Good morning. It’s Monday and there’s a lot going on.
You may or may not have the day off for what was long known as Columbus Day, which commemorates the arrival of explorer Christopher Columbus’s in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492.
This is a federal holiday – one of 12, along with New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Inauguration Day, George Washington’s birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day – although it’s widely viewed as one of the “lesser” of the bunch.
That means all nonessential employees get the day off, and those who are required to work are supposed to receive holiday pay.
A little history refresher for those who do not recall their grade school Social Studies classes. Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator, (born in Genoa in 1451), but he was backed by Queen Isabelle I and King Ferdinand II, of Spain.
He did quite a bit of traveling on the behalf of the Catholic monarchs, but the trip we’re concerned with today saw him set out from the coast of Span with three ships – the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – in search of a new trade route to Asia.
The10-week journey did not bring Columbus to Asia, but rather to the Bahamas, making him the first of a whole succession of Italian explorers to reach what would eventually come to be known as the Americas.
After departing the Bahamas, Columbus saw Cuba, and mistook it for China. And then moving on, he found Hispaniola and believed it to be Japan. He established a colony for Spain there with 39 men – the first toehold for his monarch patrons in the Americas – and then headed home.
Columbus’ arrival back in Spain in March 1493 was a triumphant one. He came laden down with gold, spices and “Indian” captives (more on this in a moment).
The first Columbus Day was celebrated (where else?) in New York, and it was hosted by none other than Tammany Hall. In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation encouraging Americans to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage – a move motivated in part by the hate-motivated lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891.
To commemorate the 1492 voyage, as well as the contributions of Italian Americans to the U.S., Congress in 1934 passed a joint resolution, subsequently modified in 1968, that requested the president to proclaim the second Monday of October of each year as “Columbus Day.”
President Biden this past weekend split the baby, issuing a proclamation for Columbus Day and another one for Indigenous Peoples Day.
Support for the latter has been growing steadily in recent years – it was first celebrated at the national level last year – in recognition of the pain and suffering Europeans like Columbus inflicted on the Native Americans who were living here long before explorers got around to “discovering” the New World.
More than a dozen states – Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin – and the District of Columbia recognize Indigenous Peoples Day, as do many municipalities across the nation.
You will notice that New York is not on that list, though New York City celebrates Italian American Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day. This is a very fraught issues, with strong feelings on both sides of the debate. There is legislation pending in the Legislature that proposes to scrap Columbus Day altogether, which the the Italian-American community is vowing to block.
It’s a good day for using your time off to get outside. It will be dry, but cloudy, with temperatures in the decidedly fall-like high 50s.
In the headlines…
French President Emmanuel Macron chided Biden for invoking the possibility of nuclear “armageddon” and said his US counterpart should choose his words carefully.
Biden’s stark warning that the world faces the highest prospect of nuclear war in 60 years was not based on any new intelligence about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions or changes in Russia’s nuclear posture, multiple US officials said.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Biden was “reckless” in warning last week about the possible use of nuclear weapons by Putin and Russia.
Biden slammed Republican members of Congress, who voted against his infrastructure bill for being “socialist,” as hypocrites for now asking his administration for funding.
Biden unexpectedly stopped by UPenn‘s campus on Friday afternoon, attracting hundreds of students and community members.
Recent economic developments threaten Biden’s efforts to shore up the economy and reduce inflation, introducing fresh vulnerabilities to Democrats’ midterm campaign.
Republican control of either the House or Senate could jeopardize the Biden administration’s plans to expand the Internal Revenue Service, with GOP lawmakers positioned to withhold funding should they gain power.
In a major blow for Putin, a huge explosion early Saturday severely damaged the only bridge connecting the annexed Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland, crimping a key supply route for Moscow’s faltering war in Ukraine.
The bridge, opened by Putin to great fanfare in 2018, was meant to symbolize the might of the Russian state and the permanence of the Kremlin’s annexation of the peninsula four years earlier. Russia even released a feature movie about its construction.
Russian strikes in the city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 17 people and damaged dozens of buildings on Saturday night, according to Ukrainian officials.
A stock market fixated on the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation is about to see how rapidly rising interest rates have affected companies’ bottom lines.
