Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
A cursory internet search informed me that today is Bicycle Day, which is not at all – upon further review – what I originally thought.
June 3 is World Bicycle Day, which celebrates exactly what it seems to – bicycles. In fact, it’s sanctioned by none other than the United Nations, which deems the bicycle “a simple, affordable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation.”
All very wholesome and official.
THIS Bicycle Day has nothing to do with all that…well, not really. It commemorates the day, back in 1943, when Swiss pharmaceutical researcher Albert Hofmann dropped acid for the very first time and then rode his bike (see that?!) home while tripping his brains out.
Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938 while he was working for the pharmaceutical firm Sandoz (now part of Novartis) and trying to create a plant-derived stimulant to treat respiratory and circulatory troubles.
At the time, had no idea of its hallucinogenic properties. All he knew at that moment was that it didn’t seem to work as he intended on lab animals (yeah, I know, it was a different time, OK?).
Anyway, Hofmann did notice that the substance produced a strange restlessness in his animal subjects. Eventually, curiosity got the better of him, and he synthesized it and tried it on himself, taking 250 micrograms.
The substance in question was Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25, and Hofmann later described his trip home in his book, LSD – My Problem Child, thusly:
“Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in coloured fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux. Every acoustic perception, such as the sound of a door handle or a passing automobile, became transformed into optical perceptions. Every sound generated a vividly changing image, with its own consistent form and colour.”
Sandoz actually marketed the compound to researchers under the brand name Delysid, which was considered a wonder drug to treat anxiety, depression and psychological trauma.
Between 1943 and 1970, Oxford University Press estimated it generated almost 10,000 scientific publications, and has thus been described as “the most intensively researched pharmacological substance ever.”
The CIA infamously experimented with LSD and other substances – both on volunteers and unsuspecting subjects – believing it could possible be used as a psychological weapon in the Cold War. This was part of the so-called Project MK-Ultra, which lasted from the 1950s into the 1960s (AKA the CIA’s “mind control” program), until it was shuttered in the face of scandal in the 1970s.
And here’s an interesting factoid: It was through Project MK-Ultra that One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author and Merry Prankster Ken Kesey came to experience LSD at Stanford.
The federal government outlawed LSD in 1968, halting most research into its use. But hallucinogens are making a comeback. Some experts believe they are the key to today’s mounting mental health crisis, as they have been show to potentially be powerful treatments for anxiety and depression. More on that here.
I don’t endorse illegal substances, of course, but if you WERE to opt for some mind altering substances today might be a good day to do it, because the weather is just too depressing to face straight. RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS WTF MOTHER NATURE NO!!!
A forecaster said “pretty impactful weather” could knock out power and make for sloppy commutes.
Sigh.
In the headlines…
A federal judge in Florida struck down the mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses and other public transportation, less than a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had extended it through May 3.
In a 59-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said the CDC improperly failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rule-making.
The decision comes as coronavirus cases are again climbing in the Northeast as the BA.2 omicron subvariant becomes the predominant strain in the U.S. Health officials say it’s not clear whether the rise is the start of a larger surge.
The ruling left it up to individual airlines and local transit agencies to decide what to do, and by late yesterday, the nation’s largest airlines had dropped their mask requirements for domestic flights.
Delta Air Lines, for example, said it is making masks optional, and warned travelers they “may experience inconsistent enforcement during the next 24 hours as this news is more broadly communicated.”
The Amtrak rail system said passengers and employees would no longer need to wear masks, but New York’s M.T.A. said its passengers must still wear a mask for now.
The CDC removed all the remaining countries from its highest coronavirus risk advisory category.
Character hugs, banned during the pandemic, are back at Disneyland.
President Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, hosted the first Easter Egg Roll since the beginning of the pandemic. It was the largest event held at the White House since they moved in.
The White House announced that it would co-host the second global Covid-19 summit next month, a gathering intended to build momentum for vaccine donations and for ending what the White House called the “acute phase” of the pandemic.
In the first year of the pandemic, at least four people in Michigan were infected with a version of the coronavirus observed mostly in mink, the CDC confirmed.
The subvariant is contributing to school and work absences, yet two years of dealing with Covid-19 have made people tired of taking precautions, getting tested and asking about other people’s status, say physicians, psychologists and behavioral scientists.
Small-business owners are bristling over a congressional proposal that would redirect unspent money from Covid-19 programs to provide $10 billion for the federal government’s pandemic health response, including vaccines and therapeutics.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Pentagon may take disciplinary action against a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve who refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on religious grounds.
Russia began a new offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
As Russia intensified its attack on eastern Ukraine , there were conflicting assessments on whether the offensive for control of the region had begun in earnest or the full brunt of it was yet to come.
At least four missiles hit the city of Liviv in western Ukraine shortly after sunrise yesterday. Seven people are reported dead, and 11 injured in the first fatalities the far western city has seen.
With the war in Ukraine entering its second month and continuing to dominate global headlines, White House allies are expressing concern that voters may see the president as more consumed by international affairs than domestic ones.
Over 5,000 Ukrainians were detained at U.S. land, sea and air borders last month, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Republican voters are almost equally as likely to say the world would be better off without President Biden as they are to say the same about Russian President Vladimir Putin, a new Morning Consult poll has found.
Biden is facing growing pushback from Democrats, including from typical allies, over his decision to lift a Trump-era immigration policy.
