Happy Friday before Memorial Day!
This is the unofficial start of summer and also one of the busiest travel days of the year.
This year is expected to be particularly busy, as the coronavirus pandemic is easing thanks to vaccine rates being up and infections coming down. Americans who have been cooped up for over a year due to the COVID-19 crisis are eager to hit the road – and the air and the water and the rails.
If you were smart, you got the jump on the traveling crowds and left yesterday – maybe at some unusual hour in the middle of the night or early in the morning. If you’re heading out today, good luck.
It looks like people are really itching to do one of two things: 1) gamble and 2) lie in the sun, maybe with a tall, cool drink in hand. The most booked vacation destinations thus far this year include: Las Vegas, Florida, California, Cancun and Mexico.
Triple AAA predicts more than 37 million Americans are expected to travel more than 50 miles from home this holiday weekend. The majority will choose to travel by car which means the roadways will keep getting busier as we head into the weekend.
Gas prices have also reached their highest point since 2014 and experts are warning that you should budget accordingly.
Today is, rather fittingly, National Hamburger Day. Along with 4th of July and Labor Day weekend, Memorial Day weekend is one of the top three favorite times for Americans to grill out, and hamburgers (along with hot dogs) are a barbecue staple.
Trivia: The world’s largest hamburger was prepared on Sept. 2, 2012, in Carlton, Minnesota by Black Bear Casino Resort and weighed in at 2,014 pounds. Also, its origin story is a little murky.
For the record, Memorial Day is a time to remember those who have died while in military service, (as opposed to Veterans Day, which honors living veterans).
The holiday originally started as Decoration Day, drawing its name from the fact that it was traditional for the graves of soldiers to be decorated with flowers and flags.
Though President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, NY the official birthplace of Memorial Day in the wake of the Civil War, dozens of towns continue to claim that they, in fact, were the originators of the holiday.
Unfortunately, the weekend weather is looking….well, crappy, to be frank. Today it will be in the 50s (yes, you read that right), with occasional rain in the afternoon. This trend will continue over the next several days, though things are going to warm up on Monday with temperatures heading up to 70 or so.
Be aware that the rain, which might be heavy at times, could very well contribute to even longer wait times on the road due to bad visibility and also delay flights.
Perhaps you can comfort yourself – while wearing a heavy sweatshirt – about the lack of warm weather this holiday weekend with a cup or cone of “Sweet Return to Normal” ice cream from Stewart’s.
In the headlines…
Senate Republicans unveiled their $928 billion infrastructure counteroffer to President Joe Biden, as the sides see whether they can bridge an ideological gulf to strike a bipartisan deal.
Biden continues to negotiate with Republicans on his big-ticket spending plans. But on yesterday, when he left Washington, he mocked them for voting against the coronavirus recovery package and then turning around and promoting the bill.
“I have here a list about how back in their districts, they’re bragging about the rescue plan,” Biden said during his remarks at Cuyahoga Community College. “I mean, some people have no shame,” he said with a laugh.
Biden called out Republicans, including the new No. 3 GOP House Rep. Elise Stefanik, of New York, who voted against the American Rescue Plan, bur are now taking credit for what it does.
While in Cleveland, Biden made one of his signature stops for ice cream.
The White House today will propose a $6 trillion budget for the 2022 fiscal year, as Biden prepares to outline his spending blueprint for the first time in his formal request to Congress.
The new spending would be paid for in part by $3.6 trillion in additional revenues over the same period. The result would be a net deficit of $1.4 trillion, which would begin shrinking after 2030.
The budget would take the United States to its highest sustained levels of federal spending since World War II as he looks to fund a sweeping economic agenda that includes large new investments in education, transportation and fighting climate change.
Biden and the first lady will return home to Delaware on Friday afternoon for Memorial Day weekend.
The Queen is set to host Biden for a visit to the UK next month.
Former President Trump blasted rising gas prices at the unofficial start of the summer driving season as he prepares to resume his #MAGA rallies.
