Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
This week is likely to feel awfully long, given the three (OK, really, two) day holiday workweek we just experienced. Already, though, I’m starting to have trouble remembering just what day it is – a thing that tends to happen around this time of year with all the non-traditional (in my world, anyway) holiday programming, days off, etc.
I kind of feel like it’s a mad dash to the end of the year, with so much to do and seemingly so little time to cram it all in. For example, you’ve got less than a month now to make any charitable contributions that you’re hoping will factor in to your 2024 tax return.
Nonprofits are, of course, acutely aware of this fact – and the whole “season of giving” thing, when, as we’ve discussed in this space before, we tend to be slightly more generous than at other times of the year when it comes to assisting those among us who are less fortunate.
I’m not sure about you, but I’m starting to feel a little bombarded by asks – especially coming off the just-ended political season during which it seemed like every day (sometimes more than once or even twice a day) I was getting emails and texts from candidates seeking last-minute infusions of cash.
I’m not sure where some of these nonprofits are getting my contact information. There are a select few to which I give regularly, but, like rabbits, these asks seem to be multiplying by the day. I’m sure I ended up on someone’s list at some point and that list was sold and sold again. Hence, the current state of affairs.
I don’t mind so much, really. But to all those out there who are after a piece of my weekly take-home pay, know that all your asks don’t really amount to much when they pile up one on top of another. I continue to give to those organizations that mean something to me – those that help animals, for example; support historic preservation; work to protect a woman’s right to choose.
You get the idea.
Today is Giving Tuesday, which was established in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a sort of antidote to all the retail consumption that takes place this season. Coming on the heels of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday etc.
The concept took off and Giving Tuesday broke off and became its own, stand-alone entity in 2019.
In 2023, 34 million adults in the U.S. alone participated in Giving Tuesday, contributing more than $3.1 billion. That sounds like a lot, but comparatively speaking, it’s just a drop in the bucket. That same year, Americans gave an estimated total of $557.16 billion to charity, which, as we’ve discussed previously, is a big number, but not an all-time high.
Still, Giving Tuesday is a nice opportunity to remind people to think of those in need. And, in these days of over-consumption and wild showings of wealth, that too often falls by the wayside.
Another partly cloudy and seasonably chilly day is on tap, with temperatures topping out in the mid-30s.
In the headlines…
The threat of a retribution-focused Trump administration and his son’s looming sentencings prompted President Joe Biden to abandon a promise not to get involved in Hunter Biden’s legal problems.
Biden’s pardon of his son is further bruising a party already reeling from blistering electoral losses, with a wave of Democrats criticizing the move as counterproductive to their party’s efforts to rebuild public trust in US institutions scorned by Trump.
Lawmakers in the president’s own party, many of them moderates, said his decision to pardon his son was selfish and would further damage Americans’ waning faith in democracy and the rule of law.
Biden has pardoned people convicted of some marijuana offenses, but advocates for prisoners say he has been slow to grant other requests.
Special counsel David Weiss dismissed President Biden’s claim that his troubled son, Hunter Biden, was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” for federal tax and gun crimes.
Multiple officials who recently worked for Biden said they never believed the president or White House aides speaking on his behalf when they insisted in recent months that a pardon for Hunter Biden was off the table.
President-elect Donald Trump demanded that the hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on Israel be released from Gaza before his inauguration in January, or there will be “hell to pay” in the Middle East for those responsible.
Trump again announced he is picking a family member for his administration, choosing his daughter Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law as a senior Middle East adviser after picking son-in-law Jared Kushner’s dad to serve as ambassador to France.
The president-elect announced plans to travel to Paris this weekend in what would be his first trip overseas since his November election win.
Trump announced that investment banker Warren Stephens would serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.
“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Stephens, an investment banker, gave $2 million in 2016 to a group aiming to block Trump’s political rise. More recently, he backed Asa Hutchinson, Chris Christie, Mike Pence and Nikki Haley before donating to the Trump campaign.
Trump last night said that he would block a Japanese company’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel upon taking office, declaring that he would not allow the iconic American business to be owned by a foreign firm.
Trump’s pick to lead the F.B.I., Kash Patel, has called for firing the agency’s top officials, shutting down its Washington headquarters and prosecuting journalists.
The Pentagon will send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance from its stockpiles, including anti-personnel land mines, drones, portable antiaircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles.
The new support comes amid deep concerns in Ukraine that the incoming Trump administration might cut off military aid to the country.
Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. assistance to Kyiv. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement called the new aid a “significant package of urgently needed weapons and equipment.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer yesterday indicated that bipartisan negotiations to avert the threat of a government shutdown this month are “on the right track,” but he warned against “divisive” provisions.
