Good morning. It’s Wednesday.
Let’s start with a PSA: In case you have been living under a rock, or otherwise engaged with other, more important things – like tracking the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce relationship developments in real time – you might not be aware of the fact that a nationwide test of the federal emergency alert system will be occurring this afternoon.
What does that mean for you? Well, at approximately 2:20 p.m. (Eastern), all your wireless cellular devices, as well as your TVs and radios (assuming they’re on at the time), will receive an emergency alert message that will last for about half an hour.
Your mobile phone will receive a message that reads: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” In addition, your iPhone – if you have one – will vibrate and play what news reports say will be a “a special sound that’s similar to an alarm”.
This will occur even if you’ve placed your iPhone on silent, and if you have your phone set for Spanish you’ll receive these messages in that language.
FEMA and the FCC are in charge of running the test as a dry run for an actual emergency. The main purpose is make sure that the alert system is running as it should in case of the real thing, which could be a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, or some sort of calamity we haven’t even though of yet…alien invasion? Zombie apocalypse? Who knows?
FEMA is legally required to test the emergency alert system at least once every three years, and the last time one took place was 2021.
This test will be running on the same system that runs National Weather Service and Amber alerts. (Here in the Capital Region, we just experienced the latter following the abduction of Charlotte Sena, 9, which, thankfully, ended with her safe recovery).
All bets are off if an actual, real-life emergency occurs, in which case the test will be postponed. (It will be very clear if this happens, because there will be no “THIS IS A TEST” messaging, but rather information about what is happening and instructions on what to do and where to go).
Now, you can’t say that no one told you when you jump out of your skin as your phone starts buzzing and bleeping or whatever it does. You’ve been forewarned. Then again, it really has been reported pretty widely – I’m just really late to the table, and assumed I might not be the only one.
Also, for those who keep track of the 27 Club – Janis Joplin died on this day in 1970 at the age of 27 of an accidental drug overdose.
It’s going to be unusually warm – maybe even historically so – for this time of year again tomorrow, with temperatures again flirting with the mid-80s. Perhaps it will be a hair cooler than yesterday, but not so much as it would be easy to notice. We’ll have some clouds in the morning, which will give way to sunny skies in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
Republican Kevin McCarthy’s deal with hardline House conservatives that handed him the speaker’s gavel in January unraveled yesterday as those same right-wing rebels, joined by Democrats, shoved him out of the leadership post.
McCarthy’s 269-day reign as speaker was ended by a 216-210 vote – a move that has no marker in modern history and paralyzes Congress for the time being. The rebellion was led by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz.
McCarthy, who ruled himself out of trying for the job again, was booted three days shy of the nine-month anniversary of his election as speaker on the 15th ballot this past January.
McCarthy ripped into the Republicans who voted to dethrone him from the speaker’s chair in a defiant message to members of his own party. “They’re not conservatives and they don’t get to call themselves conservatives,” he said.
Next steps are uncertain, but there is no obvious successor to lead the House Republican majority. Republicans said they would leave Washington until next week, with no clear path to finding a new speaker of the House.
Gaetz’s successful push to oust McCarthy has cemented his status as one of the most reviled members of the House of Representatives and drawn attention to a long-running investigation by the House Ethics Committee into Gaetz’s conduct.
Right-wing pundits and lawmakers are already rallying around the idea of former President Donald Trump as the next Speaker of the House following McCarthy’s shock ouster.
Texas Rep. Troy Nehls said in a statement yesterday afternoon his first order of business when the House reconvenes “will be to nominate Donald J. Trump for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was evicted from her private Capitol office by the new speaker pro-tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.
In a stunning turn of events, the Manhattan judge presiding over Trump’s civil fraud case imposed a gag order midway through the second day of his trial after learning Trump had targeted his chief law clerk online.
The former president attacked Justice Arthur F. Engoron’s clerk in a social media post that soon disappeared. He was called to account behind closed doors, then chastised in court as the judge issued a limited “gag order.”
“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances,” Justice Engoron said. The judge, who is known for a lighthearted courtroom atmosphere, spoke gravely.
Trump told reporters he plans to return to court today as he left the courtroom following a closed proceeding yesterday afternoon.
