Good morning. It’s Monday.
After several days of record-breaking heat, we’re back in the normal zone for late spring, with temperatures in the 70s this week. You know how I feel about humidity and heat. Not happy. This weekend’s long run was a serious slog/chore.
Cities across a wide swath of the country tied or broke heat records on Saturday as blazing heat and humidity roasted states from Texas to Massachusetts, placing more than 38 million Americans under a heat advisory in the hottest hours of the day.
And we were not alone. The situation was much the same across Southern and Central Europe.
But it’s done. Onward.
It’s a big day for our neighbors to the north (that would be Canada, FWIW): Victoria Day, which signifies the informal beginning of summer. Technically, though, summer arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on June 21. Also, here in the U.S., we have to wait another week for the Memorial Day weekend – the unofficial start of our summer season.
The day marks the birthday of Queen Victoria, who was the ruling monarch at the time of Canada’s birth as a country in 1867, even though she actually was born on May 24, 1819.
Victoria Day was declared a holiday by the Canadian government in 1845, and it was celebrated a the time in a variety of ways – with picnics, parades, sporting tournaments, fireworks and cannon salutes.
When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Canada’s parliament officially named the holiday “Victoria Day,” and decided it would be celebrated on the second-to-last Monday in May – hence the discrepancy.
The only place that deviates from this practice is Quebec, because of course they do. Instead of Victoria Day, the Quebecois celebrate Journée nationale des patriotes (National Patriots Day), to honor the rebellion against the British in 1837.
For the rest of Canada, Queen Victoria is significant e because she held the throne in 1867 when they won their independence as an entity of the British Empire. She also deemed Ottawa the nation’s capital.
Victoria Day is a statutory holiday for federal purposes in Canada, but most workplaces are regulated by provincial and/or territorial governments. As a result, whether workers get a paid day off generally depends on where they live – unless they’re employed by federally regulated entities, like banks, for example.
Since we’re not in Canada, (at least I don’t think we have any CivMixers there, but I guess it’s possible)…here’s something universal we can probably all get behind: World Turtle Day.
Oh, and for the record, turtles and tortoises are NOT interchangeable. tortoise and turtle.
Turtles sometimes – thought not always – live in the water (mostly, they’re found in the sea). Tortoises ONLY live on land. Turtles stick around on the planet for as long as 40 years, and have streamlined and mostly flat shells. That’s not bad, in the longevity department, but they have nothing on tortoises, who can live up to 300 years. They also have larger, more domed shells.
Now that we’ve straightened all that out, let’s get to the headlines…
Russia permanently banned more than 900 American politicians, celebrities and executives from entering the country, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and actor Morgan Freeman.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the bans as part of a response to sanctions imposed on the country as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, as well as others who have publicly denounced President Vladimir Putin. In total, 963 people are now banned.
Not on the list? Former President Donald Trump.
Russia’s war and its fallout — scrambled energy markets, food shortages and fears that the fighting could spill over borders — are expected to loom over the World Economic Forum in Davos on today.
Ukraine’s culture minister said that Russian forces have destroyed or damaged more than 350 cultural and historic sites since invading the country in late February.
In a surprise visit to Kyiv yesterday and a break with EU leaders, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that only Ukraine should decide any terms upon which it pursues peace with Moscow, and he called for a complete removal of all Russian troops in Ukraine.
Russia claimed to have captured Mariupol on Friday in what would be its biggest victory yet in its war with Ukraine, after a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of the strategic port city to a smoking ruin, with over 20,000 civilians feared dead.
The Pentagon said “no decisions have been made” about sending special forces to protect the newly reopened embassy in Kyiv, following a report from The Wall Street Journal that officials are considering the deployment.
Biden promised “concrete benefits” would emerge from a new Indo-Pacific trade framework he’s launching even as he warned Americans worried about high inflation that it was “going to be a haul” before they feel relief.
The president announced that 13 nations would join his long-sought economic plan for engaging a region coming increasingly under the influence of China, as he enters the second leg of his debut tour of Asia.
Biden pledged that the U.S. will send the military to defend Taiwan if the People’s Republic of China were to invade the island nation.
The Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow inflation are raising the possibility of higher unemployment, a slower-growing economy and a recession, prospects that could create new headaches for the Biden administration.
Biden said he does not believe an economic recession is inevitable in the U.S.
Biden said he does not expect the United States to impose quarantine requirements for individuals infected by or exposed to monkeypox, but he urged Americans to “be careful” as the virus circulates more widely.
Health authorities in Europe, the U.S. and Australia are investigating a recent outbreak of monkeypox cases, a rare viral disease typically confined to Africa.
