Good Thursday morning.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
If you are a person of a certain age, you no doubt recognize this iconic quote right off the bat, and it transports you to another era. It was a time when the U.S. was engaged in a battle of epic proportions with its arch nemesis, Russia – AKA, the Space Race.
If you are not a Boomer, perhaps you had to Google that quote. Either way, you now know that it was uttered by none other than the astronaut Neil Armstrong, who, along with his Apollo 11 crewmate, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, were the first men to walk on the Moon.
That historic event – a significant U.S. victory in the space race – took place on this day in 1969.
Before we go any further, I have to address one little historic discrepancy. Apparently, NASA’s official transcript from the moon landing transcribes Armstrong’s quote as “that’s one small step for A man.” And Armstrong himself backed that up. He also wrote the words long before he ever stepped foot on the moon.
Not that it really matters. With or without the “a” it was still an incredible moment in human history.
All told, Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon’s surface. They left behind medallions bearing the names of three Apollo 1 astronauts who lost their lives in a launch pad fire, and two cosmonauts who also died in accidents; along with a small inch silicon disk containing goodwill messages from 73 countries, and the names of congressional and NASA leaders.
The foundation for the successful Apollo 11 mission was laid by President John F. Kennedy Jr., who was dismayed by the 1957 Sputnik shock, when Russian successfully launched the earth’s first artificial satellite, beating the U.S. to the punch. Four years later, the U.S. was embarrassed yet again when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961.
That was followed almost immediately (about two weeks later) by the Bay of Pigs debacle.
On May 25, 1961, Kennedy gave his famous speech before a special joint session of Congress, announcing the seemingly audacious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade.
JFK did not live to see the realization of his goal. He was assassinated in November 1963. The mission that was set in motion by JFK was subsequently brought to fruition by his successor, LBJ, who had longstanding ties to, and support of, the space program, though his efforts – and funding for NASA – were derailed somewhat by the Vietnam War.
It was really President Nixon who brought the whole thing across the finish line. Though he left office in disgrace, the moment when he spoke on the phone to Armstrong and Aldrin while they were in space immediately following their successful moonwalk, followed by their safe return home, was a inarguably a high point of his presidency.
Happy National Moon Day!
Another amazing summer day is on tap, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden’s efforts to slow a tide of corporate mergers got a boost through an elaborate plan his top antitrust enforcers say will preserve competition.
In a highly detailed 51-page joint document, the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department outlined 13 “guidelines” they will follow when reviewing deals — and hope the courts play along.
Biden and United Auto Workers leader Shawn Fain met yesterday at the White House, as labor contract discussions are beginning between the powerful union and the Big Three automakers.
The top priority for Pope Francis’ peace envoy in his meeting with Biden was the repatriation of children forcibly deported from Ukraine to Russia, the papal nuncio to the United States said.
The Vatican announced Monday that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi is spending three days in D.C., following his recent visits to Kyiv and Moscow.
Biden posted a campaign ad promoting his legislative wins by using clips from a recent speech GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave at the Turning Point Action Conference where she compared Biden to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.
The video reached more than 30 million views in 12 hours after it was posted.
“Be honest Joe. This is really what I said about you. And this is what you actually approve,” Greene tweeted in response, including a clip of her scathing appraisal of his record.
The House Oversight Committee heard yesterday from two IRS whistleblowers whose claims that the Justice Department politicized the Hunter Biden criminal probe have ignited a firestorm among Republicans.
Over several hours, the investigators, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, detailed how they believed their work investigating the president’s son was stymied and slow-walked by Justice Department officials during both the Trump and Biden presidencies.
A federal judge handed a defeat to prosecutors who indicted former President Donald Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents, denying a request to speed up the sharing of evidence with the defense.
Trump has lost his bid to have the Manhattan District Attorney’s “hush money” case against him heard in federal court, according to a ruling yesterday.
Trump‘s team filed papers asking the judge to move the case to federal court in May, on the grounds that the allegations relate to federal election laws and describe actions that were within the “color of his office” as president. The judge rebuffed that request.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer, vehemently denied that he “flipped” on the former president in the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election.
Federal prosecutors have reportedly introduced a new twist in the Jan. 6 investigation by suggesting in a target letter that they could charge Trump with violating a civil rights statute that dates back to the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.
A federal judge agreed to ease GOP Rep. George Santos’ pretrial travel restrictions and allow the congressman to move further outside the District of Columbia.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields granted a request from Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, to let the Republican, who was indicted on federal charges in May, travel within a 30-mile radius of Washington, D.C.
State officials are seeking to turn the former Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill into a residential development, a move that Gov. Kathy Hochul said is part of her administration’s effort to increase affordable housing statewide.
Over the last four years, New York officials have made changes to the state’s criminal justice policies. Now, a new panel announced by Hochul will review the policies and make recommendations for potential changes.
The state Assembly will not release its records regarding a child care center that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie allowed to be set up in a ninth-floor conference room of the Legislative Office Building this year.
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as well as consumer rebates, are receiving a $29 million boost, Hochul announced.
