It’s the end of the week. Happy Friday!
And also, Happy Year of the Ox!
Today is the Lunar New Year, also called the Spring Festival in China and Hong Kong. This day is celebrated differently in various cultures, but traditionally focuses on themes of reunion and hope, which we can all use a little of lately.
The festival, which often includes decorating with the color red and lighting fireworks, is usually 40 days long. In China, which employs the modern-day Gregorian calendar but sticks with the more traditional lunisolar calendar for holidays, there’s usually a seven-day long state holiday.
The Chinese Zodiac governs which animal represented in a given year – a cycle that repeats itself every 12 years. The Ox is associated with hard work and serenity – something else we can all do with more of these days..
Today is also the anniversary of the founding of Georgia as a British colonial province, the precursor to today’s Peach State. General James Edward Oglethorpe, on this day in 1773, landed the first settlers in the Anne, at what was to become Georgia’s first city (and later the first state capital), Savannah.
It’s also Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Our 13th president was born on tis day in 1809. Fun New York fact: Julius Francis, a Buffalo drug store owner and Civil War buff, began honoring Lincoln on his birthday and petitioned Congress to make the day a legal holiday. Francis died in 1881, leaving behind a significant legacy of honoring Lincoln, but having never managed to convince lawmakers on Capitol Hill to honor his request.
We do have Presidents Day, which falls on Monday, Feb. 15 this year.
The third Monday in February is a federal holiday, though it’s really officially Washington’s Birthday, and some states recognize it as such. Thirteen states – Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Wisconsin – do not observe the holiday at all.
And since we’re on the subject of things that are coming up, a friendly reminder for those who might get in trouble if they forget: Sunday is Valentine’s Day, which, for all its chocolate-eating and flower-giving glory, actually has a rather dark back story.
It’s going to be cold today – under 20 degrees – and partly cloudy. We have some snow coming our way, but that’s for another day’s worries.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump was reportedly sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus.
House impeachment managers wrapped up their emotionally charged incitement case against Trump yesterday by warning that he remains a clear and present danger to democracy and could foment more violence if not barred from running for office again.
Mounting evidence emerging the impeachment trial unfolds in the Senate indicates Trump may have been personally informed that Vice President Mike Pence was in physical dangerduring the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, just moments before denigrating him on Twitter.
Military officials overseeing the authorization process to launch nuclear weapons were unaware on Jan. 6 that Pence’s military aide carrying the “nuclear football” was potentially in danger as rioters got close during the violent Capitol insurrection.
The blood-thirsty insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol were acting on Trump’s “orders” as they assaulted police officers and ransacked the building in a deadly attempt to overthrow American democracy, House Democrats charged.
A little more than a month after the Capitol siege, a fuller picture of the injuries sustained by the police has emerged.
A grand jury has indicted two-time Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller on seven charges from his participation in the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6.
A trio of Republican senators allied with Trump met with his defense team last night, in the middle of an impeachment trial in which they will vote on whether to convict the former president and potentially bar him from holding public office again.
If the House impeachment managers want to call witnesses at Trump’s trial, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he’ll make it happen.
The House Ways and Means Committee advanced its portion of the coronavirus relief bill just hours after impeachment managers argued their case in the Senate trial, as Democrats try not to let impeachment sideline their work on President Joe Biden’s agenda.
The White House is worried an impeachment trial will distract from Biden’s agenda, but in reality, it has reminded people of “the daily fever pitch” they left behind.
Protections under the Fair Housing Act will now cover LGBTQ Americans, the Biden administration announced, a move that allows the federal government to investigate complaints of housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
In a scathing new report, a team of medical experts at the Lancet determined that hundreds of thousands of people in the United States died unnecessarily as a result of Trump’s policies—even before the pandemic.
The Biden administration says it has now secured enough vaccine to inoculate every American adult, but the president warned that logistical hurdles would most likely mean that many Americans will still not have been vaccinated by the end of the summer.
Biden visited the National Institutes of Health complex and he spoke about the U.S. vaccine supply and his goals for the rollout, but he also indicated that mask-wearing will likely be a reality for the next year.
“We have to stay vigilant, we have to stay focused and for God’s sake, we have to remember who we are. We are the United States of America. We can do this,” the president said.
“By the time we get to April, that would be what I call for lack of better wording, open season. Namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category can start to get vaccinated,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is defending his decision to attend his son’s wedding in California in early December amid the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the state, writing in a Facebook post he didn’t regret the decision.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s goal is to have schools open five days a week in-person, but stressed the administration would follow the guidance of science and medical experts on how to safely reopen.
Senior living communities around the country are offering vaccine access as an incentive for moving in.
High hopes that a rapid vaccine rollout in early 2021 would send millions of workers back into offices by spring have been scuttled. Many companies are pushing workplace return dates to September—and beyond—or refusing to commit to specific dates.
As more Covid-19 vaccines become available in the U.S., it is getting tougher to run large clinical trials to test a new vaccine’s ability to prevent disease because people are less willing to take a placebo.
CVS Health is now offering COVID-19 vaccinations to people 65 and older by appointment only at more than two dozen pharmacy locations around New York.
Rite Aid Pharmacy is joining the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program and will be doling out coronavirus vaccines as early today, the drugstore chain announced.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether market manipulation or other types of criminal misconduct fueled the rapid rise last month in prices of stocks such as GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings, according to people familiar with the matter.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing-home death toll from COVID-19, telling them “we froze” out of fear the true numbers would “be used against us” by federal prosecutors.
The confession also comes ahead of a report by Associated Press, according to which more than 15,000 nursing home residents died of coronavirus, much higher than the previously disclosed figure of 8,500.
