IT’S FRIDAY!
I feel the need to put that in all caps because yesterday I thought it was Wednesday for most of the day, and even tweeted as such in the morning and NO ONE disabused me of the notion.
That means one of two things….
Either nobody is reading these early morning posts, which is entirely possible and makes me question why I put myself through this quixotic exercise on the regular, OR, you’re all just too polite, or (more likely) too damn busy to bother yourselves with something as trivial as reminding me of the proper date.
I was at first thrilled to discover that the week was, in fact, closer to over than I had originally thought, but then simultaneously freaked out by this revelation because I have so much work to do and not nearly enough time to accomplish it all.
First world problems.
So, good morning. It’s Friday, just in case you needed a reminder. Obviously, I do.
It’s also International Stuttering Awareness Day. Very broadly speaking, stuttering is a communication disorder involving disruptions, or disfluencies, in a person’s speech – but there are a lot of different ways this manifests.
Stuttering is usually characterized by repetition of sounds, syllables, or words; prolongation of sounds; and interruptions in speech known as blocks. An individual who stutters exactly knows what he or she would like to say but has trouble producing a normal flow of speech.
Roughly 3 million Americans stutter – including President Joe Biden (more on that in a minute).
Though it affects people of all ages, stuttering most often occurs most often in children between the ages of 2 and 6 as they are developing language skills. Boys are two to three times more likely to stutter than girls, and though many children outgrow their stutter, the number of men who continue to stutter later in life is also higher than the number of women who do.
There is no known “cure” for stuttering, and as with any other speech disorder, it requires therapy and practice to treat or manage it. One of the tips for reducing a stutter is to slow down your speech. Most of us have had the experience of trying to speak so fast that we trip over our words. Slowing down and being mindful about speech helps prevent that from occurring.
So, back to Biden.
He has publicly spoken about his struggle to overcome his stutter, but does not frequently mention it. His critics often suggest he is experiencing cognitive decline, and cite his slow speech as proof. But another explanation might well be that he is simply trying to manage his stutter – on the world’s largest stage, day in and day out.
No pressure there or anything.
It’s going to be cloudy with a slight chance of a rain shower today. Temperatures will be in the low 60s. The weekend is looking not bad – clear but colder, with temperatures in the 50s. Next week looks…wet. Let’s not think about that, shall we?
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden spent 90 minutes last night answering questions from CNN’s Anderson Cooper and a town hall audience on a wide variety of topics from the fate of his domestic agenda to supply chain issues and the timeline of vaccine distribution for kids.
Biden said that he didn’t believe people needed to work to receive the monthly child tax credit, pushing back against a key Democrat’s effort to restrict eligibility for the cash benefit.
Biden also said he doesn’t think there are enough Democratic votes to raise tax rates in a deal on his economic agenda, but that he believes he’ll reach an agreement on the overall legislative package.
Democrats in Washington remain divided over the scope of Biden’s expansive domestic policy agenda. But their voters have largely rallied around the push to increase government spending and say they worry lawmakers will fail to come to an agreement.
The S&P 500 inched to a new high yesterday, continuing a rally aided by signs of progress in spending talks that could pave the way for an injection of some $3 trillion into the U.S. economy.
Biden admitted that he has no immediate solution to the problem of spiking gas prices and suggested that Americans would not start seeing relief at the pump until next year.
The president said he would consider deploying the National Guard to assist with supply-chain bottlenecks that have led to shortages and higher consumer costs, if his administration is unable to ease the problem.
Biden opened the door to “fundamentally” altering or eliminating the legislative filibuster to advance voting rights and potentially pass other legislation, but has held off on pushing for that reform because he believes it would jeopardize his economic agenda.
Biden had previously said that changing the filibuster rules to allow a debt limit vote was “a real possibility,” but his remarks yesterday evening suggested that he was ready to pursue broader changes to bypass Republican opposition.
The president’s approval rating slipped deeply underwater in the CNBC All-America Economic Survey as Americans soured on his economic leadership, lost confidence in his handling of Covid-19, and grew more concerned about inflation and supply shortages.
