Good Monday morning.
Usually, I try to start the week out on a positive note. Setting the right tone for the workweek is important, I feel. But today, we might be going in a bit of a darker direction than usual, so hang on to your proverbial hats.
It’s Word Animal Day. This in and of itself is, of course, not necessarily depressing.
The day was founded in 1925 by Heinrich Zimmermann, the publisher of a German animal lovers’ magazine, “Man and Dog,” which, sadly, I don’t think is around anymore, though I did find one specifically for dog haters. (Who the hell ARE those people?)
I also came across a publication called “Dog + Human,” to which I must immediately subscribe.
Anyway, back to our friend Zimmermann.
He launched this day to raise awareness and improve the welfare of animals, and selected Oct. 4 because it’s the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of animals. (Actually, he died in near midnight on Oct. 3, 1226, but the church has chosen to honor him the next day).
Saint Francis, in case you’re unfamiliar, was recognized for his remarkable way with animals and all living things, He cared for impoverished people and lived as one, founding a movement of monks who live lives of simple poverty but are not cloistered.
Saint Francis wrote songs and preached to both birds and people. Some modern day churches hold animal blessing ceremonies in his honor on the first Sunday of October, which was yesterday. He’s also the Pope’s namesake.
Now here’s where things get a little dicey. World Animal Day has also become an arena for ecologists to discuss the problems associated with endangered species.
If you were paying attention to the news last week, you might have heard that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has removed 23 species from those protected under the Endangered Species Act because they have not been seen in the wild for decades, meaning they are most likely extinct.
The delisted species include the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) – formerly the largest woodpecker in the U.S. – reaching a maximum height of 20 inches – as well as 10 other birds; eight freshwater mussel species; two freshwater fish species; a fruit bat species; and a plant species, according to a USFWS statement.
Now, I don’t know about you, but this seriously bums me out.
We knew this day was probably coming, because only one of the aforementioned delisted species has had a confirmed sighting during this century, and 21 of the 23 haven’t been seen since 1990. But it’s still not good news.
The reality is that we – humans, that is – keep encroaching on, and in many cases, flat out destroying, animal and plant habitats, befouling the air they breathe and the water they drink and the land they live on, and then we turn around when they’re gone and wonder where they went and why.
Um, because of us. That’s why.
Since we’re on an environmental theme today, it’s worth noting that yesterday’s Google Doodle celebrated the 105th birthday of Spanish-American professor and marine research biologist María de los Ángeles Alvariño González, who is regarded as one of the most important Spanish scientists of all time.
Alvariño developed an interest in science and especially zoology by reading books in her father’s library. In in 1952, due to her impressive work as a professor, she was appointed as a marine biologist, allowing her to be the first woman to serve as a scientist aboard a Spanish exploration vessel.
Her main focus was zooplankton, a wide range of often microscopic creatures that serve as food for larger sea creatures. A year after her Spanish ship research experience, Alvariño received the opportunity to study zooplankton as the first woman scientist on a British ship.
She went on to be a Fulbright scholar here in the U.S., and during her time in this country, discovered 22 new species of plankton and created a model of how the many species of plankton are distributed around the world’s oceans.
If you’ve made it to the bottom of this unusually long intro…it’s going to be another cloudy day, with periods of rain and temperatures in the low 60s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden and top Democrats will regroup this week to salvage two pillars of his agenda, after gridlock between the party’s two flanks scuttled passage of an infrastructure bill and threatens to drag on for weeks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has given lawmakers until Halloween to strike a deal on the bipartisan $550 billion infrastructure deal and a broader, signature package of social spending, health care and tax measures they must pass with only Democratic votes.
The Senate passed a bill to extend funding for the Highway Trust Fund on Saturday after House Democrats failed to come together to pass a sweeping $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill due to partisan infighting.
Democrats’ debate over the two options took on fresh urgency after Biden said Friday that they would have to shrink the size of the legislation, projected to spend $3.5 trillion over a decade to expand and create education, healthcare, climate and other programs.
“We can bring the moderates and progressives together very easily if we had two more votes. Two. Two people,” Biden told reporters, taking a veiled jab at key holdout Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
The White House does not have a set timeline for winning approval of Biden’s domestic agenda, which faces deep divisions among congressional Democrats, a top adviser said.
Biden will visit Michigan tomorrow for the first time since July in an effort to build public support for his Build Back Better agenda, including the infrastructure plan currently pending in the U.S. House.
The largest closely held businesses would face a series of overlapping tax increases under Democratic proposals, leading to heavier burdens on high-income owners of partnerships and S corporations.
In the race to secure computer chips amid a global shortage, medical device makers say they have found their ace card: their products save lives.
Former President Trump in a new interview said he would beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if the two Republicans faced each other in a 2024 primary, but noted that he does not believe the governor will run against him.
The Supreme Court returns to its courtroom today for its first in-person arguments since March 2020, opening a term featuring challenges to abortion rights, gun regulations and a secular public-school system.
The justices have already set oral arguments in a number of key cases that could reshape our legal and political landscape and exacerbate society’s existing fault lines.
The court, which is dominated by six Republican appointees, will confront a charged docket, including a case asking it to overrule Roe v. Wade.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19 but has no symptoms and has been fully vaccinated, the Supreme Court said Friday.
Amid the nation’s worst Covid-19 outbreak in Alaska, patients are trapped in remote communities and doctors are prioritizing treatment based on who is most likely to survive.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said that immigrants are not driving the spread of COVID-19 in the US, despite some Americans believing otherwise.
The U.S. is turning the corner on the most recent surge in Covid-19 cases and more people need to get vaccinated to keep infections on a declining trend, Fauci said.
