TGIF. It has been a week – even for a short week, maybe BECAUSE it was a short week? Either way, I’ll be glad to see the back end of this seven-day stretch.
Next week, I’ll be heading to Buffalo for work. (Yes, I’m traveling a lot for work lately, thanks for noticing). I am a big fan of the Queen City, though not so much of a fan of how long it takes to get there. No direct flights from Albany to Buffalo is a little insane, and I’m certainly not flying out of state to catch a connection. Yes, the train goes there, but I lack the patience for long rides.
Once you’ve arrived in Buffalo, it’s a lovely and lively city – especially when it’s not socked in by multiple feet of ice and show. It’s a great city to run in, which offers the opportunity for a real on-the-ground experience of its neighborhoods, parks, and streets.
It was while running that I stumbled upon this unassuming plaque that marks a significant moment in New York and national history, commemorating the location where then-President William McKinley was shot as he tried to shake hands with a man named Leon Czolgosz while attending the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.
The assassination attempt, which turned out to be successful, though McKinley didn’t die right away, took place on this day in 1901 at the Temple of Music, a concert hall and auditorium that was designed and built specifically for the Pan-American Exposition and featured the nation’s largest pipe organ at the time.
The date of McKinley’s assassination, if you Google it, however, is officially listed as Sept. 14, because he lived just over a week after being shot twice in the abdomen. He ended up contracting gangrene as a result of his wounds, which is what killed him in the end.
McKinley was six months into his second term when Czolgosz shot him. Czolgosz lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism as a result. He saw McKinley as a symbol of oppression and was convinced it was his duty to eliminate him.
Czolgosz was immediately arrested after shooting the president and confessed, saying: “I didn’t believe one man should have so much service, and another man should have none.” In due course, he was tried, found guilty, remanded to Auburn State Prison, where he was executed in the electric chair.
McKinley’s vice president, Teddy Roosevelt, was elevated to the presidency. Also as a result of the shooting, Congress passed legislation that officially charged the Secret Service with the responsibility of protecting the commander-in-chief.
At the time of McKinley’s shooting, Roosevelt was on Lake Champlain, lunching with the Vermont Fish & Game League. When he got the news, he rushed to McKinley’s side in Buffalo, but was told the president’s surgery had been successful and was told he could safely leave. So he did, traveling to the Tahawus Club in the Adirondacks.
When McKinley took a turn for the worse, Roosevelt was doing what one does when in the Adirondacks – hiking.
He was on Mt. Marcy and received the bad news from a club guide. Roosevelt, who was an infamously restless, impatient, and adventurous sort, decided against wise counsel to make the trip to the North Creek train station in the middle of the night. It was, by all accounts, a trying and taxing journey that required multiple horse charges.
McKinley was the third U.S. president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881. Given the recent attempt on the life former president, Donald Trump, we’re getting a lesson – once again, in the tendency of history to repeat itself – or try, anyway.
For those who might be curious, here’s a comprehensive list of all the assassination attempts – successful and unsuccessful – on U.S. presidents, past and present.
Speaking, of TR, he was shot in the chest on the campaign trial in 1912 just before he was scheduled to deliver a speech. He didn’t think the injury would be fatal, and so spoke for 84 minutes before seeking medical attention. They didn’t call him the Rough Rider for nothing.
One last fabulous day is on tap with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. Don’t get too used to this, though, because tomorrow it’s going to be cloudy with rain in the afternoon and temperatures barely get into the 70s. Sunday will be dry, with intervals of clouds and run, and also a little cooler, topping out in the high 60s.
In the headlines…
Colin Gray, the father of the teen accused of killing two teachers and two students at his Georgia high school, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the state’s deadliest school shooting, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Gray, 54, is being charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, GBI said. His son, the 14-year-old shooting suspect, has been charged with four counts of felony murder.
GBI Director Chris Hosey said at a news conference last night that the charges against Colin Gray stem from “knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon.” He was in custody and being held at the Barrow County Detention Center, officials said.
Authorities searching the home of Colt Gray, the14-year-old suspect, reportedly found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings – including references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
Colin Gray told investigators looking into an online threat made last year that he would be “mad as hell” if his then 13-year-old son had been responsible, according to a transcript. “Then all the guns will go away.”
Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee, said that school shootings were an unfortunate “fact of life,” and he called for strengthened security measures in public schools while he spoke at a campaign event in Phoenix.
Vance called for tighter school security, adding: “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
Former President Donald Trump called for the creation of a government efficiency commission during a speech in New York yesterday, adopting a policy idea that was pitched to him by the billionaire businessman Elon Musk.
The commission is the latest attention-grabbing alliance between Trump and Musk, who leads companies including Tesla and SpaceX and has become an increasingly vocal supporter of Trump’s bid to return to the White House.
One of two staffers involved in the altercation at Arlington National Cemetery is a deputy campaign manager for Trump’s reelection bid.
It didn’t take long after yesterday’s hearing in the federal election subversion case against Trump for the trial judge to decide a schedule for the next steps in the case that lets prosecutors make public new evidence before the 2024 election.
