Good morning, it’s Friday. I had to check that – and the date – twice before I hit “post” this morning. Again, missing a day in the middle of the week really messes up my timeline.
Also, a word about food. Nothing makes you more grateful for nourishment than the absence of it. Even a relatively short, 25-hour fast – which was entirely voluntary – hits the re-set button for me, making me realize how lucky I am to have abundant and delicious food at my fingertips whenever I feel the need for it.
Many people aren’t so lucky. Between May 2020 and October 2024, 10.4 percent of New Yorkers faced food insufficiency and about 11.3 percent of households experienced food insecurity, a report from the state comptroller’s office found.
The national household food insecurity rate was 13.5 percent in 2023, which represents about 18 million households. That’s a lot of hungry people, and the statistic becomes even more alarming when you learn that 13.5 percent was a signifiant increase from 12.8 percent in 2022, according to the USDA.
The rates are disproportionately higher depending on where you are in the country – hunger is more serve in the South, than elsewhere in the U.S. – and also among non-white households, as Black and Latino individuals and families experience food insecurity at rates more than double than the rest of the nation.
Inflation, which has driven up production costs, coupled with severe weather, rising labor and fuel expenses, supply chain disruptions caused by the Covid crisis, avian flu, the war in Ukraine etc., an increase in corporate food retailer profit margins and tariffs have all combined to elevated food costs. And when I say elevated, I mean about 32.1 percent since 2019 and 20 percent since 2020.
An important side note: The two terms – food insecurity and food insufficiency – are related, but not interchangeable.
Food insecurity refers to when individuals worry about running out of food and/or are unable to afford nutritious meals for themselves and their families, while food insufficiency more specifically refers to a lack of food to meet basic nutritional needs, which may be caused by a wide range of factors such as sudden disruption in income.
Said sudden disruption might occur, for example, if you’re on the federal payroll OR relay on federally-funded food programs and the government shuts down thanks to a partisan standoff in Washington, D.C.
A significant and frightening difference between this government shutdown and the last one, is that the Trump administration is threatening to turn furloughs into layoffs, further downsizing the federal workforce past the reductions already put in place by DOGE. At least one agency – the U.S. Patent and Trade Office – has already issued layoff notices.
Food pantries in and around D.C. are girding for an uptick in visits, expecting the shutdown to exacerbate an already deteriorating situation. The Capital Area Food Bank’s 2025 Hunger Report found that more than 40 percent of federal contractors and workers in the region who were laid off during DOGE’s slash and burn period are dealing with food insecurity.
Also impacted will be national programs that provide food to income eligible individuals and families across the nation – including both SNAP and WIC (the later helps pregnant and postpartum moms, babies, and young children), though the former is in better shape than the latter at the moment.
Hopefully the shutdown doesn’t drag out for a long time, though things aren’t looking too promising at the moment. We’re on the cusp of the season of giving, and it certainly looks like there are going to be a lot of people in need this year. Something to think about as you start your day. I certainly am.
This weekend is looking truly spectacular from a weather standpoint, with temperatures slowly warming over the next three days from the low 70s to the low 80s on Sunday. Today will be partly cloudy, while tomorrow and Sunday will bring a mix of sun and clouds. Perfect for apple and pumpkin picking, walking in the woods, or just sitting on the deck and soaking ins some Vitamin D.
Get it while you can.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration plans to use the shutdown to fire thousands of federal workers, a move that would throw the government into uncharted legal territory.
Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces the most reliable gauge of U.S. employment. But close watchers of the economy will be left rudderless if, as expected, the bureau withholds the data today because of the federal government shutdown.
Contingency plans are in place to keep key federal health programs operating during the government shutdown, but repercussions are still expected, including another mass layoff.
Vice President Vance is getting a moment in the spotlight amid the ongoing government shutdown, putting the potential 2028 GOP nominee front-and-center as a top messenger and attack dog for the administration.
Some furloughed Department of Education workers were shocked to find their out-of-office email messages were changed without their knowledge to reflect the Trump administration’s view that the government shutdown was the fault of “Democrat Senators.”
Trump has declared the United States is now at war with drug cartels deemed by the White House as terrorist groups and directed the Department of War to conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding its supply at a time when the Trump administration is under pressure from abortion opponents to sharply restrict access to abortion pills.
The approval, issued on Tuesday without a public announcement, means that three American companies can now produce mifepristone for abortion. The F.D.A. approved the original pill 25 years ago and in 2019 approved the first generic version.
