Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. The alliteration of that sentence really makes me happy.
I’m not sure I have the right to opine on the subject into which I’m about to jump in with both feet, since I never had children myself. BUT, lack of personal experience and knowledge has never stopped me before, and so…
Let’s talk about breastfeeding!
It’s always surprising to me that something so natural and unique to mammals could be so controversial – even to the point that it is considered inappropriate and somehow immoral, especially if you decide to provide sustaining nourishment to your offspring in public.
Let’s start by level setting: The CDC says that breastfeeding is good for most moms and babies (there are, of course, exceptions, and again, as I am not an expert, please do not consider me the last word on this subject).
Generally speaking, breast milk enables mothers to share antibodies with their babies and build up their immune systems.
It also enables mothers to provide nutrition anywhere and at any time without having to worry about mixing formula or carrying bottles (theoretically speaking, see the aforementioned breastfeeding-in-public controversy, which we will return to in a moment).
Breastfeeding can reduce mom’s risk of some cancers as well as diabetes and high blood pressure. And lastly, it helps mother and baby bond and even sleep better.
An aside here: Breastfeeding is not for everyone. Some women have low milk supply, while others simply find breastfeeding difficult for a variety of reasons, including babies who have a hard time latching. Shaming mothers who choose not to breastfeed is not OK.
As for breastfeeding in public, the last state to protect mothers from harassment or prosecution for indecent exposure if they nursed their in a public – Idaho – implemented its law on July 1, 2018. That’s right, just five years ago. And Utah did so just a few months earlier.
All 50 states now have some sort of statute in place, and some of those go further than others.
But, of course, the accommodations provided to mothers to enable them to nurse in private while out and about are, shall we say, lacking. Who wants to nurse their baby in a public bathroom stall?
Congress passed the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019 in July 2019, requiring certain public buildings to provide a shielded, hygienic space (NOT a bathroom), that contains a chair, working surface and an electrical outlet for use by individuals who are breastfeeding.
Here in New York, there’s an annual breastfeeding subway caravan, which a number of elected officials participate in to raise awareness about the fact that women are, in fact, entitled to nurse in public wherever they have a legal right to be. A lot of people (businesses, individuals etc.) are unaware of this reality or choose to ignore it. Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, has been particularly active on this issue.
World Breastfeeding Week, “a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanize action on themes related to breastfeeding,” kicked off yesterday and will last through Aug. 7.
Another amazing, if slightly on the cool side, summer day is on tap, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the high 70s.
In the headlines…
Former President Donald Trump was indicted in connection with his far-reaching efforts to overturn the 2020 election, part of a continuing federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the presidency to Joe Biden.
Trump was indicted on four federal felony charges that centered on his alleged efforts to discount legitimate votes in the 2020 presidential race and subvert the election itself.
Trump’s campaign reacted to the indictment by saying, “The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes.”
Anti-Defamation League Director Jonathan Greenblatt sharply rebuked Trump’s campaign for likening his most recent indictment to Nazi Germany.
The third indictment of the former president is the first to get to the heart of the matter: Can a sitting leader of the country spread lies to hold onto power even after voters reject him?
Speaker Kevin McCarthy accused the DOJ of using the latest indictment against former Trump to “distract” from recent information GOP-led committees have gathered about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Some U.S. Capitol Police officers embraced the news that Trump was indicted on four counts related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, characterizing the development as another step closer to justice.
Two Michigan allies of Trump, including a former Republican state attorney general candidate, were charged in connection with an effort to illegally access and tamper with voting machines in the state after the 2020 election, prosecutors announced.
A New York Times/Siena College poll found that President Biden is on stronger footing than he was a year ago — but he is neck-and-neck in a possible rematch against Trump.
Biden is heading into the 2024 presidential contest on firmer footing than a year ago, with his approval rating inching upward and once-doubtful Democrats falling into line behind his re-election bid, the poll found.
Voters continue to rate the president poorly on economic issues, but there are signs the national mood is beginning to improve.
The long-term credit rating of the US was downgraded by the Fitch Ratings agency, which said the nation’s high and growing debt burden and penchant for brinkmanship over the authority to borrow money had eroded confidence in its fiscal management.
The super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spent nearly $34 million in recent months, pouring money into voter outreach, ads, polling, consultants and other expenses as his standing in the polls steadily slipped.
The surprising swoon over the bare-chested Biden in Delaware doesn’t mark the first time the internet has gone wild over a shirtless POTUS.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden took a break from their Delaware beach vacation to see the summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer.” The president later said he had found the movie “compelling.”
Biden has a rule for his staff members: If you don’t take time off to tend to your personal life, you might get fired.
Biden’s decision to make Colorado the permanent home for the U.S. Space Command headquarters intensified an already heated feud with U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who accused the White House of “injecting politics into the military.”
Tuberville has accused the Biden administration of “blatant patronage politics” after it announced the headquarters of Space Command won’t be moving to his state as planned, but will instead remain in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Funding from the federal Inflation Reduction Act will boost nuclear power in New York and help lower the utility bills of millions living in the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
At a housing event in Montgomery County, the governor said federal officials have directed U.S. General Service Administration staff to find surplus properties that can be used to house asylum seekers.
