Happy Thursday.
I realize, BTW, that I totally overlooked 4/20 yesterday. But, then again, since adult-use cannabis has been legalized, isn’t some of the mystique gone? Maybe it’s just me. Anyway, for all those who were disappointed, I’m sorry.
On a totally unrelated note, or maybe not, depending on how you get in touch with your right brain, today is World Creativity and Innovation Day, established by the UN “to raise the awareness of the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.”
Given all that the UN has on its radar screen, I think this is pretty darn cool.
According to a 2015 UNESCO report, the cultural and creative industries are among the most dynamic sectors in the world economy, generating $2.25 billion in revenue and 29.5 million jobs worldwide.
It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic hit the arts and entertainment sectors particularly hard. UNESCO quantified that in another report released this past February, which found the COVID-19 crisis caused a massive reduction in revenue in these sectors, along with a loss of some 10 million jobs in 2020 alone.
On the positive side (I think?), access to digital cultural content has increased, but along with that comes the need to ensure that creators are fairly compensated, and also for closing the earning gap between developed and undeveloped countries.
In case you were wondering, because I was, the definitions of “creativity” and “innovation” are as follows:
Creativity – the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work
Innovation – a new, method, idea, or device; the introduction of something new.
These two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, except what is that line from
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Or, as Mark Twain put it, perhaps more succinctly: “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.”
Perhaps instead of seeing the concept of the impossibility of actually creating anything truly new as limiting, as I am apt to do, we can turn that one its head and see it as freeing – there is no requirement to come up with anything new, and so whatever we come up with is worthy!
I’m working on that still.
If warm weather inspires you, you’re in luck. It will be 60 degrees today, though mostly cloudy.
In the headlines…
Russian forces pressed their offensive in Ukraine yesterday, raining artillery and missile strikes along the long eastern front, as Moscow took the provocative step of test launching an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to evade defenses.
Russian forces made incremental gains in their offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, as Western nations rushed more weapons to the outgunned Ukrainian military.
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the first test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that he said would make those threatening his country “think twice,” in his latest nuclear saber-rattling since launching his war in Ukraine.
Several finance ministers and central bankers including Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Ukraine’s finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, abruptly left a Group of 20 meeting in protest when Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, started to speak.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he believes the war against Russia would have already been won if Western allies including the US and NATO had sent more weapons to arm Ukraine.
President Biden convened U.S. military leaders in an annual White House gathering taking on special significance as the war in Ukraine enters a risky new phase and Washington plans more weapons assistance.
A large NATO cyber exercise taking place this week includes simulated attacks on power grids and financial-messaging systems, with Ukrainian experts taking part.
Finance ministers for the Group of Seven countries pledged over $24 billion in 2022 in support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) hit Biden over the country’s record-high inflation, claiming Biden’s current group of “woke advisers” are to blame for “the perfect economic storm.”
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont may run for president a third time in 2024 if Biden opts not to run, according to a memo sent to campaigns that he’s endorsed.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden “remains committed” to honoring his campaign pledge to release “everyone” in federal prison for marijuana, as many of those prisoners are concerned it won’t happen.
Florida’s lone statewide elected Democrat, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, sued the Biden administration to try to block a federal rule that prohibits medical marijuana users from buying guns or maintaining concealed-carry permits.
The risks marijuana can pose to people—and even pets—near users is getting more attention from researchers, as consumption rises along with legalization efforts in parts of North America.
The Justice Department said it would appeal a federal judge’s ruling invalidating a mask mandate for public transportation after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said such an order remains necessary for public health.
While the C.D.C. wants to keep the mandate intact, it is also pressing the appeal to preserve its public health powers. But doing so is potentially risky; if the ruling striking down the mandate is upheld, that could permanently weaken the agency’s authority.
Delta Air Lines will allow passengers who were previously banned for mask violations back on flights after the federal transportation mask mandate was overruled in federal court this week.
