Good morning, it’s Monday. And we’re back to a five-day workweek.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the next extended weekend – four days, this time, instead of three – won’t come around for another month-plus, yet. (Thanksgiving is on Thursday, Nov. 26). So, might as well buckle down and get some work done.
I spent most of my life as a cat person. It wasn’t until I was well into my 40s that I acquired my first dog, fell in love and left my litter-box emptying life behind for good. I have been sharing my house with dogs for over a decade now, and I still find their behavior fascinating.
The way they automatically establish pecking orders, figure one another out through smell, create nests for themselves before they sleep – all of these traits, which dog people like me find so endearing and adorable, are actually vestiges of the domesticated canine’s ancestral life…as a wolf.
It’s mind boggling to me that my goofy, cuddly, loving furry threesome, like all their fellow domesticated dogs, share about 99.9 percent of their DNA with the gray wolf. (If you want to go really deep on this, click here).
That tiny percentage that separates the dogs from the wolves actually makes a significant difference in everything from their size and shape to their behavior. Though they belong to the same species, Canis lupus, and technically could interbreed, that doesn’t happen with any regularity.
The first and most significance difference, of course, is that domesticated dogs can’t survive long without humans. Wild wolves also mature a lot faster than puppies, they grow up faster in the wild, it turns out.
Wolves also are shy and reclusive, absorb nutrients differently, and tend to be better problem solvers than they home-bound brethren (when someone is feeding you, walking you, and buying you toys, why bother thinking for yourself?
Once upon a time, gray wolves were one of America’s most widely distributed wild mammals, living on most of the northern hemisphere’s habitable land. Thanks to habitat loss, hunting, and a range of other human-created ills, wolves today can be found in only about two-thirds of lands they occupied across the world, and 10 percent of their historic homes in the continental U.S.
The largest and most stable populations of gray wolves can be found Alaska, Canada, and parts of the Great Lakes and Northern Rockies regions. Gray wolves have been on and off the Endangered Species Act, and as of now are legally protected. Whether that status sticks remains to be seen, and is currently the subject of multiple lawsuits.
Some of the current thriving wolf populations in the U.S. are the result of reintroduction efforts.
Yellowstone National Park, which today is one of the best places to view wolves in the wild, between the 1940s and 1970s had few – if any – wolf packs living within its borders. In 1995, 14 Canadian wolves were shipped to Yellowstone, the repopulation campaign was generally successful, though the number of wolves in the park today ebbs and flows. Other states – perhaps most notably Colorado – have also engaged in both gray and red wolf repopulation.
There are no established breeding wolf packs in New York, though once in a while a Canadian wolf might make its way over the border for a visit. We do, however, have quite a few coyotes upstate. Generally speaking, coyotes are smaller (about 20 to 50 pounds) compared to their apex predator cousins, the wolves, who can weigh as much as 150 pounds. Their tails and snouts are also different, but they nevertheless can be hard to tell apart.
We are in the throes of National Wolf Awareness Week. This is a tough time for the wolves, as they have no friends in the Trump White House. Hopefully, they can hold on until the next presidential campaign.
It will be mostly sunny and slightly warmer today, with highs in the low-to-mid 60s.
In the headlines…
President Trump endorsed embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late in his reelection campaign, a coveted boost due to Trump’s popularity but one he withheld for months as the vote neared and the leaders’ strategies in the Middle East diverged.
Trump said in a post on social media that Netanyahu “has been a Great Warrior Prime Minister, and an even greater Partner for Peace in combatting the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Trump continued to sell himself as the Republican Party’s savior as he crisscrossed the country in recent days, making it clear in words and sheer presence that this midterm election is about him.
Trump, defending his decision to ease tariffs and other sanctions against Russia, said on Sunday that he was making “great progress” in a peace deal with the Kremlin and suggested for the first time that the process included “hostage negotiations.”
Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized for an operation to remove a malignant tumor, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties.
The crowd erupted in cheers when the pontiff showed himself in the window overlooking the square, where a week ago on the same occasion of the traditional Angelus blessing he revealed a nodule had been located on his lung, and it would be surgically removed.
The pope left Gemelli Hospital at about 3:30 p.m., arriving at the Vatican after a 10-minute car journey, roughly three days earlier than the Vatican had originally suggested for when he would return to his residence.
Katie Zacharia, President Trump’s new White House press secretary, was removed from the role after just five days on the job.
In a social media post, Zacharia called the president a “kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic, and hardworking man,” and said it had been “an honor to work for him.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Zacharia was sitting with a reporter from the paper for a White House interview Friday when she was summoned away to learn that her assignment had ended. She didn’t return to the interview.
A federal investigation of letters containing unknown substances that were mailed to elected officials’ offices has expanded as some Republicans have been identified as targets of the mailings,
Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Rounds of South Dakota confirmed that they were among the GOP lawmakers targeted by the mailings.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who is campaigning in Michigan this week for Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, transferred $1 million on Friday to a political account to help elect the fellow progressive to the Senate.