A deadly synagogue attack in England resonated across the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, with the NYPD monitoring the investigation and keeping a watchful eye on houses of worship as Jews throughout New York celebrate Yom Kippur.
“We are tracking the incident in Manchester, England,” the NYPD posted on X. “At this time, there is no known nexus to NYC. The NYPD already has in place enhanced coverage and high visibility patrols around synagogues today for Yom Kippur.”
One of the victims killed during the vehicle and knife attack at a British synagogue was accidentally shot by a police officer, officials said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are expected to attend Bad Bunny’s halftime Super Bowl performance to potentially arrest and deport undocumented immigrants, according to Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski.
ICE confirmed the move in a statement to TMZ yesterday. “There is no safe haven for violent criminal illegal aliens in the United States,” an agency spokesperson told the outlet.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has issued a temporary statewide burn ban due to growing wildfire risk fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds.
Hochul rallied with New York Democrats against the federal government shutdown this week, placing the blame squarely on Republicans.
Hochul said that Republicans had sold out their constituents by refusing to negotiate with Democrats who wanted to extend expiring health care subsidies in exchange for keeping the government running.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration Wednesday from yanking nearly $34 million in MTA counterterrorism grants to New York — a day after $187 million in cuts to similar federal funds to the state were spared.
The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation may be getting a trade from the Open Space Institute (OSI): Hochul announced her appointment of Kathy Moser, chief conservation and policy officer of OSI, to serve as acting commissioner.
The inflation refund checks coming to New Yorkers’ mailboxes aren’t tax-free. Federal charges won’t be deducted from the face value of the rebate checks, so it will be up to New Yorkers to report the rebates on their 2025 income tax returns.
AG Letitia James and 19 other Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging a new federal rule that blocks providing taxpayer-funded services for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence who cannot prove their immigration status.
The government shutdown has become a litmus test in New York City’s mayoral race, as Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched their first general election advertisements nearly one month before voters head to the polls.
Mamdani plans, if elected mayor, to end the Gifted & Talented program for kindergarten students at New York City public schools – a step toward returning to the plan advanced by former Mayor Bill de Blasio to phase out the program from elementary schools.
Mamdani’s plan would reshape education for some of the youngest children in the NYC school system and could reignite a debate over how — and whether — New York should address inequality in the enrollment of its selective academic programs.
Some parents were distraught, fearing that bright students would be left bored and restless at their desks. Others questioned whether teachers can truly determine whether a 4-year-old is gifted. And rival candidates in the mayor’s race pounced.
Mamdani’s pledge quickly drew a notable rebuke from his rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who called it “destructive” and suggested Mamdani was acting hypocritically given his prior education at a specialized high school.
The audience of the popular daytime talk show “The View” applauded Mamdani after the New York City mayoral candidate said that he would “describe what is happening in Gaza as a genocide.”
Mamdani said on “The View” that he was not concerned over recent threats by President Donald Trump to withhold federal funding from New York City if he gets elected.
Cuomo declined to say whether Israel was committing a genocide in the Gaza Strip, as a growing number of Democrats and some Republicans have condemned Israel’s actions amid the ongoing war against Hamas.
“I believe it is obviously a horrific situation. We want peace. It’s long overdue. To watch on a daily basis the carnage that is going on in Gaza is difficult,” Cuomo told NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW” moderator Kristen Welker in an interview yesterday.
The Democratic socialist and state assemblyman, 33, running to be the next Mayor of New York released an ad Wednesday that spoofed ABC’s rosy reality dating “Bachelor” franchise.
Mamdani, Cuomo, and GOP candidate Curtia Sliwa are now all running television ads in the critical race for New York City mayor, hoping to sway voters with less than five weeks to go.
A world away from their parents’ Iron Curtain upbringings, young New Yorkers with roots from Poland to Turkmenistan are helping power the Democratic mayoral nominee’s sunny socialist campaign.
While Mamdani has made some inroads with moderate voters, skepticism still exists over his “democratic socialist” moniker, his views on Israel and his relative inexperience, among other issues.
A new report out of the conservative Manhattan Institute takes a few of the proposals made by Mamdani and his Democratic Socialist colleagues in Albany and looks at how they would impact the state’s tax and business climate in the state.
Over a dozen Starbucks workers raised their voices and picketed outside a store in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday morning and were joined by Mamdani as they highlighted their demands for fair contracts.
Cuomo has apologized to New York City’s Jewish community for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic when he was governor, a rare retreat on a signature campaign issue as he runs for mayor.
Cuomo apologized to Jewish New Yorkers for lockdowns he imposed during the COVID-19 outbreak five years ago that banned large gatherings, closed schools and disrupted religious traditions.
