Good Thursday morning.
It’s National Nurses Day, kicking off National Nurses Week, which runs from today through May 12 – Florence Nightingale’s birthday and International Nurse Day. (A little confusing, I know).
Nightingale, if you didn’t know (or maybe don’t remember your elementary school history lessons), was the founder of modern nursing. She was actually an English social reformer and statistician who came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, during which she organized care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople.
This day has been officially recognized in the U.S. since 1982, thanks to a proclamation signed that year by then-President Ronald Reagan. (Advocates and industry leaders had been pushing for this since the 30s, so it took a while).
Nurses do important and significant work all year round, of course, but their contributions to the health care professional have been particularly meaningful during the COVID crisis. The theme for this year’s week is “Frontline Warrior,” which highlights the difficulties nurses have faced throughout the pandemic, yet continued to show up to care for patients, day in and day out.
Nursing is sometimes referred to as the nation’s most trusted profession. A 2020 Gallup poll found that 89 percent of Americans rated nurses’ honesty and ethical standards as “high” or “very high,” coming in even higher than 2019’s record setting number.
Also scoring very high in that poll: Teachers, who are also being recognized with a national appreciation week this week.
Anyway, back to nurses. There are a lot of freebies and discounts being offered to members of the profession at restaurants across the nation this week. One of the biggest deals is to be had at Dunkin’, which is offering health care workers who show their ID a free medium hot or iced coffee at participating locations today.
And Lord knows they can use the caffeine.
It’s also the National Day of Prayer, which is held on the first Thursday in May – designated by the U.S. Congress as a day that the American people are asked to “turn to God in prayer and meditation.” (Again, Reagan plays a role here, as he moved the day to May from its original observance, designated by President Truman in 1952, in July).
The President has issued a proclamation to “remember and celebrate the role that the healing balm of prayer can play in our lives and in the life of our Nation.”
Oh, and one more thing, which you should think of as a sort of public service announcement: it’s World Password Day. We should (at least I should, anyway) be practicing better password hygiene is this age of online identify theft. You’re welcome.
We’re in for a break from the rain today, with temperatures in the high 50s and partly cloudy skies. I’ll take it.
In the headlines…
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he is “100 percent” focused “on stopping” President Joe Biden’s administration.
“We’re confronted with severe challenges from a new administration and a narrow majority of Democrats in the House and a 50-50 Senate to turn America into a socialist country, and that’s 100% of my focus,” McConnell also said.
Biden’s response: “Look, he said that in our last administration, (with former President) Barack (Obama, that) he was going to stop everything – and I was able to get a lot done with him.”
The president also said he thinks the GOP is going through what he called a “mini-revolution” and said he could not remember a time when partisan divisions have been so stark.
A federal judge has thrown out a national moratorium on evictions enacted last year to help Americans who have fallen behind on their rent during the coronavirus pandemic.
The ruling from Judge Dabney Friedrich says the Public Health Service Act does not give CDC the legal authority to impose the moratorium, which was first issued last year.
Brian M. Boynton, acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said the agency “respectfully disagrees” with the judge’s decision, has filed a notice of appeal and intends to seek an emergency stay of the order.
The panel that sets rents for more than two million New York City residents signaled that it may again freeze rents for some of them, a move that would be a boon to tenants but a blow to landlords as both camps scrape by amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden delivered a clear and punchy message to America’s highest earners: I’m going to raise your taxes, but your vacation homes are safe.
The presidential lunch run is back.
The Biden administration blocked a Trump-era regulation that would have made it easier for businesses to categorize gig workers and others as independent contractors, and signaled a tougher enforcement stance against employers on worker classification.
The United States will advocate for waiving COVID-19 vaccine patent protections in discussions with the World Trade Organization, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced.
The U.S. had been a major holdout at the WTO over a proposal to suspend some of its intellectual property protections, which could allow drugmakers across the globe access to the closely guarded trade secrets of how the viable vaccines have been made.
