Good morning, it’s Monday. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
This day, which officially (and religiously speaking) commemorates the death of St. Patrick, a 5th-century Christian missionary and the patron saint of Ireland, and unofficially is a one of the biggest partying days of the year, has never had much of an allure for me. That might be because I don’t drink, am not big into loud and boisterous places, and look terrible in green.
When I was in high school, our marching band got to participate in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City. This was supposed to be a very big deal, but I remember it as cold, tedious, and kind of embarrassing – our band uniforms featured tall, white, furry hats, which inebriated onlookers compared to sanitary products and threw things at.
So, I don’t typically participate in any of the St. Patrick’s Day revelry – that parade experience might have been the last time, come to think of it. Also, I was out of town this past weekend when most of the events took place, given that the day itself falls on a Monday, which isn’t terribly conducive for partying (at least not for those among us that have jobs we need to report to bright and early).
The City of Albany takes St. Patrick’s Day pretty seriously, which stands to reason, since Irish (and also Scots) immigrants have a long and storied history with the city. It is traditional to start the celebration off with a St. Patrick’s Day mass – a nod to the day’s religious toots.
St. Patrick’s Day started out as a feast day in honor of its namesake saint, who is believed to have died on March 17th in the 5th century. The origin story of St. Patrick is that he was born in Great Britain, but was kidnapped at the age of 16 and brought to Ireland as a slave. He escaped, but returned to the island on a mission to convert its inhabitants to Christianity, establishing a number of schools, monasteries and churches.
There are a number of legends related to St. Patrick’s accomplishments and prowess, including one story about him banishing all the snakes from Ireland and causing them to slither into the sea. This one is most definitely apocryphal as there were no snakes existing in Ireland at the time that St. Patrick was alive. This was most likely an allegory meant to refer to St. Patrick’s evangelical efforts, as snakes traditional are symbols of evil.
The other often-repeated story is the one about St. Patrick using the three-leafed clover known as a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagans he was trying to convert. The shamrock, which was considered sacred by ancient people, has since emerged as a symbol of Irish nationalism.
One thing I do love about St. Patrick’s Day is Irish soda bread, and also currant scones. If anyone has a good recommendation on where I can locate some good versions of the later now that the holiday has passed, hit me up. There’s nothing better than a thick slice of Irish soda bread slathered with butter. And yes, I’m a raisin girl all the way. Not so big on caraway seeds, though.
It will be overcast today with a chance of showers. Temperatures will be in the low 50s.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration denied it had violated a court order by deporting hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a prison in El Salvador, saying the president had broad powers to quickly expel them under an 18th-century law meant for wartime.
A federal judge on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to cease use of an obscure wartime law to deport Venezuelans without a hearing, saying that any planes that had departed the United States with immigrants under the law needed to return.
The verbal order from the chief judge of the Washington, D.C., District Court, James Boasberg, explicitly told the government to turn around any aircraft that had already departed the country if it was still in the air.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, asserted in a statement that the federal courts “have no jurisdiction” over the president’s conduct of foreign affairs or his power to expel foreign enemies.
The right-wing president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, bragged that the 238 detainees who had been aboard the aircraft were transferred to a Salvadoran “Terrorism Confinement Center,” where they would be held for at least a year.
“Oopsie…Too late,” Bukele wrote in a social media post yesterday morning that was recirculated by the White House after the detainees arrived despite a federal judge’s order that their planes reverse course and return the detainees to the US.
“Court order defied. First of many as I’ve been warning and start of true constitutional crisis,” national security attorney Mark S. Zaid, a Trump critic, wrote on X, adding that Trump could ultimately get impeached.
A kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported from the United States, even though she had a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her expulsion, according to her lawyer and court papers.
A federal judge has ordered U.S. Customs and Border officials to respond today at a hearing before him to allegations they “willfully” disobeyed his order not to deport Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, of Rhode Island, until he could review her case.
Court documents alleged that upon returning to the US at the end of last week, Alawieh was held at Boston Logan International Airport for 36 hours before she was sent back to Lebanon in violation of a federal judge’s order to halt her deportation.
President Donald Trump has signed into law legislation funding the government through the end of September, ending the threat of a partial government shutdown and capping off a struggle in Congress that deeply divided Democrats.
In a post on X, White House Spokesperson Harrison Fields said Trump signed the bill and thanked Democrats who joined Republicans to approve the continuing measure.
Three months into his second term, Trump hit the highest approval rating he’s ever had as commander-in-chief — while more Americans say the country is on the right track than at any point since 2004, a new poll found.
But he has still has not won over a majority of Americans, and 54% said they disapprove of his handling of the economy — the first time he’s lost a majority on that issue in NBC’s poll.
