Good Wednesday morning, and happy First Day of Summer!
Oh, what? You thought summer was already well underway? It is pushing 80 degrees today in the Capital Region, after all. Not sure where the sun is, though. Here in Florida, it feels like 100. But that’s a post for a different day.
Well, yes – unofficially, Memorial Day weekend is indeed the kickoff of the vacation season. Also, the meteorological summer starts at the beginning of June and continues through the final day of August.
In astrological terms, however, summer starts today – at around 10 a.m. That’s when the Summer Solstice (AKA midsummer) will occurs when one of Earth’s poles has its maximum tilt toward the sun.
In other words, this is when the sun reaches its highest and northernmost points in the sky. It is the day with the longest period of sunlight, (AKA the longest day of the year), for residents of the Northern Hemisphere.
The Summer Solstice does not occur on the exact same day each year, but is usually somewhere between June 20th and 22nd.
The bummer news is that the sun has been steadily climbing higher in the next each day since the Winter Solstice, with each day getting oh so slightly longer in terms of daylight. Now that the sun is reaching its apex, however, it’s all downhill from here and we start losing minutes of light with each passing revolution of the Earth.
The word “solstice” combines the Latin word for sun (“sol) and and sistere, which means “to stand still”.
The sun will keep getting lower each day until we reach December 21, which is the 2023 winter solstice. (In between, FWIW, will be the equinox, which also has its roots in Latin, from aequus meaning “equal” and nox for “night).
In the most northern parts of the globe, days or even weeks might pass without the sun actually setting. Conversely, Antarctica may remain more or less dark.
This year’s Summer Solstice is kicking off a year of unusually high solar activity, eclipses and other phenomenon, because the sun is reaching the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, according to NASA.
On the non-scientific/meteorological side of things, how does one celebrate the Summer Solstice?
It’s traditional to hold a series of events – outdoor feats, singing, bonfires, dancing etc. – to honor renewal, life, fertility, the potential for a good harvest, abundance, ascension, and the complete return of the sun’s light. These are rooted in both pagan and religious rituals and have been going on for hundreds of years in a wide variety of cultures all across the globe.
Weather-wise, it’s looking like a not bad day for doing things out-of-doors. Temperatures will be on the cooler side for this time of year – in the high 70s – with intervals of clouds and sun.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a dictator in comments underscoring the tricky balance of managing ties with an assertive global rival while appealing to domestic audiences as he seeks re-election.
Biden also said Xi was embarrassed after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the U.S. China has yet to respond to his comments.
The Chinese president was unaware that the alleged spy balloon that floated over the continental US had blown off course until the matter became an international incident, Biden maintained.
At a campaign fund-raiser in California, Biden set off into what appeared to be an unplanned riff about the incident that ruptured relations with China for months.
Biden was to meet with artificial intelligence experts in San Francisco as part of his administration’s efforts to manage the risks posed by AI, a White House official said in a statement.
The visit comes as many in Washington are seeking to learn more about AI’s risks and benefits for society so they don’t repeat the mistakes around lack of early regulation on social media and other internet technologies.
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert introduced articles of impeachment against Biden that will force a House floor vote in the coming days.
The Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for Delaware has reached a plea agreement with Hunter Biden, in which he is expected to plead guilty to two federal misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes.
Biden also faces a separate felony gun possession charge that will likely be dismissed if he meets certain conditions, according to court documents filed yesterday.
Hunter Biden will plead guilty to misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his 2017 and 2018 taxes on time and agree to probation, the court filing said. The deal would most likely resolve the investigation without Biden serving a prison sentence.
The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into President Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden.
Hunter Biden’s sentencing agreement put him in the cross-hairs of President Biden’s adversaries once again.
Congressional Republicans accused President Biden of orchestrating a lenient penalty for his son, while Democrats argued that bringing any charges reflected the Justice Department’s independence.
Joe Biden will roll out a glitzy welcome for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week – a nod to New Delhi’s rise that masks many complications, including what critics charge is an administration’s prioritization of traditional geopolitics over human rights.
The federal judge presiding over the prosecution of former President Donald Trump in the classified documents case set an aggressive schedule, ordering a trial to begin as soon as Aug. 14.
Federal court records showed that U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon created what’s referred to as a “rocket docket” to speed his trial through the system.
Cannon bookmarked the last two weeks in August for the historic trial, part of an omnibus order setting some early ground rules and deadlines for the case. That would represent a startlingly rapid pace for a case that is expected to be complicated and lengthy.
Trump’s support among Republicans has surprisingly softened since his indictment in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, a new national poll revealed.
Long Island Republican Rep. George Santos has until noon tomorrow to decide whether he’ll go to jail to shield the names of the people who helped him post his $500,000 bond.
Judge Joanna Seybert’s order in U.S. District Court in Long Island came less than two weeks after the Republican lawmaker’s attorney argued that the bail backers’ identities should be kept private because of the “media frenzy” surrounding the case.
An international team of rescuers was racing against time to search an area of the North Atlantic larger than Connecticut for a deep-diving submersible and its five occupants, with less than two days of oxygen believed to be remaining on board.
If search crews locate the missing submersible deep in the ocean, authorities will face a highly complex mission to recover the craft and any survivors, an expert said.
A British billionaire and a prominent Pakistani businessman and his son are among the five people rescue crews are racing to find on board the submersible with a rapidly dwindling air supply in the North Atlantic.
The CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, Stockton Rush, was on board and piloting the missing submersible that vanished during a mission to explore the wreckage of the Titanic, the company said.
A Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises as the massive search for the sub continued early yesterday.