“We certainly are turning the corner on this particular surge,” he said. “But we have experienced over…close to 20 months, surges that go up and then come down, and then go back up again.
Doctors expect the flu season to be rough this year, and with it comes another challenge: Figuring out whether your symptoms point to the flu, Covid-19 or something else.
Although nursing home deaths from Covid-19 remain dramatically down from their peak at the end of last year, a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis shows a significant uptick in August as the Delta variant swept through the country.
Multiple medical authorities believe the population’s vaccination rate may need to approach or exceed 90% in order to reach an optimal level of protection against COVID-19.
Russia reported a record daily death toll from COVID-19, the fifth time in a week that deaths have hit a new high.
Alabama will spend $400 million of its COVID-19 relief funds, almost 20% of the allotted money, to build two prisons in a move that has drawn criticism from Democrats who say there are better uses for the money.
The cost of similar Covid-19 treatments can vary by tens of thousands of dollars a patient, even within the same hospital, according to a WJS analysis of pricing data that indicates pandemic care hasn’t escaped the complex economics of the U.S. health system.
Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, who had said he would not get the Covid vaccine until he was forced to and was denied a religious exemption by the NBA, has been vaccinated, head coach Steve Kerr confirmed.
A group of students at St. John’s University in New York is suing the Catholic school over its vaccine mandate, claiming the requirement violates their right to their religious beliefs.
Today marks the start date for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, and while the majority of them are vaccinated, thousands across New York who chose not to get the shot, lost their jobs.
The NYC Department of Education is looking to plug nearly 3,700 openings for substitute teachers as the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school staffers goes into effect today.
Hochul says she believes the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for health care workers is largely a success, even though some hospitals around the state have had to shut down some Urgent Care centers due to a staffing shortage.
New York City has doled out just 10 violations to Big Apple businesses since the start of a mandate requiring them to check customers for proof of vaccination for most indoor activities, according to Mayor de Blasio’s office.
Hochul joined hundreds of women to march for abortion and reproductive rights in Albany Saturday.
Earlier that same day, Hochul spoke at a rally held at the birthplace of women’s rights in Seneca Falls.
Behind the scenes, AG Tish James and her allies have made it clear to donors, elected officials and other Democratic power brokers that she is weighing a bid for governor in 2022 and is nearing a final decision.
If James, the state’s attorney general, decides to challenge Hochul and run for governor, then Zephyr Teachout will run for James’ job.
The Assembly’s report on its investigation into wrongdoing by Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to be released sometime this month, and will likely codify many findings in the AG’s previous report.
New York’s ethics commission will hold a special meeting tomorrow, and according to a person with knowledge of the matter, is set to discuss whether to launch an internal inquiry into last year’s approval of Cuomo’s $5.1 million book deal.
Eric Adams thinks Democrats have “become too complicated” and are failing to reach “the average person.”
Adams is heavily favored to become the next mayor of New York City, but that hasn’t stopped him from amassing an intimidatingly large war chest ahead of November’s general election. He has $7.7 million on hand to spend.
Adams has a massive fundraising edge over his Republican opponent, Curtis Sliwa.
Sliwa called for the return of “old-school ways” of policing — including the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy in order to stop the “open warfare involving teenagers” on Big Apple streets.
Former mayoral contender Andrew Yang penned a NY Post op-ed in which he decried New York’s closed primary system.
A pro-Trump Republican candidate who opposes COVID-19 vaccine mandates has a real chance of winning a City Council seat in southern Brooklyn, according to political sources in the borough.
Some executives at nonprofit groups that operate New York City homeless shelters are benefiting from the plight of the people they serve.
The CEO of one of the city’s largest nonprofit shelters stashed kin on the payroll and funneled millions of dollars into companies he has financial stakes in — alleged glaring conflicts of interest that the city claims it’s now cracking down on.
An incoming policy change by the Biden administration ought to help stymie the growing problem of “ghost guns” in New York City, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Hate-filled vandals defaced a statue of George Floyd in Union Square Park early yesterday, splattering paint over the 6-foot bust.
A John Jay College of Criminal Justice grad student says she endured “incessant unwanted sexual advances” from a prominent professor during thesis-writing sessions, according to a lawsuit against the scandal-scarred school.
Six years after the “Enough is Enough Act” was signed into law, sexual assault remains vastly underreported at New York colleges.
In the five days since SUNY imposed its deadline for all students to get vaccinated, many unvaccinated students have had a change of heart to remain on campus.
Rensselaer County’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Michael Sikirica, has refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19, forcing the county to send bodies for autopsies to Glens Falls Hospital instead of Albany Medical Center Hospital.
Liz Joy, a Republican congressional candidate, said two of her family members used an unproven coronavirus treatment called ivermectin to help their COVID-19 symptoms and is recommending on social media that others consider using the medication.
The Cannabis Control Board, the five-member panel charged with approving the comprehensive regulatory framework for the state’s cannabis industry, will hold its first public meeting tomorrow.
An emu has been spotted wandering eastern Dutchess County for a week after it reportedly escaped from a local farm in Millerton.
Cleanup crews struggled to contain a major oil spill off the Southern California coastline that has sullied beaches with dead wildlife and oil — and threatened sensitive wetland areas.
U.S. Soccer has hired former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to launch an independent investigation into claims circulating against women’s professional soccer coaches.
SNL opened its 47th season with new cast member James Austin Johnson taking on the role of Biden.
More than a month after leaving office, Cuomo is still providing fodder for SNL.
A NASCAR crowd at Talladega Superspeedway broke into a “F–k Joe Biden” chant on Saturday — but an NBC reporter claims she heard something more benign.
