Good morning, it’s Thursday.
I have plenty of things to legitimately feel guilty about. Spend five-plus years on the planet and you rack up any number of mistakes. But there are also things in inexplicably get some twinges about, even though I know that it’s wasted energy to be concerned about having a change of heart.
I feel this way about my defection from cats to dogs.
For most of my life, I was an avowed cat person. I didn’t understand how humans could be in service to sloppy, slurpy, doofy canines, who required regular walking and pooper-scooping.
Cats, on the other hand, were the perfect young person/apartment dweller companion – you threw them some food, kept their litter box reasonably clean, could leave them alone overnight, and were rewarded by something resembling affection (if they were in the mood).
Then, of course, everything changed when I actually got my first dog 11 years ago. For the first time in my life, I understood true unconditional love. I threw out my litter boxes, kitty toys, and cat beds and exchanged them for leashes, chew toys, and poop bags and then never looked back.
For years, I was in the majority, as more Americans opted to share their lives with dogs than cats. However, over the past year or so, something changed dramatically, as for the first time since the metric has been tracked, the number of kittens in U.S. homes pulled even with the number of puppies.
To be clear, dogs are still dominating pet-owning households across the U.S. – roughly 71 million compared with 53 million that own cats. But that ratio is changing quickly, according to data collected by a market research group called Packaged Facts. The data show that in 2026, there were 0.94 puppies for every kitten in households across the nation, while in 2014, there were 1.8 puppies for every kitten.
The demographics of cat owners are also shifting. Move over sad, lonely, childless cat ladies (sorry, JD Vance), and make way for the Gen Z cat dads – men now account for a whopping 43 percent of cat owners, and men who are younger than 29 years old appear to be the fastest growing segment of male cat owners. And, apparently, they’re willing to spend big on their pampered feline friends.
Experts hypothesize that this shift from dogs to cats is an indication of a number of larger societal trends, including affordability challenges that are increasingly preventing young people from buying homes. Statistically, homeowners are twice as likely than renters to own a dog, which stands to reason, given the yard and space factors.
Also, owning a dog is not a cheap endeavor (try multiplying that by three!), and while cats come with their own related costs, they are, pound for pound, usually a more cost effective pet option than dogs.
So, overall, I guess the cats are doing quite well without me, thank you, and my guilt is definitely misplaced. Happy National Cat Day to all those who celebrate. I hope you find some time to treat your furry friends. (Every day is dog day in my household).
It’s going to be unusually warm today for this time of year, with highs reaching into the low 70s. There will be some clouds in the morning, giving way to mostly sunny skies in the afternoon. Be on the alert for areas of patchy fog earlier in the day.
In the headlines…
Trump called for Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola to drop out of the race and be criminally prosecuted after it was revealed that her allies were behind an effort to bring a candidate into the race that had the same name as her GOP opponent.
Operatives aligned with Peltola spent months recruiting candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican.
Alaska’s governor last night said he was ordering an investigation into whether Peltola’s campaign for Senate should face criminal charges or civil penalties over its role in recruiting candidates to draw votes from Sullivan.
Trump looks to be facing a major rebuke from voters as the clock ticks down to the midterm elections. Yet, even as Democratic hopes rise, there are also nagging fears within the opposition party about its chances of taking the Senate.
The White House has been rocked by turnover and anxiety over the midterms. The president, who is tightening his inner circle, has lashed out at critics, held meandering rallies and feasted on a diet of news clips and “A.I. slop,” as one aide put it.
Democrats are giddy about the possibility of a bigger blue wave than expected in the battle for the Senate as polls show that South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi — three seats that were long seen as safe Republican holds — are now competitive races.
As Trump officials stump for Republican candidates facing difficult races, ethics experts say they are being lax about complying with the Hatch Act, a federal anti-corruption law.
Vice President JD Vance has contacted a top Iranian political and military official to propose a renewal of comprehensive peace negotiations, according to a senior U.S. official and an Iranian official with knowledge of the communication.
Christine Lagarde announced that she would step down as the president of the European Central Bank in February, cutting short a turbulent term that spanned a series of economic crises including the Covid-19 pandemic and two energy shocks.
Lagarde will step down on February 7, giving current European Union leaders time to pick a successor well before a French presidential election that polls show far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is favourite to win.
There had been growing speculation and some intrigue that Lagarde, 70, would leave the post before the end of her eight-year term in October 2027, which would make way for a transition during a politically sensitive time in Europe.
Rescuers searched through wrecked carriages today in the desperate hope of finding more survivors of Spain’s second deadly high-speed train crash this year, which has so far claimed 69 lives and injured more than 100 people.
Spain has begun three days of mourning to commemorate the 68 people who died in a high-speed rail collision as hospitals continue to treat scores of injured passengers and rescuers scour the wreckage of the two trains for victims.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and rapper Nicki Minaj exchanged sharp criticism Wednesday, adding a celebrity-fueled twist to the final days of New York’s gubernatorial campaign.
Minaj called the governor an “evil woman” who should be dumped by the Democratic Party as she pushed for GOP hopeful Bruce Blakeman in next Tuesday’s gubernatorial election.
Hochul signed two bills Wednesday morning aimed at the tech already in kids’ bedrooms and on their phones: AI chatbots and internet-connected baby monitors.
