Good Wednesday morning. Don’t mind me. I’ll just be over here digging out from two+ feet of snow.
Thankfully, the power outage came AFTER I posted yesterday’s “Rise and Shine” and didn’t last terribly long. Kudos to National Grid for getting things up and running in a very timely fashion.
Of course, my WiFi modem was fried in the process and the dog pooped in the house after refusing to go outside. But all things considered, I did OK. First world problems.
Today is the Ides of March, or, if you prefer the Latin version “Idus Martias.” Technically speaking, the “ides” refers to the time of the new moon, which usually falls around the middle of the month – specifically, the 15th for March, May, July and October, and the 13th for every other month.
Historically, the full moon was associated with omens, which brings us to that famous line found in Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare ‘s tragedy “Julius Caesar: “A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.”
At one time, the ides of March was simply the 74th day in the Roman calendar.
The date was marked by several religious observances, (the ides of each month were sacred to the supreme Roman deity Jupiter, and the ides of March, in particular, was a feast day for Anna Perenna, the goddess of the year). It was also known as a deadline for settling debts.
In 44 BC, the ides of March became infamous as it was the day on which Caesar was assassinated, stabbed to death during a meeting of the Senate – an act in which up to 60 conspirators were believed to have been involved, led by Caesar ‘s one-time friend, Brutus, and Brutus’ brother-in-law, Cassius.
According to Plutarch, a seer warned Caesar that harm would come to him on the ides of March, and he reportedly didn’t take that premonition all too seriously – much to his detriment, as it turned out. This story was dramatized – and immortalized – by the Bard.
Throughout history, a number of bad things have occurred on March 15, further solidifying the date’s reputation as cursed.
For example, the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas the II, abdicated the throne on the Ides of March in 1917. Also, the World Health Organization announced the deadly SARS outbreak on March 15, 2003. And there’s more, too.
Of course, it’s a safe bet that if you look far enough back in history on any given date, something bad is likely to have occurred. So maybe the Ides of March just got a bad rap? Hard to say for sure.
The winter storm warning is still in effect as I type this, and will be with us until about 8 a.m. Lots of cancellations remain in effect. Snow will taper off, more or less, with a few flurries here and there, but it will be windy and temperatures will only be in the mid-to-high 30s. Tomorrow, the mercury will soar into the high 40s, which will likely cause a lot of melting – and maybe some flooding?
In the headlines…
After nearly a week of tumult, the specter of a billowing crisis over the banking industry appeared to ease, at least for the moment, as pressure began to lift on the midsize and regional lenders most in peril.
The Justice Department and the SEC are investigating the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to people familiar with the matter, after the California lender was taken over by regulators last week amid a historic run on its deposits.
Creditors of Silicon Valley Bank’s parent company have formed a group in anticipation of a potential bankruptcy filing, through which they hope to profit from a sale of the collapsed firm’s private-wealth and other units.
The Federal Reserve is rethinking a number of its own rules related to midsize banks following the collapse of two lenders, potentially extending restrictions that currently only apply to the biggest Wall Street firms.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will be gifting donations received from former Silicon Valley Bank CEO and the institution’s PAC to charities, just days after federal regulators shut down the bank.
The New York Democrat received the maximum individual contribution of $5,800 from Becker in June 2021, according to the Federal Election Commission. The campaign received $2,700 from the bank’s political action committee in 2015, per an FEC filing.
President Joe Biden took executive action that seeks to increase the number of background checks conducted during gun sales as the White House reverts to unilateral ways to tackle gun control amid bleak prospects in Congress.
The order stops short of requiring universal background checks, which the president has asked Congress to pass. His action instead directs Attorney General Merrick Garland to clarify what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms.
Biden delivered an emotional tribute to the victims of the Monterey Park, California, shooting as he introduced his latest executive order to combat gun violence.
The president met with the families and victims of a January mass shooting in the area before he launched a series of largely symbolic efforts to combat gun violence.
Biden is in Las Vegas, where he attended a fundraiser last night and to day is expected to discuss plans to lower the price of prescription drugs during an event at UNLV.
The Biden administration said that it was withdrawing a land swap deal that would have helped to clear the way for construction of a road through a wildlife refuge in Alaska.
Rep. George Santos, the embattled Republican from New York facing criminal inquiries and ethics investigations, filed paperwork indicating his intent to run for re-election.
The formal declaration does not mean that the embattled congressman has to pursue reelection, and follows a demand from the FEC that he declare his intentions after he crossed a fundraising threshold that required him to file a statement of candidacy.
The filing does permit Santos to fundraise and spend money on campaign-related expenses. That could include some $700,000 he lent to his campaign, or legal expenses he could be facing from numerous lawsuits.
Santos introduced a bill this week that would require the sitting president to undergo an annual cognitive evaluation, after GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley called for “mental competency tests” for politicians older than 75.
Paxlovid isn’t associated with COVID rebound, in which patients test positive or have symptoms days after a course of the drug is completed, Food and Drug Administration staff said in briefing documents released yesterday.
This is the first time the FDA has publicly discussed if the phenomenon is actually due to the antiviral — a question that’s swirled around its use since Pfizer’s drug was granted emergency use authorization in December 2021.
Los Angeles prosecutors announced felony charges in connection with a deadly COVID-19 outbreak that occurred at an upscale assisted living facility early in the pandemic.
Loren Bernard Shook, 72, Jason Michael Russo, 49, and Kimberly Cheryl Butrum, 67 were charged with 13 counts of elder endangerment and five counts of violation causing death.
China’s economic activity picked up in the first two months of 2023 as consumption and infrastructure investment drove recovery from pandemic disruption, despite challenges of weak global demand and a persistent downturn in the property sector.
