Good morning, it’s Monday. No choice but to move forward, so let’s get after it.
Today is the height of the five-day Festival of Lights known as Diwali – an aside, and for some reason the penny just dropped on this, but Jews have a Festival of Lights, too, Chanukah, which lasts for eight days…religious overlap is so fascinating, and just underscores how much more alike we are than different.
Starting the digressions off early today, as you can see. Sometimes, I have the attention span of a flea.
Anyway, back to Diwali. It’s celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs, some Buddhists (the Newar people of Nepal), and Jains around the globe, and is a festival that commemorates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.
The date of the holiday moves around every year, depending on the Indian calendar, and falls either in October or November. But the meaning and customs of the five days remains the same, and are as follows:
- Day 1: Dhanteras, (homes are cleaned, and it’s auspicious on this day to buy gold, silver, precious stones, new clothes, or (a little incongruously, IMHO) kitchen utensils
- Day 2: Chhoti Diwali, (also known as “Small Diwali, the body should be massaged with oil to alleviate fatigue, and homes may be decorated with rangoli, patterns made on the floor out of colored sand or powders)
- Day 3: Diwali, (this is the main day of the five-day festival, worshipers cleanse themselves and seek blessings for health and prosperity from the goddess Lakshmi, and also light candles and oil lamps called diyas and/or set off fireworks; sweets are exchanged, a feast may be consumed)
- Day 4: Govardhan Puja, (new clothing and jewelry is sworn, gifts and sweets are exchanged among friends and neighbors – also the first day of the new year in the Hindu traditiona)
- Day 5: Bhai Dooj, (honors the love between brothers and sisters, brothers may visit their married sisters’ homes and bring them gifts; sisters, in turn, may prepare feast for their brothers)
A lot going on there.
Diwali is a very big deal, clearly. And next year, as per Mayor Eric Adams, who pledged to do so during his campaign, it will be a public school holiday in New York City.
About 200,000 city residents observe Diwali annually, according to Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, first South Asian American woman elected to state-level office in New York, who introduced a bill to formally recognize the holiday.
It will be mostly cloudy today with a slight chance of showers and temperatures in the low-to-mid 60s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden says he intends to seek reelection in 2024 amid growing concerns about his age but will withhold a formal announcement because campaigning and fundraising rules change if he becomes an actual candidate.
Biden predicted that voters will swing back to favor Democrats in the remaining weeks before the midterm elections as concerns over the economy ease.
Biden will visit Democratic National Committee headquarters today as he looks to pep up staff and volunteers with just over two weeks to go before Election Day.
Biden is expected to look to contrast his plan to lower drug costs for Americans while taking aim at a Republicans who he says will look to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits and look to make permanent the GOP’s 2017 changes to tax rates.
From her perch atop the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young is viewed inside and outside the administration as an unquestioned, if quiet, force inside the administration, according to White House officials and lawmakers.
A military judge has canceled pretrial hearings in the Sept. 11 case at Guantánamo Bay while prosecutors await a response from the Biden administration on a proposed plea deal that would avert a death-penalty trial for the five defendants.
UK former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pulled out of the contest to become the next Conservative Party leader and therefore the next prime minister.
In a statement, Johnson said he believed he had a path to victory in the contest to replace Liz Truss. But he said, “I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do.”
His withdrawal leaves former treasury chief Rishi Sunak as the strong favorite to be Britain’s next prime minister. He could win the contest as soon as today.
Biden will receive the updated Covid-19 booster shot tomorrow, White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said. It has been more than three months since he contracted the virus – the timeline the CDC says people should wait before getting boosted.
Biden will also deliver remarks on the ongoing fight against the virus.
U.S. students in most states and across almost all demographic groups have experienced troubling setbacks in both math and reading, according to a new report that offers the most definitive indictment yet of the pandemic’s impact on schoolchildren.
With few to no restrictions in place and travel and socializing back in full swing, an expected winter rise in Covid cases appears poised to collide with a resurgent influenza season, causing a “twindemic” — or even a “tripledemic,” with R.S.V. in the mix.
People with compromised immune systems face a new winter of discontent as the ever-mutating omicron virus threatens to outrun the preventive monoclonal antibody cocktail that many of them have relied upon for extra protection against Covid.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tested positive for COVID and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” the agency said in a statement.
Like all viruses, the primary symptoms associated with COVID have changed and can vary based on your vaccination status, according to a new list released last week.
Pfizer intends to sell the Covid vaccine, marketed under the brand name Comirnaty, for $110 to $130 per dose. This is about four times the current selling price – and 100 times the estimated cost of manufacturing the vaccine.
While flu and COVID seem similar at the onset, post COVID symptoms, like brain fog, fatigue, change in smell or taste among others, are unique to the virus and still being studied.
