It’s Wednesday already, good morning!
I have a confession to make: I really hate state budget day. The fact that I survived another one is a miracle. It’s not that I mind the flurry of work. I thrive on stress and deadlines, as most people who know me even a little would tell you without blinking an eye.
It’s the numbers I hate. I am NOT a numbers person. Statistics was the one class in college I almost didn’t pass. The only one I can remember ever really struggling with, to be honest, though Just War Theory was no picnic either.
I can barely add, truth be told. That’s why I became a writer, originally. I thought I would escape the tyranny of numbers. But imagine my dismay when, upon becoming a political reporter, I found that I had not, in fact, escaped numbers at all.
Polling, for example, is solidly based on numbers – not to mention my old nemesis, statistics. And budgeting is DEFINITELY based on numbers, though, as the old saying goes, it’s really more of an art than a science.
Anyway, I guess it was unrealistic for me to think that I could get through life without numbers. At least I’m not expected to balance my checkbook anymore in order to be considered a functioning and successful adult.
Here’s something that is considerably more fun than numbers: Popcorn, which is marking its annual national day today.
One might say that popcorn is a uniquely American snack, because we eat, on average, about 3 billion quarts of the stuff annually, which is more than any other country, a year, and that consumption typically grows by 5 percent a year.
Popcorn is credited with saving the movie theater industry during the Great Depression. It is an affordable treat, and even a gigantic box of it, which sets one back a ridiculous amount at the theaters these days (is anyone really going in person anymore?), feels like a LOT, though it only takes a small handful of kernels to realize.
Corn got its start as a wild grass called teosinte in southwestern Mexico, according to research from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. It was most likely cultivated as a domesticated crop around 9,000 years ago.
In 2012, archaeologists discovered the first evidence of popcorn in Peru: 6,700-year-old corn cobs studded with puffed kernels.
Early American settlers were quick to adopt corn, which was cultivated, eaten, and/or traded by Native tribes. What was popped was done do over an open flame – and it was likely more parched than what we know as the modern fluffy snack version.
In 1875, Kentucky resident Frederick J. Myers patented a corn-popping device with stay-cool handle. But things really took off when peddlers figured out how to carry corn-popping machines around with them, which happened in 1885, when Chicago inventor Charles Cretors created a lightweight electric machine that popped corn in oil.
The rest, as they say, is history. And if you’re really into it, you can read more here.
As for the miracle that is microwave popcorn, that didn’t show up until the 1980s. Americans bought $250 million worth of popcorn in 1986. Snack-making companies started trying to outdo one another to capture this increasingly lucrative market, and the name Orville Redenbacher became synonymous with the fluffy, salty – or sweet, depending on your preference – airy treat so many of us crave and love.
Today, pre-popped and pre-bagged popcorn is where it’s at, apparently, because who has time to wait for their popcorn to pop anymore? If you ARE interested in going back to basics and popping your own, you should know that there are, in fact, many kinds of popcorn from which to choose.
I hope country music icon Dolly Parton likes popcorn, because she happens to turn 76 today. Happy Birthday!
After the snow and cold of the past several days, today is going to feel like a veritable heat wave, with temperatures in the 40s. Skies will be cloudy, but that’s a small price to pay for being able to feel one’s ears again, in my opinion.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden will hold a formal press conference today, aiming to defend his record in the White House so far and lay out his plans for the new year on the eve of the anniversary of his inauguration.
The press conference will come at a consequential and challenging time for Biden, as a politically perilous narrative is coalescing about his presidency.
Biden’s first-year average approval rating was 48.9 percent, according to Gallup, which ranked lower than many other presidents but remained higher than his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
Enrollment in Obamacare health insurance plans has hit a record high this season, a clear, if rare, policy victory for Biden in his first full year in office.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the non-release of visitor logs from Biden’s Delaware homes, despite the fact that the commander-in-chief was in his home state for more than a quarter of all days during his first year in office.
