Good morning, welcome to Friday.
I don’t know about you, but I had very mixed feelings about prom. I actually went to more than one…I think maybe three? And also at least two seniors balls, including my own, because I was dating someone at the time whose turn it was to attend.
At the end of the day, these are just fancy dances, right? An excuse for high school kids to dress up and flirt with what it feels like to be a semi-adult. And, it’s also a rite of passage, the marking of time – or, in the case of senior ball, the end of an era.
But the whole thing is just so darn stressful – I mean, even way back in my day. There was all the hype about who you would go with, assuming you weren’t someone’s significant other, and even then it was always sort of a crapshoot given the volatile nature of high school romance.
And then there was the dress, and the shoes, and the makeup, and the flowers, and the limo, and the after party. Oy, the after party. Would there be booze? Drugs? Sex? All of the above? Would you be allowed to stay out all night, and if not, would you ever be able to face your friends again?
I think I might have spent $500, all told, on a single dance. And I earned a lot of that myself, working as a tea girl at Mohonk, which was my first real job. Three decades ago, that was a lot of money.
Today, the average teen spends twice that – $1,000 (and sometimes MORE) on prom, which includes $325 for something called the “promposal” – a thing that I am very thankful did not exist when I was a kid.
Apparently, it’s not good enough to just kind of sidle up to someone at their locker and muster up the courage to ask them to prom. No, now you have to stage an elaborate tableau that can include bands, fireworks, dancing, balloons, and, of course, YouTube.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the origin of the prom itself, the word is short for promenade meaning “a ceremonious opening of a formal ball consisting of a grand march of all the guests”, and the tradition began in the late 1800’s as a formal dinner held by American colleges and universities in the northeast to teach the graduating class etiquette.
High schools slowly began to adopt the tradition, and by the 1950s, it was a full blown THING across the U.S.
If you haven’t guessed by now, it’s National Promposal Day, which was reportedly started by Men’s Warehouse in 2016. (SMART branding, that). Good luck out there, you crazy kids.
There’s a winter storm watch in effect from 1 a.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday, which is just a serious bummer. But today? Well, it’s going to be 50 degrees and cloudy.
In the headlines…
Russian forces, battered by a determined Ukrainian resistance, stepped up their aerial bombardment across Ukraine early today, targeting locations far from the front lines while continuing to pummel cities already devastated by fighting.
New satellite photos, meanwhile, appeared to show a massive convoy outside the Ukrainian capital had fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv with artillery pieces raised for firing in another potentially ominous movement.
A diplomatic confrontation is expected in the U.N. Security Council today. Russia requested the meeting to discuss its claims of “the military biological activities of the U.S. on the territory of Ukraine.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency has warned of what it calls “deteriorating and exhausting conditions” for staff at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have taken up arms or otherwise sought to support a nationwide resistance movement against Moscow’s offensive, which Kyiv says has already left thousands of Ukrainian noncombatants dead.
Ukrainians across the U.S., many of whom have never fired a weapon, have put their lives on hold to defend their homeland.
The World Health Organization advised Ukraine to destroy high-threat pathogens housed in the country’s public health laboratories to prevent “any potential spills” that would spread disease among the population.
President Joe Biden will announce today that the US, along with the G7 and European Union, will call for revoking “most favored nation” status for Russia, referred to as permanent normal trade relations in the US.The move requires an act of Congress.
Stripping most favored nation status from Russia would allow the U.S. and allies to impose tariffs on Russian imports, increasing the isolation of the Russian economy in retaliation for the invasion.
Top Democrats and Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee announced a deal earlier this week that would have moved to suspend normal trade relations between the U.S. and Moscow.
Unprecedented, sweeping sanctions on Russia’s banks and elites, along with export controls on a raft of technologies, have already caused the Russian economy to crater, and the International Monetary Fund predicts it will plunge into a “deep recession” this year.
Rising energy, food and services prices pushed already elevated U.S. inflation to a 7.9% annual rate last month—another four-decade high—with oil and commodity market disruptions from the Ukraine crisis expected to add more cost pressures.
