Good morning, it’s Wednesday.
Three years ago, this date – Oct. 7 – was just another mid-fall day.
The most notable civic engagement in some communities at that time might have been Coffee with a Cop, an opportunity for law enforcement officers to mingle casually with local residents and business owners to try to build stronger relationships and bridge long-standing divides.
Oct. 7, 2023, changed all that forever, when Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launched a brutal, coordinated attack against Israel, killing some 1,200 people – many of them Israeli citizens, including 360 attendees at the Nova Music Festival, which was taking place near Re’im.
The attacks, which multiple sources reported included cases of rape and sexual assault, marked the deadliest day for Israel since its independence and occurred on the holiday of Simchat Torah, which is traditionally a joyous celebration of Torah.
Also on that day, 251 individuals – civilians, soldiers, children, women, seniors, and foreign nationals (200 men and 51 women) – were taken hostage. The last living hostages weren’t released until just over a full year later – October 13, 2025 – as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and peace plan.
It wasn’t until just this year – January 26, 2026 – that the remains of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage, were recovered. At this point, all the captives taken on Oct. 7 were accounted for. (It should be noted that the official tally of the people who died in or as a result of the Oct. 7 attacks do not generally include a tally of those who survived that day but have since taken their own lives).
In the wake of the attacks, Israel responded with a large-scale military air and a ground operation that began on Oct. 27, 2023, which eventually broadened into a multi-front regional conflict. The Palestinian News Agency says more than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the conflict began.
Despite multiple attempts at brokering a cease fire and eventual peace, the conflict continues. And the fallout from the attacks and subsequent Israeli response also continues, with a significant impact on local and national politics – especially in New York – coupled with a significant rise in antisemitism.
I am heartsick over this whole thing – all the lives lost, all the destruction wrought, all the fear and hatred surging. I try to stay away from extremely political and/or controversial topics here.
But I think, simply as a human being, it’s difficult to look back on this day and see it as anything other than a tragedy of epic proportions – both for what happened at that moment and what has occurred since.
Another bright and sunny day is on tap, though it will be considerably warmed, with temperatures topping out in the high 60s.
In the headlines…
Wall Street reached a record high on Tuesday, pushing through concerns about the potential economic drag from rising interest rates and elevated oil prices.
The U.S. trade deficit — a measure of the difference between what the country imports and what it exports — rose sharply in August to hit a 17-month high, after also rising significantly in July, data from the Commerce Department showed.
A day after President Trump said his super PAC would pay for TV ads promoting him that had been funded by taxpayers, White House officials said the group did not plan to reimburse the government for the more than $10 million it had already spent on the ads.
During her first debate of the cycle against Democrat Troy Jackson, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) twice dodged a question on whether she would stump with Trump if her were to swing through the Pine Tree State.
An ex-C.I.A. officer who authorities say stashed hundreds of gold bars in his home admitted in court to a far larger web of deception, including a $145 million scam involving luxury real estate and providing sensitive intelligence to a foreign government official.
Cornell University named Sally Yates, a former acting U.S. attorney general and career federal prosecutor, as head of an independent internal review into how the school handled a former student’s rape allegations.
Yates, 62, will also examine the school’s policies related to sexual assault allegations, including how they are investigated and what support is given to students, the university said in a statement.
Some of the students outraged by Cornell University’s handling of an alleged fraternity house gang rape are directing their ire at the school’s president, a longtime molecular physiology professor who has faced several crises since taking the top job.
A Cornell University fraternity brother accused of gang-raping a student apologized to the alleged victim over the “backlash” she was receiving, according to a newly obtained phone call.
A day after a campus-wide alert notified students about the reported rape, the school’s police department received an anonymous tip that fraternity leaders asked a potential witness to stay quiet because “the reputation of all involved and the frat would be ruined”.
A group of former Cornell University students say they are being falsely connected to the alleged 2024 fraternity house rape, and smeared and targeted online, and they want the college to say explicitly that they were not among men accused in the incident.
A growing number of advocacy organizations are calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to initiate a special session that would force lawmakers to consider a bill that would amend the state’s sexual assault and rape law.
Christa Pike is conscious and speaking while receiving critical medical care following Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her last week, her attorneys said Tuesday.
Pike continues to receive critical medical care at a Nashville hospital, the lawyers said. The prognosis remains unclear, they said, but they expect a long recovery.
