Good morning. It’s raining. But it’s Friday.
If you happen to live in Washington, D.C. you might have the day off from work, and you definitely have the day off from school, to observe Emancipation Day, which commemorates an 1862 act signed by Abraham Lincoln that abolished slavery in the District, freeing over 3,000 people eight months before the Emancipation Proclamation.
This constituted the only example of compensation of former slave owners by the government.
It was not until nine months later that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which changed the status of over 3.5 million slaves in 10 confederate states to free individuals.
Only after the end of the Civil War in 1865 was slavery abolished all over the U.S. through the 13th amendment to the Constitution on Jan. 31, 1865, which was ratified by 30 out of 36 states in December of the same year, effectively freeing 4 million men, women, and children.
On Jan. 4, 2005, Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams signed a law that made Emancipation Day a public holiday.
For those of us who don’t have the day off, it’s National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day, which was kind of a thing at the start of the pandemic, but has quickly worn off (for a lot of us, anyway). Turns out you’re a lot more productive if you actually get dressed to go to work – even if that means walking a few steps from the bedroom to whatever is passing for your “office” these days.
This day was created to give people a reprieve from Tax Day, which was yesterday. Ostensibly, some of us stay up all night to make that deadline, which, as we discussed yesterday, was moved this year (for most) to May 17 as a result of the pandemic.
In case the whole concept of doing your taxes causes anxiety, you might take some comfort in knowing that it’s Stress Awareness Month.
Stress, as we’ve all heard so many times, can kill you. It is known to lead to increased heart rate, cardiovascular problems, breathing difficulties and high blood pressure. Too much or chronic stress can lead to “burn out”, harm your immune system, and accelerate the aging process. It can also contribute to memory loss, concentration difficulties, insomnia and mental illnesses.
Constant or prolonged stress is an important contributing factor to heart disease and the erosion of health in general. Over time, the adrenalin released by stress hormones creates a continued state of vigilance with damaging physiological consequences.
The CDC has a list of stress-busting coping mechanisms. I would recommend a nice walk outside, which has been scientifically proven to reduce stress and anxiety, but today might be such a great day for that. We are looking at rain and SNOW showers this morning, transitioning to all rain later in the day, with temperatures in the low 40s. Brrrr.
In the headlines…
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said people will “likely” need a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated.
Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, are studying how long the vaccines’ protective immunity will last. Their findings will guide whether additional booster shots will be necessary.
Even if vaccine protection lasts far longer than six months, experts have said that rapidly spreading variants of the coronavirus and others that may emerge could lead to the need for regular booster shots similar to annual flu shots.
Top U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said he is hopeful that the distribution and administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will get “back on track” soon.
Fauci; Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. director; and Dr. David Kessler, who runs the Biden administration’s vaccine effort — urged Americans to continue to get vaccinated.
Getting sick with COVID-19 carries an eight to tenfold higher risk of developing blood clots in the brain than the vaccine does, a new study suggests.
Fauci agreed that packed crowds of children at U.S.-Mexico border facilities would be a “major concern” for spreading COVID-19.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified a small cohort of approximately 5,800 cases of Covid-19 infection among more than 66 million Americans who have completed a full course of vaccination.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said that he will no longer be wearing a mask at the Capitol since he is fully vaccinated.
More than 1 million people across Europe have died from coronavirus, the World Health Organization announced.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was inundated with calls after opening the hotline to its COVID-19-related funeral assistance program.
As more Covid-19 vaccines become available, New York City is working to persuade reluctant residents to get the shot, health officials said.
The Biden administration imposed new sanctions against Moscow over alleged interference in the 2020 election, a colossal cyberattack against U.S. government and corporate networks, illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea, and human rights abuses.
Nearly three months into office, Joe Biden’s administration is seizing land near the southern border, fueling fears that the government will continue building one the most enduring symbols of Donald Trump’s presidency: a border wall.
Biden’s commission to evaluate proposed overhauls to the U.S. Supreme Court reportedly is planning to tackle potential changes that range far beyond the hotly disputed proposal to expand the number of justices.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not support the effort by her fellow Democratic congressional leaders to expand the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13 — and will not bring such a bill to the floor for a vote, she said.
