Good Wednesday morning.
I know we’re all feeling really tired these days…maybe weary is a better word for it. Just collectively exhausted from the year+ we have all experienced. The mental load of all the prolonged stress can really do a number on a person.
But this bone-tired feeling is different than the clinical diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or ME/CFS, which has an international awareness day today. In this case, we’re talking about an immunological and/or neurologic disease for which there is no cure.
ME/CFS is a serious, long-term illness that affects many body systems. People with ME/CFS are often not able to do their usual activities due to severe fatigue and sleep problems that may confine them to bed.
An estimated 836,000 to 2.5 million Americans suffer from ME/CFS, but most have not been formally diagnosed. While most common in people between 40 and 60 years old, the illness can strike anyone at any time. Among adults, women are affected more often than men, and Whites are diagnosed more than other races and ethnicities.
There’s very little research done on the cause of this disease, and there’s no formal lab test to diagnose it.
It is worth noting that many of the symptoms people with post-COVID conditions report include severe fatigue, headaches, brain fog, sleeping difficulties, and anxiety or depression. This is sometimes referred to as “long COVID” and the people who are suffering in this manner are “long haulers.”
Today is the birthday (back in 1820) of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing. Her decision to go into nursing was something of a scandal, because she was born into a privileged English family, and working in this field was considered something for the under-educated and the poor at the time.
International Nurses Day is celebrated on Nightingale’s birthday.
On a far less serious – but very delicious – note, it’s National Nutty Fudge Day. This sweet treat has its origins in New York – Poughkeepsie, in fact, which is just a short drive down the Thruway.
In 1886, a letter was found written by Emelyn Bettersby Hartridge a Vassar College student in Poughkeepsie, NY about her Baltimore, MD cousin. It referred to a fudge her cousin had made and sold for 40 cents per pound. Hartridge obtained the recipe, and in 1888, she made 30 pounds of fudge for the Vassar College Senior Auction.
We’re in for a stretch of nice spring weather. Today will be partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 60s. Get outside and breathe deeply. (Unless, of course, you’re suffering from allergies, in which case, I’m so sorry. I hear it’s a bear of a year for grass and pollen).
In the headlines…
After 124 retired generals and admirals released a letter spreading the lie that President Joe Biden stole the election, current and former military officers are speaking out.
The Biden administration officially green-lit the country’s largest offshore wind farm. It’s slated to be installed off the coast of Massachusetts.
The president announced support for an effort by Lyft and Uber to provide free rides for people traveling to get a Covid-19 vaccine as the administration ramps up efforts to motivate the hesitant.
Investors around the world retreated from stocks yesterday, with a selloff in technology companies spreading to other sectors as concerns about inflation dragged U.S. indexes down for a second consecutive day.
About two-thirds of Brooklyn’s merchants are having difficulty hiring workers as they seek to ramp up operations following the coronavirus shutdowns — and many are blaming generous federal emergency jobless benefits for keeping people home.
Nationwide, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday that there were 8.1 million job openings across the country at the end of March, the highest figure in records going back to December 2000.
The worst fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years intensified last night, as Israeli airstrikes began targeting Hamas offices in Gaza City and militants in Gaza fired rockets at the metropolis of Tel Aviv.
More than 100 Republicans, including some former elected officials, are preparing to release a letter this week threatening to form a third party if the Republican Party does not make certain changes, according to an organizer of the effort.
Rep. Liz Cheney, the night before her colleagues are expected to vote on whether to remove her from House Republican leadership, ripped into former President Donald Trump and his debunked election fraud claims on the House floor.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is set to become the new Republican conference chair, putting her third in the GOP leadership in the House, which is good news for her North Country district.
The cyberattack that knocked offline an essential U.S. gasoline pipeline shows how the dangerous, professional-scale hack-for-ransom threat is spreading rapidly, targeting companies, schools, hospitals and other institutions.
Panicked drivers scrambled to fuel their vehicles across the Southeast yesterday, leaving thousands of stations without gasoline as a vital fuel pipeline remained largely shut down after a ransomware attack.
While experts are cautioning drivers not to rush to fill up, government officials are taking steps to protect Americans from gasoline price spikes and ensure that fuel can be shipped in other ways.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis yesterday evening declared a gasoline-related state of emergency, including activating the Florida National Guard “as needed.”
A prosecutor said that the man accused of killing eight people at spas in and around Atlanta had targeted some of the victims because they were of Asian descent, and said she was planning to seek the death penalty against him.
Biden held a virtual meeting with a group of U.S. governors to discuss how to meet a goal of fully vaccinating 160 million Americans by July 4, and ensuring at least 70% of adults have had at least one shot by that date.
Seychelles, which has vaccinated a higher proportion of its population against coronavirus than any other country, is struggling to contain a new surge in Covid-19 infections, raising questions about the effectiveness of a Chinese shot it used.
A virus variant that has been spreading rapidly in India and designated a variant of concern by the World Health Organization might be more contagious than most versions of the coronavirus, the U.N. agency said in a report it published yesterday.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defended the agency against a series of attacks from Republican lawmakers accusing federal scientists of publishing outdated and overly conservative pandemic guidance.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky clashed again with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, at a congressional hearing on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic that has taken almost 600,000 lives in the United States.
The COVID-19 pet boom has veterinarians across the country working overtime and burning out. Approximately 12.6 million U.S. households got a new pet last year after the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
So-called “pandemic puppies” are now being returned at an alarming rate.
Big cities lost residents and the suburbs gained after 2020 lockdowns and low mortgage rates supercharged shifts in where people want to live.
At least nine states have announced that they will be ending participation in unemployment assistance programs directed at alleviating problems produced by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Yankees are dealing with a COVID outbreak on their coaching and support staff, with three confirmed cases.
