Good morning, it’s Thursday, which means we’re one day (OK, two full workdays, technically) away from Friday.
Spring is 12 days away, officially speaking – right around the corner.
There are things in the world that I am glad exist because I think they make society better. Generally, at least in the Liz Benjamin way of thinking, these things by definition must be available to everyone regardless of their income level. That includes public parks, beaches, and libraries.
Sometimes, I know, parks and beaches are not actually as accessible as they should be (again, IMHO), because of barriers like lack of public transit, parking and entrance fees.
But libraries are free to enter. You don’t even need a card, though one is likely required to borrow pieces of the collection (note that I didn’t just say “books” there, more on that later). Most libraries don’t charge for their cards, and if they do, the fee is minimal.
There are an estimated 117,341 libraries of all kinds across the U.S., according to the American Library Association, No annual survey provides statistics on all types of libraries.
A number of these libraries exist as a result of the largesse of the steel baron Andrew Carnegie, who donated more than $40 million between 1886 and 1919 to help build 1,679 new library buildings in communities across the nation. Many of these still exist – including in New York City, which received just over $5 million to construct libraries in every borough.
Libraries were just one focus of Carnegie’s philanthropic efforts, and undoubtedly his donations had a significant positive impact on hundreds of thousands of lives – and continue to do so. From what I can glean, Carnegie truly believed in the power of libraries – and education – stemming from his own experience as an immigrant growing up in Philadelphia, PA.
But, interestingly, I started viewing these contributions in a different way recently after listening to a podcast about sportswashing.
Carnegie used his philanthropy – just like so many other individuals, companies, and countries do today – in an effort to improve his standing in the public eye, despite some negative headlines related to things like worker treatment and strikes. Some communities actually rejected his money, though perhaps their reasons for doing so weren’t entirely pure, either.
There was a brief moment when people worried that libraries would become obsolete – or, at the very least, reference librarians would no longer serve a function because everyone would be able to be their own reference librarian through the power of search engines like Google.
But, as it turns out, libraries and librarians are more important than ever before – especially in this age of disinformation, misinformation, and just SO MUCH information to wade through. They are expert guides to point us in the right direction.
Also, libraries provide computer and online access for those who cannot afford it. They’re also community hubs and offer all manner of things on loan other than dead tree books, including ebooks, movies, board games, musical instruments, art work and art supplies, puzzles, tools, and much more – depending on the branch and the level of available funding.
These days, some libraries have become political lightning rods, which I find incredible depressing. School libraries, in particular, are taking it on the chin in the debate over what books are acceptable for young people to read, and there’s also an uproar over who should be reading books aloud to young readers, assuming they’re not able to read themselves.
I did not intend for this post to become an ode to libraries or a treatise on their current state of play. It really was supposed to be a set-up for Return Borrowed Books Week, which started on March 3 and runs through the 9th. (FWIW, click here if you want to get the download on some of the most overdue library books on record; according to Guinness World Records, the record late fee on an overdue book is $345.14 ).
Perhaps this is a good place to stop with a friendly PSA: Support your local library and patronize it often, but don’t forget to be a good and responsible library citizen and return what you borrow within the time allotted so someone else can also enjoy what’s on offer.
More rain is on tap this morning, though skies are forecast to clear in the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the high 40s.
More than 30 million people were under a flood watch from yesterday evening as a large coastal storm threatened New York City, Boston and other parts of the coastal Northeast, forecasters said, and commuters were cautioned to expect travel disruptions.
In the headlines…
The House passed a $460 billion package of spending bills that would keep money flowing to key federal agencies through the remainder of the budget year. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation before a midnight Friday shutdown deadline.
Staring down yet another spending deadline, Speaker Mike Johnson again relied on Democratic votes to push through a six-bill package to fund about half the government through the fall.
The bills easily passed with a vote of 339-85 with more Democrats backing it than Republicans.
The United States conducted strikes on two drones in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen late yesterday, according to a statement from US Central Command.
The United Nations said almost 40% of aid missions it coordinated in Gaza were denied or impeded by Israel last month.
Cease-fire negotiations have entered their most perilous moment in weeks, all but stalling even as U.S. and Arab mediators rush to reach a deal to pause fighting in Gaza and release some hostages held there ahead of a looming Ramadan deadline.
Officials say Hamas has continued to press Israel for a commitment to a permanent cease-fire after a multistage release of all hostages, but Israel has refused.
The US said that talks on a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza could still reach an agreement between Hamas and Israel, despite reports negotiations were at an impasse.
The St. Paul City Council unanimously approved a non-binding resolution yesterday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
Former President Donald Trump said he will do a “Play by Play” of the State of the Union address.
“I am pleased to inform you that tomorrow night we will be doing a LIVE, Play by Play, of Crooked Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, not clarifying as to what platform the “Play by Play” would happen on.
Johnson is urging GOP lawmakers to maintain decorum when Biden delivers his State of the Union address, after Republicans had a number of outbursts during last year’s speech.
Fueled by throat-soothing tea, guided by teleprompters and surrounded by six aides and a historian at Camp David, President Biden honed tonight’s State of the Union speech that will be watched by one of his biggest audiences before this year’s election.
Biden faces at least two big tasks in his State of the Union speech: to offer an agenda for the rest of his term, and to show voters he is ready for another one.
The address is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. CT/ 7 p.m. MT/ 6 p.m. PT. It will be carried by ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX on network television. CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and NewsNation will air the address on cable.
Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, declined a White House invitation to attend the State of the Union address, her office said, citing a scheduling conflict. The Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya also declined an invitation.
There may have been more to Zelenska’s declination than her office was willing to admit.
