Good Tuesday morning.
If you’re looking for something light-hearted and uplifting, which is fairly standard for this space, I suggest you skip today’s post. It’s not terribly encouraging, but it IS important – too important to pass up, especially given what is going on in the world right now.
On this date in 1986, a nuclear disaster occurred during a botched safety test at the nuclear power station at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union.
The incident, and the fire that followed it, resulted in the release of massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment.
Effectively, billowing clouds of radiation were sent across much of Europe.
To this day, the Chernobyl plant, which lies about 100 km (62 miles) from Kyiv, is STILL radioactive, and the explosion remains the the worst nuclear disaster in history – both in terms of cost and casualties.
Two workers died in the blast, and 28 firefighters and emergency responders died within the next three months from radiation exposure. A UN study points to the disaster as a possible cause of thyroid cancer in 20,000 children. More than 300,000 people who lived near the plant had to relocate.
The accident is also considered to be the root cause behind an increase in suicide rates, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Financially speaking, the disaster’s cost has surpassed $700 billion.
The plant was still in the process of decommissioning as of 2021, though three of the four reactors that were still functioning after the explosion weren’t shut down until 2000.
The full decommissioning was expected to be complete by 2025, but the current war in Ukraine has thrown a serious wrench into the works.
FWIW, Russia didn’t acknowledge the need for international assistance in cleaning up the site until 1990, which is the same year the UN passed resolution 45/90 calling for international cooperation to address and mitigate the consequences of the disaster.
Russian forces took control of all facilities of the Chernobyl nuclear plant at the end of February, and troops remained there until the very end of March – some of them reportedly receiving significant doses of radiation during their stay.
A lot of really terrible things are occurring in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion. One in a very long list is the long-term negative impacts on human health and the environment caused by exposure to heavy metals, and to toxic gases and particulates from explosions, fires and building collapses.
Chernobyl, thus far, appears stable. But the longer this war persists, the worse the situation gets – and the bleaker the future looks.
Today is International Chernobyl Remembrance Day, established by the UN in 2016 that even three decades after the disaster, the long-term consequences persisted and impacted communities continued to require support and assistance.
For more background on the disaster, click here. Documentaries about the incident include: Chernobyl Heart, The Russian Woodpecker, and Chernobyl: Two Days in the Exclusion Zone.
It will be cloudy today with a chance of showers. Temperatures will be in the high 50s. So, not as nice as it has been, but we wouldn’t want to get spoiled or anything, right?
In the headlines…
The risks of nuclear war are now very significant and should not be underestimated, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Russian TV channel.
Washington wants to see Russia “weakened” as part of its aims in arming and supporting Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Kyiv, the first such high-level visit from a U.S. official since the war began.
President Biden’s pick for ambassador to Ukraine will bolster relations between Washington and Kyiv after years without a Senate-confirmed envoy in the post, but a return to a U.S. diplomatic presence during a war brings new risk for the Biden administration.
Just 41% of young Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, according to a new Harvard Institute of Politics poll of adults ages 18-29. That’s down from 46% in fall 2021 and a 59% majority last spring, a trend seen in other recent surveys.
Biden has issued his first endorsement of the 2022 campaign cycle and backed incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon, who is facing a progressive primary challenger supported by some high-profile liberal figures and groups
Voter unrest over high energy prices and concern over dependence on Russian energy have given Sen. Joe Manchin leverage to press for measures promoting more domestic fossil-fuel production in new climate legislation and potential executive actions.
Elon Musk struck a deal to buy Twitter for roughly $44 billion, in a victory by the world’s richest man to take over the influential social network frequented by world leaders, celebrities and cultural trendsetters.
Twitter agreed to sell itself to Musk for $54.20 a share, a 38 percent premium over the company’s share price this month before he revealed he was the firm’s single largest shareholder. It’s the biggest deal to take a company private in at least two decades.
The deal would give the world’s richest person control over the social-media network where he is also among its most influential users.
Twitter workers say they have been left largely in the dark about what a sale to the billionaire will mean for them and their shares in the company.
White House officials and Democratic strategists are privately worrying about how Musk’s hostile takeover of Twitter will affect the 2024 presidential election – especially whether the billionaire will allow former President Donald Trump to return to the platform.
Trump said he would have no interest in rejoining Twitter even if his account were reinstated by Elon Musk, insisting that he plans instead to stick with his fledgling social media network, Truth Social.
A New York judge has held Trump in contempt of court for not turning over relevant documents for state Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud investigation, and will fine the former president $10,000 a day until he submits the relevant information.
The judge said contempt was appropriate because of “repeated delays and failures of Mr. Trump.”
Trump plans to appeal the decision, his attorney Alina Habba told reporters.
The same judge ordered commercial real-estate services giant Cushman & Wakefield to comply with subpoenas about its appraisals of several Trump Organization properties that are being eyed in a civil investigation by the the AG’s office.
Slightly more than two years after recording its first Covid-19 death, the U.S. is about to cross a once-unthinkable threshold: one million deaths attributed to the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Chinese stocks suffered their worst selloff in more than two years and the yuan hit its lowest level since late 2020, as investors worried strict policies to combat Covid-19 would add to the pressures weighing on China’s economic growth and corporate profits.
Chinese authorities raced to carry out citywide Covid-19 tests across Beijing, betting their rapid action to crush a nascent outbreak in the nation’s capital will avoid a repeat of the chaos seen during Shanghai’s stringent lockdown.
For the third time this year, the same Princess Cruise Lines ship has docked in California with passengers who tested positive for COVID-19.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn requested a briefing from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the status of COVID-19 vaccines for young children.
