Good Tuesday morning.
It’s an interesting day for me. It marks my 51st year on the planet. I am a Leo on the cusp of Cancer, which I like to say makes me a self-obsessed person who gets really crabby when they’re not the center of attention.
Not the greatest combination, by a long shot. Truthfully, though, Cancers are supposed to be highly intuitive, emotionally secure and caring, putting others before themselves – to a fault. Ambitious, spotlight-seeking Leos, not so much.
Eh. Neither one of those really describes me terribly well. Pieces of me, but not ALL of me. I never put much stock in all that astrology stuff anyway.
Birthdays used to be a really big deal, though since I am a summer baby, I always missed out on the in-school celebrations, which made me sad. (These days though, between sugar bans and nut allergies, what can you even bring to share anymore? Gluten-free pretzels?) Between camp schedules and family vacations, it was slim pickings if I wanted to have a birthday celebration of my own.
I do remember a few epic birthday parties, during which my mom outdid herself by baking my favorite chocolate chip cake with chocolate icing – because you can never have too much chocolate – and hosting upwards of a dozen youngsters all hopped up on sugar. Bless her.
Today, though, I’m really not so big into birthdays. I don’t love getting older. In fact, it’s really a crummy experience, generally speaking. The alternative, of course, is not palatable either. So, I guess I just have to suck it up.
I plan on passing the day by working in the morning and going out to dinner in the evening. No big plans. And that’s just fine.
I will, however, take a few moments to try to reflect on the history of it all. I share this day with some interesting fellow Leos including actor Matt Leblanc, supermodel Iman, a soccer player named Hulk, and Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy whose abduction and death at the hands of two white men was a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Till and his mother are getting a long-deserved national monument in their honor (at three sites, actually), via a proclamation that President Biden will be signing today.
As for me, I might actually go big and take the whole afternoon off. I’ll have good weather for it, with temperatures in the low-to-mid-80s and partly cloudy skies.
Thanks for joining me on this trip, friends.
In the headlines…
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that he expects the House GOP’s investigations into the foreign business activities of President Biden’s family to rise to the level of an impeachment inquiry.
McCarthy’s comments mark the furthest he’s gone on a potential impeachment inquiry, though he stopped short of explicitly saying he would move to formalize one against Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland or any other administration official.
Republican presidential candidates are ramping up their attacks over Biden and his youngest granddaughter, defying an unofficial rule in Washington that lawmakers’ families, especially minors, are off-limits to conflict.
Biden’s image as a family man who values decency and compassion is central to the political identity he’s fostered over five decades in public office. But those virtues have taken a hit as he publicly recognizes only six grandchildren.
The White House has raised the specter of the president vetoing two fiscal 2024 appropriations bills House Republicans plan on bringing to the floor this week.
The White House threatened to veto a proposed spending bill for military construction and veterans’ affairs, arguing Republicans are pursuing a partisan proposal that deviates from an agreement struck during debt ceiling talks.
House Republicans are bracing for fights over spending as GOP leadership aims to bring the first two of 12 appropriations bills to the floor this week, despite vocal criticism from the party’s right flank over not cutting enough spending.
Biden’s advisers appear to be taking steps to minimize the job’s physical toll for the 80-year-old president, while simultaneously ramping up a twofold strategy to parlay an electoral weakness into a strength.
Biden’s use of the shorter staircase to board Air Force One has doubled since he tripped during a graduation ceremony last month, a report said.
Former President Donald Trump criticized Senate Republican leaders for not being as critical of President Biden as House Republicans have been.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office has asked former US officials about a February 2020 Oval Office meeting where then-President Trump praised improvements to the security of US elections, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
Bernie Kerik, the former NYPD commissioner who collected evidence of supposed election fraud for the Trump campaign in 2020, has cut a deal to turn over records to Smith as part of the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has a week of campaign stops on the calendar as he gears up for another collision with the law — a departure from the lead-up to the first two criminal indictments he faced this year.
A Pennsylvania city mayor has demanded that Trump reimburse a $35,000 bill from 2018 ahead of his planned return for a campaign rally on Saturday.
The Israeli prime minister has pushed through the first part of his judicial overhaul, but in doing so has deepened a rift in Israeli society and propelled the country into an uncertain new era.
After a night of mass protests that shut down major roadways and included threats of a general strike, Israelis awoke to a divided nation, some celebrating and some seething over a law that limits the Supreme Court’s ability to check governmental power.
Mike Sapraicone, a retired NYPD detective and private security honcho with deep ties to Nassau County, announced his bid on Monday to topple indicted Republican Rep. George Santos in New York’s Third Congressional District.
Voters in central Queens will head to the polls for a special election on September 12 to pick a replacement for departing state lawmaker Assemblyman Dan Rosenthal, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.
