Good Monday morning. We’re back in the saddle.
Every night before bed, I do some reading. This helps calm my mind and separate a little from the day’s craziness, ideally helping to ease me into sleep.
Sometimes, this approach actually works.
I come from a family of readers. I was encouraged to read more or less as much as I wanted, but I think when I started reading in the shower, that took things a little too far for my mom.
If you’re confused as to how this was possible without soaking the pages of the book (this was way before Kindles were invented), we had a giant claw foot tub in the downstairs bathroom, and the towel bar mounted on the wall adjacent to the tub was the perfect height for resting a book at what was eye-level for a ‘tween kid on the short side.
Mom caught on when my showers started to reach beyond the 15-minute mark, but somehow my hair was never clean. When she got wise, she always checked me for books before I went into the bathroom at shower time. But I got the last laugh my hiding books under the towels in the linen closet. HA!
Mom, Dad and I are all fans of mysteries.
She like historical novels, which I could never really get down with. He’s got a wide range, though leans toward Carl Hiaasen when traveling. I pretty much will read anything. I am now into true crime podcasts like Criminal, which is hosted by Phoebe Judge, who has the most amazing voice. (I think she started in radio).
Early on in the pandemic, I did a lot of walking and running outside because all the gyms were closed. I listened to a LOT of podcasts during that time, including one that Judge started called Phoebe Reads a Mystery, during which she would read aloud a chapter a day of any number of iconic novels – including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
To be honest, I always previously found Sherlock Holmes a little dry and difficult to follow. It was, after all, originally published in 1892. But having someone else read aloud Doyle’s stories about the iconic literary detective team of Holmes and his devoted assistant, Dr. Watson, breathed new life into them for me.
Today is Doyle’s birthday – he was born in 1859 and died in 1930. He was actually both a writer AND a physician, which explains why there’s so much science and medicine in his Holmes books. (Watson is, in fact, a medical doctor). He created the character of Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and 56 short stories about the dynamic crime-solving duo.
Doyle’s success with Holmes and Watson allowed him to give up his medical practice and devote himself to writing. His main character was actually based off one of his medical professors (given Holmes’ proclivities – most notably his addictions to tobacco and cocaine – I’m not sure this was entirely flattering).
The fame became too much for Doyle at one point – he wanted to wanted to devote himself to more “serious” literary endeavors. And so he infamously killed off his hero in the 1893 story The Final Problem in which Holmes and his arch nemesis, the evil Prof. James Moriarty, appear to fight to the death at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.
Fans were not at all happy. And Doyle eventually resurrected Holmes in The Adventure of the Empty House in 1903. He also wrote The Hound of Baskervilles after he killed Holmes, but set the story in the pre-Holmes death era.
Sherlock Holmes has stood the test of time. He’s a cult classic – so much so that 75 actors have played him in 211 movies. There have also been several TV series based on the character and his long-suffering sidekick, including a short-lived one starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman that I really enjoyed. Bring it back, please!!
You can also, if you happen to be in London, visit 221B Baker St. (the fictional home of Holmes and Watson), which is now a museum, though it’s technically located at 239 Baker St., because 221B doesn’t really exist.
Seems confusing to you, maybe, but actually it’s elementary, Dear Watson. Happy Sherlock Holmes Day, everyone!
It should be a perfect spring day today, with temperatures in the mid-70s and sunny skies. Just in time for us all to get back to work.
In the headlines…
America is heading close to the brink of a self-imposed economic disaster with the Republican-led House refusing to pay the country’s debts unless President Joe Biden agrees on cuts to current and future spending and new curbs on social programs.
Staff-level discussions over the debt ceiling and budget between the White House and congressional Republican resumed last night after Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy spoke by phone in the afternoon, according to a White House official.
Biden and McCarthy will meet again later today. Lawmakers are recalibrating their arguments after talks broke down this weekend over GOP demands for spending cuts as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling.
“I think we can solve some of these problems,” McCarthy said. “But I’ve been very clear to him from the very beginning, we have to spend less money than we spent last year.”
Discussions aimed at avoiding a default have bogged down as Republicans press their demand for spending caps, work requirements for public benefit programs and other proposals in exchange.
Biden issued a stark warning that congressional Republicans could use a national default to damage him politically and acknowledged time had run out to use potential unilateral actions to raise the federal borrowing limit.
The nation stands on the precipice of an unprecedented financial calamity, testing whether the president’s theory of governance can continue to work.
The people of Papua New Guinea were ready to party in honor of a special guest – the president of the United States. Today was even declared a public holiday, but now the guest of honor is a no-show.
Biden wrapped up three days of meetings with G-7 leaders and other allies by staking out a clear position in the debt limit negotiations occurring back in Washington that played out in the background throughout this weekend-long summit.
Biden predicted a “thaw” in U.S.-China relations after the “silly” surveillance balloon incident earlier this year.
Biden announced an additional round of military assistance for Ukraine during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit in Japan.
The president informed G7 leaders on Friday that the US will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth generation aircraft, including F-16s.
The president supported a decision to make South Carolina, not New Hampshire, the first Democratic presidential primary state in 2024 to avoid “embarrassment” in a state where the demographic makeup is less favorable to Democrats, Rep. Jim Clyburn said.
Biden advisers believe they can hold up what Gov. Ron DeSantis calls his “Florida blueprint” as a warning to the country about what would happen if DeSantis or any other Republican wins the White House in 2024.
DeSantis is moving forward with plans to formally announce his 2024 presidential campaign by the end of the month, setting up a an intense Republican battle with Donald Trump.
