Good Monday morning.
I regret to inform you, in case you weren’t aware, that the holiday season is officially upon us.
Already there have been reports of Christmas decorations available for sale around the Capital Region. I personally haven’t seen any, but I more or less live under a rock.
The kids who trick-or-treated at my house – the few who dared to show up – got Kind bars because I had neither the time to shop for Halloween-specific candy, nor the inclination to have it around to tempt me to eat it.
Kind bars are delicious, anyway, IMHO. They’re basically candy.
Also, not for nothing, but my first trick-or-treat duo showed up at 3:30 p.m. I’m all for getting it done early and everything, and Sunday is a school night, but 3:30 p.m.?! It wasn’t even close to dark yet. And these kids weren’t all that young…I mean, they walked up to the door on their own, so I’m guessing somewhere around…10?
Anyway, they were greeted by Kind bars and also by Henry, who was masquerading as a ferocious watch dog. For the record, they seemed perfectly content with the Kind bars, which were full-sized. We do not skimp around here. So, there’s that.
The holiday season makes me melancholy, generally speaking, and holiday season + ongoing coronavirus pandemic is downright depressing. Also, the supply chain problems the country is experiencing right now are going to make shopping a real drag.
Thankfully, I was not planning on shopping very much. The good thing about getting older is that you need less and less. In fact, I’m inclined to give things away more than acquire them these days.
While we’re barreling toward a holiday that is all about eating a very big bird, it seems fitting to note that today is World Vegan Day.
In case you ever wondered about the origin of the word “vegan,” it was the brainchild of a British animal rights advocate and woodworker named Donald Watson, who was the founder of the UK Vegan Society. The word, which describes people who do not eat any animal products – including dairy and eggs – is actually a pared down version of “vegetarian”.
Watson stopped eating meat in his early teens after being horrified by the slaughter of a pig on his uncle’s farm, and eventually convinced his siblings to do the same – much to the reported confusion and consternation of their mother. After a long career of activism, he died on Nov.16, 2005 at the age of 95.
Veganism has been gaining in popularity for some time, with even a growing number of fast food chains embracing the trend and offering various non-meat options.
Though it’s too extreme for many people to stop eating all animal products altogether, the reality is that embracing a more plant-based existence has been widely shown to be better for your health and better for the planet, too. Win-win.
One easy way to ease into the concept of eating more vegetables is simply to, well, eat more vegetables. In other words, think more about what you can ADD to your diet in terms of healthy, whole foods rather than what you need to subtract. This approach has been easier for me, since it’s less about depriving oneself and more about broadening one’s culinary horizons.
To be clear, before you naysayers all jump at once, not all vegan foods are better for the planet, and purchasing sustainably, locally farmed meat and dairy supports small business owners (AKA farmer). So yes, there’s an argument to be made on both sides here.
OH, and I would be remiss if i didn’t note that tomorrow is Election Day. The last day for early voting was yesterday.
If you are voting absentee, your ballot must be either postmarked OR hand-delivered to your local Board of Elections and/or poll site by tomorrow. Military ballots must be received no later than Nov. 15; regular absentee ballots must be received no later than Nov. 9.
After an on-again, off-again weekend that was oddly warm, we are heading into a period of fairly dry weather…looking ahead, though, I was HORRIFIED to see the words “snow showers” appearing for Saturday morning’s forecast.
But we can all cross that bridge when we come to it.
In the meantime, today will be partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid-50s. Perfectly acceptable mid-fall weather.
In the headlines…
The world’s leading economies made no major progress over how to cut greenhouse gas emissions, showing how difficult it will be to achieve a breakthrough at United Nations climate talks in Glasgow over the next two weeks.
President Joe Biden heads to the make-or-break global climate summit with one hand tied behind his back, with uncertainty over his ability to push the U.S. to forceful climate action muddying his message that other nations must step up.
Biden wants to show that the U.S. is ready to take a leadership role on global warming, but with few concrete options for rallying international support for the tough measures scientists say are needed.
Biden convened a summit yesterday during the annual gathering of G-20 leaders to address supply-chain challenges and other disruptions affecting global commerce.
Biden, who has come away from his visit with papal backing in his conflict with conservative U.S. bishops, praised Pope Francis for being “everything I admire about Catholicism.”
Biden said during his first news conference in months that he was encouraged by his reception at the Group of 20 Leadership Summit in Rome, dismissing concerns that allies might not take solace in his pledge to turn the page from his predecessor.
Biden wrapped up his time at the Group of 20 summit trying to convince Americans and the world that he’s got things under control — and taking Russia, China and Saudi Arabia to task for not doing enough to combat climate change.
Biden voiced confidence that U.S. lawmakers will pass his legislative agenda as House Democrats work with shifting timelines toward votes on his infrastructure and social-spending bills.
