Good morning, it’s Thursday.
It has been a long week, which came on the heels of a lot of other long weeks. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling of late – all in state, which means I’ve been doing a lot of driving.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of public transit. But I think we can all agree that the Amtrak schedule leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to commuting back and forth to New York City. This is something the Hochul administration is acutely aware of and trying to change, though not soon enough, in the humble opinion of this frequent train traveler.
But even with more trains on the tracks, the WIFI – or rather, lack thereof – still is a big problem that remains unsolved.
Also, there’s only so much being at the mercy of someone else’s timetable I can stomach. The number of times I’ve been delayed by Amtrak is too many to count at this point. Also, given the aforementioned crummy connectivity, sometimes it makes more sense to drive – at least I can make calls, if not type, while driving. (Safe autonomous vehicles cannot come soon enough).
I have, on a few occasions, done the drive to Buffalo and back in a single day.
Spending eight hours in the car is not something I recommend. Some tricks I use to stay alert during these marathon days include, but are not limited to: Caffeine, sour/sweet snacks, cranking the AC (or cracking the windows in the winter), and listening to loud music/podcasts. I also pull into rest stops to stretch my legs and even have been known – at desperately tired moments – to take a quick cat nap.
The truth is that drowsy driving is very dangerous, causing thousands of car crashes every year that often result in injury and even death. Drivers who haven’t slept in more than 20 hours have been shown to have the same impairment behind the wheel of a driver with a blood alcohol level high enough to be considered illegal.
An (admittedly outdated) CDC study found that one in 25 drivers surveyed reported they had fallen asleep while driving in the past 30 days. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve had that experience where you sort of nod and then jerk yourself back to attention, not sure if this is the description of “falling asleep”).
If you find your mind wandering while driving, or if you’re drifting into the median or off the road, or if you’re yawning and/or blinking frequently, – these are all signs that you’re getting drowsy and should pull over and take a break. Commercial drivers, young drivers, shift workers, and (obviously) people with sleep disorders or those on medication that can cause drowsiness are most at risk of drowsy driving.
We are halfway through the National Sleep Foundation’s Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, which is an annual occurrence that takes place during the first full week of November. It might seem like a no-brainer, but the best way to prevent drowsy driving is to to get enough sleep before getting behind the wheel – ideally 7 to 9 hours before embarking on a long trip.
Also, switch drivers or take regular breaks every 100 miles or 2 hours, don’t drink or take drugs before driving – check those prescription meds for side effects – avoid driving between 1 and 4 p.m. and 2 and 6 a.m., which is when most drivers are more likely to feel tired. And don’t think caffeine is going to fix all your problems.
A high wind warning is in effect through 8 a.m. today, with gusts of up to 60 mph expected. Otherwise, it will be partly cloudy with temperatures topping out in the mid-20s.
In the headlines…
The Trump administration announced it would cut 10 percent of air traffic at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports – a move that analysts said would force airlines to cancel thousands of flights while the president tries to push Democrats to end the shutdown.
Reducing capacity at that level would impact 3,000 to 4,000 flights. It was not immediately clear which airports would be affected. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the move was “proactive.”
ABC News obtained the list of airports, which includes Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, Boston Logan, all three New York City-area airports, Chicago O’Hare and many others. Sources said the cuts could start as early as today.International flights are exempt.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pressed lawmakers to reopen the government late tomorrow as major airports across the U.S. experience flight delays and cancellations due staffing shortages amid the lapse in funding.
The latest briefing on the U.S. military’s strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, did not quell the concerns of some Democrats in attendance.
Dick Cheney, America’s most powerful modern vice president and chief architect of the “war on terror,” who helped lead the country into the ill-fated Iraq war on faulty assumptions, has died, according to a statement from his family. He was 84.
Cheney was to many the embodiment of the unpopular and bloody Iraq war. But his late-in-life anti-Trumpism changed his image for some of his longtime critics.
Cheney was one of the most prominent and polarizing Republican vice presidents in history — and in recent years a blunt-spoken critic of Trump. The White House lowered flags on Tuesday morning, though made no major proclamation.
The newest Democrat headed to the New York state Assembly majority is hesitant to endorse Gov. Kathy Hochul for reelection next year — voicing concerns about her response to a severe shortage of correction officers and increased violence in state prisons.
Hochul joined Sen. Sam Sutton and other elected officials outside Sutton’s Brooklyn office, just blocks from the sites of antisemitic vandalism at Magen David Yeshiva and Washington Cemetery, to denounce the attacks and announce new security funding.
Trump bashed Hochul over pending pipeline decisions, linking the lack of new gas infrastructure to high energy prices in the Northeast.
Hochul is asking New Yorkers to donate nonperishable food items as part of this year’s annual statewide holiday donation drive.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is headed to City Hall after Tuesday night’s mayoral victory, but delivering on his ambitious campaign agenda could depend on a fight in Albany over whether to raise taxes on the rich.
Mamdani now faces tremendous pressure to deliver on his agenda. “When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high,” he said in his victory speech. “We will meet them.” To do that, he’ll need Gov. Hochul.
The Anti-Defamation League, a national Jewish civil rights watchdog group, is launching a “Mamdani Monitor” to check the Mayoral-elect’s incoming administration for antisemitism.
Other Jewish groups alarmed by Mamdani’s victory have put out statements saying they will fight against any Jew-bashing in city government — among them the New York Solidarity Network and the UJA Federation.
Mamdani surrounded himself with powerful interest groups and anti-Israel activists who helped him win — and who are now determined to keep him “accountable” and focused on their issues when he takes office in January.
