Good morning, it’s Wednesday, and we made it through the first full month of winter. We’re barreling toward the halfway point of the dark and cold season (AKA Candlemas and also Groundhog Day – both of which fall on Feb. 2 – more on that later in the week).
We’re about to embark on U.S. Snow Sculpting Week, another of those things that I had no idea existed until I started the daily “research” process for this post. (I use that term loosely, because as you know, there is nothing scientific about what happens in this space).
This week corresponds with the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship, which are held annually as part of the annual Winterfest held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where, as I write this, it’s a balmy 41 degrees – actually WARMER than upstate New York.
They’re actually looking at a string of warm-ish weather, seasonally speaking, which I have to think isn’t the best when it comes to hosting a festival that is, at its core, a celebration of ice, snow, and cold. According to the experts, the ideal temperature for snow carving is between 20 and 25 degrees, but this contest goes on regardless of whether Mother Nature cooperates.
As for the Snow Sculpting contest, it’s the ONLY one of its kind in the U.S., according to the festival website, and features 15 teams from around the country who work around the clock for 72 hours to make larger-than-life sculptures, using axes, shovels, picks and more. No power tools are allowed.
Teams need to have won or placed in a state-level contest in order to qualify for participation. As far as I can tell, there’s no actual prize – other than a medal and bragging rights.
Wisconsin is plenty snowy. But snow sculpting brings things to a whole different level. To ensure the artists have sufficient medium with which to execute their frigid designs, snow is trucked in from the Grand Geneva Resort, which has snow-making machines that it uses to keep its ski hill covered.
According to the local newspaper, a “crew of Winter Fun ‘stompers’ then packs the snow into rectangular wooden forms that stand 8 feet by 8 feet by 10 feet tall, with the forms peeled away, leaving massive snow blocks for teams to start carving.”
The ephemeral nature of snow sculptures is part of their inherent appeal. You only have a limited time to enjoy them – despite all the time and effort it takes to create them – because once things get really warm, they’re gone.
In our neck of the woods, we will see a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the mid-to-high 30s. Almost – but not quite – perfect snow sculpting weather. Maybe snowperson-making weather?
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden says he has decided how the US will respond to a drone strike that killed three American troops in Jordan. He did not elaborate in his remarks at the White House, but added: “I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East.”
Retaliatory strikes by the U.S. so far have yet to deter any of these Iranian-backed groups in the region. Asked if this upcoming response will actually deter them, Biden said, “we’ll see.”
Biden said he has done “all I can do” as the standoff between Texas and his administration continues.
Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee pressed on impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, for his handling of the southwestern border, racing forward with a partisan indictment of Biden’s immigration policies.
Mayorkas took aim at what he called “baseless” and “false” allegations leveled against him by House Republicans ahead of a key vote on impeachment articles in the House Homeland Security Committee.
Former President Donald Trump is crushing Nikki Haley by a more than 2 to 1 margin in new internal poll of the next major Republican primary state of South Carolina.
Trump’s name will stay on the ballot in the March primary in Illinois, after the state’s election board ruled 8-0 that it doesn’t have the authority to determine whether he violated the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.
The board, which is made up of four Democrats and four Republicans, heard the case regarding a petition brought by five voters earlier this month that argued that Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot.
Trump awaits judgment this week in a civil fraud case that seeks $370 million and threatens to dissolve his real estate empire, although such a “death penalty” for a business is rarely handed down and Trump has vowed to appeal.
Trump piled up legal expenses in 2023 as he was indicted four times, spending approximately $50 million in donor money on legal bills and investigation-related expenses last year, according to two people briefed on the figure.
As he looks past the GOP primary and towards a likely general election rematch against Biden, Trump will meet with members of the Teamsters Union in Washington this afternoon as he tries to cut into Biden’s support.
Biden raised campaign cash in Trump country (AKA, South Florida).
Biden will travel to Michigan tomorrow as he tries to rally support among voters in a battleground state viewed as central to his reelection chances.
Conservative media personalities are raging over a new enemy and onetime Biden endorser whose power has never been more undeniable: Taylor Swift.
