Good Wednesday morning. Welcome to the middle of the week.
At this time next week, we’ll all be either frantically running around in mad last-minute preparation for X-mas, or we’ll be about halfway through Chanukah. Or, if we’re really lucky, we’ll already be powering down for some well-deserved rest and relaxation – preferably somewhere warm and sandy.
We’ve been doing a lot of holiday-related content, and that has been fun. But I’m going to make an executive decision and take a bit of a break for something that is always a fan favorite: ANIMALS, specifically in this case, monkeys.
While humans and monkeys are both primates, it’s a common misconception that humans are direct descendants of apes, which is not, in fact, the case. We aren’t descended from monkeys or any other primates currently roaming the planet today.
However, we do share a common ape ancestor with chimpanzees that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago
Just to confuse things a little further, all apes are monkeys, but not all monkeys are apes.
The easiest way to distinguish between a between the two is to take note of whether the animal in question has a tail. Shorthand: Almost all monkeys have tails, while apes don’t.
Humans, FWIW, are classified in the sub-group of primates known as the Great Apes, and also in a primate sub-group known as the hominoids, that is further subdivided into the Great Apes and Lesser Apes. (Chimps, in case you were wondering, are members of the ape family, and are also our closest relatives, with only a 5% difference in their DNA and ours.
Now that we’ve cleared THAT up. Clear as day, right?
Today is Monkey Day, which is a sort of unofficial holiday with a kind of unusual back story. It was created by two artists -Casey Sorrow and Eric Millikin – when they were students at Michigan State University in 2000.
Apparently, the whole thing was more or less a joke, and then it unexpectedly took off. (Some of their art is NSFW, and since I’m not sure where you are when you’re reading this, I’m going to leave it up to you to decide whether to scratch the curiosity itch and Google).
In keeping with its artistic roots, one traditional way to celebrate Monkey Day is to create installations or creative works and disseminate them. Some zoos around the world also get into the spirit, hosting monkey-themed events.
Or, I guess you could get into the mood by watching “Planet of the Apes” or “King Kong” – though neither of them are particularly pro-monkey, come to think of it.
Maybe just enjoy a banana with breakfast?
Today is going to be more or less a repeat of yesterday day, from a weather perspective – cold (low 30s) and mostly sunny.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden signed into law landmark new federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples, capping both a personal and national evolution on an issue that’s enjoyed growing acceptance over the past decade.
Biden signed the legislation a decade after he announced his support for such unions, the highest-ranking Democrat at the time to do so.
“Today is a good day,” Biden said. “Today, America takes a vital step toward equality, toward liberty and justice, not just for some, but for everyone. Toward creating a nation where decency, dignity, and love are recognized, honored and protected.”
Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act before thousands of invited guests on the South Lawn at an event the White House said reflected the importance of the moment.
“Bless Joe Biden, and all the people that worked on this, for allowing people not to worry and their children not to worry about their future,” singer Cyndi Lauper said before the signing.
At the ceremony, Lauper sang her iconic hit, “True Colors,” while Sam Smith took the stage to perform their breakthrough 2014 ballad, “Stay With Me.”
The Biden administration lit up the south portico of the White House in rainbow colors yesterday evening after the president signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law earlier in the day.
During the signing, Biden was surrounded by some of the 12 Republican senators whose support helped push it across the legislative finish line.
Biden is under increasing pressure to secure the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine being held in Russia, following the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner in a trade for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Former President Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser said the Russians appeared committed to releasing Paul Whelan and another imprisoned American to improve relations between Washington and Moscow following a meeting in October 2020.
Dozens of African leaders have assembled in Washington for a summit aimed at rebooting US relations on the continent, which have languished in recent years.
Senate leaders said that congressional negotiators were within striking distance of a deal on fiscal 2023 government funding, with lawmakers aiming to wrap up talks soon and vote next week before leaving for Christmas break.
House GOP leadership is urging Republicans to vote against a short-term government funding bill lawmakers are hoping to quickly pass ahead of a looming shutdown deadline.
Prosecutors for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Southern District of New York unsealed a criminal indictment charging FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with lying to investors from the start of the company.
The House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing about FTX’s collapse. Bankman-Fried was slated to testify, but the hearing went ahead without him, featuring testimony from John J. Ray III, who took over FTX after its bankruptcy.
Damian Williams, the federal prosecutor overseeing the case of Bankman-Fried, has been in office only 14 months but he has already handled a series of white-collar prosecutions.
