Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to a foreshortened, but no less intense – or maybe more so? – as a result, workweek.
I don’t know about you, but I was a little disappointed by the “big” storm. I mean, sure, there was some snow on the ground in the morning, which was kind of exciting and wintery.
But by noon things had warmed up considerably and what was coming down from the sky was rain, and that made for just a sloppy, depressing mess.
If it’s going to storm then let it STORM, you know? Give me a reason to bundle up and brave the elements. Otherwise, I’m just sort of cranky and cold-ish and out of sorts.
Ditto, Henry, though Musher’s Secret paw wax, if you haven’t discovered it yet, is truly a miracle. (No, we are not sponsored, FWIW, but we are open to sponsorships, just in case any Musher’s Secret people happen to be reading this).
Today is a big day in Albany, as Gov. Kathy Hochul will be delivering her first executive budget proposal at 11 a.m. Here are some things to keep an eye out for as she lays out her plan.
As the saying goes, the governor proposes and the Legislature disposes when it comes to the budget. And here is where we see how the new governor plans to put the meat on the bones of what she outlined in her State of the State address – namely, how she envisions she will be paying for all her big ideas.
Hochul begins her first budget season with plenty of cash on hand, due to better than expected sales and income tax collections, and generous federal aid packages during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On a completely unrelated, but equally important note, today is National Winnie the Pooh Day, marking the birthday of the creator of Pooh and all his endearing and oddly insightful animal friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, British author A.A. Milne, who was born on this date in 1882.
Milne reportedly was inspired by a teddy bear that belonged to his son, Christopher Robin Milne, and published his first Pooh book in 1962, which also featured Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Owl and Rabbit – all toys that also belonged to Christopher Robin.
Tigger, the bouncy and endearingly out-of-control tiger who is a favorite of a lot of Pooh fans, wasn’t introduced until the second book, The House at Pooh Corner.
There is a bit of a sad undertone to Pooh, which makes sense when you learn that Milne was injured during WW I at the First Battle of Somme in 1916, and perhaps struggled with “shellshock” (now better known as PTSD). Upon his return from the front, Milne moved his family from London to Crotchford Farm.
Milne and Christopher Robin, who was the author’s only child and went by the nickname “Billy Moon,” often explored the Ashdown Forest, accompanied by the younger Milne’s stuffed animal collection. Prior to the war, Milne had been a successful essayist, humorist, and editor at Punch, and then afterwards, a playwright.
The Pooh stories are actually rooted in poetry, and were accompanied by the sparse pencil illustrations of Ernest H. Shepard, who, like Milne, was a combat veteran.
Like many things, the wild and long-lived success of the Pooh franchise was both a blessing and a curse for the Milnes – particularly Christopher Robin, whose subsequent fame as a result of the books both amazed and disgusted his father.
Christopher Milne became estranged from both his father and his mother, Dorothy, and ended up hating the books that thrust him into the public eye, even though he reportedly enjoyed the fame while he was very young (see what I did there?). He suffered from myasthenia gravis and died in his sleep in 1996 at the age of 75.
Even Shepard, who achieved significant acclaim for his work illustrating Pooh and his friends, later came to hate the “silly, old bear” and resented the fact that he had agreed to participate in the project, feeling it unjustly overshadowed the rest of his oeuvre.
None of this matters to Pooh’s legions of fans, of course, many of whom probably know him best as a result of the Disneyfication of the series, of which I personally am not a big lover.
Disney and I, in general, are diametrically opposed. More on that some other time.
It was Milne’s wife, by the way, who, after his 1956 death, sold the U.S. and Canadian Pooh rights to publicist and illustrator Stephen Slesinger, who then passed the rights on to Disney in the 1960s.
There was a prolonged legal battle involved – because isn’t there always? Some people even say that there’s a curse on all things Pooh related, because the lovable bear unwittingly made everyone involved with his legacy miserable.
I fondly recall the hours I spent getting to know the Hundred Acre Wood and is denizens – both on my own and being read to by my parents or babysitters – and for that I am grateful to Milne, regardless of his conflicted feelings about his honey-loving, often befuddled, pot-bellied creation.
The fact that Pooh & Co., who brought me so much comfort and joy, was in fact a point of contention and even outright misery for his creators makes me inexplicably sad.
Or maybe it’s just the winter blues. I should invest in one of those grow lights for people. Seasonal affective disorder is real. And now I’ve gone down the rabbit hole…good thing my MLK Day to-do list is relatively light.
