Good Tuesday morning.
I have a complicated and probably unhealthy relationship with my phone. I understand that my inability to put the damn thing down, and my panic whenever I temporarily misplace it or run out of battery is likely interfering with my interpersonal relationships.
And yet, I just can’t quit the damn thing. The only time I really disconnect from it is when I 1) don’t have service (very frustrating), or 2) am asleep (something that occurs with less frequency as time progresses).
I do know that the apps on my phone are engineered to suck me in and sell me things and track my movements – all of which I find incredibly creepy. And yet, I continue to maintain my small screen addiction.
It turns out that I am not alone. A 2022 Gallup poll found that 58 percent of Americans felt they used their smartphone too much – up from 39 percent in 2015. Surprisingly, that sentiment is more or less equally strong across age groups, though it does drop when it comes to those 65 and older.
By contrast, nearly two-thirds of those polled (some 30,000 who participated in a self-administered web survey) said they believed that smartphones improved their lives – down slightly from 72% in 2015.
Only 12% felt the devices made their life worse to any degree – about double the rate seven years earlier.
The mere idea of having a phone at your fingertips that not only would allow you to speak to whoever you wanted anywhere in the world – cost depending, although there’s an app for that, too – would probably be met with complete disbelief from the man who made all this possible: Alexander Graham Bell.
You likely dimly recall from your middle school history lessons that AGB, as I like to call him, is credited with inventing the telephone. It was on this day in 1876 that Bell was granted a patent for “transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically.”
Three days later, on March 10, Bell made the now historic statement: “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you,” through a transmitter. This was the first-ever discernible speech transmitted over a telephone system.
Bell was actually lucky in his timing related to the filing of this patent. He beat another U.S. inventor, Elisha Gray, to the punch by just a few hours.
Gray signaled that he intended to seek a similar patent on a telephone transmitter and receiver, but in the end, Bell was awarded Patent No. 174,465 and got ownership over both his telephone instruments and the concept of a telephone system.
Bell dedicated his entire career to amplifying the possibility and power of oral communication. His wife and his mother were both hearing impaired, and he and was known to have influenced Hellen Keller, encouraging her to practice “oralism” – vocal speech and lip reading, as opposed to sign – which doesn’t sit terribly well with modern-day disability advocates.
Despite Bell’s controversial nature, today is Alexander Graham Bell Day, which commemorates the day of the patent filing and ostensibly laid the groundwork for our over connected modern lives.
For what it’s worth, Bell had a bunch of other inventions, too, including the first metal detector and hydroplanes. He was also the second president of the National Geographic Society, which was founded by an elite group of explorers and scientists in 1888.
It’s going to be back to winter-like temperatures today (low 30s), with a few flurries or snow showers possible. Brrr.
BTW, did you get a glimpse of the so-called “worm moon” – the last full moon of winter? It was pretty awesome.
In the headlines…
Facing a surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border and on the heels of a crisis, White House and Department of Homeland Security officials began discussing more restrictive policies that would keep migrants from coming to the US.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering restarting the controversial policy that detains migrants who enter the country illegally with their children.
President Joe Biden has turned to increasingly restrictive measures as his administration prepares for the end of Title 42, which has allowed border authorities to swiftly expel migrants.
The Biden administration plans to re-designate Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua amid pressure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers, according to three people familiar with the plans.
Shares of Silvergate Capital Corp. fell as much as 11% yesterday after the bank suspended its crypto payments network and expressed doubts over the viability of its business.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration is monitoring Silvergate Bank’s (SI)) situation, comparing it with those at other crypto companies and saying the president has called on Congress to take action in this area.
First lady Jill Biden criticized Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s proposal to require politicians over 75 to take a mental competency test as “ridiculous” in a CNN interview.
Biden is planning to travel to California next week to raise campaign money, according to three sources familiar with his plans. It’s the latest sign that the 80-year-old president is readying another run for the White House.
After his first declared primary challenger in Marianne Williamson, Biden has slightly stronger base backing for renomination at this point in the campaign than former President Trump did four years ago, according to a new Morning Consult survey.
