Good Thursday morning, CivMixers.
Today is a National Day of Observance to “honour” the more than 22,000 Canadian lives lost to COVID-19, as per a declaration from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“On this day, I invite all Canadians to join together in honouring the memory of those we have lost, and the people they left behind,” Trudeau said. “We will also recognize everyone who has been impacted by COVID-19, and pay tribute to all those who continue to work hard and make incredible sacrifices in our fight against the virus. Together, we will beat COVID-19.”
Here in the U.S., on a much less somber note, it’s National Promposal Day, which, in normal times, would be a time to ask your date of choice if they would be so kind as to accompany you to the big dance – in the most high-profile and gramable or suitable for YouTube way possible, of course.
Of course, the pandemic has changed everything…and led to a lot of prom cancellations, which is a big bummer for high schoolers, I know. But I have to be honest, I don’t have fabulous recollections of my prom – and I actually went to a few of them. Still, I get the understandable upset of missing something that is supposed to be a significant teenage milestone.
I am here to tell you, though, for any teens who are actually reading this, that there are great things ahead for you. And you can get dressed up and wear a corsage any day; you don’t need an excuse to do so.
Also, it’s National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day, as designated by a resolution passed by Congress in 2008. The internet, by the way, is an amazing thing. For example, here’s a list of 30 little-known facts about funeral directors.
Can we just stop and talk about the weather? Hello 65 degrees and party sunny. BUT! Don’t get too used to it. It’s not good to be weather complacent in upstate New York. We’re headed back down into the 30s and 40s for the foreseeable future.
Sigh.
In the headlines…
A female aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo alleges he aggressively groped her in a sexually charged manner after she had been summoned to the Executive Mansion late last year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the woman’s claims.
The unidentified staffer, the latest in a growing number of women who have reported sexual harassment allegations against the embattled governor, had been asked to assist Cuomo with an issue involving his cell phone when the incident occurred.
The new details of the account involve the most sexually aggressive allegation lodged against Cuomo yet. The woman was the sixth person to accuse the governor of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior.
On March 3, staff members watched a news conference in which Cuomo denied having touched anyone inappropriately, and when the female staffer became upset, a female supervisor came to her aid and the staffer later told her what she alleged had occurred.
The latest accuser said the incident took place late last year after Cuomo shut the door to a room on the second floor of the governor’s heavily guarded, official residence. The woman also said it followed frequent flirting with her by the governor.
“I have never done anything like this,” Cuomo said. “The details of this report are gut-wrenching. I am not going to speak to the specifics of this or any other allegation given the ongoing review, but I am confident in the result of the Attorney General’s report.”
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said in a statement that no criminal complaint had been filed by the alleged victim to the Albany Police Department.
More Democratic state senators are calling on Cuomo to resign. (Here’s the running list of lawmakers who have issued that call thus far).
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who led the charge resulting in former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s resignation over sexual misconduct claims, still says it’s not the time to call for Cuomo to step down.
Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is preparing to make another Republican run for governor next year amid multiple scandals consuming three-term incumbent Cuomo.
New York’s lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, must reveal what she knows about the scandals engulfing Cuomo and stop hiding behind a “BS statement,” the leader of New York’s Republican Party said.
In a series of tweets, Lindsey Boylan claimed that Abbey Collins — a former Cuomo spokeswoman who’s now chief communications officer for the MTA — “was calling around asking our former colleagues about me once I came forward.”
Cuomo’s administration learned last year that the federal government was about to release data on Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, state officials were concerned: Would the federal numbers tell the public a different story than the state’s own?
President Joe Biden can report in his first prime-time address tonight that a vaccination drive now reaching 2 million people daily has brought America far closer to exiting the pandemic than when he took office 50 days ago.
The Democratic-controlled House gave its final approval to Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, sending the bill with $1,400 checks, billions to help schools and colleges reopen, and funding for vaccine distribution to the president for his signature.
The House vote was the final legislative hurdle for the legislation. It now goes to Biden, who will sign the bill into law Friday, the White House said.The plan offers $350 billion in relief to state, local and tribal governments.
The sweeping legislation had no support from Republican lawmakers, who called it bloated and unaffordable. It will deliver emergency aid and broader assistance to low- and middle-income Americans.
The bill sends $1,400 direct payments to most Americans and their dependents. The checks start to phase out at $75,000 in income for individuals and are capped at people who make $80,000.
The proposal offers $350 billion in relief to state, local and tribal governments, and provides more than $120 billion to K-12 schools.
After lobbying unsuccessfully to get their needs addressed in relief packages under former President Donald Trump, the restaurant industry will get a long-awaited $28.6 billion in the American Rescue Plan.
Biden is planning an aggressive campaign to tell voters about the benefits for them in the $1.9 trillion economic relief package – an attempt to ensure that he and his fellow Democrats get full political credit for the first big victory of his administration.
The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Merrick Garland to serve as attorney general, giving him the task of leading the Justice Department at a time when the nation faces domestic extremist threats and a reckoning over civil rights.
