Good Monday morning.
On this day in 1973, U.S. military involvement in Vietnam ended, as a result of a deadline set by the Case–Church Amendment passed by the US Congress.
On that same day, then-President Richard M. Nixon gave a speech addressing the Watergate scandal that would eventually force him from office.
A few years earlier – 1969, to be exact – on this same day, the iconic art and music festival known as Woodstock, but actually held in Bethel at Max Yasgyr’s 600-acre farm, officially kicked off.
More than 400,000 people attended – and got rained on and blissed out – in what turned out to be a key moment in the anti-establishment movement that was gaining popularity in the U.S., in large part in opposition to the country’s involvement in Vietnam.
Interesting juxtaposition there, no? I’m sure it all means something from a cosmic perspective, just don’t ask me what, because I haven’t figured it out yet. But I’m sure it’s very deep, whatever it is.
Today is an important day for the observant Catholics among us – particularly for those in Europe and South American – because it’s the Assumption of Mary.
This day commemorates the belief that when the mother of Jesus Christ, died, her body was “assumed” into heaven to be reunited with her soul, instead of going through the natural process of physical decay upon death.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. (There are actually four Mary-related dogmas; the others being Mother of God, Immaculate Conception, perpetual virginity).
And one more completely unrelated data point about today worth noting – in case you’re looking for a reason to chill out, it’s National Relaxation Day, which, ironically, was the brainchild of a 9 year old kid.
(I’m not casting aspersions here; I’m sure there are some stressful aspects to being nine, but I certainly don’t remember any of them. Certainly, the cost of everything going up and how you might pay your taxes weren’t among them).
More typically nice mid-August weather is on the way, with a mix of sun and clouds and temperatures in the low-to-mid-80s.
In the headlines…
At the height of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan there were only 36 State Department officials on the ground at the Kabul airport to process Afghans who were trying to evacuate, according to a soon-to-be released report from House Republicans.
The White House is planning to circulate a new memo on Capitol Hill defending President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and claiming the move strengthened national security by freeing up critical military and intelligence agents.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “we get” Biden’s low job approval numbers — but insisted he will mount a reelection bid in 2024, despite some Democratic lawmakers saying he should step aside.
The House passed the Democrats’ $750 billion health care, energy and climate bill, in a significant victory for President Joe Biden and his party. The final vote was 220-207, along party lines. Four Republicans did not vote.
The landmark bill aims to reduce carbon emissions with subsidies for speeding the build-out of renewable-energy projects. Success in meeting its emissions goals will depend on how quickly that build-out happens.
At least one lawyer for former President Donald Trump signed a written statement in June asserting that all material marked as classified and held in boxes in a storage area at his Mar-a-Lago residence and club had been returned to the government.
A redacted copy of the warrant and related papers from the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago indicates that the Justice Department is investigating the potential violation of at least three separate criminal statutes, including under the Espionage Act.
Trump called on the FBI to return documents reportedly seized at Mar-a-Lago that are protected by attorney-client and executive privileges.
The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents from its search, including some materials marked as “top secret/SCI” – one of the highest levels of classification.
Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner questioned whether the search warrant executed by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago residence was justified and necessary, saying that Attorney General Merrick Garland “has a lot of questions to answer” about the search.
When some G.O.P. members of Congress attacked the nation’s top law enforcement agencies immediately after the F.B.I.’s search of Mar-a-Lago, it underscored deep fissures within the party.
Millions of school children are heading back to class this month without free breakfast or lunch for the first time in two years, to the disappointment of many parents and school administrators who are facing rising costs of food and supplies due to inflation.
A man fatally shot himself early yesterday outside the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court after driving his car into a nearby barricade, according to U.S. Capitol Police.
The man suspected of stabbing renowned author Salman Rushdie pleaded not guilty Saturday to attempted murder in the second degree and other charges, his attorney says.
Hadi Matar, 24, is accused of stabbing Rushdie – whose controversial work has triggered death threats – at a speaking engagement at the Chautauqua Institute in Western New York on Friday, authorities said.
Matar had no prior criminal history, and authorities said they have yet to determine a motive for the attack against the man targeted by Iran’s leader more than 30 years ago.
Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, told the New York Times that the writer is likely to lose an eye . The nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was damaged in the attack.
Rushdie, who was stabbed roughly 10 times, has been removed from a ventilator and is on the mend, his agent said.
