Good Monday morning.
It’s Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts and Maine, which, (trivia time!), until the Missouri Compromise of 1820, was actually part of the Bay State.
This day, which is NOT a federal holiday and generally not recognized outside of the two aforementioned states, commemorates the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Menotomy – the first battles of the American Revolutionary War.
In 1894, the Lexington Historical Society petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to proclaim April 19th “Lexington Day”, only to be counter by Concord, which suggested “Concord Day.” Then-Gov. Frederic T. Greenhalge brokered the compromise of Patriots’ Day. And now here we are.
Outside of Massachusetts, this day is perhaps best known as the date of the Boston Marathon, which was cancelled altogether for the first time in its 124-year in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It was actually first postponed to Sept. 14, but then that date also proved to have been overly optimistic.
Some 30,000 runners generally take place in this race, the majority of whom have qualified by running previous marathons at required times for their respective age groups.
People ended up running 26.2 miles remotely, which just wasn’t the same. The Boston Marathon, of course, has taken on heightened importance and significance in the public consciousness since the 2013 bombing that occurred at its finish line.
This year’s marathon is now scheduled to take place on Oct. 11, and organizers are hopeful than an in-person event will be possible by then, thanks to widespread vaccine availability. A number of restrictions, changes and precautions have already been announced, and more will likely be forthcoming depending on how the COVID-19 situation develops over the next several months.
Today is also the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which occurred in 1995 and was at the time the largest terrorist attack perpetrated on U.S. soil.
A truck packed with explosives was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds of others.
The blast was set off by Timothy McVeigh, a Western New York native, who was executed for his crimes in 2001. His co-conspirator Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison. Both men were found to have been members of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan.
And here’s something I can get behind: It’s National Garlic Day. I happen to be of the school of thought that there’s very little in the world that can’t be improved with a little garlic. Except ice cream. I’ve tried garlic ice cream, and…well, never again.
It will be partly cloudy this morning with increasing clouds and periods of showers later in the day. Temperatures will be in the low 60s.
In the headlines…
Half of all U.S. adults have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, the federal government announced.
More than 129 million people ages 18 and older have received at least one shot, or 50.4% of the total adult population. More than 83 million adults, or 32.5% of the total adult population, are fully vaccinated with one of the three vaccines approved in the U.S.
President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama joined a slate of celebrities last night in urging Americans to get vaccinated during an hour-long NBC special aimed at boosting confidence in the shots and raising awareness about eligibility.
The event, “Roll Up Your Sleeves”, was hosted by singer Ciara and her NFL quarterback husband, Russell Wilson. It saw Biden pitch vaccinations as “the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from Covid-19, including the new variants we’re seeing.”
Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he expects Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to return to use in the U.S. by Friday, after a pause because of concerns about blood clots in several patients.
U.S. health authorities reportedly came close to simply warning about a blood-clotting risk from Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, but decided to recommend pausing use out of concern doctors would improperly treat the condition.
Health officials in Colorado are warning about another wave of infections as new coronavirus cases in the state jump to levels not seen since January and as counties start to loosen virus restrictions.
Chile’s vaccination campaign against the coronavirus has been one of the world’s quickest and most extensive, but a recent surge in infections has sparked concern beyond its borders.
Covid-19 vaccine demand is slowing in parts of the U.S. Now an uphill battle starts to get more shots into arms.
Independent pharmacies have struggled to obtain vaccines, frequently getting them later than other providers.
New Yorkers aged 50 and older no longer need to make an appointment to receive a COVID-19 vaccination; they can walk right into more than 30 locations throughout the five boroughs.
New York City was awash in COVID-19 vaccination opportunities Saturday, a possible turning point in the inoculation campaign where supply may be outstripping demand.
After nearly two months of litigation, 58 immigrants detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
The state of Alaska will begin offering COVID-19 vaccinations to tourists arriving and departing the state through four of its biggest airports starting June 1, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said.
…this is part of a larger multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, funded by federal stimulus money, to attract tourists back to the state.
The $24 billion USDA pandemic relief program failed to help most farmers.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has shifted at least 300 Border Patrol agents, primarily from the northern border and coastal sites, to help deal with the spike of immigrants seeking entry at the southern border, the agency said.
The U.S. will start welcoming more refugees — but just not yet, top Biden administration officials said in a concerted message campaign on Sunday television talk shows.
Biden faces a key test of his commitment to climate action this week, when he sets out his core plans for tackling the climate crisis and calls on all of the world’s major economies to join him in bold action to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the next ten years.
A senior Republican senator, John Cornyn, of Texas, said he and his colleagues could support an infrastructure bill of around $800 billion, underscoring GOP interest in a bipartisan fix for the nation’s aging roads and patchy broadband service.
Democratic Queens Rep. Greg Meeks said he won’t back Biden’s infrastructure package unless it includes a repeal of the federal $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions approved in 2017 under former President Trump.
Four drugmakers are slated to go on trial today in California over claims they fed the opioid crisis, in a proceeding that could help finalize multibillion-dollar settlements between state and local governments and pharmaceutical companies.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has told people with young children or pets to stop using Peloton treadmills.
The gunman in Thursday’s FedEx Indianapolis shooting legally purchased two semiautomatic rifles after being detained by authorities and having one other gun confiscated, police said, as they try to determine the shooter’s motives.
