Good Tuesday morning.
Every time the weather changes, I get sick. Like sinus sick. Every. Single. Time.
And now, thanks to COVID, I have the added stress of worrying that I might been THAT person – the one who contracts the virus even though the number of cases in in the low single digits.
Of course, Barack Obama has tested positive of late, so I guess I would be in good company.
According to no fewer than four tests – one PCR and three at-home versions – I do not have COVID. I do, however, have a very sore nose and stuffed-up ears. I hate that.
If there is a silver lining to be had here, it’s that I only get this sick when the weather changes, as mentioned, so I guess if we are going by my personal barometer, spring is really just around the corner. (11:33 a.m. on March 20, to be exact).
Anyway, enough about my sinus woes. Today, in case you didn’t know, is the Ides of March.
This was notable for being a day when Romans would settle their debts, and then, in 44 BC, it became notorious as it was the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar, which was, of course, a turning point in Roman history.
Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting of the Roman Senate, with as many as 60 co-conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, involved in the plot. Plutarch said that a seer warned Caesar that harm would come to him on the Ides of March, (or maybe just be on his guard for the next 30 days?) which Caesar – mistakenly, as it turns out – took as something of a joke.
Shakespeare immortalized the soothsayer’s warning in his play, Julius Caesar. Actually, it turns out that a lot of crummy things in history also happened on this day, so maybe it is indeed a date to be on one’s guard.
Today is also National Pears Helene Day, which celebrates a dessert that sounds delicious, but actually is something I’ve never heard of. It involves poached pears, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, and was reportedly created in 1864 by French Chef Auguste Escoffier in honor of the operetta La belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach.
Another day of spring-like temperatures in the 50s is in the offing, though skies will be cloudy. I’ll take it.
In the headlines…
The International Court of Justice announced that it would issue a ruling tomorrow in the case regarding “Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that the prospect of the nuclear conflict is “within the realm of possibility” as Russia continues its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
A wounded pregnant woman who was taken on a stretcher from a maternity hospital that was bombed by Russia last week has died, along with her baby.
White House officials are having early discussions about having President Joe Biden travel to Europe soon amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The trip, which would aim to reassure America’s allies in the region, has yet to be finalized. A U.S. official said Brussels, home to NATO and the European Union, is under consideration as a location.
Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed to meet again today for another round of direct negotiations, despite the lack of a breakthrough in previous meetings and a humanitarian crisis that appears to be deepening.
The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan pressed a top Chinese official over China’s alignment with Russia during what U.S. officials said was an intense, seven-hour meeting that included discussion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
An anti-war protester interrupted a live news bulletin on Russia’s state TV Channel One yesterday, holding up a sign behind the studio presenter and shouting slogans denouncing the war in Ukraine.
Billionaire Elon Musk has challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “single combat”, with the “stakes” being Ukraine.
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured during the Russian attack on Ukraine.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said that he will not vote to confirm Biden’s pick for a powerful position on the Federal Reserve Board over her criticism of the fossil fuel industry.
Manchin’s surprise announcement handed the White House a significant defeat after it invested time defending Sarah Raskin’s contentious candidacy. It follows Manchin his blowing up Biden’s $2 trillion Build Back Better Act in December.
Manchin said Raskin’s “previous public statements have failed to satisfactorily address my concerns about the critical importance of financing an all-of-the-above energy policy to meet our nation’s critical energy needs.”
The U.S. State Department is reviewing whether Russian diplomatic property in Glen Cove, LI has been used for commercial purposes, which if true could affect its tax-exempt and diplomatic immunity status.
Biden attended an in-person fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee as part of his push for the party heading into the 2024 midterm elections.
The Biden administration says that it might have to scrap critical Covid-19 programs unless Congress moves to approve funding left out of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package.
A new Covid-19 pill from Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP has been more widely used than expected since rolling out late last year, though regulators and many doctors consider it a last resort.
Stocks and oil prices tumbled as investors assessed the impact of new Covid-19 outbreaks in China and awaited a likely interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve later this week.
About half of Hong Kong’s 7.4 million people have already been infected with Covid-19, according to an estimate of the damage caused by the deadly omicron wave that’s overwhelmed the city.
Several of China’s largest factory cities have ordered a lockdown, halting production of Toyota cars and Apple iPhones. Theaters, cinemas and many restaurants have closed in Shanghai.
Nearly half of all European countries have recorded increases in new Covid-19 cases in the past week, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
At least four House Democrats in quick succession have said that they tested positive for the coronavirus after a party retreat held last week in Philadelphia.
More than 100 municipal workers were terminated for refusing to get a second vaccination dose required under New York City’s COVID mandates.
New York State sued New Jersey in the U.S. Supreme Court over the Garden State’s effort to dismantle a watchdog that polices mob activity on the docks.
The rare legal maneuver by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, was a last-ditch bid to halt New Jersey’s plans to dissolve the agency, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, which the two states established together in 1953.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is continuing his political rehabilitation tour with plans to later this week address a group of Hispanic ministers in the Bronx led by controversial ex-City Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr.
