It’s Friday, good morning.
As we won’t be together over the weekend, I will get a bit of an early jump on noting the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, which falls on Saturday this year.
There have actually been a lot of heart-wrenching and difficult stories leading up to this moment – not the least of which are all the interviews of the kids who were just babies when the towers fell, or even in utero, and then grew up without a parent. They’re now on the cusp of adulthood. Crazy.
It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since that day, which I remember so clearly. The sky was incredibly blue, and it was Primary Day. And then the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and the world turned upside down and nothing was ever the same.
In keeping with this rather somber theme, it’s also World Suicide Prevention Day.
During the first year of the pandemic, emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts by individuals ages 12 through 25 increased 31 percent compared to 2019, according to the CDC. Overall, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., and the second leading cause among people ages 10 to 34.
More than 47,500 people died by suicide in 2019, which is about one death every 11 minutes.
The mental health crisis in this country is serious, and it’s getting worse by the day. The stress and anxiety and uncertainty caused by the pandemic is very real. Please, if you or someone you know needs help, do not hesitate to seek it. There is help all around us.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a confidential, free, 24/7 service for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.
Call any time: 1-800-273-8255. (If you click that link, it will offer to connect you through Skype).
To end on a positive note: We’re in for a spate of really lovely weather. Today will be just shy of 70 degrees and sunny, and it will continue to warm up through the weekend, flirting with 80 degrees on Sunday.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden imposed stringent new vaccine rules on federal workers, large employers and health care staff in a sweeping attempt to contain the latest surge of Covid-19.
The new requirements could apply to as many as 100 million Americans – close to two-thirds of the American workforce – and amount to Biden’s strongest push yet to require vaccines for much of the country.
“We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” Biden said, his tone hardening toward Americans who refuse to receive a vaccine despite ample evidence of their safety and full approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the FDA.
New federal safety regulations that call for businesses with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations against the coronavirus will affirm mandates already in place at many companies and give cover to employers that had yet to decide.
The roots of U.S. vaccine mandates predate both the U.S. and vaccines.
Biden is strengthening penalties for mask scofflaws on planes, buses and trains as part of his administration’s new plan to combat Covid-19.
Republican leaders — and some union chiefs, too — said Biden was going way too far in trying to muscle private companies and workers, a certain sign of legal challenges to come.
Republican governors and other lawmakers blasted Biden’s vaccination plan, and threatened to “pursue every legal option.”
Biden’s multifaceted approach also includes three months of at-cost testing kits from Amazon, Walmart and Kroger. Medicaid beneficiaries will receive full coverage for the tests, and the government will expand a free testing program to 10,000 pharmacies.
Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke for 90 minutes yesterday, in their first talks in seven months, discussing the need to ensure that competition between the world’s two largest economies does not veer into conflict.
“The two leaders had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge,” said a readout of the call, provided by the White House.
Biden will hit the road next week to tout his economic agenda.
Democrats have included a provision in their $3.5 trillion healthcare, education and climate bill that would require companies without retirement plans to automatically enroll workers in individual retirement accounts.
The Justice Department sued Texas over its recently enacted law that prohibits nearly all abortions in the state – a move that could once again put the statute before the Supreme Court.
The White House withdrew the nomination of David Chipman to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, because he lacked sufficient Senate support to be confirmed.
Biden’s retreat followed a familiar pattern for Democrats — including ex-President Barack Obama — who have been repeatedly foiled in their efforts to enact even broadly popular gun-control efforts after massacres in schools, nightclubs and stores.
The U.S. had its hottest summer on record, narrowly beating out highs set during the Dust Bowl in 1936.
Amazon is offering to pay college tuition for more than 750,000 U.S. employees, as the battle for hourly workers escalates beyond minimum wages.
The CDC has been running a quiet, yearlong campaign at the agency to check and recheck the country’s first suspected Covid-related deaths in the uncertain days of early 2020.
New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers has ignited concerns that nearly 130,000 unvaccinated staff at hospitals and nursing homes will soon lose their jobs, potentially triggering a workforce crisis as delta variant cases surge.
Moderna shares rose after it announced it’s developing a two-in-one vaccine booster shot that protects against both Covid-19 and the seasonal flu.
Los Angeles County school officials voted unanimously to order Covid-19 inoculations for all students aged 12 and over, the largest school district in the United States to take that step.
Employees of city-funded childcare and after-school programs must show proof of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27.
In the final video posted on her TikTok account, Megan Alexandra Blankenbiller pleaded with her followers not to make the same mistake she did — waiting to get the COVID-19 vaccine — that eventually cost her her life.
ESPN’s Allison Williams will be absent from the network’s college football coverage this fall. She’s choosing not to be vaccinated while she tries to have a second child.
Three Vermont state troopers accused of being involved in a fake Covid-19 vaccination card scheme have resigned amid a federal investigation, the authorities said.
Days away from having to comply with a health order that requires proof of vaccination or weekly coronavirus testing, more than a third of New York City’s municipal workforce is still holding out on getting a vaccine shot.