Fox Corp.’s top lobbyist, Danny O’Brien, is exiting the company, leaving the cable and broadcast giant and owner of Fox News without its most prominent Democrat, just as scrutiny of the network is reaching a fever pitch in Washington.
Hope Hicks, a trusted Trump aide during his 2016 presidential campaign, met with the Manhattan DA’s office – the latest in a string of witnesses questioned by prosecutors as they investigate the ex-president’s involvement in paying hush money to a porn star.
Hicks and her lawyer, Robert Trout, spent several hours inside the Manhattan district attorney’s office and, afterward, were seen walking to a waiting SUV. They didn’t say anything to reporters as they got in the vehicle.
Trump and his most serious potential rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, laid out with unprecedented clarity this weekend how their sharply contrasting personalities and approaches would define the 2024 race for the Republican nomination.
As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its fourth year, one unexpected effect has been a small baby boom. It’s the first major reversal in declining U.S. fertility rates since 2007.
A social media influencer has pleaded guilty to using stolen identities to fraudulently obtain more than $1million in small business loans related to COVID relief programs in the United States.
Danielle Miller, a 32-year-old Miami social media influencer, has pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft in a $1.5 million COVID relief fraud scheme, according to the Department of Justice.
Eight Republican senators are pressing Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to provide them with the raw materials that informed the intelligence community’s latest assessment on the origins of Covid-19, according to a letter they sent yesterday.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the upcoming BNP Paribas Open, having lost his bid to enter the United States unvaccinated to play in the Southern California event.
Djokovic desperately wanted to play, and so began a flurry of phone calls and lobbying of people he and his team knew who might have connections to the Biden administration, including Billie Jean King, one of the game’s greats.
Over 15,000 children across the tri-state area have lost a primary caregiver to COVID-19, and now these young adults are facing a new challenge — learning how to cope without a parent or guardian while building a foundation rooted in resiliency.
About 1 in 4 parents misled others during the pandemic about their child’s COVID status, vaccination and related details, a nationwide survey found.
Tim Robbins is backing Woody Harrelson’s demand for Hollywood to end COVID protocols on film and television sets.
Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t project revenues from any of new downstate casinos to come pouring in until 2026, effectively slowing a process she had appeared to accelerate just one year earlier.
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and state Sen. Jeremy Cooney announced a measure that would overhaul the existing taxing structure for cannabis in New York.
Lawmakers are up in arms in the wake of a new report detailing how a top court official misled legislators last month when pressed about security provided to former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.
The Commission on Judicial Nomination has extended its deadline from today to Friday for applicants seeking to become the next chief judge of New York.
Good-government advocates for years called for the creation of a public campaign financing system that would match small-dollar donations with taxpayer money as a way of amplifying the voices of everyday voters.
The news of Amazon’s pause on construction and hiring for its Virginia offices offered an opportunity for New York state Senate Democratic Majority Leader Michael Gianaris to deliver a form of, “I told you so.”
Amazon will close nearly a quarter of its cashier-free stores, including a pair of shops in New York City and two more in Seattle, where the Amazon Go retailers were introduced in 1982.
Money should be set aside in the state budget to review how money for schools is distributed to districts around New York and potentially explore ways of changing it, education organizations said.
A coalition of upstate Republican leaders from 11 counties over the weekend backed the return of Ed Cox to lead the GOP committee in New York — a further sign of a coalescing of support for his return to the chairmanship.
An attorney for a State Police investigator who accused former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexually harassing her when she worked on his security detail wants the agency to turn over its records documenting their handling of more than six other harassment cases.
Around 500 laborers and workers shut down the Manhattan Bridge during yesterday’s morning rush hour to push for state legislation that would provide more workers with access to unemployment benefits in times of need.
State pols on both sides of the aisle lauded Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s demand for stricter bail laws for drug dealers as a deadly fentanyl wave sweeps New York.
Mayor Eric Adams showered his FDNY commissioner with praise and defended her for “changing the culture” as turmoil over a shake-up in leadership continues to roil its upper ranks.
Adams called on shoppers to enter New York City businesses maskless from now on — a message aimed at reducing shoplifting, but one that runs counter to COVID-era prescriptions to mask up when in enclosed, public spaces.
Once people are inside the store, they can put their mask back on, Adams said, “if they so desire to do so.”
