Good morning, it’s Wednesday. The middle of the week has arrived – already. The weather gets warmer and time seems to speed up somehow.
I know the furthest thing from your mind right now is probably Christmas. You’re more likely thinking about green grass, sunshine, sand, water, relaxing, etc. You’re probably also wondering, “Liz, why on earth are you throwing it back to the holiday season when we are SO past that, and really would rather forget about snow and cold for a while?!”
Well, hear me out. There is a method to my madness.
As a Jew married to a lapsed Catholic, I don’t spend a lot of time in churches. We do, however, go to Christmas Eve mass, which I probably enjoy more than my spouse does because I LOVE to sing carols.
So, while I’m not exactly steeped in the Christmas story, I think I get the gist, and one thing I have noticed is that Joseph doesn’t get a whole lot of time or attention during the holiday season. It’s all Mary and the Baby Jesus, the son of God, and the immaculate conception. Joseph, forgive my blasphemy, is sort of an afterthought.
It turns out that Joseph does get a whole day all to himself, but it’s nowhere near Christmas. Instead, it’s in March – March 19, to be exact, which is today. Happy Feast of Saint Joseph (AKA the Solemnity of Saint Joseph and/or Saint Joseph’s Day)!
The purpose of this day, according to the interwebs, is to commemorate the “husband of Mary and legal father of Jesus”, (I’ve also seen him referred to as the “earthly father of Jesus”), who protected and provided for the Holy Family.
Perhaps in recognition of the fact that Joseph didn’t get his fair share of attention, (but probably for some more obscure religious reason I don’t understand), Pope Pius XII established an additional Feast of “Saint Joseph the Worker” on May 1, which coincides with the celebration of International Workers’ Day (AKA May Day).
Joseph, as you may or may not recall, was a laborer of sorts. Often, he’s referred to as a “carpenter”, but apparently the Greek word that is used to describe his profession – “tekton” – is not that specific, and sort of widely refers to a builder or a craftsman. One way or the other, we know he worked with his hands and his son worked alongside him while he was young.
In Italy, Saint Joseph’s Day (San Giuseppe) is also Father’s Day. It is traditional not only to honor one’s own father and grandfather on this day, but also to set up a table for Saint Joseph – an altar of sorts that includes various food such as citrus fruit and fava beans, which are associated with springtime.
It’s also traditional to eat breadcrumbs, which are believed to resemble sawdust (in keeping with the whole carpenter thing).
Another Italian specialty consumed on this day is Zeppole di San Giuseppe, which is a pastry that resembles a cream puff that is filled with sweetened cream or ricotta cheese and topped with sour cherry preserves and powdered sugar. There are a few stories about how this treat came to be associated with Saint Joseph, including one that recounts how he sold fried pastries to support his family.
It will be a lovely and very sunny day, with temperatures in the mid-50s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on steps toward a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, and struck a narrow ceasefire that is set to take effect at once.
“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post after his call with Putin, which lasted at least 90 minutes.
Putin agreed for the first time to a limited cease-fire that would stop strikes on energy infrastructure, as long as Ukraine does the same. But he declined for now to agree to a broader 30-day halt in fighting that U.S. and Ukrainian officials had proposed.
The State Department has ended funding for the tracking of thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, and US officials or contractors might have deleted a database with information on them, according to a letter U.S. lawmakers plan to send today.
The Trump administration has released thousands of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that it said had previously been classified.
Many of the files related to the JFK assassination have already been disclosed, including a tranche of 13,000 documents released during the Biden administration. Many of those documents have contained redactions, however.
No major new details were found immediately in the released files, but scholars said it would take time to sift through them all.
Efforts by Elon Musk and his team to permanently shutter the USAID likely violated the Constitution “in multiple ways” and robbed Congress of its authority to oversee the dissolution of an agency it created, a federal judge found yesterday.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reversed a change that had made some of its claims far more difficult to fact-check.
The ruling by Judge Theodore D. Chuang of U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland appeared to be the first time a judge has moved to rein in Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency directly.
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have been waging a multi-front attack on the federal judge who is deciding whether the president may use a wartime statute to deport people suspected of belonging to a Venezuelan street gang.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a clear, if implicit, rebuke of Trump, intensifying a clash between the White House and the judiciary.
In an unusual statement, Roberts noted, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Trump said that Roberts’ statement didn’t mention him by name while doubling down on his call to impeach a federal judge who ruled against his administration in a high-profile deportation case.
A federal judge has indefinitely blocked Trump’s ban on transgender service members, dealing a major defeat to a controversial policy the president resurrected from his first term.
In a scathing ruling, US District Judge Ana Reyes said the administration cannot enforce the ban — which was set to take effect later this month.
Trump terminated two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission yesterday, with both commissioners saying they were ”illegally fired.” Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya posted a scathing critique of the Trump administration on X after the firing.
In separate public appearances yesterday, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted they are aligned on fighting Trump and the Republican legislative agenda.
The two Democratic leaders sought to return their focus to battling Trump and his agenda, particularly the potential Medicaid cuts his Republican allies in Congress are eyeing in their party-line bill for taxes, immigration and other policy priorities.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a shot at Schumer yesterday for his controversial vote with Republicans last week to avert a government shutdown. “I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” she said. “I think that’s what happened the other day.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, has an unorthodox idea for tackling the bird flu bedeviling U.S. poultry farms. Let the virus rip.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore returned to Earth yesterday after spending some nine months in space. A pod of dolphins swam up to the spot where the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down off Florida’s coast.