The Senate also voted to confirm Biden’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, making the state regulator Michael Regan, 44, the first Black man to be administrator of the agency.
Facebook asked a federal judge to dismiss antitrust lawsuits by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general, arguing that government enforcers have no valid basis for alleging the social media giant is suppressing competition.
Lawmakers in Mexico have approved a bill to legalize recreational cannabis, becoming the world’s largest market for the drug, but in a country still marred by a deadly drug war, the proposal has proved divisive.
F.B.I. agents and federal prosecutors are investigating Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers militia, for any role he might have played in the storming of the Capitol two months ago.
Andrea Sahouri, the Iowa journalist who was arrested as she reported on racial justice protests last summer, was found not guilty in a case that drew widespread condemnation from journalism and free press organizations.
Biden announced that his administration will buy another 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, boosting U.S. stockpiles while much of the rest of the world struggles with deep shortages.
Nursing home residents vaccinated against COVID-19 can get hugs again from their loved ones, and all residents may enjoy more indoor visits, the government said in a step toward pre-pandemic normalcy.
Moderna said that the first study volunteers have received modified Covid-19 vaccines designed to better target a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, marking a milestone in the race to stay ahead of the shifting pathogen.
Websites to book Covid-19 vaccinations are racing to fix early-stage glitches and build out their network capacity as the vaccine rollout broadens to an ever-larger segment of the population, government tech leaders say.
As more New Yorkers became eligible to receive COVID vaccinations, city health officials were keeping an eye on variants of the virus that appear to be more infectious.
City officials predicted that all New Yorkers will be eligible to get the coveted COVID-19 vaccine before the end of spring — with May likely the earliest that eligibility would be totally opened up.
An estimated half of current Covid-19 cases in New York City have been linked to variants first identified in New York City and the U.K., indicating that new variants continue to spread, health officials said.
Rather than sound an alarm, officials said that they believed continued health practices — from masking to getting vaccinated — were sufficient to control the virus. Vaccines remain effective against these variants, as well as the original coronavirus.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he is considering a change to COVID-19 school building closure protocols.
Restaurants in New York City and New Jersey will be able to increase indoor dining to 50 percent of capacity starting March 19, the governors of New York and New Jersey said.
The shuttering of its largest restaurant, Jing Fong, after 28 years in business was the latest blow to one of New York’s most famous immigrant neighborhoods, Chinatown, which has been battered by the pandemic and faces an uncertain recovery.
The cost of incarcerating an individual in New York City reached a record last year, even as the number of inmates in the city’s jail system plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, according to city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office.
A new study found no correlation between New York City’s autumn COVID-19 spike and subway ridership, according to a transit advocacy group.
David Elmendorf, ex-owner of Bumpy’s Polar Freeze in Schenectady, was a weaponized harasser of minorities who wrongly took his race-based hatred to police, according to a lawsuit filed by New York attorney general Letitia James.
The suit is the first brought by the AG’s office under a law passed by the Legislature last year that allows the state to sue people motivated by racial or other bias who call police “without reason to suspect a violation of the penal law.”
Service providers say New York pocketed $400 million in enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) aid that should have flowed to nonprofits providing direct care, housing and other supportive services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Members of the state Assembly Republican conference are calling for a federal investigation into the structural integrity of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
The massive amount of aid heading to New York under the federal stimulus bill eliminates the need for Albany to raise income taxes or other levies, unless lawmakers merely want to punish the rich, said Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the New York City Partnership.
New York City released hundreds of people as the pandemic raged. Now jails are full again, and an increase in infections could spread the virus beyond their walls.
New York City’s largest municipal workers’ union, District Council 37, announced it’s backing Eric Adams for mayor and Corey Johnson for comptroller.
Retired brigadier general Loree Sutton quit the mayor’s race yesterday – a day before candidates in the crowded competition were set to file their latest fundraising reports.
An imprisoned murder suspect’s crude sexual insult toward a Brooklyn judge turned into a shocking get-out-of-jail free card.
A Manhattan private school aiming to use more “inclusive language” is encouraging its students to stop using the terms “mom,” “dad” and “parents” because the words make “assumptions” about kids’ home lives.
New police surveillance cameras are planned for 12 Cohoes intersections that will capture images of vehicles and people entering the city and traveling along some its most important roads.
A year after revelations that the Norlite aggregate/incineration plant in Cohoes had been burning hazardous PFAS chemicals, state investigators say they have found no evidence of widespread water or soil contamination around the facility.
The kitchen at SUNY Schenectady whirred to life this week as culinary students sharpened their skills for a decidedly different sort of hungry clientele: The food insecure.
Plans to subdivide an over 1,100-acre tract west of the Great Sacandaga Reservoir goes before the Adirondack Park Agency today and tomorrow.
More than 500 college athletes sent a letter to the National Collegiate Athletic Association demanding immediate action against states with bans on transgender athletes.
Actor Matthew McConaughey said he was considering a run for Texas governor.