Cuomo said that he would “welcome” an endorsement of his New York City mayoral campaign from incumbent Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race earlier this week.
Cuomo used artificial intelligence (AI) to depict himself driving the subway, working as a stagehand and standing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in his first advertisement of the general election.
“I’m Andrew Cuomo, and I could pretend to do a lot of jobs,” the AI version of the former governor says in the 30-second spot. “But I know what I know, and I know what I don’t know. And I do know how to make government work.”
Cuomo said in an interview that he would not accept an endorsement from President Trump if offered one, but he would accept the backing of Adams, who recently dropped out of the race.
Top aides and associates of former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani are backing Cuomo over GOP nominee Sliwa for mayor.
In one of his first public appearances since abandoning his bid for reelection, Adams boasted Wednesday that he’s leaving the Big Apple “in good shape” and offered some blunt advice for the men running to replace him at City Hall.
Adams’ attempt to unlock campaign public matching funds was rejected, for a second time, on Wednesday by a Brooklyn Federal Court judge.
Adams’ about-face on a ban on Central Park horse carriages came after he and his top deputy met with a wealthy businessman who has long pushed for replacing them with electric alternatives.
Jasmine Ray, who served at City Hall in a $160,000-a-year job, had an undisclosed romance with Adams years before he became mayor. In her memoir, she describes their relationship.
“In our closest moments, I would rub the back of Eric’s head, where his old surgery scar left him vulnerable,” Ray, 42, wrote in her memoir, “Political Humanity,” set to be released Sunday.
The city’s housing crisis has contributed to an education crisis, with more children than ever living in temporary housing. They face dismal outcomes.
Fallen music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs could be locked up for more than a decade as he faces sentencing today.
Combs made a plea for leniency in a letter to a federal judge ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges, writing that he had been “humbled” by the criminal case against him and would “never commit a crime again.”
Dozens of “Rabbis for Ceasefire” protesters were arrested after blocking traffic to the Brooklyn Bridge during Yom Kippur, according to authorities and sources.
Two packed Delta jets “absolutely smashed” into each other on the runway at LaGuardia Airport this week, according to authorities and terrified passengers – destroying a plane’s nose and ripping off a large part of a wing.
New York officials pledged to fight to keep the Second Avenue Subway’s path to East Harlem on track — even as the nearly $7 billion expansion project faces a funding threat from the Trump administration.
Sexual abuse survivors, advocates and New York City Council members are demanding an immediate hearing and vote on Intro. 1297, a bill designed to strengthen protections for victims of gender-motivated violence.
Airports in the New York metropolitan area recorded a record-breaking number of passengers this August, marking the “busiest month ever” for the region’s transit hubs, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Temporary boilers were being shuttled into a Bronx city housing complex to restore heat and hot water to residents a day after a massive gas explosion ripped the corner brick chimney off a 20-story apartment building.
City housing officials said investigators were still trying to determine what led to the Wednesday morning explosion that rained bricks and debris on a Mott Haven street and courtyard below.
The family of a 15-year-old Queens girl who went missing more than four decades ago is flooded with emotion after learning she was likely murdered then buried in the ground only to be later unearthed and tossed into a Long Island dumpster.
Petros Krommidas, a Democrat, was running for county legislature on Long Island when he disappeared on a swim. A judge sided with Republicans and refused to allow a replacement candidate.
A clash between the principal and parents at Kingston elementary school intensified when the principal’s mysterious absence went unexplained by administrators as a questionnaire circulated among parents about her “disturbing” treatment of students.
Lorenz Kraus, who admitted in a TV interview that he killed his parents and buried them backyard of their home on Crestwood Court, has been charged with first-degree murder and six other crimes, according to an indictment made public yesterday.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s final budget proposal includes a 3% tax levy increase that keeps the city under the state’s tax cap and a warning about the uncertainty of the city’s financial future due to the federal government shutdown.
For the second straight year, the mayor of Schenectady’s proposed budget calls for increases in property taxes and the residential trash collection fee, but this time, the hikes he wants are considerably higher and would add hundreds more to tax bills next year.
The treasurer for the Albany County Democratic Committee was arrested yesterday for allegedly running up a tab of roughly $20,000 on a party committee credit card.
Recent concerns over a sex offender living near Castleton Elementary School have prompted Rensselaer County officials to call for state-mandated residency restrictions for certain people convicted of sex-related crimes.
The Saratoga Springs man who shot and killed his friend and roommate with a BB gun last spring pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in Saratoga County Court.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
