Good Thursday morning.
Happy Winter Solstice! The season’s precise arrival will occur at at 10:27 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, which is both good news and bad.
First the bad: Today will be the shortest day of the year, in terms of daylight, with only 9 hours, 15 minutes and 17 seconds exactly (in New York City, anyway).
The good: It only goes up from here, meaning that every day will grow a little bit longer – and the nights shorter – signaling the long, slow, slog to summer. But at least we are headed in the right direction, if you’re a person who years for warmth.
Also, if it makes you feel any better, the amount of daylight we gain each day from here on out accelerates over time, jumping to about three minutes a day when we hit February. It then slows down to two minutes a day in May, and drops to about a minute by the time the summer solstice arrives.
In case you’re curious, the word “solstice” comes from the Latin word “solstitium” – a combination of “sol” (sun) and “stitium” (tp stop or stand still). The sun appears to briefly halt its movement across the sky at the moment of a solstice, hence the name.
Technically speaking, thought, this is an astronomical event that involves the Earth’s tilting away from the sun. When the North Pole is furthest from the sun’s light and warmth, the northern half of the planet gets less of both, while those living in the southern hemisphere get more. These folks will be experiencing the summer solstice – the start of the warm season – today.
Either ends of the Earth will be experiencing extremes today. There will be no daylight whatsoever at the North Pole, while the sun will never appear to set at the South Pole. Technically speaking, the North Pole won’t be seeing much in the way of daylight until mid-January of next year, and nighttime at the South Pole will start to reoccur around the time same.
Wild, right?
It’s worth noting that meteorological winter, which is based on the calendar year and the temperature cycle, started a while back – Dec. 1 to be exact.
Today’s solstice marks the start of astronomical winter. Spring equinox (when the sun crosses the plane of the equator and day and night are of equal lengths) will occur on March 19, 2024, giving us something to look forward to. Summer solstice won’t happen until June 21 of next year, so we’ve got a while to go yet.
The solstices have been a time of celebration for cultures across the globe for centuries, and it is still marked by parties and festivals and rituals galore.
Winter solstice traditionally was seen to mark the symbolic death and rebirth of the sun. The Pagan holiday Yule, which can run anywhere from a few days to well over a week, appears to have its roots in a Norse festival called jol, coincides with the winter solstice.
If you’re planning to take your solstice celebration outside, make sure to dress warm. It’s going to be in the low 30s today, though skies will be mostly sunny and clear. Tonight, it’s going to dip below 20 degrees.
In the headlines…
Chinese President Xi Jinping bluntly told President Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided, according to three current and former U.S. officials.
It was unclear whether Beijing plans to use force in its effort to reunify with Taiwan, but Xi indicated they will try at first to do so peacefully, the sources said.
The White House didn’t deny the exchange, which occurred during a Nov. 15 summit outside San Francisco that was attended by a dozen US and Chinese officials.
The United Nations Security Council pushed off to today a highly anticipated vote on a resolution calling for a halt in fighting in the war in Gaza and a major increase aid deliveries. The delay was at the request of the US to allow more time for more negotiations.
The latest delay came after days of intense negotiations. The US has been reticent to sign onto a resolution that called for a “cessation of hostilities” in Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is heading into next year focused on ensuring that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel cannot happen again, as well as bringing the conflict in Gaza to an end as quickly as possible.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said that fears of a wider regional war in the Middle East would probably subside as Israel transitioned its military mission in Gaza to lower-intensity combat operations.
As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, the World Health Organization said Gaza has no fully functioning hospitals left.
Nearly 30 years after a bombing at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people, federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused a man in Lebanon of helping plan the attack and leading decades of terrorism for Hezbollah.
A federal judge granted two former Georgia election workers’ request to expedite their $148 million payment from Rudy Giuliani — claiming the pair have “good cause” to worry the former New York City mayor may try to stiff them.
The decision by the judge, Beryl A. Howell, was the latest legal defeat for Giuliani, who is facing an array of woes for his efforts three years ago to keep former President Donald Trump in office after his election defeat.
Before Giuliani was ordered to pay $148 million to two election workers, and before he owed his lawyers several million dollars more, federal prosecutors scrutinized whether he pursued dubious Ukraine business dealings to shore up his dwindling fortune.
It now seems clear that the courts — especially the Supreme Court — could dramatically shape the contours of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump urged the Supreme Court to put off a decision on a crucial question in his federal prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election: whether he has “absolute immunity” for actions he took as president.
The question, Trump’s brief said, should be “resolved in a cautious, deliberative manner — not at breakneck speed.” He urged the justices not to “rush to decide the issues with reckless abandon.”