A recent study suggests we have become less extroverted, creative, agreeable and conscientious as a result of the pandemic. The declines in some traits were sharper among young people.
Ten counties in New York state are classified as having “high” COVID-19 community levels, according to new data released Friday from the CDC.
The Trump Organization’s trial on tax fraud and other charges begins today in Manhattan, raising questions about the future of the former president’s family business.
The first task facing the court is a big one: Picking a jury of New Yorkers who don’t have a strong opinion about the former president.
One of Trump’s most loyal deputies will testify against the Trump Organization, in a trial that threatens to reveal the inner workings of the real estate empire that set the former president on his path to the White House.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, said the panel would want to avoid a “circus” if Trump complies with the committee’s subpoena and testifies.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi goaded Trump on the airwaves yesterday, saying she doesn’t think he’ll testify for the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. “I don’t think he’s man enough to show up,” she said.
Trump said it would be “very disloyal” if former Vice President Mike Pence or others once in his cabinet ran for president in the 2024 election. To date, Trump has not formally announced a third bid for re-election, although he often alludes to a decision.
Trump doubled down on threats to sue the Pulitzer Prize board during a rally in Texas on Saturday over its awards for reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, who is promoting a new book about his interviews with Trump, called the former president “dangerous” and a threat to both democracy and the presidency.
The white majority is fading, the economy is changing and there’s a pervasive sense of loss in districts where Republicans fought the outcome of the 2020 election.
Closing the chapter on a lengthy and bitter exchange, Rep. Lee Zeldin has agreed to debate Gov. Kathy Hochul this week. The debate — the only one before the general election — will be held at 7 p.m. tomorrow and hosted by Spectrum News NY1.
Still, the Long Island congressman continued to complain that many New Yorkers won’t be able to watch because it wont be on broadcast television.
The NYT endorsed Hochul for governor, saying she used her first year in office “to show that she can get things done to improve the lives of New Yorkers,” and denounced Zeldin’s “loyalty to Trumpism.”
“So we just got to build our case, talk about what we’re going to do, but also expose Lee Zeldin for who he truly is,” Hochul told the NYT editorial board. “And he does not deserve to be the governor of New York.”
The TU also endorsed Hochul, saying she has proven herself to be a “capable” governor, while her opponent’s “record and agenda are troubling.” (Here’s a link to her Q-and-A with the TU editorial board).
New polls last week showed the governor’s race tightening — maybe to low single digits, uncomfortably close for Democrats after two decades of statewide dominance in New York.
Hochul is out with a new campaign ad touting her record on crime as polls show her in an increasingly competitive race with Zeldin.
A state Supreme Court justice in Saratoga County ruled a new state law that allowed absentee ballots to be counted on Election Day is unconstitutional while the decision to overturn COVID-19 as a reason to vote by mail rests with a higher court.
Justice Dianne L. Freestone’s decision stopped short of overturning a change in Election Law that allows someone to vote by absentee ballot if they fear contracting COVID-19, a measure that she highly criticized but said could not be undone at this time.
Some of the largest contributors to Hochul’s campaign from Central New York are groups and individuals who have reasons to say thanks.
New York’s hotel industry doesn’t seem to have any reservations about Hochul — showering her campaign in donations after she delivered a massive post-pandemic bailout.
Biden will visit Syracuse Thursday to see where computer memory chip specialist Micron Technology plans a $100 billion investment in the region to build a chip manufacturing facility and create thousands of jobs.
Households enrolled in New York’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will get the maximum level of food benefits this October, Hochul said.
Nearly five months after a gunman killed 10 people in a Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, Hochul announced Friday that a monument will be built in East Buffalo to memorialize the victims.
But where the memorial will go, what it will look like and how much it will cost are still to be decided.
Hochul and Mayor Adams rolled out plans for a police subway surge aimed at making the city’s 3.6 million underground straphangers feel safe on the trains while delivering aid to the system’s homeless population.
The state’s public emergency fund will pay for the expanded police presence, which amounts to 10,000 daily hours, as officials work to establish a dedicated revenue source, Hochul said. A mental health component is also included in the plan.
Hochul said that many New Yorkers were concerned about crime on the subway and that she would “focus on getting that sense of security back.”
Hochul needs to abandon her “Rose Garden strategies” and “get out there and make [her] case to the public” if she wants to avoid an upset from Zeldin, former Gov. David Paterson said in an interview.
Adams held a summit this past weekend with dozens of city leaders to figure out what to do about crime in New York City. He called the gathering productive.
New York has created three task forces aimed at streamlining the city’s justice system in the hopes of decreasing violence, officials announced.
Adams provided few details about what the criminal-justice system needs to change, other than his wish to create a “centralized portal” for pre-trial discovery and to reduce the amount of time defendants spend waiting for their comparatively brief trials.
Former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly slammed Adams, accusing him of dropping the ball on rampant crime in the Big Apple and insisting, “This isn’t brain surgery.
