It’s Wednesday and how did it get to be December already? It’s like I blinked and suddenly it’s almost the end of the year.
Given the state of things, I’m not entirely sorry to see the back end of 2022. I try to be hopeful, though I do tend to err on the glass half-empty side of things, so I’m really, REALLY trying to look ahead to 2023 in a positive way.
I guess time will tell.
Today is World AIDS Day, the first ever global health day that was created by the World Health Organization in 1988 to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS through education efforts and publicly held events.
This year’s theme: “END INEQUALITIES. END AIDS. END PANDEMICS.” That’s a message I think we can all get behind.
An estimated 38 million people around the world have the HIV virus. It was only identified in 1984, but more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS related illnesses, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.
Though scientific advances have been made in HIV/AIDS treatment and the virus is no longer an automatic death sentence, that’s only the case for those who have access to antiretroviral therapies. Also, the stigma of living with the virus remains, and many people still do not know how to protect themselves and/or others from getting infected.
HIV is an underlying condition and it impacts the immune system, which means those who have it are more likely to get severely ill if they contract COVID-19.
According to UNICEF, at least 300,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2020 – that’s one child every two minutes. Another 120,000 children died from AIDS-related causes during the same period – one child every five minutes.
The COVID crisis has deepened the inequalities that contribute to the HIV epidemic (poverty, lack of clean and safe water, shelter, food, difficulty accessing medical care etc.) Lockdowns also resulted in higher infection rates. Africa, where the Omicron variant is prevalent, has particularly high HIV and AIDS-related infection and death rates.
So what can you do – other than wear a red ribbon to demonstrate your solidarity on this day? Well, first, get tested. Knowing your status is important so you can access care and prevent spreading HIV to others. Also, consider donating to the National AIDS Trust to help fund critical research.
We’re in for a really lovely and WARM day, relatively speaking. It will be in the low 40s! Break out the shorts! There will be clouds in the morning and sun in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
The Biden administration was blocked from enforcing two mandates requiring millions of American workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a key part of its strategy for controlling the spread of the coronavirus.
The Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal contractors received another blow from US District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove, who granted a request to block the mandate in three additional states: Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
Another federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt the start of Biden’s national vaccine mandate for health care workers, which had been set to begin next week.
That order holds up for now a new federal rule that requires about 17 million staffers at health-care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 unless they have a medical or religious exemption.
Since omicron’s emergence in recent days, President Biden has sought to deliver two at times discordant messages: that great vigilance is required and that life should proceed apace.
Top US government officials are considering requiring everyone who enters the country to be tested for Covid-19 the day before their flight and having all travelers – including US citizens and permanent residents – be tested again after returning home.
The CDC said that it was working toward requiring that all air travelers to the U.S. be tested for COVID-19 within a day before boarding their flight. Currently those who are fully vaccinated may present a test taken within three days of boarding.
A confounding array of Covid rules and lax enforcement of mask wearing may have sent Omicron infected passengers on two KLM flights from South Africa on to “who knows where.”
Biden went to Minnesota to pitch the infrastructure deal and a giant social spending bill that he’s still trying to get passed, but also found himself reassuring the nation he would fight the evolving COVID-19 threat without resorting to “shutdowns and lockdowns.”
Inside a heavy truck shop at the Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minnesota, the president spoke with Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party leaders, students and others about the school and its role in educating the next batch of skilled laborers.
Biden said that his “heart goes out” to the families affected by a school shooting in southeast Michigan, which left three people dead and eight others injured.
A 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School, fired 15 to 20 shots from a nine-millimeter semiautomatic handgun over a period of about five minutes, according to police. The school is located in Oxford, Mich., about 40 miles north of Detroit.
The victims in the school shooting include a football player and two other students. Officials don’t know yet if they were specifically targeted.
A conservative group focused on combating Biden’s economic agenda is launching an almost $800,000 ad campaign pushing Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to oppose the $1.7 trillion social safety net and climate legislation.
Republicans can’t wait to make Biden’s life miserable if they take back control of the US House in the upcoming midterm elections.
Hostilities between the Republican far right and its typically muted center burst into the open yesterday, highlighting deep divisions that could bedevil the party’s leaders if they capture a narrow majority in the House next year.
Biden signed into law four bills aimed at supporting the nation’s veterans, including legislation intended to combat racial disparities related to benefits as well as addressing maternal mortality among female veterans.
