Good Monday morning. It’s almost the end of March already. I feel like I blinked and missed it somehow.
I don’t want to let March end officially without noting that it has been National Social Work Month, which offers an opportunity to highlight the hardworking individuals – like my friend and CivMix contributor Alyssa Lotmore – who help individuals, families, and groups prevent and cope with problems in their everyday lives.
In 2016, there were more than 680,000 social workers employed across the U.S., the largest number of whom specialized in helping children and/or working in schools. In 2020, that number had climbed to 715,000, and with an expected 12 percent increase in jobs by 2030, this is one of the fastest-growing professions in the nation.
Even with this increase, however, there’s a marked shortage of social workers, as their skills are in very high demand. The profession shares with many other sectors a looking retirement surge as the baby boomers continue to age out of the workforce.
But there’s also a very high burnout rate for social workers, as they the complexities of the problems they are asked to confront and help individuals manage and overcome continue to grow. (Much of the stress level is situational, to be clear. Some institutional settings or working with Child Protective Services, as the previous link notes, can be especially difficult).
The rise in social isolation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the long-term mental health impact of the COVID crisis, which has yet to be fully calculated or understood, is also further complicating matters for professionals in this and similar fields.
If you know a social worker, you have a few days left in this month to do something nice for them – maybe buy them a slice of black forest cake?
The traditional version of this decadent and over-the-top dessert consists of multiple layers of chocolate sponge cake, whipped cream, and cherries. It is frosted with more whipped cream, more cherries, and chocolate shavings, and also usually contains Kirschwasser, which is a type of cherry liqueur similar to brandy.
This cake reportedly originated in the 1600s in the Black Forest region of Germany, but was officially “invented” in 1915 by a pastry chef named Josef Keller.
Personally, I’m more of a carrot cake girl. German chocolate cake is a little too much for me. But you do you.
I don’t even want to get into the weather forecast today. It’s simply too depressing for words. Temperatures in the mid-20s with the possibility of snow flurries, OK? That’s really all you need to know.
Dig that winter coat back out of storage – you still need it, apparently.
In the headlines…
At nearly the same moment President Joe Biden declared him a “butcher,” Vladimir Putin’s missiles began falling in Lviv, Ukraine.
At the conclusion of his speech in Warsaw on Saturday, Biden said Putin “cannot remain in power” after his country’s invasion of Ukraine and continued attacks.
A White House official later walked back the comments to Wall Street Journal reporter Tarini Parti, saying Biden solely called for Putin not to exercise his power outside of Russia, not regime change.
This comes just one day after Biden had another slip of the tongue while talking to American troops in eastern Europe.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also made clear that the United States does not plan to pursue regime change in Russia.
The unscripted words of an impassioned speech created a troubling distraction for Biden, undermining his effectiveness as he returned home to face restive Americans who strongly disapprove of his performance on issues that matter most to them.
Democrats took to the Sunday TV news programs to clarify Biden’s fiery line while Republicans walked a tightrope of panning it, and also Vladimir Putin.
President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a 90-minute-long Zoom interview to four prominent journalists from Russia, the country invading his. A government statement notified the Russian news media “of the necessity to refrain from publishing this interview.”
Ukrainian forces are seeking to roll back Russian gains as Moscow shifts its focus to controlling a swath of the country’s south and east.
Russia appears to be shifting its focus to securing control of eastern Ukraine after efforts to take the capital, Kyiv, and other major cities stalled in the face of stiff resistance.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is further driving up the price of renewable-energy projects, which were already facing supply-chain strains and raw-materials increases before the war.
As climate change opens up the Arctic for transit and exploration, Russia has increasingly militarized the region. The U.S. is preparing a more aggressive presence of its own.
Seven in 10 Americans expressed low confidence in Biden’s ability to deal with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a new poll, and 8 in 10 voiced worry that the war will increase gas prices and possibly involve nuclear weapons.
Biden’s approval rating stands at 40%, down from 43% in January, while the number of voters who disapprove has increased by one percentage point to 55%, according to an NBC News poll released yesterday.
Biden’s overall job approval rating is at the lowest level of his presidency. The survey also found that Republicans enjoyed a 2-point lead in answering which party should control Congress ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Biden will propose a new minimum tax on households worth more than $100 million as part of his annual budget, the White House said, in a bid to ensure the very wealthiest Americans pay at least 20% in tax on their income and rising asset values each year.
Called the “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax,” it would assess a 20% minimum tax rate on U.S. households worth more than $100 million. Over half the revenue could come from those worth more than $1 billion.
