Articles in Checking In
Coronavirus Daily News Brief – March 7: Biden’s SOTU, Last Day to Order Free At-Home Tests, Masks Are Off at China’s National People’s Congress
Good afternoon. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on its 1,457th day.
THE LEDE
Public Service Announcement: Tomorrow is the Last Day to Order Free At-Home Covid Test Kits in the U.S.
The federal government’s offer for free at-home Covid test kits will soon be discontinued. The on-again/off-again offer was most recently made …
The Story of the Infamous New Yorker Hotel Squatter Who Reenacts ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ and Tried to Steal the Actual Hotel
The iconic Music Box Theatre is 11 blocks due north of the equally iconic New Yorker Hotel. Both are New York City landmarks but, while the former was the theater in which George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s hit Broadway comedy “The Man Who Came to Dinner” opened, the latter is where a non-comedic replay of sorts played out over the past six years.
Known for its distinctive red “New Yorker” …
Coronavirus Daily News Brief – Feb. 6: Oklahoma Leads U.S. in Long Covid Cases, 40-Year-Old Virginia Man With Lon Covid Has the Lungs of a 94-Year-Old
Good day. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,427th day of the pandemic.
THE LEDE
I See Something: The Unchecked Spread of SARS-CoV-2
Rampant spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the fifth year of the pandemic is not only proof that the pandemic is not over but that it keeps regaining strength …
Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Oct. 13: 17 Florida Sheriff’s Office Employees Defrauded Covid Relief Plans, RSV and Flu Cases Rise as Covid Wave Peaks
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,311th day of the pandemic.
OP-ED ON FRIDAY
You’ve Been Warned: Today is Friday the 13th
A quick glance at the calendar reveals that today is Friday the 13th.
It falls in the already spooky month of October, which ends with Halloween, and we won’t see another Friday the 13th until September 2024.
Some numbers …
Big Apple Visitors Scramble for Hotel Rooms as New York City Enforces New Airbnb Rules and Hotels Rates Climb
The month of September brought new challenges for people traveling to New York as the city’s new restrictions on Airbnb listings went into effect just at a time when tourism is beginning to rise.
The pandemic hit the Big Apple’s lodging market harder than any other in the United States. Dozens of hotels shuttered their doors permanently, pulling thousands of rooms off the market.
Five factors are driving room rates to or …
1983 Honeymoon Room Voucher from Radisson Muehlebach Is Put to Good Use 40 Years Later
A couple that got married in June 1983 and spent their one-night honeymoon at the Muehlebach Radisson in Kansas City returned to the property this month after coming across a gift voucher, “The Muehlebach Lifetime Honeymoon Certificate,” they received as part of the honeymoon package.
Printed on a red and white background of wine and roses, the voucher “…certifies that anytime you stay at the Radisson Muehlebach during your anniversary month, …
My 2023 Mattress Run: How I Retained Hilton Honors Gold Elite Status With 2 Stays
While in pre-pandemic days I did my share of mileage runs to maintain top-level status with either American Airlines or Delta (depending on the time period), I never engaged in a mattress run, that is until now.
For the uninitiated, a mileage or mattress run is what frequent travelers can do if they are short on status miles, points, nights, or stays, for the purpose of maintaining or increasing their elite …
