Good Monday morning. Welcome to summer!
Father’s Day was a really good one this year, as it turned out to be the longest day of 2021 – plenty of time to celebrate all the dads in your life.
Yesterday at occur at 11:32 p.m. EDT, the June solstice occurred – the moment when the sun reaches the point at which it is farthest north of the celestial equator.
Reaching its highest and northernmost point in the sky, the sun must travel its longest path, meaning it will take longer to rise and to set. Hence the longest day – or longest period of sunlight hours —-and shortest night.
FWIW: For those who live in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the shortest day of the year and the arrival of winter. The solstice happens at the same moment for everyone, everywhere on Earth.
In case you’re interested in etymology…The term “solstice” comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). At the solstice, the angle between the Sun’s rays and the plane of the Earth’s equator (called declination) appears to stand still.
Many European cultures hold what are known as Midsummer celebrations at the solstice, which include gatherings at Stonehenge and the lighting of bonfires on hilltops.
We Americans prefer a good old barbecue to mark our summer festivities. I know there were a lot of people indulging in that particular pastime this weekend because my entire neighborhood smelled like a gigantic hamburger.
Today is also International Yoga Day – a good day to get your Om on, if you’re into that sort of thing. This year’s theme is “Yoga for Wellbeing.”
Also, in case you live under a rock and have not been subjected to the bombardment of online ads…Prime Day is underway.
It’s going to be another scorcher, with temperatures flirting with 90 degrees. There will be a nix of sun and clouds and, as is pretty standard with this heat and humidity, there will be a chance of a stray thunderstorm.
There’s a heat advisory in place in the Capital District, Lake George Saratoga Region, Montgomery and southern Washington Counties and the Mid Hudson Valley from noon to 6 p.m.
In the headlines…
Sen. Lindsey Graham encouraged President Joe Biden to support his bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure proposal, but said it could be jeopardized if Democrats signal that they intend to follow it up with their own second infrastructure package via reconciliation.
Biden wants to spend billions to create new passenger train lines, including one connecting the Lehigh Valley to New York. Its future is uncertain.
Amtrak and the Biden administration have a $75 billion plan to transform passenger train travel across America, but aside from funding, the biggest challenge might be getting the nation’s freight railroads to get on board.
The former White House doctor who gave a glowing report in 2018 about then-President Donald Trump’s cognitive abilities is calling on Biden to take the same test.
An altered image purportedly showing Biden sleeping during the annual Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, is making the rounds on social media.
In a break from the Vatican and past policy, the American arm of the Roman Catholic Church has kicked off a process that could eventually sanction the exclusion of Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, from receiving holy communion.
Bishop Edward Scharfenberger doesn’t support a blanket rule denying Communion to politicians who support abortion, a spokeswoman said after the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops vehemently debated that topic.
Biden will travel to Raleigh, NC on Thursday, visiting the state capital as part of his continued efforts to encourage people across the country to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Biden spent Father’s Day golfing with his grandson, Robert “Hunter” Biden II, at Fieldstone Golf Club in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House said. His 15-year-old grandson is the son of his late son, Beau Biden.
With Covid vaccination penetration in the US likely to fall short of Biden’s 70% by Fourth of July target, analysts warn that vaccine incentives are losing traction and that “two Americas” may emerge as the aggressive Delta variant becomes the dominant US strain.
China has administered more than 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, an astonishing milestone that comes as the country rolls out an unrivaled inoculation drive.
Nearly 85% of all COVID-19 vaccine doses globally have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization.
Scientists generally recommend against antibody testing after vaccination. But for some people, it makes sense.
A British man has died 15 months after first contracting COVID-19, his wife said.
A member of the Ugandan Olympic team is the first to test positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Tokyo ahead of the Summer Games.
American Airlines, which rapidly increased flying to meet a surge in travel demand, is trimming some flights to alleviate potential strains on its operations.
At least eight people in Alabama were killed in a multiple-vehicle crash Saturday during a powerful storm that continues to rip through the Southeast.
Current restrictions banning non-essential travel across the northern border will be extended again until July 21, Canadian officials announced, quelling U.S. hopes for a new agreement before the summer tourism peak.
New York State has reached its lowest COVID-19 positivity rate since the pandemic began.
With virus restrictions lifted, New Yorkers had mixed reactions to ending the precautions they’d grown used to.
New York State is starting to downscale its mass vaccination sites and focus more on specific communities instead.
As the national economy recovers from the pandemic and begins to take off, New York City is lagging, with changing patterns of work and travel threatening the engines that have long powered its jobs and prosperity.
A better-than-projected economic recovery and a massive influx of federal aid have stuffed New York state’s once-bare coffers, a reversal of fortune that is leading some fiscal watchdogs to again question the state’s decision to increase income taxes on the rich.