The White House shared images of Trump watching on a computer the deadly strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen, as the administration reportedly revealed it informed Russia about the attacks in an effort to bolster diplomatic communications.
Photos of Trump watching “hell” unleashed on Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen were circulated by the White House on X, on Saturday.
The Houthis are vowing retaliation after the U.S. launched a series of airstrikes on Yemen. Nasr el-Din Amer, a spokesperson for the Houthis, told NBC News that the majority of the casualties from the airstrikes were women and children.
Trump said he would speak with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia tomorrow, as he continued to express optimism that Russia would agree to a proposal to halt fighting in Ukraine for 30 days.
“We want to see if we can bring that war to an end,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”
Kristi Noem announced the construction of a new 7-mile stretch of Trump’s border wall in Arizona — a day after the secretary of Homeland Security revealed that illegal crossings have plummeted by 95% under President Trump’s administration.
Materials on the Arlington National Cemetery website highlighting the graves of Black and female service members have vanished as the Trump administration purges government websites of references to diversity and inclusion.
The annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington on Saturday featured jokes about Trump, the breakdown of the global order, Russia, Democrats’ uncertain future and, of course, Elon Musk. Trump and top members of his administration weren’t there.
For the first time in the 140-year history of the Gridiron Club Dinner, those gathered did not offer the traditional toast to the sitting U.S. president. Instead, leading members of the Washington press corps paid tribute to the First Amendment.
White House press secretary Leavitt will skip the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner next month after early friction with the press corps.
Hours Trump signed an executive order on Friday calling for the dismantling of the federal agency that oversees Voice of America, hundreds of journalists, executives and other employees were informed that they were being put on paid leave.
With most of Voice of America’s work force locked out, at least some of its radio frequencies in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere went dark or began airing nothing but music, employees said.
Chinese nationalists and state media could hardly contain their schadenfreude after Trump signed an executive order to dismantle (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other US government-funded media organizations that broadcast to authoritarian regimes.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing one of the most perilous moments of his leadership career, with some Democratic senators privately questioning whether he should stay on as their leader.
Many Democratic lawmakers continued to express deep frustration at Schumer yesterday for having broken with most of his party to allow a GOP spending bill to pass, as the party’s base increasingly demands more resistance to Trump’s far-reaching agenda.
Former Rep. Nita Lowey, who represented parts of the lower Hudson Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than three decades, has died at the age of 87.
A Democrat, Lowey represented Westchester County for three decades and became the first woman to lead the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
“Nita has quietly and bravely battled metastatic breast cancer in recent years with the same tenacity and strength that she fought throughout her 32-year career in Congress for women, children and families in the U.S. and around the world,” her family said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered flags to be flown at half-staff through today in Lowey’s honor.
At the center of Hochul’s agenda this year is what she bills as a “middle-class tax cut,” but about half of those cuts will go toward New Yorkers who by some measures aren’t considered middle class.
Rep. Ritchie Torres sent a sharply worded letter to Hochul, calling out her “bureaucratic bungling” in letting the iconic Big Apple transit hub go to seed, which he labeled “a symbol of urban decay.”
As Hochul tries to convince Trump to support congestion pricing in Manhattan, there’s something the president wants from the governor: her approval of a natural-gas pipeline long considered dead.
Nearly 90% of New York City voters support expanding involuntary commitment and care of mentally ill residents roaming the streets or the subway, according to a new poll from the Association for a Better New York.
More than 2,000 state correction officers who were fired after being accused of declining to return to work at the end of an illegal strike included dozens of employees who were injured, sick, on family medical leave and, in at least one case, pregnant.
Mayor Eric Adams’s prolonged charm campaign involved phone calls to the Trumps and a meeting with Steve Bannon. Trump showed sympathy for the mayor, as his administration moved to drop charges against the mayor.
The Trump Organization is aggressively lobbying Adams to win its bid to run Central Park’s Wollman Rink, squeezing the mayor to award a contract even as the Justice Department moves to dismiss his corruption case.
Adams named Camille Joseph Varlack interim first deputy mayor – a role left vacant by former First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. Varlack will also maintain both her deputy mayor for administration and chief of staff titles.
The Adams administration spent $3.5 million clearing 2,300 homeless encampments from public spaces between January to September last year, according to new numbers released by the administration on Friday.
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who leads the Brooklyn Democratic Party and who has been a key Adams backer, endorsed his main rival in the upcoming mayoral election, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“As the leader of the largest and most diverse Democratic county party in New York — and the nation — I know the experienced leadership we need to steer our city forward,” Bichotte Hermelyn said in a statement.
