Good Monday morning. The start of another week – the first full week of November – is upon us.
We are on the cusp of the holiday season, which, to be quite honest, is not my favorite time of the year. I am something of a grinch in that respect, I know, and I try not to let my dislike of all the hullabaloo and festivities and lack of anything getting done negatively impact the experience of those around me who revel in all that this time of year brings.
Re-reading that paragraph, I guess I’m not doing too well in keeping my bah-humbuggyness to myself. This will be the last of it. I promise.
There will be lots of time for holiday-appropriate content, but there are some other – I would argue, equally important – topics worthy of attention in the meantime.
For example, we have embarked on Lung Cancer Awareness month – did you know this? Or were you too engrossed in pre-Thanksgiving meal planning and shopping for Christmas/Kwanza/Chanukah (which comes incredibly early this year, BTW, Dec. 7-15), to notice?
While smoking cigarettes continues to be the primary cause of lung cancer, linked to about 80% to 90% of lung cancer deaths, there appears to be a rise in the proportion of individuals diagnosed with the disease who say they were never smokers.
A study in 2017 of 12,103 lung cancer patients in three hospitals across the nation found that so-called “never-smokers” made up 8% of the total from 1990 to 1995, but that percentage almost doubled to14.9% from 2011 to 2013 – even though fewer people smoke in the U.S. today than in previous decades.
Public health experts, doctors, and researchers aren’t quite sure what is causing this troubling trend, but it has sparked debate over lung cancer screening practices.
The US Prevention Services Task Force currently recommends – and the American Cancer Society concurs – that annual screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) should be provided for adults aged 50 to 80 who have a 20 pack-year smoking history and either are still actively engaging in the habit or have quit within the past 15 years.
The earlier lung cancer is detected, the more treatment options a patient has, and the higher their chances of survival. The 5-year survival rate for those diagnosed before the cancer has spread rises from 18 out of every 100 people to 55 out of every 100, according to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America.
The problem is that most patients aren’t diagnosed until they are already in the later stages of the disease, which makes treatment more complicated. Many people live with lung cancer for years without having any clue of their disease, because in the early stages it largely asymptomatic.
Early symptoms that should not be ignored – BUT DO NOT NECESSARILY MEAN YOU HAVE CANCER (for all my fellow hypochondriacs out there) – include but are not limited to: shortness of breath, persistent cough (especially if you’re coughing up rust-colored stuff), chest pain, hoarseness, chronic bronchitis, feeling tired and weak and more.
The good news is that if you are a smoker – even a long-term one – and you quit today, you can significantly reduce your chances of developing lung cancer. Believe me, I know that’s easier said than done, but if you think you might be ready to at least have the conversation about quitting, there are resources available to help. Click here or here for more.
We’ll have a mix of sun and clouds this morning, giving way to mostly cloudy skies in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the low 50s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden is trailing Trump in five of the six most battleground states, suffering from doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found.
The results show Biden losing to Trump, his likeliest GOP rival, by margins of three to 10 percentage points among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Biden is ahead only in Wisconsin, by two percentage points.
The NYT/Siena poll was not an outlier in showing Biden in peril: A CBS News/YouGov national poll also released yesterday showed Trump leading Biden 51 percent to 48 percent — a reversal of Biden’s 51 percent to 47 percent victory in the 2020 election.
White House officials shrugged off the polling, emphasizing that the president still has a year to campaign, even as Democrats said they were increasingly worried about Biden’s chances in 2024.
It’s not just the topline numbers that should make the party wary. It’s also what’s in the crosstabs and other questions — specific areas of weakness for Biden on policy, personal attributes and among key segments of the electorate central to his re-election bid.
President son Hunter Biden is urging the Justice Department to investigate a former business associate named Tony Bobulinski over claims that he lied to federal investigators during an interview in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
The Israeli military announced its forces fully encircled Gaza City and were carrying out “a significant operation” in the Gaza Strip, as the entire enclave was plunged into the same widespread communications blackout that cut it off from the world 10 days ago.
The heads of 18 United Nations agencies and major aid organizations issued a rare joint statement yesterday calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan has called for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas, saying that supporting the protection of Palestinian lives does not equal being antisemitic or pro-terrorism.
In a rare announcement, the US military said a guided missile submarine has arrived in the Middle East, a message of deterrence clearly directed at regional adversaries as the Biden administration tries to avoid a broader conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken made an unannounced visit to Baghdad yesterday, sending a message to Iran and its proxies about the Biden administration’s commitment to defending its partners and U.S. personnel amid concerns of a wider conflict.
William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, arrived in Israel yesterday for discussions with leaders and intelligence officials, the first stop in a multicountry trip in the region, according to U.S. officials.
Former President Barack Obama has urged Americans to “take in the whole truth” when weighing Israel’s war against Hamas, saying everyone is “complicit to some to degree” in the conflict.
There’s no end in sight to Israel’s war against Hamas, a White House official suggested.
Thousands of protesters flocked to Washington on Saturday to demonstrate outside the White House, calling for the stoppage of American aid to Israel and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Media reports put the size of the crowd in the multiple tens of thousands.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, in an exclusive interview with “Meet the Press”, invited Donald Trump to visit Ukraine after the former U.S. president promised he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours if he is re-elected in 2024.