The U.S. has made more than a million arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border since October, the fastest pace of illegal border crossings in at least the last two decades, according to new data released Monday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Martin Griffiths, the top humanitarian chief at the United Nations, said he tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday as he was visiting the U.N. headquarters in New York from a recent trip to Afghanistan, Russia and Ukraine.
New COVID-19 cases and hospitalization increased about 13% respectively last week in New York as newly emerged omicron subvariants took hold in several upstate communities.
Syracuse University is re-instituting a mask wearing policy is transitioning to COVID level “blue” for the final four weeks of the semester.
University of Rochester officials announced that indoor masking has been reinstated on all UR campuses and properties.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in New York City and Mayor Eric Adams said than an announcement could be expected as early as today that the city may move into a yellow alert level.
“Our hospitalizations are at a steady level, deaths are at a steady level. As the cases tick up, we are not at the area where we have to move to the next level,” Adams told reporters during a press conference at City Hall.
The Supreme Court is declining to wade into a lawsuit filed by four New York City public school employees over a policy that they be vaccinated against COVID-19.
DJ Kay Slay, an influential member of the New York hip-hop scene whose raucous mixtapes became legendary, has died from Covid-19 complications at the age of 55.
Infection numbers in the city have steadily increased over the past 45 days, which has brought the positivity rate to nearly 4.5% — and in some parts of Manhattan like the Financial District and Lincoln Square, it now tops 15%.
To an outside observer, the apparent cordiality between Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, might not seem remarkable. But in New York, it is nothing short of revolutionary.
Adams and Hochul officially opened New York City’s largest rooftop park at Pier 57, which overlooks the West Side’s Little Island.
Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs said that he hopes creating a new third party will help keep things fair for Hochul on the November ballot.
The Fair Deal Party and would allow Democrats like Hochul to appear on the ballot twice, but there are mixed opinions about whether this will help or hurt the Democrats in 2022.
The state Democratic Party would need to replace former LG Brian Benjamin, whose name is likely to remain on the primary ballot in June, by no later than May 7, Jacobs said – if that’s even possible.
Benjamin showed up in court with ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s former defense lawyer, who immediately floated the same theory that helped get de Blasio off the hook in a “pay-to-play” corruption probe.
A federal prosecutor said the government had issued more than 160 subpoenas for financial, phone and other records as part of its investigation into Benjamin, whose attorney said he had no “personal benefits” – only political ones.
One of Benjamin’s lawyers said the former LG has “very lively” legal issues from which to challenge corruption charges brought against him.
Hochul’s record-breaking campaign fundraising efforts stalled last week after Benjamin was indicted on allegations that he traded a state grant for campaign contributions while serving as a senator in New York.
It has been nearly a week since Benjamin’s resignation, and Hochul has been largely avoiding the press ever since. She is expected to release her first campaign ad of the year today.
Hochul did speak with WAMC’s Alan Chartock yesterday morning for this week’s episode of the Capitol Connection, which airs Thursday at 3 p.m.
NBC New York said that it plans to host a TV debate in the Democratic primary for governor on June 16, but Hochul’s campaign declined to say if she will attend.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo penned an op-ed in the Daily News about a “better way forward” for New York. “In truth, I would’ve never signed this budget,” he wrote. “I’m proud to have been considered a disruptive force to politics as usual.”
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by New York and three other states to overturn a $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions for state and local taxes that Congress imposed as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping tax overhaul in 2017.
Adams said he is considering three types of metal detectors to be used in the subway system in the wake of last week’s mass shooting on board a Manhattan-bound N train in Sunset Park.
Adams’ vision of erecting cannabis greenhouses on top of New York City’s public housing buildings has run into a significant obstacle: The federal government.
Adams welcomed former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to City Hall for the first time in more than eight years, a gesture of goodwill — and a marked departure from de Blasio, who kept the philanthropist at arm’s length for the entirety of his tenure.
Bloomberg will donate millions of dollars to city charter schools to create a summer school program helping students overcome educational challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York City’s alternate-side parking rules are coming back in full force on July 5, meaning most motorists will once again have to move their cars twice a week for street sweeping.
As a result of Wells Fargo’s discriminatory lending practices against Black homebuyers, New York City has announced the city government will not open any new bank accounts with Wells Fargo & Co.
Workers at Apple’s flagship Grand Central Terminal retail store in New York City are taking steps to unionize, teeing up a potential labor battle with the iPhone maker.
A judge in Steuben County appointed a special master to draw new congressional district boundaries as the legal challenge to the legislative maps drawn by the state Legislature continues to play out.
A former top-ranking official with the NYS Firefighters Association was awarded $369,000 by a judge who ruled that the organization breached its contract when it terminated him without cause after he complained about alleged financial improprieties.
Republican congressional candidate Liz Joy is outpacing U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, in raising contributions from private individuals as they approach the November election for a rematch of their 2020 race.
A U.S. bankruptcy judge dismissed Evan Blum’s second attempt at declaring bankruptcy as he tries to hold on to control of the Central Warehouse in Albany.
National Grid says it will be able to heat and power upstate homes and businesses within the next 30 years using all-renewable fuel sources, a major step forward in complying with the state’s aggressive climate change law.
Bald eagles are among the millions of birds nationwide being infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, a viral disease with a high mortality rate for birds like chickens and raptors. At least 36 have died since February.