Many advocates for veterans say Biden is not going nearly as far or as fast as he should to ensure that soldiers who served near burn pits and other toxic sites receive the health care they deserve.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank was prepared to quicken the pullback of its easy-money policies, opening the door to raising interest rates in the first half of next year as it grapples with inflation and a potential new virus wave.
A post-Thanksgiving retreat in global stock indexes and energy prices intensified yesterday, reflecting jitters over the impact of a new Covid-19 variant and rising inflation.
Intense research into the new coronavirus variant first identified in southern Africa has just begun. World leaders have urged people not to panic — and to get vaccinated, if they can.
“We have far more tools to fight the variant today than we had at this time last year,’’ said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People over age 60 or with underlying health conditions should not travel internationally because of Omicron, the World Health Organization warned.
Scientists are racing to catch up with the policy response to the Omicron variant, as virologists study its many mutations and drugmakers test it against their Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.
Airlines are warning of lower bookings, executives in Europe are tweaking business travel plans and a handful of organizations have canceled or downscaled events across the continent amid new government-mandated restrictions and uncertainty over Omicron.
Destinations that strained before Covid-19 under what came to be called overtourism are confronting the reality that their travel industries might not rebound for years.
A divided expert panel recommended that the Food and Drug Administration grant emergency use authorization to a new pill from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics that would be the first antiviral treatment for COVID-19.
Members of the FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee were split in their vote to recommend molnupiravir, which can reduce the relative risk someone will progress to severe disease or death by about 30%.
Pfizer announced that it has prepared the first shipments of its COVID-19 antiviral pill PAXLOVID and sent them to the airport for distribution across Europe and America once the treatment receives approval.
Regeneron plans to assess how its COVID antibody cocktail, REGEN-COV, and other medicines fare against the new variant.
NBA superstar LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, who said before the season he’s vaccinated against the coronavirus, entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols and could miss several games.
Marcus Lamb, a co-founder and the CEO of the conservative Christian Daystar Television Network who vocally opposed Covid-19 vaccines, has died at 64, weeks after he contracted Covid-19, the network said.
The Empire State’s vaccination campaign stalled during the summer and fall months in upstate communities that have seen a massive November surge in coronavirus cases.
“With the arrival of winter when more people are traveling and gathering indoors, and the emergence of the Omicron variant, we are reminded that we cannot let our guard down in our fight to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Rapidly rising COVID-19 hospitalizations has brought on a second local pandemic state of emergency, Monroe County Executive Adam Bello announced.
As the Capital Region hunkers down for another pandemic winter, unvaccinated patients are the ones occupying the majority of COVID hospital rooms and ICU beds, according to a survey the Times Union did of several area hospitals.
Five more upstate Assembly members endorsed Hochul’s 2022 bid for governor one day after a new primary opponent, Rep. Tom Suozzi, got into the race.
“Really, my record is dramatically different than Kathy Hochul’s,” Suozzi said. “She hasn’t really had that executive experience up until this point…I’m a ‘Common Sense Democrat.’ I’m not going to pander to the left. I’m not going to pander to the right.”
Hochul and state lawmakers should allocate at least $2 billion for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program in order to address thousands of renters who remain in arrears, an organization that represents 4,000 housing operators said.
Hochul said applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be simplified to encourage more older adults and people with disabilities to enroll.
AG Letitia James is seeking an emergency court order to force Amazon to implement stricter Covid-19 protocols, arguing its decision to roll back safety measures in at least one of its warehouses leaves employees at a higher risk of exposure to the virus.
CNN indefinitely suspended anchor Chris Cuomo after details emerged about how he helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to face charges of sexual harassment earlier this year.
The network said documents released by New York’s attorney general indicated Chris Cuomo took a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than CNN executives previously knew.
Cuomo’s entanglement with the final months of his brother’s tenure has proved a slow-moving headache for CNN, which stood by its top-rated anchor even as uncomfortable revelations raised questions about the network’s adherence to journalistic standards.
The benched anchorman is declining to comment. A second hour of “Anderson Cooper 360” will aired in place of Chris Cuomo’s show last night.
Former Gov. Cuomo’s sexual harassment victims hailed CNN’s benching of Chris Cuomo, while journalists called the decision long overdue.
Cuomo, boasting about his physical prowess and stamina, said he wanted a new galpal “who was fit and could keep up with him” following his break-up with longtime partner Sandra Lee, new documents reveal of the disgraced ex-governor.
Future SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras took part in online heckling of Lindsey Boylan, an ex-aide to then-Gov. Cuomo, after she first spoke in May 2019 about what she described as a difficult work environment in the Executive Chamber, transcripts show.
