Good morning. It’s Thursday, which is one step closer to Friday. Hang in there.
I wrote recently about a discussion I had with my mom about why she chose the name “Elizabeth” when I was born and how she told me that if I had been a boy, she likely would have christened me “Ethan.” She never did get a chance to put that name into circulation, though, as she and my dad didn’t have any more kids before they divorced when I was 13.
On the whole, I haven’t regretted being an only child. In my mind, there were a lot of benefits to that. I got all the focus and time and attention, which was good when things were good, but not so good when I misbehaved. Also, all the eggs are in one basket, so to speak, so that ups the ante when it comes to doing well in school and life in general.
It turns out that I and my fellow only children are in the minority. A 2023 YouGov survey found that 88 percent of Americans had at least one sibling and two-thirds of those without a brother or sister said they wished that wasn’t the case. Sadly for those who are wishing they weren’t alone, that’s increasingly going to be the case, as fewer people are opting to have kids at all.
There was a time when I begged for a sibling. I had a lot of friends who had brothers and/or sisters, and I had a healthy skepticism of what that meant, but it did seem to have its benefits. There’s safety in numbers, for example, and – assuming you get along reasonably well – there’s always someone around to talk to and hang out with.
I did get a taste of what it mean to have siblings with which one was NOT on good terms, as my dad remarried when I was in high school, bringing a step-brother and step-sister into my life. When we got along, which wasn’t often, it was nice to have allies. But when things were bad they were VERY bad. We never grew terribly close, and now as adults, we’re only intermittently in touch.
Scientifically, having siblings with whom you enjoy a strong relationship can be highly beneficial to your long-term health – both mental and physical. Those who have poor relationships with their siblings, however, are more likely to experience depression, substance use, and feelings of loneliness.
While people are growing up, their siblings have an enormous influence on their development – perhaps as much as or even more than, in some instances, their parents, research has found. Adult sibling relationships are among some of the most important in an individual’s life, particularly after their parents pass away.
Today is National Siblings Day, which isn’t a federally recognized holiday, though that’s something that the Siblings Day Foundation (yes, such a things exists) is trying to change. The SDF, as it’s known, was formed in 1995 to push for a “national day of recognition” for brothers and sisters. As a secondary focus, the organization works to reunite siblings who who “may have been separated by distance, by circumstance, by birth and adoption, or interpersonal familial issues.”
The SDF was founded by a woman named Claudia Evart after she lost her brother and sister, Alan and Lisette (April 10 is Lisette’s birthday; she died at the age of 19). Interestingly, Ms. Evart has a local connection, she’s a UAlbany graduate.
Former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Manhattan Democrat, took up Evart’s cause and introduced legislation to make Siblings Day official on several occasions (albeit unsuccessfully), and the effort also garnered attention and support from a range of elected officials, including Presidents Bush, Clinton, and Obama.
It’s a good news/bad news sort of day when it comes to the weather. Good news: It will be warmer! Temperatures are heading up into the 50s. Bad news: It’s going to be cloudy, though as far as I can tell, dry. Take your wins where you can get them.
In the headlines…
U.S. stocks rocketed higher yesterday after President Trump announced that he had authorized a 90-day pause on certain tariffs to most countries. The about-face in the expanding trade war jolted investors who had previously been fleeing for the sidelines.
Wall Street’s gleeful embrace of the policy reversal reflected relief that Trump would not follow through with most of his plans for the tariffs, which had sent markets into a tailspin and threatened to upend global trade.
Trump told reporters that “yippy” critics and a “queasy” bond market were factors in his abrupt reversal, after uttering into a hot mic that a massive uptick in stock value has “gotta be a record” as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up almost 8%.
The president later said he’d been thinking about his tariff pause over the past few days, but he said it “came together early this morning, fairly early this morning.”
Behind the scenes, senior members of Trump’s team had feared a financial panic that could spiral out of control and potentially devastate the economy.
