Good Monday morning.
Yesterday was one of the most perfect summer days I have experienced in a long time.
The humidity was almost nonexistent. It was sunny and warm but not oppressively hot. You could sit outside for extended periods and not feel like you were going to melt clear away, which was such a switch from what we’ve been experiencing of late.
And, best yet: It didn’t rain. Not a single drop.
Sadly, that is coming to an end today, as we have thunderstorms (yet again) in the forecast for the afternoon with temperatures in the low 80s. And then we will have what looks like two more fabulous days of mid-to-low 70s and mostly sunny skies.
Not exactly what you would expect from the tail (ahem) end of the dog days of summer, which between July 3 to August 11 and are supposed to be the period when the Northern hemisphere experiences some of its hottest times of the season. (FWIW, the dog days might also start on July 24 and last through August 24 depending on whose mythology you happen to believe).
It has been unusually hot all over the country, with dangerously high temperatures over prolonged periods of time. And, as we’ve mentioned here before, July was one of the hottest months on record for the planet – by far – in at least 100,000 years, if not longer.
So I guess that generally speaking, the dog days more than lived up to their reputation.
The dogs days don’t really have anything to do with dogs, but rather with the star Sirius, which is known as the “dog star” because it is the brightest feature in the constellation Canis Major (AKA Large Dog). So, according to the Romans and the Greeks, the “dog days” were the period 20 days before and 20 days after Sirius rises and falls with the sun.
Early sky watchers for some reason connected the fact that both Sirius AND the sun could be seen in the sky during this period with the fact that it was very hot. In the Hellenistic period (323 BC to 32 BC), Sirius was believed to be the cause of heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs (hence, dog days?), and bad luck.
Actually, these ancient peoples might have been onto something, a 2009 Finnish study set out to “challenge the myth that the rate of infections is higher during the dog days,” and actually found some truth to that belief.
Apparently, though, there was a time when people believed that swimming or even drinking water during the so-called dog days could be dangerous. And a lot of other dog-related sayings – like being “sick as a dog” or “dog tired” – also have connections to the belief that this stretch of summer was just flat-out not great.
Not surprisingly, the rise of Sirius was interpreted differently by different cultures around the world.
If we get more days like yesterday, I’ll be ready to declare myself a big fan of the dog days. Something tells me, though, that we’re going go be in for a rude awakening any time now.
And yes, my friends, climate change is real. OK? It’s real. Can we all just agree this is, in fact, the case and move on?
In the headlines…
The Biden administration is launching a beta website for its new income-driven student loan repayment plan today, allowing borrowers to begin submitting applications for the program as federal student loan payments are set to resume in October.
The SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education, plan was finalized after the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness initiative in June. It marks a significant change to the federal student loan system.
The Supreme Court ruling that upended Biden’s plan to forgive student loan debt changed his budget math, modestly lowering the projected deficit for this year, his budget office reported Friday.
Biden on Friday for the first time publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild, a 4-year-old girl fathered by his son Hunter with an Arkansas woman, Lunden Roberts, in 2018.
The girl, Navy, is the child of Biden’s son, Hunter, who recently settled a court battle over child support. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy,” the president said.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” Biden continued in a statement to PEOPLE magazine.
Minnesota Democrat Rep. Dean Phillips, who has for months been saying in public what many in his party only privately whisper — that Biden, 80, should not seek re-election because of his age — said he was considering a presidential primary challenge.
Phillips, 54, has been receiving “inquiries about his willingness to challenge Biden” and will meet with Democratic donors about the prospect in New York City next week, according to Politico.
Last year, Phillips, a business-friendly moderate, told a local radio show that Biden should not run for reelection, even as he praised the president as a “man of decency, of good principle, of compassion of empathy and of strength.”
Biden — buoyed by new signs the economy is continuing on the upswing — took a swipe on Friday at House Republicans’ flirtations with an impeachment inquiry, quipping that GOP lawmakers may decide to impeach him because inflation is cooling down.
Biden signed an executive order on Friday giving decisions on the prosecution of serious military crimes, including sexual assault, to independent military attorneys, taking that power away from victims’ commanders.
The order, which the administration is calling “the most significant transformation of the military justice system since the UCMJ was established in 1950,” officially implements changes passed by Congress as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
Sen. Chris Coons, Biden’s campaign co-chair, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it “may be worth looking at” a congressional code of ethics for presidential family members.
On the eve of high-profile testimony to a House committee, Hunter Biden’s longtime business partner Devon Archer is wrangling with the Justice Department about when he should report to prison on unrelated charges.
Archer is expected to testify on Capitol Hill today and share intimate details about foreign ventures he worked on and the level at which President Biden was allegedly involved.
A federal judge has dismissed a $475 million defamation lawsuit that former President Donald Trump filed against CNN, ruling that all of the CNN statements that Trump cited were opinion and, therefore, Trump could not sue for defamation.
Republican presidential candidates took aim at their rival Trump yesterday in the wake of a high-profile Iowa GOP event dominated by the former president and front-runner in the race.
Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader, waved off speculation about whether he plans to finish his term amid growing concerns for his health, vowing instead to serve for the remainder of the 118th Congress.
In a statement, his office said McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues and “plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do.”
Nearly three months after Mayor Eric Adams ushered in a new policy calling for the city to relocate migrants outside the five boroughs, the program has been plagued by problems, drawing attention to the no-bid contractor leading the effort: DocGo.
