Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
Before we get to the fun stuff…it’s PRIMARY DAY in New York, at least as far as the statewide and Assembly races are concerned. If you’re interested in casting a ballot in the state Senate and congressional contests, you’ll have to wait until Aug. 23, thanks to the redistricting battle.
Most closely watched will be the Democratic and GOP primaries for governor and the Democratic primary for LG, which pits former Rep. Antonio Delgado, (Gov. Kathy Hochul’s unofficial running mate) against Ana Maria Achila, the Working Families Party candidate who is running with one of Hochul’s primary challengers, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Also fighting for the Democratic line: Long Island Rep. Tom Suozzi. Duking it out for the GOP line are Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, Harry Wilson and Andrew Giuliani.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find your New York City polling place here, for statewide information, click here.
Enough serious stuff. I don’t know about you, but I could really use a break. Forgive me. I know that we’re living through some really important times, and when people get complacent bad things happen. (Actually, bad things seem to be happening despite all the paying attention we’ve been doing, but I digress). .
Anyway, in a brief departure from the real world, I’m going to focus today on something entirely made up. And frivolous. And fun.
Something like Babe the Big Blue Ox, and her owner, the lumberjack extraordinaire, Paul Bunyan.
You are probably at least marginally acquainted with this famous North American folklore tale. (BTW, if you’re curious, the definition of “folklore” is “a body of popular myth and beliefs relating to a particular place, activity, or group of people,” or “the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.”
Now back to Paul and Babe.
There has been considerable debate about the exact origin of this particular myth, but most agree it dates to the 1800s when lumberjacks in Canada and the U.S. would entertain themselves and each other at the end of a long day of logging by telling stories.
The name “Paul Bunyan” may or may not be a derivative of the Québécois expression “bon yenne!”, which expresses surprise or astonishment.
These tall tales of Paul’s exploits – supposedly he dug the Grand Canyon with his axe, and built Mount Hood by piling up stones to put out a campfire, and created Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes by walking across the state with his ox and leaving foot/hoof prints in their wake – were not put down on paper until the 20th Century.
A reporter named James MacGillivray gathered some of these stories and published them in the Detroit News Tribune in 1910. And then in 1914, ad writer William Laughead featured Paul the giant lumberjack in a campaign for the Red River Lumber Company, and is credited with giving Babe her name.
Today, by the way, is National Paul Bunyan Day, which apparently is a big deal in Bangor, Maine, outside of which Paul was allegedly born.
If you happen to be in Bangor any time soon, (and it is a very nice place to visit, FWIW), look for the 31-foot statue of Bunyan located in front of the Cross Insurance Center on Main Street.
The statue was a gift to the city as a 125th birthday gift (the city was incorporated on the same day Bunyan was reportedly born, February 12, 1834), from the New York-based model-making company Messmore & Damon.
The statue features a time capsule that is scheduled be opened 125 years after it was placed there: February 12, 2084.
A fairly nice day is on tap, with partly cloudy (or partly sunny, depending on your outlook) skies and temperatures in the high 70s.
In the headlines…
The White House is trying to tamp down speculation about President Joe Biden’s plans to seek re-election, in 2024 while aides say he is bristling at the persistent questions.
There are five under-the-radar Democrats who could run if Biden steps aside: Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Stacey Abrams, California Rep. Ro Khanna, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landreau.
In a preview clip to an upcoming episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden, the late-night host, 43, can be seen crashing Biden’s office to deliver an edible arrangement and “spruce the place up.”
Biden is scheduled to travel to Spain today for the start of a NATO summit that is expected to focus heavily on Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine after wrapping up final meetings with G7 leaders in Germany.
NATO is set to approve its biggest overhaul of its defenses since the Cold War, significantly increasing the number of troops assigned to defend the alliance’s eastern flank and making a major commitment to position heavy military equipment there.
Biden plans to announce an extension of some of the increased U.S. troop presence in Poland and changes to U.S. deployments in several Baltic nations that he authorized ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed by The AP. Nowhere is the shift more pronounced — and dangerous for Democrats — than in the suburbs.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned that if Republicans win control of the Senate in November, Biden’s nominees will have a tough time getting confirmed.