Congress cleared the first major federal spending legislation of Biden’s administration, approving a $1.5 trillion measure with substantial increases for domestic and national security programs, along with $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine.
The measure was approved 68-31 and now heads to Biden’s desk, one day before a temporary funding measure was set to expire and set in motion a partial government shutdown.
The bill moved at lightning speed through Congress, passing the House less than 24 hours after it was unveiled early Wednesday morning. The Senate’s vote comes less than two days after the bill was introduced.
Biden said that he intends to designate Colombia as a major non-NATO ally, a step that will provide the Latin American nation with benefits in the areas of defense, trade and security cooperation.
The president also called for a new framework between the United States and Latin American countries to collectively manage migration, something he said he hoped to sign in June at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.
Saddled with daunting logistical and political obstacles, the 2020 census seriously undercounted the number of Hispanic, Black and Native American residents even though its overall population count was largely accurate, the Census Bureau said.
The margin wasn’t statistically significant but many groups were miscounted at significant rates, according to bureau officials. About 3.3% of Black people were missed, as were 5% of Hispanic people and 0.9% of American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Even before the 2020 count had ended, demographics experts, local officials and advocacy groups were sounding the alarm, warning that the pandemic and politics were getting in the way of an accurate count.
“These numbers are devastating. Once again, we see an overcount of white Americans and an undercount of Black and Hispanic Americans,” National Urban League CEO Marc Morial said. “I want to express in the strongest possible terms our outrage.”
Applications for unemployment insurance inched up higher than expected in the latest weekly data but extended a broader trend downward after surging COVID-19 infections earlier this winter briefly disrupted the labor market’s recovery to start the year.
The number of first-time unemployment claims increased by 11,000 to 227,000 during the week ended March 5, according to new data released by the Labor Department.
There were unusually large increases in claims from New York and California, which accounted for the lion’s share of the increase, as new filings in most other states remained unchanged.
More than 18 million people – three times higher than official records suggest – have probably died because of Covid, say researchers. Their report comes two years to the day from when the World Health Organization first declared the pandemic.
Some of this excess mortality may have been missed in official counts due to lack of diagnostic or reporting resources. But some could be due to indirect effects, such as lack of access to health care, behavior changes during lockdowns or economic turmoil.
The United States is poised to run out of tests, treatments and vaccines to fight the coronavirus after a $15.6 billion funding plan collapsed in Congress, alarming health-care advocates and raising concerns about the fate of Biden’s broader covid response plan.
The delta and omicron variants of the novel coronavirus have merged and created deltacron. The variant has been detected in several countries, including the U.S., but it may never even gain any traction, health experts said
Federal officials are extending the requirement for masks on planes and public transportation for one more month – through mid-April – while taking steps that could lead to lifting the rule.
United Airlines, which was one of the first major businesses to mandate vaccination against the coronavirus, will allow workers who were granted religious or medical exemptions from receiving a shot to return to their jobs at the end of this month.
The number of requests for compassionate release filed by federal prisoners skyrocketed during the pandemic, according to a report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission released yesterday, with risks associated with contracting Covid-19 a critical factor.
China is fighting its biggest Covid-19 outbreak since the early days of the pandemic, with discontent emerging on social media as restrictions and lockdowns take their toll.
Prince Harry and Meghan, the actor Charlize Theron and the former British prime minister Gordon Brown are among 130 signatories to a letter lambasting wealthy countries’ approach to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This season’s flu vaccine has offered little to no protection against getting a mild or moderate case of influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week.
While the COVID positivity rate for the state of New York has remained under 2% for nearly two weeks, 21 deaths from the virus were reported on Tuesday.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed New York’s weaknesses and strengths for dealing with a health care crisis. The best thing any state can do is learn from the past to build back a better plan to handle the next health care crisis better than COVID.
Though New York City ended its mandate that restaurants ask indoor diners for proof of vaccination, some are still doing so.