With the pandemic entering a new phase marked by fewer precautions and the rise of the even more transmissible BA.2, the Biden administration is stressing the importance of mitigating the risk of indoor aerosol transmission, the primary driver of the pandemic.
The Biden administration is expected to give older adults the option of getting a second Covid-19 vaccine booster as early as next week.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House principal deputy press secretary, tested positive for the coronavirus after returning from Biden’s trip to Europe, she said in a statement last night.
Jean-Pierre said she last saw Biden “during a socially distanced meeting” on Saturday. Biden, because he is fully vaccinated, is not considered a “close contact” under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Jean-Pierre said she is experiencing mild symptoms and will be working from home and isolated for a minimum of five days, per CDC recommendations, and return to the White House when she receives a negative coronavirus test.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tested positive for COVID-19 after he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The fourth coronavirus vaccine resulted in a 78% decrease in COVID-19 related deaths in adults aged 60-100, according to a new study by Israel’s Clalit Health Services.
The federal government said that a fund established to reimburse doctors for care for uninsured Covid patients was no longer accepting claims for testing and treatment “due to lack of sufficient funds.”
Shanghai has said it will lock down each half of the city by turns for mass Covid-19 testing starting today amid surging infections.
Tesla Inc. is suspending production at its car plant in Shanghai for four days, people familiar with the matter said, as the city started putting its 25 million citizens in a staggered two-stage Covid-19 lockdown.
A class action complaint was filed against Ellume USA LLC after the company recalled millions of at-home COVID-19 test kits last year.
A cruise ship returned to San Francisco from the Panama Canal yesterday morning, with multiple positive COVID cases.
COVID brain fog may overlap with so-called “chemo brain” and Alzheimer’s.
Nearly a third of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic suffered from peripheral neuropathy as a result, according to a study conducted at Washington University.
A little less than 24 hours before stars were scheduled to fill the Oscars red carpet, Lin-Manuel Miranda announced he would not be attending the ceremony after his wife tested positive for COVID-19.
As the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 continues to rise on Long Island, experts say those who didn’t contract the coronavirus in the past few months are most at risk, but if they’re vaccinated, their vulnerability drops.
Onondaga County’s COVID numbers remain among the highest in New York.
Gov. Kathy Hochul reported that only seven COVID-related deaths were reported on Saturday statewide, but she reminded New Yorkers not to misinterpret the state’s progress.
While Hochul’s bail bombshell dominated budget talks in recent weeks, there are plenty of other big-ticket items and spending plans for review ahead of the April 1 fiscal deadline.
The debate over bail reform has become a growing symbol of rifts among progressive and moderate Democrats that is playing out in statehouses across the U.S.
Lawmakers in the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus have proposed a 10-point plan for public safety in the state rooted in funding mental health, youth counseling and housing needs as well as diversion and educational programs.
Hochul confirmed a potential gas tax reduction is “on the table” in negotiations with legislative leaders.
Could a push to suspend New York’s gasoline tax morph into a one-time gas rebate check for automobile owners? It’s an idea under discussion as lawmakers near a deadline for adopting a state budget, several sources said.
An influx of federal funds may have saved the M.T.A. and staved off painful budget cuts in Albany and New York City. There’s a fight over what comes next.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a top Democrat in the House, backed Hochul’s gubernatorial bid, adding to her long list of endorsements from New York lawmakers.
Twenty leading criminal justice reform groups across New York State penned an open letter to Hochul after a version of her ‘ten-point plan’ to roll back several pieces of bail reform legislation was leaked to the New York Post.
Hochul is negotiating a $1.4 billion new stadium for the Buffalo Bills, but some see such spending of taxpayer dollars as wasteful.
After Hochul canceled a much-derided to connect an AirTrain to LaGuardia from Willets Point, the Port Authority held two public comment sessions this month to hear what the residents of western Queens feel about possible transit options to LaGuardia.
Grants sponsored by Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin when he was a member of the state Senate are being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Investigators have reportedly subpoenaed state officials and Senate employees as they probe money Benjamin steered toward projects in his former Harlem district.
Prosecutors are examining whether Benjamin, New York’s second-highest state official, participated in a plan to boost his campaign fund with fraudulent donations during his unsuccessful 2021 run for NYC comptroller.
Benjamin was involved with the conspiracy and wire fraud charges filed in November against Harlem landlord and lawyer Gerald Migdol, who’s accused of making illegal, “straw” donations to his campaign. (He has not been charged with wrongdoing).
