Good Thursday morning! The week is almost over. I’m not sure how that happened, but I have to admit that I’m not terribly sorry to see it go. Woof.
I’m going to New York City this morning. It’s going to be a very quick down-and-back trip – not my favorite kind. It takes a lot out of me – even with nice view (if you sit on the right side) to take the edge off. It’s a work thing, which so many of my trips to New York City are these days. Actually, I can’t recall the last time I went there purely for fun.
This is a big switch from when I was younger – I mean really young, like a little kid, not when I was in my 20s and lived full-time in the city. We spent a lot of time in the city when my parents were still together.
We visited family – dad’s parents lived in Rockaway, and mom’s were in Brooklyn – and sometimes I hung out with grandpa (dad’s dad) at his midtown Manhattan liquor store. (Yeah, it was a bit of an unconventional childhood).
Grandpa sometimes took me on special trips – to the circus or to see a Broadway show, for example. But one of my favorite places to visit (not with him, because he didn’t have nearly enough patience for it) was the American Museum of Natural History.
Apparently, the museum has gone through a lot of changes since I was last there. (I did go for a black tie event just a few years ago, but was confined to the lobby and the blue whale room). It has a new center for science, education and innovation that looks amazing.
I know a lot of kids were really into the dinosaurs, but it was the gem room that did it for me. I spent hours in there. It’s dark and the displays are lit from within, which adds an air of mystery and intrigue.
Museums aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, I know, and in recent years questions and controversies related to how they came to acquire the items in their collections have made a lot of news, and turned a trip to the museum into an ethical morass.
It doesn’t appear, however, that any of the world’s 95,000 museums – the largest share of which, about 33,000, are right here in the U.S. – are going anywhere soon.
Museums really run the gamut – from big name showstoppers like the Louvre (the world’s most visited museum in Paris, France, with 9.6 million people walking through its halls every year) to the Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse, Kansas.
Museums have their own council – who knew? then again, of course they do.
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) has, for almost as long as I’ve been on the planet, organized an annual appreciation day to raise awareness about the fact that, as they put it: “Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, enrichment of cultures and development of mutual understanding, cooperation and peace among peoples.”
That day is today! I might have to observe this on some other day, but I’m going to make it a point to visit a museum – and there are a number of great ones within a one-hour drive of Albany! – in the coming weeks.
The weather is downright weird. We’ve got a freeze warning in place from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. this morning. I’m sorry plants in my garden. I didn’t mean to put you in danger.
Things will be warming up later on in the day, rising to a high in the mid-60s, with sunny skies.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden pushed back at new work requirements for welfare programs that Republicans covet in a package to raise the debt ceiling, insisting that any changes he supports would be insignificant yet not taking the issue off the table entirely.
“I’m not going to accept any work requirements that’s going to impact on medical health needs of people,” he said, before adding that “it’s possible” a deal could expand work rules for other federal programs.
In remarks delivered just before departing for Japan, the president relayed his meeting at the White House with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders was “productive,” adding, “I think you can be confident that we’ll get the agreement.”
Biden said there’s “work to do” on the global stage as he headed to Japan yesterday to consult with allies on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s assertiveness in the Pacific at the same time that a debt limit standoff looms at home.
Biden briefly stopped at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska yesterday afternoon on his way to Japan for the G-7 Summit.
Biden today will open his visit to a Japan that has tightened its economic and national security alliance with the U.S. by meeting privately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of the larger Group of Seven summit.
The Biden administration is looking at arranging a series of possible visits to Beijing by top administration officials in the coming months as part of an effort to reengage with China on substantive issues after the Chinese spy balloon incident.
Biden would expand his 2020 margin of victory over former President Donald Trump if a rematch were held today, according to a new poll.
The National Archives reportedly has informed Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records that show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president.
Trump is going after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after the governor’s two endorsed candidates lost in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
Trump took credit for the elimination of Roe v. Wade, embracing his role in selecting the Supreme Court justices who were instrumental in ending the half-century precedent that protected abortion rights nationwide.
