It’s Tuesday, good morning. I’m still writing “April” in the headline of this…someday I’ll adjust to the fact that it’s already May.
It’s May FOURTH, to be exact…and you know what that means? Your path you must decide. Or, perhaps more importantly, Do Or Do Not. There Is No Try.
If you do not know what small, wrinkled, green movie hero uttered those words and then, cannot help you. But still, I can magnanimously say: May the Fourth Be With You.
That’s right, it’s Star Wars Day, an informal commemoration of George Lucas’s infamous media franchise. This pseudo holiday was NOT created by Lucasfilm, but the company – and also Disney – isn’t run by dummies. They have come to embrace this day and all it represents, recognizing the purchasing power of legions of Star Wars-loving fans.
According to Wikipedia:
The first recorded reference of the phrase being used was on May 4, 1979, the day Margaret Thatcher took the job as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. An online news article from the Danish public broadcaster says her political party, the Conservatives, placed a congratulatory advertisement in The London Evening News, saying “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.”
(If you have a moment to spare, clicking on the link above is worth the time…there’s even a Count Duckula reference).
Also if you have a moment, try typing “May the Fourth Be With You” into Google today.
Speaking of Google, today’s Doodle is honoring Japanese-American short story author Hisaye Yamamoto, who was among the first Asian Americans to receive post-war national literary recognition.
It’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, in case you didn’t know, which takes on an extra significance this year amid so many hate crimes being perpetrated against individuals of Asian descent – especially here in New York, which is both despicable and unspeakably sad.
In fact, Hate crimes in New York City continue to rise, fueled by an increase in crimes targeting Asian-Americans and dozens of crimes against Jews, according to New York Police Department figures released yesterday.
And it’s National Teacher Appreciation Day, which is part of National Teacher Appreciation Week – mentioned in yesterday’s Rise and Shine. Yes, it’s a lot of recognition for teachers, and yes, they deserve it.
Today it will be cloudy with temperatures in the low 60s, and there’s a chance of rain showers, because of course there is.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have toughened their positions over the tax increases for millionaires and corporations that Biden has proposed to fund his sweeping infrastructure and education plans.
The Biden administration will raise the refugee ceiling to 62,500 people this fiscal year, the White House confirmed, after receiving swift criticism last month when President Joe Biden kept the lower Trump-era cap in place.
Biden said the lower figure “did not reflect America’s values”.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is quietly considering trying to use a fast-track budget maneuver to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants should bipartisan talks on providing a pathway to citizenship fall apart.
Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, and his wife, Melinda French Gates, said on Twitter that they will split up after 27 years. They’ll keep working together on philanthropic efforts, which have addressed education, gender equality and health care.
After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” Bill and Melinda Gates wrote in a statement that Bill Gates tweeted.
The divorce will create new questions about the fate of the Gates fortune, much of which has not yet been donated to the Gates Foundation.
The billionaire philanthropist couple apparently did not have a prenuptial agreement, court documents reveal.
The FBI said that at least one agent shot and wounded a man carrying a weapon outside the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, ending an hourslong standoff.
In a funeral that served as both a celebration of life and a condemnation of racist policing in America, the family of Andrew Brown Jr. was joined in Elizabeth City, N.C., yesterday by the relatives of other Black men killed by police officers.
Berkshire Hathaway famous Chief Executive Warren Buffett, the billionaire who has led the conglomerate for more than 50 years, is to be succeeded as CEO by vice chairman Greg Abel, putting to rest one of the biggest succession questions in corporate America.
Michael Jackson’s estate prevailed over the Internal Revenue Service on several key issues in a closely watched court case, an outcome that will push the estate’s tax burden below the government’s initial assessment.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for administration to adolescents 12 to 15 years old by early next week.
The FDA is currently reviewing data submitted by Pfizer to support the extended use. Pfizer said at the end of March that a clinical trial involving 2,260 12-to-15-year-olds showed its efficacy is 100% and it is well tolerated.
The likely expansion poses another challenge to policymakers who are struggling to vaccinate a large percentage of adults hesitant to get the shot. Many more could refuse to inoculate their children.
Biden and drugmakers are facing demands from liberal activists and global leaders to suspend intellectual property rights on the vaccines as the pandemic surges.
Some states and cities, which are struggling to fill appointments as the demand for vaccine wanes, are turning to an array of not-so-subtle incentives to get shots into the arms of more Americans.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced the “Shot and a Beer” program designed to incentivize New Jersey residents over 21 who haven’t gotten vaccinated to do so and they’ll be rewarded with a free pint.
The European Union took a crucial step yesterday toward reopening its borders to vaccinated travelers after the bloc’s executive released a plan for allowing journeys to resume after more than a year of stringent coronavirus restrictions.
The next generation of Covid-19 vaccines in development could come as a pill or a nasal spray and be easier to store and transport than the current handful of shots that form the backbone of the world-wide vaccination effort.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order to end all local emergency orders relating to COVID-19, effectively halting enforcement of restrictions across the state.
There is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold against COVID-19 is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.
New York and its neighbors New Jersey and Connecticut announced they will lift almost all their pandemic restrictions, paving the way for a return to fuller offices and restaurants, a more vibrant nightlife and a richer array of cultural and religious gatherings.
The relaxation of rules starting May 19 is a testament to the fact that coronavirus cases are down and vaccination rates are rising, offering a chance to jump-start the recovery in a region that became a center of the global pandemic last spring.
