Another nice symmetrical day, date-wise. Good morning, and welcome to 3/23/23, AKA Thursday.
We have in this space on many occasions discussed my transformation from a cat person into a dog person. I’m not sure how that happened, but it definitely is an irreversible change.
I still like cats, don’t get me wrong. But it’s sort of an “I admire you from afar” kind of a relationship. As opposed to with dogs – well, my dogs, anyway – it’s more of a full blown love affair.
And so I am thrilled to be able to announce that today is National Puppy Day! I can’t imagine anything better.
This day was started by 2006 by a woman named Colleen Paige, who the internet describes as a “pet lifestyle expert, animal behaviorist, and author.” She’s also reportedly the founder of both National Dog Day and National Cat Day. (In other words, an equal opportunity animal lover, unlike myself).
About 70% of U.S. households (roughly 90.5 million households) owned a pet as of 2022 – 69 million of them had dogs, while 45.3 million had cats.
According to a Forbes Advisor survey, an overwhelming majority of pet owners (78%) acquired pets during the pandemic, and I’m willing to bet that a fair percentage of those pandemic pets were puppies.
Puppies are a lot of work, once they get into the world. They generally gestate an average of 63 days, and they are nursed by their mothers until about four weeks old, when they start to eat solid food. They’re born with their eyes tightly closed but their sense of smell fully operational, so their nose is the primary way they experience the world.
In their early days, puppies spend most of their time sleeping and eating. They instinctively pile together into a heap – PUPPY PILE – and get very distressed when they’re separated from their littermates.
Once they hit between two and four weeks old, puppies start to do act like big dogs, growling, biting, wagging their tails and barking.
Training a puppy can be a full-time job. I must confess that I probably didn’t do the best job of it, and I also spoil the dogs, without a doubt. But I fall into the camp of believing that dogs should live their best lives – within reason, not, you know, destroying things or what have you – and thoroughly enjoy themselves because they don’t get to stick around on the planet too long.
I know that trainers will tell you that a well-trained dog is a happy dog, and they certainly are pack animals who need to know who the alpha is int he household. (That would be Steve; I’m probably fourth on the totem pole…and I’m OK with that).
If you aren’t one of the people who adopted during the pandemic and are in the market for a furever friend, OR you want to get your pandemic pup a sibling, a number of shelters around the country are holding adoption events to commemorate National Puppy Day. Do a little Googling before you head out.
It’s not going to be a great day for walking dogs, because you’re likely to get a soaking. There will be rain showers this morning, evolving into steadier rain int he afternoon. Temperatures will be in the high 50s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden today kicks off a short but long-awaited overnight official visit to Canada.
Biden plans to have a brief meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s biggest political rival during an official visit to Canada.
In a rare occurrence, Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will all attend the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner in April.
The public’s trust in the banking industry sharply dropped in the aftermath of the collapse of two prominent banks earlier this month and their effects on the market, according to a new poll.
A poll released yesterday from The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago found only 10 percent of respondents said they have a “great deal” of confidence in banking and financial institutions.
The Federal Reserve approved another quarter-percentage-point interest-rate increase but signaled that banking-system turmoil might end its rate-rise campaign sooner than seemed likely two weeks ago.
The Fed move matched last month’s increase in size, lifting rates to a range of 4.75 to 5 percent, in one of the most closely watched decisions in years as conflicting forces left investors and economists guessing at what central bankers would do.
Some analysts say that the banking industry tumult has slowed the economy as banks pull back on lending.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) expanded his investigation into Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s handling of a hush money probe into former President Donald Trump, requesting testimony from two prosecutors who resigned from the case.
Trump is quickly capitalizing – and cashing in – on his escalating legal predicaments, with his 2024 campaign hauling in in $1.5 million in grassroots fundraising in the three days following his warning that he might face imminent arrest.
A federal appeals court in a sealed order directed a lawyer for Trump to turn over to prosecutors documents in the investigation into the former president’s retention of classified records at his Florida estate.
Trump’s defense attorney Evan Corcoran is scheduled to testify tomorrow before the grand jury investigating classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago after a new order from a federal appeals court.
Demonstrators who want a Trump indictment far outnumbered MAGA supporters Tuesday morning outside the Manhattan Criminal Court, where the former president is expected to be charged this week.
The Manhattan grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the case pertaining to Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to an adult film star will reportedly sit today, after being called off yesterday.
The move — which forestalls a potentially unprecedented indictment of the 45th president in connection with the payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels — came because an unidentified witness was unable to appear, sources said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer refused to say whether he has confidence in Bragg, explaining: “Look, the bottom line, is — as I said — it’s premature to comment on what’s happening and we’ll have to wait and see what he does.”
When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida made headlines recently by undercutting U.S. support for Ukraine, Republican hawks, many of whom cling to him as their only hope to defeat Trump, wondered if they had misread him as an ideological ally.
DeSantis this week clarified his description of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute” and said that Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian president, was a “war criminal” who should be “held accountable.”
After more than three years of daily reporting on the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in every county in the United States, The New York Times is ending its Covid data-gathering operation.
Moderna’s CEO defended the company’s plan to quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine, telling a U.S. Senate committee hearing it will no longer have the economies of scale from government procurement when the shots move into the private market.
Moderna will price its Covid-19 vaccine at about $130 a dose when it shifts to commercial distribution of the shots later this year, much higher than what the federal government has paid.
US officials are weighing whether to offer people who are at high risk of severe Covid-19 the chance to get another bivalent booster, according to a source familiar with the deliberations.
