Good Monday morning.
As of tomorrow, there will be 10 days remaining until Thanksgiving.
For those of you who are hosting this year, this is when you’re supposed to start officially prepping for the big meal, apparently.
The tasks this far out aren’t terribly onerous – like now is when you’re to be thinking about your cooking method for the bird, which, hopefully, you have either already secured or at least reserved (if you’re going to buy it fresh).
If you are using a frozen turkey, the safest way to thaw it is to do so in the fridge – not on the counter – and the rule is to allow one day of thawing for every five pounds of meat. In other words, it would take four whole days to thaw a 20-pound bird, after which it’s safe to hold (cooled, of course) for another two days before cooking.
The USDA has lots of helpful turkey tips available here.
And, of course, if you really run into problems, you can always contact the Butterball hotline (now also available on TikTok (new this year), Instagram and Facebook. And, if you call the 1-800 number, there are even Spanish-speaking experts available to dole out advice.
The weekend before Thanksgiving is when all the pre-making of side dishes, desserts, and appetizers is supposed to be occurring. The Monday or Tuesday before the pre-cooking weekend, you will, of course, have done all your shopping, and perhaps have already gotten a head start on cranberry sauce, pie crusts, and gravy.
If you’re really a do-ahead sort of person, you might also consider chopping vegetables and bread for the stuffing, and even measuring out your spices, so when you’re ready to hit the stove, you can basically be half asleep – or maybe even relaxed with a glass or wine, or two – and still get everything done.
Speaking of T-Day, you may have heard that inflation is doing a number on Thanksgiving this year, with food costs for meat, eggs, fish, and poultry up 5.6 percent.
Maybe this is the year to actually buck tradition and go vegan? An all-sides meal? Really, turkey is so cumbersome to cook, so big and hard to fit in the oven with everything else. And it makes everyone drowsy.
Maybe this is a good year for a mac-and-cheese extravaganza. Think about it.
If you’re not the sort of person who plans ahead (raises hand), of are chucking it all and having pizza for Thanksgiving dinner, then you might be more interested to know that today is America Recycles Day, established by the EPA in 2019.
An EPA study found that recycling and reuse activities in the U.S. accounted for 681,000 jobs and $37.8 billion in wages, and the current recycling rate is about 32 percent in 2018 – up from 7 percent in 1960.
That’s a nice increase, but it’s still not terribly high, compared to other countries, and it was higher in 2015 – around 34 percent. Sweden, by contrast, dumps about 1 percent of its garbage in landfills annually. ONE PERCENT. If you’re looking for some recycling tips, click here.
Two rules of thumb to remember: Clean, empty and dry – that’s how recyclables should be put in the bin – and also, don’t try to recycle anything smaller than a credit card.
The forecast today is downright depressing – “a shower of rain or wet snow is possible” – ugh. And temperatures will be in the lower-to-mid 40s. I guess there’s no denying it anymore; winter really is almost here.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet virtually this evening to seek improved U.S.-China ties and potentially unveil a handful of initiatives to symbolize that resolve.
As the two leaders prepare to hold their first presidential meeting, the troubled U.S.-China relationship is demonstrating that the power of one of Biden’s greatest professed strengths as a politician — the ability to connect — has its limits.
Biden named former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to oversee implementation of the $1 trillion infrastructure plan, the White House said.
Landrieu, a 61-year-old Democrat, was named senior advisor and infrastructure coordinator ahead of the expected signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act today.
Biden chose Landrieu, a former Louisiana lieutenant governor who led the city of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018, because of his experience running the city and his relationships with state and municipal leaders around the nation.
The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill is poised to unlock billions for mass transit projects in New York, and MTA leaders are eager for money to jumpstart construction on an extension of the Second Ave. subway to E. 125th St.
Biden says he intends to run for re-election in 2024. But not all Democrats believe him. Nor are they convinced his No. 2 would be the clear heir if he did choose to opt out.
Worn out by what they see as entrenched dysfunction and lack of focus, key West Wing aides have largely thrown up their hands at Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff – deciding there simply isn’t time to deal with them right now.
Harris’ latest poll numbers aren’t just bad, they’re late night comedy-fodder bad.
In a hypothetical 2024 rematch, former President Donald Trump leads Biden in Iowa by 11 percentage points, a new Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows.
Trump’s family hotel company has reached an agreement to sell the rights to its Washington, D.C., hotel for $375 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The pending deal to sell the Trump International Hotel, often the subject of controversy during his presidency, comes after years of financial losses at the property.
A woman who appeared as a contestant on “The Apprentice,” the reality television show Trump hosted before he ran for president, has agreed to end her defamation lawsuit against him, her lawyers said.
The indictment of former Trump aide Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress will prompt others to cooperate with the House probe into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said.
