Good morning, You made it to Friday. Congratulations.

Now that it’s getting dark earlier, people are hunkering down at home more. It’s hard to get motivated to go out and about when the couch is calling your name.

Generally speaking, it has been proven that TV watching increases when the weather turns, though with the rise of on-demand/streaming services viewing behavior has changed.

As an adult, I am not a big TV fan. To be honest, I have no earthly idea how to turn on our TV, much less change the channels. (We do not, for the record, have cable, and as a former cable TV employee I am just fine with that – we don’t have a landline, either; some to think of it, I don’t think I know anyone who does, other than my parents).

The last series I watched with any regularity was “Only Murders in the Building,” which I really enjoyed for the first two seasons. I love New York City and I love Selena Gomez, and I used to live on the Upper West Side. I also love podcasts. So this show definitely had my name all over it.

To be honest, though, I kind of lost interest. I watched maybe the first episode of the latest season, and though I’m a big Meryl Streep fan, this one is just not doing it for me. This isn’t really the fault of the show, but rather a testament to my lack of sticktoitiveness when it comes to TV.

This really is a function of age, I think. Because when I was younger, I was definitely loyal to a number of favorite shows that I just hated to miss. Sesame Street was definitely one of them, and I’m sure I was not alone in that.

It’s kind of amazing that a show featuring, among other characters, a gigantic yellow bird, a messy green whatever he is in a garbage can, and a blue cookie-loving monster, has lasted this long.

The show, with its unique cast of humans and puppets, (Jim Henson’s Muppets, to be exact), debuted in 1969 on the National Educational Television network, which, a year later, became the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Its format – a combination of commercial production elements and educational approaches – was very cutting edge, even controversial, at the time. It was also the first time that a realistic street setting was used for a kids’ TV program. It also broke ground for employing women and people of color as part of its cast and crew.

Sesame Street has been continually broadcast since the day it launched, making it one of the longest-running shows in U.S. TV history.

As beloved as it is, Sesame Street has not been immune to controversy – some of them quite long-running, such as the whole “are Bert and Ernie gay” debate. The most recent dust-up did not involve the show itself, but rather the Philadelphia theme park Sesame Place, which is owned by SeaWorld Parks.

The company was slapped with a $25 million class action lawsuit by a Black family who alleged their 5-year-old daughter had been discriminated against by multiple costumed characters, who ignored her at a meet-and-greet event. There is video footage of this incident, which also involved another little girl of color, and caused the company to issue a public apology.

Even though it has remained on the air all this time, Sesame Street of today isn’t the same as it used to be. And soon, it will be undergoing yet another change.

The series will be getting a creative overhaul for its 56th season, which will debut in 2025. Most notable will be the end of the “magazine”-style format for which Sesame Street is known. This will be replaced by two longer, more narrative-driven segments, along with a new animated series, Tales From 123.

This whole post was not, as you might have speculated, motivated by a personal rumination about my own TV watching habits, but rather the fact that today is Sesame Street Day, which commemorates the day the show first aired (Nov. 10, 1969).

Since we won’t be together over the weekend, I’ll use this time to give a shout-out to all those who have served our country and are currently doing so in the armed forces. Tomorrow, in case you weren’t aware, is Veteran’s Day.

in care you’re wondering, when this federal holiday falls on a Saturday – as it does this year – observance takes place the Friday before (in other words, today). When it falls on Sunday, observation occurs the next day (Monday).

Either way, you get a day off, which is always nice, but be sure to take a moment to thank someone who served. I always try to remember to call my step-dad, who enlisted in the Marines fresh out of high school and did a stint in Vietnam. Even if we only talk for a few minutes, it always makes both of us feel good.

Today will be not bad, weather-wise, at least compared to what we saw yesterday. Skies will be cloudy and temperatures will be in the low 50s. The weekend will be dry, but brisk, with mostly sunny skies on both Saturday and Sunday, but temperatures only in the low-to-mid 40s.

In the headlines…

At a fundraising event in Chicago, President Joe Biden trolled Republicans after Democrats secured several victories on election night.

Biden landed in Chicago to talk about U.S. jobs but found himself dogged by more than a thousand pro-Palestinian protesters carrying “Genocide Joe” signs and demanding he push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Biden confirmed that he has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a three-day pause in the Gaza fighting and expressed frustration with some of his Israeli counterpart’s actions following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

The White House said that Israel had agreed to move forward with daily four-hour pauses of military operations in areas of Northern Gaza.

The four-hour periodic pauses by the Israeli military do not amount to a ceasefire and will not affect the fight in Gaza, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, adding that there would be no ceasefire until the release of the hostages.

Israel’s war on Hamas could set the Palestinian economy in Gaza and the West Bank back decades, according to a new analysis by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Israeli military has limited time to carry out its operations in Gaza before anger among Arabs in the region and frustration in the US and other countries over the spiraling civilian death toll constrain Israel’s goal of eradicating Hamas, U.S. officials said.

A senior Biden administration official told Congress this week that the number of deaths in Gaza from Israel’s military campaign might be “even higher than are being cited.”

The White House says “nothing has changed” with Biden’s stance on marijuana, declining to say if he supports Ohio’s vote to legalize this week or whether he backs further reform of federal cannabis laws.