“As a Black woman and the first to lead a NYC Democratic County Party, I know firsthand how double standards shape public perception, and see the differing standards applied to Adams and Trump illustrating that stark contrast,” Bichotte Hermelyn wrote in an op-ed last week.
Former veteran Capitol reporter Karen DeWitt writes (surprisingly) that “during this surreal and unbelievably fraught time” a Cuomo mayoralty in New York City “might not be such a terrible thing.”
Mayoral candidate and then-Gov. Cuomo used heavy-handed tactics and secretiveness with Big Apple officials as the city struggled to contain the deadly COVID pandemic, a scathing new study says.
Adams is mulling running as an independent if he loses the upcoming Democratic primary — and that’s even if he decides to make a re-election bid as he faces increasingly hopeless electoral prospects.
The city’s ambitious effort to bring 500 bike parking lockers is stalled — and advocates demand that Mayor Adams keep his campaign promise of making the crucial transportation infrastructure a reality.
Speaker Adrienne Adams has raised over $128,000 for her mayoral bid, according to her campaign — but it’s not enough to garner her matching funds. Nearly 1,130 donors, including 875 donors in New York City, gave to her campaign in just five days.
The City Council speaker’s late entry into the race ahead of a June 24 party primary — and failure to immediately tap into the 8-1 public matching funds — makes her road to victory more difficult, campaign strategists said.
Two-thirds of the city’s emergency management budget could be imperiled by Trump administration federal funding cuts, NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol testified Friday.
The city Health Department missed early detection of COVID-19 because it listened to CDC bureaucrats — losing the chance to potentially spare untold numbers from death, a former agency director claims.
Some 350 convicted people are crowded onto Rikers Island awaiting transfer to prisons upstate due to continued ripple effects from the state prison strike, according to jail officials.
Columbia University students say unwanted federal government scrutiny has had a chilling effect on the free exchange of ideas and has distracted from studies — two of the prestigious university’s core functions.
Attorneys for the detained Columbia student activist Mahmoud Khalil released video footage of his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers inside his university housing, as recorded by his wife who is eight months pregnant.
Oscar-nominated actress Debra Winger sounded off about having a “debt to pay” for her Jewish upbringing as she joined last week’s Trump Tower protest over the arrest of anti-Israel activist Khalil.
Legal experts are questioning Trump’s authority to cancel $400 million in funding to Columbia and demand an overhaul of its admissions and disciplinary rules.
A 45-year-old man was set on fire in Times Square early Sunday morning by an attacker who is still on the loose, according to the NYPD.
Police are still hunting for the attacker, who knew his victim and apparently grabbed something containing flammable liquid off a nearby cart and used it to torch the man at the corner of West 41st Street and Broadway in Manhattan just before 4 a.m.
The New York City health department is warning cat parents to stop using Savage Cat Food — a brand the city says is likely tied to at least three cases of feline bird flu in the last two months.
District attorneys across New York City are trying to tighten the screws on shoplifters by training retailers on methods to ban repeat offenders — and threaten serious prison sentences if they attempt to shoplift again.
Health officials said the company — which markets raw, “prey-based” food — had been linked to two house cats who tested positive for bird flu and died.
Flu season finally appears to be on its way out as cases begin to drop in New York, but it’s been a particularly nasty season and it’s unclear when exactly it will end.
The first-ever Brooklyn SeltzerFest honoring the carbonated drink’s history in the five boroughs sold out in Brooklyn yesterday, with over 600 attendees coming together to celebrate the pop-ular drink.
Utility bills are already high in New York but could get pricier if the federal government cuts grants and tax credits intended to help consumers and the state offset the cost of clean energy projects, the state comptroller’s office said Friday.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is closing All Saints Catholic Academy, one of its three K-8 schools in Albany, in an effort to break even on the costs of Catholic education in the city.
All four of the Democrats seeking the party’s nomination for Albany mayor agree improving public safety is the top issue for the city’s next leader, but they have different approaches and focuses on going about that.
Whitney Park, the vast private territory of Adirondack forestland and waters bodies in Long Lake destined to be sold to benefit the town, will be listed with a real estate agent soon with the goal of selling at the maximum value, the man handling the matter said.
Citing the desire to slow down and spend more time with family, the owners of The Mouzon House, the historic farm-to-table restaurant in Saratoga Springs, are now serving monthly supper club meals and hosting special events only.
More than 20 people gathered in front of the Glens Falls Police Department headquarters on Friday to draw attention to what they see as a lack of transparency from city officials and law enforcement in the wake of a Glens Falls woman’s death this month.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
