It’s Friday. It’s the first day of a new month – a good day to turn over a new (ahem) leaf. Good morning.
Not to scare you, but there are 91 days left in 2021 and 81 days until winter officially gets underway.
But, who’s counting?
It’s World Vegetarian Day – originally established by North American Vegetarian Society and later endorsed by International Vegetarian Union in 1978. (I did not know that either of those organizations even existed until this very moment. Live and learn).
I also did not know that vegetarianism os frequently referred to as a Pythagorean Diet, (it is???) before the popularization of the term ‘vegetarian’ in the mid-1800s. The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras was an early advocate for a meat-free diet, apparently.
He reportedly viewed vegetarianism as a key factor in peaceful human co-existence, putting forward the view that slaughtering animals brutalized the human soul.
Of course, vegetarianism dates back a lot further than that. It has been the norm in India, for example, since the 5th Century BCE, though the concept is also clearly present in Buddhism, which originated between the fifth and sixth centuries, as well as Brahinanism, Zoroasterianism and Jainism.
The aforementioned religions all espouse some version of non-violence and respect for all life forms. Hence, no killing animals to eat their meat.
Plant-based staples such as tofu have been consumed in China for more than 2,000 years, as well as in Indonesian, Japanese and Thai cuisines and also on the African continent before the European colonization.
These days, there are all sorts of different varieties of diets that abstain from eating meat to some degree. There’s plant-based eating, veganism, pescatarianism, lacto-ovo vegetarianism (allows for eating eggs and dairy products) and I’m sure quite a few more that I’m missing.
There is a general consensus that eating more plants, and less highly processed food – especially stuff like bacon and lunch meat – is better for both the planet and your health, and if you do choose to eat meat (and/or fish), that procuring it as close to the source as possible – farmer, stream, ocean, etc. is probably your best bet.
This is a vast generalization. I can feel people’s hackles rising as I write. Give me a break, folks. It’s Friday. Have a carrot and chillax.
On this day in 1970, the Escuela Tlatelolco Centro de Estudios, founded by Chicano educator, boxer, poet, and activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, and his family, opened its doors as the first private school in United States history with a focus on Chicano/Mexican-American cultural studies.
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Gonzales with a slide show illustrated by Brooklyn artist Roxie Vizcarra, which features epic 1967 poem, “Yo Soy Joaquín” (“I Am Joaquín”).
And Happy Birthday to former President Jimmy Carter, who turns 97 today.
We’ll have mostly sunny skies today with temperatures in the mid-60s. The weekend is shaping up to be pretty good, too, with temperatures heading back up into the 70s. Get out and enjoy it while you can.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden signed a last-minute deal passed by both the House and Senate to avert a government shutdown that would have affected hundreds of thousands of federal workers and slammed an economy still struggling to recover from the pandemic.
The emergency budget extension was approved just a few hours before federal funding would have lapsed.
The stopgap bill includes language to keep the government funded through Dec. 3 in addition to disaster relief funding and funding to aid with the resettlement of Afghan refugees.
Democratic leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives delayed a planned vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that had been set for yesterday, bowing to party progressives who had demanded action on a larger social policy bill first.
Democratic leaders insisted the postponement was only a temporary setback. The infrastructure vote was rescheduled for today giving them more time to reach agreement on an expansive climate change and social safety net bill that would bring liberals along.
The source of the Democratic stalemate was a second, roughly $3.5 trillion package that proposes to expand Medicare, combat climate change and boost federal safety-net programs, all financed through tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations.
Initial jobless claims climbed again last week, rising to 362,000, the Labor Department said, as hiring appeared to remain sluggish while the U.S. battles the delta variant.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting 335,000 new filings, the same number as the upwardly revised total from the previous week. A surge in claims from California helped account for much of the gains.
New weekly jobless claims have risen for three consecutive weeks, increasing off a pandemic-era low from earlier this month but still remaining well below heightened prints from earlier this year.
Hiring, which has averaged more than 585,000 jobs a month this year, slowed to just 235,000 in August as the Delta variant disrupted the recovery. Restaurants and bars cut nearly 42,000 jobs last month as COVID cases picked up – the first drop this year.
Rural Americans are dying of Covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans to reopen the country’s borders to fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents, moving from a strict zero-Covid strategy to a model of living with the virus.
A British clinical trial found no sign of danger in getting a flu shot and a second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine at the same time. The results are welcome news for strained health care workers, and support the advice of U.S. health authorities.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced a bill that would require people to be fully vaccinated, have recently tested negative, or have recovered from COVID-19 to fly domestically.
New research has uncovered when chances of contracting Covid-19 while flying are higher, including during meal service. Overall risks appear to remain relatively low, but newer variants may change that equation.
An organization representing school boards across the U.S. is asking the federal government to help manage an influx of threats as tensions over Covid-19 safety protocols mount during the third academic year of the pandemic.
“Dancing with the Stars” contestant Cody Rigsby has tested positive for COVID-19 days after his partner Cheryl Burke began her quarantine after a positive result.
Self-employment saw growth in New York during the pandemic while other sectors struggled to find labor, according to an analysis by Cornell economist Russell Weaver.