Polly Trottenberg, the former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate 82-15 to serve as Deputy Secretary of Transportation at USDOT.
China reported today that its economy grew by a jaw-dropping 18.3 percent in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year.
Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, made a case for using trade policies to fight climate change, devoting her first speech in her new position to addressing one of Biden’s top priorities.
A majority of Americans support Biden’s handling of the economy, marking the first time his approval numbers have been on par with those enjoyed by Donald Trump in an area where the former president consistently received high marks from the public.
Signs of an economic boom are emerging as Americans open up their wallets to spend freely. Retail sales soared 9.8% in March, according to a report yesterday from the Commerce Department.
Hope about the economy was further reinforced after data showed the number of Americans filing new state unemployment claims last week dropped to 576,000, a decrease of 193,000 from the previous week.
That was the lowest since the week ended March 14, 2020, when the pandemic starting gripping the U.S.
The drop in claims comes after employers added 916,000 jobs in March, the most since August.
Though many Americans who have lost jobs or income are still suffering, hopes are rising that the benefits of the recovery will spread further in the coming months to groups of people who have yet to benefit.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are slowly recovering jobs lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but unemployment remains elevated in the region compared with nationwide.
While the number of jobs in the five-county Albany metro area was 5.7 percent below year-earlier levels, the pace of hiring is likely to close the gap in the coming months.
New York State collected $3 billion more tax revenue in the last fiscal year than projected by Gov. Andrew Cuomo two months ago, boosted by strong personal income tax receipts, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said.
Shopping locally has helped foot traffic in some commercial districts across the outer boroughs return almost to pre-pandemic levels, though Midtown Manhattan remains largely empty.
For a fifth night after a police officer in a Minneapolis suburb shot and killed a 20-year-old man, hundreds of people rattled fences, chanted and threw water bottles at officers guarding a police station that has become a target for protesters.
Chicago has released video footage showing the fatal police shooting of Adam Toledo, more than two weeks after the 13-year-old was killed during a foot chase in the Little Village neighborhood.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for calm before the body camera footage was made public. Toledo, was one of the youngest people killed by the police in Illinois in years.
An impassioned NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea demanded jail time for the alleged anarchists busted for causing mayhem in Manhattan on Tuesday night over the police shooting death of Daunte Wright — including graffiti messages like “Kill cops.”
Florida is on track to implement an “anti-riot” law that would include requiring state approval for decreases to city police budgets.
Former Officer Minneapolis Derek Chauvin chose not to take the stand as testimony at his murder trial ended yesterday, declining to explain to the jury and the public for the first time what he was thinking when he pressed his knee against George Floyd’s neck.
Closing arguments in the Chauvin case are set to begin Monday, after which a racially diverse jury will begin deliberating at a barbed-wire-ringed courthouse in a city on edge.
The NYPD has been preparing for nearly a year for possible protests in the Big Apple after the verdict comes down in the Chauvin trial in Minnesota — training officers, reviewing tactics and performing tabletop exercises, police officials said.
Simon & Schuster said late last night that it had scrapped plans to distribute a book by one of the Louisville police officers who shot Breonna Taylor during the botched drug raid last year that resulted in her death.
Kimberly Potter, the former Minnesota cop accused of killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop Sunday, spent just four minutes in front of a judge during her first court appearance yesterday.
At least eight people died in a shooting at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis late yesterday, and the gunman was believed to have taken his own life, the police said.
The proliferation of super PACs supporting NYC mayoral candidates — a familiar theme in presidential races, but unheard of at this level — points to the gravity of this year’s election in the midst of a pandemic and has raised coordination questions.
Mayoral contender Maya Wiley vowed to hire 1,000 new teachers and provide daily arts education to public school students if she’s elected to City Hall.
Mayoral contender Scott Stringer vowed that the “turf wars” that played out between top city health officials at the height of the COVID crisis would become a thing of the past under his health care plan.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa wants to create a new “Animal Welfare” party line — with the sole purpose of ending New York City’s so-called “kill” shelters.
