Good morning, it’s Thursday. If you’re celebrating Chanukah and you haven’t done your shopping for candles, dreidels, potatoes, presents, etc. you better hop to it. The holiday starts in just three days.
Those who will be observing Kwanzaa and/or Christmas have a little more breathing room – with 15 and 14 days, respectively, left to get your stuff together. (I am still, for the record, lacking in the holiday cookie department, just saying).
I am pledging to make a concerted effort this year to get outside more, embracing the winter weather as much as possible.
As the popular saying attributed to Nordic and Scandinavian cultures goes, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” I recently gifted my husband one of those battery-powered heated vests to keep his core warm when he walks the dogs. This has not resulted in less grumbling about said dog-walking, but I have noticed him wearing it, so I guess that’s a win.
When it comes to the great outdoors, I think there are three kinds of people – lake people, ocean people, and mountain people. I land firmly in that third category, having grown up in the Catskills and spent a fair portion of my formative years running, hiking, and biking on local trails.
I like the water just fine, though I am not big on sand, sharks, or snakes. But if given the choice, I would choose the mountains, hands down, any day of the week.
I do have a complicated relationship with mountains, some of my darkest and also most joyful moments have been experienced on their peaks and during the process of trying to reach them.
I haven’t prioritized them in recent years, finding that life often gets in the way of the planning and traveling necessary to scale them – even the accessible peaks in the Catskills and Adirondacks still require some degree of preparation, and those who don’t heed that do so at their own peril.
There are well over 1 million mountains with a proper name across the globe, so anyone thinking of an all-mountain peak-bagging list should probably reconsider. The definition of “mountain” is simply (according to Oxford) “a large natural elevation of the earth’s surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level; a large steep hill.” But there’s considerable debate about what makes a TRUE mountain when it comes to grade and elevation.
Mountains, by the way, serve a much greater purpose than simply providing a physical challenge for humans to conquer.
For example, they are known as the “water towers of the world” because they provide up to 80 percent of the earth’s fresh water, through snow melt and rainwater that flows into rivers and streams that subsequently sustain communities. More than half of the word’s population relies on the water mountains produce (facilitate?) for drinking, sustaining crops, and supporting industry.
Today is International Mountain Day, which, “highlights the critical role mountain regions play as a key source of global freshwater and calls for immediate measures to avoid the glaciers’ disappearance.” According to the UN’s website, this year is focused on the threats posed by climate change to glaciers, and the need to preserve them.
About the weather. It will be cold – again – with highs struggling to break out of the 20s. Skies will be partly cloudy in the morning, with some clearing in the afternoon. Hopefully, the sun will decide to make a guest appearance. Don’t hold your breath for that, though.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump said that the U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the latest escalation in what has become an increasingly tense relationship between the two countries.
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a video of U.S. forces seizing the Venezuelan oil tanker after a series of strikes on vessels in the region.
The Trump administration debuted a website that opens up applications for a “gold card,” an expedited visa that the federal government plans to provide to people who pay at least $1 million.
To apply, people have to pay a nonrefundable $15,000 processing fee. After they’re vetted and approved by the Department of Homeland Security, they have to pay $1 million to “receive U.S. residency in record time” and become lawful permanent residents.
The House approved a $900 billion defense policy bill that would codify much of Trump’s national security agenda but seek to curb his move to withdraw from Europe and to mandate more Pentagon consultation with Congress.
The 312-112 vote on the legislation, which would provide a 3.8 percent pay raise to U.S. troops, reflected bipartisan support for what is commonly regarded as a must-pass bill.
The annual National Defense Authorization Act cleared a final procedural hurdle in the House despite some last-second drama among Republicans.
The chair of the NTSA and the bipartisan leaders of the Senate committee overseeing aviation warned a section in a new defense bill would weaken safety measures around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and worsen the risk of midair collisions.
Moderate and vulnerable Republicans are attempting a long-shot revolt against their leaders in the House over health care.
The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is warning Republicans against signing onto a new effort to force a floor vote on extending Obamacare subsidies — upping the stakes of a push by GOP moderates to make an end run around leadership.
Thirteen House Republicans joined Democrats in advancing a bill to reverse Trump’s executive order cracking down on federal worker unions on Wednesday evening.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately end its current deployment of California National Guard troops in LA, ruling the federal government had illegally kept them in the city long after intense street protests had ended in the summer.
The ruling by Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Federal District Court in San Francisco applies to about 100 National Guard soldiers who remain in Los Angeles six months after protests erupted over immigration raids.
An environmental organization sued the Trump administration over plans to use a rendering of Trump on an all-access annual national parks pass for next year, characterizing the move as the “crassest, most ego-driven action yet” from the administration.
New York’s environmental agenda, as embodied in its landmark 2019 climate law, has stalled under the watch of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said that political and economic conditions have shifted and the state has had to adapt.