Teachers opposed to the city’s vaccination mandate are appealing to the US Supreme Court in a last ditch attempt to halt today’s dose deadline.
Thirty-six New York lawmakers have penned a letter to state Education Department (NYSED) Commissioner Betty Rosa, urging her to reconsider the department’s mandate for all adult literacy classes to take place in person.
Upstate Medical University, Central New York’s largest employer and biggest hospital, laid off 113 workers this week who failed to meet the state’s vaccination requirement deadline.
SUNY students across the state are being asked to leave campus due to failure to follow a COVID-19 mandate.
Gov. Kathy Hochul shared that 92% of New York State healthcare workers met the vaccine mandate by getting the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Michael C. Green, who has been executive deputy commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services since 2012, has been asked by Hochul to step aside as her administration continues to replace appointees of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Hochul selected Rory M. Christian to lead the Public Service Commission, which regulates the state’s electric, gas, steam, telecommunications and water utilities. three months after the state Senate confirmed Christian’s nomination by Cuomo.
Despite claiming that officials in her administration don’t support defunding police, Hochul has tapped a second person who does to a key post — a failed New York City Council candidate who wants to slash the NYPD budget by $3 billion.
An influential criminal justice group plans to lobby Hochul’s administration on reopening two shuttered state prisons in Manhattan so that nearly 600 inmates can be transferred there from Rikers Island in a bid to alleviate overcrowding at the troubled jail.
Hochul declared that she’s the elected official “who’s done the most” to address the dire conditions facing inmates and staff at Rikers Island as Mayor Bill de Blasio continues to take flack about his inability to fix problems at the island’s troubled jails.
De Blasio joined growing calls to re-evaluate Cuomo’s $2.1 billion pet project “AirTrain” between LaGuardia Airport and eastern Queens.
Homeless veterans shuffled to a cramped, slapdash Queens shelter are being moved to a space where they’ll get the private rooms they need to protect them from contracting COVID-19.
The pancakes and politics were hot at the Brooklyn Democratic Party breakfast fundraiser, drawing together power players like Hochul, state AG Letitia James, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Adams, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams is taking advice from a former NYPD chief who once said he’d plead the Fifth Amendment in a corruption trial — and whose brother is now a top contender to become Adams’ schools chancellor if he’s elected.
The NYPD is hiring restaurant-style “greeters” to welcome visitors at police precincts in the city amid long-running complaints about poor community engagement, de Blasio and department brass announced.
During his daily City Hall news conference, de Blasio ignored the pressing issue of public safety and called his “revolutionary” initiative for the NYPD “a paradigm shift,” saying, “Customer service has to be what the NYPD is about.”
The Albany Medical Center has temporarily closed two of its urgent care locations in Guilderland and Mechanicville as it seeks to “decompress” pressure at the hospital’s emergency department.
Sick and injured patients across the Capital Region and Hudson Valley are waiting hours to be seen in emergency rooms as a growing shortage of health care workers has forced some hospitals to hold incoming ambulances or turn them away altogether.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn want longtime NXIVM bookkeeper Kathy Russell to serve six months to a year behind bars, saying the “blind loyalty” she showed to cult leader Keith Raniere facilitated the abuse of his victims.
West Mountain wants to create an Adirondack resort on the year-round ski mountain that would include a hotel, condos and homes, along with retail shops and dining.
Siena men’s basketball will require fans of ages 5 and older to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend home games at Times Union Center this season, the school announced.
With the latest viral video craze encouraging students to hit teachers and expose themselves, officials at the Albany City School District are making parents aware of the new TikTok challenge inciting violence and lewd behavior in school.
The Department of Homeland Security ordered authorities to prioritize illegal immigrants for deportation who “pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security” — claiming the government lacks resources to apprehend everyone who entered the U.S. unlawfully.
The government is set to let as many as 80,000 employment-based green cards expire today, leaving foreign workers waiting for a permanent resolution to their immigration limbo.
Facebook came under heavy fire for its efforts to target young people, with members of a Senate panel accusing the company of disregarding internal research that showed its Instagram app is harmful for significant numbers of teen girls.
The FBI made a quick stop at Brian Laundrie’s home in Florida as the search for Gabby Petito’s missing fiancé continues.
Gabby Petito told a Utah cop that Laundrie assaulted her during their Aug. 12 domestic dispute, according to bodycam video.
Jamie Spears criticized a California court for suspending his conservatorship over his pop star daughter, saying “the court was wrong” to do so.
Britney Spears posted a slideshow of 10 nude photos on Instagram, one day after her father was removed as conservator of her estate.
The #FreeBritney movement that just helped Britney Spears score a major court victory over her contested conservatorship has set its sights on a new target: similar arrangements that may be trapping people who aren’t pop stars.
In New York, legendary pop artist Peter Max also is being held against his will in a legal guardianship, in which every aspect of his life is controlled by court-appointed strangers, says his daughter Libra Max, 54.
Walt Disney Co. and Scarlett Johansson have resolved their legal battle over her salary in the movie “Black Widow,” the two sides said.
Singer Shakira said she was attacked by two wild boars as she and her 8-year-old son, Milan, walked in a park in Barcelona, Spain.