Cuomo released a second campaign style TV ad titled “The Record,” the scandal-scarred former governor touts his accomplishments — including strengthening the state’s gun control laws and raising the minimum wage.
Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, released an internal campaign poll claiming he can beat Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins endorsed Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin’s bid for a full term on Monday amid an expected primary challenge this June.
The Senate and Assembly proposed adding billions of dollars to Hochul’s budget, while seeking to postpone all of her policy proposals, including “drinks-to-go” service from restaurants, until after the budget is adopted.
Ahead of an April 1 deadline, the Democratic-led Legislature is calling for billions in additional state funds for social programs to help struggling New Yorkers deal with rent, utility bills and child care costs post-pandemic.
In an unprecedented move, the state Senate and Assembly revealed their one-house budgets over the weekend with provisions to fully fund the Fair Pay for Home Care Act.
Lawmakers in the state Senate want a ban on fossil fuels in new building construction to go into effect three years earlier than proposed by Hochul.
State budget negotiations are reaching their final stage as the state Senate and Assembly get ready to pass one-house budget resolutions highlighting their fiscal priorities ahead of an April 1 deadline.
A path toward the temporary suspension of the state’s gas tax is emerging in the state Legislature as budget negotiations intensify.
Hochul announced the state is moving forward with improvements to the process of responding to public records requests.
Dozens of street vendors in New York City were holding a 24-hour sleep-out protest in front of Hochul’s office in Midtown Manhattan.
Hochul is expected to announce that the Buffalo Bills are close to staying in western New York–again, officially… at least as far as a new stadium is concerned.
A new poll found 58 percent of New Yorkers support ending qualified immunity, a practice that can protect on-duty police officers and public officials acting within their duties from liability for civil rights violations.
Proposed new state Education Department regulations unveiled on oversight of private schools — including ultra-orthodox yeshivas that’ve been accused of failing to provide even a basic secular education — are already drawing wide-ranging criticism.
Mayor Eric Adams has promoted nutrition like no predecessor besides Michael Bloomberg. Some food activists see the prospect of real change, but others want more details and diligence.
About 61% of New Yorkers approve of Adams’ performance three months into office — with more than half in support of his policies on the pandemic, policing and schools, according to a Marist College poll released yesterday.
Similarly, 62 percent of residents have a favorable opinion of Adams, a popularity that crosses all key ethnic and geographic groups across the city, according to the survey conducted between March 1 and March 8.
Adams has dispensed with a de Blasio-era policy to voluntarily disclose meetings top administration officials take with lobbyists — further obscuring an already-opaque system of outside influence over government actions.
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander slammed the move, saying it’s “a mistake.”
Adams will endorse East Harlem Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs’ reelection campaign today, marking his first public foray into this year’s state legislative elections, the Daily News has learned.
NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi stepped down yesterday. His successor, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the former president of Fountain House, a New York-based mental health nonprofit, will face continuing challenges
NYC and D.C. officials revealed all five of the shootings of homeless men were linked to the same gun, but the death of a sixth in Manhattan over the weekend was not linked to the spree.
The shootings came at a charged moment in the relationship between New York City and the thousands of people who live on the streets there.
A revamped version of a specialized police unit focused on getting firearms off New York’s streets began operating yesterday in line with one of Adams’s central campaign pledges as gun violence in the city remains above its prepandemic levels.
The accused man caught on camera stabbing two Museum of Modern Art workers after being denied entry to the iconic Midtown Manhattan culture hub taunted authorities as he remained on the lam.
The man, Gary Cabana, may be hiding out in Philadelphia – as police there are searching for a hotel arson suspect who resembles the Big Apple fugitive.
Cabana says he “lost it” on Saturday when the two victims refused to let him into the famed museum to see Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Starry Night.”
Nets forward Kevin Durant walked back some of his recent criticism of Adams in a statement released by the team.
The NBA has fined the Nets $50,000 for allowing Kyrie Irving into the locker room during halftime of the Nets’ 110-107 win over the Knicks on Sunday.
Adams joined TikTok, posting a video of himself drinking a green smoothie and proclaiming: “Let’s get stuff done.”
Police shut down roads around the former Tobin’s First Prize plant in Colonie for hours yesterday, after demolition crews struck an old ammonia pipeline in the building.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation released the beginnings of a plan earlier this month to return shad populations in the Hudson to the levels seen in the 1940s.
Boyz II Men, the powerhouse vocal group that dominated the pop charts throughout the ’90s, are coming to Proctors in Schenectady on Aug. 27. Tickets will go on sale 10 a.m. on Friday.
Con woman Anna “Delvey” Sorokin was reportedly released from an upstate New York detention center for deportation to Germany.
From detention cells in New Jersey and at Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, N.Y., Ms. Sorokin, who was born in Russia but has family in Germany, fought her deportation for almost a year.
A document found by federal prosecutors in the possession of a far-right leader contained a detailed plan to surveil and storm government buildings around the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year, people familiar with the document said.
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, said in an interview published yesterday that she attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the Ellipse in Washington.
“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” will welcome back an in-studio audience when it returns to its original Hell’s Kitchen home on 11th Ave. and 51st St.
