Good morning, it’s Monday, and OFFICIALLY a new year is underway. Last week was kinda like practice, since it was so short. Now, with a full five days of work stretching out before us, we’re really getting down to business.
It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that today is the anniversary of what some call the worst attack on American democracy since the Civil War and in just two weeks, the man in whose name that insurrection took place – Donald Trump – will again take the oath of office and ascend to the most powerful position in the free world: president of the United States.
The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was deadly and terrifying. It also looked at the time to be the beginning of the end for Trump, who went on to be found guilty of multiple charges in a variety of court cases.
And yet, somehow he and his supporters managed to turn that narrative around, and resurrected his political career. He has even gone so far as to call the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol a “day of love,” and vowed to make pardoning the rioters who have been convicted for their actions that day one of the first things he does upon re-taking the Oval Office.
Some are even pushing for criminal charges against those – like former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who was recently awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honor, by outgoing President Joe Biden – who investigated the Jan. 6 attack. Biden is reportedly mulling a preemptive pardon for Cheney and others in hopes of protecting them after he departs.
Today also happens to be the Feast of Epiphany, more colloquially known as Three Kings Day or Theophany, which marks the official end of the Christmas season. It recalls the visit of three Magi – AKA the wise men – to the infant Jesus as he lay in the manger following his miracle birth, and their sense of wonder upon meeting him.
There are a variety of celebratory traditions for this particular day, including putting on parades, plunging into ice cold lakes or other bodies of water, and eating “King’s cake“, which has a figurine of the baby Jesus hidden in it. (Yes, this is reminiscent of the King Cake one traditionally eats around Mardi Gras).
If you find the baby, you either get to be king for the day or have to host an upcoming Candlemas party.
“Epiphaneia” is Greek for “appearance” or “manifestation”. In this case, “epiphany” refers to the manifestation of Jesus to the world, according to Merriam-Webster. The word “epiphany”, however, has other meanings, including “an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure” and “a revealing scene or moment.”
I feel like there’s some sort of deep connection to be made between epiphany and Jan. 6 – something revelatory and meaningful and maybe even hopeful. So far, though, it’s eluding me. I still have vacation cobwebs on the brain.
The weather is making headlines, with much of the country bracing for a massive storm, driven by a polar vortex, that is expected to bring the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures some areas have seen in over a decade. This is wrecking havoc with travel, as per usual, but also might delay the first day of school for some districts that have yet to return post-Christmas break.
The storm glazed roads in ice across Kansas on Saturday and then moved into Missouri. On Sunday, roadways in southern and central Illinois and Kentucky were blanketed in snow and ice.
Here in the Capital Region, it’s going to be very cold, with temperatures in the 20. It doesn’t appear that we’re going to see much in the way of snow, though, and I am not sad about that.
In the headlines…
Months before the man behind the New Orleans terror attack plowed a truck into a New Year’s Day crowd, he rode through the area on a bicycle, recording videos of his target using eyeglasses with a built-in camera, investigators said.
He was back again a few weeks later, they said, probably to continue his plotting. He stayed at a rental home in New Orleans from October 30 for a few days and visited again November 10.
The attacker, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was wearing a pair of Meta smart glasses while carrying out the attack on New Year’s, but he did not activate them that day. The glasses were found on him after his death.
Speaker Mike Johnson said that he expects to pass Trump’s agenda through one big reconciliation package before Memorial Day.
The effort to include border, energy and tax policies in a single bill is a shift from where Senate GOP leader John Thune has been, but it also represents an evolution in how Trump’s team has begun to see the legislative landscape over the last several weeks.
The judge presiding over the hush money case against Trump on Friday denied his bid to dismiss the case and said he’ll sentence him on Jan. 10, ten days before his inauguration as the 47th president.
Judge Juan Merchan said Trump can appear in person or virtually for the sentencing, and that he won’t order Trump jailed.
Trump may not face a penalty for his conviction in the hush-money case, but he could still be the first felon to be president — and civil proceedings against him continue.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump this past Saturday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce his resignation from office this week, according to a report.
Three sources told the Globe and Mail, a Canadian outlet, that Trudeau, 53, could reveal he’s leaving as Liberal Party Leader before a critical national caucus meeting on Wednesday.
The race to lead the Democratic National Committee centers on the favorites, Ken Martin and Ben Wikler, but the party’s infighting over them looks nothing like a broad reckoning with its 2024 defeats.
Sen. Chuck Schumer called for $615 million to be included in the federal budget to shore up urban centers against terrorism in the wake of an attack in New Orleans and an explosion in Las Vegas — and the potential for copycats.
Motorists entering Manhattan’s busiest neighborhoods will now have to pay up to $9 in congestion charges, as New York City’s first-in-the-nation Congestion Relief Zone officially launched yesterday.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that the zone opened at 12:00:01 a.m. yesterday morning and “is fully operational.” Some drivers are already thinking about ways to avoid the new tolls.
