We all could use a break in 2023.

We are now a year removed from the turmoil of the mid-term elections and a year away from the next presidential election cycle. Let’s enjoy a year in which we are not bombarded with negative political ads on television and the vitriol that has surrounded recent elections. Let’s also put the events of and prior to January 6, 2021 in the past along with any unsubstantiated claims of conspiracies and stolen elections.

Let’s focus on the present. The new year begins with Kathy Hochul being sworn into a full-term in office after winning the election as New York’s first female governor. Robert Rolison, former mayor of Poughkeepsie, joins the state senate representing portions of Orange and Dutchess Counties, including Newburgh. Christopher Eachus was sworn into office as a member of the state assembly. New faces will hopefully bring new ideas and new leadership to our state.

May 2023 be a year free from the gun violence that reached near epidemic proportions this past year with a record number of mass shootings. We need to make our cities, streets and schools safer places.

The world needs an end to the war in Ukraine and victory in the age-old wars on drugs and poverty.

We begin every January by wishing each other good health in the year ahead. This year we need it more than ever. Our first responders and medical providers need a break from overcrowded hospitals and emergency rooms and pandemics.

We need a year in which gas prices are cheaper, and consumer goods like baby formula are plentiful.

We need a year in which civil rights of all types are respected and protected, where people of every stripe are treated with kindness and compassion while hate crimes, road rages and random acts of violence fade into memory.

We need a year in which those of us in the media can deliver more good news than bad.