Good Wednesday morning.
Happy June, and happy Pride!
There are as many – perhaps more – ways to celebrate Pride Month as there are days in June, (a few places in the world actually celebrate in different months altogether due to weather-related challenges).
But they all have their roots in the commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising of June 28, 1969, which occurred following a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, an iconic gay bar in Lower Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood.
Raids of this nature were actually pretty commonplace in the 1960s. But Stonewall turned the tide, sparking a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community that within weeks became an activist movement of individuals who just wanted to be able to live openly, regardless of their orientation, and love who they wanted without fear of arrest.
One year later, the first pride marches took place to mark the anniversary of Stonewall in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and gay rights organizations started springing up across the nation – with one established in almost every major U.S. city within a two-year span- and the globe.
The Stonewall National Monument was erected in Christopher Park across the street from the Stonewall Inn in 2016, and the 50th anniversary of the riots was marked in 2019 by an estimated 5 million people.
That same year, the NYPD commissioner at the time, James O’Neill, issued a formal apology to the LGBTQ+ community for the actions of the department’s erstwhile officers on that fateful night.
“The actions taken by the NYPD were wrong, plain and simple,” O’Neill said at a Pride Month safety briefing. “And for that, I apologize.”
Of course, the LGBTQAI+ community has come a very long way since 1969. Same-sex marriage, for example is the law of the land.
However, the community remains vulnerable and their rights are very fragile – particularly with the current make-up of the U.S. Supreme Court and the expected decision overturning Roe vs. Wade, which advocates of many stripes are deeply worried will be just the tip of the iceberg.
So while Pride is and should be a time of celebration, it should also be a time of reflection about what we – as a society – can do better to support those among us who are most at risk. Because as no less a sage than Jesus Christ once said: “Whatsoever you do to the least of your brothers and sisters, you do unto me.”
(To be clear, almost every religion I’ve ever come across has some sort of similar saying or belief…that was the quickest reference I could find).
Pop icon Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on this day in 1926. She died of an apparent overdose (much disputed by certain conspiracy theorists) on Aug. 4, 1962 in her LA home.
Looks like our mini heat wave is over – for the moment. Today we’ll have some much cooler temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s, with rain showers in the morning followed by the chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
Focused on relentlessly rising prices, President Biden plotted inflation-fighting strategy with the Federal Reserve chairman, with the fate of the economy and his own political prospects increasingly dependent on the actions of the government’s central bank.
Biden laid out a three-part plan for combating high inflation, which has been a major strain on his job approval rating.
Several Republican lawmakers blasted Biden over his suggestion of banning 9mm handguns while speaking to a gaggle of reporters, with one pointing out that those guns are the “caliber of choice” for the Secret Service.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration in the town of Uvalde in an effort to expedite the response to last week’s elementary school shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead.
The Robb Elementary School teacher who propped open an exterior door that law enforcement said a gunman used to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers had closed the door but it did not lock, state police said.
The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigation into the school massacre and the state’s review of the law enforcement response.
Both parents and the grandma of the Texas school shooter Salvador Ramos had criminal records, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and trying to pass off a fake check.
An heroic fourth-grader who died while calling 911 to get help for her classmates during last week’s tragic Texas school shooting was remembered at her funeral yesterday as a “sweet, sassy” youngster.
A shooting at a New Orleans university campus left one person dead and two others wounded, police reported.
House Democrats unveiled plans to introduce eight separate bills aimed at reducing gun violence after last week’s Texas school massacre and the racist rampage in Buffalo.
Biden recently issued an executive order aimed at overhauling policing. But while the move was widely praised, Democrats remain split about just how much to fund the police.
The Supreme Court blocked a Texas law that would ban large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express.
The court, in a brief written order, granted an emergency request by a pair of leading tech-industry trade groups to put the law on hold for now while they challenge it in court.
South Korean boy band BTS, a fundraising juggernaut for U.S. social justice causes, met with Biden at the White House to discuss hate crimes targeting Asians.
The seven-member sensation, which has shattered records with its popular songs and music videos, drove more than 310,000 simultaneous viewers to tune into a livestream of the press briefing on the White House’s YouTube channel.
The Russian military, beaten down and demoralized after three months of war, is making the same mistakes in its campaign to capture a swath of eastern Ukraine that forced it to abandon its push to take the entire country, senior American officials say.
Russia is holding nuclear drills in the Ivanovo province, northeast of Mosco, Russian sources reported.
Biden said that the United States is sending “more advanced rocket systems and munitions” as part of the latest weapons package for Ukraine, but stressed that his administration is not enabling the Ukrainians to strike outside their own border.
The long-range rockets would fulfill a longstanding request from Ukraine for precision weapons. A U.S. official said leaders in Kyiv promised not to fire them at targets inside Russia.
The Swiss government has vetoed Denmark’s request to send Swiss-made armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, citing its neutrality policy of not supplying arms to conflict zones.
Around 15,000 suspected war crimes have been reported in Ukraine since the war began, with 200 to 300 more reported daily, its chief prosecutor said.
Americans are almost entirely back to their pre-pandemic activities, yet COVID-19 cases are actually higher now than this time last year, when half of the country was newly vaccinated and before the omicron variant had struck.
Three doses of the same Covid-19 vaccine or a combination of jabs work equally well in preventing infections, according to the largest study of its kind.
Pulse oximeter measurements among Black, Hispanic and Asian Covid-19 patients were less accurate than measurements for white patients, a study showed, underscoring shortcomings in a critical device used to monitor the disease’s riskiest outcomes.
Despite strong levels of vaccination among older people, Covid killed them at vastly higher rates during this winter’s Omicron wave than it did last year, preying on long delays since their last shots and the variant’s ability to skirt immune defenses.
