Events

I made it to Long Island without incident, and as every New Yorker has done or someday will do, with a change at Jamaica. The view today isn't quite like the view yesterday: Next on the agenda: a nap. Then walking over to my alma mater, to see what the kids have done with the place.

I'm traveling this weekend, starting with a night about a block from my office. Tonight is WhiskyFest Chicago, starting in about 90 minutes (though they let us start gorging on cheese and crackers at 5pm). For easily-understood reasons, I'm staying at the same hotel tonight, then heading to my college radio station's 60th anniversary party tomorrow morning. Not my first choice of timing, but I had no control over either event. Sunday I head into Manhattan, and coincidentally the Yankees are in town......

Prime Minister Theresa May failed, for a third time, to get the agreed-to deal with the EU through the House of Commons: The Guardian explains the consequences: A string of Brexit-backing Conservative backbenchers who had rejected the deal in the first two meaningful votes, including the former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, switched sides during the debate to support the agreement. But with Labour unwilling to change its position, and the Democratic Unionist party’s 10 MPs determined not to support it...

On my list today: After Commons last night voted down every single proposal for navigating Brexit, Theresa May will bring the agreement she negotiated with the EU up for a vote tomorrow. Jeanne Gang has won the contract to design O'Hare's new Terminal 2. What's behind the generational divide over climate change? Whether individual European countries go off (or permanently on) Daylight Saving Time in 2021, their transport ministers will have the final say. The Housing and Urban Development Department has...

The House of Commons right now are voting on 8 proposals relating to Brexit; I'll have more in a bit. But over the weekend, and confirmed today, the Conservatives let slip that Prime Minister Theresa May has offered to resign as the price of getting hardline Brexiteer votes on her deal: The prime minister indicated she would resign only if her Brexit deal passes in order to allow a new leader to shape the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The dramatic announcement to a meeting of Tory backbenchers...

And not a day too soon: Leaders in the New York state Senate and Assembly are expected to approve charging fees on vehicles entering the most trafficked parts of Manhattan, the New York Times reported on Monday. If the measure in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget gets the green light by the April 1 deadline, New York City would be the first place in the United States to adopt the policy known as congestion pricing. It’s been a long time coming. Thanks to low gas prices, a growing populous, and the meteoric...

The European Union Parliament today voted 410-192 to allow member states to end Daylight Saving Time in 2021: The vote is not the last word on the issue but will form the basis of discussions with EU countries to produce a final law. The countries have yet to take a stance. A parliament report in favour of operating on a single time throughout the year said scientific studies link time changes to diseases of the cardiovascular or immune systems because they interrupt biological cycles, and that there...

First, in the UK this week, while people can feel slightly relieved the country won't crash out of the European Union in three days, things haven't gotten any less chaotic: Downing Street aides directly asked hard-Brexit Conservatives at Chequers on Sunday whether Theresa May’s resignation as prime minister would be enough to get them to endorse finally the exit deal struck with the European Union, it has emerged. A source said that in those private conversations several aides to the prime minister...

Citylab has the story of the remaining private railroad cars in the US: [Bob] Lowe is one of only about 80 people in the U.S. who not only own their own railcars, but are also certified to operate them on Amtrak lines across the country—a subset of a national subculture of rail aficionados who buy up old train equipment. In addition to individual private owners, historical societies, museums, and nonprofit groups also run train excursions in locations around the U.S. While some buy surplus cars...

It may appear that blogging will slow down a little bit going into the last week of March. That's because Blogging A-to-Z entries take a little more time to write. This year might be a little ambitious, also, because I plan to provide musical snippets to go along with the text (otherwise what's the point?). My goal today: get through a chunk of the first week of April. And figure out when I can write the rest for that week. I've also written an entry for an historical anniversary mid-April. Stay tuned.