Good morning, welcome to the middle of the week. Speeding by, this week is. Someone wants us to get to winter, right quick.
No thanks.
It hasn’t felt like fall all that much, with some downright summer-like temperatures lingering. Sadly, that will be coming to an end all too soon, it appears, with temperatures dipping into the 50s on Friday. Brrrr.
But let’s focus on the here and now, and the fact that today is a fairly monumental occasion – the International Day of Peace.
Technically speaking, the UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.
However, this year’s theme – End Racism. Build Peace. – takes things a step further, recognizing that as long as people are prejudiced against, attacked because of who they love, or the color of their skin, or their ethnicity, or their religion, etc., true peace can not be achieved.
“Racism continues to poison institutions, social structures, and everyday life in every society,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in March 2022. “It continues to be a driver of persistent inequality. And it continues to deny people their fundamental human rights. It destabilizes societies, undermines democracies, erodes the legitimacy of governments, and… the linkages between racism and gender inequality are unmistakable.”
This year’s International Day of Peace was observed at the UN a little early – on Sept. 16 – because this week is a bit busy, as the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the largest annual gathering of world leaders, kicked off Monday after pandemic restrictions restricted in-person attendance the previous two years.
This monumental gathering is not, sadly, occurring at a time of peace, but rather one of “great peril,” Guterres said, as the world is “blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate, and shamed by poverty, hunger, and inequality.”
The world can seem very bleak and depressing. All that anger, all these problems. What can one person do?
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) asks people to affirm that peace is a real alternative to violent conflict through the #PeaceDayChallenge, which, since 2015, has reached 148 countries and all 50 states, engaged hundreds of schools and organizations, and inspired social media posts that reach tens of millions of people each year.
This year’s call to action is: Say It. Do It. Share It. Your commitment to peace can be small and local – something as simple as donating your time, or money, or unused/unwanted belongings to someone who needs them. These may seem like little steps, but it all adds up, and what you do at the local level can be seen and felt in terms of real, tangible results.
Another cloudy day is on tap, with the chance of showers and temperatures in the low-to-mid-70s.
In the headlines…
Reports that a plane carrying migrants was heading to President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware sowed chaos across three states and brought public condemnation from the White House. They never materialized.
As local officials scrambled to prepare for the incoming immigrants, Biden refused to take the bait from reporters who shouted questions about the GOP stunt after an unrelated White House event.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials are facing a class action lawsuit filed by migrants who were flown to Massachusetts last week.
The complaint states that the Florida officials induced the migrants to board the two planes from Texas by falsely promising them there would be “work opportunities, schooling for the children and immigration assistance” when they arrived at their destination.
Eight Venezuelan migrants were flown last week from Texas to Sacramento with little cash — some without shoes — and the men have no idea why they were sent or who paid for the flights, an advocacy group said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, said Republican governors’ efforts to transport migrants from the southern border to northern Democrat-led cities is showing “well-to-do blue enclaves” the reality of the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams described Republican efforts to flood Democratic cities with migrants as a “political stunt” designed to distract voters from the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to roll back abortion rights and the GOP’s gun policies.
US and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait following weekend remarks from Biden that the US would defend Taiwan in the event it is attacked by China.
Divided by war, strained by shortages and faced with the cataclysm of global warming, dozens of world leaders convened at the United Nations in New York yesterday for the first full, in-person General Assembly since the pandemic began.
The president returns to the international stage over the next few days to pay tribute to allies and exhort democracies — amid an audience where he arguably shines brighter than he does at home — before making that shift into a midterm political blitz.
Tomorrow, Biden will use the international stage to try to galvanize allies at the U.N. to arm Ukrainian forces in an era-defining conflict against Russia, according to senior administration officials.
Biden will deliver a firm rebuke to Russia’s war in Ukraine during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss clashed with Biden over economic policy ahead of a meeting at the United Nations summit in New York, as the US president lashed out at “trickle-down economics”.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham created new headaches for Republicans with his claim that abortion is “not a states’ rights issue,” keeping the debate in the headlines and undercutting the party’s messaging heading into November’s midterms.
The special master reviewing Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago papers signaled that he wants to carry out a limited review, and pressed the former president’s lawyers for refusing to take a position on whether Trump declassified any of the documents.
Raymond J. Dearie, acting as the special master, expressed skepticism about the efforts by Trump’s legal team to avoid offering any proof of his claims that he had declassified sensitive government documents that were seized from his Florida estate last month.
Writer E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, plans to use a new New York law to sue him, according to court papers made public yesterday.
New York Attorney General Tish James has said her office is set to make a “major announcement” at 10:30 a.m.
A panel of medical experts recommended for the first time that doctors screen all adult patients under 65 for anxiety, guidance that highlights the extraordinary stress levels that have plagued the United States since the start of the pandemic.
The Justice Department said that it had charged 48 people with running a brazen fraud against anti-hunger programs in the coronavirus pandemic, stealing $240 million by billing the government for meals they did not serve to children who did not exist.
New York City’s coronavirus vaccine mandates for private sector workers and student athletes are ending, but the inoculation requirement for municipal workers will remain — at least for the time being.
The coming end of the mandates is the latest move by New York elected officials to roll back pandemic policies put in place by their predecessors.
Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has spoken out again about COVID-19 vaccines following Adams’ recent change to the city’s mandates.
