Good Thursday morning.
In terms of what to elevate today, it’s kind of a no-brainer…
It’s National First Responders Day, designated as such with a resolution passed by Congress in 2019 that honors the firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and all others who are first on the scene in stressful, dangerous, and life-threatening situations like accidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and more.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tom Cotton, along with Reps. Mark Meadows, Michael Capuano and Elijah Cummings, introduced a resolution to establish National First Responders Day in 2017.
The resolution was supported by the family of Sean Collier, a police officer ambushed and murdered during events related to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. A number of states were already celebrating this day before it became a national observance.
Collier’s brother, Andrew, fought to start the movement of support for the country’s first responders, with the help of the All Clear Foundation.
In 2019, when the resolution finally passed – why, BTW, did it take two years to make that happen?! – an estimated 4.6 million career and volunteer firefighters, police, emergency medical technicians, and paramedic workers were serving communities all across the nation, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The history of first responders reportedly dates back to the Civil War, during which strategies for first aid were advanced on the battlefield. The EMS Systems Act of 1973 provided funding for the creation of more than 300 EMS systems across the nation, and also set aside funding for key future planning and growth. (If you really want to go down the rabbit hole on this, click here).
Apparently, there’s some internal controversy among the ranks of first responders about who, specifically, deserves that title. It seems ill-advised for me, the wife of a cop, to weigh in on this debate. Suffice it to say, people who run TOWARD trouble when the rest of us are trying to avoid it deserve honor and thanks and praise.
Especially since doing so takes a significant toll on their own physical and mental health – and I think it’s fair to add health care workers to that mix, especially after the past 18+ months of the pandemic.
So, if you see a first responder today, maybe take a moment to thank them for their service. Also, there are some deals to be had if you fall into the first responder category, so keep an eye out for those opportunities. (Actually, it turns out there’s quite a list of discounts available on the regular to folks who are first responders…which is something about which I was not previously aware).
It will be mostly sunny today with temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s.
In the headlines…
A flurry of cuts to Democrats’ domestic priorities endangered a quick deal on President Joe Biden’s agenda after a frenetic 24 hours of negotiating between the president and two moderate senators.
Democrats reportedly scrapped paid family and medical leave from their cornerstone economic and climate package, discarding one of the central planks of Biden’s proposal as they scramble to strike a deal with holdout senators.
This was yet another cave to the Senate moderates and dealt a shattering blow to House progressives – not to mention millions of Americans who must choose between their jobs and caring for newborns or elderly relatives.
Still in the mix: expanded health care programs, free pre-kindergarten and some $500 billion to tackle climate change remain in what’s now at least a $1.75 trillion package. And Democrats are eyeing a new surcharge on the wealthy to help pay for it all.
Biden signaled in a tweet that a deal could be reached on getting key components of his agenda passed.
Biden is expected to attend a House Democratic caucus meeting this morning, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET. – a sign read on Capitol Hill as a very good sign that party leaders had finalized a deal.
The White House is pushing for Democrats to come together around the bill, expected to cost around $1.75 trillion, by the end of the week, which could also unlock possible passage of an infrastructure package that has been held up by House progressives.
Powerful blocs of Democratic lawmakers are fighting to keep a proposed expansion of health coverage for lower-income Americans in Biden’s social spending and climate agenda, hoping to survive a cull of programs as the party trims the package’s price tag.
The message from the president, Vice President Kamala Harris and top aides to groups like the Congressional Black Caucus and Women’s Caucus and key individual lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders has been: a lesser bill is better than no bill at all.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki clashed with a reporter after he asked her whether Biden would speak with Pope Francis about his position on abortion when the two meet in Rome tomorrow.
For a certain kind of Catholic, Biden represents a repudiation of their understanding of their own Catholic identity, and that kind of Catholic tends to be less than enthusiastic about Francis! Photos of the two together will be too much.
Former GOP California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger denounced Biden’s plans to travel to Europe for climate talks amid the Democrat’s declining approval rating.
A cheap, generically available anti-depressant may reduce the risk of severe Covid-19 disease by close to a third in people at high risk, researchers reported.
Covid-19 patients who received fluvoxamine were significantly less likely to require hospitalization than those who didn’t, in the largest clinical trial evaluating the antidepressant’s effect on Covid-19 to date.
U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. said it will license drugmakers worldwide to produce its potentially lifesaving antiviral pill for treatment of COVID-19 in adults.
The agreement with the organization Medicines Patent Pool will allow companies in 105 countries, mostly in Africa and Asia, to sublicense the formulation for the antiviral pill, called molnupiravir, and begin making it.
At least 59,000 meatpacking workers caught COVID-19 and 269 workers died when the virus tore through the industry last year, which is significantly more than previously thought, according to a new U.S. House report released yesterday.
At least 59,000 workers at Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, JBS, Cargill and National Beef — companies that control the lion’s share of the U.S. meat market — were infected with the coronavirus during the pandemic’s first year.
Another In-N-Out restaurant in California was forced to close after refusing to enforce Covid-19 vaccination rules.
The highest rate of COVID-19 vaccination in the U.S. is not in a liberal-leaning Northeastern or West Coast state. It’s in Puerto Rico, where more than 73% of the total population is fully vaccinated. The U.S. national average is just over 57%.
Sweden, which has been noted for its more hands-off response to COVID-19, is now crossing a stark pandemic threshold, surpassing 15,000 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began.