An Arizona appeals court temporarily halted enforcement of a near-total ban on abortion in the state, a victory for abortion rights groups in a novel legal battle over whether the courts should allow enforcement of a law tracing back to the mid-19th century.
In Ohio, a county judge indefinitely suspended a state law prohibiting most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The decisions marked progress for abortion advocates who have been fighting to restore access to the procedure in states that ban it.
Experts believe that, although coronavirus infections will always carry risks, and we may still suffer periodic surges and new variants, infections should get less serious and less frequent as our immunity grows.
A new Covid-19 wave appears to be brewing in Europe as cooler weather arrives, with public health experts warning that vaccine fatigue and confusion over types of shots available will likely limit booster uptake.
Public health data suggests red-state resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine is largely the province of the young. Seniors in the reddest states are inoculated and boosted at nearly the same rate as older Americans overall.
Twitter blocked — and then restored — a post from Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo that was promoting an analysis claiming a high incidence of cardiac-related deaths among men who take the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine.
The New York State Department of Health is launching an annual campaign to encourage people to get their flu and Covid shots.
After COVID-19 ravaged low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in New York, state officials are seeking federal approval to spend $13.5 billion through Medicaid to address the long-standing systemic racism and inequality.
Two people were shot outside the Long Island home of GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin yesterday while his teenage twin daughters were at home, he confirmed.
Zeldin said in a statement that his two 16-year-old daughters were inside the home when the shooting happened. At the time, the gubernatorial candidate had just departed the Bronx Columbus Day Parade in Morris Park.
At a news conference Zeldin said that the teenagers could be seen on security-camera footage hiding underneath his porch and near a bush in front of his porch. He said that they were likely shot before they entered the frame of his security cameras.
Zeldin is challenging incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul over her lack of action to mitigate the crime crisis facing the Empire State.
State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs blasted Zeldin for relying on “dark money” of independent outside groups that are bolstering his candidacy.
Hochul announced that she has raised a record-setting $45.8 million for her campaign – with much of that money coming from donors tied to alleged pay-to-play schemes.
Hochul has about $10.9 million on hand. About 60% of the cash has come from small donors who gave less than $200 a piece, her campaign said.
Hochul raised $11.1 million, or about $133,000 a day on average, from mid-July to early October. She enters the homestretch of the race with nearly two and a half times as much money as Zeldin.
Billionaires, real estate developers and Hollywood royalty are pumping millions of dollars into the New York governor’s race as it enters the final stretch.
Hochul took several pictures at a recent fundraiser with Maher Abdelqader, a Democratic donor who has a history of sharing anti-Semitic content online, including propagating the conspiracy theory that 6 million Jews were not killed in the Holocaust.
At least five Dems running for Congress who have been endorsed by party colleague Hochul have not only declined to effusively return the favor but even left the governor’s stamp of approval off their own campaign website’s list of endorsements.
Former Republican Rep. Peter King slammed Hochul for what he called her “surrender” to liberal lawmakers in Albany over the state’s controversial bail-reform measures.
Hochul has promoted Joshua Norkin, a major advocate of the state’s controversial bail-reform laws, to become one of her top legal advisers — even as she claims to have vigorously worked to change the lax rules.
Hochul’s administration is scrambling to develop a way to measure when motorists are driving while under the influence of cannabis since there’s no current standard or valid testing.
Hochul has launched the Institute for Immigration Integration Research & Policy to help Caribbean and other immigrants transition to community life, and further their education and workforce.
Farmers across the state have grown a sufficient amount of cannabis to stock New York’s first dispensaries with homegrown flower before they open by year’s end, Office of Cannabis Management officials said.
As state officials begin discussions about State University of New York funding amid an ongoing deficit, professors gathered to pledge support to the poets, artists and literature majors who might be deemed less important.
After the Concealed Carry Improvement Act was approved by Hochul in July prohibiting concealed weapons from being carried in “sensitive locations,” including houses of worship, churches throughout New York are joining together in protest of their safety.
The superintendent of the New York State Police, Kevin P. Bruen, unexpectedly announced his resignation on Friday after the governor’s office began investigating his potential mishandling of internal workplace complaints.