A group of 11 former Democratic U.S. senators voiced their support for Senate rule reform in an op-ed published on Medium yesterday, saying reform was necessary “if the Senate is to properly function.”
Though they refrained from outright calling for the filibuster to be eliminated, the former U.S. lawmakers wrote that rules like the filibuster “have clearly become weaponized legislative tools for obstruction rather than progress.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders said he would be open to supporting primary challenges to Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia over the two Democrats’ refusal to support a pair of party priorities, a rare move for a sitting senator.
Manchin defended his opposition to changing the 60-vote legislative filibuster and told progressives threatening to primary him over the fight to “bring it on.”
The Senate will vote on changing the rules to impose a “talking filibuster” for voting legislation as soon as today if Republicans block two bills slated for consideration, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“If the Senate cannot protect the right to vote, which is the cornerstone of our democracy, then the Senate rules must be reformed,” Schumer said.
AT&T and Verizon agreed to not turn on some 5G signals near airport runways, a temporary concession to address air-safety concerns that have already prompted international airlines to cancel some U.S.-bound flights.
It was not immediately clear whether the changes that AT&T and Verizon announced midday yesterday were enough to prevent severe flight disruptions.
Numerous international airlines based outside of the U.S. have announced they will be suspending flights to certain U.S. locations due to the upcoming 5G deployment near airports.
Air India announced on Twitter that numerous flights departing from India and arriving at U.S. airports including JFK, Newark Liberty International Airport, O’Hare International Airport and San Francisco International Airport would be canceled.
In a statement provided to Reuters, the Dubai-based Emirates airline said it was also canceling U.S. flights due to “operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the U.S.”
Two major Japanese airlines — All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines — also announced that they would be suspending flights to the U.S. due to the 5G deployment.
The Biden administration will announce today a plan to distribute hundreds of millions of free, high-quality masks through pharmacies and community sites.
The federal government has quietly launched its website to sign up for free Covid-19 tests, allowing people to order a maximum of four tests shipped directly to their household.
“COVIDtests.gov is in the beta phase right now, which is a standard part of the process typically as it’s being kind of tested in the early stages of being rolled out,” Psaki told reporters at the White House yesterday. “It will officially launch tomorrow morning.”
Biden’s plan to make rapid Covid-19 tests available by coordinating with private health insurers officially kicked off this weekend. And it’s already going very, very poorly.
Pfizer’s new Covid-19 pill, Paxlovid, was effective against the Omicron variant in laboratory tests, an encouraging early sign the drug will be an important tool while the strain spreads.
A combined total of more than one million visitors were on the home page and the ordering page of covidtests.gov at one point – more than 40 times as many as on the government site with the next highest traffic, the U.S. Postal Service’s package-tracking page.
The World Health Organization said the pandemic will not end as the omicron variant subsides in some countries, warning the high levels of infection around the world will likely lead to new variants as the virus mutates.
Covid-19 will never be eradicated, but society has a chance to end the public health emergency in 2022, a senior WHO official has said.
Nearly 1 million kids contracted COVID in the U.S. between Jan. 6 and Jan. 13, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
There is no evidence at present that healthy children and adolescents need booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said.
A wave of Omicron cases may be cresting in the northeastern United States, but the number of Covid-19 patients is at a record high and climbing, overwhelming hospitals whose staffs have been hollowed out by the coronavirus.
State AG Letitia James accused Trump’s family business of repeatedly misrepresenting the value of its assets to bolster its bottom line, saying in court papers that the company had engaged in “fraudulent or misleading” practices.
James asked a court to compel Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump to testify under oath, saying that her office’s investigation into the Trump Organization had uncovered “significant evidence” of fraud.
James said that their testimony is necessary to progress a probe that is based on at least 900,000 documents obtained from the Trump Organization, interviews with employees and other evidence.
“We have uncovered significant evidence indicating that the Trump Organization used fraudulent and misleading asset valuations on multiple properties to obtain economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions for years,” James said.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani and other legal team members that pursued conspiracy-filled lawsuits on behalf of Trump in which they made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, said the subpoena amounts to “political theater” and indicated that his client doesn’t plan to provide information because he has claims of executive privilege and attorney-client privilege.