Health officials approved mix-and-match Covid booster shots, but didn’t say whether it’s better to switch vaccines or stick with your original shot.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was relieved to see the FDA advisory panel voted to recommend emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11, and added that mandates for students aren’t out of the question.
“That is a possibility, it’s on the table, and as I’ve said all along I want to empower parents and the schools to do the right thing first,” said Hochul.
A new bill has been introduced in New York State that proposes a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students. After recent backlash on vaccine mandates thus far, some upstate officials hope that a mandate won’t be necessary.
Hochul is facing criticism for a maskless photo posted from a Broadway play with several other people.
A Staten Island judge denied a request from New York City’s largest police union to block Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID vaccine mandate from going into effect.
A Yale School of Public Health professor who joined the city’s largest police union in a losing fight against a vaccine mandate was slammed last year by colleagues for fringe views on COVID treatments.
As droves of New York City municipal workers continue to resist a mandate to receive COVID-19 vaccines, a slowdown in garbage pick-ups had de Blasio promising that he’d press the matter with the sanitation workers union.
State Attorney General Letitia James — whose bombshell sexual harassment report led to the resignation of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo — will announce that she’s challenging Hochul in the 2022 Democratic primary “shortly.”
James did not reveal her decision, but her top aides have told political and union leaders that she will run. She could make her plans public as early as today – potentially by video.
“Attorney General Letitia James has made a decision regarding the governor’s race. She will be announcing it in the coming days,” Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a senior advisor for James’ campaign said in a statement.
One Democrat familiar with the attorney general’s thinking and deliberations said that James could still reverse course and either announce an exploratory committee for governor or that she will seek another term as AG rather than pursuing the top post.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has filed his paperwork with the state Board of Elections to establish a campaign committee for the governor’s race, according to state filings.
Hochul is furiously fundraising as she’s expected to face fierce challenges from James and others in 2022, even attending an event hosted by one of Albany’s top-grossing lobbying firms headed by the father of disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former top aide.
Hochul plans to follow through with her predecessor’s proposal to close prisons around the state.
Siding with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the environmental left, Hochul killed two proposed natural gas-powered projects in Queens and Newburgh.
The decision by the state Department of Environmental Conservation came a week after Hochul signaled to activists protesting the Astoria electrical plant replacement project that she was on their side.
In answering some of the persistent questions around whether a conflicts-of-interest policy exists and what it entails, Hochul’s administration is offering new details and a promise that the policy will be released publicly.
Billionaire former mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had a rare third term at City Hall, says Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams could enjoy the same long tenure, is he’s “clever.”
The Brooklyn Eagle endorsed Adams, citing his “ability to unite voters during a particularly divisive time locally and nationally for politics.”
GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa slammed Adams for meeting with gang members.
Recent statements and past online postings have raised questions about the work history of City Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Bay Ridge), one of several lawmakers now vying to become the next Council Speaker.
A possible staffing crisis caused by a looming vaccine mandate has forced city officials to draft emergency plans for firefighters and EMS workers who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19, even in the face of stiff penalties.
An NYPD chief who was once the department’s highest-ranking woman endured a series of “offensive” and “inappropriate” episodes after being demoted, a judge has ruled, allowing the ex-cop’s gender discrimination lawsuit to proceed.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said they plan to launch a “fare capping” pilot next year that would automatically convert single-ride passes to unlimited rides if users spend enough.
A group of NYC taxi medallion owners yesterday entered the eighth day of a hunger strike meant to draw attention to thousands of cabbies who are stuck with huge loans they’re unable to pay off.
The state Assembly held a hearing to examine the impact of “proof of work” cryptocurrency mining on the state’s ability to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals, state agency responses and whether additional statutory or regulatory changes are required.
The Albany Capital Center installed a new purifying system to improve the air quality for visitors.
An employee in the state’s Department of Taxation and Finance faces a felony drug charge after State Police said he left 6.5 grams of cocaine and a scale for measuring drugs at work.
A state trooper has been charged with murder, manslaughter and reckless endangerment for allegedly using his police cruiser to ram a car occupied by four members of a family, killing Monica Goods, 11, when the family’s vehicle flipped over.
No one was hurt when a small plane came down in a field west of the Saratoga County Airport in the town of Milton yesterday sometime before 6 p.m., sheriff’s investigators said.
Newburgh native Klarisse Torriente is cementing her love of nature in a role she assumed last summer, as the first Black summit steward for the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK).
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan joined the mayor of Hudson, Kamal Johnson, in penning a NYDN op-ed in favor of just cause evictions.
Fighting to remain Buffalo mayor — incumbent, write-in candidate Byron Brown slammed his opponent, India Walton, as a Democratic socialist and “apologist” for criminals, whose ideas are “bad at best” during a final debate ahead of the election.
Cigarette sales to wholesalers and retailers rose from 202.9 billion in 2019 to 203.7 billion in 2020, the Federal Trade Commission said – the first increase in 20 years.
McDonald’s is raising menu prices to keep pace with rapidly growing costs, the company said, with wages alone up at least 10% so far this year at U.S. restaurants.
Actor Alec Baldwin fired a live round during a rehearsal of the film “Rust,” which killed the movie’s cinematographer and wounded the director, the sheriff for Santa Fe County said.
Santa Fe County District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said that she was “shocked” and “completely astonished” when she first heard about the shooting on the set of the movie “Rust.”
Criminal charges could still be filed in the probe into Halya Hutchin’s death, police have said. The developments come as Baldwin retweeted a New York Times article that alleged that he had no idea that the gun contained live ammunition.
