Lower Manhattan’s Local News
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The Curve Flattens
Rate of Increase for Confirmed Infections Among Downtown Residents Tapers Off
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Lower Manhattan’s eight zip codes are the site of 585 confirmed cases of coronavirus, up from 529 cases on April 17, which represents an increase of approximately 10.5 percent in one week. This rate of increase is a significant falloff from the previous week’s data, in which local infections had jumped by approximately 31 percent.
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A total of 585 residents of Lower Manhattan (among 1,530 who have been tested) are confirmed to have been infected by the pandemic coronavirus, according to statistics released by the City’s Department of Health (DOH).
These numbers are current as of Thursday afternoon (April 23). Given the current City-wide mortality rate for COVID-19 (the disease caused by coronavirus) of approximately 7.7 percent, roughly 45 of these patients appear likely to die.
This updated tally for confirmed cases of coronavirus indicates that the total number of local residents known to be infected has jumped by 56 new cases, or approximately 10.5 percent, since April 17 (the date of the Broadsheet’s previous update of these statistics), when the total number of Lower Manhattan cases was 529 patients. This does not necessarily mean that the local rate of infection is growing at 10.5 percent per week, but may be a reflection more patients being tested. But it does provide a rough guideline pointing toward good news: In the interval between the Broadsheet’sprevious two updates (on April 9 and April 17), the increase in confirmed cases among Lower Manhattan residents had been 31 percent. This may indicate a “flattening of the curve” in the trend-line for new infections, at least in Lower Manhattan.
According to the DOH data, the local infection rates (outlined out by zip code) break down as follows:
• 10280/Battery Park City South (below Brookfield Place): 33 confirmed cases, an increase of 1 new case since April 17
• 10282/Battery Park City North (above Brookfield Place): 59 confirmed cases, an increase of 7 new cases
• 10007/Southern Tribeca (West Street to Broadway, north of Vesey Street and south of Chambers Street): 42 confirmed cases, an increase of 8 new cases
• 10013/Northern Tribeca (north of Chambers Street and south of Canal Street): 187 confirmed cases, an increase of 17 new cases
• 10006/Greenwich South (Broadway to West Street, south of Vesey Street and north of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel): 15 confirmed cases, an increase of 2 new cases
• 10004/Southern FiDi (West Street to the East River, south of Beaver Street): 26 confirmed cases, an increase of 2 new cases
• 10005/Eastern FiDi (Broadway to the East River, south of Maiden Lane, north of Beaver Street): 45 confirmed cases, an increase of 3 new cases
• 10038/the Civic Center and Seaport (Broadway to the East River, north of Maiden Lane and stretching a few blocks beyond the Brooklyn Bridge): 178 confirmed cases, an increase of 18 new cases
These data indicate that, among the total of 1,530 Downtown residents who have been tested for coronavirus, 38.2 percent have been confirmed to be infected. This metric represents an additional falloff from the April 17 data, when 41 percent of all tested patients were confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. (Neither of these yardsticks can be extrapolated to mean that the similar percentages of all local residents are infected, because these tests — which are in gravely short supply — are being administered only to patients with severe symptoms, or those who are deemed to be at heightened risk of exposure.)
The combined population of these eight zip codes is approximately 81,000 residents. The total of 585 confirmed cases translates into an overall rate of infection of roughly seven-tenths of one percent for all Lower Manhattan residents. This represents a slight increase from April 17, when the overall rate of infection for Lower Manhattan residents stood at of roughly sixth-tenths of one percent.
This translates into Lower Manhattan’s eight zip codes being among the least penetrated by the pandemic coronavirus, and among those where COVID-19 is least prevalent out of all the communities in the five boroughs of New York City.
Matthew Fenton
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NEWS FROM PREVIOUS EDITIONS
OF THE BROADSHEETDAILY
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Hostel Intentions
Downtown Hotel Business May Be an Enduring Casualty of Pandemic
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The Conrad Hotel is being used to house healthcare workers battling the pandemic coronavirus.
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As local travel and tourism have ground to a halt in the wake of the pandemic coronavirus, one Downtown business sector is undergoing what may be a permanent transformation. By any reasonable yardstick, the hotel business in Lower Manhattan has been drastically overbuilt — the result of nearly two decades of giddy speculation, by developers.
Today, there are 37 hotels operating in the square mile below Chambers Street, offering more than 7,900 rooms, according to the 2019 Lower Manhattan Real Estate Year in Review, a report from the Downtown Alliance.
