Good morning, it’s Wednesday. Happy Eid al-Fitr (“the feast of breaking the fast”)!
I’m actually a little unclear as to where things stand with this holiday – a two-to-three-day celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.
It doesn’t officially start until the crescent moon that signifies the start of the month of Shawwal in the Islamic calendar is spotted. This isn’t something easily pinpointed ahead of time, and so nailing down the date can be tricky.
Like so many things, it seems like the total solar eclipse had an impact on the timing of Eid, because it made the crescent moon hard to spot in the sky.
Once it gets underway, Eid is a joyful holiday that focuses on prayer, food, and family. In fact, because during Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and spend time in self-reflection and prayer, there is a directive during Eid that one must NOT fast. Instead, it’s traditional to partake of large meals, replete with traditional foods – particularly sweets – though what’s on the table also depends on what region you’re in.
One is also expected to make an obligatory act of charity by donating at least one plate of food – or the financial equivalent – to the need and/or a charity. Every Muslim is expected to pay the Zakat al-Fitr, regardless of age, unless they are poor, indigent, in debt, or enslaved.
It’s also traditional to give gifts of treats and/or money to children. Often, people wear new clothes for Eid, and while this is not obligatory, it is expected that revelers will adorn themselves for the festivities.
The traditional greetings for the holiday are “Eid Mubarak” (Blessed Eid) or “Eid sa’id” (Happy Eid).
This Eid al-Fitr comes at a particularly difficult time, as the war in Gaza drags on, creating an imminent famine that the UN says is causing “horrifying levels of hunger and suffering” among Palestinians – particularly women and children. Hundreds of thousands of civilians who once hosted joyous family gatherings with abundant food now have no food and no tables to put it on or houses for those tables to stand in.
For the record, this is not a political statement, it is merely a statement of fact.
Eid al-Fitr is one of two major Muslim holidays. The other is Eid al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice), which occurs during the last month of the lunar calendar, (this year, it is expected to fall in the middle of June), and is held to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as an act of obedience to God.
After the complete gift of a day that we received yesterday – I hope you had a chance to get outside and enjoy it – today is a bit of a letdown in the weather department. It will be cloudy with occasional rain showers throughout the day, and temperature will top out somewhere in the low 60s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden lashed out at Donald Trump’s announcement that abortion should be left up to the states and warned of consequences should Trump win in November.
“No one trusts Donald Trump,” Biden said, pointing to how the former president made a “political deal” with the anti-abortion right.
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that anti-abortion legislation from 1864 can be “prospectively enforced” to impose a maximum five-year prison for those charged with aiding an abortion performed for any reason other than saving the life of the mother.
Democrats seized on the ruling, setting up a fierce political fight over the issue that is likely to dominate the presidential election and a pivotal Senate race in a crucial battleground state.
Doug Ducey, the former Republican governor of Arizona who signed its 15-week abortion restriction into law, said the ruling from the state’s Supreme Court banning nearly all abortions was not his “preferred” outcome.
Biden, who promised to continue to fight for the restoration of Roe v. Wade, said the ban was first enacted “well before women had secured the right to vote.” He called it “cruel” and “extreme.”
Vice President Harris will visit Arizona on Friday “to continue her leadership in the fight for reproductive freedoms,” the White House announced just after the state’s Supreme Court upheld a near-total abortion ban.
Biden may hit another bump on his way to getting on state presidential ballots, with Alabama’s top elections official asserting that he and vice president will miss the deadline to be certified as nominees in the state come November given the timing of the DNC.
In a letter to officials of the Alabama Democratic Party and the DNC, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, said the party must provide a certificate of nomination for Biden and Harris no later than Aug. 15 to appear on the general election ballot.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, more voters across the country identified as Democrats than Republicans. But four years into Biden’s presidency, that gap has shrunk, and the US now sits almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
Biden will host the first-ever leaders’ summit between the US, Japan and the Philippines this week, the latest attempt to draw Pacific allies and partners closer as the region grapples with China’s aggression and nuclear provocations from North Korea.
Biden has said he believes that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a “mistake” in his handling of Gaza, adding: “I don’t agree with his approach.”
Biden’s comments were some of his strongest criticism yet of Netanyahu amid growing tensions over the civilian death toll from Israel’s war on Hamas and dire conditions inside Gaza.
The president urged “the Israelis to just call for” a six-to-eight-week ceasefire, remarks the White House adamantly insisted did not mark a major shift in policy even though he did not mention Hamas or a hostage deal in his appeal to Israel.
An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed 14 people yesterday, according to Dr. Khalil Al-Dikran, the spokesperson of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
The Biden administration is dismissing Netanyahu’s pronouncement that a date has been set for a ground offensive into Rafah as bluster fueled by the Israeli prime minister’s tenuous political standing at home, senior administration officials said.
