsuit alleges.
Think you know Buffalo wings’ origin story? Maybe not.
The Chicago-based maker of Oreos and Triscuits said it is making investments to maintain the ground it gained on competitors last year as shoppers bought more of its snacks while they spent time at home during the pandemic.
Americans drinking more Don Julio tequila and other spirits at home during the pandemic outweighed a slump in sales at bars, helping liquor giant Diageo PLC report a rise in half-year organic sales.
RIP Legendary actress Cicely Tyson, who died yesterday at the age of 96.
