A nice alliterative day, with the exception of the 9, that is – 22/22 must foretell something good.
It’s Thursday, and it’s the first day of Fall. Yes, we can’t put it off any longer; the Autumnal Equinox is upon us. Or, it will be at 9:03 p.m. in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway. (Or 8:03 p.m. CDT, 7:03 p.m. MDT and 6:03 p.m. PDT, depending on where you live).
What does that mean? Well, it means the sun is shining directly over the equator, and the day and night are both about 12 hours long. (For those of you – if there are any – living south of the equator, this is the Verna, or Spring equinox, marking the beginning of spring…lucky you).
For the record, the Autumnal Equinox usually occurs either Sept. 22 or 23. Rarely does it take place a day earlier or later, though that has been known to happen. The last time we had a Sept. 21 Fall Equinox was over a thousand years ago!
Some people also refer to this as the Autumn Solstice and also Mabon, a pagan holiday, and one of the eight Wiccan sabbats celebrated during the year, that actually starts Sept. 21 and runs through Sept. 29.
As with the summer and winter solstices, druids will gather at Stonehenge to mark this equinox, watching the sun rise above the famous stones.
Sept. 29 also happens to be Michaelmas, but maybe we’ll save that one for another day.
It hasn’t felt terribly fall-like, though the days have been getting cooler, and of course Halloween displays and pumpkin everything have been available for a while now. The fall foliage isn’t even close to peak yet, with most areas only just starting to change. It looks like most spots won’t be in full color until early next month.
Scientifically speaking, the degree and brilliance of the leaf-colors that develop in the fall are directly related to weather conditions that occur before and while the chlorophyll in those leaves is dwindling. Temperature and moisture are the main influences.
We had a pretty hot and dry summer. In fact, it was the third-hottest summer on record in the U.S. – and even some good deluges late in the season didn’t fully make up for that. What we really need are warm sunny days and cool – but not freezing – nights to bring out those brilliant oranges and reds and yellows that are so spectacular.
Experts are predicting a mixed-bag in terms of foliage across the Northeast due to the stress that the trees experienced this summer. That’s kind of a bummer. But there will be enough color and crispness to get us into the fall mood, I hope.
Oh, and for the record, we don’t have to turn the clocks back quite yet. Daylight saving time this year ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6. We, can, however, start counting down to the Winter Solstice, which will be the longest night of the year – and the start of the winding back up to Spring – which arrives Dec. 21.
Sadly, it won’t be the best of days to kick off the fall season, with rain in the morning giving way to clouds in the afternoon with temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s. Break out those flannels. You’ll need them.
In the headlines…
President Biden warned world leaders that a nuclear war “cannot be won and must never be fought,” as he accused Russia of violating the United Nations international charter in its “brutal, needless war” against Ukraine.
“Let us speak plainly,” Biden said as he opened his address to the General Assembly, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of violating the U.N. charter. “A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly that Russia deserves “just punishment” for crimes against his country.
Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists to bolster his forces in Ukraine, a deeply unpopular move that sparked rare protests across the country and led to almost 1,200 arrests.
Biden urged the world to stand firm behind efforts to repel the aggression, telling the UN that Putin was “reckless” in issuing a veiled threat about using his nuclear arsenal.
Biden’s approval rating is at the same level as Ronald Reagan’s in the run-up to the Republican president’s first midterm election.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 House Republican, predicted that her party would pick up as many as three dozen House seats in November, despite signs that the red wave many predicted months ago might not form after all.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued former President Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, three of his adult children and others for allegedly widespread fraud involving years’ worth of false financial statements related to the company’s business.
The 220-page civil lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court seeks at least $250 million in damages.
James alleged that Trump’s financial statements from 2011 to 2021 included 200 false and misleading valuations across 23 properties and assets, including residential buildings, golf clubs and the family’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, called the lawsuit an “unchecked abuse of authority.”
James responded in real time as Donald Trump Jr tweeted that “the bulls*** Dem witch-hunt continues!” after she announced her lawsuit.
