Good Thursday morning, CivMix crew.
We have been collectively so caught up in the coronavirus pandemic that many of us likely haven’t been paying all that much attention to other deadly diseases, which, unfortunately, are still around.
Today is World Cancer Day, which was first established in 2000 to raise awareness, improve education and eventually work toward a day when preventable cancer deaths around the globe that take place largely due to a lack of access to treatment do not occur.
The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) calls this a “global uniting initiative.” At this point, some 10 million people die annually from cancer, which is more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. By 2030, experts project cancer deaths to rise to 13 million around the world.
Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, and its estimated annual economic cost is $1.3 trillion.
One third of cancer deaths are preventable, and another third can be cured if detected and treated properly. We have made great strides in cancer research, but still some 3.7 million arguable preventable or unnecessary cancer deaths continue to take place annually.
More than half – about 65 percent – of cancer deaths occur in the least developed parts of the world. Even higher income countries have significant inequities when it comes to accessing good, cutting-edge care – especially among low-income, indigenous, immigrant, refugee and rural communities.
And, of course, the pandemic has exacerbated this problem, diverting attention, time and resources away from cancer detection and treatment and, perhaps most concerning, keeping people seeking routine medical attention. All this will likely lead to a higher rate of late-stage diagnosis and potentially higher cancer death rates.
The theme for this year’s World Cancer Day is “I am and I will.”
It is also, rather fittingly given what I just wrote above, National Optimist Day. Being an anxiety-ridden and glass half empty sort of person, this poses some significant challenges to me. But I certainly can recognize the strength and benefits reaped by those who always manage to look on the bright side of life.
Now, if only they could rewire my brain.
The forecast today calls for a mix of sun and clouds and temperatures in the mid-30s. Yes, please. I will take it. But I won’t get used to it. I have two words for you: Polar vortex.
In the headlines…
At a House GOP meeting late last night, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia apologized to her colleagues for her embrace of dangerous conspiracies as a far-right provocateur on the eve of a House vote to strip her of her committee assignments.
The vote in the House Rules Committee advanced a resolution to remove Greene from her posts on the chamber’s education and budget committees and also ban her from getting any other appointments. A full chamber vote is expected today.
Representative Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican, condemned Greene’s past conspiratorial and violent comments, but he declined to take any action against her on the eve of a vote forced by Democrats to remove her from congressional committees.
“Past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference,” McCarthy said.
Congressional Republicans are retaliating against Democrats for trying to remove Greene from her committees because of past violent rhetoric and her promotion of conspiracy theories by attempting to do the same to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
A majority of Republicans voted by secret ballot to keep Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming in leadership after some wanted to punish her for voting with Democrats to impeach former president Donald Trump.
The Pentagon said it was still uncertain how to grapple with the problem of extremism in its ranks and announced a military-wide pause to allow troops and commanders a chance to focus on the issue.
The president worked the phones and hunkered down with fellow Democrats at the White House, in what aides described as an overt signal that he wants his massive “rescue” package passed and passed quickly.
Meanwhile, the House took its first step toward passing his sprawling $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package through Congress without any Republican help.
Biden told Democrats he would not agree to scale back the $1,400 direct payments to many Americans that are a centerpiece of his $1.9 trillion stimulus package, but would consider restricting them to lower-income individuals as Republicans have proposed.
More than two-thirds, or 68%, of Americans support the $1.9 trillion package, the Quinnipiac University survey showed. Only 24% of respondents oppose the measure.
Biden is beginning his first term in the Oval Office with the approval of roughly half of Americans, but faces a stark partisan divide as he looks to make good on his vow to unite the country, the same Q poll found.
Biden has named New York State environmental official Amanda Lefton as the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the Department of Interior agency confirmed.
The Senate unanimously adopted an organizing resolution that sets the ground rules for a chamber evenly divided between the two parties and officially gives Democrats control of committees after two weeks of talks.
The United States Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer through the Taiwan Strait today, the first time a U.S. warship has gone through the waterway that separates China and Taiwan during the Biden administration.
The Canadian government added the Proud Boys, an extremist group with ties to white nationalism, to its list of terrorist organizations, and is the first nation to do so.
The Justice Department continued building cases against people accused of storming the Capitol, arresting a leader of the far-right group the Proud Boys and charging two men with conspiracy in an effort to block certification of Biden’s victory in the election.
Palm Beach town attorney John C. Randolph said in a memorandum to Council members that former President Trump should be allowed to live at his club Mar-a-Lago.
A Trump-appointed member of an administrative advisory board is suing Biden, alleging the new administration is unlawfully trying to oust him from his post.
A Columbus police officer who was fired after fatally shooting a Black man, Andre Hill, in December was arrested and charged with felony murder, Attorney General Dave Yost of Ohio announced.
Scientists have zeroed in on a handful of mutations in the coronavirus that they say could pose new public health challenges if they circulate widely.
Even with two other vaccines authorized, Novavax is having no trouble recruiting volunteers for its U.S. trial. If all goes well, the U.S. could see 110 million doses in June.
The United Kingdom launched a new clinical study to test the effects of mixing COVID-19 vaccines.
A whopping 64% of London’s population of ultra-Orthodox Jews have contracted COVID-19, giving the community “one of highest rates in the world,” according to a report.
People ages 20 to 49 are most responsible for the 2020 COVID-19 resurgences, according to a study published this week in Science Magazine.
New data from several vaccine trials offer positive signs, but many public health experts say emerging variants mean the next few months will be a race against the virus.
Bribing doctors. Circulating appointment codes. Chartering planes and impersonating essential workers. More than a month since the U.S. first began administering COVID-19 vaccines, many people who weren’t supposed to be first in line have received them.
