Good morning, it’s Thursday, which, as I like to remind those who aren’t paying close attention, is one day away from Friday.
You’re welcome.
I find myself referring to the dictionary quite frequently of late. This is an old habit that was deeply engrained in me by my father, who, whenever I was working on my homework and asked him a question, would inevitably reply: “Look it up.”
That, of course, was when the interwebs weren’t even a twinkle in AL Gore’s eye.
Looking things up at the time required heading to either 1) the extremely large and heavy unabridged dictionary that Dad kept in his office, or 2) perusing the Encyclopedia Britannica collection we had inherited from my mother’s parents, which was woefully outdated, but nevertheless provided countless hours of diversion.
Of course, now we have it much easier, thanks to Google and AI, and yet I find myself more concerned than ever that I am choosing the right words and ensuring that I am, in fact, making the point that I believe myself to be making.
And so, to the dictionary I went this morning to look up the actual definition of the word “irony,” which if, of course, a word I employ quite a bit. But do I REALLY know what it means? Well, now I do. And do do you:
“Irony”: A state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.”
And, by extension, the definition of “ironic” is: “Happening in the opposite way to what is expected, and typically causing wry amusement because of this.”
So, let me start by saying that I do not in any way, shape, or form find it even the slightest bit amusing that a health insurance executive was gunned down in broad daylight on a Midtown Manhattan street, nor do I consider the man who allegedly did the shooting to be some sort of folk hero, though I do understand his evident and apparently widely shared frustration with the too often inhumane health insurance industrial complex.
With that said, I do see the irony in the fact that today is International Universal Health Coverage Day, which, according to the UN, ” aims to raise awareness of the need for strong and resilient health systems and universal health coverage with multi-stakeholder partners.”
Also according to the UN, some 4.5 billion people across the globe still lack access to essential health services. Making matters worse, over the past two decades, due to the steadily increasing cost of care and the difficulty in getting financial coverage for is, some 2 billion people have experienced financial hardship and 1.3 billion more were pushed into poverty due to health spending.
Some 17 countries have universal health care. Ours is not one of them.
Since we’re being a stickler for definitions today, universal healthcare is a (usually) taxpayer-funded government-run system in which every citizen has access to medical services, regardless of their ability to pay, and (ostensibly) no one bankrupts themselves or has to worry about how they’ll afford taking care of themselves, which is arguably the No. 1 job we’ve got while on the planet.
For the record, I am not endorsing universal health care, merely pointing out that while we’re engaged in a national debate over how people get their medical and mental health needs met – or don’t – and whether for-profit companies with well-compensated executives should be gatekeeping that system, it’s helpful to know what else is out there.
We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled seasonable weather programming today, with temperatures in the mid-30s and partly cloudy skies.
In the headlines…
The fatal shooting last week of an executive on the streets of New York City has left rank-and-file employees across the health insurance industry in fear, with many frightened for their own safety and feeling under attack for their work.
Luigi Mangione, accused to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has no cellmates and has been separated from other prisoners during his time at a Pennsylvania lockup, though he is not in solitary confinement.
Mangione, 26, is being held at Huntingdon state prison about 20 miles east of Altoona, where he was arrested Monday. It is the oldest state prison in Pennsylvania, operating since 1889.
Mangione was arrested with a notebook that detailed plans for the shooting, according to two law enforcement officials. The notebook described going to a conference and killing an executive, the officials said.
Moments after the authorities announced that Mangione had been arrested in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive on Monday, people delved into his digital trail.
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed that the gun and fingerprints recovered from Mangione after he was captured in Pennsylvania match those used in last week’s killing of UnitedHealthcare’s Thompson.
The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, said yesterday that he intended to resign before the Trump administration took office, bowing to the reality that President-elect Donald Trump had publicly declared his desire to replace him.
Wray announced the move while addressing employees on Wednesday afternoon in remarks that tacitly acknowledged the politically charged position the F.B.I. now faces with an incoming president who openly scorns the agency.
Meta said that it had donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, in the latest move by Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, to foster a positive rapport with the president-elect.
Trump tapped Kari Lake, a former news anchor and a hardline Republican who failed to win an Arizona Senate seat last month, as the next director of the Voice of America, a state-funded U.S. government broadcaster.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, said Lake will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media.”
Pete Hegseth’s lawyer and Sen. Tom Cotton slammed West Point for falsely claiming the defense secretary-designate was never accepted into the nation’s top military academy — in potential violation of federal privacy laws.
Two weeks after a Mar-a-Lago dinner with Trump, details of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to stave off a showdown with the United States are emerging.
A divided House passed a defense policy bill that would direct $895 billion to the Pentagon and other military operations, moving over Democrats who opposed a provision denying coverage for transgender health care for the children of service members.
The bill is traditionally strongly bipartisan, but some Democratic lawmakers opposed the inclusion of a ban on transgender medical treatments for children of military members if such treatment could result in sterilization.
The new provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) appears on page 399 and is a single paragraph. It adds to Section 1079(a) of U.S. Code 10, which deals primarily with the types of medical care military spouses and children can get.
