Good Tuesday morning.
In case you’re keeping count: There are 19 days (not including today) until Christmas, 12 days until Chanukah, and 20 days until Kwanza. Keep those spirits up!
Now that we’ve gotten the levity portion of this post out of the way, let us turn to something a little more serious – yet no less important.
I’ve been on something of a history kick lately, not entire sure what that is. But a lot of interesting milestones have been passing in recent weeks, and they struck me as a heck of a lot more interesting – not to mention significant – than the fact that today is National Gazpacho Day.
As we head toward the first day of winter – Dec. 21 – we’re celebrating cold soup? WHY? No thanks. It’s not even on my Top 10 list of favorite soups. Hard pass.
So, on this day in 1865 , six months after Juneteenth, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, officially ending the institution of slavery and making official the single greatest change (from a policy standpoint, not a lives lost standpoint, that is) wrought by the Civil War.
Congress had passed the Amendment on Jan. 31, 1865, which read: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
President Lincoln approved it the very next day, and 18 of the necessary 27 states ratified the amendment within a month. However, the effort stalled with when Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865.
Just before the year ended – in December – Georgia broke the stalemate and became the 27th state to ratify, fulfilling the requirement that three-quarters of the states approve of a Constitutional amendment. And thus, 4 million African Americans – almost a third of the population of the South – were free. (Of course, we all know it wasn’t that simple).
Actually, the Civil War ended eight months before this historic date, and just over two years after Lincoln had issued the (largely symbolic) Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in any territory that was still in rebellion (so only in Confederate states) forever free as of Jan. 1, 1863.
The late state to ratify the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery except as punishment for a crime, was Mississippi, which didn’t do so until March 1995, but it wasn’t official until February 2013.
Yes, you read that right. Mississippi actually failed for 130 YEARS to ratify. (It’s complicated).
Two other states – Delaware (February 12, 1901) and Kentucky (March 18, 1976) – also didn’t vote to ratify until the 20th Century.
That’s really something to think about, isn’t it?
Also, for those who might either 1) live under a rock, or 2) have given up following national politics, today is the runoff in the Georgia Senate race, which no longer will decide the balance of power in the upper house, but will give the Democrats some breathing room if Sen. Raphael Warnock holds off his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker.
We’ll see clouds and occasional rain today, though temperatures will be a higher-than-usual 50-something degrees.
In the headlines…
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority seems prepared to rule that a Colorado graphic designer has a First Amendment right to refuse to create gay wedding websites due to her faith, despite a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Such a ruling would be the latest in a string of victories for religious people and groups, especially Christian ones, at a court that has shifted to the right in recent years. It would also chip away at the right to same-sex marriage established in 2015.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. drew laughter as the court heard arguments in the case, joking with Justice Elena Kagan about hypothetical analogies involving dating websites and a Black mall Santa Claus.
The fate of the Biden administration’s sweeping student loan forgiveness plan now rests with the Supreme Court. That may be bad news for borrowers, say legal and higher education experts.
The Biden administration is still actively searching for ways to safeguard abortion access for millions of women, even as it bumps up against a complex web of strict new state laws enacted in the months after the Supreme Court stripped the constitutional right.
Arizona’s top officials certified the results of the state’s midterm election, completing a normally routine task that had become troubled in a state where Republican activists and candidates have claimed without evidence that elections are fraudulent.
Michael Avenatti, who represented porn star Stormy Daniels in suits against ex-President Donald Trump, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from his clients and obstructing the IRS’s efforts to collect taxes from his coffee business.
Trump denied he wanted to “‘terminate’ the Constitution,” two days after suggesting “the termination of all rules … even those found in the Constitution.”
Trump’s political action committee is paying legal bills for some key witnesses involved in the Justice Department investigation into whether Trump mishandled classified documents, obstructed the investigation or destroyed government records.
The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, is hiring Matthew Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official with a history of taking on Trump and his family business, as the office seeks to ramp up its investigation into the former president.