Mask requirements for public transportation are disappearing even though a majority of Americans continue to support them, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
People concerned about getting Covid can still protect themselves by properly wearing masks, like an N95 or KN95, even if nobody else around is, Dr. Scott Gottlieb said.
While China’s recent COVID-19 lockdowns are sparking concerns about another massive shockwave through global supply chains, some industry analysts and insiders are anticipating minimal impact as Shanghai begins to ease lockdown measures.
The Justice Department has accused two owners of a medical lab in Southern California of running a $144 million Medicare fraud scheme that billed thousands of patients for unnecessary medical diagnostics — after luring them in with coronavirus tests.
Federal prosecutors have charged about 20 people in the past two weeks with allegedly engaging in various fraud schemes related to the pandemic that amounted to about $150 million in improper government claims, around $20 million of which have been paid.
Millions of public school students across the United States are considered chronically absent — often defined as missing 10 percent of the days in a school year, whether the absences are excused or not – and that number skyrocketed during the pandemic.
As some pandemic restrictions now finally lift, and New York returns to some semblance of normal, one unknown is the lasting effects of two years of prolonged isolation and the loneliness that came with it.
Two mutated strains of the highly transmissible omicron variant of Covid-19 are the main culprits behind a “rising tide” of infections in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Even so, Hochul said, it was difficult to forecast what form the current “bump” might take, urging “common sense” safety measures such as home testing.
With more than 86% of adults in New York fully vaccinated against the virus, Hochul detailed statewide data showing that 47% of infected New Yorkers who received hospital care did not display symptoms.
Hochul says New York’s mass transit COVID mask mandate remains in effect for the “short term” but didn’t specify a timeline as she faced questions after a federal judge’s decision voided the national rule earlier this week.
Citing the economic impact of the pandemic, Hochul’s administration is postponing for six months a rule requiring nail salons to install ventilation systems to help prevent manicurists and customers from inhaling harmful chemicals used in nail products.
After more than two years of upheaval brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Lincoln Center will stage a festival this summer aimed at helping New York City heal.
New York’s world-renowned hotel and tourism industry has a steep climb to bounce back to its pre-pandemic glory days, with hotel business travel revenue expected to be 55% lower in the Big Apple market this year than in 2019, a new industry analysis reveals.
State Senate Democrats are refusing to back legislation that would help Hochul to name a new running mate to replace ex-Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin in the June Democratic primary following his recent arrest for alleged corruption.
That bill is just one of a number of issues with which state lawmakers will wrestle when they return to Albany for the post-budget session.
Hochul announced that Timothy Hogues, personnel commissioner for Erie County, will be nominated to serve as the Commissioner and President of the State Civil Service Commission.
Hochul talked to Cindy Adams about her tough childhood and changing clothes on the fly.
Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul pitched the economic benefits of legal cannabis on 4/20, the international day celebrating weed.
Adams says he wants the city to promote its impending legal cannabis industry and assist people from minority communities most affected by marijuana-related offenses to become marijuana entrepreneurs.
Adams is earmarking nearly $5 million in his executive budget toward educating New Yorkers on how to enter the legal cannabis business, and targeting would-be entrepreneurs in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by marijuana arrests in the past.
For many New York residents eager to buy legal weed, the fact that plants grown this summer are only expected to be available for purchase at the end of the year feels like a substantial slowdown whereas New Jersey also has product on the market.
Mourners gathered to lay Kade Lewin, the innocent 12-year-old boy senselessly gunned down in Brooklyn last month, to rest — but the Big Apple’s vocal tough-on-crime mayor was a last-minute no-show.
Adams rolled out a pilot program aimed at tidying up the massive piles of garbage that are ubiquitous on city sidewalks and a go-to destination for rodents in search of a meal.
Adams made a request to Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor to let him keep control of the city’s jails, contending he’s best suited to fix the embattled lockups because of his own criminal history and ethnicity.
