Good Tuesday morning.
Somehow we’re on the cusp of a brand new month. April really flew by.
We certainly had our fair share of showers – not to mention snow and overcast, freezing cold days (for spring, anyway). While it looks like there are more than a few wet days ahead of us, I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to stay about 50 degrees for the foreseeable future.
Just 51 days until summer!
Today is International Jazz Day, which I feel compelled to mention but not dwell on, given yesterday’s tribute to Duke Ellington. Some of you undoubtedly feel like one can never have too much jazz. But even though I’m a fan, I have my limits. I don’t like to repeat post topics two days in a row.
Today is also the last day of Passover, so there are bagels in the future of those who have been observing. And cereal. And pretzels. And, well, everything. I did, however, just learn that matzo/matzah pizza is a thing. How did I not know this?
One might argue that it is the original thin crust/flatbread version of pizza.
I went down the rabbit hole a little on that one, and found that (of course) there’s debate over how to make it to ensure it stays K for P. Some rabbis insist that you can’t use sauce or anything else too wet because you don’t want to accidentally trigger the fermenting process, which is a no-no for Passover. (Remember the 18 minute rule).
Speaking of things I don’t know a lot about, today is National Mahjong Day, celebrating the tile-based game that has been around since its advent in the 19th century in China, but is particularly beloved (or so the cliche goes) by Jewish ladies of a certain age.
Apparently, Mahjong is SO deeply entwined in the lives of some Jews that even those deeply familiar with the game believed that it originated in East European shtetls – not China – and that “mahjong” itself was a Yiddish word. If you want to go really deep on how that happened, click here.
Like so much else involving “newcomers” to the U.S. (Jewish and Asian immigrants in this case), the history of this game – which I have also see spelled “mah jongg” – is complicated and fraught.
I have tried several times to learn to play and failed. I also failed at bridge and poker. Maybe this is a me thing and not an indication that these games are particularly challenging to learn.
Anyway, the overview of mahjong: It’s traditionally a four-player game, though there are some three-player variations. It’s played with a set of 144 tiles originally based on Chinese characters and symbols. (As an aside, “American” mahjong apparently is played with 136 tiles? If this isn’t the case, someone set me straight).
Either way, each player starts with 13 tiles. The objective is to draw and discard tiles until one completes a “legal hand”. The 14th drawn tile is used to form four sets and a pair (known as ‘melds’ and ‘eye’). A set of dice is also involved. You win if your set of 14 tiles has four melds (or suits) and a pair.
If you managed to make heads or tails out of that you are a smarter person than me. I think I”ll stick to rummy, Scrabble, and crossword puzzles. Though lately I’ve become a real fan of Strands, which is in a beta version on the NYT site.
I started with the weather, and will also end with the weather. Today will be cloudy with occasional showers. Temperatures will top out in the mid-to-high 60s.
In the headlines…
Hamas is reportedly considering a new framework proposed by Egypt that calls for the group to release as many as 33 hostages kidnapped from Israel in exchange for a pause in hostilities in Gaza.
The US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, hopes that Hamas will accept what he has called Israel’s “extraordinarily generous” offer for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal.
A coalition of lawyers domestic and abroad — including at least 20 that work in the Biden administration — are calling on President Joe Biden to halt military aid to Israel, arguing that its actions in Gaza do not comply with U.S. and international humanitarian law.
Israel’s latest offer would accept fewer hostages to be freed during the first phase of a new truce in Gaza, according to three Israeli officials, offering a hint of hope for cease-fire negotiations that could restart as soon as today.
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday primarily discussed the release of hostages in Gaza, a source familiar with their phone call said, and Biden reiterated his “clear position” on a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah.
Eight law officers were shot yesterday, four fatally, as a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force tried to serve a warrant in Charlotte, N.C., the police said, in one of the deadliest days for law enforcement in recent years.
A total of eight law enforcement officers were shot during the incident, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said. He described the shooting as “the most tragic one” he had been involved with in his 32-year-long law enforcement career.
The officers were part of a US Marshals Service-led task force who were attempting to serve a warrant against a felon wanted for illegally possessing a firearm when gunfire erupted on the suburban street.
Pro-Palestinian student activists say their movement is anti-Zionist but not antisemitic. It is not a distinction that everyone buys.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University occupied a hall on campus early this morning, hours after school officials ordered the dispersal of a protest encampment.
Protesters began marching around the Manhattan campus to chants of “Free Palestine” after midnight. Within 20 minutes, some had seized Hamilton Hall, a building that has been at the center of campus protests since the 1960s.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched around the protest encampment at Columbia University yesterday afternoon to protect it as a 2 p.m. deadline set by the university to clear its central lawn passed and students inside had not dispersed.
