Good middle-of-the-week morning.
I’m not going to belabor the whole “why the eff Valentine’s Day” thing, but it does offer a good opportunity to talk seriously about affairs of the heart – not the romantic kind in this case, however.
Did you know that nearly one in every 100 babies are born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) in this country every year? That’s about percent or 40,000 babies, and is a leading cause of death among young children.
An estimated 1.4 million adults across the country are living with a CHD.
That number seems fairly low, which I guess is a good thing, but if you’re the parents of one of those kids – especially one of the one in four born with a critical CHD, which can require one or more surgeries over a series of months or even years – that’s a life-changing and terrifying statistic.
CHDs can can affect the heart’s shape or how it works or both; they can impact the heart’s chambers, its valves, the septum that divides the right and left sides of the organ, and even the veins and/or arteries near it.
CHDs are actually the most common types of birth defects, though risks are higher if there’s a family history, if the baby has been diagnosed with a genetic disorder, if mom has been taking medication or has her own health struggles such as diabetes or autoimmune disease.
Heart defects can begin to develop as early as the first 6 weeks of pregnancy – this is when the heart is forming, which also can be long before some women are even aware that they’re expecting.
Some CHDs can be corrected in utero, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. It’s rare for a fetal heart defect to have to be addressed in this manner (technically referred to as intrauterine surgery), but it does happen from time to time. Some of the more mild forms of CHD resolve on their own over time. (Heart murmurs, for example, can be caused by a CHD).
Nearly every state requires babies to be checked for critical CHDs at birth as part of newborn screening.
You probably already guessed where this is going, but this is Congenital Heat Defect Awareness Week, which is sponsored by the American Heart Association, and is held to both raise awareness about CHDs and to encourage the public to contribute to organizations that both support families whose kids are facing this issue and research into prevention and treatment.
Another 40-something degree day is on tap with partly cloudy skies.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden delivered a plea to Republicans for unity in his second State of the Union address, but vowed not to back off his economic agenda and offered no far-reaching, new ideas in a speech filled with a familiar litany of exhortations.
Biden challenged the new House GOP majority to work together with him to “finish the job” of repairing America’s unsettled economy and fragile democracy even as the emboldened opposition geared up to try to force him to change course.
Biden was heckled during the State of the Union address when he spoke about fentanyl and when he accused Republicans of threatening Social Security and Medicare.
Video captured Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shouting “liar!” during Biden’s remarks after he accused “not even a majority” of Republicans of wanting to target the entitlement programs for service cuts.
Biden’s address featured little gloating or political chest thumping. The contrasts he drew with Republicans were mild compared to the things he said on the stump last fall. Bipartisanship and unity were the overt themes of the night.
Biden taunted President Xi Jinping in his speech, saying autocracies had grown weaker around the world and no one would want the Chinese leader’s job.
PolitiFact fact-checked Biden’s claim about desired GOP changes to the social programs and several others about the health of the economy, the infrastructure law and an assault weapons ban.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered a scorching admonition of Biden’s address, criticizing his agenda as “woke fantasies.”
Sanders cast Biden as the head of a failed administration hijacked by a “radical left” agenda that has delivered high gas prices and empty grocery shelves while teaching children to “hate one another on account of their race.”
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told GOP Rep. George Santos of New York: “You don’t belong here,” according to a member who witnessed the tense exchange in the House of Representatives chamber.
Romney spoke to reporters about the interaction after Biden’s address, saying of Santos standing in the aisle: “He’s a sick puppy. He shouldn’t have been there.”
Dozens of Santos’s constituents traveled from his Long Island district to the Capitol to call for the congressman to resign.
Santos is expected to face an investigation from the House Ethics Committee, a probe that could derail his already imperiled political career depending on the secretive panel’s findings.
Rock star Bono and the 26-year-old who disarmed a gunman in last month’s Monterey Park, California, shooting were among the featured guests sitting alongside first lady Jill Biden at the State of the Union address.
The parents of Tyre Nichols were also guests of President Biden’s during the State of the Union, about one week after Nichols’ funeral.
As Tyre Nichols sat propped against a police car, bloodied, dazed and handcuffed after being beaten by a group of Memphis police officers, one of those officers took a picture of him and sent it to at least five people, the Memphis Police Department said.
Five Memphis police officers charged in the deadly police beating of Nichols last month are accused of assaulting another young Black man just three days prior, according to a federal lawsuit filed yesterday.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the labor market’s surprising strength underscores why bringing inflation down will take longer and require higher interest rates than many investors have been anticipating.
Air-safety officials and members of Congress are raising fresh concerns about recent near-collisions on runways in New York and Texas, close calls that threatened a relatively long stretch without domestic aviation accidents involving major planes.
New York lawmakers discussed public safety with court and state officials during a sweeping budget hearing held as Gov. Kathy Hochul pushes to once again overhaul the state’s bail system.
Democratic lawmakers expressed interest in requiring mandated training for judges, a proposal that is largely the result of the state’s changes to bail laws that have been the subject of heated debate across the state and in the Legislature.
Top state court officials told lawmakers that judges in New York don’t need required training to better understand the state’s bail laws as Hochul proposed further changes to the cashless bail system in the upcoming budget.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is trying to encourage states to not pass laws like New York’s measure that largely ended cash bail requirements for many criminal charges — highlighting the issue this week by inviting Montgomery County Sheriff Jeff Smith to the SOTU.
