Good Thursday morning.
Perhaps you thought that with the passage of Easter and Passover we were out of spring religious holiday season and steaming toward Memorial Day – the unofficial launch of summer. If you did think that, you thought wrong.
Today is Ascension Day, (AKA Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or Holy Thursday), which is more or less exactly what it sounds like: The commemoration of the ascension of Christ into Heaven, 40 days after Easter.
As such, Ascension Day is the official end of the Easter holiday, and it is celebrated by the celebrated by Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran churches
For those of us not in the know – like me, for example – this might seem confusing, because wasn’t Jesus resurrected from the dead after his Good Friday crucifixion? And if so, what took him so long to get to Heaven?
According to the Bible, Jesus’s disciples were understandably very unnerved and upset by his death. Many of them went into hiding after he was crucified, perhaps fearing a similar fate.
To assuage their fears, Jesus delayed his ascent into Heaven to soothe, encourage, and teach his disciples. He also appeared to them during this time, the Bible maintains, to demonstrate that he was still alive. So Ascension Day is significant in that it not only underscores Jesus’s triumph over death, but also his promise to return to Earth (referred to as the “Second Coming“).
There are various ways to observe Ascension Day, including processions (sometimes with torches and banners) or long walks that represent the journey of Jesus to the Mount of Olives, which followed by his ascension, feating, and the singing of hymns.
Also, some Western churches mark Ascension Day by extinguishing the Paschal candle, which was first lit on Easter to symbolize the departure of Jesus from Earth. If you really want to go deep on the history and significance of this day, click here.
Cloudy skies are on tap today, with a slight chance of showers. Temperatures will be in the mid 60s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden said that he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah — the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza — over concern for the well-being of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there.
In a CNN interview, Biden said that the U.S. was still committed to Israel’s defense and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive arms, but if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used.”
The decision drew the fury of Republicans, further polarizing U.S. efforts to deter Israel from launching a bloody campaign in southern Gaza.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Biden’s warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a “good step forward”, but he hopes to see “even more” from the president going forward.
The Biden administration is rushing to finish a high-stakes report due to Congress this week on whether Israel violated international humanitarian law in Gaza, which could have big repercussions and further inflame divisions at home and abroad.
The administration postponed delivery of the report due yesterday, saying that a written assessment would be provided “in the very near future.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States sent a stinging letter to nearly 90 lawmakers, blasting them for accusing Israel of purposefully withholding humanitarian aid from Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians.
The campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent running for president, confirmed that he contracted a parasite in his brain over a decade ago, after traveling “extensively in Africa, South America and Asia as his work as an environmental advocate.”
His campaign’s comment came after The New York Times reported he said in a 2012 deposition that a parasitic worm “ate a portion” of his brain and may have caused cognitive issues.
Around the same time, Kennedy Jr. suffered from mercury poisoning, which can lead to neurological issues such as loss of peripheral vision, muscle weakness and issues with movement, hearing and speech, as well as memory loss.
Kennedy Jr. has challenged Trump to a head-to-head debate for when both address a Libertarian convention later this month, a move that comes as the presumptive GOP nominee has ramped up both criticism of Kennedy’s independent bid.
Republican Rep. Steve Womack, of Arkansas, lambasted Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, of Louisiana, calling it a “petty political stunt.”
“Some members would rather upend Republicans’ work instead of advancing the conservative agenda. Americans sent us to Washington to govern,” Womack wrote in a post on social platform X.
The House on overwhelmingly voted to protect Johnson from a conservative coup, torpedoing Greene’s effort to oust the GOP leader from the top job. The chamber voted 359-43-7 on a motion to table Greene’s motion to vacate, preventing it from moving.
“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” Johnson told reporters shortly after Wednesday’s vote. “As I’ve said from the beginning and I’ve made clear here every day, I intend to do my job.”
House Republicans passed a bill that calls for adding a citizenship question to the decennial census, re-upping an issue that the Supreme Court blocked in 2019.
The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon to avoid picking a date yet for former President Donald Trump’s classified documents trial is the latest indication of how her handling of the case has played into Trump’s own strategy of delaying the proceeding.
It is not impossible that the trial could still take place before Election Day, but the path is exceedingly narrow.
The Kendrick Lamar–Drake battle has found its way into the political world. Biden’s campaign team put together a video dissing Trump, which was soundtracked by Lamar’s bristling “Euphoria.”
Trump’s youngest child, Baron, who will graduate from high school next week and has largely been kept out of the political spotlight, was picked by the Florida GOP as one of the state’s at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention.
The state party also selected other Trump children as delegates, including Eric Trump as its delegation chair, and Donald Trump Jr. and Tiffany Boulos, formerly Trump, and her husband Michael Boulos as other at-large delegates.
Stormy Daniels, the woman who said she had a one-night sexual encounter with a man who became president, will take the witness stand again today in a Lower Manhattan courtroom.