The authorities in the United Kingdom said that they were investigating an online threat against the author J.K. Rowling after she offered support on social media to Rushdie.
Biden released a statement saying that he was “shocked and saddened” by the assault on Rushdie.
Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the Chautauqua Institution yesterday afternoon to address Rushdie’s stabbing, and speak on the measures the state will take to avoid future incidents of violence and radicalization.
“A man with a knife cannot silence a man with a pen,” said Hochul, who also thanked the first responders and State Police troopers who responded to the attack.
The attack brought terror to the idyllic retreat center, which has played host to cultural and Christian leaders for nearly 150 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it renamed variants of the virus monkeypox as it looks to counter concerns about the original naming conventions.
The version of the disease formerly known as the Congo Basin will now be known as Clade one or I and the West Africa clade will be known as Clade two or II.
The FDA defended the federal government’s recent decision to stretch out its limited supply of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine by giving individuals smaller doses using a different method of injection.
It may be too late to stop monkeypox from circulating in the U.S. permanently.
Covid-19 infection numbers have surged in the Marshall Islands, just days after the Pacific nation recorded its first local spread of the virus.
Japan’s economy expanded for the third straight quarter on solid private consumption, data for April-June showed on Monday, a sign the country was finally staging a much-delayed recovery from a Covid-induced downturn.
The United States women’s national hockey team, which will feature 18 returning Olympians, took the ice for the first time yesterday to prepare for the world championships without new coach John Wroblewski, who tested positive for COVID-19.
Thousands of long Covid patients across the globe are urging their governments to provide more help for the growing number of people facing lingering symptoms after infection.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin chided Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul for flubbing facts over his opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act passed by the House on Friday.
Zeldin dubbed the pending Manhattan congestion pricing plan the “Hochul Hike” in a NY Post op-ed, saying she should focus on making mass transit more appealing to commuters to get them out of their cars instead.
After several horrific attacks in the city’s subway system this year, workers are telling their employers they are afraid to come back to work.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov ripped the Museum of Jewish Heritage and Hochul, accusing both of having a double standard on who gets to speak there for hosting Democrats but shutting out Republicans — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Hochul announced that, within the past three months, there has been a significant rise in Red Flag, or Extreme Risk Protection Order, applications.
According to Hochul’s office, more ERPO’s have been filed in the last three months than throughout all of 2021.
Hochul announced the PSC has approved rebuilding a critically important 100-mile transmission line in the North Country that is needed to meet the requirements of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Hochul last week signed the Green CHIPS bill, which could provide up to $10 billion in tax credits for semiconductor manufacturing projects over a 20-year period. The credits are available through the Excelsior Jobs program.
This week is speed awareness week for New York, and Hochul says that patrols will be escalated. During the same week last year, state law enforcement issued 23,087 speeding tickets.
There is an erosion in women’s health care that is currently being overseen by the state Health Department – mergers between secular and Catholic-run health care facilities that result in reproductive services disappearing from communities.
Underfunded and often overwhelmed, New York’s “supervised release” programs are struggling to help reduce recidivism among the people they’re designed to help keep out of jail.
The New York Times endorsed Reps. Jerry Nadler (NY-12), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-17) and Dan Goldman (NY-10) in their respective Democratic primary races.
Levi Strauss & Co. heir Goldman poured $2 million from his own fortune into his campaign for a New York congressional seat, finance records show.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who is running in the primary against Nadler, said in an interview with The New York Times editorial board that Biden is “not running again” in 2024.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman joined a chorus of other Democrats in avoiding answering a question about whether Biden should run in 2024 but said “if” he does, the New York Democrat would support him
Former staffers to state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, who is running in a primary against Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, described her as a boss with few boundaries and all-hours demands that resulted in rapid turnover through her office and campaign team.
The state’s redistricting woes have created a rare August primary for New York’s congressional and State Senate seats, raising concerns of low voter turnout.
Early voting in the congressional and state Senate primaries got underway this past Saturday.
Democratic socialist Kristen Gonzalez, a progressive who touted the need for accountability as she vies for state Senate, was a no-show for her Queens community, records reveal.
All across America, in House, Senate and governor’s races, Democrats are using abortion as a powerful cudgel in their TV ad campaigns that show how swiftly abortion politics have shifted since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June.