Legal Aid Society officials slammed Hochul for not doing enough to address the state’s migrant crisis and threatened legal action.
“Kathy Hochul has only barely begun to look at this problem and has not brought the resources of the state to assist the city, but also to address the obligations that the state has to provide shelter and aid and care to the people who need it.”
People have come from all over the globe to a city that is legally required to give them a place to stay. This week, city officials said they had run out of room. More than 100,000 people now live in shelters in the city.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is eyeing heavily used soccer fields on Randall’s Island for migrant housing — less than a year after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars pitching and then taking down tents for asylum-seekers there.
Adams is tapping New York’s college students to assist thousands of migrants with their asylum claims.
The number of migrants being booted from the city’s overwhelmed shelter system under its controversial 60-day rule has ballooned from 100 to up to 600 in just the past week.
Federal and city officials have yet to provide any details including even the name of the liaison promised by the Biden administration to help ease the Big Apple’s migrant crisis — five days after the White House offered the paltry solution.
Repeat speeders in New York would be required to install technology, or “speed limiters,” in their vehicles under legislation introduced this week by two state lawmakers.
Across the nation, state leaders are taking steps to improve reading instruction for struggling students. But in New York, concern has grown: Is too little being done?
A Manhattan Democratic Party official has been identified as a “straw donor” who dealt with at least one of the defendants in the alleged criminal campaign-finance scheme that has rocked Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign.
After appointing a rat czar in April, Adams announced his next target: trash from food-related businesses. Restaurants, supermarkets and bodegas will be required to use containers for their trash in an effort to combat New York City’s rat problem.
The director of a Bronx anti-violence program listed as part of Adams’ plan to curb shootings was hit with drug and gun charges in a massive upstate bust, The Post has learned.
At the recent Conference of Mayors, elected officials representing 1,400 cities embraced a resolution to emulate New York City’s model of plant-based initiatives, with the aim of enhancing human health and environmental sustainability in their regions.
Adams: “While sidewalk sheds were created to protect New Yorkers from unsafe buildings and construction sites, their appearance has gotten out of control.”
Amtrak’s plan to tear down a block in Midtown to expand Penn Station is facing unexpected criticism from a high-profile executive within the agency: Andy Byford, the former NYC Transit president, who joined Amtrak in April.
Public-sector nurses at NYC Health + Hospitals are getting their biggest pay bump ever after an arbitrator intervened in stalled contract negotiations with the city’s hospital system and labor officials.
A driver fleeing police in a stolen car injured 10 people after he careened across a busy Manhattan sidewalk during yesterday’s evening rush hour just outside Grand Central Terminal, according to the NYPD.
A decades-old program at the City University of New York that provides financial help, tutoring and counseling is helping students stay enrolled — but not evenly across all six participating community colleges, a comptroller audit released yesterday found.
The city’s animal-care agency has shut down “cat intakes” at its three centers — as cash-strapped New Yorkers are surrendering their beloved pets in droves.
The Vatican rejected Albany Bishop Emeritus Howard J. Hubbard’s request to leave the priesthood, complicating decision by the diocese’s longest-serving bishop to marry as his legacy has been tainted by the organization’s handling of child sexual abuse cases.
“I have fallen in love with a wonderful woman who has helped and cared for me and who believes in me,” Hubbard, 84, said in a statement. “She has been a loving and supportive companion on this journey.” He did not identify his wife.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse will pay $100 million to survivors of child sexual abuse at the hands of the church’s clergy, religious leaders, lay employees and volunteers.
The state Department of Transportation will display its plans for the Bethlehem Route 9W bridge replacement tomorrow at a public meeting.
The sinkhole that swallowed a car Monday on McClellan Street in Schenectady was caused by a break in a very old storm water line, Mayor Gary McCarthy said.
Operators of the Vent Fitness group of Capital Region health clubs have gone to federal court, fighting the U.S. Small Business Administration’s demand that the company pay back $394,800 in pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program loans.
Sheila Y. Oliver, New Jersey’s lieutenant governor and the first Black woman to hold statewide elected office there, died yesterday after being rushed to the hospital the day before. She was 71.
Oliver’s family announced her death one day after she was hospitalized while acting as governor with Gov. Phil Murphy on vacation. Her cause of death was not revealed.
Three of Lizzo’s former dancers filed a lawsuit against her on in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing the Grammy-winning singer and the captain of her dance team creating a hostile work environment while performing concerts on her Special Tour this year.
Fran Drescher, the actress and union leader, leaned into her Queens roots in a City Hall appearance in Lower Manhattan to urge support for the actors’ strike.
The major entertainment studios and thousands of striking writers have agreed to meet to restart talks after a three-month standoff, according to the writers guild.
One of the largest lottery jackpots in U.S. history grew even larger early today, after no one matched the Mega Millions numbers that had been drawn last night: 8, 24, 30, 45, 61 and the golden Mega Ball of 12.
Taco Bell is being accused of false advertising regarding the amount of beef in its popular Crunchwrap Supreme and Mexican Pizza menu items, according to a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of all New York State customers.