The dolphins’ reaction near the capsule quickly captured the hearts of social media users. NASA’s Johnson Space Center posted a video on X calling the sea mammals “the unplanned welcome crew!”
Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, said the astronauts “all looked very healthy.” He added: “They all looked like they were feeling about normal for the landing and recovery phase where their bodies are trying to re-adapt.”
The Trump administration threatened to withhold federal funding from New York’s mass transit network if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority did not respond to a series of demands about efforts to prevent crime on the city’s subway and buses.
In a letter written to the MTA, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demanded the agency provide information on plans to reduce crime, stop assaults on transit workers, address subway surfing, reduce injuries and fatalities on the tracks, and deter fare evasion.
“We will continue to fight to ensure their federal tax dollars are going towards a crime-free commute,” Duffy said in the letter.
A defiant Gov. Kathy Hochul insisted congestion pricing cameras will stay on past a Trump-mandated Friday deadline to stop the tolls — but said their mutual desire to revamp Penn Station is keeping broader talks alive.
Hochul told reporters she didn’t know if her meeting with Trump last week changed his mind on trying to kill the toll for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street. “I don’t know the answer to that question, but I said the cameras are staying on,” she said.
Hochul has agreed to travel to the Seneca Nation territories in western New York and apologize for the historical abuses endured by its members at the hands of the state.
The New York State Museum reported that, as of this month, they have returned 62 percent of its collection of Native American human remains and funerary objects to their original nations. The rest were classified as “culturally unidentifiable.”
New York’s school boards, superintendents and building administrators aren’t on board with Hochul’s plan to prohibit students from using their smartphones during the school day, arguing schools need more flexibility.
Hochul recently nominated Amanda Lefton, 39, to be the next commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Three New York law enforcement agencies recently signed agreements to confirm their cooperation with ICE as Trump tries to increase detention and deportation of migrants who are in the country without legal status.
Dozens of state lawmakers are closer to potentially having to leave public office or give up their private-sector jobs after a state Supreme Court justice recently issued a ruling upholding the constitutionality of a law that places limits on their outside income.
Hundreds of claims filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act and Child Victims Act may be in legal peril after the Court of Appeals threw out a case filed against the state by a man who alleges he was raped and sexually abused numerous times as a child.
The state could soon begin training bank employees to spot financial scams targeting older residents, a safeguard that advocates say would prevent vulnerable New Yorkers from being siphoned of millions of dollars every year.
Dozens rallied outside the Bronx County Criminal Court, urging Hochul to stop her efforts to amend a law requiring the state to promptly and automatically disclose evidence against criminal defendants in New York.
Mayor Eric Adams raised only $19,000 after adjustments and refunds for his re-election over the last two months, a remarkably low fund-raising total for a Democratic mayoral candidate and unfathomably low for an incumbent.
Adams’ skeletal campaign operation did shell out $67,000 to petition and canvass for signatures, hundreds of thousands of which are required to get on the ballot, the latest filings show.
The Trump administration appears likely to succeed in having federal corruption charges dropped against Adams in Manhattan. But in Brooklyn, prosecutors have been conducting a long-running investigation involving his most prominent fund-raiser.
Adams sharply criticized legislation passed by the City Council that would give hundreds of thousands of small homeowners free trash bins, or refund those who’ve already purchased them.
Adams wants to revive a Bloomberg-era policy that allowed the city to at least temporarily boot rule-breaking residents from homeless shelters.
Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo should cough up the more than $5 million he pocketed from his COVID-era memoir now that he’s seeking to become New York City mayor, one of his campaign opponents, Comptroller Brad Lander, said.
Cuomo unveiled a subway safety plan that would boost the number of underground transit cops by 50% to more than 4,000 — a level not seen since the 1990s.
Assemblymember and mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani was among eight liberal state pols to rip CUNY’s chief yesterday for pulling a job posting for a “Palestinian Studies” prof who’d allegedly be allowed to promote antisemitism.
A commission on closing the Rikers Island jail complex urged New York City to appoint two senior officials to focus solely on shutting down the troubled jail, part of a series of recommendations designed to accomplish a goal mandated six years ago.
The NYPD and Department of Sanitation towed numerous illegally parked vehicles along a Queens street after Gothamist reported on the problem last week.
Tesla drivers are reportedly being slapped with eye-watering extra charges to park their cars in private garages across NYC with “luxury” or “exotic” surcharges for certain models.
More than one million Canadians visited New York City last year, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy. Now, they are canceling trips in droves. Often, the reason cited is Trump’s escalating hostility toward Canada.
The state AG’s office recently agreed to pay $8 million to settle a claim filed by a man who was wrongly convicted in 1999 of murdering a UAlbany student, allegedly as part of a plot to silence a robbery witness. The plot had been fabricated by police.
A packed, and at times raucous, crowd at Schenectady High School pressed Rep. Paul Tonko and urged a more aggressive pushback from fellow Democrats to Trump’s federal staff reductions and executive orders.
The Malta-based chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries says it has already started an upgrade of its Fab 8 computer chip factory at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in the towns of Malta and Stillwater under the terms of its $1.5 billion CHIPS act grant.
Alain Kaloyeros and his co-defendants in the Buffalo Billion wire fraud case brought against them by federal prosecutors in are asking the nation’s highest court to rule whether or not they can be retried after having their convictions overturned two years ago.
After five years of planning and legal battles, construction of the Capital Region’s first Costco is now on track to be completed by the year’s end.
Gone again. Meteorologist Craig Gold has left NewsChannel13 and the broadcast industry — and this time he has no plans to return.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