Biden and congressional leaders are forging ahead with plans to have the House vote on his two massive spending plans, even while backing off their Tuesday deadline amid persistent concerns from key lawmakers.
Democrats in Washington and Virginia are growing anxious as the neck-and-neck Virginia governor race looms tomorrow without a resolution to the negotiations over Biden’s spending plans.
The battle for programs like paid family leave that were jettisoned from Biden’s proposed spending measures is far from over, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said.
Some business groups and G.O.P. proponents of paid leave believe if it had been broken out and negotiated with Republicans, the way the infrastructure package was, it could have survived, and some think it still could resurrected as a bipartisan initiative.
Congress is poised to shield a $42 billion broadband grant program from federal transparency and privacy laws, hampering oversight of money expected to flow mostly to telecommunications companies.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in two challenges to a Texas law that bars most abortions in the state after six weeks of pregnancy.
The court has limited its focus to procedural questions about whether the two lawsuits may go forward – and whether enforcement should be put on hold – but the arguments will be watched for clues about the justices’ positions on the legality of abortion.
The justices will also this week hear a case that could lead to more guns on the streets of New York and Los Angeles and threaten restrictions on guns in subways, airports, bars, churches, schools and other places where people gather.
The gun rights case originated in the Capital Region five years ago.
Southwest Airlines said it is conducting an internal investigation after one of its pilots used a phrase that’s become a stand-in for insulting Biden during the pilot’s greeting to passengers over the plane’s public address system last week.
The airline announced its investigation after The Associated Press reported the incident in a story about the growing use of the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon,” an aphorism in conservative circles for a vulgarity targeting Biden.
American Airlines scrubbed more than 1,900 flights over the weekend, the latest in a series of cancellations to disrupt travelers’ plans, as the industry struggles to steady itself a year and a half into the pandemic.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who dropped off Biden’s international trip shortly before he departed, has tested positive for coronavirus after members of her household did, she said in a statement.
Psaki said she last saw Biden Tuesday outside while masked, before the President departed for Rome for the Group of 20 Summit, and that she had tested negative several times in between. Biden reportedly tested negative Saturday.
Psaki decided not to join Biden on his trip to Rome and Glasgow this week because a member of her household tested positive for the virus, after which she quarantined, she said.
Jon Bon Jovi has tested positive for COVID-19. The musician was scheduled to give a concert in Miami, but had to cancel when he and other band members tested positive after they were given rapid tests.
Ice Cube’s latest project “Oh Hell No” will have to go on without him after the rapper-turned-actor gave a similar response when asked to take COVID-19 shot as part of the film’s vaccine mandate.
COVID-19 has killed approximately 750,000 Americans over the last two years, officially surpassing the number of lives lost to HIV/AIDS over the last four decades to become the country’s deadliest pandemic.
Apologies to jab, shot and “Fauci ouchie.” Oxford Languages’s 2021 Word of the Year is “vax.”
The Delta wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is past its peak, with new cases, hospitalizations and deaths declining in most states. The approaching holidays and winter months will test whether the U.S. can sustain that momentum.
Five hundred and ninety-seven days after the World Health Organization first identified the novel coronavirus as a pandemic, the small island nation of Tonga has confirmed its very first case of COVID-19.
Big U.S. companies are taking a range of approaches to dealing with employee requests for a religious exemption to Covid-19 vaccine mandates, according to internal documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Supermarket chains are revamping their operations to navigate persistent product shortages, expanding storage space and curbing discounts to make sure they don’t run out.
The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted retirements among baby boomers, further straining the tight labor supply and leaving a hole for employers to fill.
The Food and Drug Administration is delaying a decision on Moderna’s application to authorize use of its Covid-19 vaccine in adolescents to assess whether the shot leads to a heightened risk of myocarditis, the company said.
More than 24,000 city workers will be forced to stay home today when Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate goes into effect, raising concerns about the impact on emergency response times in the five boroughs.
Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams called on unvaccinated cops and firefighters to get the jab and get back to work but refused to say if de Blasio should pull the plug on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city workers.
The FDNY shuttered 26 fire companies citywide this weekend due to staff shortages caused by the vaccination mandate, according to furious elected officials, who ripped the move as “unconscionable” — and warned it could have catastrophic consequences.
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro lambasted thousands of members of his department for taking sick leave in an apparent protest of the city’s vaccine mandate for municipal workers.
The head of the Big Apple’s firefighters’ union doubled down that flu-like symptoms from the city-mandated COVID-19 vaccine — and not a staged sick-out — has kept smoke eaters off the job, shutting down more than a dozen fire companies over the weekend.