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Speaking Up for What Was Left Out
Upstart Assembly Member Opposes Governor and Legislative Leaders on Budget
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State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou: “We’re facing a crisis. The State budget asked us as legislators to respond to decades of shortfalls by cutting more — even as we know that our needs are greater than ever before. With this budget I’m sad to say that we’ve shown we value big businesses and profits more than we value our people.”
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State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou is condemning the budget recently enacted by legislature in Albany, as part of a deal with Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“We had the opportunity with this budget to make a bold shift to a State spending plan that truly values all people and embraces a future in which we are fighting poverty, building upon our criminal justice reform efforts, expanding housing and transit, protecting survivors of sexual abuse, and supporting working families,” Ms. Niou says. To read more…
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Beaker takes a seat on Stone Street and wonders, “Where’d everybody go?”
photo by Iphy Murphy
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COVID-19 and your pets.
A Guide from the Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare
how to care for your pet during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again
Facing Budget Deficit, City Hall Has Plans for BPCA Funds
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The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio will be drawing on nearly $10 million in funds from the Battery Park City Authority to help close the budget cap created by the economic slowdown that has arisen from the pandemic coronavirus.
The City’s budget planners expect tax revenue to fall by 3.5 percent (or $2.2 billion) this fiscal year 8.3 percent (or $5.2 billion) in fiscal year 2021. These shortfalls are attributed to projected declines in several kinds of municipal taxes: the levies on sales, hotel stays, personal income, and business income.
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Taste of Tribeca Community Fund
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To the community,
Three weeks ago, we launched the Taste of Tribeca Community Fund.
Since then you have given us over $60,000 and with this we have purchased over 4,800 meals from 10 Taste of Tribeca restaurants for delivery to 11 New York City hospitals, plus FDNY Ladder 8, FDNY Engine 7, the NYPD 1st Precinct, and NYC Department of Sanitation Manhattan District 1.
You have helped to keep these restaurants in business, and in turn the restaurant teams have been doing some of the most important cooking and meal service of their careers, for the healthcare workers on the front lines against Covid-19.
The importance of your contribution cannot be emphasized enough. As another organization doing similar work has put it, we are not merely sending care packages as a thank you to the healthcare workers. We are providing them with basic nourishment, which they have no time to buy on their own, and in some areas no one even from whom to buy them.
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And in our little corner of the city, we have restaurants willing and able to serve and for whom our large orders are essential to the continued operation of their business.
We are now down to our last few thousand dollars, which, at our current pace, will last us another few days to a week. We would love to keep going until at least May 15, so please consider donating again if you can, and share our mission with your families, friends and colleagues. Your continued generosity and support will directly benefit our restaurants, our neighborhood, and the healthcare heroes in our great city.
Thank you from all of us at Taste of Tribeca!
If you can help us, we would appreciate it.
Here is our most recent campaign update sent to donors, plus our GoFundMe and Instagram feed. Our current meal count is over 5,000. Thank you,
Bettina Teodoro
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Letters
Thinking Out Loud
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To the editor,
Landlords rent to whomever agrees to pay the rent that the property owner wants.
In BPC, we have duplications of some businesses (dry cleaners, chain restaurants) and wish we had more of others (hair salons, diners/coffee shops).
Since the businesses are not chosen based on community needs, should the community step in to help a landlord and keep a business tenant in place?
Maryanne P. Braverman
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To the editor:
I’m curious if the BPCA is going to implement any programs to support local small businesses.
For example, giving landlords a break in ground leases if savings are passed on to small business tenants as rent discounts? As a state agency I would hope they are at least considering steps that can be taken to support local businesses.
Maria M.
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To the editor:
One of Battery Park City’s unique amenities is the small rectangular park in the middle of the Rector Place oval.
For more than twenty years, during the mild days of Spring, hot days of Summer and colorful days of Fall, parents and their toddlers have picnicked on the grass, surrounded by neighbors who were reading, chatting or sunbathing.
Signs on the brick posts at the corners of the park state that ball playing and dogs are not allowed. A large field of astroturf at the end of Rector Place by West Street provides a space expressly created for ball playing.
Nevertheless, this Spring, the little rectangular park in the middle of Rector Place has been besieged by ball players both human and canine. By the time that Summer arrives, the ground in this little park will be nothing but mud, unless the BPC Authority and its “Ambassadors” start patrolling the park regularly, and enforcing the rules against ball playing and dogs.
Richard J.