Hannah Kobayashi, a Hawaii woman police believe “voluntarily” went missing while traveling to New York, has reportedly been located by her family roughly a month after her disappearance.
Kobayashi, who was first reported missing in mid-November, has been in contact with her family and assured them she’s safe, Hawaii News Now reported.
Gov. Kathy Hochul last night declared a state of emergency ahead of threats of lake-effect snow slated to impact parts of the portions of Western New York, the Finger Lakes, Central New York and the North Country over the next few days.
Hochul traveled to a Putnam County district represented by a potential Republican rival yesterday to make the case that her critics are out of touch when they attack her support for public transportation, including congestion pricing.
Hochul was in GOP Rep. Mike Lawler’s district to tout upgrades to a Metro-North train station that will be paid for by the controversial congestion pricing plan, something her likely 2026 opponent has sought to capitalize on as he eyes a run for her seat.
State budget negotiations will not start in earnest until the new year, but Hochul is already backing off a push to cut funding to New York school districts losing enrollment.
Activists and several elected officials gathered outside Hochul’s office in the Capitol in Albany this week to protest the closure of two hotels housing several hundred migrants in the state’s capital region.
Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) have removed more than 73,000 illegal “ghost cars” since the start of the mayor’s time in office.
Adams is scheduled for a high-stakes meeting with President-elect Trump’s new border czar Tom Homan tomorrow amid growing fear among immigrants and advocates over the incoming president and his threats to carry out mass deportations.
The highly-anticipated meeting is to take place at around 1 p.m. at City Hall, where the two were expected to discuss the migrant crisis in New York City as well as broader immigration failures at the federal level.
While in Puerto Rico, Adams is picking up fundraising again for his 2025 reelection campaign, out of an apparent concern that he will get denied public matching funds.
he killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO and the acquittal of Daniel Penny present a perfect storm for the New York City mayor, whose reelection bid is already mired in a corruption scandal of its own.
NYC has quietly mounted a campaign to lobby for the appointment of Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie to oversee Rikers Island and the jail system if a federal judge chooses to appoint a receiver, the Daily News has learned.
Lawyers for former senior mayoral adviser Tim Pearson are repeatedly claiming “law enforcement privilege” in refusing to turn over a wide array of documents sought by a former NYPD sergeant suing Pearson for sexual harassment and retaliation.
Demanding more regulation and oversight of the burgeoning army of e-bikes whizzing pell-mell through New York’s streets — and often along its sidewalks — indignant city residents turned out in force at a City Council hearing yesterday to demand action.
The bill sponsored by Councilmember Bob Holden and backed by dozens of his colleagues would require e-bikes and other motorized micromobility vehicles not subject to state licensing laws to be licensed and registered on the city level.
A New York City mayoral candidate, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, wants the city to open its own, more affordable grocery stores. The idea has gained momentum in Chicago and other cities.
The NYPD and city sanitation department have teamed up to target cars parked on the street with fake or obscured license plates, officials said.
New York City-based luxury real estate brokers Tal and Oren Alexander have been arrested in Florida along with their brother Alon and charged with sex trafficking after allegedly drugging and raping dozens of women.
Multiple subway lines were suspended as heavy rain walloped the region last night, sparking a power loss that left some commuters stranded for hours, the MTA said.
Approximately 3,500 straphangers spread between the two trains had to be rescued by firefighters when the power went out around 5:30 p.m. between the Jay Street/MetroTech and Hoyt-Schermerhorn stations, according to the MTA.
Marine vet Daniel Penny blamed a failed criminal justice system for forcing him into his highly-charged encounter with vagrant Jordan Neely on a crowded subway train — and slammed Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for taking him to trial in the case.
Penny, 26, speaking to Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro in his first interview since a jury acquitted him of negligent homicide charges, said prosecutors seem to have their heads in the sand.
The NYPD released photos of a robbery crew that targeted jewelry stores in Queens and Brooklyn — making away with up to $800,000 in bling in one brazen heist.
A swanky Brooklyn private school knowingly hired an ex-con who was later accused of soliciting child porn from students — and then “shamed” students and parents who raised concerns about his employment, a scathing investigative report has found.
The Times Tech Guild, which represents tech workers at The New York Times, said yesterday that it had reached a tentative deal with The Times on a contract, after more than two years of bargaining and a weeklong strike.
New Jersey’s attorney general announced that he had enlisted Preet Bharara, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor, to lead a criminal investigation into a protracted slowdown in traffic enforcement by State Police troopers.
The Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid has been named as the official Plan B site for sliding events if renovations to the 100-year-old sliding track at Cortina d’Ampezzo are not completed ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
Hydraulic oil was found spilled in the Hudson River this week near a hydroelectric plant owned by the New York State Electric and Gas company.
Whitehall is continuing to grapple with a water emergency. restrictions on use and a boil water advisory are in place as the water is not yet safe to drink, the village stated in an early evening notice. Toilets can, however, flush again tomorrow.
Police using a drone to test a thermal imaging device recorded an image of what officers believe were two bears wandering near a church on 19th Street in Watervliet.
Longtime Shenendehowa director of athletics Chris Culnan is resigning, effective June 30, 2025.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
