Good Tuesday morning.
I am stocking up on sunscreen and counting down the days to the false summer we will supposedly be experiencing this weekend. I can’t remember where any of my shorts are, which might be just as well, since my legs haven’t seen sun in quite a while.
One thing that isn’t great about this warm weather: It’s tick season. And the little bloodsucking buggers are back with a vengeance.
Somehow I missed Tick Bite Prevention Week, which ran from March 24-30. But this feels like an important enough topic to make an allowance and revisit the issue – especially since we’re all going to be spending a lot more time outside in the coming months.
I personally have had Lyme disease – the most common vector-borne disease (one that is transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, or fleas) in the United States – at least once. It is not fun. It is also controversial, with medical experts divided on exactly how long-lasting the damage from chronic Lyme can be. Some doctors insist it doesn’t exist at all.
Getting diagnosed is notoriously difficult, as the infamous bullseye doesn’t always materialize (also some people miss it altogether, if the bite is in a hard-to-see place), and Lyme disease starts with flu-like symptoms, just like many other things (ie, Covid) also do.
In recent years, approximately 20,000–30,000 confirmed cases of Lyme disease have been reported annually to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In New York alone, blacklegged ticks, AKA the dreaded deer tick, spread the bacteria that causes Lyme, which has affected around 6,700 people annually over the past decade, according to the state Health Department.
Sadly, Lyme isn’t the only tick-born illness we have to worry about. They can carry a whole host of nasties that I don’t even want to depress myself by getting into here.
So, what are those of us who like being outside – and I mean just in the backyard, because ticks are everywhere and anywhere these days – to do?
First, seek to reduce tick habitat in your yard. Keep your grass short and unwelcome animals that may carry ticks – deer, rodents, stray dogs etc. – away. If you do venture into the woods or even out into the park for a walk, wear long-sleeved shirts, closed shoes and tuck your pants legs into your socks.
Also, use DEET. Sorry, I know, toxic and all, but it works.
When you get home check yourself, your kids, and your pets for ticks. Remove any that you find promptly, and NOT just by yanking on them, because if the head gets left behind under the skin, an infection can ensue. Also, those little bastards are tough to kill. If they’re alive, you have to either flush them, drown them in alcohol, put them in a sealed bag or container, or wrap them in tape.
Once all that is done, go see a doctor and get a blood test.
As for protecting your pets – and by the way, today is National Pet Day, which inspired this post – flea and tick collars are widely available. DO NOT order them over the internet, because that’s a good way to get a bogus product that makes your furry friend sick.
Unlike for humans, there is a Lyme vaccine for animals. But vets seem to be divided over the vaccine question. If you live in the great Northeast, where ticks carrying Lyme and other diseases are highly prevalent, it seems like something to consider seriously.
This is going to be a banner weather week, with temperatures steadily warming into the low 80s. I highly doubt I’m going to stop crowing about this anytime soon, so please just bear with me. Today will be in the low 70s, and skies will be mostly cloudy.
If you are not able to get outside, at least sit by an open window while you work. I tried this trick yesterday, and it made a world of difference in elevating my mood. The day just flew by in an unusually pleasant manner.
You’re welcome.
In the headlines…
A 23-year-old man armed with a rifle shot and killed four fellow employees at a bank in downtown Louisville, Ky., yesterday morning, the police said.
Connor Sturgeon opened fire inside the Old National Bank in the city’s downtown area, near Slugger Field, around 8:30 a.m., the Louisville Metro Police Department said.
Nine others were wounded in the attack, three of them critically. The suspect, who the police said was live-streaming the rampage, was killed by the police after exchanging fire on the scene.
President Joe Biden pressed Republicans to take up gun reform legislation after the latest mass shooting.
Biden has given his strongest hint yet that he intends to run for re-election in 2024, but said he is “not prepared to announce it yet”.
Biden may wait to make a formal announcement until the new campaign fundraising quarter begins in July in order to maximize the amount of time he can gather donations before having to disclose them publicly.
Top White House advisers are set to make final decisions on launching Biden’s re-election campaign, even as the would-be candidate seems to show little urgency to formally declare his 2024 plans.
Biden travels to Northern Ireland today to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the signing of a historic peace agreement that helped to end decades of conflict.
A number of masked people attacked a police vehicle with petrol bombs and other objects at a parade opposing the Good Friday peace accord in Londonderry, police said yesterday, a day before Biden visits Belfast.
The leak of classified US Defense Department documents is a “very serious” risk to national security, the Pentagon has said.
The documents have provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.
The DOJ has opened a criminal investigation into the leak of documents that “appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material,” a spokesperson said. The Pentagon was also still assessing the validity of the documents, the spokesperson said.
The State Department designated Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested by Russian security services last month, as “wrongfully detained,” launching a broad U.S. government effort to exert pressure on Russia to free him.
Nashville’s Metro Council unanimously voted to reinstate freshman Democrat Justin Jones to his seat in the Tennessee House after the GOP-led legislature expelled him last week for gun reform protests he led on the chamber floor.