Bye-bye, Trump Organization. Hello, skaters. Central Park’s Wollman Rink opened for the winter season this past weekend under new management.
House Democrats will return this week with the goal of passing a roughly $2 trillion social spending and climate package. To be successful, members must remain united amid intraparty friction that some say is the worst they’ve seen in their time in Congress.
A coalition of conservative religious groups is lobbying intensely to remove a nondiscrimination provision from Biden’s ambitious pre-K and child care plans, fearing it would disqualify their programs from receiving a huge new infusion of federal money.
Executives are seizing a once in a generation opportunity to raise prices to match and in some cases outpace their own higher expenses, after decades of grinding down costs and prices.
Stubbornly high inflation is putting the Democratic Party’s legislative agenda and political fortunes at risk, pressuring the White House and prompting it to stress its efforts to fight rising costs.
The COVID pandemic is “responsible” for inflation that’s been shocking Americans from the breakfast table to the gas pump, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an interview that aired on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Inflation threatens to slow Biden’s agenda, and Republicans say it will help them devastate the Democratic majority in Congress.
GOP congressional candidates hold their largest lead in midterm election vote preferences in ABC News/Washington Post polls dating back 40 years, underscoring profound challenges for Democrats hoping to retain their slim majorities in Congress next year.
Workers resigned from a record 4.4 million jobs in September, according to Labor Department data, and new surveys show that low-wage workers, employees of color and women outside the management ranks are those most likely to change roles.
Biden’s administration should tap into emergency petroleum reserves to lower rising gasoline prices as Americans go into the holiday season, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“We’re here today because we need immediate relief at the gas pump and the place to look is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” Schumer, a Democrat, said at a news conference in New York.
Covid-19 cases are climbing in places like the upper Midwest, Southwest and parts of the Northeast, hindering the nation’s progress in ending a surge triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
The Big Apple has been a good Covid story of late. Indeed, positive signs abound downstate, according to Covid infection and hospitalization numbers. The same can’t be said for Western New York, and much of upstate.
The Finger Lakes region on Friday surpassed 8 percent on the seven-day average for positive COVID-19 tests. The Western New York region joined it on Saturday, hitting 8.04 percent according to data provided by the governor’s office.
A new study has found that the virus is capable of transmitting between wild white-tailed deer – giving some scientists concerns as upstate New York enters hunting season.
Several dozen New York City workers have been suspended without pay as a part of an investigation into the use of fake vaccine cards at the Department of Sanitation, a city official with knowledge of the investigation said.
City officials are probing allegations that Emergency Medical Service workers are selling fake COVID-19 vaccination cards.
The NYPD has the most employees seeking an exemption to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for New York City public workers.
A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld its decision to put on hold an order by Biden for companies with 100 workers or more to require COVID-19 vaccines, rejecting a challenge by his administration.
Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, said that if courts continue to block the Biden administration’s efforts to soon compel large companies to require a Covid vaccine or face weekly testing, it would be “a setback for public health.”
Democratic lawmakers are urging Biden to require that all airline passengers either show proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus or a negative COVID-19 test before boarding a domestic flight.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and will turn 81 on Christmas Eve, says he isn’t going anywhere.
Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert who’s provided reassurance to many Americans during the pandemic, says he won’t quit until the country gets past COVID.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the FDA, said that the mixed messaging by the federal government over who can and should receive a COVID-19 booster shot may end up being one of the most consequential missteps of the pandemic.
As Europe finds itself at the center of the Covid-19 pandemic once again, experts say it should serve as a warning to the U.S. and other countries about the coronavirus’s unremitting nature.
The Austrian government has ordered a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people starting at midnight tonight to combat rising coronavirus infections and deaths.
With hospitals throughout Colorado facing increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations, state officials announced that attendees of large public indoor events in certain jurisdictions must be vaccinated in order to help curb the virus’ spread.
A doctor from Texas who spread COVID-19 misinformation on her personal Twitter account has had her privileges suspended.
Mr. T, 69, is giving fans a health update — in the most Mr. T way possible — after receiving his COVID-19 booster shot.
The Green Bay Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was required to spend the last 10 days in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus on Nov. 3, resumed play yesterday afternoon against the visiting Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field.
Three snow leopards died of complications related to Covid-19 at a zoo in Lincoln, Neb., despite efforts by staff to restore them to health after they tested positive for the virus about a month ago, zoo announcements said.
School nurses play a crucial role in keeping schools open and students safe but have found themselves under fire for enforcing public health rules that they did not make and cannot change.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday that 10 of New York State’s mass vaccination sites will now be administering COVID-19 vaccines to newly eligible 5 to 11 year-olds.
Hochul said that she had instructed the mass vaccination sites to acquire pediatric doses and prepare to administer them at those locations, adding the state aims to eventually offer the shots at all 13 of its vaccination sites in the days ahead.
