Good Monday morning.
Dare I say that it’s actually starting to feel like spring. After that yuck of a day we had Saturday, with its mix of slushy, cold rain/snow, a look into the future forecast reveals we’re relatively in the clear.
Admittedly, I might be speaking too soon, because when you look back at the historic record, storms occurring in April and even as late as May have not been out of the question.
But hope springs enteral. (See what I did there?) And I am preferring to err on the side of optimism, which is admittedly very out of character for me.
The next week – including today – is going to bring us a mix of sun and clouds, with some rain here and there, and temperatures ranging from the low 40s to mid 50s. This is just fine by me. And the daffodils in my yard seem to agree.
You know where it’s still pretty wintry from a weather perspective? Alaska, where it’s 27 degrees as I write this, and the week-ahead forecast features nothing higher than 39 degrees.
Alaska was the second-to-last state to join the union, just before Hawaii. Both signed up in 1959 – Jan. 3 for Alaska, and August 21 for Hawaii.
The last Monday in March, which happens to be today, is a special day – actually a full-blown legal holiday – in Alaska, commemorating the March 30, 1867 purchase for $7.2 million of the territory from Russia, which was negotiated by then-Secretary of State William H. Seward.
The Alaska Purchase Treaty, signed by Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl, was viewed as beneficial by both countries. In retrospect though, the U.S. really got a great deal, paying a bargain price of less than 2 cents per acre (a total of about 600,000 square miles – roughly one-sixth the size of all of Europe at the time).
The check for the sale is in the National Archives, and it’s pretty cool.
Russia actually offered to sell Alaska to the U.S. after its defeat in the Crimean War made the region less desirable. (There were never more than a few hundred Russian settlers in the area anyway, so it wasn’t as if people were clamoring to move there from the motherland).
The sale marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, though it was delayed by the looming U.S. Civil War. (The offer by Russian to sell Alaska was first made in 1859, at a time when Russian leaders were looking to block interests of its greatest rival at time time – Great Britain).
Though the treaty was approved by the Senate on April 9, signed by President Andrew Johnson on May 28, and formally executed on October 18, 1867 (this is Alaska Day, which is sometimes confused with Seward’s Day), the U.S. pretty much ignored its new acquisition for the first few years after it took possession.
In fact, the purchase was viewed as so low in value at the time that it was derided as “Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s Icebox.” But Seward proved prescient when gold was discovered i the Yukon in 1896.
And, of course, a different kind of gold – the black kind – is also prevalent in Alaska. In fact, its crude oil reserves of about 3.2 billion barrels at the beginning of last year are the fourth-largest in the nation, behind Texas, New Mexico, and North Dakota.
Since Seward’s Day is a public holiday (a paid holiday for all state employees), state, county, and city government offices, as well as many courts and libraries are closed across Alaska today. Some private businesses also close for the day, and public schools either end early or don’t hold classes at all.
Since we’ve already done the weather thing, let’s get to it.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden on Saturday notified Congress of his decision to authorize an airstrike in Syria this week against what the US said were Iranian-affiliated facilities.
Biden warned Iran on Friday that attacks on American troops would be met with retribution after militias launched a series of rocket and drone attacks against coalition bases in Syria.
“To make no mistake, the United States does not — does not, emphasize — seek conflict with Iran,” Biden said during a press conference in Ottawa. “But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people. That’s exactly what happened last night.”
Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration withdrew his nomination on Saturday evening, following nine months in limbo and amid concerns from senators in both parties over his background and relative lack of aviation experience.
DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted late Saturday that Phil Washington, the CEO of Denver International Airport, has decided to take himself out of the running.
His withdrawal came shortly after the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said it would delay its vote on Mr. Washington’s nomination, which had been scheduled for Wednesday.
Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi, making federal funding available to the counties hardest hit Friday night by a deadly tornado that ripped through the Mississippi Delta, one of the poorest regions of the U.S.
At least two twisters touched down yesterday morning in Georgia – both described by the National Weather Service as “large and extremely dangerous” – after at least 25 people were left dead in the wake of powerful tornado outbreak in Mississippi.
Attorney Joe Tacopina, who represents former President Donald Trump, said that Trump’s claim earlier this month that he expected to be arrested last Tuesday was based on “a lot of leaks” from the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
“I’m not his social media consultant,” Joe Tacopina said of Trump’s attacks on DA Alvin Bragg. “I think that was an ill-advised post that one of his social media people put up and he quickly took down when he realized the rhetoric and the photo that was attached to it.”
Bragg has dismissed another letter by three House Republican chairmen seeking more information related to the hush money probe that could lead to an indictment of Trump.
