NOTE: It’s Rise and be Sick for me today. So sorry about the delay, all. All this is truncated due to illness. I’ll check in tomorrow – maybe…
‘Good morning, it’s Thursday and there are 12 days remaining in 2024. Good riddance, I say.
I will not be at all sorry to see the back end of this particular year. Of course, who knows what awaits on the other side – there are some things in 2025 I am most definitely not looking forward to. Hopefully, there will be a lot of unexpected good surprises in the coming year.
The dark week for “Rise and Shine” does not mean that I tune out of the news completely, though admittedly I do pay slightly less attention than usual. I did get in the habit while I was a reporter of reading, watching, and listening to as wide a variety of news coverage as possible.
The highly personalized and tailored nature of news consumption these days isn’t healthy, in my opinion. Gone are the days when one serendipitously might encounter a charming, important, and/or interesting report on something about which one didn’t previously have an interest. This is the wonder of dead tree newspapers.
These days, some algorithm determines your preferences and serves up exactly what you want to read, hear, or view. The result is an echo chamber that I firmly believe has contributed to – though is not uniquely responsible for – the polarized nature of modern society.
One of my favorite pastimes to is consume coverage of the U.S. generated by foreign outlets. If you really want an unvarnished assessment of how the world views us, try listening to the BBC, which is, in case you’re not familiar, stands for British Broadcasting Corporation – a public service broadcaster that provides radio and television programs around the world.
The BBC, otherwise known as the “Beeb” and also “Auntie,” which reflects the British perception of its national broadcaster as a “nannying” and/or paternalistic presence in the local culture, is funded through a TV licensing fee set by the government, that is assessed on UK households, businesses, and organizations.
It was established under royal charter in 1922, and is the oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, with more than 21,000 staff.
If you listen to public radio on the regular, you’re likely familiar with the BBC World Service, which launched on this day in 1932, (originally under the name British Empire Service), spurred in part by the invention of new short-wave radio technology that enabled its signal to be carrier much further than before.
While it continues to be a major source of news – not only in the UK but around the world – the BBC, like other TV stations, is losing viewers to online news sources, even though members of the viewing public say that they trust social media news sources less than traditional TV and radio outlets.
Curious.
The Beeb isn’t perfect, of course. It has experienced its fair share of scandal – most notably the Huw Edwards incident. (If you’re not familiar, click here, but don’t say I didn’t warn you). Nevertheless, the BBC doesn’t face the same political threats that public broadcasting funding does here in the U.S. – at least not as far as I can tell. But it does have competitors in the private sector that are gunning for its market share.
I, for one, am rooting for the Beeb to survive. This crusty former journalist firmly believes that democracy is strongest when there’s a plethora of trustworthy news sources available.
We’ll see a mix of sun and clouds this morning, followed by mostly cloudy skies in the afternoon. There’s no precipitation in the forecast, and temperatures will top out in the high 30s.
In the headlines…
Trump’s first term ended amid the tumult of COVID-19’s emergence. Now, four years later, the pandemic’s repercussions are shaping his second.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been hospitalized after she “sustained an injury” during an official engagement in Luxembourg, according to a spokesman.
Mayor Eric Adams officially signed the ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunities’ into law during a ceremony yesterday, the last stop of a long campaign for zoning reform aimed at ending the ongoing housing crisis.
“This effort is monumental for New Yorkers who are struggling to find stable housing in our great city. With this law, we are not only increasing the housing supply but also upholding our commitment to build a city that is fair and equitable for everyone,” he said.
Adams’ legal team has requested that his federal corruption case be put on ice until Jan. 20, the day Trump is set to be inaugurated as the nation’s next president.
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief advisor to Adams until her resignation Sunday, may be charged with intervening in a city Department of Buildings process in exchange for securing DJ work for her son, her attorney said.
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals ordered the city to pay up to the “statutory cap” for any health insurance plan offered to employees and retirees, rejecting Adams’ argument that the city should only pay for one plan for retirees.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace announced he will step down from the job next month, just days before Trump’s inauguration.
An NYPD lieutenant in police headquarters who earned more than $400,000 last year has put in her retirement papers, following a report by the Daily News noting she claimed to have worked more than 1,600 hours of overtime for a hefty sum of $204,000.
Earlier this fall, when some Hudson Valley homeowners came to Cory Harris’ SUNY Orange office to show him two teeth they found in their backyard, Harris knew they had something special. He was right, it turned out to be a mastodon jaw fossil.
A city of Johnstown police officer will not face charges for fatally shooting a man who attacked two people with a hammer at a house on Washington Street last year.
State Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner met this week with a group of constituents who are working to block a Fort Edward processing plant from testing the destruction of “forever chemicals.”
Capitalize Albany, the city of Albany’s economic development arm, has purchased the Hamilton Street property used by the Greyhound bus station.
Slidin’ Dirty, a restaurant brand dormant for more than a year, is coming back as the food provider at Ophelia’s on Broadway in Albany, which will continue to run the bar service and music program at the location.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