Adams cited his own criminal history and ethnicity as reasons for why he should be allowed to remain in charge of the city’s embattled jail system after Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor threatened to take that power away from him.
The city’s jail boss revved up the feds’ frustration with conditions at Rikers Island by missing a meeting with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office and going to a car show.
Adams acknowledged that he requested an extension for filing his taxes “probably” the same day he was first pressed on releasing the documents — as he scolded reporters for again asking about the issue.
Adams issued proclamations to a group of cops and civilian tipsters for their help tracking down Frank James, who’s charged with shooting up a rush hour subway train in Brooklyn last week.
A group of Congress members, including three from New York City, pressed the MTA for answers in a blistering letter about why the cameras were malfunctioning during the subway attack – especially when the agency has millions in federal dollars for security.
Congressional candidate Max Rose, a 35-year-old combat veteran, has scored endorsements from city Comptroller Brad Lander and state Assemblyman Robert Carroll, two Park Slope Democrats, in his bid to return to the House, his campaign said.
City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli writes in a DN op-ed: ” Unfortunately, Andrew Cuomo isn’t done with New York yet. In fact, he’s subjecting all of us to galling claims that if only he were in charge, life would be so much better. That is patently ridiculous.”
Melissa DeRosa, former right-hand to Cuomo, is set to sell her Brooklyn apartment for $2.62 million, as she prepares to write a book chronicling her roller-coaster political career.
A disgraced former Brooklyn judge got a new perspective on the justice system when she was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for obstructing an investigation into the corruption at the state’s largest credit union.
Amazon will “Feel The Bern” on Sunday, when Sen. Bernie Sanders visits a Staten Island warehouse where employees are on the brink of unionizing.
Former President Donald Trump argued in new legal papers that he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court because he’s already turned over all the evidence he has to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The Trump International Hotel in Washington is slated to be sold in the coming days to a Florida investor group that will take down the Trump name and rebrand it as a Waldorf Astoria.
A court arbitrator has ordered Trump’s presidential campaign to pay nearly $1.3 million in legal fees to Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former “Apprentice” star, White House aide and author of the first tell-all book about the Trump White House.
A glistening and angry Trump called journalist Piers Morgan “very dishonest” in an interview where the former president demands “turn the camera off” as he rises from his chair and walks away.
Trump plans to appear at a rally for a Nebraska gubernatorial candidate who is reportedly facing multiple sexual misconduct allegations, including one leveled by a Republican state senator.
Former President Barack Obama has embarked on a campaign to warn that the scourge of online falsehoods has eroded the foundations of democracy.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation is failing to monitor private forest owners receiving special tax breaks, many of whom are in the Adirondack Park, according to a new audit by New York Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.
Video of a sobbing 8-year-old boy was shepherded into a Syracuse police car over the weekend for allegedly stealing a bag of chips has shocked many people, including the governor.
By yesterday, footage of the weekend encounter racked up more than 50,000 views on Facebook and more than 1 million on Twitter.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation said the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus has been found in multiple wild bird species across New York.
Starship, the band best known for the infectious 1985 earworm “We Built This City,” will headline this year’s 46th annual Independence Day celebration at the Empire State Plaza.
State Sen. Jim Tedisco is calling on the Assembly to “stop stalling” and have the governor sign a bill that would extend the operations of the state’s Stretch Limousine Passenger Safety Task Force until Oct. 1.
The suspect in the slaying of 35-year-old Philip L. Rabadi of New Scotland is scheduled to be returned to Albany County and arraigned in New Scotland Town Court today.
A plane carrying members of the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team took part in a celebration of the armed forces at Nationals Park, sparking alarm, a rushed evacuation of the Capitol, and an angry condemnation from Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Netflix, the world’s largest streaming video company, warned a global crackdown on password sharing is coming.
Queen Elizabeth is getting her own Barbie doll two months after marking her 70th year on the throne. Mattel revealed the $75 Platinum Jubilee doll on its website.