As the former president remains stuck in the courtroom listening to salacious details of an extramarital sexual encounter he denies, another spectacle is playing out in the background as his vice presidential tryouts get underway.
The USC’s academic senate voted to censure President Carol Folt after several tumultuous weeks in which the administration canceled a Muslim student’s valedictory address, cleared a protest encampment, and called in police to arrest dozens of protesters.
Police officials at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that the dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested in a parking garage on campus earlier this week had tools and other items that were intended to help occupy a campus building.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will tell university leaders today to do more to combat antisemitism on college campuses – a sign of rising dissatisfaction within government about the recent growth of encampments set up by students protesting the war in Gaza.
Jewish students at Columbia University penned a powerful open letter to the anti-Israel protesters who “demonize” them — saying it is “never too late” to repair “political and religious divides.”
Maintenance workers had a firsthand view of how protesters seized the Columbia’s Hamilton Hall, and wondered why the university failed to stop it.
New York City schools Chancellor David Banks defended his record on antisemitism during a tense congressional hearing yesterday, maintaining that schools have consistently responded to troubling incidents with both education and discipline.
Banks joined school leaders from Montgomery Country, Maryland and Berkeley, California, along with an ACLU staff attorney, in a hearing held by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about “confronting pervasive antisemitism in K-12 schools.”
“Antisemitism doesn’t simply affect Jews, antisemitism affects all of us, particularly all people of good will,” Banks said. “I stand up not only against antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hate. You can’t put them in silos.”
Politicians said educators had not done enough. But the New York chancellor said members were trying to elicit “gotcha moments” rather than stop antisemitism.
Tensions flared as Banks was slammed for his decision to reassign — not fire — the principal of a Queens school where students rioted in November against a Jewish teacher who had attended a pro-Israel rally.
Sen. Gustavo Rivera called for the state to sever its relationship with a Chicago-based private equity firm helping to fund weed dispensaries run by people impacted by the war on drugs following a report revealed alarming details of the agreement.
Assembly lawmakers are advancing legislation aimed at cutting down on plastic packaging as New York aims to deal with a solid waste problem.
Zellnor Myrie, an Afro-Latino state senator from Brooklyn known for backing progressive causes, announced that he is moving to challenge Mayor Eric Adams in next year’s Democratic primary in New York City.
Myrie said Adams showed a “failure of competence” and his administration lacked a “full grasp of the nuts and bolts of how city government should work,” and criticized cuts to libraries, parks and schools, arguing that they were driving families out of the city.
“For too many New Yorkers that I speak to, they’re tired of the showmanship. What people want to see are results. New Yorkers want to see their government working relentlessly to make this city affordable, safe, and livable,” Myrie, 37, said in a statement.
The field of challengers is expected to become crowded as critics see an opening to go up against the first-term incumbent — who has been grappling with the migrant crisis and crime while facing a federal probe into his 2021 mayoral campaign fundraising.
Winnie Greco, a top Adams aide who went on leave after her two houses were raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in late February is back in a government job.
NYPD leaders have ramped up their social media takedown of critics — and former cop turned New York Mayor Adams has their back.
A Manhattan community board member has been ousted after supporting a controversial resolution to have the city Department of Education review whether there should be a ban on transgender girls in school sports.
The family of a Queens teen fatally shot by NYPD officers said cops immediately hauled them to the local precinct and interrogated them without an attorney the day of the incident, then barred them from their home for over two days.
As a cruise ship approached New York on Saturday, it was found to be carrying a grim, and unexpected, catch: The corpse of a 44-foot-long endangered whale, draped across its bow.
A urologist who worked at two prominent New York hospitals was found guilty of sexually abusing seven patients, including five who were minors when the abuse began.
Eight years after expanding to Cohoes, Playhouse Stage Company is adding another community to the places it performs.
A former Albany County sheriff’s department employee was sentenced to two years of probation, including six months of home confinement for embezzling $122,251.
Both profit and revenue fell at GlobalFoundries during the first quarter of 2024, but that was expected.
Despite its storied history, the Sloop Clearwater’s future is in jeopardy. In no uncertain terms, its leaders say they are facing an immediate financial crisis. If it does not raise $250,000 within the next two months, it will become insolvent and shutter.
Amid worries about potential traffic jams, developers of a proposed Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant at 579 Route 7 have come up with what they hope is a novel solution — building their own private roundabout or traffic circle on their 2-acre site in Latham.
Regal Cinemas announced a new money-saving summer ticket promotion for day larks dubbed the Early Bird ticket.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s annual Sacred Sites Open House takes place Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, when \visitors can explore the architecture, art and history of diverse houses of worship throughout New York.
UmaSofia Srivastava, who was crowned Miss Teen USA in 2023, resigned her post yesterday after “months of grappling with this decision,” two days after Noelia Voigt stepped down as Miss USA.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
