Good Wednesday morning.
I am, in many ways, a luddite.
I have only the bare minimum of computer skills. Anything but the most basic word processing eludes me. Excel, in particular, is not my friend.
My phone, I’m sure, has many features that I’m not even remotely aware of. I use it to read emails and texts and the occasional Signal chat (no, Pete Hegseth is not in my contact list – am I the only one?), doom scroll, and take pictures – oh, and also as an alarm clock and podcast/music player.
I do not, unless under extreme duress, such as traveling long distances with limited luggage space, read books on my phone. I have not one, but two e-reading devices, both of which have dead batteries due to lack of use and charging. When it comes to reading, I much prefer the dead tree version of books.
This is not terribly eco-conscious of me. I was horrified to learn that some 320 million books are discarded in landfills annually, which adds up to about 640,000 tons a year. (This is in part why, when people ask me if I plan to write a book, I usually am quick to say “no” – who even READS all the dreck that is released on the regular? Answer: No one).
A good amount of these discarded books is made up of unused returns (things that don’t sell) and “weeding” of library collections. An estimated 30 to 40 percent of books produced in the U.S. are returned to the publisher unsold, according to a 2009 statistic (it’s probably quite a bit more than this now, I would guess), and up to 95 percent of those are pulped, returning them to a paper slurry.
I love my books and display them proudly. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I insist on lugging most of them from place to place every time we move, though I did agree the last time to cull – I prefer “curate” – some of my collection, ridding it of duplicates and parting with a handful that I had read multiple times and didn’t enjoy all that much.
I like the way that books look from a design standpoint. One of the first things I did upon moving into our new house a few years back was to commission some built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. I also have a habit of re-reading books if I really liked them – or if I can’t remember reading them in the first place. Generally, I just like having them around.
Also, as it turns out, getting rid of books is not all that easy. In fact, it’s harder than it used to be.
Small neighborhood sharing libraries (which I love, by the way) can only hold so much. Many libraries have far more books than they can handle and no longer accept donations. Used bookstores, which used to purchase books (I worked at one in New Paltz while in high school that is still around to this day) aren’t as prevalent as they once were. Even prisons aren’t taking as many book donations as they once did – and they have very specific requirements for what they will accept.
It turns out that books CAN be recycled, but the process is complicated. Paperbacks are, logically, easier to deal with – you can recycle the whole thing, including the binding. But hardcovers need to be removed because they contain non-paper material.
Also, if your book as been wet and turned brown or tan, it can’t be recycled at all. You might still be able to donate these damaged books, though, assuming they’re still readable AND you can find someone willing to take them off your hands.
Today – unless you happen to find yourself in the UK – is World Book Day (AKA World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book). This annual event, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is intended to promote reading, publishing, and copyright – that last one being a very big deal in the digital/AI age.
Yesterday was absolutely spectacular, weather wise, a perfect Earth Day. Today we will see more of the same, though it might be a touch cooler. We’ll see lots of bright sun and temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s.
In the headlines…
A market rebound that started on Wall Street continued in Asia today after President Donald Trump said he had “no intention” of firing the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell.
“I have no intention of firing him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office yesterday. “I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates,” he added.
The president’s comments come days after he called the central bank boss a “major loser” whose “termination cannot come fast enough” and defended his tariffs after they triggered stock market sell-offs.
The statement, along with reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told investors that he expected the tariff standoff with China to ease “over the very near future,” helped calm the latest trade war jitters.
Bessent said that the ongoing tariffs showdown against China is unsustainable and he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, but also cautioned that talks between the US and China had yet to formally start.
The 2.5 percent gain by the S&P 500 yesterday reversed the previous day’s 2.4 percent slide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1,012 points, or 2.7%.
Trump said that the hefty tariff rate on China will significantly be reduced after he negotiates with Chinese President Xi Jinping, expressing optimism about a trade deal.
A federal judge in Maryland blasted the Trump administration for flouting her instructions to answer questions about what steps it had taken, and planned to take, in seeking the release of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month.
The sharp rebuke by the judge, Paula Xinis, contained in an eight-page order, suggested she had lost her patience with the Justice Department’s pattern of stonewalling her in the case involving the deported man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
Xinis said the administration is attempting to “obstruct” efforts to unearth details about Garcia’s improper deportation to El Salvador and had provided “vague” and “evasive” answers to court-ordered inquiries as part of an ongoing lawsuit.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said that he would spend less time in Washington working for Trump after the automaker reported a profit drop of 71 percent in the first three months of the year.