The raises new questions as to whether a March 25 directive from Cuomo’s administration helped spread sickness and death among residents, a charge the state disputes.
Nearly every top Republican in the state pounced on the report about DeRosa’s comments, subjecting Cuomo to a barrage of criticism arguably unparalleled at any point during his decade in office.
“Nothing about the inhumane way our seniors were treated by the Cuomo administration was beautiful. It should be criminal,” a Long Island resident whose father died of COVID-19 wrote in USA Today.
Susan Arbetter: “What is the Cuomo administration really responsible for here? If you dissect what has angered politicians and the public about this entire situation, it comes down to three things: A bad decision, a lack of transparency and a lack of remorse.”
Cuomo will make his first White House visit since Biden took office today, along with a bipartisan group of other governors and mayors, to discuss COVID relief and vaccination efforts.
Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed Cuomo’s budget proposal would cut nearly $500 million in funding from the city’s public hospital system, potentially forcing City Hall to cut 900 doctors and nurses and close 19 clinics in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated will no longer have to quarantine after exposure to coronavirus, but only if it’s been less than 90 days since their last vaccination and they’re not showing symptoms, state leaders announced.
State lawmakers this week called for additional hearings and advanced legislation tied to coronavirus-related deaths in New York’s nursing homes as new data on the scope of the problem was released.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to raise tolls at bridges and tunnels by 7.1% in April as it struggles to fund subway, bus and rail services amid multibillion-dollar losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The governor’s proposed state budget would move $160 million dedicated for subways, trains and other elements of New York’s mass transit systems into the state’s general fund. That includes $145 million meant for the cash-strapped MTA.
Many dining establishments throughout the city are saying they are fully booked for the indoor spots on the Feb. 14 holiday, which is this Sunday, and are close to capacity for Friday and Saturday.
New York City authorities raided a Long Island City warehouse that they said held more than 1.7 million counterfeit N95 masks, marking one of the biggest single seizures of personal protective equipment since the pandemic began.
The New York City Council wants to turn Rikers Island into a clean energy hub.
The Council Council approved a measure that will bar people convicted of abusing the public trust from holding office again in the Big Apple, effectively barring ex-con Hiram Monserrate from mounting his latest bid to reboot his scandal-plagued political career.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already having an influence on the NYC mayor’s race, though there’s little expectation she’ll endorse a candidate anytime soon, if at all.
The body that will run the state’s new, publicly funded elections system is taking shape.
The Catholic bishops of New York sold a lucrative insurance business they controlled and stored the proceeds in a foundation they also administer, keeping billions out of the reach of survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
The potential state aid cuts and withholding of Capital City funding would be a tremendous blow to the city’s finances, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan told a state budget committee.
New extended footage of the 9-year-old Rochester girl pepper sprayed by police was released, revealing she begged: “Officer, please don’t do this to me,” to which the female officer replied: “You did it to yourself, hon.”
A grand jury has declined to indict two Buffalo police officers who were facing felony assault charges for shoving a 75-year-old protester who landed hard on the ground and seriously injured his head, prosecutors said.
John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told The Buffalo News: “Obviously, we are ecstatic with their decision. These officers have been put through hell and I look forward to seeing them back on the job.”
The long-standing practice of state agencies to secretly use their administrative subpoena authority to sift the personal records of employees in internal investigations was struck down by a state Supreme Court justice in a ruling that found the State Police were not adhering to the provisions of Public Officers Law.
Black people were pulled over, arrested and subjected to the use of force at disproportionate levels to their percentage in both the town and the larger population, according to an audit of policies and practices related to racial issues involving the Niskayuna Police Department.
A Hudson Valley police chief put on leave last year after State Police, the Columbia County DA’s office and the state comptroller’s office investigated him for two years pleaded guilty to stealing from the state retirement system and the village of Chatham.
Due to the lack of financial record keeping, the Duanesburg Town Board resorted to asking the town bookkeeper for verbal updates on cash balances to ensure funds were available to make purchases, according to an audit by the state Comptroller’s Office.
The Public Service Commission announced its approval of the 54-mile, 345-kilovolt transmission line running from Rensselaer County to Dutchess County, a project designed to relieve electricity bottlenecks.
After the Black Hawk crash in Mendon last month that claimed the lives of three New York National Guard members, and another fatal UH-60 crash in Idaho, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is asking the Department of Defense to ground all Black Hawks.
Selena Stallmer and Brian Dinsmore, who live in Niskayuna, will say a full-bodied “I do” at the Dunkin’ drive-thru today.
A top New York Times columnist claims the paper’s publisher shelved his opinion column defending Donald McNeil, the journalist who recently left the paper after reports emerged that he said a racial slur while on a trip chaperoning high-school students.
…The NY Post subsequently ran the column in full.
They’re not the Air Obamas, but one sneakerhead with $25,000 to spend will have an opportunity this week to purchase an exclusive pair of basketball kicks made in honor of the 44th President.
The park ranger who arrested Bruce Springsteen was on foot patrol when he said he watched the rock icon drink a shot of Patron tequila.
Asbury Park Press reported Springsteen’s blood-alcohol content was 0.02 – well below New Jersey’s legal limit for drunken driving.
The Rev. Al Sharpton has filed for divorce from his estranged wife of more than 15 years.
Jamie Spears will remain Britney Spears’ co-conservator with Bessemer Trust for the time-being.
Longtime local news veteran Katherine Creag, a fixture on NBC 4 New York’s award-winning morning newscast “Today in New York,” died suddenly this week at the age of 47. (She was also a former Syracuse TV reporter).
Chick Corea, an architect of the jazz-rock fusion boom of the 1970s who spent more than a half century as one of the foremost pianists in jazz, died of cancer this week at his home in Tampa, Fla. He was 79.