Six New York firefighters were suspended for four weeks without pay Friday following an incident between on-duty firefighters and an elected official’s staff, according to a statement from a FDNY spokesperson.
Suffolk County is set to dramatically boost its police ranks — including by potentially siphoning off cops from the NYPD who are furious over the Big Apple’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
New York State health care workers will no longer have a religious exemption to the state’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate after a federal appeals court vacated a temporary injunction Friday.
The surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in New York over the past four months has been far less severe on Long Island and in New York City than upstate, a Newsday analysis of state data found.
Enrollment in New York City’s public school system has dropped by about 50,000 students since the fall of 2019, the Department of Education said, the latest example of the profound disruption the pandemic has had on public education across the country.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took a 27-minute test ride on the new LIRR into Grand Central Station yesterday morning.
Hochul pledged to take action to fix “scary” Penn Station during a tour of Grand Central’s long-delayed and severely overbudget “East Side Access” terminal.
It was a chaotic scene in Staten Island yesterday, as a protest against vaccine mandates was held at the same time Hochul was campaigning across the street for local Democrats.
Hochul visited Saugerties on Saturday to urge voters to go to the polls. The campaign rally was held under a large tent behind The Dutch restaurant at 253 Main Street.
Hochul signed into law a bill that will penalize drivers and repair shops for illegal modification to mufflers or exhaust systems on state vehicles.
Hochul also signed into law legislation that bans homeowner’s insurance companies from charging higher premiums based on the breed of animal living in the house and mandating veterinarians report suspected cases of animal abuse.
Kim Beaty, the law enforcement veteran who is trying to become the first Democrat elected as Erie County sheriff in nearly three decades, announced that she has received the endorsement of Hochul, who’s staying out of the Buffalo mayor’s race.
With a little more than two months on the job, Hochul has sought to be a calming, steady hand for state government after the tumultuous final months of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 11-year tenure, which ended with sexual harassment allegations against him.
Hochul said Friday she’s working to “erase” a culture of sexual harassment in New York state, in the wake of Cuomo being charged with groping a former female aide.
“We kind of got sandbagged ourselves and I kind of felt bad about the way that it all happened,” Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said of the Cuomo case going public. “But the way that it went down has nothing to do with the case. The case is a very solid case.”
Cuomo’s attorney sent a letter to Apple, requesting that his office “preserve all records relating to your investigation into allegations” that Cuomo had groped a female aide during a workplace encounter at the Executive Mansion in December.
Democratic candidate for governor Letitia James, the state AG, has racked up a series of early endorsements following her entry into the race for the party’s nomination.
Queens could be king in deciding the Democratic primary race for governor — prompting incumbent Hochul and challenger James to shower attention on its voters, political observers say.
In some New York City Council races, supporting former President Donald Trump is seen as a positive by voters.
The founder of the Guardian Angels, Curtis Sliwa, has sought the spotlight for decades. With his long-shot GOP bid to become the city’s next mayor, he has found it again. Maybe that’s all he wanted.
Adams was interrupted by a scantily clad woman in a bizarre incident at one of his campaign events in Manhattan yesterday.
A series of Election Day contests across the state – from Long Island to Buffalo – may serve as a barometer of how far left Democratic voters in New York want their party to go.
New York voters will see five proposals on their ballots, all involving potential amendments to the state constitution.
Two of New York’s most prominent good-government groups find themselves at odds over a proposed constitutional change that would tweak the once-a-decade drawing of the state’s political maps.
Tens of thousands of revelers returned to Manhattan to take part in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade that was nixed last year because of the pandemic — and many attendees donned coronavirus-themed costumes as they marched up Sixth Avenue.
Alberto (Alpo) Martinez, whose cocaine-dealing empire stretched from New York to Washington, D.C., at the height of bloody drug turf wars three decades ago, was shot and killed in Harlem early yesterday, according to a high-ranking police official.
The Brooklyn-born rap mogul Jay-Z got testy on the stand Friday with an attorney for a perfume brand suing him for breach of contract.
Police officers, trained to presume danger, have reacted with outsize aggression at traffic stops across the U.S. For hundreds of unarmed drivers, the consequences have been fatal.
Busted taillights, missing plates, tinted windows: Across the U.S., traffic ticket revenue funds towns — and the police responsible for finding violations
The report of a binational task force on U.S.-Canada pandemic border policy said that the federal government eroded public trust due to its flawed handling of prolonged land border restrictions.
Some NYRA workers contend that even though they have their jobs back, they aren’t being provided with enough shifts to work to make ends meet because racing is being held far less frequently than it was before the pandemic.
More forlorn properties will be coming down in Schenectady, several houses deemed too far gone to save.
Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Baldwin are still holed up in Manchester, Vermont following the tragic accident in which the actor accidentally shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust.”