A bidding war for New York City area casino licenses is underway, and Hochul and the state Democratic Party are taking large donations from gaming companies and real estate giants developing pricey proposals, according to new campaign finance filings.
The state Cannabis Control Board approved more than 200 retail licenses and approved a measure that would temporarily allow the sale of cannabis at “growers showcase” events as officials seek to rescue the stumbling rollout of the legal marijuana industry.
Just as cannabis farmers were starting to lose hope that the state would make good on its promise to let them sell their crops at pot-only farmers markets, the OCM has come through with what it is calling the Cannabis Growers Showcase.
Some 2.7 million New Yorkers enjoy marijuana at least once a month, state cannabis regulators revealed, as they continue to push toward a robust, legal marketplace for the green goods.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city has been carrying the weight of the nation’s crisis and now there is no longer space for new people coming in, citing the absence of state or federal aid.
Adams said his administration will begin discouraging migrants at the southern border from coming to New York City, distributing fliers that warn there is “no guarantee” they will receive shelter or services in the Big Apple.
The Big Apple has bussed more than 400 migrants up to Erie County in recent weeks as the city struggles with its ongoing asylum seeker crisis, officials said.
About 120 migrants were staying at a Cheektowaga hotel, just outside Buffalo, as of late last month, Erie County officials told Spectrum News.
The city will begin providing 60 days’ notice to adult asylum seekers to find alternative housing paired with intensified casework services to help adult asylum seekers explore other housing options, Adams announced.
Adams and top administration officials gave no assurances about how soon migrants reapplying for shelter could get a new bed. “They will just have to wait,” Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom said.
The City of New York agreed to pay about $13.7 million to settle a class-action suit, which said that unlawful police tactics had violated the rights of protesters over several days in late May and early June of 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
The names of dozens of alleged straw donors and a staffer for Adams became public as part of the Manhattan DA’s case against six people accused of concocting a scheme to benefit Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign in hopes of gaining political favors.
New York’s transit board approved a hike in subway and bus base fares for the first time since 2015 with an increase from $2.75 to $2.90, kicking off before Labor Day.
Ever since the coronavirus pandemic decimated subway ridership in New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has resisted raising the price of a ride out of fear that even more people would abandon mass transit.
New Jerseyans, cabbies and late-night workers hoping for a congestion pricing break got bad news – exemptions from tolls charged motorists at 60th St. and points south will likely be scarce, said the head of a board that will recommend toll rates to the MTA.
The chairman of the panel charged with setting the price for the coming and controversial Manhattan congestion pricing program said that any discounts and exemptions would require others to pay more.
Commuter rail fares will also go up, except on the Metro North Railroad’s line west of the Hudson River.
A federal judge ordered New York City to address failures to provide crucial services to public school students with disabilities, a major step that followed two decades of litigation and criticism from families in the nation’s largest school system.
Judge Loretta Preska’s order requiring the city implement 40 reforms came in a class action lawsuit filed in 2003 on behalf of parents of children with disabilities.
Asa Ellerup, wife of suspected Gilgo killer Rex A. Heuermann, has filed for divorce, a court filing shows.
The Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency is considering the largest pilot, or payment in lieu of taxes deal, in county history, as part of the Micron deal.
Micron Technology Inc. formally applied to the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency this week for an estimated $284 million in property tax breaks over 49 years to build its $100 billion semiconductor plant in Clay.
Two elected Republicans from Onondaga County are taking early steps to seek the party’s nomination next year for the 50th state Senate District seat that will be vacated by Democrat John Mannion.
The former campus of Cazenovia College has been selected as the site that the New York State Police will lease for its new Auxiliary Academy.
The rail trail bridge that buckled in Slingerlands last week during construction could cause more travel and commuting headaches for town residents and commercial traffic than they have endured already.
Spectrum, the cable TV and broadband provider, is raising its rates.
Migrants bused from New York City arrived at a Super 8 motel where residents of the Carman Road business were kicked out yesterday.
The sudden displacement of the motel guests, some of them indigent, caused a stir among local officials outraged that people confronting poverty were seemingly left without living quarters to make way for the new arrivals.
Glenmont residents fighting a proposed wind turbine tower factory lost a court battle this week after a judge dismissed their lawsuit against the Port of Albany and the town of Bethlehem.
A new contract will provide Albany police officers and detectives with 2 percent across-the-board salary increases through 2026.
Nearly a month after tenants were evacuated from the Harbour Point Gardens apartment complex on Delaware Avenue, more than 100 remain displaced. The state attorney general has been asked to investigate and assist tenants.
Primark is opening its first area location today at Crossgates Mall. The retailer occupies the space that most recently housed one of the state vaccination sites. Prior to that, it was the downstairs home of Lord & Taylor.
Albany Medical College scientists have been awarded a four-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the role of lung epithelial cells — cells that form the lungs’ inner lining — in protecting against tuberculosis.
A single winning ticket was sold in California for one of the largest Powerball jackpots ever, the lottery group said last night. At an estimated $1.08 billion, it is the sixth-largest jackpot in U.S. history.
