Good morning. It’s Thursday. Happy Halloween!
So, back in MY day – you know, when we walked barefoot to school in the snow, uphill both ways – Halloween was, at best, chilly. I distinctly recall trying to factor this into m costume planning, because nothing is more of a bummer than having to cover up your incredibly creative and cool creation with a heavy coat or sweater.
Fast forward to today. Have you SEEN the forecast? The highs today will be flirting with 80 degrees. EIGHTY DEGREES!!!! It’s possible that we will break new records. During the day, there will be intervals of clouds and sun. As night falls, temperatures will remain in the 70s for a hot second and then slowly drop into the low 60s – still perfectly comfortable for coat-free trick-or-treating.
Skies will be cloudy and it’s possible there will be some rain showers, but that isn’t forecast to start until later in the evening. Hopefully, given that it’s a school night and all, all the festivities will be over and everyone will be home and sung in their beds by then.
According to the National Weather Service, as per the TU, the last record high temperatures on a Halloween was 75 degrees in 2019. If we surpass that today, it will be the warmest Halloween in 150 years. For the record, the average temperature for the Albany area in October ranges from a high of 61°F (16°C) to a low of 43°F (6°C).
As a reminder, and for you history buffs out there, Halloween’s roots can be found in the Celtic festival of Samhain, which translates into “summer’s end” and, fittingly, was observed to mark the end of summer and the beginning of the new year.
Samhain traditionally was held on Nov. 1, and was traditionally celebrated by lighting bonfires on hilltops, wearing masks and disguises, and gathering for feasting and drinking.
All of this was done because, according to the belief at the time, the veil separating the living and the dead was thinnest around this time of year. And to discourage being visited from individuals in the afterlife, one took steps to dissuade them from making the trip, or, in the case of masks, confuse them about your identity.
When the Romans conquered the Celts, they incorporated their own tradition of Feralia, a festival honoring one’s deceased ancestors, and their honoring of Pomona, the goddess of the harvest, into Samhain. Then, as occurred in a number of cases, the church got involved and subsumed pagan observances, and the rest is, as they say, history.
If you want to go deeper on Halloween’s origins, click here.
Since we already dealt – at length – with the question of the weather, I’ll just end by saying: Have a good time out there tonight. Stick together. Stay in well lit areas, and, above all, be safe. If you have any peanut butter cups you’re looking to part with, you know where to find me.
In the headlines…
The economy is still the No. 1 issue in the presidential election. Voters rated it as their top priority in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll, as they have in every Times/Siena poll this year.
And while former President Donald Trump remains the more trusted candidate in terms of handling the economy, Vice President Kamala Harris has closed much of the gap.
Trump was greeted at a Wisconsin airport yesterday by a “big, beautiful MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Garbage Truck.” Wearing an orange safety vest, he sat in the passenger seat and cruised around the tarmac.
The former president wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage.
Trump said at a rally that he would protect American women “whether the women like it or not” — remarks that he cast as paternal but reminded his critics of his history of misogynistic statements and a civil court case that found him liable for sexual abuse.
Former first daughter Ivanka Trump has no plans to jump in and provide a last-minute boost to her father’s presidential campaign, her husband Jared Kushner confirmed.
Harris warned a crowd that time was running out at a get-out-the-vote event in Madison, Wisconsin, yesterday, joined by a lineup of folk and pop musicians including Remi Wolf, Gracie Abrams and Mumford & Sons.
Former Republican governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed Harris for president.
In a lengthy post on X, Schwarzenegger said he does not typically give endorsements, as he doesn’t “trust most politicians,” but he understands his own influence.
House Democrats are turning Trump’s controversial Madison Square Garden rally and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s comments about the Affordable Care Act into their de facto closing message.
Biden playfully bit a stable of adorable, dressed-up tots during a Halloween celebration at the White House last night.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez touted First Gentleman Doug Emhoff as the ideal representation of masculinity at a Las Vegas campaign event for his wife.
“He’s not afraid to embody and pass on these values of security and this idea that you can, you can let your girl shine,” Ocasio-Cortez told a room full of students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, according to the Daily Mail.
New York’s largest public sector union won’t endorse a presidential candidate this year — in a blow to Harris from a group that has backed Democrats at the top of the ticket for at least 12 years.
A House subcommittee has referred former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to the Justice Department for potential prosecution, accusing him of lying to Congress about his involvement in a state Covid report on nursing home deaths.
Cuomo was accused of engaging in a “conscious, calculated effort” to avoid accountability for his handling of nursing homes where thousands of people died of Covid, the referral from the GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic claims.
“This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress’s investigative authority,” a Cuomo spokesman said. “The governor said he didn’t recall because he didn’t recall. The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press.”
Members of the New York City Council and state lawmakers are pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation boosting community input on proposed hospital closures.
Hochul said that Democrats will flip at least three House seats in New York – a subtle acknowledgement that the party is unlikely to flip at least some of the GOP-held swing seats that Democrats’ coordinated campaign is currently targeting.
New York is getting extra attention this year as Democrats in the solidly blue state work to avoid the red wave that hit certain congressional districts in 2022.
Budget projections released by the state Division of Budget this week painted positive outlook for New York’s financial situation, which state leaders said was in part driven by an upturn in national economic performance.
An additional $2.4 billion makes New York’s fiscal picture rosier than expected, and Hochul said the extra cash will help drive down the state’s existing debt.
Gambling poses a global threat to public health as many government agencies that are legalizing access to online wagering platforms have conducted little research on the fallout, a report by a commission of 22 health and policy experts warns.