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Who remembers Iggy, the 40-foot iguana formerly of the Lone Star Cafe on Lower 5th Avenue and subsequently perched atop Pier 25 by Bob Wade and Bob Townley in the 1980s? For some years now, Iggy has resided at the Fort Worth Texas Zoo reptile exhibit. The charismatic iguana was recently seen practicing social distancing.
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EYES TO THE SKY
April 20 – May 3, 2020
Not to be missed: International Dark Sky Week programs reach us at home.
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Now in progress, International Dark Sky Week:
The International Dark-Sky Association invites us — with a special nod to homebound families — to engage with dynamic authors, educators, artists, and scientists from around the world. The distinguished presenters are excited to share their passion for astronomy, our cultural connection to the stars, life in the dark, and how we can work together to protect the night.
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Governor Cuomo has issued an executive order requiring all people in New York to wear masks or face coverings in public, including when taking public or private transportation or riding in for-hire vehicles.
More information: coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home or call 1-888-364-3065.All non-essential workers must continue to work from home and schools will be closed through May 15 th, and everyone is required to maintain a 6-foot distance from others in public photo courtesy: BPCA
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‘As Sick as I’ve Ever Been in My Life’
One Survivor’s First-Person Account of Grappling with the Coronavirus
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(Editor’s Note: This narrative was supplied to the Broadsheet by a Battery Park City resident who has asked to remain anonymous.)
When I first heard about this, back in late January or early February, I wasn’t sure how it was different from a more serious version of seasonal flu, because the narrative was familiar — starting in Asia, and coming from some kind of animal population. The one difference I remember noting was that this sounded much more contagious.
After that, I didn’t think much more about it for several weeks, other than to frame it as a kind of “second” flu season. But near the end of February, the beginning of March, my perception changed, along with everybody else’s. This was clearly different, because of how it had jumped to humans, and how aggressively it was spreading.
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A Personal Appreciation: Michael Sorkin
A Friend and Comrade of the Late Architect Recalls Battles Waged on Behalf of the Community
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Author, architect, critic, and scholar, Michael Sorkin: “Tribeca – and its surrounding neighborhoods — are among the most ‘at risk’ for the loss of an architecture and an aura that is unique not just in New York, but in the world. To fail to protect this brilliant and beloved environment is nothing less than vandalism.”
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Tribeca resident, professor, architect, and critic Michael Sorkin died on March 26 from the coronavirus. You might have seen the tributes pouring in from the architectural world. A chorus of accolades attested to Michael’s astonishing career and accomplishments, among them authoring 18 highly regarded books, being awarded multiple prizes and fellowships, writing criticism for the Village Voice, The Nation, and founding Terreform, a non-profit that published books on urban research.
Unbeknownst to many, Michael was also our neighbor and a fellow comrade-in-arms for Tribeca’s historic districts. I first met him when he moved to the corner of Chambers and Broadway in Tribeca, from Greenwich Village (where he documented his walk to work in the wonderful book of essays, “Twenty Minutes in Manhattan”). To read more…
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A Bear Market for Apartments
Downtown Residential Real Estate on Life Support
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As business activity ground to a halt in March due to the pandemic coronavirus, the market for apartments in Lower Manhattan experienced something akin to a heart attack during the first quarter on this year, according to analyses from two real estate data firms.
A pair of reports from Platinum Properties, a brokerage firm headquartered in the Financial District, documents the carnage in Battery Park City and the Financial District. The first notes that the median price for condominiums sold in Battery Park City dropped from $1.515 million in the first quarter of 2019 to $1.005 million in the same period this year. That represents a 33.7 percent decline in 12 months, and a 14 percent decline just since the last quarter of 2019, when the median price was $1.168 million. To read more…
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Doing Good, Even When Not Doing Well
A Local Business Struggles to Survive, By Helping Those Less Fortunate
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In happier times: Karen Barwick (right) and her staff, at Tribeca’s Boomerang Toys
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Karen Barwick, the proprietress of Boomerang Toys in Tribeca, which has been a fixture in the lives of generations of Lower Manhattan kids, is leading a push to bring a smile to the faces of homeless children, who are quarantined in shelters, while also helping small businesses.
“We have teamed up with several other neighborhood toy stores that are struggling, because of being locked down,” she explains, “and partnered with Homeless Services United” (HSU) — a coalition of nearly sixty non-profit agencies serving homeless families. By browsing www.BoomerangToys.com, and clicking on the Donate button, users can purchase a toy that will be delivered to a shelter by the HSU’S existing distribution network, which already parcels out clothing and food. To read more…
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WANTED:
Your Coronavirus story in one hundred words.