Yesterday’s rollout was the first big test ahead of today’s morning rush. Signage up at 62nd Street and Fifth Avenue shows drivers it’s their last turn before the toll, which runs to the southern tip of Manhattan.
Two of New York City’s firefighter unions are slamming the newly implemented $9 congestion toll, saying that it will likely hurt response times — which “could mean a difference between life and death.”
As New Yorkers woke up to the new tolls — which now charge motorists to enter Manhattan below 60th Street — many wondered when they’d feel improvements to their subway, bus and railroad commutes.
Whether voters ultimately embrace the first-in-the-nation program is expected to be a crucial factor in the political future of the New York governor and her opponents heading into the 2026 elections.
Gov. Kathy Hochul did not promote the start of congestion pricing and had no public schedule. The traffic reduction program is one of her signature policies.
Hochul says the recent surge in violence in the subway “cannot continue,” announcing plans to spend $1 billion to revamp care, and change New York’s involuntary commitment laws.
The governor is looking to expand the state’s involuntary commitment laws to allow hospitals to force more people with mental health problems into treatment.
In 2024, Hochul vetoed 124 standalone bills as well as 15 line items in the state budget.
Hochul — who recently approved a controversial law that will force oil, natural-gas and coal companies to pony up $75 billion for carbon emissions allegedly contributing to global warming — has taken at least 30 flights aboard private jets since 2021.
Hochul proposed a major investment in Hudson Valley rail service to increase capacity, reduce delays, improve safety and cut potential travel times by up to 15 minutes each way for certain trips.
The unpopular New York governor faces stiff political headwinds this year, as fellow Democrats appear to be gearing up for a 2026 primary challenge.
State lawmakers have set an ambitious agenda for 2025, touting legislation they hope will stem population loss, lower the cost of living and bring the state closer to meeting its climate mandates that many have said are unattainable.
The state attorney general’s office is seeking to be removed as defense counsel in four cases pending in U.S. District Court in which current or former inmates have alleged they were physically abused by correction officers at Marcy Correctional Facility.
Mayor Eric Adams appointed a former correction department counselor and city hospital system interfaith leader as the new executive director of the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, filling a post vacant since the spring.
In the two years before FBI agents raided her homes, Winnie Greco, Adams’ Asian affairs adviser, regularly met in her City Hall capacity with Chinese government officials and members of groups funded by and supportive of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The stark changes to the mayor’s New Year’s Eve entourage show how much his inner circle has transformed after a series of scandals plunged his administration into crisis.
A new group is launching a $7 million campaign to mobilize Jewish voters for New York City’s municipal elections — including the crucial race for mayor.
NYPD cops nabbed a homeless man wanted for wounding an off-duty MTA subway cleaner and a second man in a pair of stabbing less than 24 hours apart in the Manhattan subway system.
A Metro-North passenger blasting music from his phone stabbed a stranger on a train entering Grand Central Terminal for telling him to turn it down, MTA police.
Preservationists are pushing to landmark parts of a uniquely shaped Upper East Side building that once housed the Whitney Museum and MET Breuer before auction house Sotheby’s takes over the space.
The fatal beating of an incarcerated man at an upstate prison is drawing renewed attention to Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT) units, whose members across the correctional system have been at the center of prisoners’ abuse claims.
New York has lifted its statewide drought watch, ending what was nearly a monthslong period for some counties.
A City of Albany police officer shot and wounded an unarmed man yesterday morning when officers were summoned to a Third Avenue apartment after receiving a report that a man was threatening his girlfriend with a handgun.
Costco Wholesale won’t say when its new Guilderland location will be constructed, but the town says the company is moving forward with its plans on a 16-acre site next to Crossgates Mall.
A 44-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the Oct. 9 death of 60-year-old James Provost, the man mauled by a pack of dogs behind a Central Avenue home, according to city police.
UnitedHealthcare has begun warning patients with Community Care Physicians that they may be out of the network as early as February — a fallout of the latest showdown over health insurance contracts to affect the Capital Region health care system.
Brian Martell, one of the co-founders of Druthers Brewing Company, died Dec. 27 of leukemia. He was 43.
Family members, friends and community leaders gathered to watch as the Washington Avenue bridge over I-90 was dedicated in honor of Casey Frankoski, the Army National Guard member who lost her life in an on-duty helicopter crash last March.
A Vermont man has been charged after an attempt to shoot a buck from his car led instead to a hospital visit, officials said.
Golden Globe voters did little to clear up a blurry awards picture in Hollywood yesterday, giving little-seen films like “The Brutalist” and “Emilia Pérez” roughly equal treatment and snubbing some perceived Oscar front-runners, including “Anora.”
The full list of winners can be found here.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
