Good morning. It’s Wednesday.
July 4 – Independence Day – is still just under a month away. But you could view today – Flag Day – as sort of a warm-up, if you will though without the parades, BBQs and fireworks.
Speaking of fireworks, can we just take a moment to discuss them? I get their appeal, though in my opinion, if you’ve seen one display, you’ve seen them all. Sure, some last longer than others, and some finales are perhaps more over-the-top. But generally speaking, just how distinct can a series of colorful explosions be?
Fireworks aren’t all that great for the environment. They’re also not fantastic for your ears or, as it turns out, your lungs.
Short-term exposure to the smoke they generate has been linked to heart attacks and arrhythmias, though aerial displays, while producing more smoke, occur high up enough that it is able to dissipate before reaching the spectators on the ground.
If you want to expose yourself – and the planet – to fireworks despite these drawbacks, that’s your business.
But for the sake of my highly sound-sensitive dog, who basically has a full-blown panic attack when just a single “boom” occurs and cowers in the closet until the anti-anxiety meds kick in, I really wish you would let the professionals do the fireworks thing and hold off on the backyard displays.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Flag Day.
On June 14, 1777 – less than a year after General Washington asked Betsy Ross to make the first flag for the nascent nation, (FWIW, scholars don’t think she designed the flag, that might have been done by onetime New Jersey congressman named Francis Hopkinson), the Second Continental Congress approved the following resolution:
Resolved, That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.
Hence, Flag Day.
There are a lot of claims to the first local observance of Flag Day. One of the most widely accepted occurred right here in New York, where, on June 14, 1889, the principal of a free kindergarten for poor New York City children staged a patriotic ceremony in celebration of the day at his school, which, in turn, caught the attention of the state Education Department.
SED subsequently had ALL New York schools follow suit, and the Legislature then more or less codified that practice.
Congress didn’t approve Flag Day as a national observance until 1949, and it was subsequently signed into law by then President Harry Truman, even though both President Wilson and President Coolidge had issued proclamations while they were in office seeking official recognition for the day.
There have been 27 different official versions of the American flag to date, and the arrangement of the stars in the blue box in the corner wasn’t actually standardized until 1912, compliments of President Taft. At the time, there were 48 stars in six rows of eight.
Today’s flag has been around since July 4, 1960, after Hawaii became the 50th on August 21, 1959. (Remember: The stars represent the states, the white and red stripes represent the 13 original colonies).
Flag Day is NOT a federal holiday, though it is customary to fly the flag on this day. In case you aren’t aware, there’s a whole protocol for handling and displaying the flag, which you can find here.
According to the U.S. Flag Code, “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning”. This is indeed the preferred way of disposing a flag, but it’s also a little on the dangerous side. Other options: Bury it, shred it, donate it, or recycle it.
It looks like we’re in for more rain today. Skies will be cloudy in the morning, with the possibility of showers and a possible thunderstorm in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the low-to-mid 70s.
In the headlines…
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami to criminal charges that he risked disclosure of defense secrets and obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim classified documents he took with him upon leaving office.
Most of Trump’s first appearance in court facing 37 federal charges went as expected, but the proceedings were dragged out by a disagreement over whether he should be restricted from talking to certain witnesses in the case.
Trump’s lawyers asked for a jury trial. “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the judge. During the hearing, Trump sat hunched over with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He did not speak.
Trump visited Little Havana in Miami immediately after his arraignment, his latest attempt to cast himself as a man persecuted by his political enemies.
A Manhattan judge granted E. Jean Carroll’s request to revise a defamation lawsuit she has filed against Trump, stemming from derogatory comments he made about her in 2019, to include similar comments he made recently on CNN.
Trump promised to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the Biden family only hours after his arraignment on 37 federal felony charges in Florida. Trump delivered an angry, campaign-style speech at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club.
His vow prompted cheers and chants of “lock him up!” from the audience. The idea followed Trump’s own proclamation that he was facing “political persecution like something out of a fascist or communist nation.”
President Joe Biden and his top aides have taken a vow of silence on the federal indictment of his predecessor — and have explicitly ordered the national Democratic Party and his reelection campaign to do the same.
Biden is more unpopular than Trump was at the same stage in his presidency, according to a comparison of polling data conducted by political analytics website FiveThirtyEight.
Biden denounced racism in the United States and said the Juneteenth holiday was meant to help underscore American values that he said were under threat.
Biden hosted a massive concert on the South Lawn of the White House to commemorate Juneteenth, the country’s newest federal holiday which the president said will “breathe a new life in the very essence of America.”
Senate Democrats confirmed Jared Bernstein, a long-time Biden confidant, as the White House’s chief economist, despite opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Republicans.
Thousands of more New York workers will have access to 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave after Gov. Kathy Hochul reached an updated contractual agreement with CSEA, PEF and UUP.
“It is a major, major accomplishment,” the governor said. “And again, I thank the leaders for working so closely with us to represent individuals that are part of our family and making sure they can be there for their families.”