New York can support at least 1,000 more licensed marijuana retail stores if the state can crack down on illicit shops and roll out a “measured” approach to legal expansion, a new industry-backed analysis claims.
As super PACs flood the state with unprecedented spending and tight races unfold, New Yorkers have been awash in political text messages that can be hard to stop or pinpoint the origin of. Often, they contain deceptive or inaccurate content.
Critics of Mayor Eric Adams are working down to the wire to warn voters against several City Hall-backed changes to the city charter that are on the ballot this election cycle.
Some of Adams’ top advisers received pay increases this year that pushed their salaries above his, including former Schools Chancellor David Banks, who was highest-paid city government employee over at least the past decade, new payroll data show.
A close friend of Adams, Jesse Hamilton, disregarded an official scoring system for a bidding process he oversaw through his role controlling municipal real estate deals, steering a lucrative contract away from the initial winner and to a major mayoral donor.
In an early holiday gift to New York City, Adams announced that public school families, students and staff will now have all of Christmas week off.
December 23, 2024 — previously a school day on the 2024-2025 school year calendar — will now be a non-school day for New York City Public School students.
A controversial plan to tear down and replace thousands of public housing apartments in Manhattan is one step closer to reality following a key NYCHA board vote yesterday.
A housing support group sued the city in federal court in Manhattan, saying cleanups of encampments that often end up with possessions thrown away violated homeless people’s constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures.
The fate of the beloved Elizabeth Street Garden in Nolita — where the city is vying to build 123 affordable housing units — may be sealed in the coming days as activists await a decision regarding whether its eviction will be paused as they fight their appeal.
New Yorkers will see increased security and street closures this weekend for the 2024 New York City Marathon, police officials said.
A jury was seated yesterday in former Marine Daniel Penny’s subway chokehold trial — with the majority of jurors saying they’ve had first-hand experience with someone acting erratically on the rails.
A judge was forced to put a ranting Rudy Giuliani on mute during a virtual hearing yesterday in his Manhattan sexual assault and harassment case after he launched into personal attacks against his accuser, Noelle Dunphy.
Giuliani’s back is against the wall after he’s been ordered to hand over almost all of his possessions, being disbarred as an attorney and facing possible jail time – but he’s not ready to give up yet.
A woman anonymously suing Sean “Diddy” Combs for an alleged rape in 2004 must reveal her identity or her case will be dismissed, a Manhattan federal judge ruled.
A rescued pet squirrel that sat atop a social media and charity empire has been seized by New York state — with its owner saying it’s slated to be euthanized, according to an Instagram post.
The hottest new holiday outfits in New York are being ripped from recent Gotham-centric lore and tabloid headlines — as they poke fun at the city that never sleeps.
Rockefeller University in Manhattan has endowment assets of $2.5 billion and took in $777 million in a five-year fund-raising campaign this year. But it is selling two paintings by Joan Mitchell, an Abstract Expressionist artist, it has owned for nearly 70 years.
The owner of a tile company funded artist Sabina Khorramdel’s life of travel and creation. After she was found slain at an elite Hamptons resort, his body was discovered at his Pennsylvania home.
North Country GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik vowed to pull funding from NPR over an affiliate reporter’s inaccurate claim about early voting that suggested the GOP congresswoman couldn’t vote for herself.
Upstate freshman Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro is accusing his Democratic rival Josh Riley of putting out a “misleading” attack ad featuring a farmer who doesn’t even live in their district.
The Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper and the winner of several Pulitzer Prizes, will stop publishing its print edition early next year, ending a lengthy run as a dominant source of print news in the region, its owners announced.
An upstate New York woman intentionally jumped into Niagara Falls with her two young children, including a 5-month-old baby, State Police said. Recovery efforts have been unsuccessful.
The city will receive $12 million to find and remove lead pipes in its water system, Hochul and U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan announced at Poughkeepsie City Hall.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that NY CREATES, the nonprofit entity that owns and operates cutting-edge research facilities statewide, has been awarded $825 million to establish a federal computer chip research center at Albany NanoTech.
Albany will serve as one major hub of a bigger organization, the National Semiconductor Technology Center, which will focus on computer chip research and development, Schumer’s office said.
Trick-or-treaters shouldn’t dress too warmly tonight, as likely a new record will be set in the Albany area for the warmest Halloween since statistics have been kept.
A poll worker was fired after excitedly announcing a voter’s presidential pick, Albany County Board of Elections officials said.
A woman was killed after a Jeep collided with the buggy she was riding in this week in Herkimer County, State Police said. It is at least the fourth crash involving a buggy this year in New York.
Phish, the fan-favorite philanthropic jam band, raised $4 million for Divided Sky, a nonprofit supporting addiction recovery based in Vermont, and its new residential program, during their three-night residency at MVP Arena.
A 31-year-old City of Troy man was sentenced to 1½ to 3 years in prison for threatening children with a fake bomb, Rensselaer County District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly said.
Authorities have not filed charges against anyone more than three weeks after a pack of dogs fatally mauled a man behind a Central Avenue home in Albany. Police Chief Eric Hawkins said he expects charges will be filed, but didn’t offer a timeline.
Construction was slated to get underway yesterday on the third hotel on the Mohawk Harbor casino site in Schenectady.
Los Angeles won the World Series with a 7-6 victory, coming back down 5-0 in the fifth inning after a disastrous defensive display from New York.
After taking advantage of three miscues to erase a five-run, fifth-inning deficit during one of the most memorable mid-game meltdowns in baseball history, the Dodgers used eighth-inning sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to beat New York.
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman capped an iconic, historic run to his second World Series championship by hoisting the Willie Mays Most Valuable Player Award.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
