Good Monday morning. Welcome to another work week.
Today happens to be the birthday of one of my all-time favorite authors: Roald Dahl, who wrote childhood classics like “James and the Giant Peach”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “The Witches” and “Matilda” – just to name a few.
Dahl’s stories are creepy, dark, fantastical and, quite frankly, downright twisted. They are not at all fuzzy or necessarily very happy, and, as it turns out, neither was he. If fact, he was kind of a jerk, but also lead a most remarkable life prior to his international success as an author.
But his writing has captivated millions of readers – young and old alike – and is just the sort of thing that kids love, which is to say that it is creepy, dark, fantastical and downright twisted.
Generally speaking, the kids are the heroes and the adults are villainous, idiotic, mean, nasty, and evil, with the exception of a select few – like Charlie’s grandpa, who joins him on his golden ticket adventure at Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Kids can’t get enough of this sort of storyline, and Dahl’s work has been adapted into enormously popular movies – oh, and by the way, he wrote the screenplay for the hit film “Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.”
And so, we celebrate his birthday annually by celebrating his work. (Dahl was born on this day in 1916 in Llandaff, near the Welsh capital of Cardiff).
Generally, people mark this day by reading their favorite Dahl books, dressing up like one of his zany characters, and/or binge watching movie adaptations of his written work.
Today is also National Celiac Disease Awareness Day, which aims to raise awareness about the genetic autoimmune disorder that prevents individuals from being able to consume gluten – a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.
About 3 million Americans are reportedly affected by this disease, which, if left undiagnosed or untreated, celiac disease can lead to other disorders, including cancer, osteoporosis and infertility.
Celiac can be detected via one of two blood tests, followed by an endoscopy. It is not simply something that a person can declare themselves to be, though it has become awfully popular in recent years for folks to proclaim themselves allergic to gluten.
Also, experts recommend that you get tested for Celiac disease BEFORE you try out a gluten-free diet, because if you eliminate gluten and then get tested, your results might appear to be falsely normal.
The only known treatment for this disease is a strict no-gluten regimen, which means you have to stay away from wheat and also a whole litany of other flours and grains, including but not limited to: rye, semolina, graham, farina, bulgur and more.
We’re in for partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-70s today.
In the headlines…
Twenty years after the worst attack on American soil, the loss of nearly 3,000 people was remembered in events across the country.
There were moments of silence and the reading of thousands of names as the nation marked two decades since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The F.B.I. released a newly declassified document describing connections between the hijackers and the Saudi government after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, although it contained no conclusive evidence about whether the kingdom played a role in the attacks.
The 16-page report, which was issued hours after Biden arrived at the World Trade Center memorial in Lower Manhattan, is the first document to be released since the president last week moved to declassify materials that for years have remained secret.
The heavily redacted document provides a summary of a 2015 FBI interview with a man who had regular contact with Saudi nationals in the U.S., who aided Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, the first hijackers to arrive in America.
One World Trade Center, the 1,776-foot office building that rose in place of the Twin Towers destroyed on Sept. 11, cost $3.8 billion and is the most expensive skyscraper ever built in the U.S. The complex hasn’t turned a profit since it opened seven years ago.
Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed legislation that would let members of the National Guard qualify as veterans under New York state law. This would give them access to a slew of veterans benefits.
During her first commemoration of the Sept. 11 attacks as governor, Hochul spent time with the families of victims at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan, attended a Fire Department Mass and paid tribute to the New York National Guard.
Former President Donald Trump commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by sharply criticizing Biden for his withdrawal from Afghanistan and assuring that “America will be made great again.”
Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who is vital to the fate of Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan for social and environmental spending, said he won’t support even half that amount or the ambitious timetable envisioned for passing it.
“He will not have my vote on $3.5 [trillion] and (Majority Leader Chuck Schumer) knows that, and we’ve talked about this,” Manchin said. “It’s not going to be $3.5 — I can assure you.”
Manchin also cautioned there was “no way” Congress will meet the late September goal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for passage given his current wide differences with liberal Democrats on how much to spend and how to pay for it.
With a make-or-break vote looming in the Senate on a sweeping voting-rights and anti-corruption bill, Biden and his advisers have said in recent weeks that he will pressure wavering Democrats to support reforming the filibuster if necessary to pass the bill.
Republican aides challenged their Democratic counterparts in a debate before the Senate’s top rules enforcer that could determine whether as many as eight million undocumented immigrants have a path to citizenship.