A federal judge declared at a court hearing that she would not let Trump’s campaign for the White House affect the schedule of the criminal case in which he stands accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
The judge overseeing Trump’s Manhattan criminal case plans to rule today about whether to postpone the former president’s sentencing until after Election Day, a court filing shows.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race against Trump.
Putin’s comments come on the heels of sweeping sanctions announced by the Biden administration to combat a Russian government-backed disinformation effort to influence the 2024 elections and boost Trump’s candidacy.
Harris’ political operation reportedly raised more than $300 million in the month of August — more than twice as much as Trump’s operation gathered in the same period.
A notable elections forecaster predicted that Harris will win November’s election, according to his model of 13 keys.
Hunter Biden shocked a Los Angeles federal courtroom yesterday when he tried to plead guilty just as jury selection in his tax evasion trial was set to begin – but prosecutors asked a judge to reject it since the first son wouldn’t actually be accepting guilt.
Biden took the unusual step of entering a so-called Alford plea, acknowledging there was enough evidence to convict him even as he expressed innocence toward the same charges.
A top Department of Justice spokesman in New York was caught on a hidden camera ripping Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his recent prosecution of Trump — accusing Bragg of conducting “lawfare” just to further his own political ambitions.
Federal authorities yesterday raided the homes of two of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ most senior aides and closest friends, seizing their phones and also the phone of the New York City police commissioner, Edward A. Caban.
The search of the Manhattan residence of the city’s first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright, and the Queens home of the deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks, marks an escalation of the federal inquiry into the mayor’s orbit.
Investigators also served a subpoena to Adams’ special adviser Timothy Pearson, a former police inspector, for his phone and for phones of three lower ranking police officials, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The searches do not appear related to the federal investigation into Mayor Adams and his campaign fund-raising, according to people familiar with the matter.
The revelation that not only the mayor but also many of the city’s most senior officials are embroiled in federal investigations further destabilizes an administration that is already reeling from other legal problems.
The NYPD said that it is cooperating with a federal investigation involving its members. Neither the nature of the investigation nor the purpose of the raids was clear. It was also not clear whether the investigation into the NYPD members or the raids are related.
“Investigators have not indicated to us the mayor or his staff are targets of any investigation,” the mayor’s chief counsel said. “As a former member of law enforcement, the mayor has repeatedly made clear that all members of the team need to follow the law.”
“I have been clear that my message throughout my public life is to follow the law and that’s what we’re doing,” Adams said in an interview with FOX 5 NY. “And we’re going to comply with whatever inquiry and whatever we have to submit.”
Adams told reporters at City Hall that if the administration has information that’s needed, it will be turned over, “and I’m going to continue to be the mayor of the City of New York.”
The potential for nuclear reactors and similar technology to become an integral part of New York’s clean energy goals was a central topic at an summit in Syracuse that was convened by Hochul’s administration as the state struggles to meet CLCPA mandates.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has careened from one crisis to the next — and her mounting problems are stirring talk among fellow Democrats of a potential primary.
Hochul insisted “we’re not fracking” in New York to boost the energy supply — despite Vice President Kamala Harris saying she now favors such drilling for natural gas.
Sen. Gustavo Rivera, unhappy with the proposed changes to CDPAP, is pitching a last-minute fix he contends would offer a compromise between Hochul’s budget leaders, concerned with increased Medicaid costs, and the industry that could be wiped out.
According to a poll of 800 likely voters conducted by the Alliance to Protect Home Care, 76 percent of New Yorkers and 70 percent of likely Democratic voters in the state said they oppose Hochul’s planned changes to CDPAP.
GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney pushed for a probe into Linda Sun, a former Hochul aside, and the “the full impact” of her “influence on the New York State government and economy” after Sun was charged with and arrested for acting as an agent of China.
Hochul signed into law the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, a comprehensive measure intended to increase worker safety and address the hazard of workplace violence in retail settings.
The city’s EDC halted drilling work and will conduct an investigation into how a subcontractor ended up punching a hole through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel on Wednesday, flooding the tube, halting traffic and causing major traffic gridlock across the city.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio chowed down — crust-first — on a piece of coconut-sprinkled pizza in a hard-to-stomach video stunt promoting Kamala Harris’ bid for president on social media.
A group of Upper West Siders backed by Councilmember Gale Brewer held a rally yesterday, arguing the Department of Transportation should drastically scale back its plans to paint a bus lane across 96th Street.
A 47-year-old man was fatally shot in the head inside the Rockaway Avenue train station in Brooklyn late Wednesday night, the police said.
The two men who will lead the Albany International Airport for the foreseeable future sought to reassure the public yesterday that the airport is in good hands.
Alexa Kropf, the University at Albany student who was nearly killed when she was struck by a motorcycle in a hit-and-run crash in April, could return to campus as soon as this semester.
A third person has died in an outbreak of Legionella at Peregrine Senior Living Shaker, an assisted living facility on Northern Boulevard.
There will be an American in both of the weekend’s U.S. Open finals, after Jessica Pegula, of Buffalo, fought back to defeat Karolina Muchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
