You know I love me some symmetry in a date, and today is 2.23.23. It’s also Thursday. One more sleep and a full workday until the weekend.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so, you’ve probably heard about the spotted lanternfly.
This bug, (Lycorma delicatula), described by the interwebs as a “planthopper” because it doesn’t actually fly (contrary to its name), but rather hops from place to place, is very attractive.
It’s also a massive nuisance due to the significant damage it can cause to its host trees, vines, and plants. It can cause huge losses to the agriculture industry, particularly to growers of apples, stone fruits, grapes, hops and hardwoods.
The spotted laternfly is indigenous to parts of China and Vietnam, but has spread in recent years to Japan, South Korea and parts of the U.S.
It is believed to have been transported here on a stone shipment from China in 2012, according to the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program at Cornell University. But the first lanternfly infestation on these shores occurred in 2014 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia. It has since been found in 10 more states.
This invasive bug is most interested in eating an invasive plant, the tree of heaven, and some researchers think the key to getting rid of the lanternfly is to eradicating its preferred food source. In the meantime, the general public is being encouraged to kill lanternflies on sight, which has led to some weird (and frankly, quite disturbing) situations.
The whole issue of invasive species is a growing problem across the nation and the world. The formal definition of an invasive species “an organism that is not indigenous, or native, to a particular area, (and) can cause great economic and environmental harm.”
Other examples include, but are not limited to, the Lionfish, kudzu (it can grow up to a foot A DAY!!), the Japanese beetle, Zebra mussels, giant hogweed, and Cane toads.
A 2017 study found that during the last 200 years, the number of new invasive species introductions has continuously increased worldwide, with more than a third of all first introductions recorded between 1970 and 2014.
We are in the midst of National Invasive Species Awareness Week (Feb. 20 – 26), which is held annually to raise awareness about the dangers posed by these non-native critters, species, flora, fauna etc. and what we can do to prevent their spread.
There are simple steps you can take here – like washing your boat when transferring it from one body of water to another, for example – and educating yourself about the proper way to identify and remove invasive species. Learn more here.
The Capital Region, Helderbergs, Taconics, Catskills, Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys and portions of the mid-Hudson Valley are under a winter weather advisory through 10 a.m. today. Mixed precipitation is expected, with total snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches in most areas and ice accumulation of up to a quarter inch. Temperatures will be in the low 30s.
I have nothing positive to say about any of this. I am just tired, tired of all the cold and the wet. The brief respite in the form of fake spring actually made things worse in some way.
Just be careful out there, OK?
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden wrapped up a three-day trip to Europe with a promise of America’s commitment to its allies as President Vladimir Putin warmly welcomed China’s top diplomat to Moscow and rallied pro-war Russians.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hit back at the U.S., warning that his country reserved the right to use its nuclear arsenal to defend itself after a speech in Poland by President Biden following his surprise visit to Ukraine.
Biden strongly condemned Putin’s move to suspend his country’s involvement in the last remaining arms control treaty with the U.S.
“It’s a big mistake to do that. Not very responsible. But I don’t read into that that he’s thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that,” Biden said in Poland before flying back to Washington.
Biden attended Ash Wednesday Mass in his hotel room in Warsaw.
The 2024 presidential election campaign season remains several months away, and while much can change, the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll shows both Democrats and Republicans are already sizing up potential candidates.
Biden’s closest advisers have spent months preparing for him to formally announce his reelection campaign. But with the president still not ready to make the plunge, a sense of doubt is creeping into conversations around 2024: What if he decides not to?
Former Vice President Mike Pence said he would prefer a Republican alternative to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, while floating reforms to popular entitlement programs as he mulls his own possible White House run.
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have both been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating the former president’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, in another sign the investigation is picking up steam.
Former President Donald Trump visited the site of a train derailment, criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the railway disaster that spewed toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, 19 days earlier.
Trump claimed that he’s responsible for any federal aid on its way to East Palestine, while alleging the Biden administration doesn’t care about the town’s troubles, saying” “They were intending to do absolutely nothing for you.”
Trump’s administration, which rolled back more than 100 environmental rules in total, watered down several regulations at the behest of the rail industry.
Lawyers for a Proud Boys member on trial for seditious conspiracy related to his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol are taking steps to subpoena Trump to testify as a witness for the defense.
Lawyers close to several Republican witnesses in the Fulton County investigation into post-election interference by Trump and his allies are preparing to move to quash any possible indictments by the district attorney, Fani Willis.