While many countries would have their tariffs reduced, Trump said the relief would not extend to China, one of America’s biggest trading partners, ensuring that many American importers were not out of danger.
Enormous tariffs will remain on China, the world’s second-largest economy. In fact, Trump said they will be increased to 125% from 104% after China announced additional retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to negotiate a “new economic and security relationship” with the US – an announcement that comes on the same day Trump paused tariffs for dozens of nations, but not Canada.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Trump was always planning to pull back his sweeping tariff plans for dozens of countries just days after announcing it, insisting: “This was the strategy all along.”
House Republican leaders canceled plans to vote on a revised budget blueprint to begin work on Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda as a key bloc of hard-line conservatives threatened to tank the measure.
It’s a major setback for Speaker Mike Johnson, who huddled with a group of holdouts pushing for steeper spending cuts for over an hour before the scrapped vote, and for Trump, who dialed up the pressure in recent days on House Republicans to fall in line.
Johnson signaled the House will try again today before the chamber is slated to go on its two-week April recess, though it was not clear if a vote was assured. The speaker said he had no intention of keeping members in D.C. through the weekend.
The House passed legislation that would bar federal district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions, part of an escalating Republican campaign to take aim at judges who have moved to halt some of President Trump’s executive orders.
North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik said she will rejoin the House Republican leadership, albeit at a lower rung, after being forced to abandon her nomination as ambassador to the United Nations.
House Republicans are making new moves to ensure a slew of clean energy tax credits benefitting red districts and states around the country are preserved in a final party-line package.
FBI Director Kash Patel was removed from his role as acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and replaced by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, US officials confirmed.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said he would take military action against Iran “if necessary” if the country did not agree to a new nuclear deal.
Trump said that Israel would be the “leader” of a potential military strike against Iran if Tehran doesn’t give up its nuclear weapons program.
“I’m not asking for much … but they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters after signing several executive orders in the Oval Office.
By setting out to eviscerate the tiny United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Trump appears to be targeting the policy that dominates homelessness work, an approach called Housing First
The Trump administration has cut funding and staffing at the program that oversees the federal government’s premier report on how global warming is affecting the country, raising concerns among scientists that the assessment is now in jeopardy.
Trump signed executive orders punishing two officials from his first administration and an elite law firm, continuing a campaign of retribution that he has gleefully carried out since his inauguration.
Two federal judges issued separate orders yesterday placing road blocks in the Trump administration’s continuing efforts to use a powerful wartime statute to deport Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to El Salvador.
A federal judge in the Southern District of New York is temporarily blocking the Trump administration from deporting migrants in New York without notice or a court hearing.
The Justice Department barred its lawyers from attending any American Bar Association events, escalating the Trump administration’s battle with the legal profession over who lawyers should take on as clients.
Trump signed an executive order this week that directs the U.S. attorney general to evaluate state “climate” laws that his administration alleges may be illegal, including New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act.
A Senate committee asked Columbia University to provide extensive information about Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that had been at the center of protests on campus over Israel and Gaza.
New York colleges are reporting student visas have been abruptly revoked by the Trump administration — with at least some 50 international students affected statewide as part of a nationwide crackdown on who gets to study on American campuses.
At least 17 international students at the City University of New York have had a change in visa status, plus 21 others at the State University of New York. The counts were current as of yesterday afternoon.
Members of the New York Legislature aren’t paid as long as the budget is late. A new bill would change that, underscoring their ire over what they view as a refusal to compromise from the governor who noted they are the nation’s highest paid state lawmakers.
The State Assembly leader, Speaker Carl Heastie, says legislators should not be punished if a late budget is caused by policy disagreements unrelated to New York’s finances.
Under Heastie’s proposal, lawmakers would only go unpaid during overtime budget talks if negotiations remained policy-free and anchored in fiscal matters.
Heastie said the proposal has nothing to do with Hochul personally, whom he considers to be “a good friend.”