House Republicans repelled an effort by Democrats to force a vote on expelling Long Island Rep. George Santos, who was charged last week in a 13-count federal indictment.
Republicans voted along party line — 221 to 204, with seven Democrats voting “present” — to refer the resolution to expel Santos to the House Ethics Committee, which has been investigating his finances and campaign activity for months.
Progressive Democrats from New York heckled Santos as he spoke to reporters on the steps of the Capitol yesterday, yelling at the embattled lawmaker to resign and telling Republicans to punt him from Congress.
Santos’ communications director has resigned.
Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said yesterday.
An analysis of DNA from more than 24,000 people who had COVID-19 and required treatment in intensive care has yielded more than a dozen new genetic links to the risk of developing extreme illness from the disease.
Immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines wane faster in those with severe obesity than in those with a healthy body mass index (BMI), according to a study of more than 3.6 million people.
Graduation rates increased in school districts across New York during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to state data.
The daughter of an elderly woman who died of COVID-19 in a New York nursing home ripped disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for covering up his decision to move infected patients into senior care facilities at the start of the pandemic.
The state is helping New York City Mayor Eric Adams identify sites that will welcome migrants as the five boroughs struggle to house a surge of arrivals, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Hochul is considering SUNY campuses as place to temporarily house migrants.
Hochul met privately in Washington with Democratic House members from New York and spoke with Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. secretary for homeland security, as she and other state leaders press for more help with New York’s surge of asylum-seekers.
Republican state lawmakers criticized Hochul for what they said has been a “lack of leadership and transparency” in dealing with an ongoing immigration crisis at the southwest border.
“New York is now a border state,” state Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt (R-Lockport) told reporters at the Capitol. “This is a crisis of our own doing and this is the result of a failure of Democratic policies. There’s no other way you can look at this.”
The Big Apple is reportedly “considering” a plan to house migrants at Rikers Island, as Adams revealed nearly 50% of the city’s contracted hotel rooms are occupied by asylum seekers amid the surging crisis.
But not long after Adams made that claim, it came under fire. Some contended there was no way what the mayor said could be mathematically accurate. Others with a vested interest in city hotels neither confirmed nor contradicted the mayor’s assertion.
A program to address the state’s affordable housing crisis was dropped from the state budget, and Hochul and legislators are now dampening expectations that they will be able to agree on a comprehensive plan before the session ends in June.
American Opportunity, which has ties to the Democratic Governors Association and is bolstered by former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, spent $4.7 million the last two months to bolster Hochul, primarily on TV ads that aired across the state.
New York’s cannabis industry trade group removed its veterans’ advocate after he accused Hochul’s administration of discriminating against disabled vets — by prioritizing convicted drug felons when awarding licenses to sell marijuana.
Criticisms and allegations are piling up against the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and the fund manager it selected to help roll out the state’s legal cannabis marketplace.
Lawmakers are considering how to bolster the adult-use cannabis industry itself amid a slow rollout of businesses being opened this year.
Acting New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci will retire this summer and step down after more than four decades in state service, according to the department.
New York is reportedly considering an April 2 date for its 2024 presidential primary. That might let the state participate in a potential regional primary day with Connecticut and Pennsylvania, leading to an awarding of a bonus in delegates at the DNC.
New York lawmakers want to crack down on what they call “predatory” marketing of unhealthy foods to kids under a bill that advanced in the state Senate yesterday.
Nearly all of the school district budgets up for consideration by voters yesterday were approved, according to initial projections by the New York State United Teachers.
Adams is addressing the recent car chase involving Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and her mom Doria Ragland.
Adams said the description of the incident provided by Harry and Meghan’s office recalls the circumstances of the 1997 death of the prince’s mother, Princess Diana, who was killed when her limousine crashed while being chased by paparazzi in Paris.
“It’s clear that the press, the paparazzi, they want to get the right shot,” Adams said, the morning after the chase. “But public safety must always be at the forefront.”