NYC inspectors will hit the streets Monday to start enforcing an indoor coronavirus vaccination mandate for restaurants, bars and other businesses — but priority won’t be placed on fining establishments that violate the new rule.
A clash between NYPD brass and a police union standing up for vaccine-hesitant cops has gone into overtime.
In the two weeks since Delta Air Lines announced a $200 monthly health insurance surcharge for unvaccinated employees, 20% of Delta’s unvaccinated employees have already gotten the jab.
Airlines warned of another pandemic-driven hit to profits in the months ahead, as the Delta variant interrupts a rebound in air travel.
First-time filings for unemployment claims in the U.S. dropped to 310,000 last week, easily the lowest of the Covid era and a significant step toward the pre-pandemic normal, the Labor Department reported.
Claims were expected to total 335,000 for the week ended Sept. 4, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The total for the week ended Sept. 4 represented a substantial drop from the previous week’s 345,000 and is the lowest since March 14, 2020.
Wall Street ended lower after weekly jobless claims fell to a near 18-month low, allaying fears of a slowing economic recovery, but also stoking worries the Fed could move sooner than expected to scale back its accommodative policies.
Walmart is phasing out its decades-old quarterly bonuses for store workers, according to the company, as it implements hourly wage increases for hundreds of thousands of its employees.
Gov. Kathy Hochul made a splash at a New York Fashion Week show by rocking a chic floral brocade dress by Prabal Gurung — at one point praising the designer for being “inspired by powerful women.”
As Hochul arrived at the venue, her office announced a partnership with NYFW: The Shows, owned by IMG, that would provide Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park downtown and Moynihan Train Hall in midtown to designers participating in NYFW free of charge.
Hochul is taking the suggestion of State Fair Director Troy Waffner and returning the New York State Fair back to a 13-day duration next year.
Hochul joined a raucous Brooklyn rally to push back against a draconian new anti-abortion ban in Texas that allows anyone in that state to report health care providers they suspect of providing the procedure.
Hochul is leaving the door open for a potential investigation into how former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is spending roughly $18 million of campaign cash after he resigned from office in the wake of an investigation that found he sexually harassed multiple women.
Hochul is being pressured by lawmakers and watchdog groups to fill at least two immediate vacancies on the state’s ethics board, as it considers whether to go forward with a probe of Cuomo — and possibly revoking approval for his $5.1 million book deal.
To win reelection, Hochul will need to reinvent herself as a progressive Democrat. The state’s housing activists can show her how.
Hochul announced several new appointments to her administration.
Harlem Democrat Brian Benjamin was sworn in as New York’s lieutenant governor, filling the post left open by his new boss and predecessor, Hochul, following the abrupt resignation of Cuomo last month.
Benjamin finally addressed looming ethics questions about his past dealings in the state Senate and his personal finances.
Former Hudson Valley state Sen. Jen Metzger was tapped by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins as her pick to the Cannabis Control Board, which is tasked with regulating the state’s marijuana and cannabis industry.
A Manhattan judge shot down a bid by two National Rifle Association members to spare the gun rights group from a lawsuit aimed at its eradication.
DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats Eats are suing New York City over its law permanently capping the amount of commissions the apps can charge restaurants to use their services, the latest move in a growing clash between the platforms and local regulators.
New York City’s highly competitive gifted and talented programs could be overhauled in one of the last major policy moves from Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Drivers beware — of kids heading back to in-person schooling, and city workers cracking down on those who fail to follow traffic safety laws near schools.
The recent storm that flooded parts of NYC left a segment of its rat population — which has never officially been counted, although estimates range into the millions — distressed, displaced or deceased.
A Long Island man was charged with using his position as an I.T. supervisor for Suffolk County to mine cryptocurrency from government offices, costing the county thousands of dollars in electricity.
Saratoga Springs police arrested two more Black Lives Matter activists for blocking traffic during a July 14 rally — prompting questions about why warrants are being filed for minor charges more than two months later, and why most elected officials are silent on the issue.
The state Board for Historic Preservation has recommended adding 19 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places, including the Consolidated Car Heating Company Complex, located in the city of Albany’s “Warehouse District.”
What was once a medium-security prison that housed about 1,000 inmates in Warwick will become a fully operating cannabis cultivation site by 2023.
State library construction funds of more than $116,000 will go toward emergency restoration and other improvements at the Cohoes Public Library building, work that will get underway soon, city and state officials said.
Troy City council members unanimously approved a $1.55 million settlement with the widow of an unarmed man fatally shot by a patrol sergeant in 2016 during a meeting last night with no discussion.
The state attorney general’s office is seeking a more than $420,000 judgment against a former Hudson River retreat partner who repeatedly ignored an Adirondack Park Agency consent order.
Almost six years after the Oklahoma-based chain Jimmy’s Egg opened its first Capital Region location, in Clifton Park, a second has begun serving, in a strip plaza at 1800 Western Ave, in Guilderland.
