Good morning, it’s Thursday.
I feel like I might have deployed this anecdote some time in the distant past, but since I can’t actually locate that mention, I’m going to risk repeating it. If you’ve already heard this one, please bear with me.
When I first moved to Albany, I lived in a variety of locations near and around Washington Park. While finding a place to legally deposit my car was a challenge, I really enjoyed the proximity to Lark Street and also the variety of running routes available to me from that location.
One of my frequent routes took me past both St. Peter’s Hospital and Albany Med. I was always surprised by the number of health care professionals – what looked like nurses and doctors to me, but I never stopped to confirm that – standing outside their respective facilities, wearing scrubs and/or uniforms, and smoking.
This baffled me to no end. Don’t get me wrong; I certainly do understand the high-stress nature of these jobs and the need to take a break. I also understand the long hours required in the health care profession – particularly for those who work in a hospital setting – and the need for stimulants.
Nicotine, a highly addictive stimulant, has the capacity to both increase the heart rate AND cause a sense of well-being and relaxation. I think by now it’s common knowledge that smoking is bad for your health. Tobacco product use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in this country – some 49.2 million people – nearly 1 in 5 – reported using tobacco in some form in 2022, according to the CDC.
That number seems pretty high to me, but actually, tobacco use (mostly in the form of smoking) has been declining for years. A combination of high “sin” taxes and public health campaigns have succeeded in either convincing people to quit or dissuading them from picking up the habit in the first place.
However, new(ish) vehicles for delivering nicotine – most notably, e-cigarettes – have become more popular, especially among younger adults.
Also, certain populations – individuals who are disabled, or members of indigenous nations, for example – have higher smoking rates. And smoking menthol cigarettes is more common among people of color – especially Black Americans – which has been the focus of heated debate at the state Capitol in Albany in recent years.
If you’re a smoker, quitting is one of the best possible things you can do to improve your overall health AND extend your life. Quite literally, going just a few days or weeks without a smoke can make a difference. Yet, due to the highly addictive nature of nicotine, quitting is incredibly difficult. On average, fewer than 1 in 10 adults who try to quit smoking succeed every year.
Today – the third Thursday in November – is the Great American Smokeout, hosted annually by the American Cancer Society to offer those who need a little bit of a boost toward making the decision to quit the opportunity to do so. If you fall into that category, take the opportunity to click on that link, or here, or here, or here for some helpful tips on how to kick smoking to the curb.
We’re finally going to see some rain, it looks like. There a 100 percent chance of precipitation today, with the next few days looking pretty gray and wet, too. Usually, this is not cause for celebration, per se, but we really need a good soaking right now. Temperatures will be in the low-to-mid 40s.
In the headlines…
Sen. John Thune, the incoming Senate majority leader, said that he has no issue with Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voting to deny the release of the report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz. “It’s their call,” Thune said in an interview.
Gaetz told reporters that his meetings with Republican senators on Capitol Hill along with Vice President-elect JD Vance have been “going great,” and that he has not been focused on the ethics report, but is looking forward to a confirmation hearing.
Senators from both parties who would vet Gaetz for the position have asked to see the report. Vance and Gaetz were on Capitol Hill yesterday to meet with senators in hopes of smoothing his path to confirmation.
Federal investigators established a trail of payments from Gaetz to women including some who testified that the former congressman hired them for sex, according to a document obtained by The New York Times and an attorney.
Trump said he intended to nominate Matthew Whitaker, an acting attorney general in his first administration, as his ambassador to NATO, about which the president-elect has repeatedly expressed skepticism and from which he has threatened to withdraw.
Heading into a second term, New Yorker editor David Remnick says Trump’s anger “has been never so intense as it’s been against the press.”
Trump’s attorneys are demanding the judge who presided over his New York hush money trial and conviction immediately throw out the case, saying it would be “uniquely destabilizing to the country” otherwise.
Speaker Mike Johnson said single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings would be available only to those of that biological sex, backing a move from a far-right member to target the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Ukraine fired a number of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia’s Kursk region yesterday – a day after firing American long-range missiles into the country, according to Pentagon and Ukrainian officials.
The Biden administration has approved supplying Ukraine with American anti-personnel mines to bolster defenses against Russian attacks as Ukrainian front lines in the country’s east have buckled, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
In a video address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the US and Biden for the provision of landmines to Ukrainian troops, calling it “essential … to stop Russian assaults”.
Russia’s new nuclear doctrine reflects its hopes to deter Ukraine’s allies from a greater role in the war by establishing red lines hedged with added ambiguity, experts say.
The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where fighting has raged for more than 13 months and a humanitarian crisis is intensifying.
Underlining Washington’s diplomatic isolation on the issue, the United States cast the sole vote against the resolution, with the 14 other Council members voting in favor.
The council voted overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution — 14 of its 15 members voted “yes” including U.S. allies Britain and France — but it was doomed by the veto.
NASA says that the International Space Station (ISS) shifted its orbit this week to avoid a piece of debris. The debris avoidance maneuver involved firing thrusters on the ISS at 2:09 p.m. CT for 5 minutes, 31 seconds, according to NASA.
The two former Georgia election workers who won an almost $150 million defamation judgment against Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani want him held in civil contempt for continuing to falsely accuse them of committing election fraud in the 2020 election.
Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss say Giuliani repeated baseless claims on an episode of his podcast last week, saying that they counted fraudulent ballots in the 2020 election.
Their request yesterday morning opens up a new avenue of difficulty in court that the former Trump attorney now must face, as the fallout continues for him because of his efforts to spread election fraud myths.