Gov. Kathy Hochul will attend Biden’s State of the Union address, invited by Rep. Adriano Espaillat of Manhattan.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley dropped out of the 2024 presidential race after losing every state but Vermont in Super Tuesday’s primary contests, ceding the Republican nomination to Trump, though she didn’t endorse him.
Haley’s decision to end her campaign effectively kicks off the general election, with Trump and Biden taking unofficial command of their parties early in primary season after a string of victories.
Haley issued a broad call for Republicans to rediscover what the party has previously stood for. She also called on Trump himself to reach out to voters who are not yet convinced that he’s the right choice for their party or for the country.
Members of Biden’s campaign finance team began privately reaching out to Haley donors after the former U.N. Ambassador announced she was suspending her presidential campaign.
Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota dropped his long-shot Democratic primary bid against Biden, ending a run that centered on a call for generational change and concern about losing the White House to Trump, and endorsed the president for re-election.
“The alternative, Donald Trump, is a very dangerous, dangerous man,” Phillips said. “I would simply ask and invite and encourage Haley supporters, Trump supporters, uncommitted supporters to unify behind decency and integrity.”
“It is clear that alternative is not me,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “And it is clear that Joe Biden is OUR candidate and OUR opportunity to demonstrate what type of country America is and intends to be.”
Progressive media personality Cenk Uygur said that he is ending his long-shot Democratic presidential bid.
Jason Palmer, who defeated Biden in the American Samoa primary, is an Averill Park High School graduate.
Arizona prosecutors in recent weeks issued grand jury subpoenas to multiple people linked to Trump’s 2020 campaign, a sharp acceleration of their criminal investigation into efforts to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.
Hochul is deploying 750 members of the Guard and 250 state and MTA police officers to subway stations to inspect passengers’ bags following a spate of violent incidents across the system.
A large show of force in the system, which is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, will help commuters and visitors feel safe, the governor maintained.
“No one heading to their job or to visit family or go to a doctor appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon,” Hochul told reporters.
Officials have spent millions to make New Yorkers transit riders feel safe. The investment is motivated more by passengers’ perception than by crime rates.
Hochul and the civic nonprofit Code For America announced that beginning on Tuesday, March 12, New York residents will be able to file their state taxes for free thanks to a new tool.
AG Letitia James and 40 other attorneys general sent a letter to Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, urging the company to reexamine its security measures after a recent increase in account takeovers.
Nassau County, which that has moved to prevent transgender women and girls from taking part in sports consistent with their gender identity, has sued James after she urged the county to rescind its executive order.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman filed a 12-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York seeking a declaratory judgment. The lawsuit cites the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Assemblyman Robert Smullen’s 14-year-old son, who was gravely injured Feb. 22 after being hit by a car, has died, the assemblyman announced on his Facebook page early yesterday morning.
A group of landlords filed a legal challenge to Newburgh’s housing emergency declaration, alleging that the city didn’t properly conduct a vacancy study to demonstrate the lack of housing allowing it to opt into the state Emergency Tenant Protection Act.
Amid mounting concerns over violent crimes plaguing the city’s subway system, Mayor Eric Adams said that the root problem lies in a “surge in recidivism.”
IBM pushed back against the Adams administration’s blame for technical failures during last month’s remote snow day, testifying that the city purchased systems without enough capacity for the nation’s largest school district.
Last year, city officials asked schools to test virtual instruction in preparation for days when school is closed because of weather conditions. But IBM was not directly involved in the simulations.
Dozens of angry ralliers braved heavy rains outside the Brooklyn Museum to protest antisemitism in public schools — which they claim Chancellor David Banks has “done nothing” to prevent.
New York City public schools are exploring the possibility of staggering class start times to avoid a repeat of the widespread technical problems students experienced on a remote learning day during a snowstorm last month, local education officials said.
A city Education Department spokesperson said officials plan to announce the return of some popular lunch options cut due to nearly $60 million in budget reductions.
A new bill now being weighed by city legislators would require health authorities to warn New Yorkers about the dangers of taking Ozempic and other diabetes drugs for weight loss.
Some of New York City’s wealthiest and most suburban neighborhoods are barely adding any new subsidized apartments at all for low- and middle-income residents, even as renters face the deepest affordable housing shortage in decades, a review of data show.
New York City FC inched closer to calling Queens its permanent home — securing a crucial approval for a new stadium the same day the professional soccer club unveiled new renderings of the venue.
The Manhattan DA’s office dropped charges against three men accused of criminally possessing Don Henley’s handwritten notes and lyrics to the 1976 album “Hotel California” amid new evidence a judge said the Eagles star and his lawyers hid.
Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will star in a Broadway production of “Othello” next year, setting up what is sure to be one of the hottest tickets of the 2024-2025 theater season.
Following several days of high temperatures and rain, a number of ski areas around the greater Capital Region remained closed yesterday — but according to their websites or managers, they have plans to reopen later in the week or on the weekend.
The Saratoga City Council voted to pause the clock on the statute of limitations for the AG’s office to file a lawsuit based on a report that harshly criticized the city for actions taken by administrators and police during racial justice protests in the summer of 2021.
Albany County is seeking to buy the shuttered South End Grocery store.
The Downtube Bicycle Works, the Madison Avenue shop that’s been a regular stop for regional wheelmen and -women for more than a half-century, has reached the end of its ride. It will close for good by the end of the month.
The Williamstown Theatre Festival’s 70th-anniverary season this summer will present three traditional stage productions, or one-third of what the prestigious company offered in its last full season in 2019.
The parents of a Mohonasen student have filed a complaint with the state, asking that a school board member be removed after making public comments they said encouraged discrimination against the LGBTQ community, and also mentioned their daughter.
The armorer who put a live round into the gun that Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with on the set of the film “Rust” when it went off, killing the cinematographer, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
