Good FRIDAY morning.
I would suggest that you exhale, but before you can do that you must inhale, and I hope before you do THAT, you close the windows, put on your mask, and go into the most interior room in your house. Just to be on the safe side.
The good news is that the smoke expected to dissipate from our area today. It’s already feeling quite a bit better out there. The Canadian fires, however, continue to burn.
There are a lot of things to be worried about at the moment – air quality is just one of them. I’m not going into the list of things that are keeping me up at night. If you’re a regular reader, you probably already have a fair idea of some, if not all, of them.
I thought that instead we would keep things light by focusing on something completely out of left field, though it starts with something that is dead serious (at least if you do it right): Marriage.
Setting aside the whole “marriage is work/hard but worth it” thing, let’s focus instead on weddings. We all know that getting hitched is big business. The average cost of a wedding in 2022 – ceremony and reception – cost $30,000, according to The Knot.
That’s $2,000 more than the 2021 average (caveat, we were still in the pandemic at the time) but the most that couples spent since pre-Covid crisis 2018 ($33,931).
Nowadays, people get married at all sorts of places – houses of worship, of course; but also barns, mountain tops, museums, event spaces, beaches (destination ceremonies are big, I hear), etc. One upon a time, however, THE place to get hitched in the U.S. was…Elkton, Maryland.
Yeah, I had to look on a map, too. Don’t feel bad. Elkton was once known as Gretna Green of the Eastern US.
In case you aren’t aware – again, I was not – the original Gretna Green is in Scotland. It was a very popular spot for elopements after the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 prevented couples under the age of 21 from marrying in England or Wales without parental consent. It was still legal, however, to get married in Scotland, however, so crossing the border to marry became the thing to do.
Similarly, Elkton became a so-called “marriage mill” due to its lack of a waiting period – or pretty much any other requirement – for couples who wanted to get hitched in a hurry. In the 1920s and 30s, when other states were making it more difficult to get married, Elkton (well, Maryland, writ large) declined to follow suit.
Apparently, a number of celebrities (of the sort whose names might be recognizable to your parents, or even your grandparents, like Debbie Reynolds, Joan Fontaine, and Willie Mays) got married at Elkton.
In 1938, the Maryland Legislature did institute a 48-hour waiting period for anxious would-be married couples. This didn’t dampen enthusiasm for the destination, but its popularity was eventually usurped by the modern-day hitched-in-a-hurry location: Vegas.
The last commercial wedding chapel in Elkton closed in 2017. Sadly, the town is now perhaps better known for the 1963 Pan Am Flight 214 crash, which occurred after a plane was struck by lightning, killing 81 people. (The crash did not actually occur IN Elkton, but rather near there…anyway).
Today is National Marriage Day, as per the Elkton Chamber of Commerce and Alliance.
It will be mostly cloudy today with a chance of more thunderstorms in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the mid-to-high 60s. The weekend is looking cautiously optimistic, with temperatures warming into the low 80s by Sunday and partly to mostly cloudy skies but not a lot of chances for rain. (That’s next week; but we’ll get there friends, we’ll get there).
In the headlines…
Former President Donald Trump has been criminally charged in connection with the discovery that hundreds of classified documents were taken to his Mar-a-Lago home after he left the White House — and more than 100 remained there even after officials issued a subpoena demanding their return.
The indictment is the second for Trump since March, when he was charged in New York City with falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
While the precise details of all seven charges are not yet clear, the people familiar with the matter said the charges include willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office declined to comment last night on Trump’s announcement he was informed of his indictment.
Republican lawmakers blasted President Joe Biden over the “weaponization” of the federal government after it was revealed that the Justice Department had charged Trump over his handling of classified documents.
Trump posted on his social network Truth Social that his lawyers have been informed he’s been indicted. He called the investigation a “hoax” and said he’s an “innocent man.”
Trump said he plans to “of course” plead not guilty, and called his indictment indictment “election interference at the highest level” and “the greatest witch hunt of all time.”
Trump is set to appear in federal court in Miami at 3pm ET on Tuesday. A spokesman for DOJ special counsel Jack Smith said they had no comment at this time.
Trump’s legal problems appear to have escalated significantly with federal charges over the retention of top secret documents, but investigators aren’t done yet.