The special prosecutor leading the election interference case against Trump will not have to testify this week about an alleged romantic relationship with his boss, Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County DA, after reaching a temporary agreement in his divorce case.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants federal lawmakers to work across the political aisle and take swift action to reach a deal on immigration reform and keep a 35-year national ban of fully plastic ghost guns intact.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who represents the Bronx and Westchester County, espoused conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks while serving as a public high school principal, it was revealed this week.
The posts were reportedly made before 2014, when Bowman was principal at the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action in the Bronx, and deleted by 2016. In a statement, Bowman said he “regrets” the posts, but did not explain why he write them.
Gov. Kathy Hochul officially wrapped up 2023 legislative business when she signed the so-called Rape is Rape Act – the last bill left from last year that the governor had not addressed.
The state Assembly passed a key chapter amendment to the Rape is Rape Act Monday, establishing an updated effective date and providing clarity for prosecution.
“Today, we are bringing the language of the law in line with what survivors have been forced to endure,” Hochul said.
The state’s current limited definition was a factor in writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation case against Trump.
New York state Senate Republicans unveiled a legislative package intended to counteract changes to education funding outlined by Hochul in her executive budget proposal earlier this month.
State workforce vacancies continue to be a focal point amid hearings on Hochul’s proposed budget, with labor leaders pushing for a final spending plan to include changes they believe will help recruit and retain employees.
New York officials are looking to create “transitional titles” to allow migrants who have received federal work authorization to work in the state workforce, according to a memo being circulated by the state Civil Service Commission.
“Hotel owners and restaurant owners coming to me: ‘Can you send some of the migrants up here? We need them.’ I hear this in every corner of the state,” explained Hochul at an Albany-based press conference when asked about the program.
The initiative is open to anyone in New York who has legal work authorization from the federal government, including American citizens, Green Card holders and migrants. It only applies to temporary positions.
In recent weeks, some of New York’s top elected officials have used their bully pulpits to take aim against what, for them, has become a common enemy: Social media and its effect on kids.
The New York City Council voted 42-9 to override Mayor Eric Adams’ vetoes on a solitary confinement ban and a bill to document police stops. It was only the second time in nearly a decade that the Council has overridden a mayor’s veto.
That marked wider margins than when the bills were first passed, casting a damning light on the mayor’s private and public efforts in recent weeks to convince Council members to oppose the overrides.
Led by a relatively moderate Democrat aligned with the body’s progressive members, the Council delivered a striking rebuke to Adams by overriding two of his vetoes by an overwhelming margin.
In a statement following the vote, Adams said that this development “may end up undermining” the city’s steps to bring crime down.
“I did my job. I felt that the bill wasn’t where we should have been. We vetoed that,” Adams said.
Adrienne Adams, the speaker of the City Council, has become one of Mayor Adams’s most powerful critics as he struggles with crises and low approval ratings.
Adams’ proposed $250 million cuts to preschool programs and youth services will drive more working class families out of the city, according to a letter from a coalition of more than 100 organizations.
Major crime in the Big Apple — including murders and shootings — dipped during the first four months of last fiscal year, an early look at the mayor’s annual report shows.
The Adams administration is making headway in collecting more street trash and curbing violent crime but struggling to build street safety infrastructure, keep police response times prompt and process cash assistance applications.
The number of homeless people in New York City’s shelter system skyrocketed 53% over the past year — driven by the unrelenting surge of migrants, according to Adams’s preliminary management report.
A onetime top editor of an Orthodox Jewish newspaper in Brooklyn pleaded guilty to obstructing police officers’ efforts to hold off the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
New York City’s favorite floating bar could reopen by year’s end, as the Department of Transportation announced it is seeking vendors to bring food, coffee and beer concessions back to the Staten Island Ferry.
Officials are moving ahead with work to repair the decaying Eastern Approach staircase at the state Capitol, with a projected completion of 2028.
The owners of the decrepit Central Warehouse in downtown Albany have decided it’s not financially realistic to redevelop the longstanding 11-story eyesore and are pursuing demolition.
Fifty students with intellectual or developmental disabilities, who were attending classes at The College of Saint Rose, have found a new home at Russell Sage College.
Photo credit: George Fazio