As Congress faces a Dec. 20 deadline to avoid a government shutdown, Schumer voiced confidence in bipartisan progress but urged lawmakers to steer clear of contentious provisions.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final report, laying out conclusions from its review of the federal pandemic response, including what the Republican-controlled panel believes to be the likely origins of the virus.
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo committed “medical malpractice” and publicly undercounted the total number of COVID-related nursing home deaths in New York during the worst period of the killer pandemic, the final report released by a key House panel found.
A staffer for U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle is facing charges for unlawful possession of ammunition after “officers found four ammunition magazines and eleven rounds of ammunition” in his bag at the Cannon House Office Building, according to the U.S. Capitol Police.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams are approaching their budget agendas as if the 2024 election didn’t happen.
Hochul announced that flags on state buildings will be flown at half-staff on the day of Omer Neutra’s funeral. Neutra, 21, a dual American-Israeli citizen who was born in New York City, was killed during the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, Israel announced.
Hochul has about 200 bills left to decide on before the end of the year, including the Grieving Families Act, which would update the state’s nearly 180-year-old wrongful death statute, allowing families to sue for emotional damages.
Through an open-records request, Gothamist obtained the full list of more than 600 submissions Hochul’s office received as it was launching the “Ask the Gov” series in April and May.
Hochul announced more than $7.4 million in state funding for emergency planning and response efforts.
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres opened a new front in his public war against Hochul, calling for an investigation into claims her office rigged a bid to oversee New York’s allegedly fraud-ridden $9 billion home care Medicaid program.
New York State Troopers say they rescued a woman who was stranded in a snowstorm over the weekend as she was on her way to get a heart transplant.
The Adams administration staffer under fire for ripping down an Israeli hostage poster and then allegedly assaulting an outraged eyewitness has been “suspended without pay indefinitely.”
Adams and Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos unveiled plans to add 36 new schools to the Future Ready NYC program, expanding the initiative to 135 schools and adding two new program pathways.
New York City is expanding a career education program to serve a total of 135 schools and adding two new career pathways for students, offering experience in the professions of heating ventilation and air-conditioning, as well as human and social services.
New York State was home to an estimated 672,000 “undocumented” immigrants in 2022, most of whom have lived in the country for more than a decade, according to data from the Center for Migration Studies.
Adams is moving to close emergency migrant shelters in New York City and five upstate counties as the number of people arriving has dramatically dropped.
The City Council is funding the development of a Latine Studies curriculum for local public schools, members announced.
Daniel Penny’s defense lawyer gave his closing argument yesterday, arguing that Penny did not kill Jordan Neely when he held Neely in a chokehold for about six minutes on an uptown F train in May 2023.
Prosecutors in Penny’s manslaughter trial are to finish closing arguments today. The trial has touched on fears about crime and the city’s failure to help its most troubled residents.
Harvey Weinstein was hospitalized following an “alarming blood test,” his attorney said, less than a week after the disgraced movie mogul filed a legal claim alleging substandard medical care at New York City’s notorious jail complex.
Weinstein, 72, was sent to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for an “emergent treatment due to an alarming blood test result that requires immediate medical attention,” his attorney, Imran Ansari, said in a statement.
Two Delta flight attendants failed a breathalyzer before an international flight from Amsterdam to New York’s JFK International Airport.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting is tomorrow, but several streets are already closed for preparation, according to the city Department of Transportation.
The New York Philharmonic announced that it had chosen a new president and chief executive: Matías Tarnopolsky, who currently leads the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Pet stores in New York will no longer be able to sell puppies, kittens or bunnies after a law Hochul signed in 2022, goes into effect on Dec. 15. The Pet Zone at Crossgates Mall will be closing as a result.
Seven years after he retired, Brendan Cox returned to work yesterday as chief of the Albany Police Department.
The state trooper who fired the shots that killed a Columbia County man in a Saratoga Springs parking lot last fall has announced he is retiring from the State Police.
A new Chick-fil-A will open Thursday at 944 Central Ave. in Albany.
A Wood Road Elementary School teacher has been placed on paid leave after being arrested last Tuesday on gun charges during a domestic incident, Ballston Spa School District Superintendent Gianleo Duca said.
Town residents should get ready to go back to the polls again —this time to vote next week, Dec. 12, on whether the Bethlehem Public Library should get a $36.9 million renovation and expansion.
Since its founding in 1872, Saratoga Spring Water has been sold in blue bottles. The color finally has a formal name, Saratoga Signature Blue.
Police shot and critically wounded a gun suspect who fired at police shortly after midnight, Assistant Chief Steven Barker said yesterday.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
