Good Monday morning.
It’s Victoria Day for our neighbors to the north, who remain uninterested in mixing with us, despite the fact that the coronavirus pandemic is on the wane. In fact, that’s become something of a political football of late.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security just last week announced the latest extension in the month-to-month deal keeping the border restrictions in place, which have had a significant negative impact on individuals and businesses on both sides of the border.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he wants to get to a 75 percent vaccination rate before the border re-opens, but WNY Rep. Brian Higgins, co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Group, says that’s probably never going to happen, and wants the prime minister and President Biden to adhere to CDC guidance regarding travel.
Apparently, a solution to the border situation is under discussion.
Anyway, if we COULD go to Canada today, we would find that they’re celebrating a national holiday in honor of Queen Victoria, who was the reigning monarch of Britain for 63 years, seven months and two days (to be exact).
Victoria Day was declared a Canadian holiday by the government in 1845. At that time, it was celebrated with picnics, parades, sporting tournaments, fireworks and cannon salutes. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Canada’s parliament officially named the holiday Victoria Day.
Quebec, not surprisingly, has decided to go its own way on this day, celebrating not Victoria Day but Journée nationale des patriotes (National Patriots Day).
If you’ve ever been to Quebec, you know that it’s a city for serious foodies. And since we’re on the topic of food, and French-related things, (sorta), you should know that it’s National Escargot Day.
Yep. There’s a day that is all about the celebrating of eating snails drowning in a garlicky wine-butter sauce.
Today’s trivia: The science of growing snails is known as heliciculture.
We are in for a reprieve from the heat, which makes me (and the very hairy dog) happy. I’m sorry, but I’m a 70-or-so degrees kinda person. When it gets into the 80s, I am uncomfortable. So today is perfect: a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the low 70s. Lovely.
In the headlines…
New cases across the U.S. – now at a seven-day average of less than 30,000 per day – have tumbled to rates not seen in more than 11 months, sparking optimism that vaccination campaigns are stemming both severe COVID-19 cases and the spread of the virus.
Nearly 50 percent of Americans have received at least one vaccine shot, and though the pace has slowed, the share is still growing by about two percentage points per week.
But the U.S. vaccination story varies widely across regions, with New England surging ahead of the national average and much of the South lagging far behind.
The CDC said in a statement last week that it was investigating cases of heart-related symptoms observed mainly in young people and adolescents who received the coronavirus vaccine.
The condition, called myocarditis, is an inflammation of the heart muscle, and can occur following certain infections.
Michigan’s governor has apologized after a photo showed her apparently violating social distancing orders at a restaurant.
Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology sought hospital care in November 2019, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could fuel calls for a fuller probe of whether Covid-19 may have escaped from the lab.
Supermarket workers are back in the middle of a national conversation about face masks.
A Republican lawmaker has been stripped of her voting and speaking privileges in Nevada’s state legislature after taking part in an anti-mask stunt.
The CDC hasn’t offered guidance to vaccinated parents who have unvaccinated children, leaving many parents confused about what to do.
Mask wearing could soon come to an end for fully vaccinated people in New Jersey in most situations.
The young New Yorker who designed TurboVax to help locate available vaccine appointments should be made part of the federal government’s effort to vaccinate at least 70% of the population by the Fourth of July, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a pivotal figure in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, addressed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduates remotely Saturday, urging the Class of 2021 to work toward a more unified society.
Fauci said he’s “not convinced” the deadly virus developed naturally and has called for further investigations into where it emerged.
Negotiations in Congress over some of President Biden’s key priorities are facing new headwinds, dimming Democrats’ hopes that they might be able to overcome the partisan gridlock that has come to define Washington.
Prospects look dim for bipartisan agreement on an infrastructure-spending bill as lawmakers argue over the basic questions of what should be included, how large it should be and how to pay for it.
The next move on the infrastructure package is up to Republicans after the White House scaled back the sweeping legislation, a senior Biden adviser said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, yesterday threw his support behind changing the role of military commanders in the prosecution of sexual assault.
Nearly three in five Americans say the U.S. must “continue making changes to give Black Americans equal rights to white Americans,” according to a new poll.
Hundreds of people gathered with the family of George Floyd yesterday in front of the downtown Minneapolis courthouse in which his murderer had been convicted a month earlier.
The Floyd family will meet with Biden at the White House tomorrow – the one-year anniversary of the Black man’s murder under the knee of former police officer Derek Chauvin.
Biden, who is the second Catholic president in American history, did not address Notre Dame graduates at their commencement this past weekend, after an invitation for him to do so sparked a backlash due to his positions on abortion and LGBTQ rights.
The president of Belarus sent a fighter jet to intercept a European airliner traveling through the country’s airspace and ordered the plane to land in the capital, Minsk, where a prominent opposition journalist aboard was seized, provoking international outrage.
Roman Protasevich, 26, is a co-founder and a former editor of the NEXTA channel on the social media platform Telegram – a popular conduit for Aleksandr Lukashenko’s foes to share information and organize demonstrations against the government.
