Whatever do people talk about when they can’t talk about the weather?
Good morning, it’s Wednesday, midddle-of-the-week day. We actually could get some snow showers today, and temperatures will be in the 30s, but otherwise, nothing much to report in the weather department. The big storm and the winter storm warning is over.
It was kind of a bust here in the Albany area. I think we got maybe 6 inches – outside my house, anyway. The storm has moved on to northern New England, and will be departing Maine today. New York City, meanwhile, is still digging out from the close to two feet of the white stuff it received, but aboveground subway service has resumed.
Don’t get too comfortable, though, because another storm might be on the way.
Also, not sure if you heard this one, but the storm caused some casualties – including three people in Pennsylvania who were involved in a shooting after an argument over snow removal.
To be honest, I can understand – though of course not condone – how that might happen. How angry do you get when the snowplow blocks in your just-cleared driveway, or when your neighbor uses his snowblower to re-fill your freshly shoveled sidewalk? Yeah. It’s maddening.
Today is National Missing Persons Day. Did you know that approximately 2,300 people are reported missing EVERY DAY in the U.S.? As of December 2019, there were 87,500 active missing persons cases across the country, according to the FBI, and nearly half of those (44 percent) are people under the age of 21.
The FBI retains missing persons records indefinitely – unless a person is located or the reporting agency cancels the bulletin. It also releases these statistics annually.
During 2019, law enforcement agencies entered more than 609,000 missing person records and canceled more than 607,000 records.
One of the oldest missing persons cases in the U.S. involves the disappearance in 1926 of Marvin Clark, who was en route to visit his daughter in Portland, Oregon on Halloween weekend, but never made it. (He took a stagecoach or maybe a bus, and maybe he was actually going to the doctor – the case is old, and so the details are very fuzzy).
He was reportedly seen by some witnesses at the bus station, and his wife, Mary, – or maybe his son, Grover – subsequently received a postcard that was purportedly from her husband/his father, sent from Bellingham, Washington. Clark reportedly was depressed and had been suffering from health problems that left his partially paralyzed.
In 1986, a body was found in the woods between Clark’s home in Tigard, OR and downtown Portland – his original destination – but it was determined in 2011, via DNA testing, that these remains were not, in fact, the missing man in question. There was another brief uptick in interest in the case in 2014. But as far as I can tell, as of 2020, Clark is still reported missing.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden signed executive orders “modernizing” the immigration system, including one that aims to identify and reunite hundreds of families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration.
“I’m not making new law, I’m eliminating bad policy,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
The Biden administration said it plans on reactivating a “temporary Influx Care Facility” in Carrizo Springs, Texas, to potentially accommodate up to 700 migrant children within the next two weeks.
Biden last night paid respects to the late U.S. Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who was fatally wounded in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. His body is lying in honor in the Rotunda.
Senate Democrats took the first step to secure the passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion rescue package, advancing a budget resolution in a maneuver that could allow them to approve it without any Republican support.
The Senate passed a procedural motion with a 50-49 vote to move forward with a budget resolution, clearing the way for passing many provisions included in the stimulus package through reconciliation
Sen. Bernie Sanders has been elevated to the powerful role of Senate Budget Committee Chairman as the Democratic Party continues its metamorphosis under the new Biden administration.
Seventy-three percent of the funds that would be provided to Americans under Biden’s proposal for $1,400 stimulus payments would be directed to household savings, according to an analysis released by the Penn-Wharton Budget Model (PWBM).
Millions of Americans could face eviction under Biden’s executive order extending federal protections for renters through March 31.
Republicans fighting over their party’s future face a turning point today as House leaders confront dueling calls to punish two members: one for spreading conspiracy theories and endorsing political violence, and the other for voting to impeach former President Donald Trump.
The new head of the legal team defending former Trump in the Senate impeachment proceedings said the former president had never pressured him to base his legal arguments on baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud.
The House voted last night to begin fining lawmakers who refused to pass through metal detectors before walking onto the House floor, the latest move in a series of security measures taken after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
Despite GOP opposition, Alejandro Mayorkas was confirmed by the Senate and will become the first immigrant and first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Pete Buttigieg was confirmed as Transportation Secretary as the first openly gay Cabinet secretary to be confirmed by the Senate.
The House impeachment managers laid out their case against Trump, asserting that he was “singularly responsible” for the deadly assault on the Capitol last month and must be convicted and barred from holding public office.
The Manhattan DA is weighing whether to bring a state court case against Stephen K. Bannon, who was indicted on federal fraud charges for his role in a fundraising scheme to build a border wall but received a last-minute pardon from Trump.
The DA has begun investigating Bannon’s role in the fund-raising project for the wall and may also open an investigation into Ken Kurson, who was also pardoned by Trump after he was charged with federal crimes related to cyberstalking and harassment.
L. Lin Wood, the Trump ally who filed a fraud lawsuit to block Georgia’s election certification, is now the subject of an investigation into whether he himself was a legal Georgia voter during the 2020 presidential election.
In a surprise move, Amazon announced that founder Jeff Bezos will step down as CEO this summer and turn over the reins to Andy Jassy, who runs the cloud computing business.
Bezos, 57, will transition to the role of executive chairman. The announcement came as Amazon reported record fourth-quarter sales that topped $100 billion for the first time.