A $5 million jury verdict that found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll was “grossly excessive,” and he should either get a new trial or have to pay less in damages, the former president’s lawyers contended.
His lawyers said the damages should be reduced to under $1 million, with no more than $400,000 for sex abuse, no more than $100,000 for defamation and $368,000 or less for efforts to improve her reputation.
As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis begins to aggressively attack Trump, his campaign has spread three images of the former president embracing Dr. Anthony S. Fauci that forensic experts say are almost certainly “deepfakes” generated by artificial intelligence.
Republicans are pushing back against suspected digitally-altered images in a video the “DeSantis War Room” account posted on Twitter earlier this week.
UK firms could gain access to US funding as part of plans to boost UK and US ties announced by Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden. The pair unveiled the Atlantic Declaration to strengthen economic ties between the two countries at a White House press conference.
When they met this week in the U.S. capital, the British prime minister (43) and the American president (80) tried to make the most of their mutual interests, despite the glaringly obvious differences.
Biden will appoint a new federal coordinator to address the increase in book bans enacted across different states – part of a slew of new actions that he announced yesterday aimed at protecting the LGBTQ+ community.
Biden condemned a wave of “cruel” and “callous” state laws curbing the rights, visibility and health care access of LGBTQ+ people, especially children, leaving them feeling under attack like never before and the White House with limited options to intervene.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who coordinated the White House’s coronavirus pandemic response for the last year, will leave the Biden administration and return to his previous post as dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University.
The Supreme Court’s surprising decision to effectively reaffirm the remaining powers of the 1965 Voting Rights Act has halted, at least for the foreseeable future, the slide toward irrelevance of a landmark civil rights law that reshaped American politics.
By a 5-to-4 vote, a coalition of conservative and liberal justices reaffirmed the court’s 1986 precedent interpreting how legislative districts must be drawn under the landmark voting rights act, as amended in 1982.
How the decision will affect similar lawsuits against political maps drawn in states other than Alabama is unclear, although voting rights groups say the ruling provides firm guidance for lower courts to follow.
A decision that said Alabama’s congressional voting maps were detrimental to Black voters was celebrated by advocates — and could mean changes to voting in other states.
State lawmakers will leave Albany this week without passing any housing policies, sparking a new round of finger-pointing among Democrats.
An apparent plan to improve tenant protections and increase housing production fell apart in the final hours of the legislative session, prompting state Democratic leaders to point fingers at each other.
While wildfires continued to burn across eastern Canada and send a polluting haze into the US, the worst appeared to be over for now in the big cities along the Mid-Atlantic, where for two days smoke had blotted out the sun and an acrid smell hung in the air.
The Belmont Stakes this weekend may be in jeopardy due to the dangerous air quality. Gov. Kathy Hochul says air quality numbers will determine if the horses run. If the levels exceed 200, the race will be canceled.
Hochul introduced enhanced safety measures that include canceling Saturday’s horse race at Belmont Park if the air quality index there exceeds 200. If the index is between 150 and 200, horses would need to pass a pre-race veterinarian exam to compete.
Hochul asked that people stay indoors, and suggested that schools continue to suspend outdoor activities for students. Employers were asked to make sure their employees take precautions as well.
New York lawmakers are working to conclude the legislative session that could culminate with a bill that seals many criminal records. It’s a long-sought measure for criminal justice reform advocates but opposed by law enforcement organizations.
The Democratic-controlled state Assembly in a largely party-line vote approved the creation of a commission to assess reparations remedies for slavery. The state Senate also approved the bill, which now heads to the governor for her consideration.
Democratic state lawmakers are expected to pass legislation before leaving the Capitol for the year that just so happens to help incumbent pols fight off future rivals.
State Senate Democrats have approved legislation to provide low-cost health care to migrants after the federal government agreed to provide the cash.
Most county leaders across the state are furious as lawmakers are expected to pass legislation at the last minute today to move most town and county elections to even-numbered years.
The long-running legal battle over New York’s congressional lines returned to court yesterday, as Democratic voters pushed to dismantle the map used in last year’s House races.
State courts that struck down Democrats’ gerrymandered maps a year ago are poised to decide a renewed legal contest over whether to grant them another chance. The case will almost certainly rise to the Court of Appeals in the coming months.