Musk told Wall Street analysts in a conference call that he would continue to spend “a day or two per week” on Washington matters, probably for the duration of Trump’s presidency.
“The protests that you’ll see out there, they’re very organized,” Musk said the call. He claimed, without evidence, that some people are likely protesting “because they’re receiving fraudulent money” or are “recipients of wasteful largesse.”
“If the ship of America goes down, we all go down with it,” Musk said, defending the amount of time he has spent focusing on slashing the size of the federal government through DOGE.
The idea that the government is wasteful and inefficient is a long-held view by most Americans, surveys have found. And they mostly support the concept of DOGE, but generally are not pleased with many of the details – especially Musk’s involvement.
As of Monday, the National Science Foundation had canceled more than 400 active research awards, according to a list obtained by The New York Times.
The National Institutes of Health’s sweeping cuts of grants that fund scientific research are inflicting pain almost universally across the U.S., including in most states that backed Trump in the 2024 election.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided to skip the next stage of the Ukrainian cease-fire talks, while Ukraine rebuffed one of President Trump’s key proposals for a deal that would halt the fighting with Russia.
Rubio rolled out the first stage of a major plan to reorganize the US State Department with changes that will eliminate 132 domestic offices, cut around 700 positions in Washington, DC, and close offices focused on war crimes and global conflict.
If approved, the reorganization would eliminate 132 of 734 offices, according to state department officials. But those officials also stressed that the plan remains a proposal and would not lead to immediate layoffs or cuts.
Rubio said his plan would reverse “decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department…empower our talented diplomats to put America and Americans first.”
He took aim at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, writing that it “became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against ‘anti-woke’ leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary and Brazil.”
Details about American strikes in Yemen that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared on a commercial chat app reportedly came from U.S. Central Command through a secure, government system designed for sending classified information.
Hegseth claimed attack plans he shared with pals on a Signal group chat amounted to nothing more than “informal, unclassified” information.
The embattled Pentagon chief insisted he did nothing wrong by using his personal phone to share detailed plans for U.S. strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen with about a dozen associates, including his wife, brother and lawyer.
A Congressional delegation traveled to Louisiana to demand the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, and Mahmoud Khalil, a 2024 Columbia University graduate, and to examine conditions at their separate detention facilities.
Led by Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter, they traveled to Jena, where Khalil is held, and then to Basile, where Ozturk is detained. The group included Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Sen. Ed Markey.
A federal jury ruled against Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice-presidential nominee, in her yearslong defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. The jury reached the verdict after two hours of deliberations.
It was the second defeat in the case for the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, who claimed the paper defamed her in a 2017 editorial about gun control. Palin appeared dejected as she left the courthouse in Manhattan.
Palin was subdued as she left the courthouse and made her way to a waiting car, telling reporters: “I get to go home to a beautiful family of five kids and grandkids and a beautiful property and get on with life. And that’s nice.”
CBS News entered a new period of turmoil yesterday after the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, said he would resign from the long-running Sunday news program, citing encroachments on his journalistic independence.
Owens suggested the show’s editorial independence has been whittled away as corporate parent Paramount seeks to make peace with Trump, explaining: “It has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it.”
The spread of measles in the Southwest now constitutes the largest single outbreak since the United States declared the disease eliminated in 2000, federal scientists told state officials in a meeting this week.
The measles outbreak in western Texas has now reached 624 cases, with 27 new infections confirmed over the last five days. Nearly all of the cases are among unvaccinated individuals or those whose vaccination status is unknown, according to new data.
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s favorability rating among voters in New York has reached its highest level since January 2024, according to a new poll from the Siena Research Institute.
It was also the first time in more than a year that a larger share of voters found Hochul more favorable — at 44% — than unfavorable — at 43%.
The poll suggests that average New York voters are actually worried about the fact that the budget has not yet passed. Luckily for Hochul, though, many also indicated they’re chill with her holding it up over her non-fiscal policy priorities.
As negotiations over the late state budget limp along, Hochul’s proposed restriction on wearing facemasks in public remains one of the last sticking points.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told lawmakers during a meeting behind closed doors that a medical aid in dying bill advocates have sought for a decade now has the votes to pass, according to a source with knowledge of the discussion.
Democratic lawmakers want new incentives for whistleblowers who report fraudulent business practices to the state’s top financial regulators, which they say would allow New York to aggressively combat white-collar crime if the federal government stops.
The New York State Association of Counties sent a letter to Hochul asking that her administration “slow down” on mandates that would pave the way for solar and wind farms across the state.