The state Assembly’s 150 lawmakers were recalled to Albany this week to address unfinished parts of the people’s business that was left behind when they left two weeks ago at the supposed end of their yearly session.
Assembly members passed bills that would outlaw employee noncompete agreements and spare the Hudson River from nuclear waste dumping.
Efforts to expand health care coverage for people in New York without immigration status are likely at a standstill after Gov. Kathy Hochul doubled down on her concerns about the cost of the proposal.
A bill headed to Hochul’s desk would ban the provisions in employment contracts that are meant to restrict where the person can work after their employment ends. It was approved earlier this month in the state Senate and cleared the Assembly yesterday.
Hochul said that shootings across New York are declining as gun seizures have soared under an initiative launched several years ago by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to coordinate law enforcement efforts to combat violent crime.
New York lawmakers have put the finishing touches on a bill that’s meant to add protections for people who have been wrongfully convicted. The measure was given final approval in the state Assembly yesterday and could soon head Hochul’s desk.
A measure is headed to Hochul’s desk that would educate thousands of people about federal assistance related to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 they might be entitled to.
The Assembly gave final approval to legislation that provides legal protection for New York doctors to prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states that have outlawed abortion. The bill heads to Hochul, who has indicated she supports a shield law.
New York lawmakers gave final approval to a measure that would ban the dumping of radiological waste from the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear plant as it goes through the decommissioning process.
New York State Police have confiscated a record number of illegal firearms in New York as Extreme Risk Protection Orders have increased more than 600% in the year since lawmakers expanded its Red Flag Law to reduce gun violence, Hochul said.
Now we’re cooking with gas! Americans — both Democrats and Republicans — overwhelmingly oppose government edicts like the one approved by Hochul that ban the use of gas stoves to address climate change, a new poll reveals.
Of the 2,090 voters surveyed on June 14-15, 69% of voters opposed any rule that would eliminate or phase out gas stoves, while just 31% supported such a ban in a survey conducted by Harvard CAPS Harris.
The Hochul administration is ramping up funding to healthcare facilities to boost medical staffing and care for New York’s transgender patients in a two-year pilot program — but critics slammed the gender-bending policy as “morally irresponsible.”
Capital Region labor officials are making a last-ditch pitch to Assembly Democrats this week to approve a contentious offshore wind project around a beach town on Long Island, with hundreds of union jobs connected to the Port of Albany in the backdrop.
New York is not even on track to make a predicted $56 million in its first year of legal weed sales – and that’s just a fraction of what other states made after legalization, according to a new report backed by medical marijuana operators.
Four people were killed yesterday morning, including a 71-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman, after a fire tore through a Manhattan e-bike service store that the New York City Fire Department had cited for several violations.
New York City fire inspectors dogged the HQ E-Bike Repair shop since at least 2021 over unsafe handling of lithium-ion batteries before the deadly blaze that killed four people in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Fire Department officials said.
Even as e-bikes and scooters have grown in popularity to become nearly ubiquitous, the batteries inside them have made New York City an epicenter for a new kind of ferocious and fast-moving fire.
Within six months, lithium-ion battery fires have claimed the lives of 13 New Yorkers — the most recent disaster killing four people being in a massive blazed sparked in an E-bike repair shop in Chinatown — according to FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.
After a series of assaults in the subways over the weekend — including a fatal stabbing of a man during a fight and attacks on three women who were slashed in the legs — the Police Department stepped up its presence in the system and arrested two men.
The Rent Guidelines Board is set to let rents in the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartment rise for the second consecutive year, citing high inflation and ballooning costs for property owners.
The Board is set to approve hikes that could see the cost of an annual lease increase by as much as 5 to 7% percent, offering a conclusion to weeks of contentious public hearings that’s sure to leave both landlords and tenants unsatisfied.
New York City is planning to open an application center in the coming weeks to help migrants formally apply for asylum — a necessary step in securing permits to work legally in the U.S.
NYCHA is set to announce today that it is moving forward with a $1.5 billion plan to tear down the Fulton Houses and Elliott-Chelsea Houses in Manhattan and replace them with new high-rise apartments for the residents who live there.
The sweeping redevelopment deal calls for the construction of more than 2,000 new public housing apartments at the Fulton Houses and Chelsea-Elliot Houses, enough for every resident currently residing at the existing buildings, officials said.
Defense lawyers laid into the NYPD over its failure to safeguard reams of evidence destroyed last year when a fire tore through one of the department’s storage facilities in Brooklyn — a blaze that has left efforts to exonerate the wrongfully convicted in limbo.
The second phase of construction has begun on a 34-mile section of an Adirondack railbed that will be transformed into a recreational pathway dotted with scenic trails, sprawling campsites and abundant waterways.
The owners of Crossgates Mall’s mortgage loans have completed an appraisal for the region’s largest shopping destination in preparation for a sale of the debt.
The leader of the Black Lives Matter movement in Saratoga Springs was arrested for driving while intoxicated Monday evening, State Police said.
The City of Troy has reached a $295,000 settlement pending City Council approval with a retired Black police officer who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging systemic racial discrimination that adversely impacted his job and personal life.
School mascots and nicknames that refer to Indigenous people are being phased out at all Capital Region school districts.
The National Labor Relations Board has found merit to a series of unfair practice allegations a union has filed against the Capital Roots nutritional nonprofit, opening the way for a potential settlement of some of the accusations.
Former state Sen. Howard C. Nolan, who took on Albany’s powerful Democratic machine and served in the Legislature for two decades, died Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 90.
Like the results of recent tests of younger students, the math and reading performance of U.S. 13-year-olds. has hit the lowest level in decades, according to test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the gold-standard federal exam.