A group of anti-abortion activists would be blocked from having direct access to any New York facility offering reproductive health care under a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Letitia James, a move that the Democrat said sends a message to similar groups.
New York authorities issued violation notices and cease-and-desist orders to seven Manhattan shops this week that were allegedly selling unlicensed cannabis.
Inspectors with the Office of Cannabis Management and Tax Department seized all the marijuana and THC-infused products at the seven shops on Wednesday and issued notices of violation and orders to cease unlicensed activity.
Mayor Eric Adams thanked the two top Democrats in Congress — a day after they announced the city would receive $105 million in new federal aid for the city’s migrant crisis — but he said the outlay isn’t nearly enough to address the situation long-term.
City Comptroller Brad Lander took the unusual step yesterday of refusing to register Adams’ plan to switch the city’s 250,000 retired workers into a privatized, cost-cutting version of Medicare.
Adams launched into an unprompted rant against Lander that featured an impression of the fiscal watchdog as well as criticism of how he’s helped with the city’s migrant crisis.
An attorney for the Town of Colonie filed a memorandum in state Supreme Court alleging Adams and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheeha refused to let the town take part in a May meeting convened to discuss the relocation of migrants to Albany County last month.
More than 100 migrants started being housed in a warehouse at JFK Airport on Wednesday after confusion swirled earlier this week over when the controversial shelter site would open.
Adams played defense after it was revealed that his sister-in-law scored a major promotion to become a top advisor making $150,000 a year at the Department of Education, city records show.
The City Council passed a bill requiring New Yorkers to separate their food waste from regular trash, with mandatory composting coming to all five boroughs by next year.
The retail industry in New York City has shed thousands of jobs since the pandemic, even as the rest of the job market has almost fully recovered, according to a new report released by the Center for an Urban Future, a public policy think tank.
The study found that in the three years since February 2020, New York City lost 37,800 retail jobs, an 11.1 percent decline, while the overall private employment sector has regained all but 0.8 percent of jobs.
A year and a half into Louis A. Molina’s tenure as correction commissioner, the federal monitor overseeing the Rikers Island jail complex took direct aim at his leadership, saying violence there remained unabated and officials were hiding information about it.
An NYPD detective took bribes from a violent robbery crew that largely targeted Asian-American small business owners, federal prosecutors said.
A Manhattan judge scolded a pair of personal injury lawyers for using ChatGPT to whip up a legal brief chock-full of fake cases — with the lawyer who relied on the tech swearing it was a humiliating mistake and that he’d been “duped” by A.I.
In a cringe-inducing court hearing, the lawyer who relied on A.I. to craft a motion full of made-up case law, Steven A. Schwartz, said he “did not comprehend” that the chat bot could lead him astray.
The Juilliard School has fired a professor who had been accused of sexually harassing students after an independent investigation found “credible evidence” that he had “engaged in conduct which interfered with individuals’ academic work.”
The 80th birthday celebration for Robert De Niro will kick into high gear with a three-day fan-centric event aptly titled “De Niro Con” in New York City this fall.
The chair of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee has filed a complaint with the state Board of Elections, asking it to investigate the anonymous content producers of the websites MovingSaratogaForward.com and RonKimTruth.com.
A 20-year-old Albany man accused of driving in the city and down Interstate 787 with a woman on the hood of his car now faces felony charges in multiple municipalities, according to State Police.
As chaotic as the Albany Empire might look from the outside, Niskayuna’s J.R. Rickert said majority owner Antonio Brown has a plan for the National Arena League franchise.
The next phase of the Port of Albany infrastructure project will begin next week with the reconstruction of the port’s maritime terminal and adjacent roads.
After a fire closed the restaurant this weekend, Wagon Train BBQ reopened Wednesday, according to a Facebook post by the restaurant.
The US Department of Education is investigating allegations of antisemitism made by two Jewish students at SUNY New Paltz, who say they were booted from an on-campus sexual abuse survivors group over their support of Israel and Zionism.
Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to GOP politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died at 93.
Robertson built an entrepreneurial empire based on his Christian faith, encompassing a university, a law school, a cable channel with broad reach, and more.
