Good Monday morning, CivMixers.
I realize some folks might be getting a bit of a late start this morning. I confess that I not only did not watch the Super Bowl, but also had almost zero interest in the game at all. Not even the commercials, though if you saw this and didn’t cry I am concerned.
Also, I will say this: Tom Brady, who now has seven Super Bowl wins under his belt at the ripe old age of 43 has proven that a combination of good genetics and enough money to live a really, really healthy lifestyle can take a person very far.
As someone who is looking at 50 advancing fairly rapidly and fancies themselves something of an amateur athlete, I find this both maddening (have you SEEN Tom Brady’s diet? It is virtually impossible to follow, not to mention expensive to maintain), and comforting (age is just a number, period).
Oh, and in case you were wondering, no, Brady does not plan on retiring any time soon. Good for him. Me neither.
Also, I don’t want to scare you, but Valentine’s Day is six days from now. (That’s Sunday).
While I think this holiday is mostly a social construct that has been hyped up by the greeting card, jewelry, flower and chocolate industries, I will nonetheless be put out if I do not receive at least one small token of affection on that day.
And I challenge you to find someone who, even if they emphatically claim to hate or not believe in Valentine’s Day, doesn’t feel somewhat similarly if you scrape the surface.
If this stresses you out, you should feel relieved that you don’t live in India, where, to up the ante about one thousand percent, today is Propose Day. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Apparently, some people also stretch the whole Valentine’s Day thing into an entire week dedicated to all things love-related.
I must not be a romantic, because that just sounds like…overkill.
The big news this week is that former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial kicks off tomorrow. While Trump’s acquittal is expected, all 100 senators will first have to sit at their desks and listen to hours of graphic testimony from House Democrats about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which left five people dead.
Details of the proceedings are still being negotiated by the Senate leaders, with the duration of opening arguments, lawmakers’ questions and deliberations all up for debate. We know this much, though: Trump himself will not testify.
We’re in for another round of deep freeze weather, along with more snow, but it’s a few days away yet. Today, we’re looking at a mix of sun and clouds, maybe a few stray flurries here and there and temperatures in the mid-20s.
Much of the nation will experience below-freezing temperatures this week, with 16 states across the Midwest and northern Plains forecast to endure temperatures below zero.
In the headlines…
When House impeachment managers prosecute former President Donald J. Trump this week for inciting the Capitol attack, they plan to mount a fast-paced, cinematic case aimed at rekindling the outrage lawmakers experienced on Jan. 6.
Top House Democrats are preparing to unveil legislation that would send up to $3,600 per child to millions of Americans, as lawmakers aim to change the tax code to target child poverty rates as part of President Joe Biden’s sweeping $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the country was still in a “deep hole” with millions of lost jobs but that Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief plan could generate enough growth to restore full employment by next year.
The Biden administration will move today to rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council, nearly three years after President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from it, a senior State Department official said on Sunday.
Biden said that “God willing” there will be a full stadium for the next Super Bowl — and that federal guidelines for reopening schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic could be unveiled Wednesday.
Biden went home to Delaware, and took Air Force One for the first time.
New Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is cozying up to the left both in D.C. and at home in New York, trying to stave off a primary challenge in 2022 – perhaps from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Schumer could theoretically be subject to impeachment charges based on logic used to impeach Trump.
Schumer’s office said the Senate will accommodate a request from one of Trump’s impeachment attorneys to halt Trump’s impeachment trial during the Jewish Sabbath.
South Africa has halted use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine after evidence emerged that the vaccine did not protect clinical-trial participants from mild or moderate illness caused by the more contagious virus variant that was first seen in the country.
The study, involving around 2,000 people, found the vaccine offered “minimal protection” against mild and moderate cases of Covid-19. South Africa has received 1million doses of the AstraZeneca jab and was due to start vaccinating people next week.
Vaccine makers had already started developing second-generation Covid vaccines aimed at targeting new variants of the virus, and experts say it shouldn’t be too tricky to tweak existing vaccines to cover mutations, and could be adapted in a matter of six weeks.
Pfizer expects to nearly cut in half the amount of time it takes to produce a batch of COVID-19 vaccine from 110 days to an average of 60 as it makes the process more efficient and production is built out, the company said.
Public health officials are concerned that the Super Bowl may prove to be a superspreader event.
The streets of Tampa, Fla., teemed with boozy revelers into the wee hours of this morning, many of them ignoring pleas by medical experts to social distance and wear masks, after the Buccaneers crushed the Kansas City Chiefs. A few scrums broke out.
Though more contagious variants are spreading in the United States, top health officials sounded notes of optimism on Sunday that both the supply of vaccines and the rate of vaccination will steadily increase.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. should still proceed with its plan to give people both doses of the currently available Covid-19 vaccines, even as some top health care officials suggest that the priority should be giving first doses to as many people as possible.
Fauci suggested the Trump administration could have been more aggressive in its early negotiations with vaccine manufacturers to avoid the supply shortages that have since emerged as the greatest roadblock in the vaccine rollout.
A more contagious variant of the coronavirus first found in Britain is spreading rapidly in the United States, doubling roughly every 10 days, according to a new study.
Vaccination drives hold out the promise of curbing Covid-19, but governments and businesses are increasingly accepting what epidemiologists have long warned: The pathogen will circulate for years, or even decades.
