Good Wednesday morning.
I have to confess that I don’t always understand the logic of the Google doodle. Today, for example, it is celebrating Shirley Temple, one of the most iconic child actors of all time.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe the curly-headed moppet Shirley Temple certainly has a RIGHT to be commemorated – and what better way to see that happen in the modern era than to be immortalized by a search engine? She was a box office draw during the Great Depression, and her singing and dancing bolstered the spirits of a suffering country.
And Temple didn’t rest on her childhood fame. As an adult, she was no slouch, becoming a diplomat, getting named U.S. ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia, and also serving as Chief of Protocol of the United States.
She also sat on the boards of corporations and organizations, including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation.
AND, Temple was a breast cancer survivor, using her platform as a celebrity to raise awareness about the disease and the surgery she underwent to treat it, which was something one simply did not do back in her day.
Anyway, it would make sense to honor Temple on her birthday (April 23, 1928), or even on the day of her death (Feb. 10, 2014).
But today is clearly neither of those. Today is the anniversary of the 2015 date on which the historical museum in her hometown of Santa Monica, California, opened “Love, Shirley Temple” – a special exhibit featuring a collection of her rare memorabilia.
Speaking of memorable characters…Donald Duck’s first appearance on screen in the animated short film “The Wise Hen” occurred on this day in 1934. Donald’s birthday is said to be on March 13 in the 1949 short film “Donald’s Happy Birthday”, Disney later decided instead to move it to coincide with his film debut.
The character was born when Walt Disney heard Clarence Nash reciting “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in his “duck” voice, and Nash went on to voice Donald until 1984.
More rain in the forecast today…it will be cloudy with a chance of showers and temperatures in the mid-to-high-80s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden is embarking on his first overseas trip today, just at the moment when his hopes for a historic legislative legacy at home seem headed for a wall.
Biden is eager to reassert the United States on the world stage, steadying European allies deeply shaken by his predecessor and pushing democracy as the only bulwark to rising forces of authoritarianism.
Infrastructure negotiations between Biden and a Senate GOP group led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito broke down, and the White House is shifting its focus toward an impending proposal from a bipartisan Senate group led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
Weeks of negotiations failed to bring the White House and Republicans close to a deal. They remained far apart on a total price tag for a bill, which types of projects should be included and whether to raise any new taxes.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reverse its decision to continue defending former President Trump against a defamation suit stemming from a rape allegation from writer E. Jean Carroll.
Senate Republicans blocked debate on a bill to combat pay discrimination against women and L.G.B.T.Q. workers, the first in a series of votes set up by Democratic leaders to highlight the power of the filibuster to stop even the consideration of legislation.
The Senate approved a bipartisan, $250 billion bill boosting government spending on technology research and development amid rising competition from China and other nations.
Determined to lure new employees and retain existing ones in a suddenly hot job market, employers are turning to new incentives that go beyond traditional monetary rewards.
The 25 richest Americans, including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and Elon Musk, paid relatively little – and sometimes nothing – in federal income taxes between 2014 and 2018, according to an analysis from the news organization ProPublica.
White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said that more than 6 percent of the sequenced COVID-19 infections in the U.S. trace to the highly transmissible Delta variant that was first found in India.
U.S. health officials are scrambling to get more Americans vaccinated to keep the Delta variant, first identified in India, from proliferating across the United States.
The seven-day average of new, daily coronavirus cases dropped to 13,277, the first time it has fallen below 15,000 since the first weeks of the pandemic in March of 2020, top U.S. health officials said yesterday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its international travel guidance for several countries as vaccinations increase in the U.S. and in some countries across the globe.
A new “real world” study from the CDC showed that mRNA-based COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna reduced the risk of infection by 91% for fully vaccinated people.
Pfizer said it will begin testing its COVID-19 vaccine in a larger group of children under age 12 after selecting a lower dose of the shot in an earlier stage of the trial.
State health officials are growing increasingly concerned about whether doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine may expire this month, warning they could go to waste if they go unused in the coming weeks or are not sent elsewhere.
More than 47,000 wild animals were sold in Wuhan in the two and a half years before the first confirmed Covid-19 cluster was found there, a new study showed, providing evidence that the coronavirus could have spread naturally from animals to humans.