State Sen. Liz Krueger said she’s optimistic that Hochul will sign the repeal of the 100-foot rule into law, though possibly with minor changes related to implementation timeline.
Businesses and commercial carriers across New York are urging Hochul to intervene in the state Thruway Authority’s move on a 1% surcharge on all tolls processed through commercial toll-management providers, according to a letter.
On the heels of her fourth time vetoing the bill, Hochul had harsh words for those propelling New York’s Grieving Families Act: “Don’t pass the same bill four times if you want a different result.”
The company selected to run an $11 billion home care program was in discussions with top Hochul administration officials before the governor signed legislation to create the new management role, a newly revealed email shows.
New legislation signed by Hochul will allow seniors living in the state to receive up to 65 percent in property tax exemption, a measure that she said should “make New York affordable” for those struggling with higher bills.
The state is launching its highly anticipated $1 billion renovation of SUNY Downstate University Hospital, marking a new chapter for the Brooklyn medical center that faced closure two years ago.
New York’s powerful 1199 SEIU union is already cashing in on Hochul’s disastrous and allegedly rigged revamp of the state’s $11 billion home care Medicaid program.
New York state will replace the company providing health insurance to hundreds of thousands of home care workers next year following reports of malfeasance by the company and opposition from workers.
Officials with several cargo companies at Kennedy Airport were charged with bribing a senior Delta Airlines employee with more than $250,000 in cash over five years, plus trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, to keep their lucrative contracts, the AG’s office said.
Latino immigrants have been disproportionately targeted by ICE more than any other ethnic group in New York state during the Trump administration’s crackdown, according to a new study.
A new report found that Latinos are bearing the brunt of immigration enforcement in New York, accounting for nearly three-quarters of arrests while making up just a quarter of the state’s non-citizen population.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has zeroed in on Latino migrants at a rate that far exceeds the pursuit of immigrants who come to America from other countries, the New York Immigration Coalition study found.
Elon Musk questioned the motives of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, suggesting that the two leaders, both immigrants from Somalia and Uganda respectively, may not fully place their allegiance with the US.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander launched his bid for New York’s 10th Congressional District yesterday, challenging Rep. Dan Goldman in what is expected to be a heated primary in one of the city’s most left-leaning districts.
“Our mayor can have an ally in Washington instead of an adversary in his own backyard,” Lander said in a video. “While the oligarchy drives the affordability crisis, they shouldn’t be able to buy a seat in Congress.”
Some DSA members are not happy with Mamdani’s support of Lander, which came at the expense of City Council member Alex Aviles, who is a DSA member while Lander is not.
Mamdani is expected to have an unannounced meeting today with the New York Board of Rabbis, who reportedly will ask him to back away from his rejection of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state or his support of the BDS movement.
Mamdani said he’s “prepared for any consequence” that results from his standing up to federal immigration enforcement in New York.
Mamdani’s successful field operation embraced risk and de-emphasized scripts to reach voters directly, eight campaign officials, volunteers and political observers.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams spookily warned Mamdani that his soon-to-be new home of Gracie Mansion is haunted. “Beware of the ghost,” Adams joked during a visit to Washington, DC, a Fox Business reporter posted on X.
Adams is taking a victory lap on his way out of Gracie Mansion, touting the 130,000 potential new apartments his administration paved the way for in his term.
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry, who had a meteoric rise in city government under Adams but attracted his share of criticism, as well, put in his papers to retire from the Police Department, with an effective date of Jan. 8, police records show.
The City Council plans to ram through a controversial bill giving the NYPD’s civilian watchdog direct access to body-worn camera footage — despite cops ripping it as an “unnecessary” power grab, The Post has learned.
New York politico Nomiki Konst ripped her ex-beau, former Mayor Bill de Blasio, for his “fear of intimacy” — and denounced his new lover as “vapid” in a scathing podcast confession.
Everyone complains about their energy bills, but few take any action. In New York’s Hudson Valley, a coalition of officials, activists and community groups are trying to do just that by taking over their local utility.
Anthony Constantino, the CEO of Sticker Mule who’s now running for Congress, has said he was so affected by the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September that he produced a 10-track musical album.
A woman killed when a Cadillac driver struck her in Midtown Manhattan was a 60-year-old actress who performed under the name Wenne Alton Davis — with credits including an appearance on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”.
Amtrak’s work to overhaul the first of two tubes of the East River Tunnel is on schedule, officials of the federal railroad said.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan has directed a review of “any and all” expired residential occupancy permits that have not been renewed after a fatal fire in a Western Avenue apartment building that did not have a permit and which the city had not inspected in years.
Elected officials in two branches of Rensselaer County’s government will get an automatic pay bump for years to come due to a charter change that aligns their salary boosts with pay increases for union workers.
Calls for overdoses related to synthetic marijuana have risen over the last several weeks, City of Albany police said.
Six long-vacant properties in Schenectady are being turned into affordable housing units expected to be completed next summer.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