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Resilience, in the Original Sense of the Word
Facing Adversity, One Community Leader Tries to Lead By Example
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In the days following September 11, 2001, Bob Townley called the community together at the basketball court at the intersection of Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas.
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Bob Townley, the founder and executive director of Manhattan Youth, reflects, “I’ve been through this before — twice, actually.” He is referring to a pair of previous cataclysms that seemed to threaten the viability of the Lower Manhattan community he serves, as well as the organization he leads.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the inundation of Hurricane Sandy, 11 years later, both wrecked the neighborhood. And both raised questions about whether Manhattan Youth, which provides services to thousands of school children, families, and seniors, could remain viable. So the ongoing crisis related to the pandemic coronavirus is not without precedent for him.
“In the fall of 2001,” he recalls, “pieces of the World Trade Center were in a pool on Rector Place, where we had been giving toddlers swimming lessons a few days before. And when I finally got back into our Downtown Community Center in November, 2012, we had 20 feet of water in the basement. The entire bottom level, and a second story below the street, were both submerged.”
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New Amsterdam Market returns in virtual format, as a service to the growing community of purveyors, distributors, producers and other small businesses who are creating regional, sustainable, regenerative, healthful, and equitable food systems.
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A pair of peregrin falcons are back in Lower Manhattan, high above 55 Water Street. Click to watch a live camera as they care for their clutch of eggs that are expected to hatch in the coming weeks.
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Virtual Events Available to All
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Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field
National Museum of the American Indian
Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field is a pair of sequential photo essays created by Native photojournalists Russel Albert Daniels and Tailyr Irvine in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian. The work of both photographers springs from the same desires—to break down stereotypes of Native peoples and to portray stories that show the diversity and complexity of their contemporary lives.
While the installation of the first photo essay by Daniels — The Genízaro People of Abiquiú — is postponed due to coronavirus, the photo essay is online.
Youth Art Contest
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Celebrate Endangered Species Day (May 15) and the 50th anniversary of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by participating in the Greater Atlantic Region’s Marine Endangered Species Art Contest.
Endangered and threatened species need our help. Students’ artwork will showcase their knowledge and commitment to protecting these animals. Throughout 2020, NOAA is celebrating 50 years of science, service, and stewardship. NOAA is a world-class forecasting and resource management agency with a reach that goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor. In the next 50 years, NOAA will advance innovative research and technology, answer tough scientific questions, explored the unexplored, inspire new approaches to conservation, and power the U.S. economy. Through April 24
Today through April 30
Mission to Remember
9/11 Memorial and Museum
This documentary series explores the shared commitment to the mission behind the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. From showing how we create new traditions of tribute, to demonstrating our unique conservation techniques, the short films go beyond the surface to immerse viewers in untold stories of honor and remembrance. Click here to view the series.Today through April 30
The Stories They Tell
9/11 Memorial and Museum
Family members, survivors, first responders and recovery workers discuss the 9/11 history they are helping to preserve through the material they have shared with the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Click here.
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Today through April 30
Battery Dance TV
Battery Dance
Offerings include morning warmup/stretching/conditioning exercises, mid-day classes in contemporary dance with afro, ballet and jazz fusion elements, evening classes in varied ballroom styles, plus a daily short video at 4pm by dancers performing in their living rooms.
Today through April 30
Tourist in Your Own Town Videos
The New York Landmarks Conservancy
Now that most of us are staying home, you can take virtual tours of New York City.Visit Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, Alexander Hamilton’s home in Upper Manhattan, the Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan, the site of the Battle of Brooklyn, the home of one of America’s first female photographers on Staten Island, and Louis Armstrong’s home in Queens. There are 61 sites in all. You’ll be amazed at the discoveries you will make.
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Biking through traffic seven years ago at lunch hour in downtown Manhattan compared to the dearth of people and traffic after the Corona virus epidemic is a huge contrast. Footage is sped up, so although it may look a but scary, the ride was totally safe!
Thanks and be well! -Esther R.
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Where to Get Care
Lower Manhattan Health Resources for Residents with Concerns
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Government officials are asking that people with non-urgent health problems avoid showing up at hospital emergency rooms, which are already overburdened.
Instead, they ask that patients who have concerns consult with their personal physicians. Those in need of non-emergency medical help can also call (or walk into) one of the five Lower Manhattan urgent care clinics that remain open. As of Thursday afternoon, these are:
• CityMD Financial District (24 Broad Street). No appointment necessary. 646-647-1259.