Senate Republicans appeared poised to block the creation of a commission to investigate the bloody Jan. 6 attack on their own workplace, even though family members of a police officer killed in the Capitol riot pleaded with them to back the bipartisan effort.
Rudy Giuliani says he didn’t really mean for anyone to take him seriously when he urged a mob of #MAGA followers to engage in “trial by combat” on Jan. 6 before they stormed the Capitol.
Trump and Giuliani asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to incite the deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are investigating whether Ukrainian officials helped orchestrate a wide-ranging plan to meddle in the 2020 campaign, including using Giuliani to spread their misleading claims about Biden and tilt the election in Trump’s favor.
The Colonial Pipeline hack shows the need for a nationwide boost in cybersecurity, say two New York City members of Congress who are calling for millions of dollars toward that end: Reps. Yvette Clarke and Ritchie Torres.
Hackers linked to Russia’s main intelligence agency seized an email system used by the State Department’s international aid agency to burrow into the computer networks of human rights groups and other organizations critical of President Vladimir V. Putin.
Biden’s decision to announce an intensified 90-day review into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic came about in part because of the Chinese government’s refusal to participate in an investigation by the World Health Organization.
China reacted angrily to the Biden administration’s calls for a harder investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, by accusing the United States of hypocrisy and suggesting it needed to open its own biological laboratories to international inspection.
“The US doesn’t care about facts or truth at all, neither is it interested in a serious scientific study on the origins. Its only aim is to use the pandemic for stigmatization and political manipulation to shift the blame,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.
After a slow start, China’s vaccination campaign now accounts for around half of the doses being distributed daily around the world, which could overturn expectations of the pace of recovery in Asia and emerging markets globally.
As spring classes draw to a close and more people in the U.S. get vaccinated, coronavirus infections, which plagued college campuses across the country and seeped into the community at large, appear to be slowing among students and employees.
The Food and Drug Administration and vaccine maker Johnson & Johnson expect to announce within days that contamination problems at a Covid-19 vaccine plant in Baltimore are resolved, clearing the way for millions more doses to become available.
Facing a national decline in Covid-19 vaccination rates and an underwhelming response to vaccines in its own stores, CVS will offer a chance at money, vacations and a Super Bowl trip to persuade the unvaccinated to start getting their shots.
California has become the latest state to offer a vaccine lottery to incentivize getting the coronavirus vaccine – launching the nation’s most valuable single prize draw: $1.5 million.
New Jersey is making sure to include those who are already vaccinated in its latest round of vaccination-related freebies.
Abbigail Bugenske, 22, had all but forgotten about her long-shot bid to become Ohio’s next millionaire. She thought her vaccine lottery win was a prank.
Data shows that interest in getting vaccinated against Covid-19 increased right after Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced two weeks ago that vaccinated people could take off their masks.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says employers aren’t allowed to refuse paid sick days if people feel ill after getting a dose of the vaccine.
The new mandate is meant to quell fears about getting sidelined by the shots or not getting paid if they suffer side effects.
Across the state, the one-day and seven-day average number of people testing positive for Covid-19 is less than 1%. In New York City, fewer than 400 people are being diagnosed daily when averaged over a week.
More than a dozen labor organizations and progressive groups urged Cuomo to reconsider the state’s current guidance on mask-wearing for fully vaccinated people indoors over concerns it could put vulnerable workers at risk.
Cuomo said that a long-delayed, $11 billion project to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Manhattan’s East Side is almost complete.
The movement to make takeout alcohol a regular feature available to the state’s restaurant customers is facing renewed opposition from New York’s liquor stores.
The New York State Senate approved anti-sexual harassment measures this week that extend protections to top staff in the governor’s office as well as for employees of other elected officials.
The tsunami of public anger directed at Cuomo just months ago has become stuck in the morass of Albany politics.
