Good Tuesday morning, CivMixers.
Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial is scheduled to start today in D.C. and Senate leaders just yesterday reached agreement on an organizing resolution laying out the rules that will govern the process.
Given how significant a role the internet played in Trump’s presidency, and his penchant for governing on Twitter – a platform from which he is now permanently banned – it’s ironic and particularly fitting that today is Safer Internet Day.
It’s actually the 18th year that this day has been recognized, though it’s the first I’ve heard of it, maybe because it started in Europe. (I blame myself, not the interwebs, for the record). The purpose is pretty straightforward, “to make the internet a safer and better place for all, and especially for children and young people.”
At the very bottom of the Google home page, in teeny tiny script that might be easily overlooked or ignored, is a button that notes the significance of the day with a link so browsers can “learn how Google keeps your information secure.”
Pointing that out was my public service announcement for the day.
If just thinking off all the offensive, harmful and just plain awful content there is available online these days makes you depressed, cheer up! There’s something else to celebrate today: PIZZA.
Yes, it’s National Pizza Day.
Getting into a debate over the best kind of pizza (thin crust, New York-style eaten folded in half, of course) is never a good idea. Too much passion and regional pride to defend.
There are so many varieties of pizza, the modern birthplace of which, ostensibly, was southwestern Italy’s Campania region, though the ancient Egyptians were known to enjoy flatbreads with a variety of toppings that one could consider a precursor of today’s delicacy.
There are free deals and discounts to be had at some of the major pizza chains. And just so the taco Tuesday folks don’t get upset, you can always squeeze in a slice or two for lunch – or, better yet, breakfast. Cold, eaten standing up in the kitchen while looking aimlessly out the window at the snow.
On this day in 1950, Sen. Joseph McCarthy claimed he had a list with the names of over 200 members of the Department of State that are “known communists.” The speech vaulted McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican, to national prominence and sparked a nationwide hysteria about subversives in the American government.
Sound familiar? More pizza, please.
It is 17 degrees as I write this. SEVENTEEN. Sigh. We’re in for more snow, with one to three inches accumulating by the time it’s all over. The sky will be cloudy and temperatures will be in the high 20s.
In the headlines…
As the Senate begins the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, revisiting January’s deadly Capitol siege that took aim at American democracy, don’t look for hot takes from the White House. President Joe Biden is his distance.
A Trump attorney has withdrawn his request that the Senate pause the impeachment trial between Friday evening and Sunday.
Trump’s lawyers laid out their first extended impeachment defense, arguing that holding him responsible for the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack was just “political theater” by Democrats, and that the Senate had no power to sit in judgment of a former president.
Trump himself reportedly does not think there will be enough votes among Senate Republicans to convict him.
The office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed that it has started an investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results, including a phone call the former President made to Raffensperger.
Also today, the town council of Palm Beach, Florida, will discuss whether Trump is legally allowed to live at his private club, Mar-a-Lago.
The Justice Department, as soon as today, is expected to ask U.S. attorneys appointed by former Trump to submit their resignations, a turnover expected to spare two top prosecutors in Delaware and Connecticut overseeing two sensitive Trump-era investigations.
Biden always was expected to install his own U.S. attorneys at federal prosecutor’s offices across the country, but the move is an indication that he intends to purge those whose politics might be more aligned with Trump’s sooner rather than later.
Biden said that since taking office, he found that the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis was even worse than he had believed it would be.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will hold a town hall today on the COVID-19 vaccine and local distribution efforts in her New York district.
Ocasio-Cortez and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom she’s widely speculated to be thinking of primarying, jointly announced that funds will soon be available for families struggling to pay funeral costs after losing a loved one to COVID-19.
The New York Democrats announced that families can get reimbursed up to $7,000 for funeral expenses, with $260 million of those funds to be directly allocated to New Yorkers. Eligibility for the funds will be retroactive through the beginning of the pandemic.
House Democratic leaders unveiled legislation that would give millions of families at least $3,000 per child, advancing a key provision in Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package.
House Democrats want to extend a $400-a-week unemployment insurance payment through Aug. 29 and send $1,400 per-person payments to most households without lowering the income thresholds from earlier rounds.
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour — a proposal included in the package of relief measures being pushed by Biden — would add $54 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office concluded.
Biden had an awkward, flirty moment during a video conference event with health care workers in Arizona, during which he stopped to compliment one nurse for her youthful appearance — even gushing that she looks “like a freshman.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that officials are considering a requirement that passengers provide a negative COVID-19 test ahead of domestic flights.
Proof of a negative test result is already required for passengers boarding international flights bound for the United States, under a policy imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month.
A number of progressives appear to be heading toward a showdown with Biden over a new commission that will study changes to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Texas Republican Rep. Ron Wright, 67, has died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 while battling cancer.
The pace of vaccination in the U.S. is picking up, with the number of vaccinations in a day hitting 2.1 million on Saturday, an all-time high, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Facebook is expanding what false claims it will remove from its platforms related to COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines, and vaccines in general starting today.
A few COVID vaccine recipients have developed the rare blood disorder immune thrombocytopenia — a lack of platelets, a blood component essential for clotting – but it’s not entirely clear if the vaccine is the direct cause of this.
Several major employers, such as Dollar General, McDonald’s and Olive Garden, have announced incentives for workers to get vaccinated. But most, including Amazon, Target and Walmart, are not committing to provide any extra pay or time off to workers to get their shots.
If further studies confirm the finding about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine, dozens of countries around the world may need to adjust their vaccine rollout plans.
WHO officials expressed confidence that AstraZeneca vaccine can prevent severe cases of the disease, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, despite questions about the protection it offers against a South African fast-spreading strain of the virus.