Now that we’ve got the storm-that-wasn’t-really out of the way, we’re back to cold temperatures. It will be in the low 20s today, with intervals of clouds and sunshine.
In the headlines…
Americans must commit to the unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr., delivering jobs and justice and protecting “the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow,” President Joe Biden said.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to King Jr., touring Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church — where he served as pastor until his death in 1968 — and laying a wreath at the crypt where the civil rights icon and his wife, Coretta, are interred.
As the nation paused to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a June 2020 video of then-presidential candidate Biden saying George Floyd’s death had a greater global impact than the assassination of Dr. King recirculated and drew criticism.
A day before the U.S. Senate was expected to take up significant legislation on voting rights that is looking likely to fail, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s eldest son condemned federal lawmakers over their inaction.
“To the president and United States senators, you were successful with infrastructure, which is a great thing,” King said before leading a Washington, D.C., march over the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.
The leaders of the march, which police estimated had about 2,000 participants at its peak before dwindling on a frigid day, urged people to call on Congress to enact changes to elections law nationwide in lieu of celebrations on the federal holiday.
Senate Democrats are convening a special, in-person caucus meeting today as they brace for a fight on voting rights and the filibuster to come to a head.
The meeting comes as the Senate is expected to formally start debate on voting legislation that combines the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed at a National Action Network King Day event to move forward with a likely doomed effort to change Senate filibuster rules as part of an effort to pass voting rights legislation.
As the anniversary of Biden’s inauguration approaches this week, American opinion of his efforts to contain the pandemic is lower than ever, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll.
Biden spent 28 percent of his first year as commander in chief back home in Delaware, worrying transparency advocates who note that he exempted his homes from visitor log disclosure.
It’s too soon in the omicron variant’s course to know whether it signifies the beginning of the end of the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
A preliminary study in Israel, believed to be the world’s first, found that a fourth COVID-19 vaccine is not enough to prevent omicron infections.
Gili Regev-Yochay, director of Sheba Medical Center’s Infectious Diseases Unit, said the trial studied the effect of the Pfizer booster after two weeks and the Moderna booster after one week.
Omicron will give much of the population what some scientists call “superimmunity”—stronger protection against new variants and even future coronaviruses.
Canada approved the nation’s first antiviral pill to be used at home to fight Covid-19 infections, although global supply shortages may impact how quickly the drug can be distributed to those who need it.
Researchers may have narrowed down the reason some people who contract COVID-19 lose their sense of smell and taste.
Educators are preparing to contend with the pandemic on a long-term basis as it continues to take a toll on children around the world, even with schools largely back in session.
Digital tools such as Google Classroom and Canvas are still used during in-person school. Tracking online assignments is a chore, and many parents wish schools would go back to pencil and paper.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, the highest ranking U.S. military officer, tested positive for Covid-19 and is isolating, the Pentagon said, the second time this month the virus has struck top defense leaders.
António Horta-Osório hoped for a slap on the wrist from the Credit Suisse board for breaking coronavirus quarantine rules on trips to events. Instead, he had to leave his job as the bank’s chairman for not upholding the high standards he set eight months ago.
Beijing isn’t taking any shortcuts with its zero COVID policy as the highly anticipated Winter Olympics approach. The latest example: locking down office workers after a single omicron case was detected.
Tickets for next month’s competition won’t be sold to the general public, the International Olympic Committee announced, just two days after Beijing reported its first case of the omicron variant.
Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises have canceled several trips as the Omicron variant continues to wreak havoc with the cruise industry.
Hawaii will require visitors to the state to have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster if they want to skip quarantine.
Four inmates at an Arkansas jail have filed a lawsuit against the facility and its doctor after they said they were unknowingly prescribed ivermectin to treat Covid-19 as a form of “medical experimentation”.
Gov. Kathy Hochul fielded thinly veiled political jabs from two of her likely gubernatorial race opponents – NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and ex-NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio – at an event in Harlem to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rep. Tom Suozzi has over $5 million to spend on his run to be New York’s next governor — less than half what incumbent Hochul has raised to defend against his and Williams’ Democratic primary challenge.
In her State of the State address, Hochul laid out a proposal for a tax credit for overtime labor at New York’s farms that may hint at her desire to lower the overtime threshold.
Hochul announced the seven-day average for positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases has seen a decline in all regions of the state, along with a decline in COVID-19-related hospitalizations and new COVID-19 hospital admittances.