The mayor made the suggestion, which an aide to Adams said is not a legal requirement or even a new idea, at a time when crime appears to be declining.
In an era when wearing a mask has become normal, New York City bodega workers are urging customers to show their faces after a man in a mask and full body suit killed an Upper East Side deli employee during a robbery last Friday night.
Adams lauded the NYPD’s controversial riot unit and suggested it would stay in place — days after it and the police department came under fire for failing to appear at a City Council hearing on the unit’s handling of the 2020 George Floyd protests.
New York City’s top budget official said the vaccination mandate, lack of remote work and competitive salaries in the private sector are in part why the city can’t fill tens of thousands of jobs across its agencies, which are beginning to affect city services.
Of the 15 agencies with the highest worker vacancy rates, nine have failed to meet performance targets, according to the city comptroller.
Adams has joined a team of surrogates set to support President Biden’s expected reelection campaign, a signal that the White House sees the mayor as an able national messenger despite a dip in his popularity in the city.
Adams has given up hope that Biden will cough up any material amount to pay for the Big Apple’s $4.2 billion migrant crisis this fiscal year, the city budget director said.
Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell have dodged being deposed in a wide-ranging legal action against the city over how cops handled protesters in 2020, according to a ruling yesterday.
The money is rolling in again for politically-connected lobbyists seeking to influence Adams and the City Council on behalf of well-heeled clients and powerful interest groups after a lull during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new city assessment reveals.
The MTA tweaked Long Island Rail Road schedules and added more cars to some trains yesterday, one week after the launch of full service into Grand Central Madison brought new timetables that outraged riders. But the changes were not enough for some.
Long Islanders heading into the city yesterday saw little to no change, despite promises from Hochul and MTA President Janno Leiber that service would be better this week.
Hundreds of parents, kids and educators are expected to rally today at City Hall to demand lawmakers lift the cap and open more charter schools in the Big Apple.
New York City contracts are huge economic drivers, but MWBEs have largely been cut out of the procurement process despite years of monitoring and reforms geared toward steering public monies to what are usually mom-and-pop operations.
Members of a 180-member union at the Whitney Museum of American Art voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first contract. About 90 percent of those voting cast ballots in favor of the agreement after more than a year of negotiations.
More than five years after a crowdsourced Google spreadsheet included anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct against prominent media men, author Stephen Elliott settled his lawsuit against the list’s originator, the journalist Moira Donegan.
A24, the independent film and television studio barreling into the Academy Awards with a boatload of Oscar nominations, is making an unexpected move into live performance, purchasing a small Off Broadway theater in New York’s West Village.
A stampede spurred by rumors of gunfire at a crowded arena on Sunday killed two people and left a third in critical condition after a show by the Grammy-nominated rapper GloRilla in Rochester, the police said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held a press conference at the Elmira Fire Department yesterday, to unveil a “two track plan” to improve railroad safety following recent derailments in Ohio.
New York is growing older at a faster pace than ever and as the number of impoverished elderly adults across the state has increased dramatically.
State Police said the man whose body was found at the Empire State Plaza was despondent and died after falling from an elevated walkway at the Empire State Plaza.
Some local school districts received an identical, threatening email yesterday morning, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office said — an email that went to districts throughout the country.
Cohoes marked the end of a $3 million, three-phase Remsen Street infrastructure project and immediately turned its attention to pushing forward with a $12 million building proposal at a so-called “fire site” near the corner of Columbia and Remsen streets.
Some cracks may be forming in the legal fight organized by a group of Glenmont residents trying to block a large wind turbine parts factory planned for the Hudson River deemed critical to New York’s plans to foster offshore wind farms off the coast of Long Island.
Some of the same Saratoga city and county candidates who party-hopped from the Republican and Independence parties to run on the Working Families Party line in 2021 have changed their party affiliation again.
Sorry, Albany fans. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men’s and women’s basketball championships are staying in Atlantic City, N.J.
Siena baseball coach Tony Rossi said last night that he is retiring, just 12 games into his 54th season. Siena confirmed the announcement with a news release.
“Today” show co-anchor Hoda Kotb returned to her post yesterday, explaining her prolonged absence due to her daughter being admitted to a hospital.
