COUNCIL MEMBER FERNANDO CABRERA PRAISES GUILTY VERDICT IN CHAUVIN MURDER TRIAL   Bronx, NY- In response to the jury in the Derrick Chauvin murder trial returning a guilty verdict on all three charges, Council Member Fernando Cabrera declared that justice […]

News Release Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie NYASSEMBLY.GOV   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2021   Speaker Heastie Statement George Floyd’s murder was a tragedy. It was a crime that the entire world witnessed on video over the course of nine […]

Henry Wheeler Shaw, AKA Josh Billings (1818) Shaw studied at Hamilton College but was expelled for removing the clapper from the chapel bell. After a roving life as farmer, explorer, and coal miner, he settled in Poughkeepsie, New York, as an auctioneer and real estate dealer. In 1860, using the pseudonym Josh Billings, he began to write humorous sketches and homespun philosophies in rural dialect—often with intentionally crude misspellings—and soon became a popular lecturer. What are some of Shaw’s best aphorisms? More…

Among the sentiments of most powerful operation upon the human heart, and most highly honorable to the human character, are those of veneration for our forefathers, and of love for our posterity. John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)

fragrancy Definition: (noun) A pleasingly sweet olfactory property. Synonyms: redolence, bouquet, sweetness Usage: The fragrancy of her perfume seemed to attract every man in the room, drawing them to her like flies to honey. Discuss.

The Sanitation Foundation Launches First of Its Kind ‘Zero Waste Academy’ Free educational series designed to inform New Yorkers about waste and how to reduce it     The Sanitation Foundation, the official nonprofit of the New York City Department […]

Small Business Owners Reporting Increases of Nearly 200%   ALBANY- New York State’s sudden change in unemployment insurance rates have imposed unanticipated financial burdens on an already struggling restaurant industry. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed legislation protecting businesses from rate increases due to […]

Paul C. Vendetti HONOREE PROFILE May 21, 2019 ISSUE: 2019 VETERANS’ HALL OF FAME Paul C. Vendetti US Navy | Seaman First Class Born in Elmira, New York in 1926, Paul C. “Digger” Vendetti joined the United States Navy in […]

Edward L. Beach, Jr. (1918) A highly decorated American naval officer and WWII veteran, Beach became the naval aide to the US president following the war. In his free time, he wrote. Drawing on his wartime experiences, Beach penned 13 books. His first and best-known published work, 1955’s Run Silent, Run Deep, was made into a film of the same name in 1958. In 1960, Beach commanded the first submerged circumnavigation aboard the USS Triton, an American nuclear-powered submarine unique for having two what? More…

The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation. Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

environ Definition: (verb) Extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle. Synonyms: border, surround, skirt, ring Usage: They are everywhere, above us, on our left, on our right; they environ us on all sides. Discuss.

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY Assemblymember Charles Lavine 13th A.D. Chair, Judiciary Committee Room 831, Legislative Office Building Albany, NY 12248 518-455-5456 CONTACT: Assemblymember Charles Lavine LavineC@nyassembly.gov For Immediate Release: April 16, 2021   Judiciary Committee Chair Charles D. Lavine Statement On […]

Sir John Franklin (1786) Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer who also served as governor of Tasmania. He is best remembered for presiding over a doomed expedition in the 1840s to chart the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. He and his crew fell prey to a host of ills, including starvation, disease, and lead poisoning. Of the entire expedition of nearly 130 men, not one is known to have survived. What evidence suggests that some of the crew members may have resorted to cannibalism? More…

It is true we love life; not because we are wont to live, but because we are wont to love. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

chastise Definition: (verb) Censure severely. Synonyms: castigate, chasten, objurgate, correct Usage: She chastised him for his insensitive remarks about her weight until he was the one crying. Discuss.