The Manhattan cabbie who came to the rescue of Harry and Meghan Markle during a dangerous paparazzi chase described his wild ride with the royals as all in a day’s work.
The initial description of the episode in Midtown Manhattan recalled the chase that killed Harry’s mother, but the fuller picture was more complicated.
While the NYPD said the incident was under investigation, police also played down the couple’s high-drama claims, describing a somewhat hectic yet overall controlled scene.
Adams announced the release a comprehensive plan to combat retail theft across New York City’s five boroughs.
Adams was joined by Attorney General Letitia James and other city officials saying shoplifting complaints saw a 44% increase from 2021 to 2022. According to officials, it’s the largest increase in years and was popularized by social media.
Lamor Whitehead, a scandal-scarred pastor with ties to Adams, is suspected of having orchestrated an illegal “straw donor scheme” as part of his failed 2021 campaign to succeed Adams as Brooklyn’s borough president, a court filing reveals.
A pilot program allowing some New York City municipal employees to work from home is expected to launch at the Buildings Department and the Social Services Department on June 1, according to a City Hall memo to agency heads dated Tuesday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority revealed that fare evasion cost the agency as much as $690 million last year — as it announced plans for dramatic changes to the systems designed to cut losses.
New geological research warns that the weight of New York City’s skyscrapers is actually causing the Big Apple — whose more than 1 million buildings weigh nearly 1.7 trillion pounds — to sink lower into its surrounding bodies of water.
An Italian private development company is negotiating a $1 billion deal with Madison Square Garden to purchase the venue’s theater and knock it down as part of its proposal to reshape Penn Station.
A Staten Island ShopRite employee has sued former Mayor Rudy Giuliani over an incident that landed the store worker in jail overnight on charges that were quickly dismissed.
The city’s child welfare agency is not supposed to remove children solely because of a parent’s marijuana use. A mother says the agency did so anyway, and now she is suing.
Pale Male, the famous Manhattan red-tailed hawk who called the concrete jungle home for more than three decades, died late Tuesday. He was believed to be about 33 years old.
…or maybe not? Some believe that the sickly red-tailed hawk found in New York City was the same bird that stole the national spotlight in 2004. Others disagree.
Nauman Hussain, 33, the former operator of Prestige Limousine, was convicted of manslaughter charges in the horrific 2018 crash that killed 20 people, including 17 revelers headed to a surprise birthday party.
Hussain now faces up to 15 years in prison for the Oct. 6, 2018, catastrophe that also killed the driver and two bystanders outside a convenience store near a Schoharie intersection.
Antonio Brown plans to get back on the field, suiting up for the arena football team he owns. Brown, a former NFL All-Pro wide receiver, said he will play for the Albany Empire “as soon as next weekend.”
The Capital Region is the best place to live in New York state, according to U.S. News and World Report’s most recent annual rankings.
As the stray dog population in the Capital Region grows, funding announced by Hochul aims to alleviate the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society and other shelters overextended by a worsening animal welfare crisis.
Joseph Hochreiter, a long-time superintendent who recently took a leave from a district in Westchester, has been chosen as Albany’s new school leader.
More than three months after a series of burst pipes forced dozens of residents at Parkview Apartments in Albany from their apartments, tenants there are still dealing with the slow slog of repairs and frustrations over sanitary conditions.
The Albany County Business Hub has officially opened in downtown Albany, providing what officials describe as a one-stop shop for businesses throughout the Capital Region by streamlining communication between regional economic development groups.
Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein to settle a lawsuit filed last year in Manhattan, according to the lawyers for the victims.
Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College, personally received $150,000 for consulting fees in 2016 from a foundation created by Epstein, the disgraced billionaire accused of sexually abusing teenage girls, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Prosecutors are seeking further testing on the gun that Alec Baldwin was handling on the “Rust” film set when it fired and killed the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, as they work to decide whether to revive a criminal case against the actor.
Starbucks is switching up its ice — making the change from the classic cube to the nugget in select locations. Not everyone is happy about this.