A man who fatally shot a 20-year-old woman in Orange County, Fla., returned to the scene later in the day and went on a shooting spree, the authorities said, killing a TV news reporter covering the original homicide and a 9-year-old at a nearby home.
Keith Melvin Moses, 19, has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to a shooting. Moses is expected to be charged in four other shootings that occurred later in the day, including the killing of the Spectrum News 13 journalist, Dylan Lyons, 24.
The parent company of Spectrum News 13, Charter Communications, said in a statement that “we are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague and the other lives senselessly taken today,” the TV station reported.
Catching COVID-19 may raise the risk of developing autoimmune disease by 43% in the months following the infection, according to the largest study of its kind.
The Florida Department of Health’s inspector general last fall investigated Joseph Ladapo, the state’s surgeon general, after the agency received an anonymous complaint alleging he falsified a report focusing on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines for young men.
City leaders and transit advocates rallied outside of Grand Central Terminal to call on Gov. Kathy Hochul to invest more money into increasing bus and subway frequency in her upcoming state budget.
Hochul visited one of New York’s legal marijuana dispensaries in Binghamton.
New York City’s Black charter school students significantly outperform their public school counterparts — leading to claims that the battle to hold back charters is racist.
Two former New York governors – David Paterson and George Pataki – are pushing for more charter schools to give minorities a fighting chance at education.
Much of the initial work required to build the first ocean turbines that will deliver power to New Yorkers is being done elsewhere.
New York almost single-handedly cost Democrats their House majority in last fall’s midterm elections. Now, a leading Democratic group is preparing to pour record sums into the state, in hopes it can deliver the party back to power next year.
After losing crucial seats in the congressional midterms last fall, a bitter civil war over the moribund state Democratic Party has spilled into the open.
Mayor Adams pushed back against fellow Democrats who have criticized his friendship with conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg — and accused them of seeking to “cancel people.”
Adams has never been shy about professing his enthusiasm for alternative health practices. Yesterday, he shared one of his newfound interests with the public: cold plunges.
Adams believes his subway safety plan is working.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber demanded that social media companies take down viral videos of New Yorkers “surfing” atop subway trains, comparing it to sharing footage of people playing Russian roulette.
The bodega worker who was infamously charged with murder after stabbing an assailant inside the store will sue the city for wrongfully prosecuting him and for the time he was jailed in Rikers Island before his case was finally dropped.
The FDNY has proposed hiking up the price of ambulance rides by more than 50% — an increase the department says is necessary due to inflation and a pay bump for EMS workers.
Hunter College High School announced an alternate day for its entrance exam following backlash from Jewish families over a scheduling conflict with the Passover holiday.
The convicted killer of rapper Nipsey Hussle was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison. Eric R. Holder Jr. was found guilty of first-degree murder last year in the 2019 killing of Hussle outside a clothing store he had founded in Los Angeles.
A Bronx woman has been charged with stabbing her 7-year-old granddaughter, who remains in critical but stable condition, the police said.
An American alligator rescued from Prospect Park Lake on Sunday had swallowed a four-inch-wide bathtub stopper and is not strong enough for it to be removed right now, the Bronx Zoo said in a statement.
The father of 1-year-old twins died from injuries suffered in a crash early yesterday morning with a City of Troy police vehicle, police and friends said.
A State Police major who oversees the Hudson Valley’s Troop K is under investigation following a domestic incident last week in which she fired a round from her service pistol into an interior wall of her Greene County residence, officials said.
The University at Albany said Dr. David O. Carpenter, the longtime director of the school’s Institute for Health and the Environment, will not face discipline and “is no longer on an alternate assignment and may now teach and conduct research on campus.”
The Dick’s Sporting Goods and Field & Stream in Latham closed last month after more than six years in business — but the sporting goods retailer doesn’t plan to keep its doors shut.
With up to a foot of snow expected in the Adirondack High Peaks in coming days, state Environmental Commissioner Basil Seggos is warning people to beware of avalanche hazards if they are heading into the back country.
Warnings last fall of double-digit utility bills sent shivers up the spine for a lot of Capital Region residents, but the actual sticker shock hasn’t come until recently.
Jumpin’ Jack’s Drive-In will open at 11 a.m. on March 30. The first burgers frying on the grill are an early sign of the warm spring and summer months ahead.
NPR will lay off 10 percent of its staff to make up for a $30 million gap in its budget, the company’s chief executive said.