Andrew Yang laughed along with a man who asked him if he choked women in a video posted Wednesday evening on Twitter, landing the front-running mayoral candidate in hot water yesterday.
Yang insisted he was just being “friendly” after getting into hot water for laughing when a comedian asked him if he “choke bitches” during sex.
The city CFB doled out more than $10 million in public matching funds to six Democratic mayoral candidates Thursday — with the largest award of $3.7 million given Yang. That brings the total shelled out so far by the CFB to a record shattering $21.9 million.
Mayoral candidate Eric Adams slammed fellow Democratic rival Yang for holding an event focusing on parking placard abuse while he railed against rising subway crime amid the coronavirus pandemic.
With a little more than two months until New Yorkers head to the polls to pick the Democratic candidate for mayor, Yang is widening the gap over his second-place rival, Adams.
It only took seven years and change, but it appears that Bill de Blasio is finally having fun as mayor. The biggest contributing factor? The mayor’s biggest nemesis, Cuomo, being sidelined by multiple scandals.
Fewer than one in six New Yorkers expect to use mass transit on a daily basis as COVID-19 restrictions begin to cede, according to survey data released by the MTA.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. will seek to dismiss roughly 100 convictions involving the work of a former New York Police Department detective accused of perjury, the district attorney’s office said.
New York City accepted responsibility for a collapsed pipe that flooded 127 homes in Queens in 2019, but it has been slow to pay homeowners.
Cuomo has loosened COVID-19 rules on sporting events, bars, restaurants and other businesses throughout the spring, but Republicans and owners of drinking and dining establishments say it’s time to ditch the curfews and restrictions altogether.
Though New York may have more lesbian bars than any other city in the United States, the venues are part of a dwindling industry. According to a nonprofit known as the Lesbian Bar Project, only 19 of these spaces are left nationwide.
The fiscal virtues of progressive proposals are at the heart of the “Compassionate New York” agenda unveiled by Democratic state lawmakers yesterday morning.
Democratic NY-19 Rep. Antonio Delgado raised $1.1 million in the first three months of 2021, an enormous show of force for the second-term congressman as he looks ahead to the 2022 campaign in a purple district that Republicans are targeting.
State Supreme Court justices who reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 will again be able to re-apply for their jobs and continue on the bench, the state’s top judge said.
The Upstate Jobs Party is launching a new focus that will back moderate candidates across New York who are interested in working with both sides of the aisle and secure a spot on the statewide ballot in 2022.
State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs in a lengthy statement blasted the primary challenge launched against incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney by Rana Abdelhamid, who is backed by the Justice Democrats and Democratic Socialists of America.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Cuomo disagree about who has final say on whether and how to allow fans at Bills, Sabres games.
After a pause last year because of the pandemic, the Michelin Guides for restaurants in several cities in the United States are up and running again.
New York announced a provisional agreement to decommission and clean up Westchester’s soon-to-be shuttered Indian Point nuclear power facility.
The agreement still needs to be approved by the New York State Public Service Commission. Once that happens, Holtec International would take over the power plant and would be responsible for decommissioning and cleaning up the plant and site.
Another protest against police brutality is planned for this weekend in the wake of an incident Wednesday where Albany police pepper-sprayed a band of protesters and two days before the city Common Council decides whether to ban police use of tear gas.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan signed legislation that increases the cost to recover illegal dirt bikes and ATVs seized by the police to $3,000.
Mayors from five Capital Region cities celebrated a burst of state funds that will pay for work on state highways in their municipalities.
Saratoga Springs High School is pausing in-person classes due to a spike in coronavirus cases.
Albany’s new National Lacrosse League franchise that begins play in December will be known as the FireWolves, team executives announced in a news conference at Times Union Center.
After weeks of rumors and retractions, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, two of the world’s great New Yorkers, announced that they are indeed breaking up this time.
Lin-Manuel Miranda said his family’s fund is teaming up with the Posse Foundation, which recruits small, diverse groups of talented students and helps them succeed together at partner colleges on full scholarships.
The filmmaker in possession of U.S. Navy footage showing pyramid-shaped UFO’s flying off the coast of California believes the footage is potentially the best the world has ever seen.
