Good Thursday morning.
Today was supposed to be Tax Day – the annual federal income tax filing deadline for individuals. But last month, the IRS granted most of us a collective reprieve, saying the pandemic had created so many challenges – including a backlog of paperwork on its end – that it would be extending the deadline a month to May 17.
HOWEVER, as per usual with the government, there are some caveats.
Today is still the deadline for those who file estimated tax payments, which includes some freelance and gig workers, small business owners and some people with substantial earnings from interest and dividends, rent and alimony.
If you’re thinking that small businesses, in particular, had a hell of a year and struggled just to stay alive during the pandemic, so might have some trouble filing their taxes and perhaps ALSO deserve an extension…well, yeah. The IRS’s logic – or lack thereof – doesn’t make all that much sense to me either.
And since we’re on the topic, a lot of people apparently haven’t seen hide nor hair of LAST YEAR’s tax return yet, thanks to significant backlogs on the IRS’s end.
The agency hopes to get through the backlog of 2.4 million individual tax returns by the summer, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said at a recent hearing.
Not terribly encouraging.
To be fair, though, the massive and much-needed federal stimulus packages approved by Congress did create a mound of new work for the IRS, which has to process all those relief payments and also account for new policies like the child tax credit and changes in tax rules to help unemployed individuals.
For the record, most states moved their respective tax filing deadlines to May 17 to correspond with the new federal deadline. That includes New York.
Today is also 1865, World Art Day, embraced by the International Association of Art, a partner of UNESCO, to bolster awareness of creative activity in the world. It happens to correspond with Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday.
Also, here’s a historical nugget: On this day in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died nine hours after being shot the night before by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; Andrew Johnson became the nation’s 17th president.
We’ve had a cold front move in, it looks like. Today will be rainy (heavier rain is possible at times) with temperatures in the low 50s.
In the headlines…
The federal government’s recommendation to pause using Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine will remain in place after an advisory panel put off a vote on how to move forward following reports of a few cases of life-threatening blood clots.
The decision not to reinstate the vaccine has painful consequences, both nationally and globally.
Vaccination sites across the country canceled thousands of appointments after U.S. health authorities paused the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 shots, while other sites scrambled to switch to one of the two other authorized vaccines.
Safety worries about the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have jeopardized inoculation campaigns far beyond the U.S. undercutting faith in two sorely needed shots and threatening to prolong the pandemic in countries that can ill afford to be choosy.
France will go ahead with the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, a government spokesperson has confirmed.
More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, undocumented migrant workers are still among the last in the U.S. to receive protection against the virus that has infected more than 31.4 million people nationwide.
America’s scourge of drug overdose deaths accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with fatalities jumping by 27% in the 12 months ending in September, preliminary government data show.
American Airlines is preparing to operate a nearly normal summer schedule, anticipating that widespread vaccination will unleash appetite for travel.
Maldives will soon offer visitors vaccinations on arrival as part of its three-pronged initiative aimed at reviving the country’s hard hit travel sector, according to its tourism minister.
The rate of COVID-19-related hospitalizations for New Yorkers 65 and older has fallen by more than 50 percent since January after vaccinations first became available — a far larger drop than for younger residents, officials revealed.
President Joe Biden said he will withdraw remaining U.S. troops from the “forever war” in Afghanistan, declaring that the Sept. 11 terror attacks of 20 years ago cannot justify American forces still dying in the nation’s longest war.
Biden used his personal experience with his son Beau, who served in Iraq, to underscore the generational impact of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
“I’m now the fourth United States president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan,” Biden said. “Two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.”
Biden spoke from the same spot in the White House where President George W. Bush ordered the start of the war after the Sept. 11 attacks nearly two decades ago.
Guatemala’s president is blaming the Biden administration’s “confusing” messages for creating the crisis at the US border — the second leader to make that claim after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made similar remarks in March.
Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to “de-escalate tensions” following a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s border in their second tense call of Biden’s young presidency.
Biden said that parts of the U.S. are “backsliding into the days of Jim Crow” by passing laws he says are reminiscent of when Black Americans had to pay poll taxes and pass other tests before casting their vote.
U.S. spy agency leaders said that China is an “unparalleled” priority, citing Beijing’s regional aggression and cyber capabilities as they testified at a public congressional “Worldwide Threats” hearing for the first time in more than two years.
Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress will look like no other in recent memory. It will designated a National Special Security Event due to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Legislation to create a commission to study slavery reparations for Black Americans cleared a House committee in a historic vote — making its way to the full House for the first time more than three decades after it was initially introduced.
A group of Democrats – including several New Yorkers – plan to introduce a bill today that would add four seats to the Supreme Court — the opening salvo in what promises to be a brutal fight with conservatives over the high bench’s political balance.
House Democrats from New York are threatening to oppose future tax legislation unless it includes a repeal of the state and local tax deduction cap.
After nearly a quarter century in Congress, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, is retiring.
Kimberly Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, a prosecutor said.
Peter J. Orput, the top prosecutor in Washington County, said that Potter, 48, had been taken to jail and was awaiting a first court appearance.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered for a fourth night outside a police station in suburban Minneapolis yesterday, protesting Wright’s fatal shooting.