The rate of new Covid cases in the U.S. fell to an average of 38,800 per day Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the first time daily case counts have been below 40,000 since September.
There will likely be enough evidence by late fall this year to potentially extend the use of Covid-19 vaccines to many children under age 12, Biden administration health officials told a U.S. Senate panel.
Covid-19 hospitalizations in New York rose slightly Monday, but new cases reached another new low since the fall.
New York could begin administering the Covid-19 vaccine to children aged 12 to 15 as soon as tomorrow after federal health regulators gave the green light to inoculate adolescents, state officials said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed legislation aimed at stopping discrimination against those vaccinated against COVID-19.
When children go back to school this fall, New York’s government is unlikely to require them to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Cuomo marked the completion of the newly-expanded Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.
Leaders in the state’s 10 regions can start applying for more than $750 million in grants earmarked for economic development projects, officials said, as New York works to rebuild from the fiscal fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The COVID pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on our state, but now is our time to build back better and stronger than before and create a New York that serves our children and their children and their children,” Cuomo said.
The governor also announced the launch of a series of public service announcements narrated by the governor’s celebrity allies like Robert DeNiro and Billy Joel, as well as Whoopi Goldberg set to “Back in the New York Groove.”
Cuomo signed legislation extending a moratorium that prevents utility companies from disconnecting services to residential households and small businesses struggling with bills amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Former two-term Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino was in Plattsburgh yesterday as he kicked off his second run for governor of New York.
Astorino will seek his party’s nod alongside a field that currently includes Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin and a handful of others who have suggested interest, including Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and a former Trump aide.
Astorino was the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2014 and lost to Cuomo by 54% to 40%.
New York’s legalization of cannabis for recreational use this spring moved state rules regulating the drug a step closer to those for alcohol, putting pressure on testing companies and innovators in the field to accurately measure impairment.
State Senate Republicans slammed their Democratic counterparts for creating a “dangerous” environment for New Yorkers by kowtowing to the “Defund the Police” movement while unveiling a package of pro-cop bills.
Three of the biggest recent hits on Broadway — “Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” — announced plans to resume performances.
The surge of local residents eager to lend a hand during the pandemic by volunteering in local parks began last summer and is going strong.
A Times Square shooting, a spike in gun violence and high-profile attacks on subway riders have pushed concerns over crime and public safety to the forefront of the New York City mayor’s race, altering the trajectory of the contest as the primary approaches.
New York City mayoral candidates remained focused on gun violence yesterday, days after a shooting in Times Square shocked the city.
Stemming New York’s rise in violent crime and helping the city recover from the Covid-19 pandemic will require more police officers and overtime spending, New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said.
Shaun Donovan and Ray McGuire, candidates for mayor, were way, way off when asked to estimate the median home price in the Brooklyn. (It’s $900,000 not $100,000 or less).
Two Brooklyn political clubs endorsed former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales for mayor after ditching city Comptroller Scott Stringer amid allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
As a rising star in the state Senate a decade ago, Eric Adams drew scrutiny from the state inspector general for his role in picking a troubled operator to run a gambling operation at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
Adams, facing scrutiny after climbing to the top of polls in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary, defended his past association with the Republican Party as a “personal protest” that he staged in the 1990s.
A Queens Muslim community group disinvited Andrew Yang from a Ramadan event and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez harangued him over social media amid mounting outrage over his public support for Israel’s deadly airstrikes on Palestinians this week.
Yang wants to close the jails on Rikers Island, but doesn’t know when, saying it’s “tough” for him to commit to a specific timetable.
The number of city kids entering Department of Education middle schools this coming September will drop by roughly 6 percent, the agency revealed.
The NRA attempt to evade a legal challenge from New York regulators was tossed out by a federal bankruptcy judge, in a ruling that cast further doubt on whether embattled chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, would remain at the helm after three decades in power.
The ruling was a victory for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, whose office is seeking to remove LaPierre and shut down the gun rights group amid a long-running corruption investigation.
James said in a press conference after the ruling that her office continues to pursue its enforcement action against the NRA and that the group can’t reorganize in Texas without approval of the New York state attorney general.
NYC Department of Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann is set to resign by the end of the month, according to the union representing the city’s correction officers.
The Sweet Hearts chapel is a new, Vegas-style wedding space in New York built for efficiency, for a pandemic and for Instagram.
Two NYPD and an ex-officer were charged in federal court with running a yearslong bribery scheme that included kickbacks from a tow truck company and the selling of personal information of recent car crash victims to injury lawyers and physical therapists.
A container ship larger than the Empire State Building will float into New York Harbor next week and become the biggest vessel to ever dock on the East Coast.
Futuristic floating swimming-hole project Plus Pool (+ Pool) has officially been given a city-approved location to drop anchor slightly north of the Manhattan Bridge, in the water adjacent to the Lower East Side.
Dozens of miles of New York City streets will be redesigned by year’s end to improve safety for cyclists and speed up commutes for bus riders, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
The 41-year-old son of Frank Serpico, the crusading whistleblower NYPD detective who testified against corrupt cops, died of an apparent drug overdose in his Manhattan home, police sources said.
A 51-year-old man shot Monday evening in a car on First Street died at Albany Medical Center, police said.
Next week the Albany Common Council is expected to continue to explore a ban on the police use of tear gas and rubber bullets.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said there were “significant concerns” with the annual tradition in Washington Park that go beyond traffic-clogged streets.
Michael Bloomberg is donating a total of $150 million to Johns Hopkins University and six other institutions of higher learning to increase racial diversity among students seeking Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering and math.
Medina Spirit, who is now in the middle of a percolating thoroughbred controversy, will be allowed to compete in Saturday’s 146th running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.