A controversial directive issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration did cause COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, although the directive’s issuance was understandable given the state’s difficult circumstances, a newly issued report from NYSBA concluded.
A bill awaiting action from Cuomo would change just one word in the approval process for state Supreme Court justices who want to stay on the bench past the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Cuomo has signed legislation requiring general hospitals in the state to seek input from nurses and other staff in creating staffing plans that are to include specific guidelines on how many patients each nurse is assigned.
New York City’s Democratic mayoral race may have one final, flummoxing twist after Primary Day tomorrow. Voters could be facing a lengthy wait — perhaps until the middle of July — to learn who won.
An Eric Adams campaign volunteer was stabbed repeatedly with an ice pick while canvassing on behalf of the Democratic mayoral hopeful in the South Bronx Sunday afternoon, Adams told reporters.
The victim, a 42-year-old man, was cornered by two attackers on 149th St. and Morris Ave. in Mott Haven just after 2:40 p.m., police sources said. They argued, and video shows one of the men repeatedly stabbing the victim before both run off, sources said.
The leading candidates for mayor barreled into a frenzied final day of early voting, a swirl of primary campaign activity marked by creative retail politicking and deepening acrimony between the race’s presumed front-runner, Adams, and the rest of the field.
They braved temperatures that hit almost 90 degrees, and canceled Father’s Day plans, to shake hands and even hula hoop with supporters.
Adams is considered the front-runner in the Democratic primary, but the race is fluid enough that another candidate may win.
Adams is raising questions about the electoral process as his campaign faces growing efforts from opponents to slow his momentum.
Two days after a five-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl in the Bronx were nearly shot as they were caught in the middle of gunfire, Adams offered $2,000 of his own money for information leading to the arrest of the shooter.
New York City mayoral candidate Kathryn Garcia yesterday sought a moment of tranquility during the frenzied sprint to Tuesday’s Democratic primary. She made for Times Square to participate in a group yoga session in the morning.
Adams sow doubt about the ranked-choice voting alliance struck between Andrew Yang and Garcia, calling it “voter suppression,” and insinuating for a second time that the alliance was an effort to stop the election of a Black man as mayor.
Yang and Garcia joined each other on the campaign trail on Saturday, but stopped short of an official cross endorsement.
Adams may not want Rudy Giuliani’s support, but he got it anyway on Friday when the former mayor of New York City said that if he were a Democrat he would back Adams in the mayoral primary.
Scott Stringer turned campaigning into a family affair yesterday afternoon, when he, his wife and two sons canvassed on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Progressive groups are coalescing behind candidate Maya Wiley in the final stretch before New York City’s mayoral primary, in an effort to block the moderate Adams, Brooklyn’s borough president, who is leading in recent polls.
Queens Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been skipping out on congressional votes citing pandemic hardship — but has found time to campaign for Wiley.
Ultrawealthy donors have given $16 million to super PACs dedicated to the New York City mayor’s race. Half of that money has gone to three moderate candidates.
Dan Quart, a state assemblyman for eastern Manhattan, says his decade in public office has prepared him to be the borough’s next district attorney, a job that he says can steer criminal-justice policy in a progressive direction.
Four NYPD officers say in new sworn declarations that an off-the-books arrest quota system targeted Black and Latino New Yorkers — with one cop recalling a white supervisor asking, “Are you going to take someone’s freedom today?”
A heartbroken dad blames a State Police trooper for ramming his SUV and causing the crash that killed his 11-year-old Brooklyn daughter.
Riders on a handful of subway lines can expect regular hiccups in their evening commutes until at least November 2022 as MTA officials attempt to give more time for slow-crawling work trains to travel to construction sites.
Five deacons were ordained to the priesthood for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany by Bishop Scharfenberger at a Mass and Rite of Ordination at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Albany Democratic voters will choose tomorrow between incumbent Mayor Kathy Sheehan and her primary opponent, the Rev. Valerie Faust.
UAlbany held a “Sleepout for Social Justice” on the university campus through Saturday morning at 6 a.m.
City officials celebrated the completion and dedicated the Seventh Avenue Park to longtime Troy resident Geneva Pompey.
More than 700 people have completed a 10-question online survey about what they want to see the Troy Public Library do in providing services to meet residents needs, library officials said.
Live music returned to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Friday as Trey Anastasio from Phish took the stage. It was the first concert at SPAC since September 2019.
Averill Park hammer thrower Rudy Winkler qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in spectacular fashion, winning the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. with an American record throw of 82.71 meters, or 271 feet and four inches.
Watkins Glen International will open its grandstands to full capacity for the NASCAR Go Bowling at the Glen weekend on Aug. 4-8 and there will be no restrictions on the number of fans at the NASCAR Go Bowling at The Glen race, according to WGI.
RIP Billy Fuccillo, a car dealer best known for touting “HUGE” deals in radio and TV ads, who died last Thusday at age 65.
RIP Champ.