While Trump’s lead in polls has grown in recent months, DeSantis still has more money, fewer legal problems and a discernable path to victory, say various Republicans and political analysts – if he can execute on the campaign trail.
The NAACP issued a travel advisory for Florida on Saturday, warning Black people that the state is “openly hostile toward African-Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
Russia has expanded its list of sanctioned Americans in a tit-for-tat retaliation for the latest curbs imposed by the United States. But what is particularly striking is how much President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is adopting perceived enemies of Trump as his own.
After bringing charges against Trump, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is once again investigating Allen H. Weisselberg, 75.
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 71, has tested positive for Covid-19, days after returning from official visits to South Africa and Kenya.
“I am generally feeling ok but my doctors have advised me to self-isolate until I am asymptomatic,” Lee said Monday in a Facebook post. “They have also prescribed me Paxlovid, an antiviral medication, because of my age.”
Seven candidates have filed papers to challenge recently indicted Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos.
The story of Santos has been one of the strangest in modern political history. The race to replace him could be just as messy.
Santos briefly named himself the treasurer of his campaign committee before naming a new person in that role Saturday, marking the latest twists in a monthslong saga over puzzling filings that his campaign has made with federal regulators.
After campaigning alongside Hochul to win a full four-year term, LG Antonio Delgado has been relatively absent during the governor’s biggest political fights since the election. If there is a growing divide between the two, part of it is structural.
New York would have the power to force private hedge funds to comply with debt relief deals that the U.S. government brokers with cash-strapped foreign countries through a new bill under consideration by the Legislature.
The Hochul administration sent a letter to federal health officials last week, asking for guidance on potentially using federal funds to provide undocumented residents with public health insurance coverage.
New York lawmakers this week will hold a public hearing on the effects that non-compete agreements have on workers and the labor market in the state.
New York has been criticized for a sluggish licensing process, but Office of Cannabis Management Executive Director Chris Alexander said that’s necessary to achieve equity.
New York state education officials have released new guidance about recently enacted regulations that prohibit public schools from using Indigenous team names, logos or mascots.
New York’s prohibition on early Sunday morning alcohol sales may come to an end.
Sen. Jessica Ramos, who represents the communities around the Mets’ Citi Field, has temporarily blocked billionaire Mets owner Steve Cohen’s plan to build a casino and entertainment complex in the lots next to the ballpark.
Mayor Eric Adams has loudly blamed Biden for an influx of migrants, amplifying concerns many Democrats share but irritating Biden’s aides and weakening his political position.
Amid reports the White House is angry about Adams’ public criticism of Biden, the mayor warned yesterday that the migrant crisis could cost fellow Democrats at the polls.
Saratoga County on Friday became the latest upstate community to pass a preemptive emergency declaration that predicts a surge from New York City of those seeking asylum and other migrants recently arrived in the state and the country.
Local officials are pursuing legal action to halt Adams’ plans to send asylum-seekers to nearby Suffolk County. It’s the latest county in the state to push back as the city, in the midst of an ongoing crisis, attempts to transfer migrants to neighboring jurisdictions.
Suffolk County will hire a lawyer to pursue “any and all legal options” to block an influx of New York City migrants into the suburban community, local pols vowed at a contentious press conference.
New York City plans to transport migrants who need temporary shelter to Onondaga County, despite the county’s emergency order that attempts to ban such transfers, according to a town official.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he will not be issuing any order that would “prohibit the housing of legal asylum-seekers in our community.”
The story of migrants displacing homeless veterans in Newburgh that caused outrage and death threats was manufactured, according to local officials who had a role in amplifying the hoax.
Republican State Assemblyman Brian Maher said in a statement that he was “devastated and disheartened” to learn claims homeless veterans were pushed out of the hotel to make room for migrants were false.
Nearly three weeks after he was captured on video choking Jordan Neely, a homeless man, to death on a New York City subway, Daniel Penny spoke publicly about the episode for the first time on Saturday in an interview with The New York Post.
Penny, who is free on bail, declined to go into details about the confrontation, citing the pending case. But he sought to characterize the encounter as different from other threatening ones he had experienced on the subway.
Penny doesn’t deserve a plea deal after being charged with manslaughter in Neely’s subway chokehold death, Neely’s uncle said, as he called for the prosecution of the two men seen helping the ex-Marine hold his nephew down.
Former New York Rep. Max Rose is making a new career move, joining a consulting firm launched by Adams’ ex-chief of staff Frank Carone.
The city is suing the designer of a $41.5 million public library along Queens waterfront for failing to provide handicapped access.
Smoking marijuana while operating a vehicle appears to have become ubiquitous in New York City after the drug’s legalization. But it’s a trend, though illegal, that’s not easy to curb.
The bodies of two boys, who family members said were together shortly before they disappeared over a week ago, have been recovered from separate locations in the waters off Manhattan, the police said Saturday.
Madison Square Garden should stay put and have its theater demolished instead to make way for a “grand” new Penn Station entrance on Eighth Ave., Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine proposed as part of the arena’s ongoing permit process.
Albany Empire coach Tom Menas has resigned following a 79-34 loss at the Jacksonville Sharks Saturday night.
The Town of Colonie announced Sunday morning that its emergency boil-water advisory is over, after first declaring it Thursday night after a valve failure at the Latham Water District plant.
Schenectady County Legislator Jeff McDonald resigned Friday, citing the growing demands of running his construction company, according to a news release from the county.
A $5.8 million plan would transform the the City of Troy’s downtown Federal Street corridor from a wide arterial into a more traditional roadway anchored by two roundabouts at the Green Island Bridge on the west and at Sixth Avenue on the east.