Around three dozen Columbia employees wearing brightly colored crossing guard-style vests reading “faculty” linked arms outside the encampment in silence, joining the students after the deadline lapsed
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was among the students arrested at a Columbia protest encampment against Israel’s actions in Gaza, suggested while visiting the protesters on campus last week that some Jewish students supported genocide.
New York University officials will move to discipline student demonstrators who remain in a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, the university announced in a statement yesterday.
The encampment was erected on Friday, as similar sites spread on college campuses across the country, following Columbia University’s lead. Students removed their tents on Friday as N.Y.U. demanded but continued to stay overnight at the encampment.
The building at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, includes the campus president’s office and has been occupied for a week by pro-Palestinian protesters who barricaded themselves inside and fought off an attempt by the police to remove them.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has a new lease on political life after the passage of a $237 billion state budget that includes policy wins on housing, education, and retail theft.
The approved $237 billion state budget has garnered widespread reactions from nonprofits across New York.
A group that helped thwart the confirmation of Hochul’s choice to lead New York’s highest court last year has announced a campaign aimed at pushing elected officials to more closely scrutinize judicial nominees and appointees across the state.
Hochul delivered a scathing message to the “above the law” Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorleywhose traffic stop last week was captured on bodycam video.
In the 18-minute video released by the Town of Webster, Doorley, a former Democrat who switched to the GOP in 2015, attempts to talk her way out of a traffic ticket inside her garage after a Webster police officer spotted her speeding and she didn’t stop.
The footage showed the tense exchange between Doorley and Officer Cameron Crisafulli, in which the district attorney ignores the officer’s commands, curses at him and repeatedly asks for a police supervisor.
Doorley apologized: “I was dealing with three homicides that occurred on the weekend, I watched a video where an innocent cab driver was executed and I was still reeling from a frightening medical concern that my husband received that afternoon.”
“We all have bad days and stress and it was wrong for me to take it out on an officer who was just doing his job. While I previously apologized to him, I will say it again, I’m sorry. Police already have a tough job and that day, I made this officer’s job harder.”
As smaller State University of New York colleges propose program cuts to get out of deficit, professors are arguing that SUNY should use new state funding to eliminate those deficits for one year instead.
Wells College, in the Finger Lakes, is closing at the end of the semester, college officials announced yesterday morning in a letter posted to the college website. This is the last week of classes of the current semester.
As New York nears climate goal deadlines, renewable energy projects are facing delays in the permitting process, according to an audit by the state comptroller’s office.
Fresh off a state budget that delivered long-awaiting housing reforms, a new battle is underway over a city-level package that could significantly boost construction in the five boroughs, testing Adams’ ability to push the policies through against likely opposition.
Adams is being urged to reinstate ferry service between Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Adams penned an op-ed making the case for his recently proposed budget, which he says is a win for working-class New Yorkers.
The MTA is making a push to fill empty retail space at iconic Big Apple subway stations — including considering filling the vacant storefronts with art installations.
Major felonies on the subway system are down 6.4% in the first four months of 2024 after a winter of high-profile subterranean crimes, according to NYPD stats released yesterday.
People of color who work for the New York City government make 16 cents less on average for every $1 their white counterparts make — and the gap is even wider for women of color — according to a new report from the City Council.
The city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is suing a chain of funeral homes popular amongst Spanish-speaking communities for allegedly exploiting grieving families.
The lawsuit accuses R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home Inc. of using deceptive and opaque business practices, including refusing families information about the location of loved ones’ remains, concealing service prices and failing to provide services already paid for.
Voters in the Buffalo-based NY-26 today will elect a new representative to fill the seat that Rep. Brian Higgins vacated nearly three months ago. State Sen. Tim Kennedy, a Democrat, is running against West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson, a Republican.
St. Peter’s Health Partners said it will keep the Burdett Birth Center open for at least five years, reversing course on a planned closure that has for months prompted criticism based on concerns about the future of maternal care in Rensselaer County.
The Family Dollar store at 418 S. Pearl St. in Albany’s South End will close next month, dealing yet another blow to a neighborhood that has seen its share of businesses come and go and which continues to lack a full-service grocery store or supermarket.
A state Supreme Court justice upheld a jury verdict that awarded more than $191,000 to a wastewater treatment worker who was fired by the city of Amsterdam after testing positive for cannabis that had been prescribed to him for chronic back pain.
The Indian Ladder Trail at Thacher State Park was closed last week after a rock fall.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