Some state Assembly members who support the impeachment of Gov. Andrew Cuomo are frustrated with the pace of the chamber’s inquiry into the governor and his administration, and said they’ll use an outside report as a basis for moving forward.
Republican Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin continues to roll up endorsements in his bid to challenge Cuomo when the politically wounded three-term Democratic governor is up for re-election next year.
Another GOP gubernatorial contender, Andrew Giuliani, was in Rensselaer over the weekend.
Although Giuliani is from New York City, he says he wanted to prioritize the entire state make sure many of his visits are to small businesses.
Cannabis corporations are rushing to meet what is expected to be a “tidal wave” of demand in New York and New Jersey.
New York state’s legalization earlier this year of recreational marijuana could go a long way toward weeding out retail vacancies in the Big Apple.
Supporters of an automatic, portable retirement savings plan administered by the state are hoping that long-sought goal becomes reality this year.
State Attorney General Letitia James and state lawmakers announced the introduction of legislation designed to raise the legal standard under which members of law enforcement can employ lethal force.
The bill would change the standard in New York from “simple necessity” to an absolute last resort.
Nearly 30 people have been shot across New York City this weekend.
A federal prosecutor was one of two innocent bystanders struck by stray bullets outside a bustling Brooklyn restaurant, sending terrified diners diving for cover amid an intensifying shooting surge across the Big Apple.
Elected officials in Manhattan are calling for change after they say a woman fell from a rooftop during an overcrowded party and died.
Cameron Perrelli, 24, was at a gathering on the roof of a building on Avenue A near E. 12th St. early Saturday morning at around 3 a.m. when she lost her footing near the ledge and fell off, cops said.
The operator of New York City’s subway says it plans to spend $2.2 million a month on private security guards to address crime and quality-of-life issues in the sprawling system.
A protester in a pro-Palestinian march was arrested and charged with a hate crime in the beating of a Jewish man near Manhattan’s Times Square, New York Police Department officials said.
A Brooklyn man was charged with setting fire to a building housing a synagogue and a yeshiva, and federal prosecutors said that it was the second time in less than a week that the man had sought to damage a religious institution.
An alarming streak of anti-Semitic hate crimes in the city will not be tolerated, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, promising a stronger police presence in Jewish communities.
Queens Assemblyman David Weprin unveiled a bill that would require cash bail for suspects arrested and charged with hate crimes. The measure, he says, will help combat an alarming rise in antisemitic and anti-Asian incidents across New York City.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer is still running in the NYC mayoral race despite multiple setbacks and insists he still has a shot at making a comeback.
With less than a month before the June 22 primary, Democratic candidates are trying to steal momentum from the perceived front-runners, Eric Adams and Andrew Yang.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a prominent Dominican-American lawmaker who pulled his endorsement of Stringer, announced his support for Adams – a decision that was being closely watched as the battle for Latino voters intensifies.
“I think New York City needs a clear path to the future,” Espaillat said. “For that we need unity.”
Mayoral hopeful Shaun Donovan wants to turn the city into one that’s made up of “15-minute neighborhoods” where every resident has quick access to schools, health care, grocery stores and parks.
New York’s tenants’ rights advocacy group issued a dual endorsement of Dianne Morales and Maya Wiley for mayor.
Yang lost in a game of HORSE to another mayoral contender — after he was trolled about his basketball skills by opponent Ray McGuire on Twitter.
The city should crack down on helicopter noise and annoying sounds like piercing sirens and irritating dirt bikes, Stringer said.
Restaurants have gobbled up around 8,550 publicly-owned curbside parking spots for their outdoor seating set-ups since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to city data.
A pair of rare peregrine falcon chicks hatched earlier this month in a nest atop the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge that connects southern Brooklyn to the Rockaways in Queens, officials announced.
A New Jersey house party on Saturday that left two people dead and at least a dozen others wounded in a late-night shooting began as a 1990s-themed birthday celebration.
The deal to allow SiFi Networks to build a city-wide network of lightning-fast internet is faltering in Saratoga Springs.
The Albany Musicians’ Association says there is a tentative agreement for HBO to pay extras on a series currently being shot in Troy, after they publicly called out the network for not agreeing to compensate workers under a union contract.
At least 21 ultramarathon athletes died after brutal weather swept across a mountainous area of northwest China during the Huanghe Shilin Mountain Marathon, state media reported.
Among the dead was Liang Jing, 31, an ultramarathon champion and three-time winner of the race.
Gymnast Simone Biles, while competing in her first meet since the 2019 world championships, became the first woman ever to compete a Yurchenko double pike vault while wearing a goat leotard.
Phil Mickelson, 50, minted golf history yesterday, becoming the oldest winner of a major tournament with his victory at the 2021 PGA Championship.
The pop and R&B superstar The Weekend dominated the 2021 Billboard Music Awards with several big wins, including the night’s biggest prize of top artist.