France endured its worst unrest in years this weekend as nationwide protests over high living costs and declining public services turned violent ahead of a key government vote on the budget.
A day after some of France’s worst riots in decades, President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Sunday to address some of the protesters’ demands but offered few specifics, as the violence gave way to a furious political debate over who was to blame.
Macron said in an evening broadcast interview that he would seek to lower gas prices — a key complaint from some protesters — during a diplomatic trip to the Persian Gulf this week.
A Democratic Governors Association-backed Super PAC is pouring more than $4 million into boosting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s re-election bid as she works to fend off Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman in the tight race.
Blakeman blames Hochul and other Albany Democrats for residential electricity rates that have risen by as much as 50% during her tenure and promises — with scant details — halve bills if he unseats her. And he’s using Hochul’s own warnings against her.
Hochul signed legislation Saturday quadrupling the state personal income tax credit for eligible volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers from $200 to $800 for individuals and from $400 to $1,600 for married couples.
No Kings, the grassroots movement that has repeatedly taken to the streets to protest President Trump, shifted their tactics Saturday, with events across the country aiming to increase voter turnout for the midterm elections.
State Attorney General Letitia James’ GOP challenger Sunday accused her of allowing “chaos in the subways” to thrive, after a fatal shooting at a crowded Midtown station sent tourists fleeing the day before.
The state Democratic Party has quietly approved a resolution condemning antisemitism as it battles back against the notion its leaders “are soft’’ on anti-Jewish hate.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli vowed to continue investing pension funds in Israel bonds despite a growing divestment push from pro-Palestinian activists — including Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
A woman went viral on TikTok for asking New Yorkers to sign a virtual birthday card for Mamdani, who turned 35 on Sunday.
Mamdani blew off an invitation to attend the Oct. 4 Pulaski Day Parade, an annual celebration of Polska pride along 5th Avenue, and then tried to rewrite history by lumping Polish Americans into an upcoming event celebrating the heritage of Eastern Europeans.
NYC public schools have updated their policy for responding to federal immigration enforcement to protect students during dismissal and after-school programs, a concern revived during the ICE shooting in Marble Hill that happened around pick-up time.
The UFT urged a judge to dismiss Mamdani’s legal challenge to $10,000 payments for public school paraprofessionals, citing the death of a 16-year-old autistic student as evidence of a dire need to fix the staffing shortage, according to new court filings.
Mamdani appointed Liz Vladeck, the Department of Education’s top lawyer, to lead his Office of Labor Relations — a crucial role tasked with representing the city in collective bargaining with unions representing hundreds of thousands of city workers.
A handful of angry horse-drawn carriage drivers in danger of unemployment rallied in Central Park Friday to demand the city trot back on its promise to kill the iconic and historic industry.
Council Speaker Julie Menin flashed indecent AI-generated photos of herself busting out of a skimpy, low-cut shirt Friday as she dressed down a rep from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, accusing the company of prematurely launching the tech without proper safeguards.
Last year’s Legionnaires’ outbreak that killed seven people and sickened 100 others has been linked to an unplugged computer and a busted valve, a new $40 million Manhattan lawsuit claims.
A brand-spanking new peloton of Citi Bikes has been sitting unused in their Queens docks for weeks — angering locals who say they’re too expensive, crowd the sidewalks and gobble up precious parking spaces.
A man was fatally shot in a Midtown Manhattan subway station Saturday afternoon and police are looking for the suspect responsible, the NYPD said.
Long Island Democratic congressional hopeful Chris Gallant has raised about $930,000 since early July, including a boost in fundraising after explicit photographs of him surfaced, according to campaign finance filings released this week.
Gallant, a Black Hawk pilot and Democrat who is running to represent Long Island in Congress, is making the most of life post-tabloid reveal.
The latest round of No Kings protests took place at more than a dozen locations across upstate New York on Saturday, the latest spate of demonstrations against the policies of President Trump.
Prosecutors say five noncitizens from the Capital Region and Adirondacks face fraud charges for casting ballots in federal elections they were not allowed to vote in.
The state is looking for a company to run The Gideon Putnam, the historic hotel in Saratoga Spa State Park, which is currently run by Delaware North under a contract that expires on Jan. 5, 2028.
Hundreds of Capital Region students are conversing with artificial intelligence chatbots to show what they’ve learned after in-class assignments. Now parents are organizing to persuade their school boards to cut back on the technology’s use.
Democrats are hoping this will be the year a blue wave finally hits Saratoga County. If they seize the majority of the weighted vote on the county Board of Supervisors, there could be changes, including how resources are spent and who chairs the governing body.
The owners of a Delmar assisted living facility forced to close its doors last month over failed building code inspections say they are working “diligently” with town officials to reopen the facility and eventually welcome back residents.
Schalmont voters overwhelmingly approved a $54 million bond issue to expand Jefferson Elementary School and make improvements to other locations in the Schalmont Central School District.
The Adirondack Park Agency has until Dec. 7 to vote on a controversial proposal to test howitzers in the northeastern Adirondacks.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