Giuliani is trying to get the date of his defamation trial pushed back so he can attend the inauguration of his former client Trump.
The head of the umbrella group representing 300,000 New York City municipal workers is urging Trump to kill congestion pricing — and says he’s “disappointed” with Gov. Kathy Hochul for reviving the controversial scheme.
Rep. Ritchie Torres refused to rule out mounting a 2026 Democratic primary challenge to Hochul. Although he dodged a direct question about taking on Hochul, the Bronx lawmaker pointedly decried a “crisis of governance” on both the state and city levels.
GOP Rep. Michael Lawler, who was just re-elected to his Hudson Valley seat, is weighing a general election challenge to Hochul in the next election cycle.
“Kathy Hochul’s Congestion Pricing is nothing more than a scam on working families in New York,” said Lawler. “Folks are struggling to make ends meet, and Governor Kathy Hochul is forcing yet another tax onto the backs of hard-working New Yorkers.
Hochul announced that $22 million is now available for projects that strengthen and modernize New York’s electric grid.
Linda Sun, a former top official in Hochul’s administration who is charged with acting as a foreign agent for China, claims she was unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors simply because of her wealth and ethnicity.
Military service members who were defrauded by a jewelry retailer’s price gouging scam are eligible for refunds from a civil settlement secured by the state attorney general’s office.
Mayor Eric Adams announced that Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch will be the next Commissioner of the NYPD, effective Monday, saying he needs “a visionary” who “can take the Police Department into the next century.”
Adams praised Tisch’s experience and management ability in both sanitation and her past job as the NYPD’s head of information technology, where she played a key role in rolling out the department’s body-worn camera program.
Tisch, 43, will become the second female to serve in the role in the department’s 179-year history. The first, Keechant Sewell, was also appointed by Adams.
Tisch replaces interim top cop Tom Donlon and former police commissioner Edward Caban, the Adams appointee who resigned in September amid a probe into the NYPD’s enforcement of nightclub regulations.
“I’ve watched with pride over the past three years as you’ve driven down crime in many categories to pre-pandemic levels, both in our subway system and on our streets, and I know it has literally taken blood, sweat and tears,” Tisch said.
Savings on migrant spending and better-than-expected tax revenue will allow the city to restore two previously canceled police classes and put an additional 1,600 officers on the street, Adams said.
Adams is projecting that migrant-related spending will drop by $495 million over the next two fiscal years because of fewer migrants arriving in New York, stricter limits on how long they can stay in shelters and federal grants that defray costs.
New Yorkers won’t be able to enjoy open flames or fireworks for the foreseeable future, as Adams has temporarily banned these activities as the city grapples with a historic drought.
Rain began to fall in New York City early today, providing a partial respite after weeks of abnormally dry conditions forced the city to declare its first drought warning in over 20 years. It was not, however, sufficient to ease the drought conditions completely.
Muriel Goode-Trufant breezed through her City Council confirmation hearing for the role of the city’s top attorney yesterday, in sharp contrast to the harsh grilling Adams’ previous pick for the post faced.
Former Rep. Weiner is weighing a political comeback. He has been talking to constituents and says he may try to run in a Democratic primary for the New York City Council, where he served in the 1990s before being elected to Congress in 1998.
A urologist convicted of sexually abusing seven patients, including five who were minors, was sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors said.
Employees who power the day-to-day operations of the nation’s largest health care union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, have faced an ironic hurdle in their own efforts to unionize: the union’s top brass.
The findings of a new report on housing costs and wages validate the frustration many New Yorkers feel on the first of the month: People’s rents are rising faster than their incomes.
The founder of an AI start-up focused on education was arrested and charged with defrauding her investors, lying about the company’s profits and falsely claiming some of the nation’s largest school districts, including New York City’s, were her customers.
The Queens convicted killer who shot and wounded an NYPD cop along with an innocent bystander before he was shot dead was a career criminal with more than 17 felony arrests stretching back to the 1980s, police said.
Officer Rich Wong, with family and friends by his side, waved to a crowd of fellow police officers as he was wheeled out of Jamaica Hospital yesterday afternoon and met with salutes and a thunder of claps.
Angel Lata Landi, the immigrant construction worker killed in an unprovoked attack cops say was carried out by a homeless man on a stabbing spree across Manhattan, planned to marry in two weeks.
A 55-year-old tourist from Denmark was slashed in the face on the Upper West Side yesterday morning in another startling Manhattan street attack, police said.
Ambulances are again transporting patients to St. Peter’s Hospital after a flood forced the facility to temporarily divert emergency department cases.
The fire that destroyed Elijah Missionary Baptist Church in Albany was started by a space heater on the church’s second floor.
When he pleaded guilty last year to embezzling $1.29 million from the Albany Polish American Citizen’s Club, Kenneth Frodyma Jr. was allowed to stay free for a year so he could pay back at least some of what he took. But didn’t end up returning a cent.
Twinkling lights that once left Washington Park aglow have a new home this holiday season. Lights at the Lake will launch Nov. 30 in the village of Lake George.
As New York leaders work to conserve 30% of the state’s land by 2030, conservationists are eyeing what could be a large piece of the puzzle, namely the 36,000-acre Whitney Park that’s located in Adirondack Park.
GlobalFoundries is receiving $1.5 billion for chip manufacturing, and the money will be used to create a new, large-scale fabrication facility alongside its current facility in Malta.
Sir Rod Stewart is bringing his One Last Time tour to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 15.
In “One Short Day,” the Madison Theatre will reopen for business with the blockbuster movie-musical “Wicked” leading the way.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