Federal health regulators are nearing a decision on whether to authorize a second round of the Omicron-targeted booster shots for the elderly and other people at high-risk of severe Covid-19, people familiar with the agency’s deliberations said.
New York state’s largest health care provider, Northwell Health, ended its mask mandate this week as an increasing number of facilities drop or modify COVID-19 restrictions.
TikTok launched a battalion of influencers in the nation’s capital to send a message to Congress: Banning the app would be met with widespread popular opposition.
TikTok is on trial as U.S. authorities consider a ban. There’s just one problem: it’s not only an app for silly videos anymore, it is now entwined with our culture.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York says the drive to ban TikTok stems from anti-China “hysteria.” His Democratic colleagues disagree.
In an interview, Bowman staunchly defended TikTok and denounced legislation to ban the app, rejecting arguments about its dangers as “fearmongering” and saying he hasn’t seen evidence that China is using it for espionage.
If Hochul wins the battle of the budget, she’ll owe a big debt of gratitude to billionaire Mike Bloomberg – who has ponied up $5 million for a campaign supporting Hochul’s push for more charter schools, zoning changes to build more housing and bail reform.
At a state Capitol news conference where Hochul was touting her criminal justice agenda, she declined to directly respond to questions about Bloomberg’s financial backing.
Support from outside funders urging people to support the governor’s budget priorities has raised eyebrows about her negotiating position.
“I am happy to receive the support from all over the state of New York. I have support for the budget from the NAACP, from clergy from Buffalo to Long Island,” Hochul told reporters.
The state Senate considered backing a modified version of Hochul’s housing-push for the greater New York City area — but the Democrats nixed the idea and went for a carrot-led plan instead.
Hochul is proposing steep fines for stores selling weed without a license, as pressure builds to crack down on unlicensed cannabis shops – something other city and state officials have struggled to do effectively.
The legislation would boost state agencies’ power to impose penalties and shut down illicit pot shops.
“Over the past several weeks I have been working with the Legislature on new legislation to improve New York’s regulatory structure for cannabis products,” Hochul said.
With violent crimes, burglaries and thefts rising in New York City and statewide, Hochul launched a counteroffensive against progressive lawmakers fighting her proposed changes to bail reform tied to the April 1 budget.
Hochul presented the 2022 crime statistics for the state of New York, while also promoting her proposed changes to New York bail laws in the 2023-24 budget.
Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, the initial sponsor of the state’s bail reform law that passed in 2019, is rolling up her sleeves and prepared to fight additional rollbacks to the controversial statute after changes made in last year’s budget.
Families of New York’s most vulnerable say Hochul’s budget does not raise staff pay enough to care for state residents with developmental disabilities. They say years of defunding is causing a staffing crisis.
The New York Disability Alliance is holding a rally today in Albany to urge lawmakers and Hochul to reach an agreement on an 8.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA) for direct support professionals (DSPs).
A potential bid to build a casino in the sea of parking lots near Citi Field inched forward, as a state Assemblyman Jeff Aubry introduced a bill that could make the project possible.
Assembly Democrats overwhelmingly rejected the idea of restoring pre-pandemic access for reporters to their chamber and nearby areas as proposed by colleagues across the aisle.
There are 147 public authorities in New York that failed to file at least one of their required financial reports last year with a state oversight board.
A year after New York enacted laws to prevent the prolonged solitary confinement of inmates, violations of the new standards are occurring and the state has apparently struggled to implement the policy changes that had been in place for decades.
As his administration moves to shift retired city workers into a controversial Medicare Advantage plan, Mayor Eric Adams will not authorize an implementation structure that would’ve given retirees the option to stay on traditional Medicare at no extra cost.
Adams announced a plan to deliver a critical public space to a community too often left behind by expanding the Harlem River Greenway to the Bronx, an effort advocates view as long overdue and say could ultimately take more than a decade to complete.
New York City’s free summer school and camp initiative for elementary and middle school students is overhauling its nail-biter application process that required parents to act fast for spots, officials announced at a City Council hearing.
A tense eight-hour standoff with a fugitive threatening to jump from a 31st-floor Midtown apartment window after an FBI raid gone wrong ended dramatically yesterday with a daredevil arrest.
Transit workers gathered outside the headquarters of their union, Transport Workers Union Local 100, this week to demand the ouster of a top official who allegedly assaulted a fellow member critical of the leadership.
NYC Audubon will drop Audubon from its name over concerns that the racist legacy of the 19th-century naturalist and illustrator John James Audubon has become a barrier to its efforts to become more inclusive.
The ornithology-devoted organization announced the bombshell development on its website and in an email sent to members.
You know it’s spring when the talk at Wollman Rink in Central Park is not about skating. It’s about pickleball.
On average, the US has only eight public toilets per 100,000 people, according to the Public Toilet Index, a 2021 report by the British QS Bathrooms Supplies. Iceland, the country with the highest density of public bathrooms: 56 per 100,000 people.
That number drops to four per 100,000 in New York City. Madison, Wis., led the way for U.S. cities, with 35 per 100,000.
The future of a $35 million, six-story apartment building under construction on Western Avenue in Albany appears to be in jeopardy.
The U.S. GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, is probing the alleged mismanagement of a depleted pension fund that wiped out retirement plans for more than 1,100 former employees of the now-closed St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady.
The Berkshire Bird Paradise’s two bald eagles escaped harm when three feet of heavy, wet snow severely damaged their new home in last week’s storm.
The current season has seen its share of snowmobile-related injuries and fatalities in upstate areas, but there were far fewer crashes than last year. One big reason: An unusually warm winter.