A Cornell Law School professor filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state health department’s directive requiring medical providers to prioritize “non-whites” and Hispanic individuals in the distribution of COVID-19 treatments.
Two weeks into Eric Adams’ tenure as mayor of NYC, a stunning pushing death on the subway system has illustrated vividly the challenges he faces in delivering on his central campaign promise of building a safer and more just city.
Michelle Alyssa Go spent more than a decade as a volunteer helping the homeless — only to be fatally pushed under the wheels of a Time Square subway train by a mentally ill homeless man.
Go’s family broke their silence, saying they are “in a state of shock” after she was randomly pushed in front of a train and killed.
A local Asian group plans to hold a candlelight vigil in Times Square at 6 p.m. today to remember Go and demand City Hall better address its community’s concerns.
The sister of the deranged ex-con accused of fatally shoving a Times Square straphanger told The NY Post that her sibling never should have been free to walk the streets.
New Yorkers reacted harshly to Adams’ claim that they’re merely experiencing “the perception of fear” on the subways, saying they want the mayor to know they avoid riding the rails for a very real reason: to keep themselves safe.
New NYPD statistics reveal serious crimes, including in the transit system, are only increasing under Adams, who has dismissed concern over subway incidents as simply “perception of fear.”
Nearly two years after the coronavirus engulfed New York, causing a virtual abandonment of the country’s largest transportation network, riders have slowly returned to the subway in an uneven pattern that underscores the economic divide in a fitful recovery.
Adams’ appointment process is in disarray, as some job nominees face ethical questions and others are stuck in limbo while City Hall revisits its vetting process to avoid further controversies.
The mayor got a decidedly mixed reception from Knicks fans when he gave a pregame speech at the traditional Martin Luther King Day matinee game at the Garden.
Knicks fans laughed as someone yelled an expletive during Adams’ speech.
The day after Eric Garner died in a police chokehold, new Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks — then the NYPD’s top uniformed police officer — was living it up in Los Angeles with a businessman who bribed cops and a corrupt jails union boss.
Top New York politicians demanded that Congress impose new regulations on privately-run housing complexes that receive federal subsidies in the aftermath of the horrific Bronx housing tower fire that left 17 people dead — including eight children.
Embattled Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is consulting Risa Heller, a crisis communications specialist, and ex-US Attorney Preet Bharara to try to douse the firestorm of outrage over his soft-on-crime progressive policies.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie went maskless inside an Albany store yesterday, and was chewed out by a patron for the display that came less than two weeks after he tested positive for COVID-19.
Heastie, the top Democrat in the state legislature’s lower chamber, admitted the apparent slip-up in a post to Twitter, saying he had “mistakenly” left his mask in the car after a long ride to Albany.
A man believed to be homeless was found dead aboard a subway train in Brooklyn yesterday morning, cops said.
The mother of an East Harlem Burger King cashier killed during an armed robbery is calling for more security at all fast food restaurants in the city — and said she’s considering suing the outlet for failing to protect her young daughter.
For home health aides, the fight to end 24-hour shifts — or at least get paid for all the hours they work — has been a long and arduous one that has faced many obstacles.
Longtime Democratic National Committee member Robert Zimmerman, 67, said that he’s running to replace Rep. Tom Suozzi and hopes to become the first gay representative to Congress from Long Island and Queens. (He’s joining a crowded field).
Encomiums and eulogies poured in from Westchester politicians of both parties over the weekend after word spread that Reginald “Reggie” Lafayette died on Saturday morning. No cause has been announced.
Price inflation may still be raging at historic levels, but consumers in New York state are more optimistic about their ability to buy things for their households than they were a few months ago, according to the latest Siena poll.
As cases of coronavirus start to peak in parts of the northeast and New York, local health officials say downstate trends signal the Capital Region’s top level of the current surge is likely underway now, with hospitalizations and deaths expected to crest soon.
Authorities are awaiting autopsy results on a 4-year-old girl who died in a house fire over the weekend, a blaze city fire officials say does not appear to be suspicious.
Yet another tractor-trailer struck Glenridge Road’s infamously low bridge. Efforts to free the rig were complicated by a winter storm that brought snow, sleet and rain to the region overnight, officials said.
Activision has fired or pushed out more than three dozen employees and disciplined about 40 others since July as part of efforts to address allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct at the video game giant.