Hochul’s proposed budget would guarantee a nearly half billion dollar windfall of public money to New York’s troubled horse racing industry.
Hochul wants taxpayers to subsidize the pay of actors and directors who work on movies and TV shows that film in New York — all as part of ongoing arms race with New Jersey to attract the film industry to their side of the Hudson River.
Advocates and lawmakers want to make New York the second state to lower its legal blood alcohol limit from .08 to .05 — a change supporters argue could save lives and keep drunk drivers off the road.
New York City’s top transportation official urged state lawmakers to pass a bill lowering the state’s DWI limit to .05, saying the state has historically been too slow to act on drunken driving laws.
New York is embarking on a critical year for the implementation of its landmark climate law, which could have a ripple effect on the U.S. energy sector and set a precedent for other states.
Education unions in New York called for $4.7 billion in spending for higher education programs in the state ahead of a potential tuition increase at public colleges and universities.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie extended his boycott of questions from The NY Post for a second week, and angrily declared that he won’t “be disrespected” by New York’s hardest-hitting tabloid.
State Capitol reporters are angry with Heastie for refusing to lift pandemic-era restrictions for reporters to access the Assembly chamber.
The Democratic Assembly supermajority is putting a strict limit on the number of times per year members can force committee votes on bills — a move that allows them to effectively block the vast majority of GOP-backed legislation without discussion.
MedMen, a chain of cannabis stores that was once described as the “Apple store of weed” and valued as high as $1.7 billion as a public company, is near financial collapse, according to a regulatory filing.
Mayor Eric Adams has announced that he is teaming up with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to take on the spread of illegal, unlicensed cannabis dispensaries across the city.
Bragg sent letters to some 400 smoke shops that warn them of potential eviction proceedings for unlawful cannabis sales. The DA’s letter cited a law that required evictions of commercial tenants involved in unlicensed cannabis sales.
Bragg said at a press conference that “It is time for the operation of unlicensed cannabis dispensaries to end.
Adams addressed concerns that the city is pawning off its migrant crisis on Canada, saying that the city has no “recruitment campaign” in place to redirect people north of the border.
A new migrant relief center will open at a Holiday Inn in the Financial District, Adams said.
Adams vowed that the city will be a “hard negotiator” in its dealings with Madison Square Garden to hash out a new operating permit for the storied sports arena — but said the recent antics of its head honcho won’t influence his decision making.
Gary Jenkins, New York City’s embattled social services commissioner, who has faced criticism over his handling of the city’s homelessness crisis, said in a television interview that he is resigning.
“I’ve decided to step down from my position as commissioner for the Department of Social Services and explore other opportunities that have been presented to me,” Jenkins said in an interview on NY1.
Jenkins, who was appointed by Adams just over a year ago, confirmed his resignation after the Daily News first reported he had informed staff of his exit earlier in the day.
“There’s no discord. There’s no running away,” he said during an interview with Errol Louis on NY1. “This is something that was already planned and I’m happy I could take this opportunity after serving 36 years in the agency.”
A long-time city employee who sued his agency for racial discrimination received a nearly $100,000 pay raise last August for a newly created position.
The City Council’s Progressive Caucus could lose as many as 10 members due to an internal dispute over law enforcement funding.
A New York City police officer died from his injuries after he was shot while off duty during a robbery attempt as he tried to buy a car in Brooklyn, police officials said.
Officer Adeed Fayaz, a five-year NYPD veteran and father of two, was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital after the Saturday evening off-duty shooting. He joined the department in 2017 and was assigned to Brooklyn’s 66th Precinct.
The MTA opened three dedicated customer service centers in the subway system designed to save riders the trip to the agency’s Stone St. headquarters.
The explosion of farebeating on New York City’s subways and buses “tears at the social fabric” of the Big Apple, while taking an ever-mounting toll on the cash-strapped MTA that trickles down to paying straphangers, the agency’s chief, Janno Leiber, said.
Gustavo Dudamel, the charismatic conductor of the LA Philharmonic, whose fiery baton and bouncy curls have made him one of classical music’s most recognizable figures, will leave his post in 2026 to become the music director of the New York Philharmonic.
The city’s Department of Transportation is expanding its on-street carshare program after the pilot had “encouraging results,” officials said.
A domestic pigeon that was dyed pink and then released into the wild has died, the nonprofit caring for him said.
Following a two-week standoff with Schoharie County elected leaders, the rural county’s embattled public health director, Amy Gildemeister, has accepted a job at the state Department of Health.
Sperry’s Restaurant, one of the City of Saratoga Springs’ oldest dining establishments, is under contract to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price.
An Oxford-schooled associate dean at Ohio State’s law school described as a leading national expert in environmental and climate change law will become the next dean and president of Albany Law School in July.
Two Colonie police sergeants were demoted to patrol officers last year after an internal investigation determined they had allegedly been stealing from the town by swiping a timeclock for one another to falsely indicate they were at work.
Authorities are investigating the death of an inmate last Tuesday at Hudson Correctional Facility in Columbia County.
Yolanda Vega, best known for her 32 years with the State Lottery, and her family continue their run on “Family Feud” hosted by Steve Harvey.
Lakers forward LeBron James is the leading scorer in N.B.A. history after breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career record of 38,387 points, a feat that once had seemed impossible for anyone.
Lawyers for the actor Alec Baldwin filed a motion seeking to disqualify the special prosecutor who was part of the team that brought involuntary manslaughter charges against him for the fatal shooting of the cinematographer on the “Rust” movie set.
