Good Tuesday morning!
I’m not going to officially weigh in with the whole late state budget situation, since I’m not a reporter anymore, but merely yet another disappointed New Yorker.
I WILL, however, note that today is a very special say where one of the three individuals in that storied room hashing out the budget deal. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is an unabashed fan of two things: Prince and Star Trek.
Yes, it’s true, for those who are not New York political junkies like I know some of you are. One of the most powerful people in Albany is a BIG Trekkie. Like major.
He has even made a pilgrimage to Ticonderoga, where he took the Star Trek Original Series Set Tour, and apparently enjoyed himself very much.
So, Mr. Speaker, this one’s for you – Happy First Contact Day!
For those not in the know, on this day in 2063, in Star Trek lore, the Vulcans first made contact with humans by landing their ship, T’Plana-Hath, near the town of Boseman, Montana.
According to the interwebs, a Vulcan disembarked from said ship and greeted Dr. Zefram Cochrane, (eccentric physicist, inventor of the warp drive), with a split-fingered Vulcan salute and uttered the infamous phrase: “Live long and prosper.”
This meeting set the groundwork for the eventual creation of the United Federation of Planets.
So why today? Well, April 5 just so happens to be the birthday of the eldest son of the co-creator of Star Trek, Ronald D. Moore.
On a more serious – or maybe broadly appealing – note, (I know that serious Trekkies like the Speaker will be offended by my suggestion that First Contact Day is somehow not serious), today is also National Library Workers Day, which falls on Tuesday of National Library Week.
Libraries have come a very long way, but remain incredibly important as hubs of shared knowledge and community gathering places. They are also, for many people, a respite and the only location where it’s possible to get online for free.
The first library in the world was founded sometime in the 7th century B.C. for the “royal contemplation” of the Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal in what is now Iraq. America’s oldest public library is the Darby Free Library located in Darby, Pennsylvania, and has been in continuous service since 1743, though it was subscription-only until 1898.
I am a BIG fan of libraries, and if you are not supporting your local library, well, you should.
If you thought yesterday was nice, weather-wise, well, you’re in for a big treat today. Temperatures should reach 60 degrees and we will see intervals of clouds and sunshine. Enjoy it while you can, because the forecast calls for rain, rain and more rain over the next several days.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden said the atrocities allegedly committed by Russian forces in Bucha, Ukraine, are a “war crime” and called for a trial to take place against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Biden called Vladimir Putin “brutal,” but did not label the killings a “genocide”. He did say he was looking into additional sanctions against Russia.
“(W)e have to gather the information,” Biden added, “we have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight, and we have to get all the detail so this can be an actual…wartime trial.”
The U.N. Security Council will meet today as the United States and Europe threaten to further isolate Putin and demand that he be held accountable for possible war crimes by Russian forces outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Having failed to score a quick triumph, Russia is shifting its attention to the contested breakaway enclaves, in Ukraine’s East. It is also shelling large cities to keep enemy forces from the expected new areas of battle.
Former President Barack Obama returns to the White House today for a moment he can savor: His signature Affordable Care Act is now part of the fabric of the American health care system, Biden is looking to extend its reach.
The celebration of the 2010 health care overhaul will be their first joint appearance since they attended events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at Ground Zero in New York last fall.
Democrats are growing increasingly worried about Biden’s standing in the polls seven months out from the midterm elections.
Top aides to Biden’s 2020 campaign and the deep-pocketed outside group backing his agenda are launching a new advertising firm positioned at the power center of Biden-era Democratic politics.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to be confirmed as the first Black woman Supreme Court justice this week, after a bipartisan group of senators voted yesterday to advance her nomination.
After the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-11, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a vote to break the deadlock and send her nomination to the floor.
Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined a third Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, in lending their support to Judge Jackson, defying deep resistance in their party to the nominee.
All 50 members of the Democratic caucus also backed Jackson in a 53-to-47 procedural vote last night, but the late-breaking support of the two GOP senators represented a minor triumph for Biden and congressional Democrats.
Naomi Biden, the eldest grandchild of Biden and first lady Jill Biden, will hold her wedding reception at the White House, marking the first time the executive mansion has hosted the wedding reception for a presidential family member in 14 years.
