Good morning. It’s Tuesday.
Did you know that there are more than 1.5 million nonprofits registered in the U.S.? They range from public charities and private foundations to chambers of commerce, fraternal organizations and civic leagues.
This is according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, which, until today, I had no idea even existed. The internet is a marvelous thing. (Also, this data seems a bit outdated and might have shifted significantly – especially over the past year).
These groups make a big impact – in more ways than one. The nonprofit sector contributed an estimated $1.047.2 trillion to the national economy in 2016, composing 5.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Nonprofits, as you might already know, don’t pay taxes, generally speaking. That’s thanks to the Tariff Act of 1894, which was signed into law on Aug. 17 of that year and imposed the first federal income tax on corporations but included exemptions for nonprofit corporations and charitable institutions.
With a few modifications, nonprofit exemptions have remained codified in law ever since.
This day celebrating nonprofits was founded in 2017 by Sherita J. Herring, who, according to the interwebs, is “a renowned speaker, best-selling author, and business strategist.” She decided we needed a day to “educate, enlighten and empower others to make a difference, while acknowledging those that are in the trenches, impacting lives every day – the Change-Makers of the World!”
Nonprofits do everything from build affordable housing to provide free and reduced-cost food, medical care, education, and more to people in need. During the Covid crisis, they’ve really stepped up to the plate, as millions of Americans who had never before struggled to make ends meet found themselves suddenly requiring assistance.
This is a good day to contribute to your favorite local charity – be it financially or by volunteering your time, which is equally precious, if not more so, than your dollars.
On a totally unrelated note, it’s also Black Cat Appreciation Day.
Black cats are very cool, but people unfortunately are afraid of them and think they’re bad luck (even though back in the day, the reverse was actually believed). Therefore, folks don’t adopt black cats as frequently as other felines.
Problem: Black cats are tougher to photograph, and therefore don’t get their cute mugs out on social media as much as their whiskered brethren. Sad. If you’re in the market for a new furry friend, consider giving a deserving black cat a furever home, won’t you?
After a flat-out glorious day in the weather department, we have a price to pay, of course, in the form of…rain. It will be “considerably” cloudy with occasional showers and temperatures will be in the mid-70s.
In the headlines…
President Biden rushed back from Camp David to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, now under effective control of a resurgent Taliban.
But even as he did so, in televised afternoon remarks, Biden firmly rejected calls for continued military engagement, asserting that the U.S. mission was “never supposed to be nation building” and blaming the Afghan government for the fall.
“I stand squarely behind my decision. After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw US forces,” Biden said during a speech from the East Room of the White House.
U.S. military planes resumed flying into Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul yesterday evening after a pause earlier in the day while troops worked to secure the airport.
Kabul’s international airport was in the throes of chaos as desperate Afghans tried to flee on departing U.S. jets, Taliban gunmen roamed the terminals, and U.S. troops killed at least two men, in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
On their first day in control of Kabul, Taliban fighters commandeered streets and searched the homes and offices of government officials and media outlets, spreading fear and menace across the Afghan capital.
Former President George W. Bush urged Biden to “cut the red tape” and allow for the swift evacuation of Afghan refugees following the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
A western New Yorker with centrist Democratic roots, incoming Gov. Kathy Hochul is described as both tough and disarming. She is also relatively untested.
Hochul vowed to “fully cooperate” with requests for data on the nursing home scandal facing Andrew Cuomo’s administration – though she stressed other priorities included getting COVID relief money out to landlords and illegal immigrants.
Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair and Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte is among the names on the LG shortlist.
In a reversal, the state Assembly said it would continue its investigation of Cuomo. That does not mean lawmakers will move to impeach him.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced that lawmakers will “continue to review evidence and issue a final report” after choosing to shelve the probe in the wake of Cuomo’s resignation amid sexual harassment allegations.
Heastie and some Democrats said the constitution makes it clear that impeachment cannot be a route the Assembly takes against an individual if they resign from office, which Cuomo is doing sometime next week.
Thus far, Cuomo has issued no formal letter of resignation.
Former Cuomo chief of staff Joshua Vlasto and ex-communications director Richard Bamberger abruptly left the consulting firm Kivvit, a company that had deep connections to the governor.
“We agreed to amicably part ways,” Vlasto and Bamberger said in a joint statement.
A bill has been introduced would keep an impeached governor from collecting a pension.
The Assembly panel investigating Cuomo is being asked to look into more alleged misconduct — this time involving the botched handling of an ethics case involving imprisoned ex-Cuomo fixer Joe Percoco.
Chris Cuomo finally broke his on-air silence about his brother’s sexual harassment scandal and subsequent resignation, claiming network rules prevented him from covering the groundbreaking news.
“I can’t be objective when it comes to my family, so I never reported on the scandal and when it happened, I tried to be there for my brother,” Chris Cuomo said, later confirming reporting that he advised the outgoing governor to resign.
Top health officials in the Biden administration are coalescing around an agreement that most Americans should get Covid booster shots eight months after becoming fully vaccinated.
Booster shots are the subject of a global public health debate.
Nursing home residents and health care workers will most likely be the first to get booster shots, as soon as September, followed by other older people who were vaccinated last winter.