Federal guidance to rapidly expand eligibility for Covid-19 vaccines has caused skyrocketing demand in some states, overwhelming local providers and frustrating people seeking shots.
One study of 489 people found that those who had a vitamin D deficiency were more likely to test positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 than people who had normal levels of vitamin D.
The more transmissible U.K. variant of coronavirus is circulating widely in the U.S., doubling every nine to 10 days, a new study has found.
Andy Slavitt, a White House senior adviser on the COVID-19 response, says “people are going to have to probably continue to be more patient than they want to be,” as the government works to get more vaccine doses out.
Starting on February 15th, people under the age of 65 with certain pre-existing conditions will now qualify for vaccination under New York State guidelines.
People with qualifying health conditions will have to provide a doctor’s letter, or medical information evidencing comorbidity, or a signed certification to get a vaccine. It will be up to local governments to decide what proof residents need to provide.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York City restaurants can bring back indoor dining on Friday, a slight move-up from the previously scheduled Sunday reopening date that allows eateries to reap the benefits of the full Valentine’s Day weekend.
New York plans to use extensive coronavirus testing as a way to reopen its struggling entertainment venues that have remained shuttered for months during the pandemic, Cuomo said.
“You can open a Broadway stage with a set percentage of occupants, where people have tested prior to walking in,” said Cuomo. “Would I go see a play and sit in a playhouse with 150 people? If the 150 people were tested, and all negative, yes, I would do that.”
Cuomo announced a series of pop up performances called NY PopsUp to bring the arts back. It will include 100 days of 300 free pop-up performances across the state.
The state’s pop-up events are part of a public-private partnership, New York Arts Revival, and will feature more than 150 artists including Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Mandy Patinkin, Renée Fleming and Hugh Jackman.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, meanwhile, announced details of the city’s Open Culture program, which will permit outdoor performances on designated city streets this spring.
New York City’s public middle schools will reopen for some in-person learning on Feb. 25 after their students had been receiving fully remote instruction for more than two months, de Blasio said.
Outraged city students, teachers and Education Department officials are giving the College Board failing marks for a plan to prohibit students from using their city-issued iPads to take virtual Advanced Placement exams this spring.
Citi Field will finally begin operating as a COVID-19 vaccine hub tomorrow and cater specifically to taxi drivers, food-industry workers and eligible Queens residents.
NYC Board of Elections Chief counsel Steven Richman has retired amid a Department of Investigation probe of his conduct.
The Manhattan district attorney’s attempt to prosecute Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was dealt a final blow when New York’s highest court said quietly last week it would not review lower court rulings on the case.
Shaun Donovan, a former White House budget director, is rolling out his TV ad campaign – the first ad blitz of the NYC mayor’s race – and hoping his background in Washington will help him emerge from a crowded pack of candidates.
Fox Corporation filed a motion to dismiss the $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit brought against it by the election technology company Smartmatic, which accused the network and three Fox anchors of spreading falsehoods that it tried to rig the 2020 race against Trump.
An NYPD officer was caught on camera palling around with longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone and some members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia outside a Washington, D.C. hotel hours before the deadly U.S. Capitol siege.
The head of one of New York City’s largest operators of homeless shelters was fired as Bronx prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and financial misconduct that were largely unchecked by his organization and the city.
A consortium of contracting firms who built the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge sued the New York State Thruway Authority, accusing the authority of interference in the construction of the $4 billion project, leading to delays and extra expenses.
State Senate Democrats passed a package of bills designed to clean up discriminatory and predatory practices in the housing market.
Fundraising is down significantly in Albany as a result of the pandemic.
If the minimum salary of home health care aides was increased to $35,000, it would not only lift those in the field out of poverty, but generate new jobs and revenue for New York, a CUNY labor report has found.
A Syracuse-area development firm whose executives were snared in a federal criminal case involving Cuomo’s administration is fighting an attempt by JCOPE to investigate its alleged failure to report its lobbying efforts during the height of the criminal activity.
New data published by the state Department of Health this weekend revealed that there were nearly 200 more coronavirus deaths connected to Capital Region long-term care facilities than were previously known.
The largest health care union in the nation, 1199SEIU, has launched a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign to reform the nursing home industry by addressing inadequate infection control, low wages, high turnover and other issues plaguing the long-term care sector.
Following an “exhaustive” nationwide search, the state Board of Regents unanimously appointed Betty A. Rosa as permanent commissioner of education and president of the University of the State of New York, the first Latina woman to hold the position.
New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi conceded his race for reelection in NY-22 to Republican challenger Claudia Tenney, closing the book on the last open congressional contest in the country after months of legal challenges and recounts.
Connecticut investigators are searching for clues in the fatal shooting of a Yale University graduate student, New Haven Police Department officials said.
A coyote was spotted strolling in Central Park in a rare sighting over the weekend — as hundreds of people flocked there to catch a glimpse of a historic snowy owl, a parkgoer said.
A 30-year-old sergeant with the Albany County sheriff’s department is in serious condition after a crash yesterday morning on Central Avenue.
The attorney for a former University at Albany student convicted of falsely reporting a hate crime on a CDTA bus ride in 2016 told the region’s appellate court that his client was held to an unfair standard of justice because of her race.
The East Greenbush Central School District plans to buy 3,000 Chromebooks for students in grades 3-to-12. The computers will be paid for with state funds.
The North Colonie Central School District said it is going remote today due to a staffing shortage.
The 2021 NASCAR season kicks off today.
Vocalist Mary Wilson, who co-founded the Supremes as a 15-year-old in a Detroit housing project and stayed with the fabled, hitmaking Motown Records trio until its dissolution in 1977, died last night at her home in Las Vegas. She was 76.
Tom Konchalski, one of the country’s most respected high school basketball scouts and a legendary figure in the Northeast, died at the age of 74, according to friends.