The move comes after White House officials told Politico last week that young kids, the last age group not yet eligible for coronavirus vaccines, will likely have to wait until the summer for immunizations — a longer timeline than previously expected.
Nearly a quarter-million Americans would not have died from COVID-19 if they had been vaccinated, according to a new study, an outcome medical experts called “tragic” and partly the result of disinformation about the shots.
Unvaccinated people threaten the safety of vaccinated people even with high levels of immunization against Covid-19, according to a new study, countering a popular narrative that vaccination is a matter of choice and supporting policies requiring the shots.
Millions of people switched jobs during the pandemic. Some of them are feeling the job-market equivalent of buyer’s remorse.
New York’s COVID-19 case tally surged 37% last week while hospitalizations spiked 24%, prompting health officials to expand recommendations to wear masks indoors in public spaces across 23 counties.
The Albany County Department of Health is advising all residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces in light of rising COVID-19 numbers across the state, including in the Capital Region.
Positivity stands at 5.79 percent in NYC as of yesterday – a seven-day average not seen since February, according to city health data. The city also twice recently saw daily cases surpass 3,000, state data shows.
A Queens COVID-19 site systematically diluted vials of the life-saving Pfizer vaccine in order to dole out more doses, according to a new lawsuit filed by an employee claiming he was pushed out of the company after he started asking questions.
An internal review of New York State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is quietly “underway,” a spokesperson for Governor Kathy Hochul has confirmed, though what stage it is in remains unclear.
Hochul’s overall job performance rating plunged last month to the lowest it has ever been to 36%, according to a new Siena College Research poll.
Political insiders said they still see Hochul as the favorite in the Democratic primary, though that was before the Siena poll showed her job performance rating plunging seven percentage points among voters overall and eight points among Democrats.
The poll also found 67 percent of voters support recent actions by the governor and Legislature to amend the 2019 bail law, including strong majorities from every party, region, race, and gender, but 38% say that will have no effect on the crime rate.
The poll found that less than a quarter of voters approve of $600 million to fund a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills, while nearly three-quarters of voters support a six-month suspension of state gas taxes passed in the state budget that adds up to 16 cents.
Hochul was in Western New York to tout the new state budget, which she said will make “historic investments that will make a difference in people’s lives now and for years to come.”
A prominent LGBTQ rights organization in the city is endorsing Hochul’s reelection bid despite a long history of supporting the political aspirations of her opponent, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
The state’s highest court is set to decide whether Democrats engaged in gerrymandering to draw new political boundary maps, which could have consequences on who can represent New Yorkers and also influence the political balance in Congress.
When then-LG Brian Benjamin was accused in a federal indictment of taking fraudulent contributions for his 2021 failed bid for NYC comptroller, attention turned to a potent city agency soon to be mirrored at the state level: the Campaign Finance Board.
Approximately 1.2 million people across New York don’t have ready access to a variety of birth control methods, according to new data from Power to Decide, a nonprofit that advocates for reproductive freedoms, and George Washington University.
Mayor Eric Adams insisted in a new interview that he has expressed “no reluctance” about releasing his tax returns — despite recently replying “no” when asked if he would commit to maintaining the decades-long disclosure practice.
Adams downplayed the MTA’s embarrassing camera malfunction during the Sunset Park subway shooting as the transit system’s top watchdog launched a probe into the surveillance snafu.
Adams vowed to reach a “middle ground” on public safety and policing policies — after he said the pendulum had swung too far “to the left” during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure.
Adams will address Pace University’s Commencement and will receive an honorary doctorate. Rep. Grace Meng and finance and philanthropy leader Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, will also be recognized at the first in-person graduation in three years.
Adams, alongside Schools Chancellor David C. Banks, announced the start of enrollment for the Summer Rising youth enrichment program.
The City Council rolled out a laundry list of budget demands in what was clearly an effort to preempt Adams’ revised spending plan, which he’s expected to announce today when he delivers his first State of the City address.
Federal prosecutors’ threat to wrest control of city jails from Adams has brought into sharp relief the frustration among Rikers Island watchdogs that has been building for more than six years.
At least 40 children and teenagers have been shot in NYC this year, taking a toll on young people whose lives have already been disrupted by the pandemic.
Under a legislative proposal due for introduction next week, New Yorkers would be required to separate their food scraps and set it on their curbs for pickup — as they do with recyclable materials.
Billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he will donate $200 million to two city charter school networks as part of a national effort to bolster the publicly funded, privately run schools with philanthropy dollars.
About 1,500 workers at an Amazon sorting center on Staten Island will be eligible to vote this week in an election that could produce the second union at the company in the United States.
New York’s federal lawmakers joined in mourning the death of FDNY firefighter Timothy Klein in a ferocious Brooklyn blaze
Downtown Schenectady has been tapped as the site for a new regional transportation hub designed to bring together multiple forms of public transit – such as buses, e-scooters and bicycles – in one centralized location.
Schenectady County health officials are urging residents to be vigilant of deer ticks, which may carry disease and are abundant during the spring.
Starting June 1, the state is lowering gas taxes. Depending on which county you live in, you may see further reductions, as at least 11 counties so far have agreed to limit their local sales taxes on gasoline as well.
Amid questions about the relationship between local agents and the longtime informant who owned the doomed limo, the FBI has opened an internal investigation into the 2018 Schoharie limo crash that left 20 people dead, according to Rep. Paul Tonko’s office.
Wegmans will open its first Long Island location.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office released videos and files associated with the ongoing investigation of the accidental shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in October 2021.
A century after they were invented by Haribo in Bonn, Germany, gummy bears remain a sweet, squishy source of joy. But the world of gummies has expanded far beyond that company, into countless corners of modern life.