Several Democratic House candidates – including two New Yorkers – are expressing interest in seats on the Financial Services Committee if elected to serve in the next Congress, according to three people with knowledge of internal discussions.
Hochul called President Trump’s suggestion to let Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego “shocking,” saying it represented a “new low.”
With Election Day just four weeks away, the rhetoric on the campaign trail in New York is heating up.
Hochul and her GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman are taking advantage of a quirk in state law that allows them to take millions of dollars from their Democratic and Republican parties, bypassing caps on individual campaign contributions.
Blakeman vowed Tuesday to end New York’s sanctuary state policies on his first day in office — as Rep. Mike Lawler unleashed a profanity-laced attack on Hochul.
President Trump announced he’ll appear at a campaign rally in Syracuse alongside Blakeman on Friday as he continues to raise eyebrows with an unconventional itinerary in the home stretch leading up to the midterm congressional elections.
Hochul appeared with US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at an event in Hopewell Junction, but distanced herself from the congressmember’s supporters recently singing “from the river to the sea.”
Hochul and transit officials are expected to announce today that the first batch of whooshing, beeping, metal-and-glass fare gates installed in New York City’s century-old subway system may be turning the tide on fare evasion.
An advisory group formed over the summer to develop a plan to prevent horse barn fires, such as the one that killed 17 trotters in June, has released its first set of recommendations.
Wall Street profits have already outpaced what New York City had projected the industry would bring in for the entire year, the state comptroller’s office said.
The Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with a previously announced expansion of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Batavia, adding 100 beds to the facility’s capacity.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised a new way of policing on the campaign trail. Nine months into his term, some of his allies on the left are growing frustrated with just how little has changed.
Mamdani on Tuesday appointed longtime criminal justice reformer Christopher Watler to lead the city’s jail oversight board.
The Mamdani administration is entering into two contracts totaling $8.9 million to provide “gender-affirming” sex reassignment care to transgender patients under the age of 18.
New York City continued to see historic lows in crime in the third quarter of the year, but an increase in hate crimes left cause for concern, officials said.
Murders and shootings in the Big Apple have continued to hit historic lows so far this year, but hate crimes including antisemitic incidents are only soaring in the five boroughs, new NYPD crime stats reveal.
More than half of Jewish voters in the city fear for their safety, while 42% say they’ve been verbally harassed, according to a new poll.
The Mamdani administration has again extended the deadline to seek an exemption from the city’s new pied-à-terre tax, moving it from Tuesday to Oct. 17 as officials released data showing more than half the exemption requests so far have been granted.
The Department of Education announced it’s launching a federal investigation into allegations of widespread “staff-on-student” sexual misconduct at New York City public schools.
A Trump-appointed federal judge ripped federal ICE agents for giving false sworn testimony and records to justify the violent mistaken-identity arrests of two men in the Bronx, one of whom was a U.S. citizen they mistook for an undocumented immigrant.
The embattled old guard of the Brooklyn Dems defied a court order to install their new leader — who has been accused of deed theft and palled around with a judge who was forced to resign after being slapped with criminal charges.
The Cannonsville Reservoir, New York City’s third-largest source of drinking water, could be expanding after a drought two years ago reduced the city’s water supply to worryingly low levels.
Historic Albany Foundation unveiled its newly restored headquarters under sunny skies Tuesday at 48 Hudson Ave., giving the public, stakeholders and local dignitaries a first look at the 1728 structure and its new role as a center for preservation and education.
At Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Sam’s Club locations, a gallon cost between $3.15 and $3.28 — on par with average gas prices a year ago in the Albany, Schenectady, and Troy metropolitan areas.
The National Weather Service in Albany issued a frost advisory for early this morning. A frost cold enough to cause widespread plant damage is not expected.
Millions of dollars in federal pandemic aid that city leaders said would go to fund various worthy causes were instead used for other expenses and the city was forced to use its own funds to honor its commitments, a root cause of Albany’s current fiscal crisis.
Clifton Park attorney Kevin Dailey said a town employee who overheard a private call in his office with a doctor about a prostate-related blood test has filed a harassment complaint against him.
Some activist groups are unhappy with new limits the Troy City Council has placed on how long the police department can retain data collected by the city’s 26 Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
A South Glens Falls homeowner allegedly shot someone breaking into their Main Street home early Tuesday morning.
The Siena University community is mourning the loss of former Siena President Fr. Hugh Hines, who died at the St. Lawrence Friary in Beacon at the age of 94.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