In a letter to Bragg on Saturday, the three GOP chairs argued that Congress should be privy to documents and testimony in the ongoing investigation into a $130,000 payment made during Trump’s 2016 campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The letter – written by Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil – came after they initially called on Bragg earlier this week to testify before their committees and criticized his investigation into Trump as an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”
The FBI and NYPD are investigating a letter containing a death threat and white powder that was mailed to Bragg.
Rev. Al Sharpton held a prayer vigil in Harlem for Bragg’s Saturday after he received a death treat this week, and blasted Trump for his baseball-bat wielding social media post aimed at the DA.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed the New York and Georgia investigations into Trump as being part of a “cancer in our body politic,” arguing they are politically motivated.
Trump spent much of his first major political rally of the 2024 race portraying his expected indictment by as a result of what he claimed was a Democratic conspiracy to persecute him, arguing wildly that the US was turning into a “banana republic.”
“I think they’ve already dropped the case,” Trump said of Bragg’s investigation. “It’s a fake case. Some fake cases, they have absolutely nothing.”
Trump has survived impeachments, investigations and congressional inquiries. Now, as criminal probes advance on several fronts, the former president is employing his familiar scattershot tactics to meet the start of a potentially more precarious legal chapter.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known for her own large social media following, waded into the debate over TikTok by posting a video on — what else? — TikTok. The video, her first on the platform, had garnered 1.5 million views by early Saturday morning.
First Citizens BancShares will acquire Silicon Valley Bank, the California lender whose collapse this month sent shock waves across the financial sector, potentially calming markets after the biggest U.S. banking collapse since Lehman Brothers.
The deal includes the purchase of approximately $72 billion of SVB assets at a discount of $16.5 billion, while around $90 billion in securities and other assets will remain “in receivership for disposition by the FDIC.”
“The 17 former branches of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, National Association, will open as First–Citizens Bank & Trust Company on Monday, March 27, 2023,” the FDIC said in a statement.
Turmoil in the U.S. banking sector isn’t just a problem for the U.S. It also increases the risks of a global recession.
The death toll from last week’s Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion has risen to four, and three people remained unaccounted for, officials said.
Civil unrest broke out in parts of Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defense minister for criticizing the government’s divisive judicial overhaul, prompting protesters to surge into the streets.
The top Israeli diplomat in New York announced his resignation yesterday, becoming the latest high-profile figure to denounce Netanyahu’s highly contested overhaul of the country’s judicial system.
It may look like the pandemic is over; stadiums are open again, crowds are everywhere, and hardly a mask in sight. But COVID hurt a lot of things you can’t easily see, especially in schools.
There are an estimated 238,500 Covid orphans in the United States whose lives have been upended in the past three years by the loss of a parent or primary caregiver, according to the Imperial College London COVID-19 Orphanhood Calculator.
Death rates from COVID-19 varied dramatically across the United States, a major new analysis finds.
The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in American children rose between 2018 and 2020, continuing a long-running trend, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The commission charged with selecting candidates to fill the role of chief judge in New York released its list of seven potential nominees for Hochul to select from on Friday, weeks after her prior nominee was rejected by the state Senate.
The new list includes three current Court of Appeals judges: acting chief Anthony Cannataro, Shirley Troutman, and Rowan Wilson. Cannataro and Corey Stoughton, of the Legal Aid Society, are the only two current candidates who appeared on the old list.
Hochul is required to submit her second nomination to the Senate by April 23, but cannot submit it earlier than April 8.
Hochul announced Friday that she has nominated Dr. James McDonald, a trained pediatrician, to serve as the state’s health commissioner. He has been the state’s acting health commissioner since January.
If confirmed by the state Senate, McDonald would be taking the reins of an agency that has seen an outsized role during the COVID-19 pandemic and through other public health crises, including multiple states of emergency over mpox and polio last year.
McDonald is a native of Cohoes and the brother of state Assemblyman John McDonald.
State lawmakers advanced a measure that’s meant to give more predictability to people when they are paying their utility bills.
Hochul is taking steps to address gun violence, announcing an initiative to help police and prosecutors in five jurisdictions, including Rochester and Buffalo, use evidence-based approaches to solve non-fatal shootings, and prevent retaliatory gun violence.
New York is poised to become the first state in the U.S. to pass a law banning natural-gas and other fossil-fuel hookups in new buildings, a step Democrats are pushing to help the state meet targets for greenhouse-gas reduction.