Two scenarios played out on Albany’s streets last night – a peaceful rally in the park to protest a police killing in Minnesota, and later a clash between officers and some of the same protesters at the city’s South Station.
The NYPD is considering mandatory 12-hour shifts as police brass brace for the possibility of protests in the city when the Derek Chauvin trial ends.
More than 100 messages have come through a hotline set up two weeks ago by investigators working on the impeachment probe into Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a state lawmaker overseeing the effort said.
After weeks of horse racing tracks being excluded from guidance for sports venue reopening, Cuomo announced that tracks can reopen at 20 percent seating capacity next week.
Spectators will be required to wear a mask, and to provide proof of a negative test or completed vaccinations, Cuomo said.
A few hours after Cuomo’s announcement, NYRA officials were still considering their options and would not commit to allowing fans to attend as soon as Apr. 23.
Cuomo also announced that bars and restaurants will be able to stay open until midnight, effective Monday, April 19. Catered events will extend from midnight to 1 a.m.
Cuomo ducked reporters by holding a “closed press” event for the second straight day while griping that high taxes were driving away New Yorkers even though he just agreed to a $4 billion hike.
North Country Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is warming to the idea of running for governor of New York but plans a patient process to consider the next steps in her political career, a period of decision-making that could last through early 2022.
Stefanik raised $1.2 million for her campaign from January to April, demonstrating her formidable fundraising and handing her a strong base on which to launch a campaign for governor or seek re-election in Congress.
A policy brief by the Rockefeller Institute of Government confirmed that “ghost guns” are a public safety issue and continue being recovered by law enforcement with increasing frequency, including in New York.
Manhattan state Sen. Brad Hoylman has called on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to have the platform permanently suspend Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s account for “repeatedly spreading misinformation” about vaccines.
New York City has selected three companies – Bird, Lime and Veo – to participate in an electric-scooter-share pilot program that is expected to launch in parts of the Bronx this summer.
The caretaker of Manhattan’s Central Park is waging a campaign for control of an ice-skating rink that until recently the Trump Organization had operated.
Depositions soon begin in a case in which five Asian-American parents of NYC public school students are suing the city’s Education Department, claiming they were harassed while protesting proposed changes to the gifted and talented admissions process.
More Big Apple parents have sued for a return to full-time, in-person classes in city schools — arguing that the future of an entire generation of kids will be put at risk as they fall behind in their education, new court papers show.
Comptroller Scott Stringer’s deep experience in New York City politics has yet to translate into momentum in the mayor’s race. Could an endorsement from the Working Families Party help?
Republican mayoral candidate and longtime talk show host Curtis Sliwa released a video of himself railing against crime and quality-of-life issues on a subway train — while breaking the state’s coronavirus rules by not wearing a mask.
Financier Sara Tirschwell was tossed from the ballot in her bid to run in the Republican primary for mayor because she didn’t have enough signatures to qualify.
Justice Democrats, a left-wing group that fueled the rise of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is backing Queens activist Rana Abdelhamid’s primary bid against veteran Democratic Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
The NYPD’s robot dog, deployed at a public housing building recently, drew condemnation as a stark example of police power and misplaced priorities.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said the NYPD needs to “rethink” its Digidog.
A bus driver shortage has forced the MTA to trim bus service across the city, sticking some New Yorkers with longer commutes.
Some New Yorkers aren’t eager to see the return of wealthy individuals who fled the city during the height of the pandemic.
Outdoor dining is starting to sprout in Saratoga Springs after city leaders gave restaurant owners an early green light to expand outside.
The Colonie school district is talking to middle and high school students about Internet safety after a catfishing scheme targeting teens in upstate New York was linked to at least one suicide.
Students in North Colonie and South Colonie public schools ages 16 and up can now sign up to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic to be held Saturday at Colonie High School.
The man who attacked the owner of Jimmy’s Lunch in Troy last year will spend the next six years in prison.
State Police and transportation officials were still dealing with the aftereffects of the collision of a boom lift into a Northway overpass many hours after the jarring impact.
Two thoroughbred racehorse owners are joining in a $50 million proposed project to link the City of Saratoga Springs’ two historic hotels – the Rip Van Dam and The Adelphi – into one large luxury lodge.
The Rensselaer County Legislature has adopted a resolution urging New York State to create a crime database of all convictions of animal cruelty. The resolution follows a filing in the county to create a local law for a similar animal abuse registry.
A former Buffalo police officer who fought a fellow cop who put a handcuffed suspect in a chokehold will receive more than a decade’s worth of back pay and a full pension.
Former Spring Valley Mayor Noramie Jasmin, who was ensnared in a federal corruption scandal tied to former state Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, is running for her old job after serving four years in prison.
Kristin Smart, a California college student who disappeared in 1996, was killed while another student tried to rape her, investigators said. Paul Flores, now 44, was arrested and charged with her murder.
Bernard L. Madoff, who in 2008 became the human face of an era of financial misdeeds and missteps for running the largest and possibly most devastating Ponzi scheme in financial history, died on in a federal prison hospital in Butner, N.C. at the age of 82.
For many of the victims of Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme, his death did not assuage their bitterness.