Mamdani’s incoming administration began taking shape yesterday as he announced a transition team to help enact what he called the city’s most ambitious policy platform in a generation, vowing to get right to work when he takes office on Jan. 1, 2026.
That team will include two former deputy mayors, Maria Torres-Springer and Melanie Hartzog; former FTC Chair Lina Khan; and Grace Bonilla, head of United Way of New York City. Political strategist Elana Leopold will serve as executive director of the team.
Proud DSA member Mamdani chose the Queens World’s Fair globe-shaped Unisphere as the backdrop for his first press conference as mayor-elect, where he announced his first steps toward staffing his incoming administration.
Mamdani will be free to sidestep tough decisions when he presents his first budget a month after taking office. That’s mostly because Wall Street is booming, on pace to see record profits of more than $60 billion this year. But that is poised to change.
In a shift from the mollifying tone he had used for months, Mamdani made clear in an interview with the NYT Times that while he would govern for all New Yorkers, he was determined to deliver for those who had been agitating for structural change.
Uganda-born son of Indian immigrants turned NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani is drawing global attention — especially from progressives eyeing his playbook.
Mamdani’s victory on Tuesday will intensify what’s likely to be an ugly clash between the mayor-elect and the president — both New Yorkers — who built their respective campaigns on beating the establishment but have vastly different goals.
First son Eric Trump warned against a New York City run by “crazy” Mayor-elect Mamdani and insisted that conservatives “cannot allow” his brand of politics to spread across the country at a Turning Point USA event.
President Trump’s aides and allies acknowledge that Mamdani and New York City are likely to be the next targets of the president’s attacks, even as some caution he has a vested interest in New York’s financial success because of his multiple real estate holdings.
Mamdani responded to billionaire Bill Ackman’s olive branch in the wake of his historic election win — saying the Big Apple’s business bigwigs needed to work alongside him now.
Cuomo told The NY Post that he believes the Democratic Party is “headed down a dangerous road,” in his first public sighting since losing to Mamdani.
Cuomo didn’t call Mamdani to congratulate him Tuesday night, while Mamdani started his mayoral victory speech by slamming his vanquished opponent — two unusual moments that capped off a deeply bitter and at times personal feud between the two men.
In the Democratic primary and in the general election, Mamdani, New York City’s mayor-elect, prevailed over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn and lost Staten Island. But the Bronx was a different story.
New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker will leave his post next month, announcing his resignation the day after Mamdani was elected to be the city’s next mayor.
Tucker, a proud Jewish philanthropist and businessman, informed Mayor Eric Adams that he would step down from the role he has held for just over 12 months on December 19, according to sources.
An Adams administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said several other politically allied top aides to the mayor are expected to submit resignations in coming days, too, including Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch hadn’t received an official offer to stay on from Mamdani yesterday, but insiders were reportedly urging the top cop to work in the socialist’s administration.
Young Muslim voters who grew up in New York City in the decades after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, celebrated Mamdani’s historic election-night win, saying his meteoric rise has given their community a new level of positive visibility.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that he had spoken with Mamdani and “had a very, very good conversation” in which they discussed their shared commitment to New York City.
The rise of New York City’s mayor-elect comes at a complicated moment in the career of Schumer, who is in danger of looking out of touch with the prevailing energy back home.
New Yorkers looking to Mamdani’s Democratic socialist agenda are being given an open invitation to Florida by one county sheriff, pitching it as “the beginning of a new life.”
Voters in the Bronx ousted the borough’s only Republican city councilmember this week in one of the tightest city races this election.
Unofficial results show New York voters passed, by 46%, a state constitutional amendment allowing an Olympic sports complex to remain and expand on Adirondack Forest Preserve lands in Essex County in exchange for 2,500 acres.
Mayor Adams unveiled his plans for the rest of his term in office now that Mamdani has been elected — saying yesterday that his goal is to “have so much fun.”
Four people, including members of a family, were discovered dead inside a Bronx apartment yesterday morning, the police and neighbors said, a spasm of violence that shocked residents of the public housing complex.
A 15-year-old boy died after being stabbed during a house party on Long Island on Monday night that was attended by roughly 100 teenagers, the police said.
Seven firefighters were injured when a car exploded in the Bronx, sending a giant fireball into the sky last night, authorities said.
A Rikers Island detainee who died in February had 121 pills and multiple synthetic drugs in his cell, according to a new city oversight report that highlights ongoing failures by jail officials to secure housing areas and respond to medical emergencies.
Former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley must pay more than $642,000 in lawyer fees to Madison Square Garden for deleting text messages during a court battle over his ejection from a game eight years ago, according to court documents.
Rensselaer Democrats will no longer have to share power with GOP Mayor Mike Stammel, who appears to have been defeated by Common Council President John DeFrancesco following a surge in support for his party.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office is moving out of the county courthouse to take space at the campus of the defunct College at Saint Rose.
Schenectady City Council members are considering their options amid mounting criticism of a program that began this year, requiring residents to purchase stickers and affix them to bulk garbage items left at the curb.
An 18-year-old from Long Island was in custody after allegedly stealing a State Police cruiser from a mechanic’s shop overnight and driving it across several counties, ending in Rensselaer County early yesterday.
Incumbent Schenectady Council members Damonni Farley and Marion Porterfield, forced to wage a joint, long-shot campaign on the WFP line after city Democrats snubbed them, lost their reelection bid to political newcomers Hayden Engert and Kim Wiggins.
Most of the colleges in the Capital Region saw slight declines in enrollment this year, but for them, that was a victory.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