So far, New York’s cannabis legalization effort has been slow and bumpy. And for legacy growers who signed up for a 10-week state training program, it’s unclear if it will improve their chances of getting a license, leading to frustration for some.
In New York, fentanyl test strips are becoming more common as a way to fight an overdose crisis, and more states are pushing to legalize them. But not all users are trying to avoid the powerful drug.
A bill introduced by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes would impose a 25 cent tax on all products purchased online with Amazon and other e-tailers in New York City.
Less than three months into his turbulent House tenure, Republican Rep. George Santos has a challenger. William Murphy, a Democrat who teaches legal studies at St. John’s University, has said he will stage a congressional run in Santos’ Long Island district.
New York City is ready for potential chaos if and when Trump gets indicted, Mayor Eric Adams said.
Adams’ plan to offer around 100 asylum-seekers the chance to relocate upstate to earn a post-secondary credential or degree, live in college residence halls and receive workforce training isn’t a sure thing after all.
Adams joined labor leaders and elected officials Friday to call on Hochul and Albany lawmakers to renew a set of popular low-income tax credits as part of this year’s state budget — which is due in just under one week.
Every resident in New York City will soon have access to curbside composting. The ambitious program — poised to become the nation’s largest — begins today in Queens, before infiltrating the remaining four boroughs by the end of next year.
Lawmakers in New York City seem poised to pass a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate based on weight and height, according to reports.
Brooklyn Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov recently used her government email account to solicit business for a self-defense company she has been involved with, according to a Daily News review of public records.
The NYPD’s reluctance to turn over records on police car stops could be an attempt to hide racial disparities in city traffic enforcement, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.
One ripple effect of the turmoil gripping top New York City Fire Department chiefs is a delay in the handling of a sex harassment case that may lead the accused fire official to bring a $5 million lawsuit, documents filed with the city show.
The FDNY is replacing its longtime chief of training for Emergency Medical Services with the first black female to hold the post, the latest personnel shakeup in the embattled agency.
The NYPD has quietly renewed a multi-million-dollar contract with a Hollywood ad agency in an effort to attract new cops — as the department struggles to increase recruitment levels while facing a mass exodus of officers.
Tranq – the deadly “zombie” drug formally known as xylazine – is circulating across New York and has been tied to dozens of deaths in the state, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned.
A fire that broke out on a Staten Island ferry in December was the result of staffing shortages and “haphazard training” aboard a new class of vessels, according to a letter sent by a union representing ferry workers.
City regulations limiting the number of Uber and Lyft cars have fueled an industry shift toward leasing that drivers say makes it harder to enter the business and earn a living.
Once a symbol of Wall Street excess, Steve Cohen has invested lavishly in the Mets, becoming the most beloved billionaire in Queens. Is that enough to reverse team history?
More than half of all traffic infractions in Manhattan were tossed out of court last year while the borough’s overall dismissal rate for drunk-driving and other felony vehicular offenses rocketed to 15% — more than double 2019’s dismissals, new records show.
Rising film star Jonathan Majors denied charges that he choked and assaulted a woman during a domestic disturbance, saying through his lawyer that the woman has already recanted the allegations.
Majors, 33, was taken into custody without incident, the authorities said. The victim, described only as a 30-year-old woman, was taken to a hospital after suffering what the police said were minor injuries to her head and neck.
The Episcopal Diocese of New York issued a formal apology for its participation in the transatlantic slave trade in a service held at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
New York City’s springlike winter is on track to set a record: the least snowy season on the books.
Raiders, Warriors and other school team names that once referred to Indigenous people must go, an advisory group assembled by the State Education Department has decided.
River channels filled in decades ago at Schodack Island State Park will be restored under a project coordinated by two state agencies.
Sperry’s Restaurant, a mainstay of Spa City dining since it opened in 1932, appears to be temporarily closed.
The City of Cohoes received three proposals to provide ambulance service for up to three years starting April 15, officials said Friday.
The Town of Bethlehem has begun work to try and save an iconic barn that stands at the corner of Route 9W and Wemple Road.
NPR laid off 10 percent of its staff this week and announced that it would stop production of four podcasts — “Invisibilia,” “Louder Than a Riot,” “Rough Translation” and “Everyone & Their Mom” — to make up for a $30 million gap in its budget.
Elon Musk said Twitter is now worth about $20 billion, according to an email he sent the company’s employees on Friday, a significant drop from the $44 billion that he paid to buy the social network in October.
Parts of Twitter’s source code, on which the social network runs, were leaked online, according to a legal filing, a rare and major exposure of intellectual property as the company struggles to reduce technical issues and reverse its fortunes under Musk.
