Good Thursday morning.
So this is ironic: it’s National Canine Fitness Month, which I didn’t know until I started Googling around to figure out what I would be writing today after I missed my daily appointment yesterday with all of you.
Now, for the record, I am ALL about making sure one’s furry best friend is fit. Just like people, canines have a bit of an issue keeping the weight off.
According to a 2018 survey conducted by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, (yes there is such a thing), 55.8 percent of dogs in the United States are overweight or obese. And also just like with people, that extra weight can cause a lot of health issues, from canine diabetes and heart problems to painful arthritis.
Also just like their human counterparts, dogs packed on the pounds during the pandemic. If you aren’t quite sure whether your dog meets the definition of “fat,” here’s a handy guide on how to tell.
Those of you who know me personally know I’m a big fitness fan, and I’m generally very careful to make sure that Henry (my dog) gets his daily dose of exercise. I’m also usually very careful about his diet, making sure he doesn’t get into anything that might hurt him, because he’s basically a dog masquerading as a vacuum cleaner.
He once hoovered up an entire chicken parm from Casey’s in Rensselaer in about two seconds flat while someone (ahem, not me) was distracted by a call and left it unguarded on the coffee table.
Anyway.
Sometime yesterday, Henry got into something he shouldn’t have. I’m assuming it was sugar, because he was a manic mess. I spent most of Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning trying to deal with that. It turns out the emergency vets aren’t seeing people on an emergency basis…the wait was four to six hours – in the parking lot, because COVID.
For the record: Henry is fine. I, however, am a ball of sleep-deprived stress.
If you aren’t necessarily watching your weight, or if you just need a little treat for yourself, consider an empanada, which has its very own day of recognition…TODAY.
An empanada, in case you don’t know, is basically a little dough pocket filled with deliciousness, either savory or sweet, and then fried. They’re more or less a hand pie, and are usually stuffed with cheese, meat, vegetables or fruit.
The name “empanada” comes from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb em pandar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Some version of this delicacy exists in many cultures around the world. I have never encountered one that I did not like..
We are headed into a series of 70-degree days, starting today. I am not sorry about this. I am, in fact, thrilled. And so is Henry, because getting taken on long walks is a lot easier when one isn’t picking up one’s freezing cold paws and shaking them in dismay every few steps.
It’s going to be GLORIOUS today. Sun, sun, sun. Get out there and get after it. But first…
In the headlines…
An anonymous female staffer who accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her breast at the Executive Mansion went into further detail about her claims during an interview with the Times Union.
The woman described the governor slamming the door of his office in the mansion after telling her “I don’t care” when she resisted his unwanted advance.
For roughly two years, she said, she believes Cuomo had been grooming her in a pattern of inappropriate behavior that began with tight hugs and kisses on the cheek.
She also said Cuomo asked invasive questions about her personal life, recalling that at one point last year, that he told her, “Oh, if you were single, the things that I would do to you.”
The staffer said she spoke last month with investigators from state Attorney General Letitia James’s office about her interactions with the governor.
Rita Glavin, an attorney who represents Cuomo, said in a statement that he has “repeatedly made clear that he never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”
President Joe Biden will take his first, limited actions on gun control today, directing his administration to tighten restrictions on so-called ghost guns and pistol stabilizing braces that allow the weapons to be used more accurately.
The announcement comes nearly three months into Biden’s term, a delay that had frustrated activists who wanted the president to fulfill a campaign pledge to take action on gun violence on his first day in office.
The president also is expected to announce his nomination of David Chipman as the director of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to senior administration officials.
Biden has been under pressure to address gun violence, but has made clear that pushing legislation through a blockade of Republican opposition is not currently feasible.
The Biden administration may restart building some of the wall along the United States’ southern border despite the current president’s pledge to cease construction of former President Donald Trump’s keystone project.
The parents of 61 migrant children who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration have been located since February, but lawyers still cannot find the parents of 445 children, according to a court filing.
A 15% minimum tax on large, profitable corporations that is part of President Biden’s infrastructure proposal would affect far fewer companies than the version he campaigned on, according to details released by the Treasury Department.
Biden defended raising the corporate tax rate to help pay for his infrastructure plan, saying he’s “sick and tired of ordinary people being fleeced.”
Biden sought to sell his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan by pulling out some decades-old promises of futuristic technologies like a transcontinental bullet train that’s as fast as planes and supersonic jets that circle the globe in one hour.
The U.K.’s vaccines advisory body said the Covid-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca should preferably not be given to people under 30 following concerns that it causes potentially deadly blood clots in very rare instances.
Officials in Ontario, Canada, have issued a third state of emergency as the province struggles to contain a rapid increase in new COVID-19 infections.
A day after more than 4,000 people in Brazil died of COVID-19, President Jair Bolsonaro continued to downplay the crisis and declared again on Wednesday that lockdowns are off the table.
The anecdotal reports are true: people who get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine say they have more side effects than people who get the Pfizer/BioNTech shots, according to new data published this week.
A top federal pandemic official warned last June that Emergent BioSolutions, the government contractor that threw out millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines because of contamination, lacked enough trained staff and had a record of quality control problems.
A highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that was first identified in Britain has become the most common source of new infections in the United States, the CDC director said. This comes as officials and scientists warn of a possible fourth surge.
All of the nation’s school kids should be back in classrooms by the fall, the CDC director said.
Breastfeeding mothers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 likely pass their antibodies on to their babies, a new study has found.
Nearly half of new coronavirus infections nationwide are in just five states – New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey – a situation that is putting pressure on the federal government to consider changing how it distributes vaccines.
A mass vaccination site temporarily shut down yesterday in Denver after 18 vaccine recipients suffered adverse side effects.
State lawmakers legalized mobile sports betting in the $212 billion budget deal, the last pieces of which were passed by the Assembly early this morning.
The state Gaming Commission will award contracts to at least two mobile wagering platforms based on a scoring method aimed at boosting tax revenue for the state. The state will be able to rake in as much as $99 million this fiscal year alone.
New York will now offer one-time payments of up to $15,600 to undocumented immigrants who lost work during the pandemic. The effort — a $2.1 billion fund in the state budget — is by far the biggest of its kind in the country.
The fund creates a two-tiered system of direct cash payments for workers ineligible for previous state or federal relief — including undocumented immigrants — who are able to provide proof of their New York residency, identity and loss of income.
Cuomo tried to downplay the potentially negative impact of tax increases in the state budget, claiming there will be an overall “net reduction” for New Yorkers if the federal government restores a deduction for state and local taxes.
Pot may be legal now in New York, but buying, selling and consuming the drug is still prohibited on college campuses, which are bound by federal laws.
A coalition of transportation and civic groups called on New York elected officials to stop plans to expand Midtown Manhattan’s Penn Station and build 10 nearby towers.
JP Morgan will need “significantly” less office space in coming years, as some staff at the investment bank shift permanently to part-time work at home.
Mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang backed off his critique of the powerful city teachers union during a candidate forum hosted by the organization.
Mayoral candidate and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams unveiled a plan to make the Big Apple the wind power hub of the Northeast by building wind turbine manufacturing plants at ports throughout the city.
Andrew Giuliani, 35, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and a former aide in the Trump administration, said in interviews that he is evaluating a run for governor of New York as a Republican.
Andrew Giuliani, who has never held public office, said he spoke with former President Donald Trump earlier this week about his political ambitions, and plans to make a decision about whether to run by the end of the month.
“I think I’m the right candidate, and this is the right time to help change New York State, and we’ve got a playbook that works,” he added.
The Cuomo administration began tracking COVID-19 related out-of-facility nursing home resident deaths as early as last April — yet still withheld the data from a state Health Department report released nearly three months later.
About 40 communities across the state failed to meet the April 1 deadline to submit police reform proposals to the Cuomo administration.
State Education Department officials said they are disappointed the U.S. Department of Education has denied their waiver request to forgo state testing this year.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority named its acting president and CEO, Doreen Harris, to the permanent job.
New York City’s beaches and public pools will open on time this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced yesterday, almost a year after their re-openings were delayed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Brooklyn district attorney will move to dismiss as many as 90 old convictions in which a former narcotics detective, accused of perjury in Manhattan, played a key role.
The Woman’s Club of Albany broke ground to mark the start of reconstruction of the front porch of its historic home at 725 Madison Ave. and creation of an accessible entrance to the first floor of the building.
The new state budget includes a $750 million commitment to rebuild and consolidate the state’s venerable Wadsworth Center health and science labs along Brevator Avenue on the east end of the Harriman state office campus in Albany.
Ron Kim, the former public safety commissioner of Saratoga Springs, is running for mayor.
The town of Perth’s animal control officer is accused of shooting and wounding an aggressive dog too close to a church and school.
A Supreme Court ruling that sided with Alphabet Inc.’s Google in its 10-year legal battle with Oracle Corp. reaffirms the business model behind open-source software – sharing bits of computer code for free, experts said.
Republican New York Rep. Tom Reed, who isn’t seeking re-election after a former lobbyist accused him of sexual misconduct, will no longer serve as the co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus.
Wayne LaPierre, the embattled chief executive of the National Rifle Association, said that he had kept his organization’s recent bankruptcy filing secret from almost all its senior officials, including most of its board.
The Trump Organization has hired a veteran criminal defense attorney to represent it in the Manhattan district attorney’s intensifying investigation into the former president’s company and his business dealings.
A former Trump appointee has admitted to violating a federal law by producing a video that aired during the Republican National Convention last year which boasted that conditions at the NYCHA had improved under the former president.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is putting pen to paper for what his publisher promises will be “the definitive book on one of the most consequential presidencies in American history.”
Pence, who has largely stayed on the sidelines since January, has launched a new political advocacy group to defend the “successful policies” of the Trump administration.
Tiger Woods was driving nearly twice the speed limit when his SUV smashed into a median during the February rollover crash that broke his right leg in multiple places and left his golf future in doubt, officials said.
CBS has parted ways with top executives in its television station group amid an investigation into their conduct, the company said.
Midwin Charles, a legal analyst for CNN and MSNBC, has died at age 47, her family confirmed on social media.
A U.S. Navy destroyer sunk more than 76 years ago has been found in “the deepest wreck dive in history.”