The date for Naomi’s reception is set to Nov. 19, but the location of the wedding ceremony was not disclosed. If Naomi and her fiancé, Peter Neal, opt for a Catholic service then usually that takes place in a church.
“Peter and I are endlessly grateful to my Nana and Pop for the opportunity to celebrate our wedding at the White House,” Naomi, tweeted. “We can’t wait to make our commitment to one another official and for what lies ahead.”
Nations need to move away faster from fossil fuels to retain any hope of preventing a perilous future on an overheated planet, according to a major new report on climate change, although they have made some progress due to falling clean energy costs.
Congress reached a deal for an additional $10 billion in COVID funding, after nearly a month of contentious back-and-forth negotiations between Democrats and Republicans and increasing pressure from the White House to approve of the money.
The agreement would allow the Biden administration to purchase more vaccines and therapeutics, as well as maintain testing capacity and research.
It does not include $5 billion in funding for global Covid-19 aid, nor would it replenish the program that pays for testing, treating and vaccinating the uninsured.
Republicans are eyeing an attempt to link a Trump-era immigration policy to a coronavirus relief deal that senators are hoping to pass by the end of the week.
Roughly 60 million Americans who are enrolled in Medicare can now get up to eight free home coronavirus tests per month from pharmacies or health care providers in a move by the Biden administration to expand testing access.
The CDC will undergo a monthlong comprehensive review and evaluation, a first step in modernizing its systems and processes and transforming it for the future, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the agency’s director, announced.
Poorer counties in the U.S. reported coronavirus death rates nearly double those in wealthier ones, a new report found.
The official list of symptoms of COVID-19 has been expanded in the UK, where cases are currently running at the highest level since the start of the pandemic.
Health officials have renewed calls for indoor mask wearing in the Central New York region as COVID-19 cases surged 17% last week and parts of upstate faced some of the worst BA.2 subvariant outbreaks in the country.
New York ranked ninth among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis.
Gov. Kathy Hochul received her second COVID-19 booster shot.
A New York appellate judge hit the brakes on a sweeping lower-court decision that invalidated newly drawn legislative districts favorable to Democrats and threatened to throw the state’s election season into turmoil.
The temporary stay allows the state to keep on track for June 28 primary elections. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
New York lawmakers agreed to pass a short-term spending bill yesterday o ensure state workers get paid this week after officials failed to reach a broader budget agreement with Hochul.
However, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said that since the last-minute extension did not pass until after 6 p.m. in the Assembly, there may be “a delay, and employees on the institutional payroll should watch closely.”
“It’ll be resolved in just a matter of days. We’re getting close,” Hochul said. “We filed an extender as of today to make sure that we can continue to pay our New York workers which is important, but also this gives them more time just to wrap up the final touches,
The criminal justice issues consuming state budget negotiations have included whether to provide about $40 million in funding for upstate district attorneys to help their offices respond to stringent pre-trial discovery rules that took effect two years ago.
Lawmakers may avoid making sweeping changes to Kendra’s Law, which allows in the involuntary commitment of people struggling with severe mental illness.
Hochul argued that taxpayers won’t foot a majority of the bill for the controversial Buffalo Bills stadium deal — even though independent watchdogs have estimated the plan could cost up to $1.13 billion in state subsidies.
Hochul’s recent announcement that funding for a the Bills stadium included $418 million secured from the Seneca Nation brought immediate rebuke from the nation’s president, who cast it as a “sweetheart deal” for the company that employs Hochul’s husband.
Hochul claimed that she was unaware prosecutors had issued subpoenas related to Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin’s failed comptroller campaign before his appointment to his current post last year.
New York State launched its first ads in anticipation of legally selling marijuana later this year with the warning: “Don’t drive high.”
Hochul and OCM unveiled 15 second and 30 second public TV services ads and billboards as part of the state’s “Cannabis Conversations” campaign.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the placement of billboards denouncing the “Don’t Say Gay” law in five major Florida cities to bring state residents opposed to the legislation to New York City.