“If I can work and be unvaccinated, then all of my brothers and sisters who are also unvaccinated should be able to do the same, without being discriminated against, vilified, or fired,” wrote Irving, who called the vaccine mandate a violation of human rights.
The COVID-driven rush of New Yorkers into Florida has turned into a stampede — with no end in sight.
More than four in 10 New York City public school students ended last school year marked “chronically absent,” as families navigated the lingering effects of the pandemic and a COVID-19 surge that kept students home in record numbers.
Biden headlined a fundraiser in New York last night that raised about $2 million for Democratic Party organizations, and featured celebrity guests including Robert De Niro and the city’s mayor, Adams.
A recent letter from City Hall that sought to clarify a hiring freeze order has instead created confusion, leading one elected official to mistakenly assume that the Adams administration was walking back its policy amid a staffing shortage.
Adams’ office released six months of detailed public schedules, but the calendar entries fall short of even the bare minimum of transparency – providing far less information than was released by Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio.
Adams declined to provide any insight into whether he expects First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo to leave in the coming months — despite the revelation a day before that she’s likely to step down around the same time his chief of staff, Frank Carone, leaves.
A measure to create a task force reviewing the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on group homes in New York is heading to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for her consideration.
Hochul maintains that when her administration paid a vendor $637 million last winter for COVID-19 tests, she was unaware the recipient was a campaign donor.
Security cameras will be installed in all New York City subway cars, Hochul said, as officials work to stamp out a pandemic surge in subway crime.
Hochul said the installations, which grew from a pilot project after a mass shooting in Brooklyn, would allay riders’ anxieties.
“You think Big Brother’s watching you on the subways? You’re absolutely right,” Hochul said during an appearance at the MTA’s Corona Yard in Queens.
A month before the Hochul administration struck deals to buy $637 million worth of Covid tests, records show, the company’s founder threw an in-person campaign fundraiser for the governor, undercutting her claims she didn’t know he was a donor.
The race for governor in New York is becoming an increasingly heated contest, with both campaigns trading punches over ethics, corruption and malfeasance.
The Republican candidate for governor, Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, picked up the endorsement of former Gov. George Pataki, the last Republican to be elected statewide in New York 20 years ago.
A bipartisan group of elected officials on Long Island called on Hochul and the state Legislature to tighten up New York’s controversial cashless bail law.
There are now more than 100 communities in the state that have received the “Climate Smart” designation as the state takes broader steps toward mitigating the effects of climate change, Hochul’s office announced.
New York medical cannabis patients will be permitted to grow up to three mature and three immature plants at home beginning Oct. 5, though residents without medical certification will need to wait until after the state’s commercial marketplace is in place.
City Fire Department inspectors who say they make less money than workers in similar jobs at the Department of Buildings can pursue their case against the city as a class action, a federal judge ruled.
The New York City Council’s 51 districts are being redrawn, but an initial effort that put Manhattan’s upscale Sutton Place in a Queens district drew lots of criticism.
The Education Trust-New York, an advocacy organization, released a database using public information from 673 school districts to get an understanding of how aid is being used across New York.
Cardozo Law, Yeshiva University’s law school, is reaffirming its commitment to supporting LGBTQ students and staff as its parent institution staunchly refuses to recognize an LGBTQ group.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the failure to sufficiently assist Puerto Rico: “Federal officials see a press release as progress. It’s not. Progress is actually getting something done — achieving results, which is much more difficult than rhetoric.”
Cuomo told Cindy Adams: ““Look, my interest is public service. There are no term limits so I can make another go in four years. I’m someone who delivers. And who knows, could be there’s nobody to beat me. Also who knows — maybe by then I’ll be sweeter.”
After a six-year hiatus, the Clinton Global Initiative returned to New York City this week, bringing together leaders from the worlds of nonprofit, government and business, with a few celebrities sprinkled in for good measure.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s luxury lifestyle company Goop Inc. has paid off $298,160.58 in outstanding sales taxes, but not in time to avoid landing on a monthly list of the top 250 “delinquent taxpayers” in New York, according to the state Department of Tax and Finance.
A mentally-ill Coney Island mom was indicted for the drowning deaths of her three small kids in a shocking seaside triple homicide, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office confirmed.
“Beetlejuice,” an exuberantly ghoulish musical that was so on brand it came back from the dead, will end its Broadway run on Jan. 8, the show’s producers announced.
Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery wrote the judge overseeing the criminal trial of limo operator Nauman Hussain that she needed more time to prepare because she was too short-staffed and lacked adequate financial resources.
The City of Albany is creating a new umbrella department of Neighborhood and Community Services in hopes of creating a better experience for residents who need help from city departments such as codes, general services and planning.
The Albany FireWolves will open the 2022-23 National Lacrosse League season Dec. 3 at the Buffalo Bandits, the same place where last season ended with a first-round playoff loss.
Student “altercations” at Albany High School led the school to call in police and lockdown the building yesterday afternoon.
The 16-month-old Cafe Mutton, an iconoclastic restaurant in Hudson, within the past week was named by two major national publications as being among the best places to dine in America.
Stewart’s Shops, which has locations in the Hudson Valley and Capital District, had a total of four ice cream winners at the 2022 World Dairy Expo, held in Madison, Wisconsin.
Public service announcement: Cooking chicken in NyQuil is a bad idea. Full stop.
“The challenge sounds silly and unappetizing — and it is,” the FDA said. “But it could also be very unsafe. Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways.”