A Russian court sentenced Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, to more than two years in prison, a decision likely to send him for a lengthy term in a far-flung penal colony for the first time.
Antivaccine activists have expanded their reach by joining forces with antimask advocates and others dedicated to what they call “health freedom,” a sign of mistrust in government that is complicating efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Biden administration will begin distributing COVID-19 vaccine doses directly to retail pharmacies in an effort to expedite vaccinations across the nation.
The vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca not only protects people from serious illness and death but also substantially slows the transmission of the virus, according to a new study.
British authorities say they have discovered a potentially supercharged version of the country’s more-contagious coronavirus variant with a new mutation – one also detected in strains in South Africa and Brazil – that appears to make some vaccines less effective.
Andrew Yang, a leading New York mayoral candidate who has pursued extensive in-person campaigning amid the pandemic, announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Yang said in a statement that he is experiencing mild symptoms and will continue to attend virtual events.
“I’m experiencing mild symptoms, but am otherwise feeling well & in good spirits,” Yang tweeted. “I’m quarantining & adhering to public health guidelines until I can get back out on the campaign trail.”
Republican Fernando Mateo, an advocate for taxi drivers and bodega owners, is officially launching his bid for mayor today.
Former Councilman Jim Gennaro was poised to win his old Queens seat in yesterday’s special election that marked the first time the city has used ranked-choice voting.
Stacey Griffith, a very fit 52-year-old New York City-based SoulCycle instructor with a celebrity following, has apologized for getting the COVID-19 vaccine and saying her role as a fitness instructor entitled her to do so. Her case has highlighted how wealthy or well-connected people are skipping the vaccine line.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill repealing a controversial statute commonly known as the “walking while trans” ban.
Democrats, who dominate both the state Assembly and Senate, passed the measure largely along party lines. Several Republicans said the law, which was enacted in 1976, was a necessary tool for preventing prostitution.
Cuomo announced that NYC can allow restaurant workers to be included in current vaccine-eligible groups, namely Phase 1b.
The move comes a day after the governor balked at the idea of allowing restaurant workers to be vaccinated, despite reopening indoor dining later this month, arguing that other essential workers would then be left out.
“It’s a cheap, insincere discussion,“ Cuomo previously said. ”Yes, I would like to see restaurant workers eligible. But what does eligibility mean when you don’t have enough?”
Cuomo said local elected officials can decide whether to open up vaccinations to restaurant workers, taxi and ride sharing drivers and those within the disabled community.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plan for $25 billion in grants for struggling restaurants will be included in the COVID-19 relief bill that Congress is preparing to pass in the next few weeks.
Average Covid-19 hospitalizations in the city, while trending downward, were still 60 percent higher late last week than they were when Cuomo closed the restaurants.
Embattled state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker was blasted by Democratic lawmakers in a virtual meeting amid continuing controversy over the state’s nursing home death toll from COVID-19, with some calling him a “liar.”
The federal government had released additional vaccines to New York, according to Cuomo, which allowed the state to distribute 20 percent more vaccines to local governments.
Neurosurgeon and CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta said that he was “stunned” by Cuomo casting doubt on the input of experts amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuomo, chair of the National Governors Association, said he and other governors were scheduled to be talking with the White House yesterday about vaccine supply and distribution.
New York officials caught more than $5.5 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefit claims over the course of the coronavirus pandemic that’s spanned 11 months and ravaged the state economy.
Cuomo has blocked a bipartisan proposal to conduct an in-depth analysis of the high-speed internet market across the state.
Democratic state lawmakers keen on raising taxes on higher-income earners to help close the state’s massive, multi-billion dollar deficit have introduced a new bill that would place an extra tax on investments.
Sales tax revenue for local governments in New York in 2020 dropped by 10%, a sign the COVID-19 pandemic has put municipalities around the state in a deep financial hole.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, chair of the state Senate Finance Committee, wants state lawmakers to reconsider Cuomo’s COVID-19 powers in light of the state attorney general’s report that found the state undercounted nursing home coronavirus deaths.
The coronavirus curfew on restaurants and bars across New York would be rolled back from 10 p.m. to midnight under a bill introduced by a Republican Long Island assemblyman to help struggling eateries ahead of the Super Bowl.
About 90 percent of people arrested by the NYPD on gun charges are back out on the street, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said, calling the court system an “open door.”
Online spectators blasted the Staten Island Zoo for airing a snow-free, pre-recorded video of Chuck making his early-spring prediction — instead of doing it live like in years past.
Amazon, which some consider the bane of bricks and mortar retailers, has just opened a bricks and mortar store in the Capital Region’s largest shopping mall: Crossgates.
Idle since mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Times Union Center could play host to some spectator-free NCAA events next month.
The City of Albany’s Policing Reform and Reinvention Collaborative released its final draft report this week.
Summer sleepaway camps in the Adirondacks and Hudson Valley are urging the state to allow them to reopen this coming summer.
Schenectady County could soon be the next area that allows its students to participate in high-risk sports after meeting most of the metrics provided by the county health department required to resume play.
The FBI is reeling after what started out as a routine operation in Florida ended in gunfire, leaving five agents shot, two of them killed, one of whom started his career in Albany.