The committee also acquired phone records from Trump’s son Eric and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancee of Donald Trump Jr.
For the first time, evidence emerged in court papers that prosecutors posed questions to at least one Jan. 6 defendant that were “focused on establishing an organized conspiracy” involving ex-President Trump and his allies to “disrupt” the work of Congress.
Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a record-setting new budget plan, as state officials project balanced budgets through 2027, with none of the typical warnings of billion-dollar shortfalls.
Hochul called her $216.3 billion budget proposal a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to spur the state’s recovery.
The governor projected balanced budgets through 2027, with $2 billion in pandemic recovery initiatives and $2.2 billion in property tax rebates for homeowners, as well as substantial spending increases on education and health care.
She called for significant infrastructure investment, including $32.8 billion over five years for highways, bridges and other transit projects, $25 billion to help build or preserve 100,000 housing units, and $1.5 billion for public university operating expenses.
Another $31 billion will go toward schools across the state and $10 billion to health care, the largest funding for the latter sector in the state’s history, according to Hochul.
Hochul’s economic development budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for the state’s 10 regional economic development councils.
Overall state spending would increase by about 3.1 percent under Hochul’s plan, which is lower than inflation, but more than the 2 percent cap that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo sought to impose on his state budgets during leaner times.
Hochul benefited from being able to access billions of dollars in COVID-19 federal emergency funding, and increased income taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and businesses approved by the state Legislature and Cuomo last year.
The governor included a number of New York City-specific items in her budget plan. Some of them, like extending mayoral control of schools for four years, are likely to make the new mayor, Eric Adams, very happy.
Hochul proposed boosting funding for Big Apple charter schools by 4.7 percent – $17,633 per student, up from $16,844, according to the NYC Charter School Center. Two years ago, aid to charter schools was frozen.
As negotiations over a new Bills stadium between New York State, Erie County, and the team continue, there was no appropriation for one when Hochul released her proposed spending plan.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says he will not be running for governor.
De Blasio made the announcement in a video posted on Twitter, saying he would “devote every fiber of my being to fighting inequality in the state of New York.”
“I made my fair share of mistakes. I was not good with groundhogs at all. Probably should not have gone to the gym,” said de Blasio, making some jokes at his own expense. “But you know what? We changed things in this town.”
The news came as Hochul’s lead in the Democratic primary for governor grew to over 30 points beyond de Blasio, her closest competitor, according to a new Siena poll, indicating his previously expected gubernatorial bid would have been a steep climb.
Hochul drew support from 46 percent of Democrats polled. The former mayor received 12 percent, while NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Willams was at 11 percent, and Rep. Tom Suozzi, of Long Island, stood at just 6 percent.
Williams, described Hochul’s budget as not doing enough to invest long-term in public health issues. He said the governor is “continuing to placate wealthy donors and big-moneyed special interests at the expense of other New Yorkers.”
Hochul’s campaign announced that soon-to-be-released filings will show the Buffalo native has already raised over $21 million as she seeks a full term in office.
Campaign paperwork filed yesterday showed that Hochul, the first woman to lead the state, took in roughly $140,000 per day, on average, between her swearing-in last August and last week.
Hochul, with less than six months on the job, turned into a tour de force yesterday of her political and government prowess.
Cuomo may have resigned in disgrace last year amid accusations of sexual harassment, but he still controls a war chest of more than $16 million, according to records released yesterday.
Cuomo raised more than $224,000, much of it in seemingly unsolicited small-dollar donations, since the last filings were released in mid-July. He spent $2.09 million in recent months, including $1.8 million on legal expenses.
The biggest donations Cuomo received just weeks before he resigned came from the Wilpons, the owners of the Mets, who ponied up a combined $80,000 for the embattled ex-governor.
The remaining campaign cash – built up during a decade as New York’s most powerful elected official – will likely fuel continued speculation about whether Cuomo will again run for office.