Attorney General Letitia James’ office is suing the Rensselaer County Board of Elections, accusing the board and its two commissioners of failing to provide voters with equitable access to public voting sites.
Voters in New York who cast their ballot via absentee may soon be able to track its progress through an online system.
The city Board of Elections needs to open up more early voting sites in Uptown Manhattan, local lawmakers said. Out of 21 early voting locations in the borough, six are located north of 114th St. — but the city can do better, elected officials argued.
Two weeks before early voting starts in New York City, mayoral candidate Dianne Morales fired four staffers who were leading organization efforts for a new union, the group said, adding that it was planning a “work stoppage” as a result.
The internal strife is a significant distraction or worse for Morales, 53, who has been able to attract a large number of small donors and an avid group of supporters as the most left-leaning candidate in the field.
Morales called the state of her chaotic campaign a “beautiful mess” as some staffers look to unionize amid ongoing internal turmoil.
Mayor Bill de Blasio defended Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ record on public safety in what amounted to his first substantive remarks on the Democratic candidates running for mayor so far.
Adams says he loves Israel so much that he wants to buy a plot of land and retire in the Jewish State.
Adams said that he’d cry like a baby if he doesn’t receive the backing of New York City’s most famous civil rights leader: The Rev. Al Sharpton. (He has been endorsed by Sharpton’s daughter, Ashley).
Mayoral candidates Shaun Donovan and Ray McGuire, aided by the Super PACs that support them, have spent the most thus far on TV and radio ads but they’re still down in the polls.
The NYPD would get more detectives and officers dedicated to fighting gun violence, under a new plan from mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.
Yang said the 250 cops recently added to the city’s subway system should be on trains and platforms around the clock, amid what he called a “horrifying” rise in violent transit crimes.
Yang, a son of Taiwanese immigrants and a leading candidate for mayor, took on issues of race and identity in extraordinarily personal terms on the campaign trail, seeking to reframe some criticisms of his candidacy as questions of his Americanness.
The City Council took its most dramatic step in years to address the city’s affordable housing crisis, voting to expand a subsidy program to make apartments affordable to tens of thousands of people who are homeless or threatened with eviction.
This week, New York State made clear in new guidance to the real estate industry that broker fees were legal, ensuring that in the digital era of virtual tours, a vestige of pre-internet listings would endure.
Noisy, dangerous, illegal street racing has surged in New York City during the pandemic — and a group of state pols are trying to slam on the brakes with tougher laws.
Low income New Yorkers and people of color have significantly less park space available than residents of neighborhoods that are predominantly white and wealthy, according to findings released by the Trust for Public Land.
Still reeling from 15 homicides in 2020, the city of Albany is on pace to eclipse that total this year with a surge in gun violence that exploded as five homicides in May alone brought the city to eight killings so far this year.
YouthFX, an organization teaching film and digital media production to youth, and other community groups hosted a speak out at the South End Night Market to honor Destiny Greene, 15, and Chyna Forney, 18, who were recently shot and killed in Albany.
The Disney Store located at Crossgates Mall is closing “on or before June 16,” according to an announcement on the company’s website.
The Saratoga Race Course can operate at near-full capacity this summer, and if you’re fully vaccinated you can get in free on opening day.
The state Department of Agriculture and Markets warned consumers not to drink unpasteurized raw milk from Breese Hollow Dairy in Hoosick Falls due to possible listeria contamination – the second time such contamination was found at the farm in the last month.
U.S. Customs officers had previously detained the man who killed nine people in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday and found that he professed a hatred of his workplace where the shooting occurred, according to a Department of Homeland Security memo.
Patrisse Cullors, one of three women who founded the Black Lives Matter global network, is stepping down as the executive director of the group’s foundation.
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates are discussing changes to the structure of their foundation to add more governance and independence as the philanthropists’ planned divorce calls into question the direction of one of the world’s largest charities.
Bruce, the English Bulldog from Cohoes, loves skateboarding.