At least for now, there are strains of civility and cooperation between Adams and the Biden administration on the ongoing migrant crisis. The question is: How long will it last?
Chris Churchill: “So much of the acrimony and confusion surrounding the arrival of migrants in Rotterdam was utterly avoidable had there been more leadership. It didn’t need to be this way. Again, where is the governor?”
NPR spent several days speaking to asylum seekers who say conditions in a new shelter in Brooklyn are dire. It’s been open for just a few weeks, and it’s already riddled with accusations of abuse.
New York City is searching for more migrant housing locations after the Roosevelt Hotel completely filled up.
The Big Apple’s hotel industry is making a bust-to-boom post-COVID comeback — thanks in large part to the migrant crisis.
Schenectady County made it official Saturday morning, declaring a state of emergency because of this month’s influx of migrants, citing a worsening housing crisis.
During a news conference Friday, Hochul said violent crime is down this year across the state, but she says the hard work of making our communities safer is far from over.
The reductions in gun violence in Buffalo “far exceeded” the same data from 20 other police departments participating in New York state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative, according to Hochul.
Hochul appointed an Oswego judge to the state’s second highest court, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
NYPA has approved funding for an ambitious expansion of its drone program in which technicians will use the aerial vehicles to inspect power lines and other hard-to-reach or hazardous infrastructure.
A multi-million dollar state contract with a company offering an antidote for opioid overdoses will be renewed, irking competitors who say New York’s long-established relationship with one company is cramping the market for the lifesaving medication.
Former Buildings Commissioner Eric Ulrich told investigators Adams tipped him off to the possibility he could be reeled into an illegal gambling investigation — months before the Manhattan DA’s office probe became public knowledge.
Adams had launched his own radio show, a newsletter, a podcast, a journalism scholarship and a town hall series. The mayor is fed up with the mainstream press.
Adams offered a stinging rebuke of the media while speaking at a National Urban League Conference in Houston, saying that Black people in many professions are covered differently and that reporting is sometimes “intentionally destructive.”
Adams’ administration is launching a sweeping program to wipe out potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in medical debt that New York City patients owe to hospitals and other health-care providers.
A review by the New York Daily News shows several donors who contributed to the mayor’s recent $1.3 million campaign cash haul have checkered pasts and, in some cases, documented histories of malfeasance.
Brooklyn political bigs will hit the blue carpet tonight for the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s annual gala – or, as party executive director Yamil Speight-Miller calls it, “the Coachella of Brooklyn.”
The city’s Department of Education chief technology officer, Anuraag Sharma, has submitted his resignation just weeks after a widespread hack compromised the sensitive information of thousands of students and staffers, sources said.
More than two decades after a horrifying rash of livery cab driver murders pushed New York City to mandate bullet-resistant partitions in for-hire cars, the Taxi & Limousine Commission is set to pull the partitions out.
A UFT chapter representing school therapists stood alone among chapters in rejecting their union’s tentative contract agreement with Adams earlier this month — and now say union leadership is pressuring them to accept the deal in a revote.
Prosecutors reached a settlement with the operator of a meat and poultry warehouse on Allen Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown that had been infested with rodents before it was shuttered.
FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is reportedly in a “Mexican standoff” with 10 top chiefs who asked to be demoted in protest of her controversial department shake-up.
Staten Island’s bitter opposition to the MTA’s congestion pricing plan has revived the borough’s long-dormant secession movement.
A Bronx jurist who labels the state’s soft-on-crime bail reform laws “a confusing mess” is stepping up his game — using the legendary Grateful Dead to make his point.
Shortly after purchasing a $4.4 million townhouse in Kips Bay in June 2021, the “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon racked up nearly $2,000 in fines for her building’s false fire alarms — which the star has yet to pay, records show.
Notorious “Preppy Killer” Robert Chambers, 56, convicted for the brutal 1986 Central Park strangling of a teen-age girl in a blockbuster Manhattan case, was paroled from prison after serving 15 years on a separate drug rap.
There’s a castle for sale in Ballston Spa – if you’ve got $1.9 million to spare.
The Ocean State Job Lot at 911 Central Ave. is closing Aug. 6, an employee confirmed by phone.
The Ortiz brothers, Irad Jr. and Jose, have drawn three-day suspensions from Saratoga’s stewards for riding infractions last week. Each has been banned from Aug. 9-11 inclusive.
Take Two Cafe in Schenectady will give away 100 vegan chicken sandwiches beginning this morning. “No Clucks Given” sandwiches with vegan chicken and mozzarella served on a pretzel bun with truffle aioli and tomato will be available starting at 10 a.m.
Beech leaf disease has been discovered in this town on the western side of Lake George, making it the second case in the Adirondack Park, according to the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program.
One of the principals behind the Central Warehouse redevelopment says that without more public investment, efforts to rehabilitate one of the Capital Region’s most high-profile eyesores won’t succeed.
Village officials said Rensselaer County’s plan to relocate a senior center and other offices to a former Dollar Tree store on Route 22 has several flaws, including costs and accessibility.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates.
Twitter has reinstated Kanye West’s account after he was suspended eight months for a series of antisemitic posts.
An “X” sign installed on Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Friday as part of the company’s rebranding is under investigation by the city for lacking proper permits, according to officials.