Hochul reached an agreement with lawmakers this week to torpedo legislation that would have established a three-member cannabis wage board and required licensees in the industry to disclose full details on their ownership interests.
Hochul is campaigning with New York City’s socialist anti-Israel mayor while also making in-roads with Orthodox Jewish leaders in communities that backed her GOP opponent four years ago.
Just weeks before Election Day, millions of New York households — including 1.2 million on Long Island — have started to receive a utility rebate check of up to $200, as part of a state budget deal negotiated by Hochul, who is seeking reelection this year.
The Syracuse Post-Standard endorsed Hochul’s re-election bid, praising her for “doing something” about the affordability crisis.
A week before the general election, New York’s child welfare commissioner addressed staff and young people at a Brooklyn-based foster care agency, outlining how Hochul’s latest budget has relieved pressure on the state’s lowest income children and families.
Blakeman called polls showing him trailing Hochul by double digits “voter suppression,” insisting the surveys are “designed to discourage Republicans and manipulate the outcome of this election.”
Insisting the polls are evidence of Democrats’ “dirty tricks”, Blakeman claimed his campaign’s polling and internal surveys “show a neck-and-neck race.”
Hochul refused to say if she’d buckle to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s crusade to “tax the rich” if reelected — offering instead a political word-salad when pressed on the matter.
Nearly half of New York likely voters say they’re financially worse off than they were a year ago, according to startling results from a new survey released yesterday.
The Business Council of New York State Inc., which endorsed Hochul in 2022, is sitting out the governor’s race this year, insisting its decision isn’t a snub of the governor.
President Trump reportedly wanted Hochul to fire the boss of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — even though he didn’t seem to know Janno Lieber’s name.
State regulators are developing AI data center regulations too quickly and without sufficient regard for environmental impacts the facilities may cause, a group of protesters asserted Wednesday as they gathered at the state Capitol.
A divided faculty senate voted Wednesday to move forward with holding a no-confidence vote over the way Cornell University’s senior leadership has handled campus sexual assault, overcoming a faculty faction’s effort to postpone the vote.
Faculty will now vote electronically on a proposed no-confidence resolution in Cornell’s administration through Nov. 6. The largely symbolic vote could pressure university trustees, who choose its leadership.
Nearly 300,000 New Yorkers cast ballots in the first four days of early voting — a nearly 72% increase since the last midterm election, according to city Board of Elections data.
Liu Zhen, 73 — an aide for Brooklyn Republican state Sen. Steve Chan — was arrested and charged with assault in the third degree for allegedly hitting a volunteer for Democratic opponent, Larry He, in the face Tuesday, sources told The NY Post.
Mamdani’s habit of hosting friends for late-night basketball at the NYPD’s Police Academy gym is raising the hackles of two former municipal attorneys who say the pickup games may flout city ethics laws.
Mamdani should be investigated for using $1.6 million in taxpayer funds to push New Yorkers to back ballot proposals with messaging that plastered his face on buses and kiosks, Queens Democratic Councilmember Phil Wong said.
Mamdani will delay his plan to replace the chair of the city’s racial equity watchdog, who has emerged as a sharp critic of the administration. The move comes after pushback from the City Council.
Mamdani said Tigani’s term as chair of the city’s Commission on Racial Equity, Linda Tigani, will be extended through next summer, at which point he still planned to replace her.
Facing pressure from Mamdani’s progressive allies, the NYPD abandoned a no-bid deal for Israeli cellphone tracking technology as calls grow to oust the self-described “proud Zionist” police commissioner.
The Mamdani administration unveiled its plan to redesign Sunset Park, Brooklyn’s deadly Third Avenue, where 17 people have died over the past decade.
Mamdani has officially canceled his predecessor’s plans for a new unified “Public Safety Academy” that would be built on the lot next to the existing police academy in College Point, Queens, City Hall confirmed.
Christopher Alexander is Mamdani’s pick to lead the commission tasked with addressing racial inequities across city government and studying potential reparations.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. sent letters to Mamdani and two government agencies demanding they intervene to transform a parking lot built on top of an African burial ground into a respectful memorial commemorating the sacred ground.
An 11-year-old boy was killed, and four others were hospitalized, after an e-bike lithium-ion battery fire in a Bronx apartment.
Alvin K. Hellerstein, a senior federal judge in Manhattan who oversaw the sprawling civil litigation arising from the Sept. 11 attacks and the prosecution of the captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, died on Wednesday at 92.
A former NYPD sergeant convicted of driving drunk the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway and killing a Peekskill man was sentenced Wednesday to four to 12 years in prison, the state attorney general’s office said.
Vice President JD Vance is planning to headline a Monday rally in Ogdensburg to support Republican candidate Anthony Constantino in New York’s 21st Congressional District, according to people familiar with the event.
GE Vernova is purchasing a German maker of high-voltage electrical grid equipment for $9 billion, the company announced on Wednesday.
Police Officer Jakeb Boniface says East Greenbush is considering a local law to regulate e-bikes, e-scooters and e-motos as the town’s police department grapples with how to ensure young riders operate the vehicles safely and follow the rules of the road.
The town of Queensbury is threatening to close part of Aviation Mall over concerns about code “violations, and the potential risk to the health, safety, and welfare of occupants and members of the public.”
Three Rensselaer County towns want voters to weigh in on extending the terms of their town supervisors from two years to four years.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
