Good Tuesday morning.
I offer up what I am about to write with the caveat that I am married to a police officer. I feel like a lot of you probably know that already, and maybe it’s triggering or off-putting for some people, and something laudable to others. I’m just trying to be transparent before I write the following…
It’s National Night Out, and effort, according to the official website, that seeks to “enhance the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community.”
This event, which is actually a series of events held across the U.S., has officially been held annually since 1984, and is sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch in the U.S.
The first National Night Out Involved 2.5 million residents across 400 communities in 23 states, and began simply with neighbors turning on their porch lights and sitting in front of their homes.
Typically, the night features a series of events – cookouts, walks, block parties, live music, open dialogues, town halls, community meetings, etc. – organized by block watches, nonprofit organizations, companies and police departments.
The connection between communities and law enforcement agencies has been significantly strained over the past several years due to a combination of factors – the racial justice and de-fund the police movements that were sparked by the George Floyd killing; the pandemic and a rise in gun violence occurring in urban centers across the nation.
At the height of the Covid crisis last year, many communities cancelled their National Night Out events due to concerns about spreading the virus, and a quick and cursory Google search reveals some have done the same this year due to the rise of the Delta variant. It looks like some events are still scheduled to occur across New York City and upstate, too, though.
Here in the Capital Region, the weather is going to cooperate when it comes to outdoor events. We’ll have a sun in the morning and clouds in the afternoon with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70s.
I personally have been loving this cooler weather, even though it’s not terribly summer-like. It’s great for running. But for those who prefer the heat, don’t you worry, there are some hot days in the not-too-distant future.
In the headlines….
Seventy percent of U.S. adults have had at least one shot of a Covid vaccine, according to data published Monday by the CDC, about a month behind President Joe Biden’s Fourth of July goal.
The rate of Covid-19 vaccinations in the United States continues to rise, a positive sign amid skyrocketing cases and hospitalizations after weeks of lagging inoculations.
The White House is making a concerted effort to return the focus of Biden’s schedule to Covid-19 this week as the year-and-a-half-long pandemic again consumes his agenda amid a new spike in cases.
Biden accused Republicans of offering “fear and lies and broken promises” during remarks at a virtual Democratic National Committee event last night, even as he touted a bipartisan infrastructure deal making its way through the Senate.
Biden and Congress’s job approval are taking a hit amid a resurgence of the coronavirus.
With the number of migrants crossing the southern border surging and the pandemic proving to be far from over, the Biden administration will leave in place for now the public health rule that has allowed it to turn away hundreds of thousands of migrants.
With the federal moratorium on evictions having expired, the White House sought to limit the impact, demanding that states speed up disbursement of billions of dollars in bottled-up rental aid while pleading with local governments to enact their own extensions.
As concerns grow over the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, Germany yesterday became the biggest Western country yet to announce that it will offer vaccine booster shots to a wide range of people considered potentially vulnerable.
The seven-day average of daily coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed the peak seen last summer when the nation didn’t have an authorized Covid-19 vaccine, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, citing data published over the weekend.
The head of Florida’s largest hospital association warned that the skyrocketing number of Covid hospitalizations is unlike anything the state has seen before — even as Gov. Ron DeSantis downplays the spike.
Louisiana and seven San Francisco Bay Area counties will mandate that people wear masks indoors starting this week, while New York City officials are recommending that residents do so to curb rising Covid-19 cases.
Arkansas reported 1,220 COVID-19 related hospitalizations, its highest-ever one day jump since the pandemic began.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio strongly encouraged vaccinated people to wear masks indoors but stopped short of reissuing a mask mandate in what he said was an attempt to focus primarily on vaccinations.
Having been stripped of his “pandemic powers” in March and after the underlying emergency declaration expired in late June, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he could no longer re-issue a statewide mask mandate without having the Legislature pass a law.
De Blasio and Cuomo came under fire from fellow Democrats over their continued reluctance to reinstate indoor mask mandates in New York despite a delta variant-driven uptick in COVID-19 infections across the state.
Cuomo urged private businesses to mandate vaccinations for customers and employees and warned that if coronavirus cases continue to rise, a vaccine mandate should be put in place for private health care workers, teachers and nursing home staff.
Time to mask up in more than one third of New York counties, according to new federal guidelines and data.
Major retailers and restaurant chains such as Home Depot Inc. and McDonald’s Corp., said they would require workers to wear masks in many of their stores, restaurants and offices regardless of vaccination status.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19 despite being vaccinated and has experienced “flu-like symptoms.”
Graham said that he now has only “mild symptoms” and is very glad he had been vaccinated because “without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now.”
Graham and other senators were on a house boat, the “Almost Heaven,” belonging to W. Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin for a bipartisan get-together on Saturday. He started feeling sick on Saturday night and went to the doctor yesterday morning.
Yankee Gerrit Cole tested positive for COVID-19 and was scratched from last night’s start in the Bronx.
With scores of U.S. companies planning to return to offices in full force in a few weeks, workers are trying to make sense of changing face-mask guidelines and rising virus cases, along with new research about how easily the virus can be transmitted.
An evolving virus and 18 months of ever-changing pandemic messaging have left Americans angry, exhausted and skeptical of public health advice.
The State Department is offering potential refugee status to several new categories of Afghans who assisted the United States during the war in Afghanistan, including those who worked for news media and nongovernmental organizations.