A New York appeals court judge rejected Donald Trump’s latest attempt to delay his criminal case in Manhattan, another blow to the former president’s increasingly desperate attempts to prevent the trial from starting next week.
The ruling came roughly one hour after Trump attorney Emil Bove argued that his client is entitled to a stay of the proceedings while he challenges the “unconstitutional” partial gag order Judge Juan Merchan handed down last month and expanded days later.
As soon as Monday, the very day trial is scheduled to begin, the appellate court could decide whether to delay the trial while it considers Trump’s appeal of the gag order and a separate ruling that keeps the case in Manhattan.
The judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case ordered his lawyers to redact the names of about two dozen government witnesses from a public version of one of their court filings to protect them against potential threats or harassment.
In a 24-page ruling, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, told Trump’s lawyers to refer to the witnesses in their filing with a pseudonym or a categorical description — say, John Smith or F.B.I. Agent 1 — rather than identifying them by name.
Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School mass shooter Ethan Crumbley, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison after each was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials earlier this year.
“These convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train — repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up,” Judge Cheryl Matthews said.
Matthews’ sentencing decision was in line with what Oakland County prosecutors had asked for after both parents were found guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the students their son killed.
A former assistant principal at the Virginia elementary school where a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher last year has been indicted on eight felony counts of child abuse and neglect, according to court documents unsealed yesterday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul argued that the repeal of Roe v. Wade has ruined Trump’s chances of winning over woman voters and that his latest statement on abortion won’t change that.
Numerous court cases filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act are in legal jeopardy after the Legislature declined to waive a requirement for notices of claim to be served on a municipal agency before a lawsuit can be filed.
A total of $3.5 million is available to help rural electric co-ops and municipal utilities develop applications for grants to modernize and reinforce their local power grids, according to the NYSERDA and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Lawmakers and Hochul have agreed on a series of policy measures in the budget that are intended to help local municipalities, shut down thousands of illicit cannabis shops that have flourished as the states’s legal marijuana market has stumbled.
One in five kids in New York live in poverty. Legislators are pushing Hochul to fulfill her promise to cut that rate in half.
The state attorney general’s office announced that “conspiracy theorists” who used a robocall campaign to deter Black residents in New York from voting by mail would pay $1 million for wrongdoing.
Legislation to restrict social media feeds for minors who use platforms such as TikTok Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram will be left out of the New York state budget, a key lawmaker said.
New York City has decided to cut ties with health care company DocGo by declining to renew the provider’s $432 million contract to care for and transport migrants upstate, the mayor’s office confirmed.
DocGo, a medical contractor that had previously specialized in Covid testing, was awarded a $432 million, no-bid contract last year to provide care for migrants in New York City and upstate towns.
The DocGo contract for migrant care for the city will end on May 5, and Adams plans to issue a competitive request for proposal for a new provider, administration officials said.
Actor LeVar Burton decried the Adams administration’s budget cuts to the city’s public library systems and urged New Yorkers to sign a petition calling for the spending reductions to be reversed.
Adams has boasted about being available to anyone in the city, even giving out his cellphone number to students and creating a hotline just for constituents. But elected officials wanting to talk to his team will now have to fill out a form and wait for a reply.
Lawmakers are furious over Adams’ crackdown on communications between city agencies and elected officials — including the NYPD — with some calling the new process “bureaucratic BS.”
Adams stopped short of calling for the deportation of two migrants accused of injuring an NYPD officer who was trying to arrest them for shoplifting from an Upper East Side Target.
Adams has inserted himself into a debate over whether raising penalties deters crime, as lawmakers are still working on a deal to finalize the already late, multi-billion dollar state budget.
Food delivery apps would be required to allow customers to tip when they’re ordering instead of after they get their food under new legislation from a New York City lawmaker.
Five people who worked at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City, as well as a detainee there, have been charged with corruption, including smuggling contraband into the jail, according to three complaints unsealed in Manhattan federal court.
A rogue bigwig at the city’s Administration for Children’s Services who swiped gift cards from needy Big Apple kids dodged jail time by copping a plea deal in Manhattan court.
New Yorkers, beware: If you come across a bird or animal that is sick, dead or behaving strangely, keep yourself and your pets at a safe distance. The bird flu virus, H5N1, is present in at least some small fraction of New York City birds, according to a new study.
The Albany County Legislature is postponing approvals of all American Rescue Plan Act grants for at least a month after it was clear one group that was set to receive $25,000 in recovery funds had used a county legislator’s address when applying for money.
A Latham real estate development firm wants to turn the long-vacant Empire BlueCross BlueShield building on New Scotland Road in Slingerlands into apartments and office and retail space.
A maple syrup producer alleges the Town of Ballston is twisting its own zoning codes to favor a Town Board member.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