Biden’s pick to helm US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ed Gonzalez, is withdrawing from consideration, he announced in a tweet, leaving the agency without permanent leadership as the administration tries to usher forward its immigration agenda.
Gonzalez, a fierce critic of hard-line policies at the agency he was tapped to lead, withdrew “in the best interest of the nation.” He noted he was nominated 14 months ago, and said he needed to focus his “full, undivided attention” on his sheriff duties.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blamed Biden’s immigration policies for the death of at least 46 migrants who were traveling in the cab of a trailer and were apparently abandoned by the driver in an area with little traffic in southwest San Antonio.
Abbott, facing re-election for a third term, has positioned himself as the defender of the country from migrants – a central plank of his political campaign – even though his policies have been ultimately unsuccessful in stemming the arrival of migrants.
Three people died and a number of passengers were injured when a cross-country Amtrak train collided with a dump truck yesterday afternoon in rural Missouri, causing several cars and locomotives to derail.
Frustration is building among liberals over what some see as a slow executive response from the president to the Roe ruling, despite weeks to prepare following the leak of a draft that previewed the decision.
The decision set off a contest between Democrats and Republicans going into the midterm elections over whose policies would do more to help vulnerable mothers and children.
The battle over abortion shifted to the states as a weekend of furious protest and prayerful thanksgiving in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal gave way to a coast-to-coast wave of lawsuits, legislation and pitched political fights.
Judges in Louisiana and Utah temporarily blocked prohibitions on abortion in their states following last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ends a national right to the procedure.
A coalition of abortion providers in Texas filed a lawsuit against the state over a decades-old ban on the procedure.
California state lawmakers put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot that would explicitly protect reproductive rights, moving swiftly on the first business day after the Supreme Court reversed Roe.
A Florida judge will decide on Thursday whether to block enforcement of the state’s new 15-week abortion ban, which is set to take effect on Friday.
After the announcement of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, the morning-after contraception pill has emerged as a sought-after purchase for many people worried about access to reproductive health care.
Some of the nation’s biggest retailers – including CVS, Walmart and Rite Aid – are rationing over-the-counter emergency contraceptive pills as demand spikes following the Supreme Court ruling overturning a constitutional right to abortion.
As the decision about whether to allow abortion falls back to the individual states, some worry about future access to the FDA-approved pills that can be used to induce abortion in a private setting.
After numerous companies came forward to announce that they would cover travel expenses for their employees to get abortions, executives have had to move swiftly to both sort out the mechanics of those policies and explain them to workers.
Mike Pence wants to be the most pro-life candidate in the 2024 sweepstakes. The former vice president loudly and proudly cheered last week’s Supreme Court ruling.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is calling for a House investigation into whether two Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade should be impeached for lying at their confirmation hearings about their views of the landmark abortion-rights case.
“We (cannot) allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land,” she said. “I believe lying under oath is an impeachable offense. This is something that should be very seriously considered.”
Scrapping plans to pause the explosive sessions until July, the House Jan. 6 panel announced a surprise hearing today to “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former special assistant to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, is the mystery guest that will speak at a last-minute hearing organized by the Jan. 6 committee, according to multiple reports.
The public listing of ex-President Trump’s social media company took a fresh blow when the cash-rich shell company merging with it disclosed in a regulatory filing that a New York federal grand jury recently issued subpoenas to the company and its directors.
Federal agents have seized the phone of John Eastman, a conservative lawyer and key figure in Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election – the latest signal that the Justice Department is ramping up its criminal investigation into that effort.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added two destinations to its “high” category for Covid-19 risk – including a Caribbean nation popular for its beaches.
Mandatory Covid-19 restrictions are unlikely to be reintroduced in Britain this summer, health researchers and physicians have said, even as the country enters a new wave of infections.
A panel of independent experts advising the Food and Drug Administration is set to recommend today whether to update existing Covid-19 vaccines to target a newer version of the coronavirus in a booster shot that Americans could get in the fall.
The dysfunctional relationship between former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Mayor Bill de Blasio hindered the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ex-city Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi revealed in a stunning new interview posted online.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s path to a widely-predicted victory in today’s Democratic primary was not expected to be so smooth.