Rising global temperatures pose a growing risk to U.S. national security, as nations battle over who will pay for climate change’s costs, maneuver for advantage in a melting Arctic and grapple with drought and migration, a new intelligence report concluded.
The documents, issued by the departments of Homeland Security and Defense as well as the National Security Council and director of national intelligence, mark the first time that the nation’s security agencies collectively communicated the climate risks they face.
The House Committee on Ethics released four reports into separate violations of ethics rules by four congressmen, portraying what investigators suggested was a sweeping array of improper financial conduct.
Responding to a growing controversy over investing practices, the Federal Reserve announced a wide-ranging ban on officials owning individual stocks and bonds and limits on other activities as well.
The new rules will restrict senior officials’ trading to broad-based investment vehicles such as mutual funds. They also will require any trades to be pre-approved and pre-scheduled.
The United States would come to Taiwan’s defense and has a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own, U.S. Biden said, though the White House said later there was no change in policy towards the island.
The House voted to hold former Trump strategist Steve Bannon in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The vote of 229 to 202, mostly along party lines, came after Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the assault, declining to provide the panel with documents and testimony.
Weekly jobless claims hit another pandemic-era low last week as the elimination of enhanced benefits sent fewer people to the unemployment line.
First-time filings for unemployment insurance totaled 290,000 for the week ended Oct. 16, down 6,000 from the previous period, the Labor Department reported. This was the second week in a row that claims ran below 300,000.
Unadjusted claims, which economists say offer a better read of the labor market, tumbled 24,293 to 256,304. A jump of 17,570 in filings in California was offset by notable declines in Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Kentucky and D.C.
An influential Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee unanimously recommended boosters of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccines, sending it to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky for final approval.
The coronavirus vaccines “are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant,” Walensky said in a statement.
The panel didn’t recommend any of the boosters over the others. However, some members said they wanted to see people who received a J&J vaccine get a booster from Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE or from Moderna.
Robert Durst is still struggling and remains hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
A China-linked disinformation campaign blames Covid on Maine lobsters.
Russians have been told to take a paid week off work in order to try to combat the Covid-19 crisis in the country, as the number of daily deaths from the virus hit its highest level since the start of the pandemic.
Russia joins other countries grappling with how to reintroduce restrictions after doing away with nearly all of them.
With cases, hospital admissions and deaths all rising again; the effect of vaccines beginning to wear off; and winter looming, Britain’s strategy of learning to live with the virus is coming under its stiffest test yet.
Booster shots in adults who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were highly effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 breakthrough infections, the company announced.
The World Health Organization urged countries to do more to protect health care workers, saying that they are increasingly plagued by anxiety, burnout, illness and death on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Protecting themselves and their families from COVID-19 continues to be top of mind for New Yorkers, who were also less confident than months ago that the worst of the pandemic is behind them, a Siena poll found.
New Yorkers who sued to force hospitals to use an anti-parasitic drug, ivermectin, to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients turned to a small pool of health providers writing prescriptions for the controversial treatment.
A democratic socialist has a clear path to be elected mayor of Buffalo, propelled in part by newcomers who have spurred its revitalization in recent years.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he is endorsing India Walton to be mayor of Buffalo, giving the winner of the Democratic primary a crucial boost only days before early voting begins in her race against Mayor Byron Brown.
In his endorsement statement, Schumer said Walton, a nurse and community activist, is an “inspiring community leader” who has a “clear progressive vision for her hometown.”
The move puts Schumer — who is up for re-election himself next year — in sync with the left-wingers in New York’s Democratic Party, including democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Others, like Gov. Kathy Hochul, have remained neutral.
Hochul continued to round out her new administration, filling vacant, but key posts at the state’s homeland security office, the Office of General Services and a new state inspector general.
Hochul signed an unannounced executive order this week that seeks to compel the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide the state with its COVID-19 immunization records.
Hochul is grabbing an early lead in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial primary as would-be competitors start to nip at her heels in a race that could emerge as a tea leaf for the direction of the broader party.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is reportedly weighing a statewide campaign for attorney general if Letitia James leaves the seat to run for governor, as are Queens DA Melinda Katz and state Sen. Michael Gianaris.