“People have disagreements in high stress jobs, I should have used different language, this was a long time ago. I need to focus on SUNY Albany,” Malatras said, adding that he’s “not proud” of the language he used related to Boylan.
The former president of the influential LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, revealed to investigators more details than previously known on how he advised Cuomo’s team during the former governor’s sexual harassment scandals.
Former top Cuomo aide, Melissa DeRosa, described for the AG’s investigators a contentious and chaotic work environment in the executive chamber during the final months of his tenure and denied witnessing the governor behaving inappropriately.
Lis Smith, a political consultant working for then-Gov. Cuomo, texted a group of his aides and advisers about rumors he’d “been sleeping with people he works with for decades,” a text message from the probe that forced him from office reveals.
The nation’s transit agencies are rushing to hire train operators, bus drivers, mechanics and other workers as they try to fill critical vacancies and rebuild a work force that has been battered by the pandemic.
The NYC restaurant industry is hoping new legislation introduced in the City Council and supported by Mayor-elect Eric Adams will give it the green light to use propane heaters outside once again.
A Manhattan judge has blocked the de Blasio administration from pushing through a controversial new health care plan for retired municipal workers before the end of the year, meaning the thorny issue will land on Adams’ desk once he takes office.
In an attempt to curb a surge in overdose deaths caused by increasingly potent street drugs, New York City authorized two supervised injection sites in Manhattan that began operating yesterday – the first of their kind in the nation.
New York City’s budget is projected to grow by an additional $4 billion over the next several months — bringing the overall annual spending plan to $102.8 billion.
A woman testified in federal court that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his companion British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell gave her money, bought her gifts including underwear and repeatedly sexually abused her beginning when she was 14.
The woman, who is using the pseudonym Jane, is the first accuser to testify against Maxwell, whom prosecutors have accused of facilitating and participating in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls.
Jane said she began visiting Epstein’s Palm Beach, Fla., estate by herself when she was 14 after Maxwell and Epstein befriended her at a camp for talented teenagers and invited her and her mother over to have tea.
The FBI is investigating an explosion that blasted a crater into a Long Island beach, police said.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin is expected to face criminal charges in a state AG investigation that probed his 2017 campaign for county executive and his financial dealings when he was an Assembly member, including the use of campaign funds.
New data provided by the Associations of Towns of New York State indicates that around 9% of communities have opted out of the zoning portion of recreational marijuana legalization.
While many of the City of Saratoga Springs’ Black Lives Matter activists arrested for a July 14 rally agreed to future dismissal of charges, one protester in city court yesterday morning refused the plea deal and is headed for trial.
The owner of one of the City of Albany’s most famous blighted structures, Central Warehouse, says it will take six months and more than $300,000 to make it secure and useable again.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants Amtrak to prioritize repairing the historic 120-year-old Livingston Avenue Bridge that carries rail service across the Hudson River from Rensselaer to Albany after receiving $22 billion from the infrastructure bill.
A source for the PFOA/PFOS contamination around the Algonquin Middle School has still not been determined after a sixth round of testing for the chemicals was completed at nearby residences, the Rensselaer County Health Department announced last week.
A federal appeals court panel appeared skeptical of former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that he has the power to block a congressional subpoena for White House records related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff under Trump, has reached an agreement with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to provide documents and sit for a deposition, the panel said.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running as a Republican for an open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, described his frustration with the “arrogant, closed-minded people in charge” who shut schools and businesses during the pandemic.
Some hospitals charge up to 10 times as much as others for standard medical scans, according to the latest analysis of previously secret market rates.
District attorneys around the country are investigating officers in cases their predecessors had handled, raising the ire of police unions that say it undermines public safety.
Twitter said users will no longer be able to share private media, such as photos and videos, of another person without their permission, a move aimed at improving privacy and security.
Alice Sebold, the best-selling author of the memoir “Lucky” and the novel “The Lovely Bones,” apologized publicly to a man who was wrongly convicted of raping her in 1982 after she had identified him in court as her attacker.
“First, I want to say that I am truly sorry to Anthony Broadwater and I deeply regret what you have been through,” Sebold wrote in a statement posted on Medium.com.
Last week, a New York State Supreme Court judge exonerated Broadwater and vacated his conviction and other counts related to it. The Onondaga County district attorney joined in the motion to vacate the conviction.
Before releasing her apology to the public, Sebold’s representatives sent a copy to Broadwater so he could be the first to read it.“It comes sincerely from her heart,” he said. “She knowingly admits what happened. I accept her apology.”
