Good morning, it’s Monday. Sorry to to be the bearer of bad news.
On this day in 1981 I was nine years old going on 10. I was probably more astute than most kids at that age, since we had lived abroad on several occasions and had recently returned from a year in Tokyo, Japan, where my dad was teaching through the Fulbright Program. Even so, I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to current events.
I do dimly recall, however, hearing that President Reagan had been shot on the street in Washington, D.C., along with several other people, including his press secretary, Jim Brady, a D.C. police officer named Thomas Delahanty and a member of president’s Secret Service detail, Agent Tim McCarthy.
A shooter, John Hinckley Jr., fired six .22 caliber bullets at Reagan as he exited the Washington Hilton Hotel where he had delivered a speech. One of those bullets ricocheted off the waiting presidential limousine and struck the president under his left armpit, causing his lung to collapse and narrowly missing his heart.
Though doctors were able to remove the bullet during emergency surgery, Reagan lost a lot of blood. He was also not young – 70 years old – and he had gone into shock.
The initial news reports were very chaotic, with speculation running rampant that the president had been killed. He came closer to death than was widely reported, but thanks to the quick-acting medical team, combined with the fact that he was in good health and the bullet had been a relatively small caliber, Reagan not only lived, but made a full recovery.
Reagan famously was joking with the doctors and nurses in the hospital and quipped to his wife, Nancy, when she arrived to see him being wheeled into surgery, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” (This was actually a line borrowed from boxer Jack Dempsey, who said it to his own wife after he lost the heavyweight championship in 1926).
Two days after he was shot, Reagan was signing legislation from his hospital bed. He was released from the hospital 12 days after the shooting, on April 11, 1981. His humor and quick return to the public eye helped reassure an unsettled nation.
Brady, however, did not fare nearly so well. He was the worst injured in the incident, having been shot in the head, which caused severe brain damage and left him partially paralyzed. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair and dealing with a variety of health issues until he died at the age of 73 in 2014. His death was ruled a homicide.
After his shooting, which occurred when he was just 40 years old, Brady and his wife, Sarah, lobbied for stricter handgun control and restrictions on assault weapons. The Brady Handgun Prevention Act, better know simply as the Brady Bill, which instituted a series of gun control measures, was named for him.
Reagan still has the distinction of being the first and only sitting president to be injured in an assassination attempt, which occurred only two months and 10 days after his inauguration.
There have been four publicly confirmed attempts on the current president’s life since he entered politics. The one in which he was injured – the bullet grazed his right ear – occurred when he was between presidencies, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, as he was seeking his second term in the White House.
Hinckley believed that his attack on Reagan would impress the actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had become obsessed after seeing her in the Martin Scorsese film “Taxi Driver“. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent 30 years in psychiatric care. He was released from the hospital in 2016, freed from all court oversight in 2022, and is still alive today, apparently pursuing a career as a folk singer.
It’s going to be warm today, with high temperatures in the mid-60s, but overcast, and there’s a slight chance of rain.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up attacks today on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks.
Trump argued the U.S. has already forced regime change in Iran, pointing to the death of multiple Iranian leaders since joint U.S.-Israeli forces launched attacks a month ago.
Trump said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 more oil cargo ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route, casting Tehran’s decision as a sign that negotiations to end the war were underway.
The United States Coast Guard is reportedly allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba, delivering a critical supply of energy to the island nation after months of an effective oil blockade by the Trump administration.
ICE agents could remain at U.S. airports, whereTrump had sent them to respond to a shortage of security employees during a shutdown of the DHA, even after those employees are paid again, Trump’s chief border official said yesterday.
A security scare at Palm Beach International Airport yesterday prompted the Air Force to scramble F-16 fighter jets and deploy flares — hours before Air Force One was slated to fly President Trump back to DC.
From Western Europe to East Asia, countries are scouring the globe for natural gas after the war in Iran cut off the Persian Gulf fuel they relied on. The US, the world’s biggest gas exporter, will almost certainly benefit from this upheaval, at least in the short term.
A new political operation with strong ties to the Trump administration is preparing to spend big money to boost his record on artificial intelligence.
The group, called Innovation Council Action, said that it would spend at least $100 million this year on its activities. That will include a major advocacy push behind new A.I. policy guidelines unveiled by the White House this month.
Thousands of demonstrations against the Trump administration unfolded across the country on Saturday, the third round in a nationwide series of loosely coordinated “No Kings” rallies.
The day of protest, the first since October, came as the midterm election season takes shape, and as Democrats work to capitalize politically on the unpopular war with Iran.
Bruce Springsteen performed at the flagship Minneapolis rally. More than 8 million people turned out at over 3,300 protests across all 50 states.
State lawmakers left Albany last week with little confidence of reaching a deal with Gov. Kathy Hochul in time for the April 1 state budget deadline Wednesday, as she works to make the case to New Yorkers that her plan will make the state more affordable.
Hochul is proposing to exempt a majority of new housing from state environmental reviews, arguing that sufficient safeguards are in place at the local level, putting her on a collision course with environmentalists and their state lawmaker allies.
The industry and key lawmakers are urging that $750 million in the next state budget go directly to nursing homes to safeguard care for the state’s most vulnerable populations.
Hochul’s plan to raise taxes on nicotine pouches like Zyn is facing pushback from New York voters, with less than half of those surveyed in support of the proposal.