As more Americans anxiously wait their turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine, people are discovering that smokers are one of the priority groups for vaccination.
Regularly testing for Covid-19 in K-12 schools can help identify cases and provide an extra layer of protection for staff and families, but it’s hard to implement and requires more resources than most schools currently have, two new reports found.
Vast numbers of Americans are either unsure about getting the Covid-19 vaccine or say they will never get it, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, making achieving herd immunity all the more difficult.
American Airlines said it will send furlough notices this week to about 13,000 employees as a second round of federal payroll aid is set to expire next month and travel demand remains in tatters.
A New York Supreme Court judge ordered the state Health Department to release records showing the full count of coronavirus deaths among nursing-home residents – another blow to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
All 20 of New York’s Republican state senators called for Cuomo’s embattled Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to resign in the wake of revelations that he withheld the enormity of nursing home deaths from COVID-19.
Seven Republican House members from New York are asking the Justice Department to subpoena Cuomo for documents on what they are calling his “coverup” of deaths from COVID-19 among nursing home residents.
New York state lawmakers began advancing a bill this week that would require nursing homes and hospitals to follow specific ratios of nurses to patients, a measure long sought by health-care unions that was recommended in a report by state AG Letitia James.
Just in time for Super Bowl LV, New Jersey is relaxing its rules on indoor dining and drinking.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he will sign an executive order raising capacity limits on indoor dining and at houses of worship and entertainment venues.
Cash-strapped New York City bars and restaurants are expected to get a substantial chunk of a $25 billion grant program baked into the next coronavirus stimulus package.
New sales tax data released by the state comptroller’s office reveals just how hard a turn consumers took during the pandemic toward online shopping as the public avoided spending their money in crowded indoor spaces like malls, bars and restaurants.
The handmade “mountain” prop Cuomo trotted out at summer press briefings to illustrate the state’s COVID-19 battle cost the state $415.34 — more than twice the amount officials previously said.
Major financial exchanges and securities industry groups urged New York state lawmakers to not support a proposal being pushed by some Democrats and unions to impose taxes on stock sales.
Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the mass vaccination site at Yankee Stadium will begin administering COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible Bronx residents tomorrow.
Dr. Dave Chokshi, New York City’s health commissioner, who has not yet been vaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild symptoms.
De Blasio said he hadn’t personally seen Chokshi “for a while” and had no plans to quarantine. Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals and another fixture of the mayor’s daily briefings, also is in the clear.
In New York City, despite its many major hospitals and research institutions, only about 55 coronavirus cases a day on average last month were sequenced and screened for more contagious variants. That amounted to just 1 percent of the city’s new cases.
Higher education institutions are seeking approval from the state to set up and operate on-campus vaccine clinics for their faculty, staff, and students as soon as possible.
While many imprisoned felons in New York have yet to be vaccinated, sex offenders who are confined in psychiatric hospitals after finishing prison terms have more access to the vaccine.
Community Care Physicians, one of the largest doctors practices in the Capital Region with tens of thousands of patients, says it’s struggling to vaccinate its frontline workers against the coronavirus and likely won’t have any doses for its patients for a while.
There are 22 mayoral candidates running in hopes of replacing de Blasio in NYC.
Most of the leading mayoral candidates have been wary of embracing the “defund the police” movement, which has lost some mainstream political momentum.
An NYPD officer was seriously injured when a garage door collapsed onto her leg at a Brooklyn station house.
New York’s top police official responsible for combating workplace harassment was fired yesterday, three weeks after an internal investigation concluded that he wrote racist online rants targeting Black, Hispanic and Jewish people, police officials said.
NYPD officers were advised that they can no longer arrest people who appear to be loitering for the purpose of prostitution in response to the repeal in Albany of the so-called “walking while trans law.”
Revel, the company best known for electric-moped sharing, says it is about to embark in a new direction by launching one of the largest hubs for quickly charging electric vehicles in New York City this spring.
After a 20-year effort by activists to save it from destruction, a rowhouse in Downtown Brooklyn received landmark status this week for its connection to the antislavery movement of the 1800s.
A longtime driver for a Queens prostitution ring who was busted by the FBI had nearly 400 clients listed on his phone — all residents of Brewster, Putnam County with a population of just 2,400, federal prosecutors said.
A new MTA executive will be entrusted with pushing New York’s mass transit into a new era of accessibility.
The state Senate majority conference advanced a host of bills seeking educational equity in New York, including creating pathways for more people of color to become educators.
A female state trooper claims the New York State Police has a pattern of not allowing nursing moms in the department sufficient breaks and proper private areas for breast milk pumping, according to a new discrimination charge.
Elba Pope, the Rochester woman whose nine-year-old daughter was handcuffed and pepper-sprayed by police this week, said she told officers her daughter was having a mental health crisis but was ignored.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has invited the nation’s new transportation chief, Pete Buttigieg, to visit Interstate 81 in Syracuse for a first-hand view of plans to tear down the elevated highway and use a new street-level boulevard to spur development.
Hundreds of jobs at youth detention facilities are in jeopardy as New York is quietly preparing to close four of the centers in the Mid-Hudson Valley region and Long Island.
The Albany Common Council is asking the state Comptroller’s office to review a decision that would allow a developer to use the main entrance to Westland Hills Park as an exit from a proposed apartment complex along Colvin Avenue.
An Albany judge has ruled that families of the victims of the 2018 Schoharie limousine crash can go ahead with their lawsuits against Pakistani billionaire Malik Riaz Hussain, the older brother of the limo company’s owner, Shahed Hussain.
Location scouts for the new HBO series “The Gilded Age” are seeking additional spots for scenes in Troy and have told local property owners crews will be filming there in May and June.
