Good Tuesday morning, and happy Winter Solstice.
A reminder: This is the astronomical first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day (and longest night) of the year.
In other words, it’s all uphill – or downhill? I guess it depends on your point of view – from here, for those of us who are suffering from a severe lack of sunshine and warmth in our lives.
I have to confess to feeling very depressed when I hear the weather report on the NPR and the meteorologist says that sunset was at such-and-such a time, “which was a loss of xx minutes of daylight” from the previous day.
NO MORE, friends! Our admittedly slow and cold slog to summer has officially begun…or will, anyway, once this solstice thing is over and one.
The word solstice comes from the Latin words “sol” (sun) and “sistere” (to stop). In the months leading up to this day, the sun’s rays shift south, away from the equator until the sun reaches its most southerly point in the sky over Earth at the Tropic of Capricorn.
At the moment of the solstice, all parts of the planet that are north of that line will receive less than 12 hours of daylight, while those to the south, those lucky dogs, get 12 hours. When it’s all over, the sun’s rays begin their six-month rewind to the north.
Cool, right?
The winter solstice will take place today at 3:59 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which, in case you didn’t know (I didn’t, so don’t be ashamed), is the international standard time used by astronomers. That’s 7:59 a.m. Pacific Time and 10:59 a.m. Eastern Time.
Oh, and in case you are a stickler for this sort of thing, meteorological winter started about three weeks ago. Meteorological seasons are defined based on climatic conditions and the annual temperature cycle.
While the length of the astronomical seasons varies between 89 and 93 days, the length of the meteorological seasons is fixed at 90 days for winter in a non-leap year (in which case it’s 91 days), 92 days for spring and summer, and 91 days for autumn.
Whether you define the seasons based on the meteorological or astronomical definition depends on what country you happen to be in. In North America and also in Europe, we go with astronomical, while Australia and New Zealand are the other way around.
The winter solstice is a sacred day for pagans, who call the holiday Yule. it’s traditional if you’re pagan and happen to be in the neighborhood to travel to Stonehenge to pay tribute to the sun on this day. There are other winter solstice traditions observed around the world, and since I’m running a bit long at the moment, click here if you’d like to go down that rabbit hole.
We’re in for a rather nice – and not terribly wintry – day, with temperatures in the low 40s and clouds giving way to sun in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
Sen. Joe Manchin said he ended up killing President Biden’s massive social and environmental spending bill because White House staff drove him to his “wit’s end.”
“It is not the president. This is staff,” the West Virginia Democrat told home-state radio host Hoppy Kercheval.
While he refrained from directly criticizing Biden, Manchin had harsh words for members of the president’s staff, who he charged “put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable.”
Manchin noted climate policy when he said he would vote against the Build Back Better Act. In his life and career, West Virginia coal has loomed large.
The apparent failure of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan means that economic growth could be weaker than expected next year, according to Goldman Sachs.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will vote on the Build Back Better Act, despite Manchin delivering a potentially fatal blow to the landmark legislation a day earlier.
“We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build Back Better Act – and we will keep voting on it until we get something done,” Schumer said.
Biden’s approval rating is at a historic low in a new poll, which coincides with a national surge in COVID-19 cases, rising consumer prices and struggles to advance his legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.
The new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that Biden’s approval rating has sunk to 41 percent, a historic low for the president in polls conducted by the groups. Fifty-five percent of adults in the U.S. disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president.
Biden is to address the nation today to outline extra steps he will take to deal with the Omicron coronavirus variant and deliver a “stark warning” to people who remained unvaccinated.
Biden is adding another German shepherd to his family. The president revealed the new puppy, Commander, in a video posted to Twitter.
The puppy was a birthday gift from the president’s brother James Biden and sister-in-law Sara Biden, according to first lady Jill Biden’s office.
The Bidens’ beloved German Shepherd, Champ, died in June at the age of 13. Their other German Shepherd, Major, has been living mostly in Wilmington, Delaware, after a handful of aggressive incidents involving White House staff. He’ll be rehomed with friends.
Biden was in close contact with an aide who later tested positive for Covid-19, the White House said. He tested negative for the virus Monday morning and will be tested again on Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Administration officials acknowledge that as the highly contagious Omicron variant has surged, a cluster of cases have been reported across the administration.
The Biden administration is pushing back the date by which large businesses must comply with its Covid-19 vaccine mandate as legal uncertainty continues to hang over the requirement.
Health officials in Texas announced that it recorded the first death related to the omicron COVID-19 variant. This is believed to be the first known recorded omicron death in the U.S.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said he has tested positive for Covid and isolating at home with a mild case, though he has received three Moderna shots.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that he has tested positive for COVID.
Former President Donald Trump says he received a booster vaccine shot for Covid-19 — but he doesn’t want to hear any criticism about it.
Trump was booed by a portion of an audience in Dallas on Sunday when he said he had received a Covid-19 booster shot, according to video of the closed press event that was shared on social media.