A former pharmacist in Wisconsin who purposefully ruined more than 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine was sentenced to three years in prison.
Nearly 200 staff members at a Houston-area hospital were suspended for not following a policy that requires employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Washington State’s Liquor and Cannabis Board said this week that it would allow state-licensed cannabis retailers to “provide one joint to adult consumers who receive COVID-19 vaccination at an in-store vaccination clinic.”
New York marked its 64th consecutive day of declining positivity levels in the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, as the state pushed to increase vaccinations in underserved areas where inoculation totals are low.
Many would-be celebrants in New York are still cautious about planning large gatherings, event planners say, worried that the virus could still pose a threat.
A team appointed by the New York state attorney general probing the workplace conduct of Gov. Andrew Cuomo is seeking to determine whether laws banning retaliation against sexual harassment victims were broken.
Steve Cohen, a Cuomo confidant and advisor, was working as an attorney for the administration when there were internal discussions about leaking the personnel file of ex-staffer Lindsey Boylan, who accused the governor of sexual harassment in December.
Acting New York City Transit President Sarah Feinberg was nominated by Cuomo to become the new chairperson of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Monday, making her the first woman to lead the massive state agency, according to officials.
Feinberg, 42, a close ally of Cuomo, would take on the job of steering the transit system at a time when it faces multiple challenges, from bringing back riders that fled during the pandemic to shoring up its finances and modernizing the aging subway system.
Cuomo moved to firm up his grasp on the MTA by pushing a bill in the last days of this year’s legislative session that would split up the agency’s chairman and CEO into two separate positions, the latter of whom would “serve at the pleasure of the governor.”
State lawmakers passed legislation intended to allow civil lawsuits to be brought against firearm manufacturers and dealers, an attempt to circumvent the broad immunity gun companies currently enjoy under federal law.
As the days wind down on the 2021 legislative session in Albany, a trend is emerging: The Assembly is not just playing catchup with the state Senate on many big ticket items, but the chamber seems to be actively dragging its feet on some issues.
Lobbyists and other donors are being squeezed by Democrats in the state Senate to buy tickets for as much as $25,000 each for a virtual reception with top lawmakers — who are in the final days of considering legislation before adjourning for the summer.
The state Senate confirmed Madeline Singas as a judge on New York’s highest court after a testy confirmation hearing yesterday, filling a key vacancy with a prosecutor and triggering an election this fall to select a new Nassau County district attorney.
Some Republicans voted no, contending Cuomo, while under an ongoing impeachment investigation, should not be allowed to appoint any judges to the Court of Appeals because it could become involved an impeachment trial.
Five Democratic senators issued a statement in opposition to Singas, claiming she had “shown an active resistance to an equitable criminal legal system.”
Also approved to sit on the high court was Administrative Judge Anthony Cannataro.
As the legislative session nears an end this week, Cuomo has yet to put forth a nominee to oversee enforcement of state election laws.
People pushing for parole reform are planning to camp outside the state Capitol as the legislative session winds down.
Data from a 10-month window after New York received child care stimulus funds in March 2020 indicates Cuomo’s administration had spent less than a quarter of the money, and some 1,500 programs closed as a result.
Watertown Republican Assemblyman Mark Walczyk arranged for a van with a three-sided digital billboard to circle Albany’s Capitol building yesterday and display messages directed at Cuomo.
Turbulence again rocked the New York City mayoral race yesterday, as Eric Adams, a leading contender, came under fire from two directions, even as two rivals, Kathryn Garcia and Maya Wiley, displayed signs of growing support.
Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, first drew criticism for his decision to skip a new debate among the top candidates scheduled for tomorrow; he will instead attend a vigil for a 10-year-old killed in gun violence in Queens.
Questions emerged over where Adams actually lives, after Politico reported some inconsistencies in public records that suggested that he did not live in the Brooklyn apartment where he had registered to run for mayor.
During the pandemic, Adams has often slept in Brooklyn Borough Hall, a habit that he has apparently continued in recent weeks. He also co-owns an apartment in Fort Lee, N.J.
“WTF?!?!” was the reaction from Maya Wiley’s mayoral campaign.