The Department of Education is ramping up its vaccination push for kids aged 5 to 11 with new efforts to help educate students and their families, officials announced.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is running neck and neck with her ex-boss, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a hypothetical matchup in this year’s gubernatorial primary, according to a new poll from The Hill and Emerson College.
The poll shows that if Cuomo, who resigned last year over sexual misconduct allegations, were to run for his old seat, Hochul would lead the primary field with 37 percent support among Democratic primary voters, while he would come in second with 33 percent.
Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi is a very distant third at 7%. New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is fourth at 4%.
Hochul received the endorsement of about a dozen leaders of Jewish communities Thursday in heavily Orthodox neighborhoods in the Five Towns in Nassau County and Far Rockaway, Queens.
At the height of the pandemic, the CEO of New York’s blood bank personally offered a coronavirus-stricken Chris Cuomo special access to an experimental therapy — virtually unobtainable by anyone unrelated to then-Gov. Cuomo, emails reveal.
A group of state senators representing New York City districts wants the state to hold off on Hochul’s Penn Station area redevelopment until the project’s finances can be analyzed by the city’s Independent Budget Office.
One of New York’s oldest supportive housing programs, which serves 20,000 people, is is not included in Hochul’s $500 million commitment to provide a cost-of-living adjustment for human services workers.
Luis Ferré-Sadurní is being promoted to Albany bureau chief.
Days after Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the lifting of some mask and vaccine restrictions as a key milestone in the city’s reopening, many business owners and experts remain deeply skeptical about workers resuming a five-day work week.
Adams issued a full-throated defense of a pair of NYPD officers, saying they shouldn’t be “demonized” — days after one of the cops’ statements about a teen rapper’s arrest were “wholly discredited” by a Bronx judge.
Adams endorsed putting people convicted of drug crimes “front in line” to receive highly lucrative marijuana dispensary licenses, as the state plans to do.
Adams decried as “unacceptable” the safety woes of the Big Apple’s homeless shelter system and its failure to make on-site mental health services widely available, promising to personally conduct surprise inspections at facilities.
The nation’s biggest and busiest food distribution hub will get a $140 million facelift as part of a broader economic recovery blueprint that Adams outlined yesterday – a plan he vowed would lead to “opportunity for everyone.”
An 83-year-old Brooklyn woman convicted twice of killing women she lived with was charged with murder, after investigators found a head in her apartment that, officials said, belonged to a body discovered in a shopping cart last week.
Ellis Medicine says staffing shortages have forced it to temporarily pause overnight emergent care services at its medical center in Clifton Park effective Monday.
Capital Region residents looking to experience the paranormal need look no further than Albany. The city is the fifth most supernatural location in the state, according to GreatLakesStakes.com.
Albany Nanotech, the state-operated computer chip manufacturing research center, is holding a career fair next Wednesday – its first since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.
The Buffalo Bills and the NFL will reportedly provide at least $350 million towards a new stadium, but public funding will likely exceed $1 billion.
Victims of the opioid epidemic confronted the Sackler family members who own Purdue Pharma for the first time in bankruptcy court as the OxyContin maker nears a possible exit from chapter 11 that requires $6 billion in settlement payments.
Actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to serve 150 days in jail as the first stage of his 30 months of felony probation for reporting a false hate crime to police in 2019.
Smollett will begin his sentence immediately. He was also ordered to pay more than $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago and was fined $25,000. He was also sentenced to 30 months of felony probation.
Smollett screamed “I am not suicidal” to the court after he was sentenced.
Ex-President Trump is asking his loyal army of supporters to help him buy a new plane after a private plane was forced to make an emergency landing last weekend after one of its four engines malfunctioned.
Gen. Michael Flynn, the former White House National Security advisor under Trump, appeared before the select congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and invoked the right not to incriminate himself.
It took 99 days of a contentious lockout, but baseball is back. An agreement reached by Major League Baseball’s club owners and its players’ union after months of heated negotiations will allow for a full season, with opening day scheduled for April 7.
Adams and Hochul celebrated the end of the prolonged MLB lockout, noting the importance of America’s pastime to New York’s economy and character.