Roughly 2 million “Dreamers” would get a path to citizenship in exchange for stronger border security measures under a loose blueprint for an immigration deal circulating among Senate offices.
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona landed on an initial framework intended to bolster border security and provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.
Immigration advocates are warily eyeing the immigration deal that’s reportedly in the works in the Senate, hopeful that the bipartisan talks could break an enduring logjam.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended immigration protections for Haitians in the United States, granting work permits and deferral from deportation to those who were in the country as of Nov. 6.
The administration also announced that Haitians whose existing protections, known as temporary protected status, were expiring would have an additional 18 months to live and work in the United States.
A massive bill setting defense policy is likely to end the military Covid vaccine mandate, coming on the heels of intense GOP lobbying to kill the mandate and acceptance from leading Democrats that it’s time for a change.
Biden and his Pentagon chief oppose any effort to repeal the vaccine mandate for troops, the White House said, setting up a fight with lawmakers who want to roll back the policy as part of the upcoming defense policy bill.
Hackers linked to the Chinese government stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief benefits, including Small Business Administration loans and unemployment insurance funds in over a dozen states, according to the Secret Service.
The hackers raided unemployment insurance funds and Small Business Administration loan money in more than a dozen US states, said Secret Service spokesperson Justine Whelan.
China’s Covid lockdowns are having a lessening impact on the economy for the first time since early October.
Foxconn Technology Group‘s November revenue dropped 11% from a year earlier after shipments from Zhengzhou, China, the world’s biggest iPhone assembly site, were affected by a Covid-19 outbreak, the company said.
New Israeli research suggests that side effects from COVID vaccines are frequently psychosomatic — a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.
Pfizer Inc and its German partner, BioNTech SE, fired back at Moderna in a patent lawsuit over their rival COVID-19 vaccines, seeking dismissal of the lawsuit in Boston federal court and an order that Moderna’s patents are invalid and not infringed.
The Centers for Disease Control Prevention encouraged people to wear masks to help reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses this season as Covid, flu and RSV circulate at the same time.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters that the updated flu shots generated this year seem to be “a very good match” for the most prevalent strains of influenza.
Health officials are making another urgent push to encourage flu and COVID vaccinations, as multiple respiratory viruses swirl around the country inundating both pediatric and adult hospitals.
Rockland officials will shut down the county’s COVID-19 hub website and dashboards as of Friday.
A federal judge in Manhattan threw out three of five charges in an indictment lodged against New York’s former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, formerly the second-in-command to Gov. Kathy Hochul.
In a 38-page decision, the judge ruled that prosecutors failed to demonstrate an “explicit quid pro quo” that must underpin the bribery charges against Benjamin.
“The dismissal of this now discredited bribery theory also makes clear how the indictment was a direct assault on the democratic process,” Benjamin’s defense attorney said in a statement.
Benjamin will still face two falsification of records charges leveled against him. Federal prosecutors appealed the partial dismissal late yesterday afternoon.
After spending more than $500,000 helping Hochul win a narrow election, a union representing New York carpenters is lobbying her to sign a bill that’s sparked significant opposition, including within her own administration.
Some New York lawmakers are renewing the push for a state law that would lay the groundwork to pay reparations to black residents whose ancestors were enslaved.
Hochul announced a $10 million plan to revitalize a once-bustling section of downtown Rochester that’s fallen into disrepair over the years.
The plan includes five projects, with $4 million going toward transforming the corner of Main Street and Clinton Avenue.
Advocates are urging Hochul to approve new regulations for the immigration bond industry and lay down new oversight rules.
MTA leaders are clawing for another huge government bailout — and a group of Albany Democrats is urging Hochul to hand them one.
The bill sitting on Hochul’s desk addresses the for-profit bond industry for immigration, a system that can draw in tens of thousands of immigrants nationwide. In New York, hundreds of immigrant residents can be detained at 76 different locations.
A coalition is demanding that a pandemic-era graduation policy that does not rely on “high-stakes” tests be made permanent.