As of Saturday, 92 cases and 28 suspected cases had been identified in 12 countries outside of those African nations where it is endemic, according to the World Health Organization. There is one confirmed case in the U.S. in Boston.
Transmission between people occurs primarily through large respiratory droplets, and because such droplets typically travel only a few feet, “prolonged face-to-face contact is required,” the CDC said.
Speaking in Tokyo a day after he said the virus was something “to be concerned about,” Biden said, ”I just don’t think it rises to the level of the kind of concern that existed with COVID-19.”
Biden said the smallpox vaccine is effective on monkeypox and the United States has enough “to deal with the likelihood of a problem.”
An unidentified New York patient tested positive for a virus that includes monkeypox, with the federal Centers for Disease Control investigating to determine whether the rare disease is actually present, city health officials said.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams said that he’s not worried about the spread of monkeypox in the Big Apple – where at least one case of the rare disease is already suspected.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is no longer allowed to receive Holy Communion because of her position on abortion rights, the Catholic archbishop of San Francisco announced Friday in a letter to members of the archdiocese.
A wave of abortion restrictions is expected in half the U.S. if the Supreme Court overturns Roe. Some local officials are pledging not to enforce them, potentially creating uneven legal landscapes within conservative states home to more liberal urban areas.
North Korea claims its Covid outbreak is slowing, with its state-run media reporting a “positive trend” that has seen the daily number of new “fever cases” drop below 200,000.
Biden says North Korea has not responded to a US offer of Covid vaccines, as the country battles its first acknowledged outbreak.
A large number of North Koreans including leader Kim Jong Un attended a funeral for a top official, state media reported, as the country maintained the much-disputed claim that its suspected coronavirus outbreak is subsiding.
Beijing reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases for its current outbreak, reviving concern China’s capital may face a broad lockdown as authorities seek to stamp out community spread of the virus.
The COVID-19 pandemic is “most certainly not over,” the head of the World Health Organization warned, despite a decline in reported cases since the peak of the omicron wave. He told governments that “we lower our guard at our peril.”
Broadway theaters will continue to require ticketholders to wear masks at least through June 30, industry leaders said.
A state court formally approved New York’s new congressional map, ratifying a slate of House districts drawn by a neutral expert that could pave the way for Democratic losses and force some of the party’s most prominent incumbents to face off in primaries.
The maps are not a drastic overhaul from drafts that threw the state’s elections into chaos last Monday and threatened Democrats’ hopes of picking up several House seats from Republicans in November.
But the new maps released early Saturday did immediately lead to some clarity for this year’s contests that resulted in an overnight shuffle.
Manhattan Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who announced this weekend she is running for Congress in the new NY-10, has repeatedly, and incorrectly, claimed that Albany pols ignored Asian Americans — until she was elected.
Rep. Mondaire Jones, who currently represents the 17th Congressional District in Rockland and Westchester counties, said that he was city-bound for a run in NY-10, setting up a clash with de Blasio and Niou.
Jones, one the first openly gay Black members of Congress, said he decided to run in NY-10 in part because of its inclusion of Greenwich Village, “the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ movement.”
Rep. Claudia Tenney, who announced on Twitter she is now seeking election for the newly re-drawn 24th Congressional District, was among the pool of Republicans running to succeed Rep. Tom Reed who did not seek re-election this fall.
The three major Democrats running to become New York’s second-in-command have Latino roots, but Rep. Antonio Delgado’s claim to the heritage is being challenged.
Ulster County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican running for Delgado’s seat, said the governor and her lieutenant governor-in-waiting are delaying his resignation and swearing in for their own political benefit.
Disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo told congregants yesterday he was “sickened” by the racist mass shooting and compared it to “lynchings,” as he made a case for bolstering federal gun control laws in his first public appearance in two months.
Cuomo urged Congress to strengthen gun control, noting that New York already has “the toughest gun safety law in the nation” — a nod to the NY SAFE Act that passed under his watch.
Democratic State Sen. Roxanne Persaud appeared to briefly forget about Cuomo resigning in disgrace last year as she attempted to pay tribute to current Gov. Hochul at a news conference touting $2 billion in new child care funding.
In an op-ed on Friday for the Daily Beast, former Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa took aim at Hochul as well as other Democrats, criticizing them for how they have responded to the likely overturning of Roe v Wade.
DeRosa called out Hochul by name, calling her “a former NRA A-rated conservative Democrat who previously boasted about how many times she voted against Obamacare.'”
A lawsuit claims the Hochul administration was involved in the retaliatory firing of a former state ethics officer.