“Another Witch Hunt by a racist (AG),” the ex-president wrote on new social media site. “She is a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!”
James’ office, which in this case lacks authority to file criminal charges, referred its findings to federal prosecutors in Manhattan; it was not immediately clear whether the U.S. attorney would investigate.
James has assumed the role of Trump’s chief antagonist in New York, while he has long dismissed her inquiry into his business dealings as a partisan “witch hunt,” painting her as an overly zealous and politically motivated prosecutor.
Tom Barrack used his longtime friendship with Trump to “illegally provide” government officials from the United Arab Emirates with access to the then-president and senior administration officials, and he did so for “money and power,” prosecutors said.
A federal appeals court freed the Justice Department to resume using documents marked as classified that were seized from Trump, blocking for now a lower court’s order that had strictly limited the investigation into his handling of government materials.
In a 29-page decision, the court set aside key parts of an order by a Florida federal judge that has kept the department from using about 100 files with classification markings in its inquiry into whether Trump illegally retained national defense documents.
The House took the first major step to respond to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, voting mostly along party lines to overhaul the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, the law that Trump tried to exploit that day to overturn his defeat.
The 229-203 vote in favor of the Presidential Election Reform Act puts the House on a separate track from the Senate, where a bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed a similar bill to overhaul the 1887 Electoral Count Act, with some key differences.
Trump’s leadership PAC was still sitting on nearly $100 million at the end of last month.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) may have an edge among voters in his own state over former Trump, a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows.
Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas and a conservative activist who pushed to overturn the 2020 election, has agreed to sit for an interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Stocks fell in volatile trading after the Federal Reserve raised rates by 75 basis points and forecast more sizable rate hikes ahead in its fight to tame surging inflation.
The Fed raised its policy interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, boosting it to a range of 3 to 3.25 percent. That’s a significant jump from as recently as March, when the federal funds rate was set at near-zero.
Even more notably, policymakers predicted that they would raise borrowing costs to 4.4 percent by the end of the year and forecast markedly higher interest rates in the years to come than they had previously expected.
Higher interest rates raise the cost of carrying credit-card balances and taking out mortgages, car loans and other debt, but consumers may not immediately feel the effects.
Walmart’s holiday hiring is cooling along with demand for patio furniture and apparel. It plans to hire around 40,000 mostly seasonal workers to serve shoppers over the shopping period and will offer current employees extra hours before filling roles.
The Queen of Denmark has tested positive for Covid-19 for the second time this year, the Danish Royal Court has confirmed. The 82-year-old monarch was one of 2,000 guests who attended Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral on Monday.
China has built a massive Covid-19 isolation center made up of row upon row of temporary buildings over a vast expanse in the country’s south, as officials continue to treat the virus as a threat that needs to be stamped out.
The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized the release of “numerous batches” of Moderna’s updated Covid-19 booster amid reports of supply problems in some areas.
Vaccinators around the country are reporting weeks-long delays in shipments of Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters. The delays come after the FDA flagged concerns at a facility contracted to fill the company’s new shots into vials.
A new COVID strain started to create waves among virus trackers this week, outpacing nearly all other variants of interest scientists are tracking in the U.S. this autumn.
Campuses at the State University of New York will use $24 million in federal funding to expand mental health and wellness programs as the COVID-19 pandemic has strained resources and placed a spotlight on the issue.
New York health officials launched a website with audio resources meant to aid people who are struggling with the lingering side effects of a COVID-19 infection. It includes resources for how New Yorkers can seek treatment from health care providers.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ignored an invitation to testify at a congressional hearing focused on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
New York state has entered into an agreement with Eastman Kodak to dispose of and recycle the expired hand sanitizer and packaging it produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider an NYPD detective’s challenge against New York City’s municipal coronavirus vaccine mandate — after initially deciding against picking up the potential bombshell case.
Gov. Kathy Hochul agreed to participate in Spectrum News’s general election debate with Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor. But Zeldin did not immediately accept, criticizing Hochul’s decision to wait until late October to accept only one invite.