The TU editorial board castigates AG Letitia James for leaving too many unanswered questions about her top aide’s resignation in the face of sexual harassment allegations.
Internal documents released by James’ office confirmed she knew about the sexual harassment allegations for more than a month before Election Day, but chose to keep it under lock-and-key before voters went to the polls.
The Thruway Authority Board of Directors authorized the start of the toll adjustment process on the New York State Thruway system.
Officials also approved the first step in the process to possibly increase the toll on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge by $2 by 2027.
Low-income people and children who go through family court are being harmed by the lack of quality legal representation because of stagnating pay rates for their court-appointed attorneys, NYSBA contended in a lawsuit filed earlier this week against the state.
John King, the former New York education commissioner and U.S. education secretary, was named State University of New York chancellor, taking over the largest public university system in the nation.
The board approved his appointment yesterday and he will replace interim chancellor Deborah F. Stanley — the former president of SUNY Oswego.
King’s tenure at the state level was marked by the controversial rollout of the Common Core standards. He was also U.S. secretary of education under President Obama, and is returning to New York from Maryland where he ran a failed gubernatorial bid.
In a statement, New York State United Teachers union President Andy Pallotta pledged to work with the new chancellor.
A new lifestyle medicine program will enter New York City hospitals, Mayor Eric Adams announced, providing some 200,000 health and medical practitioners from public and private hospitals with free training in nutrition and other elements of the effort.
Adams appeared to all but admit his administration doesn’t have all the answers to the many questions swirling over his directive on severely mentally ill New Yorkers.
Adams defended broadening the city’s ability to involuntarily commit acutely mentally ill homeless New Yorkers after days of criticism, claiming his policy change had sparked “creative energy” and new ideas in approaching mental health.
Adams today will announce replacements for his outgoing first deputy mayor and chief of staff, ending weeks of rumors and speculation on who would fill the two key administration positions.
Performance is an inherent part of politics. But perhaps no prior mayor has ever leaned so far into spectacle, collapsing the distinction between the player and his role.
Freshman Democratic Councilman Ari Kagan is switching his political affiliation to the Republican Party — saying he’s disenchanted with the far-left, soft-on-crime bent of his own party these days — and will take on a former ally for a redrawn Brooklyn district.
Violent criminals ought to be banned from MTA trains and buses, MTA CEO Janno Lieber urged.
The MTA wants to redesign subway turnstiles and emergency exit gates — the “superhighway” for deadbeats — to crack down on fare evasion.
An ex-case worker at a Manhattan senior shelter claims she was fired for warning that twice-convicted murderer Marceline Harvey threatened her at the facility — even after the alleged serial killer was charged in the grisly slaying of a former resident.
More than 10 of the helicopters that carry tourists and executives around the Big Apple were gassed up with fuel containing metal particles that could have caused them to fall from the sky.
A man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker during a violent robbery last year during which two of the singer’s French bulldogs were stolen was sentenced to 21 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The Bronx is New York City’s greenest borough.
City firefighters spent nearly two hours rescuing a dock worker who fell 40 feet yesterday afternoon inside the hull of a container ship moored at the Port of Albany.
An intensive mental health program designed to keep troubled teens out of hospitals and in their communities has launched in the Capital Region after previously being stymied by hiring challenges.
A group of 26 Taylor Swift fans filed a lawsuit accusing Ticketmaster’s parent company of anticompetitive conduct and fraud several weeks after a chaotic, glitch-filled sale of tickets for her upcoming tour left thousands of eager fans empty-handed and unhappy.
Actress Kirstie Alley has died at the age of 71, according to a statement from her family, after a brief battle with cancer.
Alley’s breakout role as the career-minded Rebecca Howe in the sitcom “Cheers” catapulted her career and earned her an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe.
Nike Inc. has cut ties with Kyrie Irving after having an endorsement deal with the basketball star for more than a decade, a partnership that resulted in a sneaker line that was popular with professional athletes and consumers.
