Good Tuesday morning. If you had the day off yesterday, I hope you enjoyed the really stellar weather. And if you didn’t, we’ll hopefully you managed to get out there for at least a brief few moment of low humidity and sunshine.
It was a marked difference from the blustery and downright freezing (for June) weekend…at least on Saturday, when I wore tights and a long-sleeved shirt for my morning run. Weird.
Today, however, is the official astronomical start of summer, as the Summer Solstice arrives (or arrived, depending on what time you’re reading this) at 5:14 a.m. The Summer Solstice, as you’ll recall, is the longest day and shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
At 5:14 a.m., the sun appeared directly over the Tropic of Cancer – the furthest north it will be in the sky all year long. And yes, technically speaking, it’s all downhill from here, as we will be losing a few minutes of daylight every 24 hours.
But let’s not dwell on that.
In case we have any readers in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re experiencing the exact opposite today, as the June solstice marks the astronomical start of winter, when the sun is at its LOWEST point in the sky. So this is your shortest day of the year.
Also, a reminder: Meteorologically speaking the first day of summer was June 1, because meteorologists divide the year into four seasons based on the 12-month calendar and the temperatures cycle. So to them, summer is already well underway and will end Aug. 31.
And as far as the growing season is concerned, well, midsummer will be here on June 24. This date was traditionally marked with dancing and feasting and general merrymaking. Summer Solstice is celebrated in much the same way, with some bonfires thrown in for good measure.
After two years Covid restrictions, the great stone circle of Stonehenge reopened for summer solstice celebrations yesterday, prompting pagans, healers, nature lovers and party-goers to head back to Salisbury Plain in their thousands.
Did the people who built Stonehenge intentionally make it a stage for the solstice? If you want to go down that rabbit hole, click here.
It’s going to be a little bit of a bummer from a weather perspective as far as the first day of summer is concerned, with cloudy skies and showers predicted for the afternoon. Temperatures will be in the mid-70s.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden said he hopes to decide soon whether to support a temporary pause in the federal gasoline tax and is nearing a decision on student loan relief as he looks to ease the burden of high prices on Americans.
“I hope to have a decision based on the data I’m looking for by the end of the week,” he said.
Biden said members of his team were to meet this week with CEOs of the major oil companies to discuss rising prices.
The president suggested that the U.S. has a chance to make a “fundamental turn” toward green energy, even as some experts warn that the economy is headed toward a recession.
Mike Pence attacked Biden and his administration for what he called “squandering” gains made to the economy under former President Donald Trump, stoking speculation that the former vice president may make a run for the White House in 2024.
Pence sounded like a future presidential candidate, but not like someone interested in discussing the specifics of Jan. 6.
Biden predicted that Ukraine is “very likely” to join the European Union — but added that he probably won’t visit the war-torn country anytime soon to show support.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack today plans to detail Trump’s personal involvement in a pressure campaign on state officials to subvert the will of the voters and put forward false slates of electors in seven states to keep him in power.
Trump has derided Rep. Kevin McCarthy for the House minority leader’s “very, very foolish decision” not to participate in the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a prominent critic of Trump, is revealing ugly threats to his family over his participation in the Jan. 6 committee.
Russia is likely to end up with more territory, Biden administration officials said, but neither side will gain full control of the region as a depleted Russian military faces an opponent armed with increasingly sophisticated weapons.
The Russian blockade that has stopped Ukraine from exporting its vast storehouses of grain and other goods, threatening starvation in distant corners of the globe, is a “war crime,” the European Union’s top foreign policy official declared.
Russian forces launched airstrikes and artillery attacks as they pressed their offensive in eastern Ukraine and the fight for control of the key city of Severodonetsk intensified, while the southern port city of Odessa was rocked by explosions.
“Zoolander” star Ben Stiller travelled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a sitcom star before going into government in 2019.
Israel’s governing coalition will dissolve Parliament before the end of the month, bringing down the government and sending the country to a fifth election in three years, the prime minister said.
The loss of French President Emmanuel Macron’s parliamentary majority is an early sign of how Russia’s squeeze on European energy prices is raising economic and political stakes for European leaders as the invasion of Ukraine becomes a war of attrition.
Some 300,000 public-school teachers and other staff left the field between February 2020 and May 2022, a nearly 3% drop in that workforce, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit a Washington, DC, vaccine clinic offering Covid-19 vaccinations to children under the age of 5 today, in an effort to highlight the rollout of the newly authorized vaccines for the youngest Americans.
Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a springtime resurgence of cases, people are dying from Covid at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that he has tested positive for COVID-19 but is continuing to work from home while experiencing mild symptoms.
New York City’s largest charter school network, Success Academy, is doing away with its pandemic protocols for students.
Just over 17,000 people turned out for early voting in New York City this weekend — an anemic number for a primary that will decide who’ll vie for governor in this November’s general election.
The second TV debate in New York’s Republican primary race for governor began with COVID comity and ended in acrimony last night as candidates took swings at Gov. Kathy Hochul and each other with early voting underway.
The four Republican candidates for governor lashed out at Albany Democrats and unelected bureaucrats, who they claimed have run amok in state government with COVID-19 mandates, critical race theory, bail reform and more.
The Republican gubernatorial hopefuls will debate again tonight in Rochester.
Hochul signed the landmark John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York into law, cementing New York’s place as a national leader on voting rights and fulfilling a key part of her 2022 State of the State agenda.
The Act will make it easier to sue over discriminatory voting policies and require areas with a history of civil right violations to get approval before changing election rules.
Hochul is facing a torrent of criticism after bragging about a new state gun law restricting body vests, which does not include the protective armor worn weeks ago by a teenage white supremacist arrested in the massacre of black shoppers in Buffalo.
A provision meant to ensure emergency access to propane for New Yorkers who heat their homes with it is heading to Hochul’s desk for her consideration.
It’s far from certain that former Congressman-turned-Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is the definitive front runner in the June 28 primary after leaving Washington to serve as second-in-command in state government.
Hochul is not considering the notion of a Delgado loss that could pair her with another candidate who may be at odds with her agenda.
Mayor Eric Adams rubbed shoulders with cryptocurrency industry executives at a campaign fundraiser in the Hamptons over the weekend, after urging Hochul to veto legislation that would ban a type of crypto-mining that puts a strain on the environment.
The proxy war between Adams and lefty socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over control of New York’s Democratic Party turned to Brooklyn’s 60th state Assembly District yesterday.
Adams responded to police union criticism of the city’s plan to return to single-officer patrols in the subway system, saying that the change will not affect every assignment.
Adams spent part of Father’s Day and Juneteenth weekend partying with rapper French Montana.
City judges and prosecutors are processing firearms possession cases at breakneck speed, according to data obtained by the Daily News that counters Adams’ gripe that the “laughingstock” justice system is to blame for the gun violence crisis.
Tenants who live in approximately one million rent-regulated apartments in New York City will find out tonight how much their rents will go up in the coming months — a decision that’s certain to take on larger than normal significance with inflation up.
In an attempt to democratize schools, New York City is focusing less on grades, attendance and test scores. Instead, it relies heavily on a lottery for public high school admission. Some parents are furious.
Three people were in critical condition yesterday afternoon after a taxi jumped the sidewalk in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. The driver hit a cyclist and several pedestrians with his vehicle, the authorities said.
The yellow taxi driver in an SUV ran over a cyclist and pinned two pedestrians against a building at a busy intersection in Midtown Manhattan, triggering a spontaneous effort by horrified spectators to lift the cab off the victims, police said.
A shooting in Harlem killed one and wounded eight more during a holiday weekend that saw violence across the country.
A detainee died on Rikers Island early yesterday, the seventh person to die in custody at the hellish jail complex this year.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz dodged questions about a report revealing she used her security detail to help her run errands — as top New York Republicans called for an investigation into the potential misuse of taxpayer funds.
In a jailhouse conversation last month, NXIVM leader Keith Raniere and a purported legal advisor spoke of being “at war” with the federal government and called for a “no holds barred” approach, according to recently filed court papers.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a two-pronged plan to fight the opioid crisis in the Capital Region, including by ramping up federal funds for treatment and prevention programs and directing more resources to law enforcement.
A domestic confrontation resulted in a 54-year-old man being shot and a city police officer being stabbed yesterday afternoon in the City of Albany’s South End.
Former City of Schenectady Police Chief Gregory T. Kaczmarek, who led the department during an FBI corruption investigation that sent four officers to prison only to later face his own felony narcotics conviction, died Saturday at age 70.
Parts of Yellowstone National Park will reopen to a limited number of visitors tomorrow, and the National Park Service will spend $50 million to fast-track repair work to restore access to about 80 percent of the park within two weeks, officials said.