The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to overturn a U.S. District Court judge’s order that declared a government mandate requiring masks on public transportation unlawful, according to a report.
A federal lawsuit has been filed on behalf of multiple Air Force service members seeking protections against punishment by the military after they were denied religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine.
All travelers to Italy will no longer be required to have a valid coronavirus pass as of today, Italian authorities announced.
New York’s statewide COVID-19 case count fell by 36.5% last week, signaling that a spring wave caused by several omicron subvariants is subsiding.
New York State’s weeklong COVID case rate has tumbled every day for two weeks, dropping to its lowest level in more than a month.
A detectives union has filed suit against New York City seeking to block the termination of unvaccinated detectives early next month saying it could exacerbate the current rise in crime.
A week after the latest mass shooting, Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers have reached a deal on a series of gun and anti-violence laws.
The key measures include requiring microstamping of ammunition, prohibiting the sale and purchase of body armor for anyone not in law enforcement or other approved professions, and raising the purchase age for a semi-automatic rifle to 21 from 18.
It also will require someone to obtain a gun license before obtaining a semi-automatic rifle — making it similar to the state’s laws on pistols.
A Brooklyn woman shot and severely wounded in a mass shooting aboard a Brooklyn N train last month filed a lawsuit against Glock, which manufactured the 9-mm. gun used in the 33-bullet attack on straphangers.
The suit, brought by Ilene Steur, argues that Glock has endangered public safety by recklessly marketing guns through advertisements and placement in movies and other entertainment.
The 700,000-square-foot Long Island Rail Road terminal that will connect commuters to the East Side will be named Grand Central Madison, Hochul announced.
The long-overdue East Side Access station — to open later this year — was dubbed “Grand Central Madison” in a nod to the storied Grand Central Terminal 10 stories overhead and the project’s access points a short block west under Madison Ave.
Hochul announced that New York’s recently launched mobile sports wagering has generated a record-breaking amount of tax revenue in less than six months, surpassing states that have offered sports wagering for years.
Mayor Adams vowed that law enforcement’s slow response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, wouldn’t happen in New York City because of the training the NYPD and other first responders receive.
Albany legislators have whittled down an extension of control over the city’s public schools to just two years for Adams under a new bill introduced yesterday.
Adams met with faith leaders and elected officials from across the state to discuss what they can do to crack down on gun violence, as congressional action on the high-stakes issue once again hangs in the balance in the wake of a rash of mass shootings.
Former mayor — and congressional hopeful — Bill de Blasio is calling out the state teachers union for investing $13 million of its pension funds with firms that manufacture guns and ammo following the shooting massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
The Democrats’ lead lawyer in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump is planning to enter a packed field running for New York’s newly drawn 10th Congressional district that covers lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Former Staten Island congressman Max Rose ripped Rep. Mondaire Jones, a fellow New York Democrat, for abandoning his own Hudson Valley district to run for re-election in far-away Brooklyn.
The Goldman Sachs executive shot dead on a Manhattan subway train was remembered as a loyal and beloved family man. Hundreds of mourners lined up at Transfiguration Roman Catholic Church in Williamsburg to pay their respects to Daniel Enriquez.
The deadline for disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to mount a bid for his old job has officially passed.
State Republican Party leadership cast an already stalled proposal by Democrats to align local elections with the presidential and gubernatorial cycles as not an attempt to increase voter turnout, but rather to “rig the system” and “illegally seize power.”
As the much-criticized Joint Commission on Public Ethics prepares to shutter on July 8, questions remain about the transition to a replacement body created in this year’s state budget.
New York City’s population plummeted during the COVID crisis, and more people continue to move out of the city than are moving into it, Census data show.
The Q23 is one of the slowest buses in Queens, where many residents live beyond the subway’s reach and more people ride buses than anywhere else in New York City.
The New York City Department of Education is calling it quits with a software company whose data breach has impacted at least 820,000 public school students.
The New York City Council is launching an unprecedented probe of alleged antisemitism at CUNY and other Big Apple college campuses.
The drawn-out Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial will carry on for at least another day after jurors failed to reach a verdict yesterday.
With the opening of Delta Air Lines’s new Terminal C at La Guardia Airport, New York gets a distinctive new collection of public artworks.
Michael S. Barone, a retired Albany police lieutenant and an attorney, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in Rensselaer County Court and was immediately sentenced to six months in jail as part of a plea deal.
The Freihofer’s Run for Women is back to its typical spot on the calendar on Saturday with a significantly larger field expected than the 1,024 who finished the 2021 edition that was run in September because of COVID-19.
Skidmore College’s administration and its non-tenure track teaching faculty have reached a compromise on a vote for a labor union.
The state has already started the first steps toward replacing the Livingston Avenue bridge in Albany.
Shortly after 1 p.m. yesterday, a drugged bear dropped from a tree at the edge of Washington Square Park in Albany The 2-year-old, 150-pound male was then loaded into a DEC truck for its journey to an isolated spot in the Catskill Mountains.
Siro’s, the track-season restaurant that has endured more than a decade of management upheaval, will reopen July 14 for a nearly eight-week season under a new chef and with renovated interiors and refreshed backyard area with an oyster and clam bar.
A Manhattan judge denied former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s request to reconsider his ruling that the New York Times didn’t defame her or recuse himself from the case.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is leaving her future plans open – including a potential 2024 campaign for vice president if ex-President Donald Trump opts to run again for his old job.
A 2016 Clinton campaign lawyer, Michael Sussmann, was acquitted on a charge of lying to the FBI about his motives for bringing the bureau research allegedly linking Donald Trump to Russia – the first test at trial of special counsel John Durham’s probe.
Now playing at a theater near you: a suspense drama over whether there will be enough popcorn for the summer moviegoing season.