A noted British doctor is highlighting several symptoms that distinguish the Omicron variant from the common cold and even other strains of COVID-19 — including drenching night sweats.
The rapidly spreading omicron variant is now the dominant Covid strain in the U.S., representing 73% of sequenced cases, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Boston, another place where cases are surging, Mayor Michelle Wu announced proof-of-vaccination requirements for certain indoor spaces like gyms and restaurants — but notably did not order any places to shut down.
Moderna said a booster dose of its vaccine appeared to be protective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus in laboratory testing and that the current version of the shot would continue to be its “first line of defense against Omicron.”
In a lab study, the company gave 20 fully vaccinated participants a 50-microgram booster – the current dose authorized by the FDA – and another 20 received a higher dose of 100 micrograms. After 29 days, the volunteers gave blood samples, which were analyzed.
The NHL took to Twitter late yesterday to announce a brief pause to its season, two games before a scheduled Christmas break due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
The burgeoning Covid-19 pandemic has ensnared the Buffalo Sabres and they won’t play any games until after Christmas because of the positive cases being endured by their upcoming opponents.
It might be time to put holiday plans on hold, the World Health Organization’s director-general says.
Queen Elizabeth II, 95, will stay at Windsor Castle through the holidays, forgoing a trip to the Sandringham estate where her family regularly congregates during this time of year, the palace confirmed.
Israel is set to bar its citizens from traveling to the U.S. and Canada because of the spread of the Omicron variant, as the World Economic Forum said it would postpone next month’s annual meeting in Davos for the second successive year.
Duke University will require students, staff and faculty to receive booster doses of the vaccine. The university, one of the first to announce a vaccine mandate last spring, joins a growing list of schools that have issued booster mandates.
New York state broke another record for the most COVID-19 cases in a single day, with 23,391 recorded Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, while announcing the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett is among those who have tested positive for the virus.
Bassett “tested positive through a COVID rapid test,” the governor said at the start of an afternoon news conference.
The commissioner is vaccinated, boosted and feeling well, Hochul said, adding that the initial positive result from a rapid test would be confirmed by a P.C.R. test.
The lion’s share of new Covid infections in the state come from New York City, where over 15,000 people tested positive, up nearly 50% since Friday. The overwhelming majority of those new cases are the omicron variant, the CDC said.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York City is experiencing a rapid surge of omicron infections, but he expects the wave to peak in a matter of weeks.
De Blasio insisted that another shutdown was not necessary if the city focused on vaccination, testing and hospital capacity.
Nearly two dozen new COVID testing sites will be added this week to New York City’s arsenal in the fight against the disease’s omicron variant, de Blasio announced, as the new strain now is the dominant driver of virus cases.
In New York City, the slightest runny nose has people canceling holiday gatherings and lining up for hours outside coronavirus testing centers.
The New York Police Department issued new guidance late Sunday night requiring all employees to once again wear face masks indoors and outdoors when interacting with the public, whether they are vaccinated or not.
The Broadway production of “Hamilton” canceled all performances until after Christmas as a spike in coronavirus cases batters the performing arts throughout North America as well as in London.
“Jagged Little Pill,” a rock musical fueled by the songs of Alanis Morissette that wrestles with a variety of contemporary social issues, will close on Broadway, becoming the first big show felled, in part, by the resurgent coronavirus pandemic.
A wave of COVID-19 cases continued to batter an already-overwhelmed city public school system, with administrators reporting widespread staff absences and massive backlogs at the situation room responsible for tracking and responding to cases.
Hochul is facing pushback against her mask mandate from both Republican and Democratic county executives who say they will not enforce the order on Long Island, north of the Big Apple and elsewhere in the Empire State.
Faced with a revolt from county leaders in a majority of the state — including Long Island — Hochul reversed course and said state inspectors will conduct “spot checks” to enforce mandatory mask-wearing.
Hochul’s office later walked back comments she made earlier in the day regarding enforcement of her controversial, private-sector mask mandate — following the refusal of a majority of county leaders to perform the task.
The governor vowed to support local governments willing to enforce the state’s mask request for private sector businesses, and said that schools would be kept open.
Hochul is pledging up to $65 million to enforce the mask mandate — which is set to expire Jan. 15 unless it is extended.
In 2015, then Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed to overhaul the state’s clemency process, but never followed through. Now, thousands of petitions offer a test of Hochul’s commitment to “improving justice.”
Joseph Percoco, a onetime top aide to Cuomo before he was convicted in an influence-peddling scandal, appears to be out of prison. He’s no longer on the federal Bureau of Prison’s website as a resident of Otisville Correctional Facility in Orange County
Hochul expressed confidence she can reach a deal involving hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding to build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills in time to be included on the state’s budget due in April.
New York is willing to accept a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park if this remains the team’s preference, Hochul said.
