Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

January 20, 2024

A frozen wave on the Tomhannock Reservoir in Rensselaer County, N.Y., catches the last rays of the fading sun. John Bulmer

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

Politico this week published an eye-opening essay about how foreign diplomats, a famously circumspect lot, view political developments in the United States. Their pessimism is summed up neatly in the headline: Why the World is Betting Against American Democracy.

One European ambassador said, “I can hear those Champagne bottle corks popping in Moscow — like it’s Christmas every f***ing day.”

“The diplomats are aghast that so many U.S. leaders let their zeal for partisan politics prevent the basic functions of government. It’s a major topic of conversations at their private dinners and gatherings,” writes Nahal Toosi, Politico’s senior foreign affairs correspondent.

One former Arab ambassador said politics here have become so toxic, he would decline an opportunity to return. Another told her, “I don’t know if in the coming years people will be looking at the United States as a model for democracy.”

“As they vented their frustrations,” she writes, “I felt as if I was hearing from a group of people wishing they could stage an intervention for a friend hitting rock bottom.”

STEFANIK’S MOMENT: U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents New York’s North Country and is the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House, earned national attention when she took on the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT over their failure to condemn antisemitism, and even praise from a prominent Harvard academic. Increasingly, she is regarded as a leading candidate for vice president in a potential second Trump Administration. NBC News reported this week that Trump may ask her to be his running mate, assuming he secures the GOP nomination, which appears to be a foregone conclusion. She is accompanying him in New Hampshire. She also set a personal quarterly fundraising record, raking in $5.2 million in the final months of 2023. Meanwhile, at the World Economic Summit in Davos this week, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, argued that Trump’s policies on the economy, NATO and immigration had been good for the country and warned those who attack Trump and his supporters as threats to democracy should be more respectful of the views of other people. “I think this negative talk about MAGA is going to hurt (President) Biden’s election campaign,” Dimon added.

ANGELS ON EARTH: WNYT-TV news anchor Mark Mulholland was honored last weekend for his work with Kelly’s Angels, the charity he and his children founded to help families and children facing difficult times because of life-threatening illness or other adversity. He was presented with a Harriet Tubman Titan Award by Israel A.M.E. Church in Albany — the oldest Black church in Upstate New York — in recognition of the all-volunteer charity’s commitment to helping people in need. The Israel A.M.E Church is a storied institution: It was founded in 1828 and served as a station on the Underground Railroad. Mulholland founded Kelly’s Angels in memory of his late wife, Kelly, who lost her battle with cancer in 2007 at 37. Kelly’s Angels distributed more than $100,000 to help Capital Region families and children in 2023 and $500,000 to more than 500 children and families since its founding in 2010.

AGING WONDER: Richard Morgan was a 73-year-old retiree with a lot of time on his hands when he attended a practice of his grandson’s collegiate rowing team. The coach asked if he’d like to try one of the machines. It was the beginning of an epic journey that has turned the Irishman into a true physical marvel, a four-time world indoor rowing champion who, at 93, has the heart and lung function of a healthy person a third his age. He’s done it with a simple routine and a high-protein diet. Researchers are studying him to see what they can learn about physical capacity in aging adults.

SCHOOL’S OUT: The New Yorker has an important piece about the dramatic erosion is school attendance in the wake of pandemic-related school closures that pushed students into remote learning, in some cases for more than a year. Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing more than 10% of school days, has nearly doubled. (The Glens Falls School District in Glens Falls, N.Y., convened a community forum on the matter in December). The reasons are varied, but as one educator told The New Yorker, “You’re dealing with a different generation here. This is a parent generation that plays video games with their children. When we were kids, we were out of the house and at school. There was no option. This became optional.”

WARMING WATER WARNING: In the 1980s, the lakes of the Adirondacks were threatened mainly by acid rain. Today, according to a new study by researchers from Cornell, it’s a combination of abnormally warm water and oxygen depletion in the bottom waters. The result is water bodies that look tea-stained, but worse than the jarring aesthetics, are a threat to the viability of cold-water species such as trout, salmon and whitefish, popular sportfish whose abundance helps support local economies.