“Gov. Hochul looks forward to highlighting the clear contrast between her strong record of delivering results and Lee Zeldin’s extreme agenda,” her campaign spokesman Jerrel Harvey said in a press release.
Hochul is standing by a contractor tied to more than $100,000 in donations to her campaign that federal probers say botched the Medicaid transportation program in New York City, potentially costing taxpayers as much as $195 million from the US government.
Environmental organizations, labor groups and Hochul are making a concerted push in recent days for the approval of a $4.2 billion bond plan to shore up the state’s infrastructure against extreme weather events in the coming years.
State officials have awarded a contract of up to $57.9 million to redesign Penn Station.
Mayor Eric Adams said that his – and the city’s – hands are tied when it comes to changing the controversial implementation of congestion pricing backed by Hochul.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber likened many foes of the plan to toll vehicles in Manhattan south of 60th St. to people who deny climate change or believe Trump won the 2020 election.
Just nine months into his first year in office, Adams is facing several high-level departures in the upper ranks of his administration — a personnel shakeup that’s touched off behind-the-scenes machinations as people jockey for the coveted roles.
Adams opened the door to talks with Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan about moving “the world’s most famous arena” amidst the state’s ongoing Penn Station Redevelopment talks.
Scrambling to find alternative housing for the street homeless population amid an influx of more than 13,000 migrants into the overwhelmed shelter system, Adams awarded $34 million in contracts to provide “stabilization beds” or temporary “safe havens.”
New York City Council Members hit back at schools Chancellor David Banks for suggesting that families of students with disabilities who attend private schools on the city’s dime have learned to “game the system.”
Banks appointing Roberto Padilla, a South Bronx superintendent who’s been accused of sexual harassment, is “unacceptable and insulting to all victims,” local pols railed in a letter.
New York City has nearly eliminated cash bail below $1,000 as part of the controversial reform laws — with judges in the Big Apple setting the low amounts in only about 300 cases last year.
Viral video of a carriage horse collapsing on the street in New York City has reignited debate over whether they belong there in the first place.
The union local representing New York City’s public sector clerical workers was placed under administratorship by its international union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), over allegations of financial mismanagement.
Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairwoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn will seek another term as party boss, capping months of speculation over whether she’d attempt to hold on to the post amid a string of internal controversies under her leadership.
The high price of hospital care is in the crosshairs of several new bills City Councilwoman Julie Menin plans to introduce — including legislation that would hit hospitals with stiff financial penalties if they don’t provide the city with pricing data.
Federal labor regulators have moved to force Amazon to scrap a rule that governs employees’ use of nonwork areas, accusing the company of illegally singling out union supporters in enforcing the policy.
A group of people scrawled “f–k the queen” on the Financial District’s famous Charging Bull statue, police said.
A detainee who tried to escape by jumping from a jail barge in the Bronx into the East River died, city Correction Department officials said.
A woman who accused celebrity chef Mario Batali of sexual assault while unconscious is putting herself in the line of fire, identifying herself publicly for the first time since the alleged traumatic event occurred in 2005, and detailing her harrowing experience.
NXIVM leader Keith Raniere says he was assaulted July 26 in his Arizona prison by Maurice Withers, 33, a man who, like Raniere, is serving time for sex trafficking.
The Clifton Park location of Druthers Brewing, the Saratoga Springs-based company’s fourth brewpub, has been delayed again and is now projected to open in October.
The supervisor of the Dutchess County town of Pawling posted racist memes featuring gorillas on his Facebook page the year before he was elected.
Motorists near the Albany International Airport should be aware this week that there will be heavy truck traffic due to a major runway re-paving project at the facility.
Anthony Brindisi, a former congressman and state Assemblyman, has been sworn in as state Court of Claims judge for the Utica region.
A former Philadelphia police officer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2017 fatal shooting of an unarmed 25-year-old Black man after a high-speed chase that ended in a crash.
A former Minneapolis police officer, Thomas Lane, was sentenced to three years in prison for his role in the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
The popular “Dilbert” comic strip that parodies the trials and tribulations of office life is being pulled by nearly 80 publications where it regularly appeared, according to its author.