Hochul’s campaign for a full term was endorsed by former Rep. Charlie Rangel, an influential figure in New York City politics, as she prepares for a Democratic primary next year.
Trump filed a lawsuit against the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, seeking to halt her long-running civil inquiry into his business practices and to bar her from participating in a separate criminal investigation.
In the lawsuit, filed after James requested Trump sit for a Jan. 7 deposition, he contends the probe into matters including his company’s valuation of assets has violated his constitutional rights in a “thinly-veiled effort to publicly malign Trump and his associates.”
The next Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg Jr., says he plans to personally focus on the high-profile probe into Trump’s business practices and may expand the investigative team while keeping at least one senior prosecutor on the case.
Trump took at least seven trips on Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express” private plane — far more than was previously known, according to newly released flight logs.
A federal jury in Manhattan began deliberations late yesterday in the sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the former socialite charged with conspiring with Epstein over a decade to recruit, groom and sexually abuse teenage girls.
Upper Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez is Eric Adams’ pick to run the city Department of Transportation, the mayor-elect announced.
Rodriguez has served on the Council since 2010, and as the chair of its Transportation Committee for eight years and was widely expected to be offered a job in the Adams administration.
Adams has selected five women to be his deputy mayors, leading with Lorraine Grillo, a 20-plus year City Hall veteran, who will become the first deputy mayor — one of the highest ranking positions in city government.
Grillo, who most recently served as de Blasio’s pandemic recovery czar, will switch roles to take a job that comes with significant sway over policy initiatives and day-to-day operations across the municipal agencies.
“I am so proud of the history these new deputy mayors are making today, and I hope it sends a message that the most qualified people should not sit on the bench when the game is on the line just because of their gender, their ethnicity, or any piece of their identity,” Adams said.
The appointments followed Adams’s announcement last week that Keechant Sewell was his choice for police commissioner, making her the first woman to lead the Police Department.
There is a great probability – close to 80 percent – that Adams cancels his mayoral inauguration, according to an anonymous source close to the mayor-elect.
Adams was seen over the weekend at Rosanna Scotto’s power midtown restaurant Fresco by Scotto, dancing outside with a group of people to the song “Native New Yorker,” by Odyssey.
The SUNY Board of Trustees pledged a “global” search for the system’s next chancellor while naming an interim chief for the sprawling 64-campus public university system: SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley.
The board unanimously approved Stanley’s installment as interim chancellor by a 14-0 vote during a special meeting just before 9 a.m. yesterday morning.
Three Capital Region hospitals that the state identified as in severe short supply of patient beds can once again offer non-essential surgeries, according to the state Department of Health.
The Central Warehouse’s owner lost his attempt to convince a judge to give him one more chance at paying off more than $500,000 in past-due property taxes and retaining ownership of the building.
Schumer said the Port of Albany will receive $29.5 million in federal funding to help build a plant at the port that will be used for the assembly of offshore wind-turbine towers.
The Port is still working out the logistics of reviving a barge service to help reduce congestion at ports in New York and New Jersey.
Plug Power is moving forward with its plans to build a 350,000-square-foot fuel-cell factory in the town of Bethlehem that will initially employ 670 people, half of whom will transfer from the company’s Latham headquarters once the project is competed.
Rensselaer County has approved pay raises to shore up staffing levels at the county-run nursing home in anticipation of the winter coronavirus surge.
New York lawmakers are considering scheduling a legislative committee hearing to revive a push for more funding for dam safety after a Times Union investigation revealed gaps in oversight of the structures across the state, many of which are in poor condition.
The Biden administration will make an additional 20,000 H-2B seasonal guest-worker visas available to employers ahead of the winter hiring season, the Department of Homeland Security said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Congress will hold a major event to commemorate the first anniversary of the storming of the Capitol by thousands of violent Trump supporters.
The House panel probing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack is examining whether there is enough evidence to recommend that the Justice Department pursue criminal cases against Trump and others.
The committee is seeking testimony and documents from Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, the first public step it has taken to try to get information from any of the Republican members of Congress deeply involved in Trump’s effort to stay in power.
A Trump supporter was sentenced to three years in prison in a hearing that featured emotional remarks by CNN anchors Don Lemon and Brian Stelter about the fear caused by the rabid right-winger’s messages.
Chris Noth, the star known for “Law & Order,” “Sex and the City” and the latter’s reboot, “And Just Like That…”, has been dropped from just about everything he was involved in, as allegations of sexual misconduct and assault dating back years continue to surface.
Noth, 67, has been dropped from “The Equalizer” and will no longer film any new episodes of the television series, Universal Television and CBS said in a joint statement.
Three of the stars of “Sex and the City” have issued a statement regarding the sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Noth, saying they are “deeply saddened” and support the women who have come forward to share their “painful experiences.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, said he will pay more than $11 billion in taxes this year. The Tesla Inc. chief executive made the disclosure in a tweet on Sunday without offering additional details.