In the lane, snow is glistening in Upstate New York after what had been a fairly quiet start to winter. Lisa Fenwick

NEWS MAX: He’s reported from some of the world’s most troubled places — Ukraine, Ethiopia and Kosovo — and created a new media organization that’s drawing millions of readers. Glens Falls, N.Y., native Max Frost is one of three founders of Roca, the daily online newsletter that aims to make a complex world more understandable. He and his partners have just been honored by Forbes as three of the 30 brightest young minds in North America. Max comes from a family of journalists and travelers. He’s the son of Mark and Sandra Hutchinson Frost, founders and publishers of the Glens Falls Chronicle. His brother Zander, who established himself as an up-and-coming comedian and comedy coach in Los Angeles, now serves the paper as Chief Operating Officer.

WHO KNOWS BEST? In baseball, the tie goes to the runner. In America, when a law is ambiguous, courts are required to give deference to a government agency’s reasonable interpretation. The theory is that the government has special expertise beyond that of the courts. Yet that assignment of power to unelected public servants, without benefit of judicial review, has been highly controversial. This week the Supreme Court took up the matter and its decision, if you believe the opposing parties, could either enfeeble the federal government or make Congress more accountable.  

FRIGID FOOTBALL: Buffalo Bills fans answered the call of duty — or was that the call of the wild? — earlier this week, showing up with shovels in hand (though not always shirt on back) to clear snow from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., after a blizzard buried it under more than two feet of snow. The blizzard caused a one-day delay in the first-round playoff game between the Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers. No concessions to weather were made the day before in Kansas City, where the Chiefs and Miami Dolphins played in below-zero temperatures and fierce winds. Some fans paid the price — 15 were transported to local hospitals, including seven with symptoms of hypothermia and three with frostbite.

ROYAL PAINS: Princess Kate, the Princess of Wales, is recovering from abdominal surgery this week and is expected to remain hospitalized for up to two weeks. Little information was shared, though Kensington Palace said the surgery was “planned” and not cancer related. An hour later, it was announced that King Charles III would undergo treatment next week for an enlarged prostate. “In common with thousands of men each year, The King has sought treatment for an enlarged prostate,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “His Majesty's condition is benign and he will attend hospital next week for a corrective procedure. The King's public engagements will be postponed for a short period of recuperation.”

HOLLYWOOD DEAL: Glens Falls, N.Y., native Colin Bannon has scored one of the first major Hollywood deals of 2024. Universal Studios purchased his short story package Long Lost. Steven Spielberg will be a producer.  One entertainment news site says: “Colin Bannon’s name is one you can expect to hear a lot more of.”

SILVER DOLLARS: Personal finance website GOBankingRates.com crunched a bunch of numbers and concluded that in 16 states, including New York, retirement costs over 25 years exceed $1 million. Hawaii was the most expensive, at more than $2 million. Retiring in West Virginia costs less than $700,000, the cheapest in the country.

EJ’S EGOT: Elton John this week joined the rare company of performers to have won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, or EGOT. He won an Emmy for his Disney+ concert special “Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.” A six-time Grammy winner, he has two Oscars for best original song and a Tony for best original score for the play “Aida.”

NO FUN ALLOWED: Because driving should never be fun, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, in a new 1,100-page document, has instructed states to stop putting humorous messages on highway signs, saying a ban will go into effect in 2026. “Get your head out of your of your apps” was one such sign, and it seems apropos of the new dictum.

BAD NEWS: Quad Graphics, a national marketing and printing company, said it will close its facility in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on or before May 4. More than 400 people will lose their jobs, though some will have opportunities to transfer elsewhere within the company.