Hochul has run a strikingly low-key campaign, with few rallies or retail events, and her handpicked lieutenant governor is facing a credible challenge from the left. That could open the door for Republicans.
A scandal-scarred real estate investor who spent time in prison for money laundering forked over $69,000 to Hochul’s campaign last week — a big financial boost in the final days of the Democratic gubernatorial race, according to state records.
Hochul signed legislation to protect roughly 11,000 more transit workers against assault and harassment.
Hochul announced the appointment of Colin Ahern as the state’s first ever Chief Cyber Officer.
Fewer than 90,000 New York City residents cast early voting ballots in this month’s primary elections — a measly turnout for races that will decide which candidates get their party’s nod for governor, lieutenant governor and dozens of State Assembly seats.
The Republican race for governor looks up for grabs in the late hours, with limited recent public opinion polls showing Rep. Lee Zeldin holding a narrow lead over Andrew Giuliani ahead of today’s primary.
Harry Wilson bitterly blasted front-runner Zeldin and a campaign aide as “scumbags” in a text message — and then accidentally sent it to his rival.
Zeldin promised that he would launch an “expedited” process to remove controversial Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg on “Day One” if elected governor this November.
Mayor Eric Adams called for Hochul to “lead the charge” in mapping out where handgun possession can be banned under terms of last week’s US Supreme Court decision that eased the way for state residents to get carry permits.
Adams and his administration appeared at a loss about what the city plans to do in the face of last week’s Supreme Court decision on concealed firearms — a ruling that almost certainly will pave the way for more people to carry guns in the Big Apple.
Adams said he was “shocked” at “how bad” New York City had become after reviewing internal data upon taking office.
Adams — who campaigned on a promise to restore order to an increasingly lawless Gotham — said the scales fell from his eyes when he began reviewing internal city operations following his swearing in moments after midnight on New Year’s Day.
During more three hours underground with NYPD officers patrolling the subway system, Adams traveled across Manhattan and Brooklyn, observing the changes that have taken place since he worked the beat.
Adams announced a new policy aimed at cracking down on illegal trash disposal and cleaning up the neighborhoods that most frequently have to deal with it.
When deeply affordable housing is proposed for New York City neighborhoods other than the poorest, locals shout it down. Is the Adams administration ready to plow over the NIMBY outrage?
In the first month of the Adams administration, a rush of real estate executives, campaign donors and lobbyists met with the mayor’s chief of staff, Frank, Carone at some of the city’s swankiest restaurants and apartments, according to his daily schedules.
A law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City was struck down by a State Supreme Court justice in Staten Island who said it violated the State Constitution.
State GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy quickly sent out a fundraising email blast with the subject line: “We stopped the radical non-citizen voter registration.”
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani says the slap he received from a pro-choice supermarket worker shows New York City has turned into the “Wild, Wild West” — but the charges against his assailant were downgraded.
Video footage appeared to show the employee, Daniel Gill, patting Giuliani on the back, not assaulting him.
New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks announced new superintendents for 15 of the system’s 45 districts, capping off a monthslong bureaucratic shakeup at the city Education Department.
Viewers of the Hulu series know it as the Arconia, but the Upper West Side building has a name (the Belnord) — and a dramatic story — of its own.
New York City is developing new rat-proof trash cans as part of a new multi-million dollar initiative in the record $101 billion budget.
Labor shortages and mismanagement at a Nebraska plant mean New York transit riders will have a longer wait for new train cars, MTA officials warned.
Almost exactly two years after Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire and brought to New York to face charges that she conspired with Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse underage girls, she is to be sentenced today in Manhattan federal court.
Yeshiva University officials allegedly whitewashed a female student’s sexual attack by a varsity basketball player — and other assaults as well — as part of a “rape coverup culture” at the private Orthodox Jewish college, a bombshell lawsuit charged.
The state AG’s office reversed course and sent an attorney to a hearing to represent a State Police investigator who filed an application seeking an “extreme risk protection order” to enable the court-ordered seizure of a Saratoga County man’s firearms.
If this doesn’t make you tear up, nothing will.
Actress Mary Mara, 61, known for star turns in “ER” and “Criminal Minds,” has apparently drowned while swimming in the St. Lawrence River at Cape Vincent, N.Y., authorities said.