The slow start of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, along with the arrival of new virus variants, has dashed some business leaders’ hopes for getting back to normal in 2021.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, an Upper Manhattan/Bronx Democrat who tested positive for COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine (both doses), says he believes the vaccine actually saved his life.
For months, far-right activists have rallied against masks and lockdowns imposed in California during the coronavirus pandemic. Now some protesters have shifted their focus to the Covid-19 vaccine.
Chicago schools are set to reopen this week after a tentative agreement was worked out with the teachers’ union over COVID-19 safety protocols, potentially averting a strike in the third-largest school district in the nation.
After snagging vaccine appointments for themselves or their parents, some New Yorkers have joined a growing movement to assist others.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo put a positive twist on the state’s latest COVID numbers yesterday as New York City readied to resume limited-capacity indoor dining.
The death toll in New York’s long-term care facilities jumped by another 1,516 this weekend as the Cuomo administration adjusted its reporting on adult-care facilities to include residents who died after being transferred to hospitals.
The number, accounting for an eight-fold leap over the 219 deaths reported earlier from the facilities, comes after state officials adjusted the figures to reflect adult-care patients who died in hospitals rather than the centers themselves.
Cuomo is looking to gut New York’s independent restricting process and lock in permanent control for the ruling Democrats, charges John Faso, a former GOP Assembly minority leader and congressman.
Cuomo’s office – citing constraints caused by the pandemic – for months, in response to a FOIL request, has refused to provide a few pages of paperwork confirming whether the governor followed state ethics rules before striking his book deal.
Cuomo announced Friday that New York will open up COVID-19 vaccination eligibility to those with serious health conditions beginning Feb. 15.
The state DOL last year distributed more than $114 million in unemployment and federal relief benefits to New Yorkers ineligible to receive the money — most of it between July and December, when the pandemic had pushed millions of people out of work.
A Buffalo restaurant is facing online backlash after posting a controversial image of Cuomo and Tony the Tiger “in a questionable position” on its Instagram page.
With Trump’s impeachment trial beginning this week, New York lawmakers intend to pass the “No Citizen is Above the Law” legislation aimed at making it harder for him or any future president to avoid state prosecution if accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered a review of the nonprofit organizations that run the city’s $2 billion homeless shelter network after allegations that the chief executive of a major operator used his power to sexually abuse women and enrich himself and his family.
The city’s homeless population has faced a particularly brutal winter as coronavirus restrictions have kept the subway and other indoor public spaces closed.
The pandemic has ravaged New York City’s real estate market and its premier, $25 billion development, raising significant questions about the future of Hudson Yards.
More than three dozen New York City mayoral candidates are vying for one of the toughest jobs in the country: leading the nation’s largest city back to pre-pandemic employment levels while trying to find the funding to do so.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer, a mayoral contender, echoed calls for a new $25 million funding boost for food relief, part of a package of proposals to address the crisis.
So far, in the contest to become the Big Apple’s next mayor, at least three candidates — Stringer, Maya Wiley and Andrew Yang — have had to quarantine after being exposed to someone with COVID or testing positive for the virus.
The state should raise taxes on the wealthy and slap a tax on Wall Street transactions, mayoral candidate Wiley said, endorsing a slew of progressive state legislative proposals.
An estimated 15,000 New Yorkers have recently enrolled or re-enrolled as Democrats to vote in that party’s primary for mayor in June — including Republicans who switched over.
Hank Gutman, the city’s new transportation commissioner, has just 11 months to tackle a big to-do list before the next mayoral administration takes over, and he has no prior experience in the transportation space.
MTA officials were in hot water yesterday for a since-deleted tweet that bluntly announced benches had been removed from a Manhattan subway station to keep homeless people from sleeping underground.
Italian-American activists are demanding that the City University of New York reaffirm its decades-old pledge to give the group preferential treatment in staff recruitment, hiring and promotions.
New York City’s lawyers continue to fight disclosure of NYPD disciplinary records in lawsuits filed against cops in federal court.
Claudia Tenney, a Republican from Central New York, regained the NY-22 seat she had lost in 2018 after a judge ruled that her 109-vote victory over Democrat Anthony Brindisi was legitimate.
Advocates said there is another clear loser in the NY-22 contest: local boards of elections whose errors have been laid bare during a three-month court proceeding.
Despite seeing a drop in the COVID-19 spike caused by the holidays, the Capital Region remains one of the worst-faring areas in the state for hospital capacity.
The Albany Police Department lost all digital copies of its 2018 internal affairs files in the 2019 ransomware attack on city servers, potentially affecting – and possibly dooming – criminal cases.
The City School District of Albany said it will soon begin making hybrid instruction available for students in grades 7 to 12.
Acting Schenectady Superintendent of city schools Aaron Bochniak is hopeful that before classes are off Friday for winter recess, the district will have a clearer picture of what programs might be restored and how many laid-off school employees might be rehired.
Amtrak is focusing on developing new “corridors,” routes tying together population centers that are several hundred miles apart and offer frequent train service. Some of the changes would be extensions of existing routes.
RIP George P. Shultz, who presided with a steady hand over the beginning of the end of the Cold War as President Ronald Reagan’s often embattled secretary of state, died on Saturday at his home in Stanford, Calif. He was 100.
