Good Monday morning. Another week is upon us.
Hopefully, you had a lovely weekend, perhaps celebrating the mothers among us, perhaps not. Either way. My fur babies always get me a card, compliments of my husband. He’s the sentimental one in the family.
I, on the other hand, am terrible about remembering important dates – including birthdays. An anniversaries. I routinely forget both of them for everyone important in my life. Yes, I know. I am a monster. I get it.
I’m trying to be better, honest. And Facebook does make things a little easier.
The trouble is that some people who are really critical – like, say, my dad – aren’t on there. And yes, if you want to know, I did forget his birthday this year. Serendipitously, I was with him on the days just after his birthday and happened to take him to dinner, so I sort of redeemed myself. Sort of.
Anyway, now that you all hate me and think I’m a selfish, self-absorbed and uncaring cad….maybe it’s the only child in me?
One of the things about this new house that I really like is the fact that it has a very large deck. Of course, the drawback to this is that I need to get some deck furniture, which I haven’t gotten around to doing yet. Facebook Marketplace has a lot of options. (This is my latest obsession; I love giving new life to other people’s stuff).
I think I’ve written about National Deck Safety Month before, but it seems like a good time to revisit the issue, since 1) it’s in May, and 2) we’re all spending more time outside. According to the North American Deck and Railing Association (NADRA), it’s estimated that about 30 million of the 60 million decks in the U.S. are past their useful life and should be replaced or repaired.
Now, I know you’re thinking: OF COURSE, the Deck and Railing Association is pushing this narrative, they’ve got skin in the game. Unless you’re very handy, the likelihood is that you’re going to hire someone to inspect and fix (if needed) your deck – or build on in the first place – which means money in the pockets of Association members.
However, just Google “deck collapse” and you’ll see how serious an issue this is.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, thousands of people are injured – and a handful die – every year as a result of incidents involving the structural failure or collapse of a deck or porch.
The NADRA publishes a 10-point consumer checklist so you can more easily “check your deck.” It includes both the obvious – look for split or decaying wood, make sure the stairs are secure – and the not so obvious – check for decaying limbs of surrounding trees to avoid having one fall and hit someone on the head.
There’s also the question of lighting, furniture, and extras like grills or fire features, which are added hazards and need to be checked annually to make sure everything is safe and in working order.
Being a homeowner is tough.
It’s going to be deck/porch/stoop weather for a bit longer, which is nice. After a bit of a cooldown yesterday, we’ll warm things up again back into the 70s, with partly cloudy skies.
In the headlines…
The closely watched presidential election in Turkey is headed toward a runoff as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries for reelection.
Erdogan’s struggle to cling to power in a tight election in Turkey is the latest twist in a tale of global strongmen who are defining Joe Biden’s presidency.
After two decades in power, a struggling Erdogan has two more weeks to persuade Turkish voters that he should continue as president.
Biden used a commencement address at Howard University to appeal to young Black voters, offering a preview for how his campaign plans to regain waning enthusiasm from a key demographic.
Biden denounced white supremacy as the “most dangerous terrorist threat” to the nation.
Biden reiterated to graduates that the work to “redeem the soul of the nation” continues, a phrase he uses often to contrast himself with his predecessor, Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House next year.
Biden and congressional leaders will likely resume talks tomorrow at the White House over the debt limit, the president said Sunday, as the nation continues to edge closer to its legal borrowing authority with no agreement in sight.
As a crucial June debt limit deadline looms without a deal in sight between the White House and congressional leaders, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy opposed the idea of Biden’s using the 14th Amendment to unilaterally avert a debt default.
Biden on Friday made two historic nominations to the Federal Reserve’s board — the first Latina governor and the second black vice chair.
The two nominations arrive as the Fed is grappling with an increasingly fraught economy marked by rising interest rates, still-high inflation and a shaky banking system.
The Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley refused to endorse a federal abortion ban at a specific number of weeks’ gestation, saying that to do so would be to lie to the American people about what is politically possible.
Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of nonprofit organization Planned Parenthood, called for the expansion of the Supreme Court bench amid the ongoing revelations of ethics issues surrounding certain justices.
A 2024 presidential election pitting Biden against Trump would be a “rematch from hell,” former Republican Rep. Will Hurd said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, expected to soon launch a 2024 exploratory committee, was in Iowa Saturday pitching a “positive alternative” to Republican voters while Trump’s planned event was canceled due to weather.
Decrying a Republican “culture of losing,” DeSantis sought to weaken Trump’s grip on the GOP as tornado warnings interrupted a collision of leading presidential prospects in battleground Iowa.
In a win for the Justice Department, a federal judge on Friday blocked a May 24 deposition of Trump in connection with a pair lawsuits filed by former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Strzok’s lawsuit claims he was unjustly fired from the job for political reasons and seeks reinstatement at the FBI and back pay. Page argues the text messages were unlawfully released and violated her privacy.
Trump has said he’ll bring back his former national security adviser Michael Flynn if he wins another four years in the White House in 2024.
The people of Buffalo mourned the victims of the Tops supermarket shooting that left 10 people dead and three people injured last year.