A Washington, D.C. police officer who responded to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 took his own life last month, making him the fourth law enforcement officer who took part in the events of that day to die by his own hand.
The New York state attorney general’s investigation into sexual-harassment allegations against Cuomo has entered its final stages and is expected to wrap up this month, people familiar with the inquiry said.
Cuomo was grilled for about 11 hours over the sexual-misconduct allegations against him as part of a probe by state Attorney General Letitia James.
Former prosecutor Joon Kim and employment lawyer Anne Clark, who have been charged with leading the investigation by James, conducted the interview, with Cuomo reportedly becoming confrontational at certain points.
There were tense moments: At more than one point during the lengthy session, Cuomo confronted Kim, challenging his fairness and independence as a result of his past investigations into the governor and his allies.
James’ office is extending its contracts with two outside law firms investigating sexual misconduct allegations against Cuomo.
The taxpayer-funded legal bills are continuing to pile up for Cuomo’s office.
De Blasio officially endorsed Democratic nominee Eric Adams in a campaign rally outside of City Hall, surrounded by union laborers, a gaggle of early Adams supporters, and members of city’s Congressional delegation who had backed other candidates.
“I’m here to endorse Eric Adams because I believe in him,” de Blasio said. “We’re going to pass the baton to a great leader…My team and I are gonna do everything, everything to give (him) everything (he needs) to be ready.”
“I’m going to work harder, intentional, determined,” Adams said. “I’m going to give New Yorkers the spirit, that just as they get up every morning and fight for this city, you’re going to have a mayor that’s going to fight for you.”
Adams suggested that New York City must “go after guns” after ten people were injured by a shooting in Queens over the weekend that police say was gang-related.
The coordinated shooting that left 10 people wounded Saturday in Queens was reportedly the bloody result of a bitter, years-long feud between two notorious city gangs ― the latest in a string of retaliation shootings sparked by a murder last month.
Men who work for New York City receive a median salary that’s $21,600 higher than their female counterparts’, and white workers’ median salary is $27,800 higher than Blacks’, according to new findings issued by the City Council.
De Blasio’s bid to move homeless people out of pandemic hotel rooms on the Upper West Side has become a fiasco, with dozens of adults being transferred to a new hotel with no refrigerators or a working elevator, residents and advocates said.
Abortions will not be performed under a planned merger between Ellis Medicine with St. Peter’s Health Partners, Ellis Medicine President and CEO Paul Milton said, in what appears to be the first time anyone from Ellis’ health system publicly acknowledged the change.
More testing for PCB-contaminated sediments that possibly moved downstream during recent flooding must be done along the Little Thunder Brook and the Valatie Kill, Town Supervisor David Fleming said after receiving the preliminary federal test results.
Free trolley rides will be available to people attending the Capital Repertory Theatre’s first live shows since a $14 million renovation of its new location on North Pearl Street in Albany’s warehouse district.
A judge threw out some of the charges faced by a downtown Schenectady property owner accused of dozens of code violations, ruling the city failed to prove the heat wasn’t working in a camera shop housed in the building.
A handful of Saratoga County residents told the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission they want to be included in a congressional district that represented the Capital Region, and not the North Country.
The New York State Museum is ready to get back to normal hours of operation.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has announced his support for the Catskills Renewable Connector, a project proposed by Rise Light & Power that would deliver renewable energy from upstate to homes and businesses downstate.
LG Kathy Hochul said that the Cuomo administration is committed to keeping the Buffalo Bills in Western New York. Her comments come as three-way stadium negotiations are underway between the NFL team, Erie County, and the state.
A National Labor Relations Board official recommended nullifying the results of a closely watched vote in which Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama had rejected a plan to join a union, according to the labor group involved in the case.
Former President Donald Trump will fight any move by the Treasury Department to turn over his tax returns to Congress, a lawyer for Trump said yesterday, days after the Justice Department directed the agency to provide the documents to a House panel.
Former President Barack Obama is planning a 60th birthday party with hundreds of guests at his Martha’s Vineyard vacation home this weekend, as the nation brings back some Covid-19 precautions to combat a rising tide of Delta-variant cases.
The United States men’s basketball team played one of its best games of these 2020 Olympics in a 95-81 win over Spain in the quarterfinals this morning in Tokyo.
Simone Biles will compete in the balance beam final, making a high-stakes return to competition a week after she pulled herself out of competition because she didn’t feel mentally able to compete safely.
(This will occur probably after I post, but before you read…so check your latest news reports for updates on her performance).
It is the last shot at an individual medal for Biles, who qualified for every final but pulled out of the all-around, vault, uneven bars and floor exercise because of a mental block that prevented her from competing safely.
After narrowly avoiding serious injury on the vault, U.S. gymnast Jade Carey won gold on the floor.
A Belarusian Olympic athlete received a Polish visa after she resisted her team’s attempts to send her home from Tokyo against her will in the middle of a public dispute, Poland’s deputy foreign minister said.
The United States Women’s National Team narrowly lost to Canada 1-0 in the Olympic semifinals in Japan, ending the world champion’s bid for the gold medal.
New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard did not make it to the podium, but she did make history as the first our transgender women to compete in the Olympics.
Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates’ divorce is final.