Thousands of New Yorkers around the state are sitting on waitlists for two state-funded mental health treatment and support programs, according to data obtained by the Legal Aid Society.
Democrats and environmental advocates commemorated Earth Day with a renewed push for the “Bigger Better Bottle Bill,” legislation that would double deposit fees and expand the criteria for redeemable containers.
Three of the Manhattan federal prosecutors who worked on the criminal case against Mayor Eric Adams resigned, accusing the Justice Department of trying to force them to admit wrongdoing in connection with their resistance to dropping the charges.
“The Department has decided that obedience supersedes all else, requiring us to abdicate our legal and ethical obligations in favor of directions of Washington,” the prosecutors wrote in a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “That is wrong.”
“It’s time for all of us to ask the question, particularly those who are in government who find it more convenient to have a tequila drink with someone who’s a gang member: Which side are you on?” Adams said.
Adams has a new pep in his step, and yesterday, he directed much of that energy at Andrew Cuomo, striking from the right in the hopes of sullying the former governor with moderate voters wary of progressive politics.
“I was the moderate first,” Adams said, arguing that the ex-governor should “go find your own house” and adding: “I was here already, why are you in my race, you know what I’m saying?”
“He’s taking votes away from me — I’m the mayor! Why is he in my race?” Adams further fumed about Cuomo. His emboldened take came on the heels of two attorneys launching a super PAC – Empower NYC – to support his reelection bid.
Cuomo picked up another key hard hat endorsement in the race for New York City mayor, winning the backing of the Laborers’ International Union.
Adams unapologetically defended the city’s Administration for Children’s Services — even after a 4-year-old girl was left trapped in a Bronx house of horrors with the corpses of her mom and young brother.
Adams echoed Trump administration talking points on a Maryland resident whose accidental deportation to El Salvador has become a major flashpoint in the ongoing fight over the president’s hardline immigration agenda.
DC 37, New York City’s largest municipal union, is endorsing City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams as its top pick for mayor, giving her a big boost as her campaign has struggled to gain momentum since she launched her run last month.
Cuomo is embracing a so-called Rose Garden strategy in his tightly controlled campaign for mayor of New York City, attending a small number of orchestrated events that allow him to avoid confrontational interactions with his opponents.
A small group of climate change activists interrupted a New York City Ballet performance at the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center yesterday, the opening night of the company’s spring season.
The advocacy group Extinction Rebellion, which has organized similar protests, said in a social media post that the demonstration was to highlight the Koch family’s support for conservative causes and efforts to block policies to fight climate change.
Manhattan authorities have charged a talent agency and its president with stealing $1.8 million from 160 New York City film, television and voiceover actors, leaving some hanging for thousands of dollars in payments.
A charitable arm of the Bally’s Corporation will buy Preston High School’s buildings and lease them back to the Catholic school, a victory for foes of a plan to close the Bronx institution, which is Jennifer Lopez’s alma mater.
“Preston High School is a pillar of the Bronx community that has educated generations of young women,” AG Tish James said in a statement, “and today I am proud to announce that the school will stay open for years to come.”
As the first day of jury selection for Harvey Weinstein’s trial began in Manhattan, about 70 prospective jurors shuffled into the courtroom and were asked to stand. As they were sworn in, the court clerk said Weinstein’s name and a woman gasped.
Today, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by Alvin L. Bragg, and Weinstein’s lawyers will give opening statements in the disgraced Hollywood mogul’s retrial. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.
New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan had plenty to say about Pope Francis, but kept his remarks brief. “Believe me, I could preach longer,” Dolan said during a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “But Pope Francis always complained about priests preaching too long.”
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo agreed to a provisional settlement of $150 million with more than 800 victims of sexual abuse, a lawyer for dozens of the accusers said.
The Saratoga Springs school district’s reaffirmation of support for all students, including transgender and gender-expansive students, has prompted Rep. Elise Stefanik to blast the district and call for a federal investigation into its policy.
The former Amo La Bella restaurant, a frequent haunt for attorneys and elected officials and a piece of Albany’s Italian history, was demolished over the weekend.
Greek yogurt maker Chobani is planning to build a $1.2 billion factory at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome.
A woman and her grandchildren narrowly escaped an explosion that blew up a portion of a downtown Poughkeepsie sidewalk on Easter weekend.
After 13 years of falling enrollment, the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is planning to merge with Russell Sage College.
A Rensselaer County man was charged with falsely reporting an incident after telling investigators a backpack he left near Saturday’s “Hands Off” protest “may contain an explosive device,” State Police said.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