GEORGE WOODARD never sought public office, but that didn’t stop him from being one of the most highly regarded and sought-after political sages in Albany, N.Y. A onetime Democratic ward leader, he had an on-again, off-again relationship with the party hierarchy, but remained a revered figure especially among the city’s Black political leadership. He built relationships across the political landscape of Albany to the benefit of the city’s Black residents. “George knew those people and he could get in the room and have a conversation with them,” County Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin told the Albany Times Union. “He paved the way for many of us.” The son of parents who left the South as part of the Great Migration, Woodard was also an avid gardener, hunter, mechanic, entrepreneur, jazz enthusiast and doting grandfather who had a lifelong love of cars, the Times Union reported. He was 78.

DMITRY FELD was a beloved figure in Lake Placid, N.Y., a winter sportsman to his core and a community leader known for his kindness and friendship. A former luge athlete, he grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. He became the face of local humanitarian efforts to help Ukraine after the Russians invaded, organizing fundraisers and supply drives. A coach for USA Luge and later its marketing manager, he was an enthusiastic volunteer who lent his time and attention to a variety of causes around the community. He was named the community’s Volunteer of the Year by the Adirodack Daily Enterprise and Lake Placid News in 2010 and received the Liberty Bell Award for being an outstanding citizen from the local bar association that same year. “It wasn’t an act,” Olympic silver medalist and longtime friend and colleague Gordy Sheer told the Enterprise. “He truly cared about anyone and everyone. The proof was that he remembered anything and everything about anyone he ever met.” He died of complications of leukemia at 68.

DEJAN MILOJEVIĆ helped develop and mentor Nikola Jokic in their native Serbia, helping launch Jokic on a path that will almost certainly take the two-time NBA MVP to the Basketball Hall of Fame. A former star player himself in Serbia, Milojević was instrumental in the development of other European players who have gone on to success in the NBA, and three years ago was hired as an assistant coach by the Golden State Warriors, where he was part of the staff of the 2022 NBA champions. He suffered a heart attack during a private team dinner and died at 46, his death eliciting an outpouring of love and respect from players and coaches around the league.

THOMAS WILLIAM SHALES was 13 when he wrote a school paper outlining his path to becoming a TV critic. He followed his plan all the way to The Washington Post and the Pulitzer Prize. Shales reviewed network TV programs when network TV was still the main game, and he was brutal in his criticism. Readers loved it. When CBS news star Dan Rather traveled to war-torn Afghanistan for “60 Minutes,” Shales mocked him as “Gunga Dan.” He routinely lampooned ABC’s “Good Morning America” host David Hartman as “Mr. Potato Head” and NBC News workaholic Tom Brokaw as “Duncan the Wonder Horse.” He was 79.

“What is the matter with people? The toxic masculinity that shows up in my Twitter timeline, my X timeline, because she’s having fun at a football game. I honestly don’t understand it. … As a matter of fact, this is the greatest thing ever. There’s a whole bunch of people that normally don’t watch football games that are watching just to see her on the screen. Put her up there. So what?”
— NFL Network host Rich Eisen, on the whining that goes on because TV cameras often show Taylor Swift at Kansas City Chiefs games.

AND THINSKINNED, TOO: A 32-year-old man from Chicago who was panned by several women on a private Facebook page —27, to be exact — has filed a lawsuit against the women seeking $75 million in damages, alleging their actions caused him “personal humiliation, mental anguish and suffering, emotional distress, stress, anxiety, lost earnings.”

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Principal author: Bill Callen

Sincere thanks to our contributors: Ryan Moore, John Brodt, Troy Burns, Lisa Fenwick, Kristy Miller, Leigh Hornbeck, Claire P. Tuttle, and John Bulmer.

FACING OUT is what we do. We help companies, organizations and individuals work effectively with their most important external audiences – their customers, their shareholders, their communities, the government and the news media.  www.behancommunications.com

Facing Out features news and other nuggets that caught our eye, and that we thought might be of value to you, our friends and business associates. Some items are good news about our clients and friends, others are stories that we hope will leave you a bit more informed or entertained than you were five minutes ago. As always, we welcome your ideas and feedback. 

Let’s make it a conversation: mark.behan@behancom.com