An analysis conducted by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli brings awareness to the gap in earnings between women and men by comparing salaries they earned in 2019.
A veteran black female fraud investigator is suing the New York State Department of Financial Services alleging she was treated unfairly compared to white male counterparts and called a “bitch” for just doing her job.
Mayor Eric Adams said that the Big Apple has become “a laughingstock” as it grapples with surging crime and homelessness — and claimed he’s the “wartime general” who can fix it.
Adams is considering deploying a fleet of crime-fighting drones above Gotham to clamp down on crooks.
Though he said while campaigning that he would carry a gun if elected mayor, Adams thus far has not felt the need to do so.
Adams last night shared a disturbing video that captured the moment two assailants robbed a mother and her baby at gunpoint in a New York City apartment building.
Adams pulled the plug on the unlicensed firm that’s been providing security at hotels where inmates released from Rikers and state prisons have been placed as part of an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Just weeks after embarking on a campaign to boot unsheltered New Yorkers out of the subway system, Adams says he’s removing their encampments from the streets as well.
Adams, in a brief interview with the New York Times, provided few details about the initiative, which would require considerable manpower and logistical coordination.
“It is inhumane to have people live in cardboard boxes on highways and subway tunnels on tracks on streets. That’s inhumane,” Adams said. “The previous administration ignored that, I’m not going to do that.”
After years of national Democratic efforts to distance themselves from ’90s-style tough-on-crime tactics, Adams is now pushing New York into a new era of more aggressive law enforcement, even with the city far safer than in earlier decades.
The lobby of the Upper West Side building once known as the Royal Park Hotel still beckons to tourists. But it is being converted into permanent housing for homeless people as part of an urgent push to alleviate the city’s severe housing crisis.
CORE Services Group, an embattled homeless shelter provider, has secured at least $1.9 million in city funding since being under federal investigation on allegations that its executives used taxpayer cash to enrich themselves.
Evictions are racing ahead faster than the city can provide attorneys for the tenants with housing troubles, says Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
The long-promised project to extend the Second Ave. subway to Harlem will get $400 million in the annual budget Biden is set to propose today, according to New York Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Adriano Espaillat.
Cars on the Manhattan-bound side of the Brooklyn Bridge move slower than before one of its traffic lanes was turned into bike lane last year, according to data from the analysis firm INRIX.
Personal data for roughly 820,000 current and former New York City public school students was compromised in the hack of a widely-used online grading and attendance system earlier this year, city Education Department officials said.
Former two-time mayoral candidate and Troy City Council president Rodney G. Wiltshire was arrested by police Saturday night and charged with choking someone during a domestic disturbance.
Just days after Albany officials announced a hotline for residents to report illegal dirt bikes and ATVs on city streets, a video surfaced on social media showing a city police SUV running over the back wheel of dirt bike and knocking the rider to the ground.
By 2080, the Hudson River could rise 2 to 4 feet, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The agency puts the high-end estimate for the end of the century at nearly 6 feet.
Authorities are investigating a shooting that left one man dead at a City of Troy bar and another seriously wounded late Saturday.
Albany Assemblywoman Pat Fahy is mourning her son, Brendan Fahy Bequette, 25, who died last month from an aggressive, rare mediastinal germ cell cancer.
Once a mainstream Republican from a moderate district, North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik, the party’s No. 3 House leader, has embraced Trumpism and the extremists in her ranks.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said that Chris Rock is declining to file a police report after being struck by actor Will Smith in a shocking altercation during the Oscars broadcast after Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife.
A lot of people wondered, at least briefly, if this had been some kind of a bit, a scripted fake fight with a fake punch to match. But quickly, Rock’s demeanor and Smith’s both seemed to suggest that was not the case.
An emotional Will Smith won the best actor Oscar – his first time ever winning the award – for his performance in “King Richard” as the fiery, flawed coach and father of the tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams.
Jessica Chastain took home the best actress Academy Award for her role as a famed TV televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.
First Lady Jill Biden took to Twitter Sunday night to congratulate the cast and crew of “CODA” after it won Best Picture at last night’s Academy Awards.
“CODA” from Apple TV+ won the Oscar for best picture, becoming the first film from a streaming service to be welcomed into that rarefied Hollywood club.
The improbable run through the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament ended for St. Peter’s, as the Peacocks fell to the UNC Tar Heels 69-49 . The small Jesuit school in Jersey City, New Jersey, made history as the only 15th seed to get as far as the elite eight.