New York’s legislative session ended Friday without lawmakers passing a bill to extend subsidized health coverage to some 255,000 undocumented immigrants who are currently excluded. The Assembly could yet pass it, but the governor’s position is unclear.
Hochul signaled she’s skeptical of expanding health care coverage to include more New Yorkers regardless of their immigration status without more money from the federal government to help offset the cost.
Hochul said she’ll declare executive action in the coming weeks related to housing, after a deal to address the issue fell through at the end of the session.
Democratic lawmakers who rent their homes are far more likely to back tenant protections and new housing supply than those who own, a New York Focus analysis found.
New York Assembly lawmakers and staffers have been told to prepare for two days of legislative work beginning June 20, a source familiar with the discussion said.
State contracts that are awarded during a state of emergency aren’t subject to review by the state’s chief financial officer, the state comptroller. But a measure heading to Hochul’s desk could change how the public can see the spending for themselves.
New York taxpayers might get stuck with a $1.3 billion bill after the feds rejected the idea of using Medicaid money to fund bonuses for healthcare workers but not before some of the funds had been distributed.
Hochul announced the substantial completion of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, one of the foremost modern and contemporary art museums in the world.
The new head of the State Liquor Authority said her first priority as chair of the agency’s board is to reduce the vast backlog of applications for liquor licenses, but cautioned that ongoing staffing and technological limitations will impede the process.
Hochul said it’s up to New York City Mayor Eric Adams whether to use SUNY campuses as temporary housing for migrants. “Some SUNY facilities we may be able to find a dorm to go into the fall,” she added. “It may not work.”
Adams announced a tentative five-plus-year contract with the city’s teachers union that includes a significant expansion of remote learning opportunities for older students.
New York City educators will get fat pay hikes and bonuses of up to 20% under a new five-year, $6.4 billion labor contract announced by Adams and the United Federation of Teachers.
The deal with the United Federation of Teachers — which has roughly 120,000members — follows a pattern set by a contract previously hammered out by the Adams administration and DC 37, the city’s largest municipal union.
A federal judge said that recent reports of violence and negligence on Rikers Island raised “profound questions” about the city’s ability to protect detainees and jail staff — and for the first time signaled that she might be willing to consider a federal takeover.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said nothing about her own frustrations with the job. Only a few of her closest aides had known she would be announcing her resignation this week.
Members of law enforcement and policing experts say Adams, a former police officer himself, regularly undermined his commissioner — a habit that may have finally driven her from her post.
Adams reportedly allowed a power struggle and breakdown of chain of command to foment in the NYPD, leaving Sewell powerless at times to run a police department where longstanding feuds and loyalties to opposing parties are currency.
Sewell penned an unusual, heartfelt farewell letter to New Yorkers, telling them that rubbing elbows with Big Apple residents “was among the most rewarding experiences of my tenure.
Stung by Sewell’s sudden announcement Monday that she is leaving, Adams’ aides are furiously pegging the outgoing commissioner as selfish for blindsiding the administration, sources said.
New York City’s top officials overseeing crime, housing and homelessness have stepped down. Critics say the mayor’s management style is part of the problem.
Immigrant advocates and members of the City Council are throwing their weight behind a budget-threatened, first-of-its-kind childcare program for low-income immigrants who lack permanent legal status.
More than half of the City Council’s members are sponsoring a bill that will lead to serious penalties for people who knowingly lease space to unlicensed sellers of marijuana, tobacco and other controlled substances.
A centrist super PAC founded by a veteran New York lobbyist, Jeff Leb, plans to pour tens of thousands of dollars into boosting City Councilwoman Linda Lee’s reelection campaign this month amid signs that her race is tightening.
Two Democratic candidates vying for the same Harlem Council seat —Yusef Salaam and Assemblyman Al Taylor — cross-endorsed each other under the new ranked choice voting system.
Republican Tina Forte — who has ties to indicted serial lying Rep. George Santos — announced she’s mounting another longshot campaign against progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The professors union at the City University of New York accused CUNY’s leadership of attempting to restrict freedom of expression for chastising a law school student’s fiery commencement address.
Justin Volpe, the NYPD officer convicted of sodomizing Abner Louima with a broomstick in 1997 has been released early from federal prison, according to authorities.
Migrants who were bused from New York City to the Capital Region in recent weeks have found jobs in the area despite few, if any, having the legal authorization to work.
Caffe Italia, a fixture on Central Avenue for 50 years that was founded by an Italian immigrant whose offspring still run the restaurant, is planning to move to a Guilderland shopping plaza late this year, gaining both more seating and free parking.
Actor Treat Williams died Monday at Albany Medical Center after his motorcycle was hit by a car in Dorset, Vt., police said.
A state-of-the-art fire protection system has been installed at Grant Cottage to safeguard the landmark and its contents, the state Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation said this week.
Sgt. Henry Johnson’s bravery in fighting off an attacking force of Germans in World War I had another victory yesterday in battling institutionalized racism when the U.S. Army renamed a military base in his honor in Louisiana.