Red flag laws are supposed to keep guns away from people who should not have them. That did not happen with the gunman who killed eight people in Indianapolis.
States have passed over 140 police oversight bills since the killing of George Floyd, increasing accountability and overhauling rules on the use of force. But the calls for change continue.
In the end, the records show, a grand jury voted overwhelmingly not to charge three officers with criminally negligent homicide in Daniel Prude’s death in Rochester. Fifteen jurors voted not to indict the officers; five disagreed.
Since testimony in the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering Floyd, began on March 29, more than three people a day have died at the hands of law enforcement.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced that the COVID-19 positivity rate dropped to 2.35%, the lowest since November 7.
Nearly half of New York’s nursing home workers haven’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, so the state Department of Health is now putting more pressure on the facilities to bridge the gap.
Cuomo’s office is refusing to make public its correspondence with the U.S. Justice Department related to the administration’s handling of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
State Supreme Court Judge Timothy Walker on Saturday dismissed the latest court challenge to the state’s 11 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants.
Two members of Congress, two former gubernatorial candidates and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s son will address a gathering of Republican leaders in Albany today, as the state party starts to settle its ticket for November 2022.
Republican Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin reported that he has raised $2.5 million over ten days since announcing his bid for governor.
A spokesperson said Republican Central New York Rep. John Katko is not planning a gubernatorial run.
The effects from the NY-22 congressional court case are still being felt months later in Oneida County, as County Executive Anthony Picente has requested the board of legislators approve a budget transfer of $102, 152 dollars to pay for the legal fees.
Hudson Valley Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s four-month tenure as DCCC chair has been marked by scandal and stumbles, putting many of his fellow lawmakers on edge as they face an uphill battle for control of the chamber in 2022.
NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang said he “would never endorse any mistreatment of women,” after coming under criticism from one of Cuomo’s accusers for his reaction in a video when asked if he “choke(s) b—-es.”
Yang is the top choice among a crucial group of voters – registered Democrats age 50 and older, according to a new Siena poll.
The ballot order for the June 22 New York mayoral primary was decided by lottery, not alphabetical order, but Yang will still appear last.
About four months into Maya Wiley’s run for mayor, exactly what role she played in counseling Team de Blasio — and in vetting fundraising donations to his cause — is still not entirely clear.
Wiley took advantage of selective programs for her own children while calling them “racially discriminatory” and advocating to end them as co-chair of the mayor’s School Diversity Advisory Group.
Mayoral hopeful Eric Adams spoke out against protests over police brutality, saying the city streets are not the place to fight for justice, while accepting endorsements from Black and Latino first responder groups.
With two months until the June 22 primary, Ray McGuire’s campaign has yet to catch fire, and his goal of becoming the city’s second Black mayor is entering a critical phase.
McGuire wants to expand the number of New York City charter schools.
Assemblyman David Weprin, one of several candidates running for NYC comptroller, is calling on his rivals to pledge not to use the post as a stepping stone to run for mayor.
A proposed Queens charter school aimed at struggling high school students can’t open because the state Legislature won’t raise the charter school cap on expansion.
The NYC Correction Department has failed to put thousands of correction officers through suicide prevention retraining and other life-saving classes this past year, a “dismal” record that could put the agency in the cross-hairs of state authorities.
As the headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over controversial race-based curriculum and policies, another storied Manhattan prep school, Brearley, faced a father’s public wrath over the same issue.
Mark Twain and Bob Dylan slept at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. Now, developers hope to lure tourists, but they have to soothe some frustrated tenants.
Albany County lost a man in his 60s and a woman in her 70s from COVID-19 – continuing a troubling trend of deaths reemerging again as vaccination levels increase.
Cohoes wants to invest $750,000 to revive its older, neglected parks and spruce up its more modern parks and playgrounds. It’s part of long-range plans to turn the condition of city facilities around.
A day after Mayor Kathy Sheehan compared Wednesday’s Black Lives Matter protest at the police department’s South Station to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, local activists convened a press conference to demand an apology from city officials.
Activists returned to the scene of Wednesday’s clash, demanding officers be held accountable for what they described as excessive force — and specifically for the officer who grabbed at the protesters’ light and megaphone to get fired.
The Albany Common Council is set to vote on an amendment tonight on the use of tear gas and rubber bullets, but not without opposition from The Center for Law and Justice.
The Adirondack Park Agency approved two major Essex County projects including a large-scale housing development and a 5-megawatt solar array. This is the second-ever solar installation the board has approved in the park, and more are to come.
Responding to its worst academic scandal in decades, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point will scrap a program that provided a second chance to cadets who violated the honor code that is central to its mission, officials said.
Rochester has earned the top spot in a new ranking of the best cities in the Northeast to live after the pandemic.
Despite the hype surrounding the mass emergence of Brood X cicadas, they won’t crawling out of the ground in this area or anywhere else in New York because they don’t live here.
Early this morning, a robotic helicopter that NASA sent to Mars will try to rise a few feet in the air, hover and come back down. With that simple feat, it would become the first machine to fly through the wispy air of the red planet.
Hester Ford, the oldest known person in the U.S., has died in Charlotte, N.C. She was 115.