The City of Buffalo held a moment of silence at 2:28 p.m. which was followed by the tolling of bells in remembrance of the victims killed in the racist attack.
Biden marked the anniversary of the Buffal massacre by penning an op-ed calling for more gun control.
Republican presidential hopefuls and local leaders want to lock down schools after a streak of mass killings — and the White House won’t stand in their way.
Relative quiet has prevailed along the southern U.S. border since Friday, despite widespread fears that ending a pandemic-era policy to immediately expel most migrants, even asylum seekers, would set off a stampede from Mexico.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the number of encounters along the southern U.S. border has dropped by half since Covid restrictions were lifted last week.
Legislative initiatives to overhaul immigration policy have fallen flat as partisan differences and other rifts have scuttled attempts at compromise.
A severe shortage of immigration judges has led to long delays for asylum cases. The backlog is expected to grow now that pandemic-era border restrictions have been lifted.
While Gov. Kathy Hochul says she is working behind the scenes to address the surge of asylum-seekers, she faces calls for a stronger statewide strategy on how to house more than 65,000 migrants who have moved to New York City over the past year.
New York state officials are trying to find additional sites for housing migrants as a plan to move hundreds of people to counties north of New York City has led to an outcry from local officials.
New York City has exceeded the capacity to house migrants from the southern border in its temporary housing system, Hochul said, as she named Floyd Bennett Field as a potential place to house asylum seekers and others migrating to New York.
The Orange County government on Friday filed a lawsuit against New York City to halt a voluntary program moving hundreds of migrants north for the next four months.
Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus filed lawsuits in State Supreme Court against Mayor Eric Adams and the owners of Crossroads Hotel and Ramada by Wyndham in the town of Newburgh after dozens of migrants were sent there by bus from NYC.
City officials plan to reopen the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan as a migrant housing and resource center, Adams said.
Immigrants will be housed at a gym in a Brooklyn public elementary school, city officials said Friday as community members complained they’d not been consulted before the decision.
Arrests in domestic violence cases will be mandated in New York under a provision included in the state budget and highlighted Friday by state Sen. James Skoufis.
Excelsior Pass costs ballooned to $64 million and are still rising. Spending on the app is part of $200 million state contract with Deloitte and Boston Consulting Group that’s now facing scrutiny.
The coronavirus pandemic, while officially over, has killed a staggering 80,000-plus New Yorkers — and a total 1.13 million Americans — impacting virtually every facet of our lives.
Adams was greeted with boos and turned backs during a CUNY Law School commencement address Friday — a day after City University students and professors protested against budget cuts laid out in the mayor’s most recent spending plan.
“We have a lot of challenges, a lot of things that it needs discipline. And just as you see these graduates here, I know what it is to protest,” Adams said, which was followed by some yells back at him.
Left-leaning Democrats question whether Adams’s approach — sometimes more akin to Mike Bloomberg or even the former Republican mayor, Rudy Giuliani — is appropriate for New York, one of the most liberal cities in the nation.
An online fundraiser for Daniel Penny, who placed fellow subway rider Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold in a case that has come to symbolize fears over crime, racism and vigilantism, has raised more than $1 million for his legal defense.
The campaign — set up on GiveSendGo, a self-described Christian crowdfunding site that was also used to raise funds for some of those arrested in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — had raised more than $1.8 million as of last night.
Former New York Gov. David Paterson has come out in support of Penny, claiming the Marine did not commit a crime and should not have been charged with manslaughter in Neely’s death.
Neely was on a watch list for a city task force that kept track of the New Yorkers of most concern. Informally known as the Top 50, it is a roster of people in a city of eight million who stand out for the severity of their troubles and their resistance to accepting help.
The city would save tens of millions of dollars by eliminating a rule that requires homeless New Yorkers to live in shelters for three months before they become eligible for permanent housing vouchers, says a new study.
New York City students are struggling with reading, but principals are worried that the rollout of a new teaching method is happening too quickly.
As congestion pricing in New York City moves closer to reality, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has finalized a plan to give the city’s neediest drivers a discount and to distribute traffic more evenly by reducing overnight tolls.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is taking aim at neighboring Hochul over New York’s congestion pricing program — with an ad campaign aimed at wooing Big Apple residents and businesses into relocating to his state.
Serial lying and now-indicted Long Island Rep. George Santos is an embarrassment who should resign, ex-congressman and Republican nominee for New York governor Lee Zeldin said.
Zeldin is launching a charitable group to help New York’s needy that will raise funds and tap volunteers to address homelessness and food insecurity, bolster veterans’ services, provide youth mentoring, and address blighted buildings, parks, and streets.
Bethlehem High School will lock up cell phones next year in bid to make students socialize.
Two companies have agreed to pay $45 million for a new Village of Hoosick Falls water system as well as past expenses and damage incurred when toxic PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, was found in the drinking water nearly a decade ago.
Olivia Owens was chosen Saturday as Albany’s 2023 Tulip Queen from among five finalists. The coronation took place during Tulip Festival activities.
Vice Media filed for bankruptcy, punctuating a yearslong descent from a new-media darling to a cautionary tale of the problems facing the digital publishing industry.