The Siena poll found that Mayor Adams’ favorability rating in New York City was 63 percent.
Adams admitted that even he doesn’t feel safe riding the city’s subways.
“Day one, Jan. 1, when I took the train, I saw the homelessness, the yelling, the screaming early in the morning,” said Adams, who entered office at the start of the year, during a press conference. “Crimes right outside the platform.
“We know we have a job to do, we’re going to do both — we’re going to drive down crime and we going to make sure New Yorkers feel safe in our subway system, and they don’t feel that way now,” Adams pledged.
Aside from being a central figure in a contentious landlord-tenant dispute, Adams’ chief of staff, Frank Carone, faces accusations that a company he recently controlled stiffed its business associates out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, court records show.
Adams said NYC is winning its war against the Omicron surge, noting that the numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, while still extremely high, have started to drop.
Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi stressed that while cases are on the decline, the city is far from leveling out when it comes to COVID, though.
There is still no remote learning option for city schools, but an attendance policy shift will offer more flexibility to families keeping their kids home over COVID-19 concerns, city education officials said.
Service on five subway lines will be fully restored today, four weeks after the MTA slashed train schedules across the city as the omicron wave spread like wildfire among transit workers.
An NYPD cop and an armed teen were both shot when the suspect’s gun went off during a tussle in the Bronx last night.
A police spokesperson said that the officer was shot in the leg, and taken to a nearby hospital. The suspect also was hospitalized after being struck by a bullet in the leg. A police official said that the suspect is just 16 years old, and shot himself as well as the cop.
Three Democratic congressional lawmakers called on the federal government to fulfill a $5 million grant request for the New York City Fire Department, as they highlighted the toll this month’s deadly Bronx blaze took on the nation’s largest firefighting force.
The cost to rent a Citi Bike is going up next week — and new city Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said Tuesday there’s nothing he can do about it.
A former high-ranking New York Post editor filed a discrimination lawsuit against the publication, alleging she was sexually harassed by former Editor in Chief Col Allan and fired after she told the Post’s current editor in chief about it.
Michelle Gotthelf, who until last week was the New York Post’s digital editor in chief, said she had been harassed by Allan on numerous occasions dating back to 2013, including being propositioned for sex, according to the lawsuit.
Gotthelf also alleged that Allan made degrading comments about women while in the newsroom, referring to some as “skanks” and once describing a female employee as a “sneaky lesbian.”
Coeymans Town Supervisor George D. McHugh wrote a letter to a federal judge seeking leniency for William Tryon, a local farmer who pleaded guilty to taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Peter M. Pryor, a sharecropper’s grandson from Georgia who became a trailblazing Black civil rights attorney revered as a towering figure in Albany’s long struggle for racial justice, died Monday after a long illness. He was 95.
The City of Troy began preliminary work at 1 Monument Square as it prepares for demolition of the remnants of a parking garage, removal of a staircase and work on water and sewer lines at the site.
The former Adirondack Steel site on Watervliet-Shaker Road is set to undergo a cleaning to help protect public health and the environment, according to state officials.
Microsoft agreed to buy Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion, using its largest acquisition by far to grab a video game heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct.
Puerto Rico received approval from a federal judge to leave bankruptcy under the largest public-sector debt restructuring deal in the history of the United States, nearly five years after the financially strapped territory declared it could not repay its creditors.
The 64th annual Grammy Awards will take place on April 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the show’s organizers announced. They had been scheduled for Jan. 31 in Los Angeles.
A lawyer for Britney Spears, in an effort to thwart her father’s demand that she pay his legal bills, claimed in court papers that her father and others involved with her conservatorship had committed myriad financial improprieties over several years.
André Leon Talley, the larger-than-life fashion editor who shattered his industry’s glass ceiling when he went from the Jim Crow South to the front rows of Paris couture, died at the age of 73.
The hashtag #BettyWhiteChallenge has gone viral since the new year as a tribute to the legendary actress and animal rights activist, who died weeks before her 100th birthday.