The legislation was not introduced in the state Senate, where Deputy Majority Leader Mike Gianaris, who hadn’t yet reviewed Heastie’s bill, said tensions were growing over Hochul’s asks, including those concerning involuntary commitment and discovery.
The bill has almost no chance of passing — lawmakers are loath to entertain the optics of approving their own paychecks while the state government remains on the brink of a shutdown. But the move is still significant.
A late state budget could be a blessing in disguise. As of April 1, Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t know about Trump’s tariff plan and the stock market’s impending decline, so fiscal watchdogs say she now has a chance to cut spending.
For a second day in a row, some schools in New York could not administer standardized tests because of problems with the computer system students use to take the exams.
Former New York State corrections officers are eligible to be hired for local jobs as of yesterday, as part of an executive order signed by Hochul comes to an end.
A good-government group is pitching a proposal following the corruption scandal that engulfed Mayor Eric Adams: Let voters participate in a special election to remove a future mayor from office.
Adams has unveiled the name of the party line under which he plans to make his long-shot bid for reelection this year: Safe Streets, Affordable City.
A longtime friend of Adams, Bo Dietl, a former NYPD detective one-time mayoral candidate and persistent gadfly, alleged that he was instructed to submit inflated bids for city contracts.
Federal immigration officials had been barred from the New York City jail complex. The mayor says they can return, but only to work on criminal cases.
After years of saying the City did not have the money to meet the mandates of a state law lowering class sizes, Adams changed his tune yesterday, announcing his administration will support 750 public schools in shrinking their classroom headcounts.
The city will give the city Department of Education extra cash to hire 3,700 teachers across 750 public schools to help shrink classroom headcounts, the mayor said.
City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander said he’ll refuse to back rival Andrew Cuomo if the ex-governor wins the Democratic nomination for City Hall — and did not rule out running as the Working Families Party candidate in the general election.
Manhattan Democratic Party boss Keith Wright is endorsing Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan’s 2025 bid for city comptroller, dealing a blow to Mark Levine, Manhattan’s borough president who’s running against Brannan.
Levine secured the endorsement of Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson yesterday, and now has the backing of all Democratic BPs in the Big Apple.
A controversial communist group touted that it helped downtown Manhattan Councilman Chris Marte last month with collecting petition signatures for his reelection bid as he faces a wide field of challengers in this summer’s Democratic primary.
A new audit from the New York City comptroller found that the city’s Department of Education failed to inspect an overwhelming majority of schools for asbestos – with more than four out of five buildings falling far short of federal standards.
Members of Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, lobbied Frontier Airlines to allow an 81-year-old woman stranded with her 24-year-old gray parrot named Plucky to fly to New York from San Juan, where she was stuck for four days.
The religious order that owns Preston High School in the Bronx, which was once attended by Jennifer Lopez, says it can no longer operate it. Supporters are appealing to the New York attorney general for help.
Mount Sinai Beth Israel has officially closed, just a day after an appellate judge dismissed a community lawsuit seeking to block the Manhattan hospital’s impending closure.
More than 10 upstate counties will close key child care assistance programs by June, the result of a funding shortfall that advocates have said is up to New York leaders to backfill in the state budget.
A man who opened fire with a high-powered rifle outside a State Police barracks on Route 9 in Saratoga County died yesterday afternoon after being struck by return fire from multiple troopers who exited the building and engaged the suspect.
After a 17-year absence, the school resource officer program is returning to the Niskayuna school district starting in September.
After departing Stuyvesant Plaza earlier this year, Penzeys Spices is eyeing a new location at 145 Wolf Rd. in Colonie.
The Spa City’s longtime supervisor, who has been credited for expanding Saratoga County trails as well as securing funds for city projects including a third fire station, announced last week that he will not seek reelection.
Gilbert C. Maurer, former Hearst chief operating officer and a unique force in media and the arts and philanthropic world, died Sunday at his home in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 96.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