Adams, a Democrat, called the Parental Rights in Education law – dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents – “the latest shameful, extremist culture war targeting the LGBTQ+ community.”
“We are going to loudly show our support, to say to those who are living in Florida, ‘Listen, we want you here in New York. Want you right here in New York City,’” Adams said in City Hall, where he was flanked by LGBTQ lawmakers.
The mother who crashed Adams’ press conference yesterday to blast him over his tot mask mandate was fired shortly afterward from her job at the city Law Department.
Daniela Jampel has worked for the Law Department since 2016, according to city payroll records and her LinkedIn profile. She has also become a prominent figure in parent-led protests to expand access to in-person schooling and relax mask rules for kids.
Every single communication from a city agency, down to notices about cherry blossoms in bloom, must be approved by City Hall, Adams has instructed administration staff — warning that anyone violating his “discipline of message” would be fired.
Adams said he plans to remake a controversial 2011 video he shot as a state senator in which he showed parents how to search their home and children’s belongings for “tell-tale” signs of criminal behavior.
“I was ridiculed over the campaign because when I was in the state senate, I put out a video — that we’re going to remake — to show parents what to look for in their household,” Adams said of the video, which was mocked by his opponents on social media.
The family of a 12-year-old boy who was fatally shot last week in Brooklyn pleaded for answers at a news conference with Adams, describing deep pain and frustration that innocent victims continue to be caught up in gunfire.
Adams, who stood beside the grieving mom holding a pair of the slain boy’s sneakers, decried the shooting, repeatedly asking: “Whose child is next?”
A 61-year-old woman was fatally shot last night in the Bronx during crossfire after two groups of men began arguing nearby with guns drawn, the police said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has slammed the mayor’s new policies aimed at tackling the city’s crime crisis.
In an Instagram story Saturday, AOC gave a literal thumbs down to the mayor’s launching of a revamped NYPD anti-gun unit and other measures.
A Brooklyn man falsely arrested in a child molestation case will finally get his day in court after the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for him to sue the NYPD even though his case was dismissed.
Steven Zajonc, accused of attacking seven Asian women earlier this year, was indicted on six felony counts of assault as a hate crime and seven counts of aggravated harassment as a misdemeanor hate crime, according to a statement from the DA’s office.
A self styled dating coach who prosecutors say participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a gun possession charge in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Andy Marte, a former registered Republican with an apparent penchant for tweeting about Pizzagate, is out as the director of Brooklyn Democratic Party.
As New York City makes a new push to relocate homeless people from the subway, the experiences of Philadelphia, San Francisco and others show the challenges ahead.
Black families and children receiving help from the child welfare system are treated differently as a result of their race, a new report from the New York State Bar Association found.
An attorney for Rensselaer County Executive Steven F. McLaughlin is asking a judge to dismiss a two-count felony indictment filed against the former state assemblyman, who is charged with using campaign funds to pay off a $3,500 debt to a former aide.
The Saratoga Springs public safety commissioner wants to discipline a high-ranking police officer over the decision to not press charges against three white teens who allegedly beat an African American student so severely that he sustained a brain injury.
Thoroughbred trainer Bob Baffert will not be allowed to compete at New York horse racing tracks through at least July 2, the New York Gaming Commission said, in an announcement that it would honor the suspension issued by Kentucky regulators.
IBM has formally announced an official coalition of tech companies, universities and government organizations that are supporting the effort to locate a multi-billion-dollar federal computer chip research program at Albany Nanotech.
Baristas at Starbucks’ upscale Reserve Roastery coffee shop in New York City’s trendy Meatpacking District voted 46-36 in favor of forming a union on Friday — the ninth restaurant owned by the coffee chain to do so.
Amazon is reportedly considering a program that would flag internal messages among employees that include certain words, some of which pertain to organized labor, according to internal company documents.
Kansas pulled off the biggest comeback in men’s national championship game history to beat North Carolina, 72-69, and win the 2022 NCAA tournament.
As the fallout continues from the Oscars slap heard ‘round the world, several of Will Smith’s upcoming projects have been sidelined as Hollywood waits to see how long the scandal lasts.