State Senator Lea Webb has received free legal services from a nonprofit law office that she previously secured $30,000 in taxpayer funding for, an arrangement the government watchdog group Reinvent Albany said creates the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The people owed a portion of the $20 billion in “unclaimed funds” from the New York comptroller’s office include a Who’s Who of political, business and entertainment figures.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani took center stage at his first Inner Circle dinner Saturday night — roasting the media, taking swipes at The Post and even teaming up with former rival Curtis Sliwa for a skit.
“I’m very disappointed,” said John A. Catsimatidis, the grocery store magnate and oil billionaire who ran for mayor of New York in 2013 of Sliwa’s collaboration with Mamdani. “Now we know why he was attacking Andrew Cuomo.”
“I haven’t been this close to the 1% since the Emerson poll in February 2025,” the mayor told the crowd at the charity dinner where the city’s press corps roasted him with song and dance. “There is no other room of Andrew Cuomo voters where I’d rather be.”
Mamdani did not attend a “Tax the Rich” rally led by Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Bronx yesterday, as tensions continue with Hochul over proposed tax increases on the wealthy.
“I would ask Governor Hochul, ‘Listen to where the people are at,’” Sanders said at at Lehman College before a crowd of about 2,000. “The people of the city, the people of this state, the people of this country, they do not want to see our kids go hungry.”
Mamdani is set to attend a Passover Seder tonight at the City Winery in Manhattan, stepping into a decades-old cultural tradition that doubles as a symbolic test of his relationship with the city’s Jewish community.
Mamdani said Friday that he is reviewing two New York City Council bills that require the NYPD to develop plans to address protests near houses of worship and schools when there is a risk of physical obstruction, injury, intimidation, or interference.
Apollo Global Management, a $900 billion asset manager, is plotting a second US headquarters in the Sunbelt just as Mamdani pushes to hike taxes on deep pocketed corporations.
Steve Fulop, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a business lobby group, framed Apollo’s move as a natural reaction to an increasingly unfriendly business climate in the Big Apple.
A New Yorker who signed up to shovel snow this winter claimed he’s yet to be fully paid for his work — collecting a measly $300 instead of what he thought would be a $3,600 windfall.
A drop in the Big Apple’s credit rating will come with a price tag of up to $200 million right off the bat — and could trigger a disastrous chain reaction that costs the city more than $14 billion, a new analysis shows.
New York City filed a lawsuit Friday against an illegal e-hail app called Empower, which called for a judge to bar the company from operating in the city because it’s unlicensed and uninsured.
Mamdani didn’t mention his threatened 9.5% property tax hike during a speech at a Queens church where many of the parishioners are Black homeowners, drawing speculation that he’s all but dropped the unpopular idea.
Democratic Socialists of America pols are demanding full-day, “free pre-teen care for all” statewide – with taxpayers footing the $13 billion annual tab.
New York City has denied another request for data about the toxins that swirled above Ground Zero after 9/11 — claiming nothing could be found — despite the discovery of 68 boxes worth of information on the subject just four months ago.
Furious protesters blocked off construction trucks and swarmed the site of a proposed homeless shelter in Brooklyn yesterday evening — after rumors swirled that workers would break ground at the new facility as early as this morning.
Thousands of New York’s Finest packed Madison Square Garden Saturday night for a free, star-studded concert honoring their service in a spirited push to boost morale across the force – an inaugural event set to become an annual tradition.
A pair of brawls broke out during yesterday’s charity hockey game between the FDNY and NYPD at UBS Arena, as New York City’s first responders renewed their rivalry on the ice.
The New York City medical examiner has ruled a fatal Queens house fire a homicide, police said Friday night. No arrests had yet been made.
New York City kids are clamoring for an overhaul to the student OMNY card program, saying the cards are too flimsy and function inconsistently, draining their wallets and inviting clashes with the police when they’re forced to skip the fare.
Spring is here at last: Coney Island’s Luna Park is officially open for the 2026 season. The annual egg cream christening of the Cyclone took place yesterday at 11 a.m.
A suspected drug trafficker held at Rikers Island died in custody early yesterday, marking the second death in the city jail system in less than a week.
Revelations about Bard College President Leon Botstein’s ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have raised concerns about the college’s future. But they have also prompted questions about its past.
Since September, Dylan Hewitt made a pitch to voters in the North Country that a grassroots congressional campaign could take on the political and corporate establishment and win. On Friday, the 34-year-old Democrat conceded.
GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney sent a letter to the IRS calling for action against nonprofit organizations after a TU investigation found hundreds made donations to candidates and political action committees in violation of state and federal tax laws.
New York hunters killed a record number of black bears outside the Adirondacks last year, a sign of how far the animals’ range has expanded across the state.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has agreed to pay $148 million to settle claims filed by more than 400 people who allege they were sexually abused as children by priests and other diocesan employees during assaults that date back decades.
A Lyme disease vaccine developed by Pfizer and Valneva provided strong protection against the tick-borne disease in international clinical trials that included New York residents in Halfmoon and Cooperstown, according to results published this week.
Albany’s Nipper building, with its iconic 28-foot-tall RCA dog statue on top, has been tagged with half of an “X” placard by the city amid safety concerns.
A Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in Rotterdam is planning to close its doors and transfer its patients to other clinics, mostly in the greater Capital Region.
The University of Albany is expanding its paid internships for students working with older adults, thanks to a $2 million Hearst Foundations grant.
City of Schenectady taxpayers are on the hook for nearly $50,000 in attorneys’ fees as a result of the legal battle between the mayor and city council members over the appointment last year of Justin Chaires to the governing body.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