Thousands of families will now be eligible for child care subsidies as part of a $2 billion expansion of child care funding in New York.
The owner of the controversially named Wandering Dago food truck has won a $270,000 settlement from the state after an eight-year battle.
Buffalo-area Democratic Assemblyman Patrick Burke is under fire from three ex-staffers who claim they were canned for suggesting he take a stronger stance against white supremacy in response to the mass shooting at a Tops supermarket.
Burke, an Orchard Park Democrat, said he fired the staffers for “gross insubordination” following a heated exchange Tuesday afternoon in his West Seneca district office during which he said they accused him of being a “political coward.”
A funeral for Heyward Patterson, 67, a jitney driver, Friday was the first for 10 Black people who came to the Jefferson Avenue supermarket, Tops, on their own personal, quotidian missions, but whose lives ended together.
Roberta Drury, 32, the youngest victim in the massacre at Buffalo’s Tops Friendly Market, was remembered Saturday for her “love and compassion.”
Prior to the Buffalo shooting, New York’s primary law enforcement intelligence center had only one analyst tasked with monitoring social media posts to detect potential criminal threats. Hochul’s administration says more resources are coming.
After a man from Broome County was charged with a mass killing at a Buffalo grocery store, the community where he grew up has been forced to wrestle with hard questions.
The live-streaming of a shooting rampage in Buffalo demonstrated the strengths and limitations of a global accord to counter the spread of terrorist content online.
The National Labor Relations Board is seeking to order Starbucks to recognize a union at a Buffalo-area store where the union lost an initial vote last year.
Adams may be eyeing a White House run if Biden doesn’t seek a second term, confidantes and City Hall insiders claim.
Adams is assuming a more influential role in the national Democratic Party as a leader whose motto is “get stuff done” while communicating those accomplishments to voters.
A technique that Adams has championed as part of his efforts to curb gun violence on New York City streets may also play a role in his approach to addressing conflict in schools, budget documents show.
Responding to the city’s infant formula crisis, Adams signed an emergency executive order targeting businesses intent on gouging parents trying to feed their babies.
A gunman shot and killed Daniel Enriquez, 48, on a Q train in an unprovoked attack in Lower Manhattan yesterday. “It’s horrific, this is a horror movie,” his sister said.
The two men had no interaction before the shooting, according to witnesses in the same subway car. No other riders were injured. The police are looking for the shooter.
The family of Enriquez, a Goldman Sachs employee, has taken aim at Adams for allowing crime levels to spiral out of control.
“No one, no one, no one should have this happen to their family,” Enriquez’s sister said. “And the worst part is, even if they catch this person he’s going to be out again,” she added, touching on the state’s bail reform laws.
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani erupted on a heckler during a parade to celebrate Israel yesterday, calling the man a “jackass” and a “brainwashed a-hole” while defending his record as the city’s mayor.
Progressives are on the verge of killing 421-a – one of the Big Apple’s biggest and most controversial affordable housing programs, potentially nixing the construction of thousands of new rent-stabilized apartments as rents soar across the city.
Republican Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli is making a renewed push to create a task force to study the feasibility of Staten Island seceding from the left-leaning Big Apple and becoming an independent city.
Democratic socialist Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan introduced a bill that would require a “drag laureate” to be picked annually by the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs in consultation with the head of the Mayor’s Office of Nightlife.
A runner in the RBC Brooklyn Half Marathon died on Saturday morning, and 15 other people were taken to a hospital, the Fire Department said, as potentially record-setting warm weather rolled into New York City.
A spokesman said it was unclear whether warming temperatures had played a role in the runner’s death or the other people’s injuries. Organizers of the race had warned participants of potential heat concerns.
A main street inside New York City’s only Army post now bears the name of a Black officer who died saving others in Vietnam — instead of the name of the Confederate general who led the South’s attempt at secession.
Thomas Catallo and Frank Gimmelli, both 98 years old and both believed to be the town’s last two living World War II veterans, will lead Waterford’s Memorial Day Parade as grand marshals on May 25 as the parade returns after a two-year hiatus.
RIP Paul McCullough, 61, known for the exquisite restaurant experiences he supervised for Capital Region diners for two decades and for the supremely exacting standards to which he held the staffs who created those meals. He died Friday in Jupiter, Fla.
J.M. Smucker Co. issued a voluntary recall of some of its Jif peanut butter products after possible salmonella contamination was traced to its Kentucky plant.
“Saturday Night Live’s” season finale this week was more somber than expected as the late night sketch show bid farewell to Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney after all four announced that they will not be returning next season.