Adams acknowledged that his administration has admitted far fewer migrants than expected at its controversial tent camp on Randalls Island — but contended that’s actually a sign of success.
Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans drove a wave of migration over the last year, as total annual arrests at the southwestern U.S. border reached an all-time high.
As Adams has struggled to respond to an influx of migrants arriving in New York City from Texas, he has faced resistance at every step.
The speaker and mayor, who have publicly disagreed over the handling of the migrant crisis, have not met or spoken in a formal capacity since a phone call more than four weeks ago, according to her spokesperson, Mandela Jones.
New York City’s chief tech honcho, Matt Fraser, regularly carries a gun to work, a decision that has left staffers concerned and questioning why he’s been permitted to do so, according to three sources who’ve seen him packing heat on the job.
The flap over Fraser and his carrying of an on-the-job handgun drew pointed criticism from Brooklyn City Councilman Lincoln Restler, who said it “sends a horrible message to every New Yorker.”
Three gambling licenses for downstate New York are up for grabs. Here’s what has been proposed so far, where the casinos might be located and who gets to decide.
Cocaine, long popular among New York professionals, is now often tainted with fentanyl, catching users unprepared and driving drug fatalities.
A New York City salary transparency law that takes effect next month will likely spark a nationwide surge of worker demands for pay raises, experts said.
A group of Democratic Socialists and other far-left pols spent much of last week on an expenses-paid trip to Vienna as progressives push so-called “social housing” statewide.
Max Rose, the former Democratic congressman who’s running against Rep. Nicole Malliotakis to reclaim his former seat in NY-11, has accused his rival of violating ethics rules for using her government podium at a campaign event.
Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is not afraid to admit he’s worried about his race to represent New York’s new 17th District, which politicos and polling have indicated is close with the November midterms just over two weeks away.
Maloney’s GOP opponent, Assemblyman Michael Lawler, is also a political consultant, and says he isn’t profiting from his own campaign, though it has paid the firm more than $200,000 since 2020.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against Central New York’s Intermountain Management and ended an illegal agreement between the owner of Syracuse’s Greek Peak Mountain and Intermountain.
James has called upon state lawmakers to crack down on tech companies who allow their platforms to be used to broadcast violence. But experts in radicalization and digital technology say those proposals will be difficult to enforce.
The Digital Fair Repair Act, passed in Albany this past spring, was once far-reaching, but end-of-session lobbying by companies worth billions and their affiliated trade associations limited it to devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops.
The state has work to do to make open spaces more equitable, inclusive and accessible, according to a new report.
A resiliency plan would tear down Wagner Park in Lower Manhattan and rebuild it on higher ground, but some residents say it goes too far.
Another inmate died in a Rikers Island jail on Saturday, adding to the grim toll of detainee deaths amid the looming possibility of a federal takeover of the city’s dysfunctional lockups.
The NYPD is on pace to see more than 4,000 cops retire or resign this year – the most since the post-9/11 exodus.
The heartbroken Park Slope woman whose dog was killed by a man in Prospect Park made a desperate plea for Adams to catch the assailant.
Gamblers have transformed Columbus Park in Chinatown into an anything-goes, outdoor casino — where high rollers illegally bet big bucks on card games with pots reaching thousands of dollars, and cops turn a blind eye.
The state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities could ease the bureaucratic backlog keeping patients in psychiatric institutions, even as they qualify for less restrictive housing, according to a request for a temporary injunction in federal court.
Nearly seven in 10 LGBTQ students reported feeling unsafe at school in 2021 because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, according to new data.
Scott Salvadore of Stillwater has officially been crowned the 2022 USA Mullet Champion after ascending in the leaderboards with his golden mane dubbed “The Lord’s Drapes.”
The building where the Saratogian newspaper was once housed and printed is now a 10-beer brew hall.
The owner of Different Drummer’s Kitchen fears this may be his store’s last holiday season in Stuyvesant Plaza after more than 35 years. He believes he is being pushed out, possibly to make way for a national chain that sells similar merchandise.
The would-be assassin of a U.S. president, John Hinckley Jr., who has become a musician after being released from custody, has announced he will perform a concert in Albany.
Once again, Shenendehowa school district’s long-serving superintendent, L. Oliver Robinson, has topped the list of superintendent salaries in the Capital Region.
A Rensselaer County swamp has a new name, reflecting the federal government’s plan to eliminate an offensive term. Squaw Swamp has been renamed Black Swamp.
Over the last few years, McDonald’s has brought the fan-favorite McRib back for limited-time stints at its restaurants. The McRib is making its annual return again this fall, but it appears this will be the sandwich’s last hurrah.
The Yankees’ offense revived, but the Houston Astros relentlessly battled back and will head to a fourth World Series in six years after sweeping the A.L.C.S.