Five states broke records for the average number of daily new Covid cases over the weekend as the delta variant strains hospital systems across the U.S. and forces many states to reinstate public health restrictions.
Even as the highly contagious Delta variant ravages the South and has caused upticks in all 50 states, mayors, governors and public health officials have treaded lightly when considering whether to reimpose restrictions.
Nearly 5,600 students at a Tampa-area school district are in isolation or quarantine, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state continues to skyrocket amid a nationwide surge.
Although young children bring the coronavirus home less often than teens do, their close contact with caregivers may make them likelier to transmit it.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb broke with some of his Republican peers, telling reporters that schools implementing mask mandates are “making a wise decision when the facts warrant it.”
New Zealand will enter a snap nationwide lockdown at its highest level tonight after a 58-year-old man from Auckland tested positive for COVID-19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced.
“Going hard and early has worked for us before,” she told reporters. She said officials assume the case is the delta variant, adding that strain “has been called a game changer, and it is.”
Doctors say the surge of the more-contagious Delta variant, rising and sometimes serious cases in children and adolescents, and the start of the school year are prompting more parents to consider getting their children vaccinated.
Pfizer and partner BioNTech have submitted data to U.S. health regulators needed to clear a Covid-19 booster shot among the general public.
Companies are sitting on a record amount of cash amid lingering uncertainty about disruptions from Covid-19, defying expectations earlier this year that a waning pandemic would unleash a spending spree.
The Atlanta Falcons say they’re the first NFL team to be 100 percent vaccinated.
The New York State Department of Health issued an order requiring all health care workers be vaccinated against Covid-19 by September 27, according to a statement released by Cuomo’s office.
Entertainment venues, gyms, and indoor dining in New York City will be off-limits for anyone who is unvaccinated as of today, though inspections and enforcement won’t start until Sept. 13.
Immunocompromised New Yorkers can officially seek a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The proof of vaccine to enter requirement, dubbed the Key to NYC, will apply to indoor restaurants, bars, museums and movie theaters, but not to places such as office buildings, community and senior centers as well as outdoor dining set ups.
New Yorkers eligible for the third shot must wait 28 days after receiving their second dose (a third dose if only authorized for Moderna and Pfizer) and is effective immediately, the governor said.
Anyone attending, performing or working at most Live Nation events or venues will have to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test starting in October, the live entertainment giant confirmed over the weekend.
After multiple delays, the first museum dedicated to telling the storied history of Broadway shows is now expected to open its doors next summer in the heart of the theater district.
New Yorkers who lost jobs in the pandemic began to peddle food and wares to survive, but the city is starting to crack down on unlicensed vendors.
New York State’s federally funded program to rescue renters hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic has helped just 7,000 families and awarded less than $100 million so far — just a fraction of what’s available, a blistering new audit revealed.
The highly transmissible COVID-19 delta variant is spreading throughout the city’s courthouses, infecting New Yorkers facing charges, defense attorneys, court staff and judges, city public defenders write in a new letter to Hochul.
Syracuse Common Councilor and the Democratic candidate for mayor Khalid Bey has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been in quarantine since Aug. 9, according to his spokesperson. He is not vaccinated.
Democratic NYC mayoral hopeful Eric Adams hit the Hamptons over the weekend, where his political talks — and his red blazer — impressed East End insiders.
Adams, realizing he is all but certain to become New York City’s next mayor, has tapped the head of United Way of New York City, Sheena Wright, to lead his transition team.
Adams said he would support one of the signature development plans of outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, the Gowanus redevelopment, as long as spending to repair public housing is included.
Nearly 2 million National Grid customers will be paying more each month, as the utility company looks to recoup $129 million in construction costs for a controversial pipeline that will bring natural gas through northern Brooklyn.
An organization behind local efforts to discredit coronavirus vaccines is planning a festival on Saturday at a farm in rural Columbia County.
The owner of Giffy’s Bar-B-Q, the go-to for hundreds of local fundraisers and events, died suddenly of a heart attack last week while working in the extreme heat, friends and colleagues said.
Rivers Casino & Resort is bringing back the Cage Wars Mixed Martial Arts competition.
Albany International Airport is warning travelers that the storm is progressing through the Caribbean and heading toward the U.S. coast, possibly making landfall in Louisiana and Texas.
After being closed since the pandemic began, 288 Lark Wine & Tap reopens tomorrow, with a new general manager and a new focus on small plates and light fare. It is at the eponymous street address.
Marijuana use will be permitted wherever tobacco use is on the New York State Fairgrounds this year, according to the fair’s public relations manager.
New York’s community-college system has made the list of the top ten system’s in the United States.
Prosecutors in the case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 murder of George Floyd have asked a judge to keep juror names sealed for the time being.
The federal government has declared the first-ever shortage of water on the Colorado River, triggering cutbacks in several states that will hit farmers hard during a drought that has punished the Southwest with little letup since the turn of the century.
Discount supermarket chain Aldi aims to hire more than 20,000 workers in the U.S. this year as its network grows and as it prepares for holiday shopping.
Axel Springer SE is in talks to purchase an ownership stake in Washington, D.C., publisher Politico, according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would consummate a yearslong relationship between the two companies.
Bob Dylan is accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl over a six-week period in 1965 in a new lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