The longtime head of the State Police PBA Thomas Munger was placed on leave from the top job by the union’s board on the same day New Yorkers learned that the superintendent of the agency tendered his resignation under an ethical cloud.
Attorneys for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo have filed motions seeking thousands of documents from both a top legislative committee and Attorney General Letitia James’ office related to their respective investigations of the ex-governor.
The NY Post endorsed Republican Marc Molinaro in the NY-19 race, saying “political career is a recommendation in itself.”
The paper also endorsed Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis for re-election in NY-11, noting that “Republicans near-certain to win control of the House this November, she’d be New York City’s only member of the majority.”
Newsday endorsed U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s re-election bid, saying he hasn’t forgotten the New York communities that have sent him to the halls of power in D.C.
The House Ethics Committee revealed on Friday that it is investigating outgoing Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the Oversight and Reform Committee, though the details of the probe remain unknown.
At least a half-dozen sheriffs in upstate New York say they have no intention of aggressively enforcing gun regulations that state lawmakers passed last summer, forbidding concealed weapons in so-called sensitive areas.
The grieving mom of a Bronx man randomly stabbed to death at a subway station has slammed the city and Mayor Eric Adams, saying they are failing to keep New Yorkers safe on the transit system.
After a fatal subway stabbing Thursday night, the second such death in a week, New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters on Friday that her force must do better.
A man was stabbed to death during a feud aboard an MTA bus in the Bronx last night, police said.
Former Gov. David Paterson said that he has never felt less safe in the Big Apple — and warned local Democrats they could be in for an electoral “monsoon” if they don’t get crime under control.
Adams’ city is buckling under pressure to accommodate tens of thousands of Latin American asylum-seekers — many bused there by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who is making a public show of sending border-crossers to New York, Washington and Chicago.
Adams declared a state of emergency Friday over the city’s migrant crisis and pleaded for financial and legislative assistance from the federal government and state lawmakers.
“A city recovering from an ongoing global pandemic is being overwhelmed by a humanitarian crisis made by human hands,” Adams said. “We are at the edge of the precipice…We need help. And we need it now.”
Hours after Adams declared a state of emergency over the ongoing flood of migrants into the Big Apple, airplanes carrying dozens of unaccompanied teen asylum seekers arrived in New York with little to no advance notice.
Adams was partying past 1a.m. Friday morning with rappers French Montana and Ja Rule — just hours before declaring a state of emergency in New York City over the migrant crisis.
A City Council bill that would put stringent restrictions on the use of solitary confinement at Rikers Island could face a veto if the Council passes the legislation in its current form, Adams threatened.
Adams endorsed fellow Democrat Max Rose on Friday in Rose’s bid to represent Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn in Congress.
A Brooklyn couple claims a Hasidic safety patrol attacked them and falsely accused them of making anti-Semitic remarks when they challenged them for not wearing masks at the height of the pandemic.
Columbia University and its affiliated hospitals announced a $165 million settlement with 147 patients of a former gynecologist accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women – including former mayoral and presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s wife.
A group of Ukrainian runners are making moves to ban Russians and Belarusians from taking part in the New York City Marathon.
The Ukrainian runners’ petition states that if the marathon’s organizers, the New York Road Runners, allows Russian and Belarusian runners to compete, the organization would be “implicitly normalizing … diabolical acts” by Moscow and its allies.
Authorities are investigating after a small plane crash landed at Great Sacandaga Lake yesterday.
Next month, Spill’n the Beans, a popular Troy coffeehouse and bistro, would have celebrated its 19th year serving the Collar City. Instead, the popular downtown destination is preparing to close its doors.
The Town of Colonie has removed the caution tape around The Crossings Park pond and pathways after more than a week has passed since a sick or dead bird has been found.
Harvey Weinstein’s second sex crimes trial, which begins today in Los Angeles, was once seen as largely symbolic. But a late-summer surprise from New York’s highest court, which gave him a glimmer of hope of walking free, has heightened the stakes.
Kanye West was suspended from Twitter after writing early yesterday that he wanted to go “death con 3” on Jews — just hours after Elon Musk welcomed him back to the platform.
