Good morning. Happy Wednesday…the middle of the week is here – already.
It’s National Medical Dosimetrist Day, which I just had to mentioned because I had no earthy clue what a dosimetrist is.
According to Google:
“Dosimetrists are medical professionals who work in radiation oncology helping to care for cancer patients. Among their various job responsibilities, a dosimetrist has the important task of applying the appropriate dosage of radiation at the correct part of the body. This is typically done through a variety of high-tech medical equipment.”
Another site tells me that dosimetrists are “known for being the ultimate multi-taskers and the glue of the radiation oncology department.”
And if you really want to go down the rabbit hole on this one, click here.
Anyway, this seems like an important and little-known (outside the medical profession) job that people are doing to help save the lives of others. It SHOULD have a whole day to itself for recognition purposes.
It’s a short and sweet intro today, as I’m getting a bit of a late start. When one gets up at 3 a.m., one really shouldn’t go to bed later than 9 p.m., it just isn’t pretty.
We’re in for variable clouds and possible thunderstorms today, with temperatures around 80 degrees.
In the headlines…
Even as the president was telling the public that Kabul was unlikely to fall, intelligence assessments painted a grimmer picture.
Generals and diplomats warned about a pullout, but the president told his team the U.S. was simply providing life support for the Kabul government while neglecting more pressing issues.
The Biden administration said the airport in Kabul was open for military and civilian flights, but access remained near-impossible for the thousands seeking to leave, as the Taliban strengthened control over the city and a Taliban leader returned from exile.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the Biden administration would conduct a “hotwash”— corporate lingo for an after-action review — to discover what has gone wrong in Afghanistan.
The United States will seek to evacuate as many U.S. citizens and Afghan interpreters as possible in coming weeks, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, saying Americans could again make their way to the Kabul airport.
Since the U.S. ousted the Taliban, women and girls have rejoined society in ways that would have been unimaginable under their rule. Now those gains are threatened.
Central New York Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security, is warning that the collapse of the Afghan government into Taliban control has led to an increased threat of an attack on U.S. soil.
The Biden administration has frozen billions of dollars in Afghan currency reserves and other assets held in US bank accounts following the Taliban reconquest of that country’s government.
Dutch evacuation efforts in Afghanistan were unsuccessful last night as chaos outside Kabul airport made it impossible to get eligible people on a plane, Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag said.
The chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has presented Beijing with a propaganda boost, with Chinese state media capitalizing on the crisis to trumpet the supposed decline of America and taunt Taiwan with threats of invasion.
Spending at U.S. retailers fell sharply in July, amid cooling purchases of goods and signs of some pullback in consumer demand as U.S. Covid-19 cases tied to the Delta variant rose.
Retail sales – a measure of purchases at stores, at restaurants and online – fell 1.1 percent last month compared with June, the Commerce Department reported.
Walmart logged another quarter of rising U.S. sales as a return to in-store shopping offset slower online growth, at a time when retailers are navigating rising costs, supply chain snarls and an uptick in Covid-19 cases in many parts of the country.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that manufacturing has slowed down significantly, according to the August Empire State Manufacturing Survey.
The Biden administration is expected to announce as soon as this week that Americans who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 should receive a booster shot to ensure continued protection, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC health officials announced they’re ready to deliver millions of booster shots to New Yorkers if and when the federal government recommends them.
The Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus appears to be breaking through vaccine protection at a higher rate than previous strains, though infections among the fully inoculated remain a tiny fraction of overall cases, and symptoms tend to be milder.
With the arrival of the contagious Delta variant, Covid hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated Americans also may have increased, according to preliminary figures.
PG&E said it was cutting off electricity yesterday to as many as 51,000 customers in heavily forested parts of Northern California to reduce the risk that its power equipment will spark wildfires.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, an ardent opponent of mask and vaccine mandates, tested positive for the coronavirus and is receiving an antibody treatment, though he has no symptoms, the governor’s office announced.
A mask mandate in place for people visiting U.S. airports has been extended through Jan. 18, 2022, according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he’s in touch with superintendents who are actively defying Florida and Texas governors’ orders not to mandate masks in schools and will have their back should they lose state funding.
Rising COVID numbers threaten eagerly anticipated school openings throughout the country, Cardona suggested during a visit to the Bronx.
Without direction from the state Department of Health, public comment periods at school board meetings across the state have been swarmed by parents, most of them vehemently opposed to school mask mandates.
Disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed retirement papers with the state to receive a $50,000 annual lifetime pension — just days before his resignation takes effect over his sexual harassment scandal.
Cuomo’s retirement will take effect on Sept. 1 in keeping with a state pension requirement that an application for retirement must be on file for at least 15 days, but not more than 90 days, before it can occur.