Biden will be in Boise, Idaho today.
Senior House Democrats are coalescing around a draft proposal that could raise as much as $2.9 trillion to pay for most of Biden’s sweeping expansion of the social safety net by increasing taxes on the wealthiest corporations and individuals.
House Democrats also are considering raising the minimum tax on U.S. companies’ foreign income to 16.5% from 10.5% and increasing the top capital-gains tax rate to 28.8% from 23.8%.
Biden has a simple message for fellow Democrats about his plan to raise taxes to remake large swaths of the American economy: look beyond the bottom line.
Former President George W. Bush took a thinly veiled swipe at the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and other U.S. political extremists during a 9/11 speech Saturday, calling them “children of the same foul spirit” as the terrorists who attacked America 20 years ago.
Biden will announce new steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 before the U.N. General Assembly meets, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said.
Murthy defended Biden’s mandates to vaccinate 100 million Americans against COVID-19, calling it an “ambitious” and “thoughtful” plan as the country faces more than 100,000 cases a day and roughly a quarter million new cases being reported among children.
America’s Covid-testing infrastructure, from drugstores to diagnostics manufacturers, is bracing for a surge in demand following the Biden administration’s order that most large U.S. companies mandate their workers get vaccinated or be screened weekly.
Millions of Americans still need to get vaccinated to slow or stop the spread of Covid-19 and getting the pandemic under control could take “many, many” more vaccine mandates, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
Covid-19 may become a routine illness like a common cold or the flu one day, experts say. But it will take a lot to get there, and the ferocious spread of the Delta variant that has filled hospitals again shows how challenging that path could be.
Covid-19 vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 could be available as soon as the end of October, two experts said. Some senior officials of the Biden administration have said approval for that age group was unlikely before the end of 2021.
Hoping to prevent another school year from being upended by the pandemic, Biden visited a Washington middle school Friday to push his new COVID plan, accusing some Republican governors of being “cavalier” with the health of children.
Twenty-six states in the U.S. have fully vaccinated more than half of their population, federal data shows, but some hospitals are still filling up with Covid-19 patients who did not get their shots.
The new vaccine mandates for federal employees don’t apply to members of Congress or those who work for Congress or the federal court system.
Arkansas’ Republican governor said he thinks Biden’s newly announced Covid-19 vaccine mandate “hardens the resistance” some people have to getting one.
Resistance to vaccine mandates, once a fringe position, has entered the Republican mainstream. But the governors fighting Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine requirements impose mandates of their own.
An Alaska lawmaker has asked to be excused from legislative sessions until next year, saying she has no way to fly to the state capital after she was barred from Alaska Airlines for violating mask policies.
Texas AG Ken Paxton announced that he has filed lawsuits against six school districts — Richardson, Round Rock, Galveston, Elgin, Spring and Sherman — that have mandated masks for students, teachers and staff in defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban.
Chains such as McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A are slowing their indoor dining rooms’ reopenings, given the Delta-driven surge in Covid-19 infections. Other restaurants are again losing customers, and trying to squeeze more diners into outdoor patios.
In our large, open, and globally connected society, getting to zero COVID, the goal that Australia and New Zealand have pursued, is as politically unrealistic as it is biologically implausible.
A “mild” Covid breakthrough case isn’t all that mild after all, but if you’re fully vaccinated you’re likely to stay out of the hospital.
A CDC study found that unvaccinated people are more than 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than those who have been vaccinated, and 11 times more likely to die of the virus.
More than a dozen gorillas have tested positive for Covid-19 at Zoo Atlanta, probably after contracting the virus from a keeper, zoo officials said.
The animals were tested after employees saw some of them coughing, having nasal discharge, and showing changes in appetite.
Lewis County General Hospital in upstate New York will put baby deliveries on hold after too many workers in its maternity unit resigned over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
At least six unvaccinated maternity staffers at Lewis County General Hospital have resigned in recent days, and seven others remain undecided on whether to get vaccinated.
“We are unable to safely staff the service after Sept. 24th,” Lewis County General Hospital CEO Gerald Cayer said last week.
New York’s coronavirus positivity rate is edging down, with the latest test results dropping below 3 percent, numbers released Saturday show.
New York state has fixed an issue with the Excelsior Pass Wallet that allows users to acquire and store COVID-19 vaccine credentials.
Hochul yesterday urged Harlem churchgoers to serve as “apostles” of COVID vaccination and spread the word in communities of color where jab rates are low.