At least two protesters displayed Nazi symbols during an anti-vaccine protest outside a Jewish lawmaker’s office in the Bronx this weekend.
Tourists are poised to swarm to the Big Apple during the holiday season after an international travel ban was lifted last week — but it might be too little, too late for dozens of New York City hotels.
The state planned to pause its Emergency Rental Assistance Program for struggling New Yorkers yesterday, alarming housing advocates who say the decision will unnecessarily turn away renters in need.
Officials said demand for the pandemic relief program was “far outstripping” available funds. Hochul has asked the federal government for almost $1 billion more.
New York has become the latest state to announce plans to divest from the company that owns Ben & Jerry’s over the ice cream manufacturer’s decision to restrict sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The state Office of General Services sent a notice to the firms Friday in response to B&J’s refusal to sell its ice cream products in Israel-controlled disputed territories such as the West Bank.
Hochul is giving Italian-American civic activists agita for firing the popular state director for Italian-American Affairs.
Many prominent upstate Democrats are lining up behind Hochul as the primary race next year for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination gets underway, but others say it’s too soon to take sides.
Andrew Cuomo’s political enemies are terrified of how he’ll exact revenge and are waiting with bated breath while the former Governor bides his time, fishing in the Hamptons with his inner circle.
Brittany Commisso, one of the women accusing Cuomo of sexual misconduct, suggested to investigators that allies of the disgraced politician tried to meddle in her divorce proceedings in a brazen attempt to discredit her, according to new transcripts.
Cuomo is set to appear in court in Albany Wednesday to be arraigned and processed on the charge of forcible touching. The Democrat resigned in August after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.
Sworn testimony from a high-ranking New York State Department of Health official reveals new details about the turmoil associated with Cuomo’s public health response during the height of the pandemic.
Parents, particularly in predominantly white suburban and rural districts, are blasting the state Education Department’s new educational equity framework, which they see as a ploy to implement critical race theory in K-12 schools.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams dared Democrats to condemn a Black Lives Matter leader who said the incoming mayor’s policies on policing will trigger “riots” and “bloodshed” in the city. The activist claimed Adams is creating a “circus”, not focusing on the issues.
New York City Police officials have labeled the activist, Hank Newsome, a domestic terrorist after he warned the mayor-elect there would be riots and “bloodshed” if the city reactivates plainclothes street units.
Brooklyn’s influence over New York City politics grew with Adams’s mayoral win, and it could grow further if a candidate from the borough is elected governor.
A coalition of more than 100 advocacy groups, including Center for Community Alternatives, New York Communities for Change, and Release Aging People in Prison, are joining forces behind a new campaign called “Communities Not Cages.”
A fast-moving storm over the weekend affected New York City, Long Island and New Jersey, leaving in its wake uprooted trees and some power failures.
A Brooklyn lawmaker is under fire after blurting out on social media that she uses her district office to make side cash through an online teaching gig.
Several top Brooklyn elected officials joined the chorus Friday calling for the borough’s Democratic Party boss to step down after her husband recited a vulgar, sexist song lyric during a Zoom meeting.
A company owned by billionaire John Catsimatidis is flouting labor law by underpaying oil truck drivers delivering fuel to public schools and other city buildings, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters alleges in a complaint to the city comptroller.
Billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder gave $4 million to the state Conservative Party to fund a campaign against three proposed constitutional amendments in New York.
State motor vehicle workers say potentially thousands of individuals may have illicitly obtained New York driver’s permits since the DMV launched a program last year allowing written tests to be taken online, leading to widespread cheating.
Bill Lia Sr., the Capital Region car dealership entrepreneur who got his start working as a coat-cutter in New York City’s Garment District before building what is now a billion-dollar automotive empire, has died at the age of 85.
Schenectady is staking its claim as Hollywood East, a reference to efforts by multiple places on the East Coast to become the go to place to shoot movies.
The Rensselaer County Health Department reported Friday that one new property tested above the state permitted level for PFOA/PFOS and a source for the contamination has not yet been identified.
A harmful algal bloom formed on Lake George in early October during a stretch of calm and sunny weather, the second concerning bloom of the year, according to state and local officials.
Ezra Blount, a 9-year-old boy who fell from his father’s shoulders and was trampled at Travis Scott’s Astroworld show, died of his injuries yesterday, his family announced.
Ghost guns — untraceable firearms without serial numbers, assembled from components bought online — are increasingly becoming the lethal weapon of easy access for those legally barred from buying or owning guns around the country.
International carbon markets got a shot in the arm in Glasgow on Saturday after governments agreed on long-stalled rules for how countries, and companies, can trade carbon-emissions credits across borders.
International-student enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities is showing signs of a rebound this fall after plummeting when the pandemic pushed classes online last year and the Trump administration all but closed the nation’s borders.