Fulton county prosecutors in Georgia have approached several defendants about plea agreements in the sprawling criminal racketeering case dealing with Trump’s efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
Trump is no longer rich enough to be included in the Forbes 400, an annual ranking of America’s wealthiest individuals, Forbes magazine said.
Trump is still a billionaire, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $2.6 billion. But that’s down from the magazine’s estimate a year earlier that the real estate tycoon was valued at $3.2 billion, which earned him a place on the 2022 rich list.
Trump’s campaign is calling on the Republican National Committee to cancel all remaining presidential primary debates, saying the RNC must instead “refocus its manpower” on defeating Biden next year.
Four students were among five people shot at Morgan State University in Baltimore, an historically Black institution, last night during homecoming week, sending the school into lockdown for over two hours.
One woman and four men, ages 18 to 22, were being treated for gunshot wounds that weren’t life-threatening, Richard Worley, the city’s police commissioner, said at a news conference.
The Adams administration asked a judge to allow it to suspend the city’s right-to-shelter mandate until the count of single adults seeking shelter drops, laying out in new detail the circumstances when it should be able to disregard the longtime commitment.
On the eve of the mayor’s trip to Latin America, city lawyers formally filed a legal application that will kickstart a months-long court battle with advocates and could suspend hallmark protections for homeless New Yorkers that have been in place for decades.
Adams disavowed his chief adviser’s assertion that the federal government should “close the borders,” saying his “official position” is the “borders should remain open” and the feds should implement a decompression strategy to address the influx of migrants.
The city is under new siege from the border as 800 migrants poured into the Big Apple in a single day in the past week — double the usual number — leaving officials scrambling to open even more shelters.
Newly arrived migrants are hawking candy, fruit and beverages in New York City, often with young children in tow. Turf battles with more established vendors are becoming common.
Adams touted “the level of scrutiny” he and his campaign have put to vetting political contributions — despite an indictment alleging straw donors gave to his campaign and inconsistencies with other donations unearthed by news outlets.
New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks admitted that administration officials misused the term “shelter in place” when informing the public how to protect themselves during a storm that paralyzed much of the city, including roads and the subway.
Their new power ranking of America’s best “foodie” cities not only relegates the Big Apple outside of the top 10 but also includes many unlikely entries in the eater’s elite.
MTA officials are reminding riders to act politely toward their fellow commuters as mass transit ridership continues to rebound. A revamped “courtesy campaign” will display advertisements — across trains, buses and stations — on proper transit etiquette.
A significant portion of the Great Lawn in Central Park will be closed to the public until at least April 2024, following “damage” from the Global Citizen Festival that took place at the end of September, according to Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer.
The Central Park Conservancy said heavy equipment and large crowds at the Sept. 23 festival damaged much of the Great Lawn and destroyed about a third of the grounds.
The son of the man accused of kidnapping 9-year-old Charlotte Sena from a state park last weekend says his dad should die.
Craig Nelson Ross Jr. is charged with kidnapping in the first degree and further charges are anticipated. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6. He was remanded to Saratoga County Correctional Facility without bail.
“We are thrilled that she is home and we understand that the outcome is not what every family gets,” Jené Sena, Charlotte’s aunt, said in a statement.
Ross was the subject of a recent State Police investigation into allegations that he had sexually abused a female family acquaintance when she was about 12 years old.
The incident was alleged to have occurred more than a year ago, but the complaint against 46-year-old Craig N. Ross Jr. was filed this summer. State Police closed that investigation last month without filing any charges.
A very convincing Halloween display brought Glens Falls firefighters to a home that appeared to be going up in flames.
The trial in a sexual assault case involving heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson — a former resident of upstate New York who is accused of assaulting a woman outside a popular Albany nightclub — could take place in Albany as early as next summer.
A contractor is seeking approval to build warehouses near the Watervliet Reservoir in Guilderland, requesting an exception from a 500-foot distance rule for development in the area.
Former Saratoga Springs public safety commissioner Robin Dalton said she had “bloodlust” in 2021 when she pleaded with police to arrest Black Lives Matter protesters — at one point texting the chief “arrest those f——“, according to a record of her messages.
Opening arguments in the Darryl Mount Jr., wrongful death lawsuit against Saratoga Springs police was adjourned yesterday in Supreme Court after a plaintiff’s attorney, Brian Breedlove, called in sick.
For the second straight year, Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman’s proposed budget for 2024 holds the line on property taxes.