After being sworn back into the Tennessee House of Representatives yesterday, Jones, who was expelled just days ago over the gun control demonstration, says he’ll continue to call for gun reform.
Biden signed a House bill immediately ending the Covid-19 national emergency, first enacted during the Trump administration in 2020.
The bipartisan congressional resolution brings the national emergency to a close after three years — weeks before it was set to expire alongside a separate public health emergency.
The legislation drafted by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) passed the House 229-197 in February despite almost 200 House Democrats voting against it after the White House said it strongly opposed the measure, though it did not threaten to veto it if the bill passed.
The U.S. government is spending over $5 billion on an effort to speed up the development of new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson and a Biden administration official said.
Interest rates in major economies are expected to fall to pre-pandemic levels because of low productivity and aging populations, according to a forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Covid-19 cases are expected to rise further across Australia after family gatherings over the Easter long weekend, amid warnings of increasing pressure on hospital staff and a possible new wave of infections.
In a sign that the darkest days of the pandemic are behind us, several COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites are being phased out across New York.
The state agency tasked with coordinating services for people with developmental disabilities failed to adequately provide timely or consistent guidance during the coronavirus pandemic’s peak, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli charged in an audit.
Former President Donald Trump is reportedly due back in the Big Apple this week to be grilled for the second time by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is probing the Trump Organization’s business practices.
A House panel led by Trump ally Jim Jordan said it will hold a hearing next week in Manhattan tying DA Alvin Bragg to local violent crime — infuriating Democrats and intensifying the GOP’s attacks on the prosecutor who charged the former president.
Two moderate New York Republican congressmen denounced a right-wing Texas federal judge’s ruling that could impose a nationwide ban on the most commonly used drug used for medication abortion.
Paychecks for roughly 83,000 state workers are set to be processed this week after lawmakers returned to the Capitol and passed a second budget extender yesterday.
Senators and Assembly members will not be among those getting paid, however. Under state law, their pay is held in escrow until the new spending plan is approved.
Lawmakers put the finishing touches on the measure just after midday; Hochul’s office announced it was signed moments later.
Potential changes to New York’s bail law remains the dominate issue in the ongoing budget talks, now 10 days past its due date.
Even with the focus on bail, all parties are talking about a holistic suite of criminal justice-related policies with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said yesterday that “nothing” has been settled in state budget talks about overhauling controversial limits on cash bail as the ongoing standoff between Hochul and the state Legislature entered its tenth day.
“I don’t believe that we should be doing policy on budgets, I’ve been very clear on that,” Heastie said.
Attorney General Letitia James rallied with union workers to call on Hochul and lawmakers to include a hefty increase to New York’s minimum wage in the state budget.
After a historic failure to get her first pick confirmed to the New York’s highest court, Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated Rowan Wilson to the position. And this time, her selection met with praise from Senate Democrats.
Hochul simultaneously announced a second nominee to fill the vacancy that would be created by Judge Wilson’s elevation: Caitlin J. Halligan, a private lawyer who previously served as New York State solicitor general.
New York is among seven northeast states that are vying to be part of a group proposal for a regional clean hydrogen hub, competing for more than $1 billion in federal funding to expand the technology.
Outrage mounted over Hochul’s decision to give convicted drug felons preference over disabled military vets in the awarding of licenses to run marijuana dispensaries.
The powerful teachers’ union — currently fighting charter school expansion in Albany — is waging a new war against yeshivas and other private schools that receive millions in public funds to serve students with disabilities.
An analysis of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ public statements since June of 2022 shows a gradual shift in his views – and his leniency – dealing with both unlicensed vendors and public cannabis consumption throughout the city.
The Big Apple has taken in an average of 90 migrants each day since July of last year, a crisis that has caused city spending to balloon and forced Adams to slash other agencies’ budgets.
Adams’ administration finally submitted a request for federal migrant aid late last month just days ahead of an application deadline for the emergency funding.
Adams has appointed two new members to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board, bringing in decades of experience in affordable housing.
Complaints of dog poop-smeared sidewalks are on the rise in New York City — and the Department of Sanitation is rolling out a public ad campaign aimed at reversing that stinky trend.
The FBI must launch a full investigation into the recent swatting incidents at schools because it’s too widespread for local law enforcement to catch whomever made the hoax calls of school shootings, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
A town justice from Chenango County should be removed from the bench for what the administrator of state Commission on Judicial Conduct termed “a remarkable array of misconduct,” the panel concluded.
The upstate judge should be booted for misconduct such as joking to lawyers that his ex-wife “likes the hole better than the pole” and driving around with a “boobies” bumper sticker, a judicial watchdog group says.
In the aftermath of the Kenwood Academy fire, which ravaged the historic site and reduced its main former convent building to rubble, a group of advocates has organized to preserve what’s left of the campus.
Alec Baldwin has been allowed to skip the preliminary hearing in the “Rust” shooting case, a judge has ruled.