“I invite President Trump. If he can come here, I will need 24 minutes … to explain to President Trump that he can’t manage this war,” Zelenskyy added.
Trump is set to testify today at his New York civil fraud trial, taking the stand in a deeply personal matter that is central his image as a successful businessman and threatens to cost him control of marquee properties such as Trump Tower.
The former president will testify in a trial that threatens the business empire that created his public persona. He will be out of his element and under oath.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin slammed the Biden administration for “having its head completely buried in the sand” over the US border crisis — and creating a “massive national security issue” as a result.
Long Island Rep. George Santos is standing by his claims that he is “Jew-ish” — saying that he consulted with a genealogist to prove his grandparents actually did flee the Holocaust.
In a CNN interview, Santos refused to take off the table a potential plea deal with the federal government and acknowledged mistakes in his handling of key issues outlined in the criminal indictments against him even as he forcefully defended himself.
Santos vowed to win re-election despite being exposed as a serial liar, a raft of federal criminal charges filed against him and almost being expelled from Congress.
The Republican congressman said that progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow New Yorker, was his “inspiration” to get involved in politics.
A letter Santos sent to colleagues in the House thanking them for not expelling him was copy edited and returned by Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who had a little fun at his conservative counterpart’s expense.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a multi-agency push to reduce bridge strikes from trucks on roadways across the state.
Lawmakers are pleading with Hochul to not change legislation aiming to streamline the citizenship process for foreign-born New York soldiers and their families.
Hochul announced on Saturday that the state signed a funding agreement to expand the Second Avenue subway to 125th Street in Harlem.
Hochul announced the Focused Attraction of Shovel-Ready Tracts New York grant program will award nearly $90 million to six shovel-ready sites. Two of the six locations are in the Capital Region.
The state’s opioid advisory board released its second annual report, once again urging Hochul to consider the authorization of safe injection sites — a request she has long indicated she is unlikely to support.
Allowing New York college students to get a jump start on the financial aid process, the application for the New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) is now open for the 2024-2025 school year.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday bashed the Biden and Hochul administrations over the migrant crisis, saying both left the beleaguered city to fend for itself.
A state trooper accused of killing Monica Goods, 11, of Brooklyn in a high-speed chase lied when he said the minivan carrying her and her family twice sideswiped his police cruiser, according to a forensic analysis detailed in court papers by the state AG.
The United Food and Commercial Workers union has launched what it calls the first-in-the-nation apprenticeship program for aspiring “budtenders” to sell weed at licensed cannabis stores in New York and New Jersey.
Mayor Eric Adams has denied knowing anything about the construction firm at the center of the federal probe into his campaign finances — while acknowledging he’s been in touch with his top fundraiser, whose house was raided last week.
A recent college graduate, Brianna Suggs was an unusual choice to run Adams’s big-money fund-raising operation as he campaigned for mayor.
A co-owner of the Brooklyn construction company being scrutinized by the feds as part of a larger probe into Adams’ fundraising has long flaunted a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle.
KSK Construction Group has been a familiar presence in the city’s courtrooms over the years.
After a years-long delay, the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway extension is set to get underway, thanks to a $3.4 billion injection from the federal government.
The federal money covers less than half of the $7.7 billion estimated cost for the extension, which aims to add three new stops to the Q line, which currently terminates at East 96th Street.
Looking to crack down on wage theft and other forms of exploitation, the City Council passed legislation last week creating an Immigrant Workers Bill of Rights.
Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who authored the bill, said the measure was partly designed to protect asylum-seekers who have received their work papers and are now entering the city’s workforce.
Revel mopeds will soon be a thing of the past on New York City’s streets. After five years, the Brooklyn-based company announced on Friday that it would end operation of its bright blue two-wheelers, which once numbered in the thousands, on Nov. 18.
A former top aide to ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio has emerged as a key figure pulling political tricks in the final days of the heated race pitting Brooklyn Council member Justin Brannan against Ari Kagan.
A former longtime UAlbany adjunct professor was found liable by a Westchester County jury that returned a $13.3 million verdict against his estate after concluding he had raped and sexually abused his then-14-year-old nephew beginning in 1970.
A technology company that provides telephone services New York inmates has been targeted in multiple lawsuits alleging it has violated their privacy rights, including recording privileged calls with attorneys.
The wife of MTA boss Janno Lieber has raked in as much as $275,000 in the last seven years by transforming their luxe Brooklyn home into sets for film and TV productions.
The New Jersey-bound Holland Tunnel was shut down last night for flooding, officials said. All lanes to NJ were temporarily blocked around 7:10 p.m. due to a broken standpipe, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a post on X.
Creepy, crawly bugs and vermin abound at Rikers Island, say consultants who found signs of ants, flies, fruit flies, roaches, gnats, and drain flies, along with mice and mouse droppings.
The controversial South Shore Marina project, that the town’s Planning Board unanimously rejected and many residents opposed, has been dropped.
Foreclosed land and a house could become part of the Duanesburg Volunteer Ambulance Corps headquarters.
The negotiating committee of the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, told its members it had received a “Last, Best and Final Offer” from the major entertainment studios as a strike that has brought much of Hollywood to a standstill continued for a 114th day.
Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia set a course record of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 58 seconds to win the New York City Marathon men’s race yesterday while Hellen Obiri of Kenya pulled away in the final 400 meters to take the women’s title.