The German company CureVac hopes its RNA vaccine will rival those made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. It could be ready next month.
The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is extraordinarily effective at protecting against severe disease caused by two dangerous variants, according to two studies published yesterday.
Clinical trials showed that getting a Moderna booster shot could be effective against some COVID-19 variants that have experts concerned, the company announced.
As federal regulators prepare to authorize use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 15, a top health official said that vaccinated individuals in that age group will be able to remove their masks outdoors at camps.
Teams of experts are projecting COVID-19’s toll on the U.S. will fall sharply by the end of July, according to research released by the government.
American and Canadian officials should work together to quickly establish rules to allow more vaccinated travelers to move back and forth across the border, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
The coronavirus variant first discovered in New York City does not appear to be leading to more severe infections, or causing re-infections at a significantly higher rate than older forms of the virus, according to a new, preliminary analysis.
Baseball fans who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will soon be able to enjoy seating without social distancing at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, and spectators who get vaccinated at either stadium during a game will get a free ticket.
Sixty-eight percent of New York City’s adult Asian population has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, despite many New Yorkers of Asian descent facing language barriers and a fear of violence.
Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld the company’s suspension of former President Donald Trump but said the company was wrong to make the suspension indefinite and gave it six months to determine a “proportionate response.”
Trump responded to the board’s ruling, saying in a statement, “What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country.” (He also said “Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth”).
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is likely to sign into law a bill that would prevent social media companies Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube from “deplatforming” politicians such as Trump.
Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged the massive slowdown in the Big Apple’s coronavirus vaccination effort and promised to launch new incentives to help entice hesitant New Yorkers to get their jabs — but conceded they’re not ready yet.
New York City has approved 13 percent of applicants seeking financial assistance in burying loved ones who died during the Covid-19 pandemic last year, city officials said.
Even as New York City begins to reopen this summer, Broadway will not resume performances until Sept. 14.
Tickets for shows will go on sale beginning today, the governor said during a press briefing in Manhattan.
The governor did not specify exactly which shows are planning to operate on this timeline—productions are expected to welcome back audiences on a rolling basis based on their individual needs, including hirings and rehirings and varying amounts of rehearsal.
As New York City tries to lure back tourists, local lawmakers and business leaders are backing legislation that would enhance restrictions on costumed street performers who pose for photos with pedestrians in Times Square.
Despite mounting outrage over ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver being released from prison little more than eight months into his public corruption sentence, de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo had nothing to say about the matter.
Silver got a surprise visitor to his Manhattan apartment a day after returning home from federal prison: GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa.
De Blasio claimed that he and New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter weren’t looped into the Department of Education’s decision to scrap Columbus Day as a school holiday and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians, in a letter sent to de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, requested that March 17 — St. Patrick’s Day — be designated as a school holiday celebrating Irish heritage.
Republican state Sen. Andrew Lanza, outraged by the canceling of Columbus Day as a school holiday, is introducing a bill to restore the explorer to the New York City school calendar by rescinding the re-labeling to “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day.”
Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi is demanding answers in the wake of the Department of Education’s abrupt move to scrap Columbus Day as a school holiday.
Cuomo pledged to keep Columbus Day on the state calendar — blasting de Blasio and his schools chancellor for yanking the holiday from school kids and replacing it with “Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day.”
Cuomo conceded he does not ride the subway because it “doesn’t really go to Albany” – but said he’s nonetheless confident the city’s underground homelessness crisis has improved over the last year.
Emboldened to confront a suddenly vulnerable governor, a coalition of elected officials and neighborhood groups, while acknowledging the need to fix Penn Station, have united in opposition to the plan, which includes 10 skyscrapers.
New York has become the first state to place certain workplace healthcare protections of the coronavirus pandemic into permanent law after Cuomo signed the HERO Act.
New York lawmakers passed legislation this week that will require hospitals and nursing homes in the state to establish and implement minimum staffing levels for nurses and other direct care staff.