Sen. Joe Manchin III, the conservative West Virginia Democrat known for bipartisan deal-making and also for frustrating some of his party’s most ambitious policy goals, announced he won’t run again, dealing a blow to Democrats’ chances of holding the Senate.

Manchin’s announcement stoked chatter about a third-party run for president next yeaar. But his allies have been tight-lipped about his plans.

“What I will be doing is traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together,” Manchin said in his retirement video.

Biden put on a red United Auto Workers shirt as he celebrated a labor deal that will reopen the Stellantis plant in Illinois, treating the factory’s salvation as a vindication of his decision to stand with striking union members as they demanded higher wages.

In remarks to a crowd of UAW members, Biden touted his historic support for organized labor, including his visit to a UAW picket line in September, contrasting his record with former President Donald Trump.

Trump said in a new interview that he could use the government to investigate his political opponents if he is reelected, suggesting it would be fair game after the Department of Justice indicted him in two separate cases earlier this year.

The former president offered a fresh defense for his administration’s decision to separate thousands of migrant families at the southern border, arguing it served as an effective deterrent.

Trump’s lawyers were thwarted in their long-shot bid to put an immediate end to the New York civil fraud trial that threatens the former president’s real estate empire.

The judge didn’t rule on the request, but he indicated that the trial will go on as scheduled Monday with Donald Trump Jr. returning to the stand as the first defense witness.

A Trump attorney went before a Michigan judge, arguing that neither the judge nor the secretary of state has the authority to keep Trump off the ballot in next year’s election despite a constitutional provision some legal experts say bars him from serving again.

In the wake of a massive rise in antisemitism, Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’d be open to plugging a loophole in New York’s bail laws that lets hate crime offenders back on the street after being busted.

New York state saw a 6% decrease in violent crime outside of New York City during the first six months of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced, using data collected by police departments and sheriffs’ offices in 57 counties.

State regulators slapped Rochester Regional Health with a $925,000 penalty on Thursday for violating Hochul’s order that hospitals reopen hundreds of psychiatric beds taken offline during the pandemic.

State and local officials gathered on Central Avenue in Albany yesterday, calling on Hochul to sign legislation which would organize a retail crime task force.

Dr. Ruth successfully lobbied the governor to earn the honorary position as the state’s official loneliness ambassador.

The 95-year-old sex therapist and veteran talk show host has “pledged to help New Yorkers of all ages address the growing issue of social isolation,” Hochul’s office said.

New York is requiring state health officials to develop an outreach program to educate parents and doctors about the harmful impacts of medically unnecessary treatments performed on young children born intersex.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called on the Big Apple to scrap its “sanctuary” city status if it wants federal money to help house thousands of migrants pouring into the city.

Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign accepted $6,000 from three donors who serve on the board of a foundation backed by the Turkish president’s son, campaign records show.

Adams’ former chief counsel, Brendan McGuire, confirmed that both he and fellow WilmerHale attorney Boyd Johnson are representing Adams’ 2021 campaign and the mayor in his personal capacity in response to a federal inquiry of the campaign.

Misconduct complaints against New York City police officers have risen to their highest levels since 2012, prompting some to put the blame on Adams’s extremely pro-police mayorship and claim it is deteriorating “the NYPD’s relationship with the community”.

Adams’ latest rodent infestation violation at his Brooklyn townhouse was thrown out — after the mayor submitted footage from the day of the reported rat inspection where “no one appears” to even examine his property, city documents show.

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters descended on Bryant Park yesterday afternoon and later occupied the lobby of the New York Times building as they called for the elimination of the Jewish state and accused President Biden of backing “genocide.”

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war shut down traffic in Midtown Manhattan last night, marking one of the largest actions in New York City in recent weeks.

Jewish billionaire and philanthropist Henry Swieca quit the Columbia University board of directors over what he called the Ivy League school’s “moral cowardice” for allowing a “blatantly anti-Jewish” sentiment to thrive on campus.

The office cleaners’ union is preparing to walk out to protect their health care benefits, amid the worst commercial real estate slump in decades.

An MTA official said New Yorkers should curb their enthusiasm over a planned train line between Brooklyn and Queens, saying the project may be held up until the agency gets the rest of its system on the right track.

A Manhattan civil jury has found that Robert De Niro’s production company discriminated and retaliated against his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, and has ordered the company to pay her more than $1.2 million in damages.

A state judge invalidated the Nassau County government’s approval of a 99-year lease agreement allowing Sands to construct a  $4 billion casino complex at the Nassau Coliseum site.

A woman who was held at the Albany County Correctional Facility for several months beginning in 2014 has accused multiple former correction officers of sexual assault while she was held at the jail.

A former state DOL employee who pleaded guilty to conspiring with a co-worker to use computer access privileges and inside knowledge to steal more than $1.6 million in pandemic unemployment insurance benefits got 3 years in federal prison.

The CWA Local 1118 union is trying to organize workers at a major state and federal contractor, but its efforts were off to a slow start, at least in the Capital Region, with just one employee picketing the company during a job action yesterday.

The heads of the City of Albany’s police and fire departments and county district attorney’s office will face one another in a breakfast-themed cook-off on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Pearl Street Diner.

RIP Alan Hevesi, who served in the state Assembly and as New York state comptroller before resigning because of scandal has died at the age of 83 after a “prolonged illness.”

The cause of death, at an assisted living facility, was Lewy body dementia, his son Andrew Hevesi said.