The state trooper under investigation for the death of an 11-year-old Brooklyn girl during a high speed pursuit in upstate New York just before Christmas, 2020 was involved in two other similar rear-end crashes, Hochul revealed.
Seven years after New York passed its law permitting medical cannabis, certified patients will soon be allowed to grow plants at home, following regulations announced in the second-ever Cannabis Control Board meeting.
Wall Street profits surged in the first half of 2021 thanks to record low interest rates — but the securities industry is bleeding jobs, which could spell doom for New York’s economy, according to an analysis released Thursday by the state comptroller.
New York’s political elite rubbed shoulders at the Javits Center for the annual Al Smith Foundation Dinner, the biggest fundraising event for the Archdiocese of New York, highlighted with a keynote speech from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The New York Post doubled down on its support of Eric Adams for mayor.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa vowed to end the city’s “war on vehicles” by removing bike lanes and speed cameras — in stark contrast to transportation policies promoted by his rival Adams.
Two stars were mobbed by fans at Robin Hood Foundation’s benefit Wednesday evening at New York City’s Javits Center. One was musician Paul McCartney, the other was Adams.
Breon S. Peace, who went to high school in Crown Heights, is taking over as top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn at a precarious moment.
Complaints about commercial helicopters have soared in the last year, as the pandemic changed the rhythms of New York City and the people who live there.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and city Comptroller Scott Stringer announced that three of the city’s pension funds plan to pour at least $37 billion in savings into companies deemed climate friendly as part of the city’s effort to address the world’s climate crisis.
An Amazon employee group formed by warehouse workers in Staten Island announced its goal to vote on unionization, becoming the latest labor-organizing effort from workers at one of the nation’s largest employers.
Police identified a suspect wanted for the brazen fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man inside a Bronx bodega last summer, officials said.
A Manhattan federal judge shot down a request from jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell to conduct jury selection for her sex trafficking trial in secret.
Manhattan’s newest attraction, Summit, a sky-high observation deck with mirrored floors, has been forced to introduce a dress code to spare the blushes of visitors wanting to preserve their modesty.
It’s the end of an era for the Tobin’s First Prize property in Colonie. The long-time blight is being knocked into concrete rubble after sitting in a decrepit state for decades.
Shawn Stone, 57, a Capital Region journalist best known for his cultural coverage in the former alternative weekly Metroland and on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, died less than two months after being diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized to his brain.
Appellate justices in Albany unanimously dismissed a lawsuit filed against Hall of Fame pro-football coach Bill Parcells by a man who sustained injuries while trimming a tree at Parcells’ home in the Spa City in 2014.
A missing bobcat, undisclosed birds and a cover-up of failures in a black bear enclosure are among reasons state officials moved to pull a wildlife refuge operator’s licenses and deny the applications of her successors, according to state records.
Milton Town Supervisor Benny Zlotnick, who is fighting to keep his seat this November, has asked the state Attorney General to investigate his Republican opponent, Scott Ostrander.
Amid a rising stack of unpaid utility bills, National Grid is sending employees door to door, informing customers who are in arrears that their electric and gas payments need to be paid.
Certain fresh onions sold in restaurants and grocery stores around the U.S. were connected to a salmonella outbreak that has made at least 652 people sick, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Partial remains found by authorities searching for Brian Laundrie, Gabby Petito’s fiancé, were confirmed to be his after a review of dental records.
The discovery of the remains came seven weeks after Laundrie returned home from a monthslong van trip without Petito, and about four weeks after she was found dead in a national forest in Wyoming.
Actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot one person and injured another when he fired a prop firearm on the New Mexico set of the upcoming film “Rust.
The cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed, and the director, Joel Souza, 48, was injured around 1:50 p.m. on the set of “Rust,” which is being filmed in Santa Fe County, said Juan Rios, a spokesman for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
More than 1,800 sexual assaults occurred during Lyft rides in 2019, the company said in its first-ever safety report on sexual and physical assaults, fatal crashes and other serious incidents.
Queen Elizabeth II, 95, entered the hospital on Wednesday afternoon for tests and was discharged yesterday, a day after Buckingham Palace announced she would cancel a visit to Northern Ireland on the advice of her doctors. No further details were released.