The Manhattan judge who will oversee Bankman-Fried’s case is Ronnie Abrams, who comes from a family of legal renown.
Consumer prices rose last month at the slowest 12-month pace since December 2021, closing out a year in which inflation hit the highest level in four decades and challenged the Federal Reserve’s ability to keep the U.S. economy on track.
The Labor Department said that its consumer-price index, a measurement of what consumers pay for goods and services, climbed 7.1% in November from a year ago, down sharply from 7.7% in October.
Biden celebrated the positive consumer price index report that showed inflation easing in the United States ahead of the holiday season.
“Make no mistake: prices are still too high,” Biden said from the White House, where he was flanked by his economic advisers. “We have a lot more work to do. But things are getting better, headed in the right direction.”
Republican support for Trump’s presidential bid in 2024 has cratered, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds, as the former president is beleaguered by midterm losses and courtroom setbacks.
Trump’s family business lost a criminal contempt trial that was held in secret last fall, with a judge ruling against the company almost exactly a year before it was convicted of a tax fraud scheme last week.
Trump has been working the phones, personally pitching right-wing lawmakers on voting to make Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader he has called “My Kevin,” the speaker of the House, but they so far seem unmoved.
The COVID-19 vaccines developed by biotech companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson saved more than 3 million American lives over a two-year period, according to new research from the Commonwealth Fund.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he plans to petition the state’s Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to investigate “any and all wrongdoing” with respect to the Covid-19 vaccines.
DeSantis seeks the empaneling of a grand jury to investigate entities associated with the development, distribution and promotion of the vaccines, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and their executive officers, as well as medical associations.
Long Covid leaves some people with long-term symptoms, but it can be deadly, too. It played a part in at least 3,544 deaths in the United States in the first 30 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report says.
The CDC study is believed to be the first nationwide examination of whether long Covid or related terms appear in official American death records.
Research published this week has confirmed a link between a Covid infection and a debilitating heart condition called POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, that has been diagnosed in some patients with long Covid.
The findings in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research are in line with earlier reports that Covid may trigger the disorder of the autonomic nervous system often characterized by a rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, fainting and lightheadedness.
The spread of Covid-19 in China is now “impossible” to track, the country’s health authorities have said, announcing they have stopped recording asymptomatic cases in their daily tallies.
A “tripledemic” of the coronavirus, influenza and RSV sweeping through the United States has prompted several cities and counties, including New York City and Los Angeles County, to encourage people to wear a mask in indoor public spaces once again.
A customized Moderna Inc. MRNA vaccine helped ward off the recurrence of melanoma in a mid-stage trial, a milestone in long-running efforts to use the shots as treatments and a big step in the biotech’s ascent.
As Gov. Kathy Hochul gets ready for her first full term in office, a new poll suggests that the electorate may be skeptical of her ability to deliver on her promises.
Siena College released a poll that shows New York voters did not feel Hochul made progress on several of the major issues she laid out in her State of the State address at the beginning of this year.
The governor has her “work cut out for her” following a closer-than-expected campaign against Republican Lee Zeldin, who campaigned heavily on his opposition to criminal justice reforms amid rising crime, said Siena College pollster Steve Greenberg.
Hochul’s impending selection of a new chief judge has become a political test, thanks to simmering discontent among state Democratic lawmakers, and as state judges around the country will play bigger roles in resolving questions of fundamental rights.
New York lawmakers are weighing a ban on outside income as they discuss potentially increasing their salary from $110,000 to $130,000 annually in a special session of the Legislature.
Rev. Al Sharpton is convening a summit of Black leaders across the state to forge a consensus on tackling crime after New York Democrats clashed on bail reform and the party lost three House seats in midterm elections dominated by public safety.
Several Republican House members are urging Hochul to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate state Attorney General Letitia James’ handling of the sexual harassment case involving ex-chief of staff Ibrahim Khan.
Hochul is being urged by black leaders to sign a bill into law to provide a controversial film tax break to the Sherri Shepherd morning talk show, which replaced the Wendy Williams show and films in New York.
The Citizens Budget Commission, a prominent budget watchdog, is urging Hochul to veto a bill limiting penalties for toll dodgers, arguing it could have a deleterious impact on state finances.
Audits of the state Thruway Authority are being sought, as is the ability to allow the state Legislature to have veto power over any increase. Petition drives are being launched to halt the first proposed toll increase on E-Z Pass customers in more than a decade.
A bill meant to strengthen health care services for retired public workers once they enroll in the Medicare program is sitting on Hochul’s desk for her consideration.