Groups combating climate change are pressing Hochul and the state Assembly to adopt two measures that they say would help ease extreme weather, like we’re having this summer, in the future.
Pointing to challenging, sizzling weather conditions this summer ahead of the season’s first heat wave, state Sen. Liz Krueger put a little out-of-season heat on her Assembly colleagues to pass a climate sustainability bill that passed in the Senate.
Federal regulators should expand the number of available languages for emergency communications to mobile phones, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
New York Republicans in the U.S. House are urging the Department of State to address the backlog of passport services, pointing to calls from constituents trying to get requests processed.
A proposal to increase penalties for shoplifting in New York is gaining support in the state Legislature as lawmakers have proposed a variety of ways to address what has become a multi-billion dollar headache for retailers across New York and the country.
A a report released by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office found there has been improvement in the distribution of federal and state money under ERAP, which has been considered a lifeline for struggling households during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Members of one of New York’s largest unions representing public sector employees, PEF, will vote this week on a new contract determining salary hikes and bonuses until 2026.
Thousands of scaffolds widely regarded as eyesores in New York City may come down quicker under a plan unveiled by Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams and Buildings (DOB) Commissioner Jimmy Oddo unveiled “Get Sheds Down,” a sweeping overhaul of rules governing sidewalk construction sheds and scaffolding.
There are nearly 9,000 sheds across the five boroughs. At most, officials say repair work should take a few months – but the average time the structures are up is 497 days, and 1,000 sheds have been up more than three years.
“Imagine visiting Rome, Tokyo or Rio and seeing scaffolding everywhere. New Yorkers wouldn’t be happy with these unsightly constructions in other cities, and we shouldn’t be O.K. with them here at home,” Adams said.
After a woman, who appeared to be protesting his treatment of homeless people, screamed obscenities at Adams, the New York City mayor responded that “one should be happy” if another person wants to “make love to them.”
New York City’s plan to limit adult migrants to 60-day stays in city-run shelters before they have to reapply was off to a disorganized start as Adams said it was unclear if any of the approximately 55,000 asylum seekers had been served with notices yet.
Locals have said for months that Staten Island isn’t getting its fair share of state funds secured in a series of opioid settlement lawsuits, and Adams said last week that he’s working to rectify that.
Adams wouldn’t commit to turning over written communications between himself and Dwayne Montgomery, the former NYPD inspector who was identified recently in an indictment as the ringleader in a straw donor scheme connected to the 2021 campaign.
Under pressure to stem violence in New York City jails, the commissioner, Louis A. Molina, has angered federal officials by withholding information on sensitive investigations.
Nearly 400 highway repair workers employed by the Department of Transportation are suing the city, alleging they aren’t being paid for overtime.
After years of steady growth, many technology companies are laying off workers and giving up millions of square feet of office space in the city.
GOP Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino, known for raging against unlicensed cars and fake paper tags, was forced to explain why she had a British luxury car with questionable tags in her driveway.
An independent journalist who was arrested twice this year for filming inside two Brooklyn NYPD precincts sued the city, arguing a policy that bans filming in police stations violates local, state and federal law.
Pete Davidson, the comedian, actor and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, has reached an agreement that allows him to resolve a reckless driving charge in California by doing community service with the New York Fire Department, officials said.
A federal judge sentenced former Columbia University gynecologist Robert Hadden to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of post-release supervision, for four counts of encouraging patients to cross state lines so he could sexually assault them at appointments.
Precipitation yesterday set a record for rainfall in the month of July in Albany and is one of the city’s “wettest months on record,” according to the National Weather Service.
Crews have set up at a historic residence in Menands, where they will begin filming a new series set to premiere in the spring on the popular home improvement channel HGTV.
A month after it was halted, Amtrak restored passenger train service north of Rensselaer/Albany with routes going to Schenectady and then Saratoga Springs as of yesterday.
A beaver dam holding back a 40-acre pond burst at 6 a.m. yesterday, flooding Garfield Road and forcing closure of the roadway, Stephentown Town Supervisor Philip “PJ” Roder said.
A week after Chick-fil-A opened on North Greenbush Road, a new Aldi supermarket will open directly behind the fast-food franchise that was still drawing long lines of cars yesterday morning.
Albany Running Exchange Event Productions, an endurance timing and production company that services 200 events throughout the Capital Region annually, has opened its new headquarters in the city’s warehouse district.
1,400 pounds of cheese from Cooperstown Cheese Company, based in Milford, NY, have been recalled due to listeria concerns, the Food and Drug Administration announced.
A 45-year-old personal chef to the Obama family died over the weekend after he was seen struggling in the water while paddleboarding near the former first family’s home on Martha’s Vineyard, the Massachusetts State Police said.
Authorities confirmed that the body of Tafari Campbell was found in 8-feet of water about 100 feet from the banks of the Obamas’ property on Edgartown Great Pond.