New York will also bring back 24-hour service to the subway on May 17, after a year of overnight closures. The date will coincide with the lifting of a 12 a.m. curfew on outdoor drinking and dining in New York City.
While acknowledging that a Spring reopening is unlikely for Broadway due to the logistics of mounting productions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo included theaters among the NYC businesses that will see all capacity restrictions lifted.
The state will keep a 6-foot social distancing requirement, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and capacity limits must incorporate that rule, the governor said.
“This is a major reopening of economic and social activity,” Cuomo said, adding that while the guidance from New Jersey and Connecticut won’t be identical, “our policies do complement one another, and I don’t think they encumber one another.”
Cuomo was ripped for calling this a “major reopening” while keeping restrictions that will hamstring restaurants from opening at full capacity.
The governor warned New Yorkers that if they are are unvaccinated against COVID-19, they could kill their grandmas with a kiss.
Even as authorities continue a historic effort to vaccinate people against COVID, New Yorkers may have to accept that the dreaded virus is here to stay, city health officials suggested.
Cuomo insisted many New Yorkers are “afraid” to take the subway —and that he wouldn’t tell his own child to ride the rails — in a passionate defense of the MTA’s months-long push for more NYPD cops on city transit.
“Have you been on the subway? Because I have. And I was scared,” Cuomo said. “Tell your child to ride subway, it’s safe. I’m not telling my child to ride the subway, because I’m afraid for my child.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted the Big Apple will be prepared for full reopening by the beginning of July — as New York reached its lowest COVID-19 positivity rate in months and the city’s residents continue to get vaccinated.
White cops in the NYPD have been accused of misconduct far more often than officers of color, according to a database of claims against the police since 1983.
Shootings across the city tripled last week — as the total amount of gunfire this year has increased nearly 85 percent, according to NYPD figures released yesterday.
Cuomo sowed doubt about the integrity of Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct, claiming New Yorkers and legislators shouldn’t necessarily have “faith” in her findings.
Cuomo, asked about his potential future plans as he battles state and federal probes, told reporters at a press conference, “I did nothing wrong, period, and I am not resigning.”
After avoiding reporters for months, Cuomo last week held three sessions at which members of the media (theoretically) were able to confront him. The Albany-based news corps, however, had another problem: Could they make it to the events in time?
The New York GOP is bucking conventional wisdom that suggests a center-right gubernatorial candidate is their best, perhaps only, shot at success against Cuomo in next year’s election.
Less than a month after Cuomo signed legislation mandating $15-a-month broadband service for low and moderate-income New Yorkers, a pair of lawmakers are calling for the state PSC to have greater oversight over broadband providers.
The legislation would allow the state to treat high-speed internet as a utility, which would empower regulators to drill down on the industry, like they do with other utilities.
The state’s hiring freeze has thawed.
A top state education official said she’ll urge lawmakers to lift the cap that is blocking more charter schools from opening in New York City.
Tenants in New York who continue to experience financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic would be safe from eviction until the end of August under a bill approved by both chambers of the state Legislature.
All state judges and their staffs are expected to be back to working at their assigned courthouses in three weeks, the state’s top judge said yesterday in her weekly address.
With the Democratic primary less than two months away, three leading candidates in the mayoral race made their cases during an online forum yesterday, touting their policy ideas and noting ways that they said women lead differently.
Mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former Sanitation Commissioner, sees herself as a logistical expert who’s well-equipped to streamline the city’s sluggish bureaucracy — skills she said will help her speed up New York’s notoriously slow buses.
Mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer is being accused of hypocrisy for having ripped public figures over the sex-harassment claims against them — while saying he deserves the benefit of the doubt in his own case.
Stringer won the endorsement of Teamsters Local 237 after its leader dismissed his accuser’s sexual misconduct claims.
New York City mayoral hopefuls Andrew Yang and Curtis Sliwa made unannounced appearances at the wake for slain NYPD officer Anastasios Tsakos yesterday afternoon.
The NRA’s hopes of end-running a legal challenge in New York were dealt a blow when a Justice Department official rebuked its leadership and called for the dismissal of its bankruptcy filing or the appointment of an outside monitor to oversee its finances.
The Legoland New York Resort, a 150-acre park geared to young fans of the Lego toy-building bricks, is set to begin welcoming customers sometime this summer, transforming the heretofore sleepy town of Goshen.
The coronavirus vaccination clinic at the Washington Avenue Armory will begin offering the Johnson & Johnson one-shot on a walk-in basis starting tomorrow.
Albany County health officials are enlisting local school districts in the campaign to get more COVID-19 vaccines in arms and reach a target of 70 percent of residents immunized by fall.
Albany police said they are investigating a killing in which an 18-year-old woman was shot yesterday afternoon.
Of all Hudson Valley counties, Columbia and Ulster saw the highest year-over-year change in people moving there from New York, Queens, Kings and Bronx counties from 2019 to 2020.
Following fierce debate over whether its mascot and nickname, the Cambridge Indians, should be retired, the Cambridge Central School District has hired an outside firm to help guide it through discussions.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, whose Golden Globes are a golden goose for the nonprofit, unveiled a slate of proposed reforms designed to increase diversity within its ranks and limit the perks and payments its voters can receive.
Eleven Madison Park, the Manhattan restaurant that has been called the best in the world, will no longer serve meat or seafood when it reopens, Daniel Humm, the chef, said. “The current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways,” he said.