Hochul and the NYSERDA will allocate $52 million in awards to establish 12 Regional Clean Energy Hubs designed to serve as centers of outreach, awareness and education about the state’s effort to move to clean energy.
The rate of inmates dying from drug overdoses in New York’s correctional facilities is more than double that of the nation, according to a recent report filed by the state attorney general’s office on deaths of individuals in custody.
A Long Island man was formally charged this week in connection to an October shooting that left two teenagers injured outside the home of Rep. Lee Zeldin as authorities announced a major gang takedown.
A state appellate court ruled that 94 Queens voters must get a chance to “cure” their invalidated ballots in order to be counted in the Assembly race where Democratic incumbent Stacey Pheffer Amato leads GOP challenger Tom Sullivan by just a single vote.
A federal judge this week reserved judgment on a request to halt Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to expand the use of involuntary commitment for people having mental health crises.
Adams defended his new Department of Social Services spokesman against allegations that he has a history of offensive behavior at work — and questioned why his accusers waited until now to come forward.
Adams’ incoming chief of staff serves on the board of a publicly owned energy company that does business with the city, a role she plans to keep despite a conflict of interest policy that generally prohibits the practice.
The Adams administration announced its action plan for tackling some of the city’s most pressing issues based on data collected by a massive public issues survey known as NYC Speaks.
Adams announced major investments into early childhood special education, including adding 400 new seats across 65 early childhood providers this spring.
In a Bronx Times op-ed, Adams insists that while the city has “a lot more work to do” on the public safety front, “I want to be clear to New Yorkers: we are making progress.”
The mayor’s chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin suggested at City & State’s Building Bridges interfaith event that churches, mosques and synagogues could play a role in helping her boss achieve his goal of building 500,000 new housing units in the next ten years.
After years of public debate over how to fix the traffic nightmare that is the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, New Yorkers could end up with something like what they had before: a six-lane highway.
City officials are rolling out a variety of options for redesigning and rebuilding the BQE near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade — including a terrace structure that would include better walkways between the promenade and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Long confined to their metal-and-glass enclosures, booth clerks in the New York City subway will soon roam stations, shedding an obsolete role to engage with riders increasingly frustrated over safety and service.
A raging three-alarm fire at a NYPD facility that holds seized vehicles and evidence including DNA from cold cases sent large plumes of smoke billowing across the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn; it’s unclear which pending criminal cases will be impacted.
An endangered female sperm whale died after washing up on Rockaway Beach in Queens, the city’s Parks Department said.
The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is rejoining the University at Albany. The SUNY Board of Trustees voted unanimously at yesterday’s meeting to “reunify” the two. The transfer will occur by December 2023.
IBM announced it has struck a major research and development deal with new computer chipmaker Rapidus that would significantly ramp up the sophistication of Japan’s chip industry, and Albany Nanotech will play a significant role in the partnership.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will face a congressional subpoena as part of an effort to better understand its connections to the owner of a stretch limousine that crashed in 2018 and killed 20 people, Rep. Elise Stefanik said.
Attorneys for plaintiffs who have filed child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany urged a state Supreme Court justice to reject its request to “pause” the litigation for three months while it seeks to a global settlement.
The Purple Pub in Watervliet, which served more than 2 million pizzas in the first 45 years in business, will close after service on Dec. 30, according to a farewell announcement posted on Facebook.
An Albany man was indicted on an attempted murder charge and other counts in the stabbing of a Hudson Valley Community College student last month, Rensselaer County prosecutors said.
John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate President Reagan in 1981 and has been touring as a musician since being released from court supervision over the summer, has canceled a January concert that was to have been held in Albany’s Pine Hills.
The court fight over the former Central Warehouse in downtown Albany isn’t over.
Developers have invested more than $100 million in the last few years transforming several blocks of former parking lots and underused buildings between downtown Albany and the Warehouse District into the city’s next destination.
Contractors are scrambling to construct a $350 million offshore wind tower complex at the Port of Albany following a 7-month delay.
After leading Blessing’s Tavern in Colonie for nearly four decades, Elizabeth Altrock, beloved by customers and community members alike, died at her home Monday at age 66.
Berkshire, Mass. prosecutors, citing the Boston-based chief medical examiner’s autopsy report, said the cause and manner of Shaker High School teacher Meghan Marohn’s death couldn’t be pinpointed because of the condition of her body.
Twitter Inc. disbanded its Trust and Safety Council this week, part of an ongoing effort by Elon Musk to cut costs.
Musk no longer tops Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people.