Cuomo pointed the finger at de Blasio finger for turning the subways into a rolling homeless shelter — and said the situation was worse than even during the “dangerous” 1970s.
Eric Adams is leading the field of mayoral candidates in a new poll, marking the first time Andrew Yang is not the top contender since he shook up the race with his unexpected entry in mid-January.
“This poll shows what we have seen on the ground for months: that New Yorkers want Eric to be the next mayor because they share his vision for a safer, fairer city where prosperity is shared by all,” Adams spokesman Evan Thies said.
The father of Sean Bell — the Black man who died at the hands of the NYPD in a hail of bullets in 2006 — is endorsing Adams’ mayoral run.
Two lawmakers who rep Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish communities endorsed Yang for mayor, bolstering his support among a key segment of the Big Apple’s electorate.
With less than 48 days before the Democratic primary, voters appear to be largely undecided on who should be the party’s nominee for Manhattan District Attorney.
A man shouting incoherently about COVID-19 vaccines caused a 90-minute delay to Financial District subway service yesterday, one of several train-halting incidents authorities attributed to mentally ill people.
Billionaire supermarket heiress Andrea Catsimatidis said she was nearby when a woman was robbed at gunpoint in Central Park this week — leaving her in fear that “it’s only a matter of time until it happens to me.”
Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, says he’s close to making a decision about whether to run for governor next year — and he appears to be leaning toward “yes.”
New York City is suing to hit the brakes on a privately-run new rival to Citi Bike that is renting out e-bikes across Manhattan.
A Long Island man is suing his town for $25 million, saying it targeted him for his conservative views in making him remove pro-Trump and anti-President Biden flags from his home and his car in violation of local laws.
The chair of the city’s Community Police Review Board is accusing an Albany police detective lieutenant of making “several racist and disparaging remarks” during a meeting of the city’s Citizens Police Academy last month.
An 18-year-old Shaker High School senior running for the North Colonie school board may be the youngest candidate ever to seek the position.
Regal Cinemas will reopen its Clifton Park location on Friday.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said that the Holcim LaFarge cement plant in Ravena will not be allowed to burn tires in its kiln as they don’t have the proper equipment to so.
Jim Murphy with Proctor’s theater in Schenectady says their first show isn’t until December, so they have even more time for vaccination and infection numbers to change in their favor.
New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney spent tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses during the pandemic despite suspending in-person campaign events and telling his constituents to “stay home.”
As employers are calling workers back to their offices, pet owners need to prepare their four-legged friends for what could be a dramatic change for animals that are very much creatures of habit, experts say.
The Tri-City ValleyCats are preparing for their season as they just learned the capacity limit at ball games will expand on May 19th.
Google announced a series of moves to offer employees more workplace flexibility, allowing a fifth of its staff to work from home permanently and another fifth of workers to shift to a different geographic location.
To address inequalities in business and society, some executives suggest that companies shake up their approach to hiring and consider unconventional candidates without a four-year college degree.
Bill Gates transferred stakes in a Coca-Cola bottler, Mexican broadcaster and other companies worth nearly $2.4 billion to Melinda Gates, as two of the world’s richest people began dividing their wealth after filing for divorce.
Peloton has agreed to recall its treadmills, and its chief executive apologized for the company’s initial refusal to comply with federal safety regulators who pushed for the action weeks ago.
Buddhists from many cultures and communities gathered to repair the nation’s racial karma. The ceremony was held at a Los Angeles temple that had recently been vandalized in an arson attack.
After the COVID-19 pandemic and a move out of New York City, MacKenzie Newcomb is selling her Sept. 18 wedding — for $15,000 on TikTok.
A prototype of a spacecraft that SpaceX hopes one day to send to the moon and Mars touched down in one piece on a landing pad in South Texas.
Prince William and Duchess Kate launched their very own YouTube channel after making the official announcement on Instagram and Twitter.
This Sunday, bring mom to any Stewart’s Shops for a single scoop cone for just 50¢; and the company says you can get one too.
Will someone please step up and rescue the NY Daily News?