Wiley unveiled one of her most ambitious proposals yet: a $1 billion plan to create city-sponsored medical insurance that her campaign said would cover 246,000 low-income and undocumented New Yorkers, a large chunk of the city’s 600,000 uninsured residents.
Adams, who has been leading in recent polls, unveiled nods from Queens Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who represents Rego Park and Kew Gardens, and Austin Shafran, who’s running for the Council seat Paul Vallone will vacate at the end of the year.
Dianne Morales is running for New York City mayor on a platform of tackling inequality and shifting resources away from policing. But her campaign has been marred by defections and dysfunction.
Andrew Yang’s mayoral campaign has been forced to start withholding the exact locations of its events after Yang was chased away by left-wing hecklers Thursday when he tried to troll Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Garcia picked up a coveted endorsement from StreetsPAC, a local political organization committed to increasing safety on New York City’s roads and sidewalks.
Adams lashed out at rival Wiley for paying to have private security patrol her leafy Brooklyn enclave while pushing to defund the NYPD, calling it “the highest level of hypocrisy.”
Adams can’t live without his aviator sunglasses and his NutriBullet, among other things.
Garcia has a thing for very cold water, and also never forgoes sunscreen.
Longtime liberal black activist and organizer Bertha Lewis is backing Adams for mayor after dismissing the other candidates as less qualified to run City Hall.
A gunman accused of killing a Queens boy at a family barbecue was arrested and charged with the murder of young Justin Wallace on the day he would have celebrated his 11th birthday.
In addition to the murder count, the man, Jovan Young, was charged with attempted murder in the wounding of Justin’s 29-year-old cousin amid what officials said was a hail of at least eight gunshots around 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
NYPD officers documented less than 2,000 street encounters during the first three months of this year, city stop and frisk data reveals.
A company behind a Manhattan bakery has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against third-party ordering and delivery platforms, including Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats, saying they billed it and other food businesses more than allowed by city law.
A top Manhattan middle school sent parents into a rage when it announced that it was junking accelerated math classes — and agreed to hold meetings first amid the backlash.
A City Council wannabe in Queens is coming under fire for a sexist attack against a rival candidate.
For the first time in more than 15 months, Madison Square Garden is gearing up to host a rock ’n’ roll concert without social distancing, masks or capacity caps. Foo Fighters will perform on June 20 — but only for fans who are fully vaccinated.
There won’t be any sleeping in Brooklyn when the MTV Video Music Awards return to Barclays Center on Sept. 12.
The Mechanicville City School District announced that it will not require students to wear masks at school despite a mandate from the state Education Department the same day to continue having students and staff wear masks.
After less than three years as the city’s top cop and as violence is spiking in his city, police Chief Eric Hawkins could be leaving Albany to become chief in Akron, Ohio.
Yesterday’s storm caused flooding in some sections of Albany, and more rain is on the way.
As the COVID-19 pandemic eases and summer sets in, some tour boat operators say they’ve been happily swamped with bachelorette wedding parties on Lake George.
Amtrak has approved the replacement of the Van Hoesen Road Bridge, best known by its nickname the “Buffalo Bridge,” clearing the way for Rensselaer County to begin work this summer.
Unity House Chief Executive Officer Chris Burke announced that he will retire next year after leading the social services agency for more than three decades.
Ellis Medicine is increasing its capacity to care for children in need of mental health services with the opening next week of its newly expanded child, adolescent and family mental health clinic.
Dozens of websites in the U.S. and Europe briefly went dark yesterday, victims of an internal glitch at a major cloud-service provider and the latest example of how a problem at a single player in the internet’s piping can have outsize repercussions.
The New York Times asked a court to unseal legal filings by the Justice Department that would reveal how prosecutors persuaded a court to cloak secrecy over an order to seize the email records of four reporters and prevent executives from speaking about it.
Carrie Underwood, Gladys Knight, Chris Stapleton and Luke Bryan will perform at the CMT Music Awards tonight.
Actor-turned-activist Alyssa Milano may seek to transition from Hollywood to the House, saying she’s “considering” a congressional run in 2024.
Cicadas, one. Press plane seeking to fly reporters overseas to cover Biden, zero.
Teyana Taylor, the popular singer, dancer, model and entrepreneur, became the first Black woman to grace the top of Maxim’s Hot 100 list.