Glaring disparities by race and borough in COVID-19 vaccination rates for NYC adolescents trouble healthcare experts and officials ahead of the return to in-person classes today.
As New York City’s public schools prepare to welcome roughly one million students today, many for the first time in 18 months, the experiences of school districts that have already reopened amid the spread of the Delta variant provide hints of what to expect.
Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly isn’t buying the “happy talk” about New York City’s post-pandemic future.
Hochul last week signed legislation that sets 2035 as the date by which all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the state are zero emissions.
Hochul announced a new digital public service announcement and other initiatives to raise awareness of suicide prevention and advise New Yorkers of available resources across the state.
LG Brian Benjamin, a former state senator from Harlem, will work on COVID-19 vaccine outreach, rental relief and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for the Hochul administration.
A broken elevator at a troubled Manhattan homeless shelter run by disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sister, Maria Cuomo Cole, trapped a man inside for as many as four nights before he was finally rescued by the FDNY.
Cuomo has made his first public comments since his resignation as New York governor took effect on Tuesday, Aug. 24. He released a statement on Saturday, Sept. 11 via Twitter honoring the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks.
Cuomo sent a 9/11 message to his campaign donors after missing New York’s annual memorial events for the first time in at least a decade.
Government watchdog groups filed a complaint with the state Board of Elections against Cuomo, demanding an investigation into whether he is paying a former top aide with campaign funds, a move they argue is a clear violation of state election law.
In a letter to the state Board of Elections, the groups said Cuomo appeared to be violating state election law by tapping his $18 million-plus political war chest to pay former communications director Rich Azzopardi to continue serving as his mouthpiece.
New York mayoral candidate Eric Adams hit the town and held court at a buzzy private members club every night this weekend with a host of prominent names including Nets star James Harden, La La Anthony and even Paris Hilton.
At least 13 NYPD cops accused of various wrongdoing — including excessive use of force, driving under the influence and abuse of authority — have donated to Adams’ Democratic campaign for mayor.
GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa’s first campaign ad hits the small screen today, but it’s his rescue cat named Tuna that steals the show.
Sliwa demanded that Mayor Bill de Blasio “spend a week on Rikers Island” — where inmates have been running amok amid staff shortages.
Two people suffered minor injuries after a fire erupted on the roof of St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Queens on Friday, fire officials said.
As Democrats on Capitol Hill craft an ambitious spending bill they hope will strengthen the social safety net, a cadre of powerful New York politicians banded together in the Bronx to call for at least $5 billion in community funding to curb gun violence.
The de Blasio administration has reversed course and will let state legislators tour Rikers Island today, a change that came after the Daily News reported the city’s attempts to block the visit.
Two more New York counties – Suffolk and Sullivan – now qualify for federal assistance to help cover the cost of damages from Hurricane Ida’s devastating floods,
New York would have been better prepared for the record-setting rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida had the state’s weather tracking system been more advanced, U.S. Sens. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand said.
Schumer called on Congress to spend $33 million on upgrading the systems that help forecasters predict extreme weather after the remnants of Hurricane Ida caught local officials off guard earlier this month.
As eyes turned to Texas this month, healthcare providers, politicians and advocates across the state began to reflect on New York’s abortion access inequities.
The parents of adults with conditions such as severe autism say they’re being forced by a state agency to choose between sending their child to a fenced-in institutional facility in the Adirondacks, or face the prospect of losing funding for their long-term care.
Two restaurant owners in Albany’s Mansion neighborhood are begging the city for help, saying rising crime is threatening their ability to continue to remain open.
Librarians at a tiny village library in Stillwater are dreaming of tripling their space by moving into a historic former factory on the Hudson River.
A collaboration of designers is receiving a $150,000 grant from the state to help re-imagine Hudson’s waterfront in the time of sea-level rise.
Emma Raducanu, the 18-year-old British phenom, completed a shocking run through the U.S. Open with a straight-sets victory over Leylah Fernandez of Canada for a title that will surely go down as one of the great underdog journeys in the history of sports.
With a startling display of power and creativity, Daniil Medvedev upset Novac Djokovic, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the U.S. Open yestrday, ending Djokovic’s bid to become the first man in 52 years to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in a calendar year.
Britney Spears announced that she was engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Sam Asghari, three months after she told a Los Angeles judge that the conservatorship that has governed her life since 2008 was robbing her of the ability to make personal decisions.