• CityMD Fulton (138 Fulton Street). No appointment necessary. 212-271-4896.
• CityMD Tribeca (87 Chambers Street). No appointment necessary. 347-745-8321.
• NYU Langone at Trinity (111 Broadway). Appointment required. 212-263-9700.
• Mount Sinai Doctors (225 Greenwich Street, fifth floor). No appointment necessary. 212-298-2720.
That noted, anyone experiencing dangerous symptoms (such as trouble breathing or dangerous spikes in body temperature) is encouraged to go to a hospital emergency room.
Two Lower Manhattan healthcare providers are also offering Virtual Visits, in which patients can consult over the phone or video link with a physician or nurse practitioner.
To schedule such a session with NYU Langone, please browse: NYULangone.org, and click on Virtual Urgent Care. To make an appointment with New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, please browse NYP.org, and click on Virtual Urgent Care. Patients enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program are advised not to cancel or reschedule existing appointments. Clinic staff will be contacting you to make arrangements to convert these sessions into a tele-visits.
All program participants with prescriptions for their certified WTC-related conditions are strongly encouraged to sign up for Optum Home Delivery which allows for 90-day prescription fills and delivers directly to members by mail.
For more information, please call Optum at 855-640–0005, Option 2. For members who prefer to pick up prescriptions at retail pharmacies, the program is waiving early medication refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications. Please call Optum at 855-640–0005, Option 3 for more information.
The World Trade Center Health Program is also covering limited COVID-19 testing for members with certain certified World Trade Center-related conditions that may put them at higher risk of illness from COVID-19. In addition to testing, treatment for COVID-19 is also covered, contingent on certain criteria being met, including that the member was eligible for COVID-19 testing, the treatment is authorized by the program, and the treatment is not experimental. Coverage of COVID-19 treatment costs requires approval by the program’s administrator, on a case-by-case basis.
Matthew Fenton
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Meditations in an Emergency
Our Hometown and the Myth of Eternal Return
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You tell yourself that you’ve seen this story before, and more than once: edifices falling; waters rising. And you reflect that the worst situations are not those that can’t get any worse. The worst situations are the ones that are going to get worse before they get better. So you hunker down.
You recall the Old Man deciding, a lifetime ago, that since you were too old for fairy tales, you were perhaps old enough for true confessions. To read more…
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Today In History April 24
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Churchill with FDR and Stalin
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1184 BC – Traditional date of when the Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse
1066 – Halley’s Comet sparks English monk to predict country will be destroyed
1800 – Library of Congress establishes with $5,000 allocation
1872 – Volcano Vesuvius erupts
1888 – Eastman Kodak forms
1907 – Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
1908 – Mr & Mrs Jacob Murdock become the first couple to travel across US by car. They leave LA in a Packard a arrive in NYC in 32d-5h-25m
1913 – The skyscraper Woolworth Building is opened.
1923 – General harbor strike begins in NYC
1953 – Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
1961 – JFK accepts “sole responsibility” following Bay of Pigs
1962 – MIT sends TV signal by satellite for first time: California to Massachusetts
1968 – Students take over Columbia University
1980 – US military operation to save 52 hostages in Iran, fails, 8 die
1981 – IBM-PC computer introduced
1990 – Security law violator Michael Milken pleads guilty to 6 felonies
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
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Panorama of Lower Manhattan from the Woolworth Building
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Births
1874 – John Russell Pope, US, architect (Jefferson Memorial)
1904 – Willem De Kooning, Rotterdam Netherland, artist (North Atlantic Light)
Anniversaries
1558 – Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland marries French crown prince Francois
1575 – William (the Silent) of Orange marries 3rd wife Charlotte de Bourbon and former French nun
Deaths
1731 – Daniel Defoe, English novelist (Robinson Crusoe), dies at about 70
1779 – Eleazar Wheelock, American founder of Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (b. 1874)
1947 – Willa Cather, American writer (b. 1873)
1967 – Vladimir M Komarov, cosmonaut (Voshkod I), dies in Soyuz 1 at 40
1974 – Bud Abbott, comedian (Abbott & Costello), dies at 78
1986 – Wallis Simpson [Duchess of Windsor], British King Edward VIII abdicated for her, dies at 89
2004 – Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (b. 1906)
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395 South End Avenue,
New York, NY 10280
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No part of this document may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher © 2020
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