Cuomo issued five pardons and also commuted five sentences as he prepares to leave office next week after resigning in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.
Cuomo also commuted five sentences – including for Jon-Adrian Velazquez, 45, has been serving 25 years to life on a murder conviction in the shooting of long-retired police officer Albert Ward.
“Today I’m proud to help fulfill government’s unique responsibility to harness the power of redemption, encourage those who have made mistakes to engage in meaningful rehabilitation, and empower everyone to work toward a better future for themselves and their families,” Cuomo said.
Key state lawmakers bashed Cuomo’s handling of New York’s entrance into the mobile sports betting field, saying he sought unrealistic tax rates that could end up hurting the industry in its infancy.
De Blasio kept kicking Cuomo on the way out the door, ripping the resigning leader’s behavior as “aberrant” ahead of his meeting with the governor-in-waiting, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, in New York City.
The summit between Hizzoner and the state’s soon-to-be-executive took place at a Midtown hotel, away from the squads of reporters and cameras that had gathered at City Hall and outside of the state offices on Third Avenue, near Grand Central.
Hochul also planned to meet with New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a Democrat who ran against her in a party primary in 2018.
After a report by the state attorney general’s office confirmed allegations of sexual harassment against Cuomo, donations to the campaign account for Hochul began picking up.
The lieutenant governor, a Buffalo resident, is scheduled to appear tonight at Fontana’s Grove in West Seneca for a political fundraiser to bring in cash for what she said will be her campaign next year for a full, four-year term as governor.
Incoming Hochul should order a top-to-bottom probe of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in nursing homes last year under her disgraced boss, Cuomo — an Empire Center for Public Policy study said.
The NY Post wants to know why Hochul is keeping state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in his job.
New York’s first female governor, Hochul, is set to take office on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the stroke of midnight.
Despite her prior stance on driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, many advocates hope Hochul will pursue a robust agenda, including racial justice and parole and immigration reform.
Sandra Lee’s reported new fiancé Ben Youcef is still married — and in the midst of an ugly custody battle with his soon-to-be ex-wife.
After decades of accusations and investigations, the federal case against R. Kelly goes to trial today in Brooklyn – the first criminal trial that the singer has faced since he was acquitted on child pornography charges in 2008.
Facing a continuing increase in coronavirus cases, Los Angeles County said that it would require masks be worn at large outdoor concerts and sporting events that attract more than 10,000 people.
The start of New York City’s rules requiring people to show proof of vaccination for many indoor activities brought inconveniences and plenty of grumbling, but also some grudging acceptance that the new policy is needed to fight COVID.
The MTA’s reported 16-month timeline to conduct an environmental review of Manhattan congestion fees passed by the state legislature in 2019 is “ridiculous,” de Blasio said.
In a major leadership shakeup for Harlem, Democratic Socialist and first-time political candidate Kristin Richardson Jordan has clinched her win over incumbent Councilman Bill Perkins, a New York politics veteran.
State Street Global Advisors — the financial mega-firm that set up the “Fearless Girl” statue, the symbol of women’s empowerment in the heart of the Financial District — is reportedly closing its two New York City offices.
An aspiring Proud Boy from Queens pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a newly elected US senator from Georgia one day before the U.S. Capitol siege, federal prosecutors said.
Local officials are intensifying their calls to expand the city’s speed camera program, amid a spike in reckless driving and traffic deaths across the five boroughs.
Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner has stepped down from his role as CEO of a Brooklyn-based glass company.
Fed-up tenants of the Queensbridge Houses sued the New York City Housing Authority, citing hazardous conditions in the nation’s largest public housing complex and what they describe as illegal harassment.
Actor Woody Harrelson is back in Albany.
The Albany FireWolves of the National Lacrosse League will play their inaugural home opener at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18 at Times Union Center, the franchise announced.
The Bethlehem Board of Education voted last week to move ahead with a facilities improvement project amid continued debate over the inclusion of a new artificial turf field in the project.
Building a $17 billion computer chip factory in upstate may not be Samsung’s first choice — but the South Korean electronics giant is giving a potential site in Western New York a hard look.
A former Halfmoon woman sexually victimized at 15 by NXIVM guru Keith Raniere and later branded as his No. 1 “slave” has joined a federal lawsuit filed against the imprisoned cult leader and 11 of his current and former top disciples.
In a rare court appearance, David Sackler said he and his family would withdraw their pledge to pay $4.5 billion in an opioid lawsuit settlement, unless they are shielded from lawsuits related to Purdue Pharma.
Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. transportation secretary, said that he and his husband, Chasten, were completing the process of becoming parents.
If you’ve got a few million to spare…
