Good Wednesday morning. It’s an easy one for me today: Happy Cinco de Mayo!
This holiday celebrates the date of the Mexican Army’s May 5, 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. It’s actually a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, but has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage here in the U.S. – particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.
Myth buster: It is NOT Mexican Independence Day, and only commemorates the single, aforementioned battle. Mexican Independence Day is Sept. 16. The country’s independence was actually declared more than 50 years before the Battle of Puebla.
It is also not a federal holiday in Mexico, so banks and schools and shops are all open.
In the U.S., Chicano activists raised awareness of Cinco de Mayor 1960s, in part because they identified with the victory of Indigenous Mexicans (such as Juárez) over European invaders during the Battle of Puebla.
Now, it’s traditional to mark the occasion statewide with parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and the consumption of traditional foods such as tacos and mole poblano.
There are also food and drink deals to be had at certain participating establishments across the U.S., such as Moe’s, Chipolte and 7-Eleven. Apparently, there’s also offerings from a pizza chain and Krispy Kreme.
Completely unrelated, but also worth mentioning is the fact that it’s International Midwife Day.
A midwife, for the uninitiated, is a trained health professional who helps healthy women during labor, delivery, and after the birth of their babies. Midwives may deliver babies at birthing centers or at home, but most can also deliver babies at a hospital.
Midwives have medical training and during the birth process, focus on delivering a healthy baby. Doulas, by contrast, focus on the needs of the mother during the birthing process, offering mental, physical, and emotional support; they are not medically trained.
Midwives and doulas saw the demand of their services rise considerably during the pandemic, as some hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and all of them put restrictions on births (who could accompany the mother, most often) in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus.
But interest in giving birth outside a hospital setting was increasing even pre-COVID. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, approximately 35,000 births per year occur at home in the U.S.. Research also shows the share of home births rose by nearly 80 percent from 2004 to 2017.
The U.S. birth rate fell 4 percent last year, the largest single-year decrease in nearly 50 years, according to a government report being released today.
Guess what? It’s going to rain! OK, just light rain in the morning, giving way to the potential for showers in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the high 50s.
If you’re up and it’s still dark, go outside right now and look at the sky…though if it’s still cloudy, you’re going to be out of luck.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden set a new goal of administering at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to 70% of the US adult population and having 160 million US adults fully vaccinated by July 4.
The target is well within reach given that 105 million have already had Covid-19 jabs and the US is vaccinating nearly a million adults per day. But the vaccination rate is half of what it was just three weeks ago.
Biden’s announcement came the same day the country’s number of reported infections dropped to its lowest point in seven months.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine earned the company $3.5 billion in the first three months of this year, representing nearly a quarter of its total revenue, the company announced ahead of its earnings call.
Pfizer expects to apply to the Food and Drug Administration in September for emergency authorization to administer its coronavirus vaccine to children between the ages of 2 and 11.
The era of mass vaccination sites is ending.
Your COVID booster may be combined with the seasonal flu vaccine, or could come in the form of pills or patches instead of shots.
Seychelles, which has fully vaccinated more of its population against Covid-19 than any other country, has closed schools and canceled sporting activities for two weeks as infections surge.
Rising rates of COVID-19 infections in Brazil and other countries in Latin America are posing a risk to the U.S. in its own battle to overcome the pandemic.
Some people feel New York is rushing its post-COVID reopening process.
The NYPD is among police departments across the country that are lagging in getting their members inoculated against COVID-19, according to new data. Thirty-five percent of police officers and professional support staff have been fully vaccinated.
A picture of the Bidens with former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter that made the former look like giants and the latter like dwarves has freaked out the internet.
Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for “records of communication between Secret Service officials assigned to the White House regarding the Biden family dogs.”
Congress needs to increase the Justice Department’s budget by a huge 11% next year so the feds can better address domestic terrorism, gun violence, voter discrimination and other Biden administration priorities, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Facebook’s Oversight Board today will rule whether former President Donald Trump’s suspension on the platform should remain permanent.
GOP House members are plotting a fresh bid to dethrone Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership post. Her transgression: continued repudiation of Trump and his false election claims.
A member of the House Republican leadership team has been whipping votes for New York Rep. Elise Stefanik to replace Cheney as the third-ranking GOP member.
A federal judge accused the Justice Department under AG William Barr of misleading her and Congress about advice he received on whether Trump should have been charged with obstructing the Russia investigation and ordered a related memo be released.
As Rudy Giuliani faces an escalating federal investigation and defamation suits, his advisers believe he should benefit from a $250 million Trump campaign war chest.
Manhattan federal prosecutors have asked a judge to appoint an outside authority known as a “special master” to oversee a review of materials seized by FBI agents last week from Giuliani in their investigation into his work in Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she is neither predicting nor recommending that the Fed raise interest rates as a result of Biden’s spending plans, walking back earlier comments that rates might need to rise to keep the economy from overheating.
The lawyer for the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd filed a motion asking for a new trial on several grounds, including jury misconduct.
The lawyer said Derek Chauvin did not receive a fair trial for several reasons, including the judge’s decisions to not sequester the jury during the trial, to not change the location of the proceedings and to not grant a new trial because of publicity.
Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who once dominated New York politics only to have his career end in a conviction on federal corruption charges, was released from prison as he awaits a decision on whether he can complete his sentence at home.
Silver, 77, who has served less than a year of his 6 1/2-year sentence, was cut loose from Otisville Prison, in Orange County, New York, and released to his home while awaiting the decision.
The former speaker arrived at his longtime home in the Hillman Housing Co-op on Grand St. at 5:10 p.m., clad in sweats and a gray baseball cap as he was pushed along a wheelchair ramp into one of the complex’s buildings.
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which prosecuted Silver, said it sent an email to the Bureau of Prisons on Monday opposing his furlough.
“The early release of Sheldon Silver is a gross miscarriage of justice and slap in the face to every New Yorker. He abused his power to personally profit to the tune of $4 million,” said NY GOP chairman Nick Langworthy.
Democrats in the State Senate are expected to approve a bill today that will bar New York pet stores from selling cats, dogs, and rabbits.
A program aimed at preparing everyday New Yorkers to help during any future pandemic goes live today.
Long Island lawmakers say it’s time to allow parades — starting with Memorial Day — as vaccinations have caused coronavirus infections and deaths to plummet.
For public schools in New York City, the nation’s largest district, the snow day is no more. The city’s Department of Education made the announcement in the release of its 2021-22 school year calendar.
The city Department of Education said that in case of severe weather, schooling would go remote to ensure that children get the state-mandated 180 days a year.
New York City public schools removed Columbus Day from its calendar of days off for students in the next academic year and replaced it with “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day” (after some backlash). Juneteenth is also now a school holiday.
Asked whether City Hall had been aware of the decision to wipe Columbus Day from the school calendar, a de Blasio administration spokesman only said, “We do not agree with not including Italian Heritage Day.”
The Democratic candidates for Manhattan district attorney clashed in a televised debate last night, offering competing visions for the office and strategies to tackle the increase in citywide shootings.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams received a mayoral endorsement from Abner Louima, whose brutal mistreatment at a Brooklyn police station a quarter-century ago sent shockwaves throughout the city and the nation.
Adams promised to do more to push bad officers out of the New York Police Department while demanding protesters show more respect for the badge.
A sexual harassment allegation against Scott Stringer may open a lane in the New York City mayor’s race for Kathryn Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner.
The lobbyist who last week accused Stringer of sexually abusing her filed a formal complaint with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office , upping the ante on the bombshell accusations that have already drastically reshaped this year’s mayor’s race.
Stringer vowed to stay in the race, claiming he’s “never felt this good” about his campaign — despite the sexual assault allegation against him and a growing list of endorsers jumping ship.
Garcia announced that former candidate Loree Sutton is endorsing her City Hall run and also released a new TV ad.
A trio of local Asian-American groups endorsed Andrew Yang for mayor, giving an added boost to the candidate who’s been leading the polls.
A case brought by animal activists that argues an elephant named Happy is being “imprisoned” by a New York zoo is advancing to New York’s highest court.
Rensselaer City School District officials are working hard to build support for the proposed $27.7 million budget for the 2021-22 school year before the May 18 vote.
The Schenectady Softball Cricket Association wants the city to authorize a long-term lease agreement on Grout Park in the city’s Mont Pleasant neighborhood and is pledging to transform the venue into a state-of-the-art cricket facility.
Schenectady has a new political action committee on a mission to support Black candidates seeking elected office in the city and county.
Momentive Performance Materials in Waterford will pay $2.3 million in fines and other costs to settle complaints of air, water and hazardous waste pollution dating to 2007, the state DEC announced.
The Rensselaer County Legislature has announced that they they plan to opt in to a New York State program that will allow 12 and 13 year olds to hunt within the county.
Two City of Saratoga Springs district board members are questioning the need for anti-racism language in school policy – with their comments already creating division in the community.
Saratoga Strong has lost two of its four candidates due to ballot petition challenges.
With New York slated to lose a congressional seat in 2022, the House Republicans’ campaign arm added U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko’s district, as well as three more districts held by New York Democrats, to their target list as the GOP pushes to flip the chamber.
After more than 40 years on the air, Benita Zahn is leaving WNYT to be a certified health coach with Capital Cardiology.
Snowmobile trails planned for the Adirondack Park violate the state constitution’s “forever wild” clause and may only be approved through a constitutional amendment, the state’s highest court has ruled.
The body of a Yonkers man was recovered from the waters of the Kaaterskill Falls on Saturday after the 36-year-old was reported missing, officials from the state DEC said.
SpaceX, the private space company founded by Tesla head Elon Musk, announced that the company’s Starlink satellite internet service received more 500,000 pre-orders.
Even the CEO of Zoom has Zoom fatigue.
Former “19 Kids and Counting” star Josh Duggar is expected to appear in federal court today following his arrest on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ divorce from wife Melinda could break up his relatively unknown standing as the biggest owner of farmland in America.
The Los Angeles Times named ESPN executive Kevin Merida its new executive editor, making him the second person of color to head the newsroom in its 140-year history.
Letters former President Kennedy sent to his Swedish lover are being auctioned off at Boston auction house RR Auction.