Japan this week dropped its request for people to wear masks after three years, but hardly anything changed in the country that has had an extremely high regard for their effectiveness at anti-virus protection.
Democrats in the state Legislature put forth their fiscal wish lists, outlining priorities and pushing back on some of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s top policy items — including her ambitious housing plan and proposed changes to the state’s bail law.
Both houses of the Dem-led Legislature pushed back on several aspects of the governor’s sweeping plan to jump start the development of 800,000 new housing units over the next decade.
The non-binding counterproposals to the $227 billion draft spending plan Hochul unveiled on Feb. 1 also include a litany of other proposals that run to the left of Hochul politically.
Democratic state lawmakers are pushing for a tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers this year in the state budget negotiations, as Hochul has touted her plan that does not seek hikes in the state’s personal income tax rates.
The Legislature formally rejected Hochul’s proposal to allow more charter schools to open in New York City, an indication of the uphill battle ahead for proponents of expanding the sector.
A minimum wage hike that goes beyond Hochul’s proposal to combat paycheck stagnation has been included in the state Senate’s budget — potential signals that it will be an important bargaining tool as final budget negotiations begin in earnest.
Democratic lawmakers want to go beyond Hochul’s proposals for lifting up human services workers and expanding tenant protections, while rejecting tuition hikes for state and city university college students.
State lawmakers oppose an MTA subway, bus and train fare increase, and are looking for other ways to close the agency’s financial gap.
New York State faces billions of dollars in additional costs over the next two years if fewer people than expected leave its public insurance rolls once it resumes screening residents for eligibility.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is set to host a “Drag Story Hour” for children in Manhattan this weekend — and the event is sparking outrage over the use of taxpayer money for the already controversial event.
In the fight to control Congress, New York is already shaping up to be a 2024 battleground. Republicans are eying one district as a key pickup opportunity, while a Democrat-affiliated super PAC has announced plans for a “war room” in New York.
A Queens state Assembly member accused by two women of making unwanted sexual advances on them at a party nearly a decade ago apologized, local news outlets reported — but that wasn’t enough to spare him heat from other elected officials.
Queens Councilmember Robert Holden is calling for Assemblymember Juan Ardila to resign after a report alleging sexual assault allegations involving him.
Mayor Eric Adams’ inauguration committee is facing accusations that it accepted illicit contributions and violated other campaign finance rules before and after Adams took office last year, according to city records.
Adams toured offices this week that are being converted into homes as he highlighted the key affordable housing priorities for the state budget.
Homeless shelters that cater to women and children in New York City will now be required to offer mental health services under a bill Adams signed into law yesterday.
A Democratic campaign guru is running a consulting firm whose clients lobby the city while at the same time getting paid $150,000 a year in taxpayer money working on Council Speaker Adrienne Adams’ central budgeting staff.
A jail supervisor who walked away from an inmate after he had hanged himself was convicted of criminally negligent homicide, capping a trial that pointed to the brutal conditions inside New York City’s jails and the persistence of inmate suicides.
The number of New York City school safety agents has plummeted nearly 25% from pre-pandemic levels — all while violence at or near school buildings is exploding, according to a report released yesterday.
A former New York City government lawyer violated conflict-of-interest rules after he represented an iconic comedy club in its lawsuit against a City Council member who accused the night spot of antisemitism, according to an agency ruling.
In 2021, Chi Ossé, 24, an ex-Manhattan party promoter and activist against police brutality, pulled off an impressive win to become the youngest member of City Council. Now, he faces a new test: moving out of his mother’s home and finding an apartment.
Three New York schools – Fordham University, Columbia University and New York University – have all hired women as presidents in the past year. Serving as their respective universities first female presidents, they are each making history.
There could be stronger oversight of the Orange County Industrial Development Agency under a provision backed by state Sen. James Skoufis in a legislative budget proposal being advanced this week.
It snowed quite a bit in some parts of the Capital Region.
As of 6:30 p.m. yesterday over 37,000 National Grid customers were without power in the greater Capital Region. At one point 110,000 lost utility service. Warming stations have been set up in a number of locations.
Federal regulators called for stringent new limits on PFAS substances – including a variant that a decade ago threw this Rensselaer County community into a health crisis over water pollution.
The Albany County Legislature is considering a proposal that would expand the county’s wine and liquor store hours by three hours on most days during the holiday season from the week before Thanksgiving to the week after New Year’s Day.
Even though a judge ruled against them, Saratoga officials proposed a work-around that would allow a controversial wedding venue to again host weddings.
The Saratoga Springs Republican Committee will back three candidates in November’s races.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued Norfolk Southern Corp., seeking to hold the company financially responsible for the train derailment in East Palestine.
The company behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT launched a new version of its artificial intelligence technology, saying it was more powerful and predictable than previous versions and capable of analyzing images and handling much larger blocks of text.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said that it planned to lay off about 10,000 employees, or roughly 13 percent of its work force, the latest move to hew to what the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has called a “year of efficiency.”
The special prosecutor named to the “Rust” case stepped down after lawyers for Alec Baldwin argued that her appointment as a prosecutor violated the New Mexico Constitution because she also serves as a state lawmaker.
Los Angeles County prosecutors said that they would not retry Harvey Weinstein, the once-powerful movie producer who has been sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison, on three sexual assault charges that resulted in a deadlocked jury last year.
The judge dismissed the charges that a jury failed to reach an agreement on in December and said Weinstein would be returned to New York, where he was convicted in a similar case.
Wellesley College students approved a nonbinding referendum, calling for opening admission to all nonbinary and transgender applicants, including trans men. Currently, the college allows admission to anyone who lives and consistently identifies as a woman.