The special election to fill LG Antonio Delgado’s Hudson Valley seat he race, among the first in a swing district since the Roe decision, has morphed into a closely watched test case of how important abortion rights may be in a tossup general election.
Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson slammed New York City Mayor Eric Adams, telling the mayor he needs to address the “root cause” of the border crisis after his feud this week with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over bussing migrants to New York City.
A Texas border town official chided Adams for his furious reaction to the Lone Star State’s new push to bus asylum seekers to the Big Apple and other northern cities.
Another busload of border-crossers from Texas arrived in the Big Apple yesterday as former Democratic New York Gov. David Paterson called Abbott’s political maneuvering “brilliant.”
The influx of asylum-seekers doesn’t tell the whole story, and the problems at shelters had been building for some time. Elected officials, homeless advocates and shelter providers say Adams has turned a blind eye to a long-mounting and predictable crisis.
Adams played defense as he faced questions over potential conflict-of-interest surrounding his new public safety advisor and charges that his Social Services commissioner misled him and the public on the city’s initial inability to provide services to migrants.
The retired NYPD inspector and Adams confidant has left his job as an executive at New York City’s only casino four days after The New York Times reported that he was collecting salaries from both the casino and the Adams administration.
Pearson’s gig with the city’s economic development arm raised ethics concerns as Resorts World is seeking to expand its gambling operations in Queens.
The city Department of Investigation has opened a probe into allegations that Adams’ Social Services commissioner, Gary Jenkins, withheld key information from him about migrants sleeping on the floor at a city intake shelter.
A 14-year-old boy has been arrested for murder for the shooting of a pal, also 14, while they played around with a gun in the lobby of a Bronx apartment building, police said.
The young children of a yellow cab driver killed during a Queens robbery learned of their father’s death as they stood by their grieving mom at an emotional press conference yesterday, according to a friend of the shell-shocked family.
“They were asking me, ‘Mommy, why are you wearing black? Where is Daddy?’ because they know that he goes to work today and tomorrow,” Abigail Barwuah, the stricken widow of murdered cabbie Kutin Gyimah, recalled in an exclusive interview.
New Yorkers can do their part in the battle against the spotted lantern flies that threaten the state’s plant life, which is getting a multimillion-dollar boost to help poison, trap and track the pesky insects, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
“We need to stomp out this bug before it spreads, otherwise our farmers and local businesses could face millions in damage and an unmanageable swarm,” Schumer declared.
Although New York’s new regulators have said they support the increasingly strong push to diversify and expand the medical marijuana program, they have yet to specify when and how that change will occur. A recent court decision could force their hand.
The PSC has allowed two sizable solar farms, in Schoharie and Albany counties, to move forward.
The restaurateurs Donna and Yono Purnomo, who retired this spring 39 years after opening their first restaurant in the capital city, were honored when the block of Chapel Street in front of their restaurants was renamed Chef Yono and Donna Purnomo Way.
A Pulitzer-winning cartoonist, a writer of apocalyptic fiction, social justice themes and “space, the final frontier” are part of the New York State Writers Institute’s 2022 fall season – also the fifth year for the Albany Book Festival, the season’s centerpiece event.
The Saratoga Race Course is headed for a record season – both in handle and attendance – surpassing pre-pandemic numbers. And the track’s popularity has swelled hotel bookings too.
The tune-ups continue for the August 27 running of the $1.25 million Grade 1 Travers Stakes at a mile and a quarter.
The Albany Empire won their second straight National Arena League championship with a 47-20 win over the Carolina Cobras on Saturday night.
An apparent flooding issue forced Barnes & Noble at Colonie Center to close until further notice Saturday morning.
Union organizers have rallied and filed unfair labor practice complaints against Capital Roots. Now they say they’ll stage an informational picket at the nonprofit’s Autumn Evening fundraiser on Sept. 15 if their demands aren’t met.
Actress Anne Heche was to be taken off of life support yesterday afternoon. Organ recipients have been identified and surgeons were ready to perform the implants.
Heche, 53, had been in a coma after crashing her Mini Cooper into a residence in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles on Aug. 5, causing the vehicle and the home to burst into flames.
Heche, an actress who was as well known for her roles in films like “Six Days, Seven Nights” and “Donnie Brasco” as for her personal life, which included a three-year romance with the comedian Ellen DeGeneres, died in LA nine days after her accident.