The blockbuster ruling by Colorado’s Supreme Court would seem to give Trump’s challengers an avenue of attack, but far behind in the polls, they are skirting the issue.
Republicans are calling for Biden to be removed from state presidential ballots following the Colorado court ruling that Trump is not permitted to be on its ballot next year.
Officials in the president’s orbit say polls won’t change a strategy centered on comparing the Biden agenda with a Republican one, even as some allies feel betrayed by his policies.
Biden touted his administration’s support for minority-owned businesses and the replacement of lead pipes during a visit here on yesterday while also swiping at Trump’s rhetoric toward migrants and his ongoing lies about his election loss.
Biden said it’s “self-evident” that Trump is an insurrectionist for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss but stopped short of commenting on the Colorado legal case that would bar him from the state’s ballot.
“Whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision,” Biden said. “But he certainly supported an insurrection. There’s no question about it. None. Zero,” the president added. “He seems to be doubling down on everything.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul weighed in on efforts to keep Trump off presidential primary ballots, saying: “It’s not something we do, but it’s something I’d watch very closely because that was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history.”
Manhattan Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he is “elated” by the Colorado ruling, which he predicted will boost a Democratic-led effort to get the state Board of Elections to remove Trump from the ballot in the Empire State too.
The governor said that she wouldn’t get involved in the next round of redistricting to tip the scales in favor of Democrats – and she also plans to OK whatever maps the Legislature puts on her desk.
Hochul announced $50 million will be given out in grants that will be used to build new child care centers and expand programs for existing facilities.
Hochul took a victory lap as she revealed that all eligible migrants outside New York City have applied for work authorization — but she couldn’t say how many have actually been approved.
Hochul signed the Lead Pipe Right to Know Act into law, which aims to protect New Yorkers from the public health risk posed by lead pipes.
With the new year just days away, major changes are coming to New York. This year, Hochul has signed 730 bills into law, with 87 more currently awaiting her review.
New York’s premier monitoring program for people with mental illness, which grew out of Kendra’s Law and has been cited as a national model, has broken down repeatedly, including in five cases involving people who committed subway shovings.
The state attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit against SiriusXM Radio, Inc., over its allegedly predatory subscription plans that for years would increase automatically unless a customer waded through a “deliberately long and burdensome cancellation” process.
The state Department of Health largely failed to implement recommendations meant to improve infection control in nursing homes, according to an audit released by the state comptroller’s office.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio took to Instagram urging Hochul to sign a bill aimed at limiting the state’s impact on climate change.
Starting Jan. 1, the minimum wage in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County will increase from $15 to $16 an hour and from $14.20 to $15 across the rest of the state.
Democratic Assemblymember Al Stirpe says he is ending his campaign for a state Senate seat in Central New York and will instead seek reelection to the state’s lower chamber.
George Santos, the disgraced former Long Island congressman trying to parlay his notoriety into a cottage industry, is now participating in a documentary film project on his colorful lies, life and times.
Mayor Eric Adams rode into office on a promise that his experience as an NYPD captain ideally suited him to drive down crime. Local lawmakers are now calling his bluff.
New York City banned most uses of solitary confinement in city jails, setting the stage for a showdown between City Council leaders and Adams, who opposes the ban and has vowed to veto the measure.
Adams and the union representing correction officers say that the “restrictive housing” used at Rikers, to isolate dangerous people and protect jail workers and other detainees, should not be regarded as solitary confinement.
The New York City Council passed a bill that would limit the ability of landlords to use criminal records to screen tenants.
NYPD officers must document every investigative encounter with civilians, including ID checks, under a bill passed by the City Council – but whether the measure will become law remains unclear as Adams opposes it and hasn’t ruled out a veto.
“The New York City Council has taken action today that, if implemented, will unquestionably make our city less safe,” the mayor said in a statement about the passage of the so-called “How Many Stops Act.”
The beleaguered mayor has managed to unite Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Trump-supportive firefighters, conservative commentators and Cardi B in opposition to his proposed multibillion-dollar budget cuts.
Adams criticized Biden for withholding much-needed relief to mitigate the city’s migrant crisis — all while insisting he will support the president’s re-election even if someone stronger on border issues enters the race.
The MTA and New Jersey officials are pushing forward with settlement talks that would end the Garden State’s lawsuit over New York’s coming and congestion pricing program for drivers heading to Midtown and Lower Manhattan.
A Jewish hate crime victim who was pummeled during clashes between Israel and Palestinian supporters two years ago said New York pols need to “step” up amid renewed demonstrations — as one of his five attackers was sentenced to more than five years.
The principal of a Queens high school has been reassigned in the wake of a student riot against a Jewish teacher who had attended a pro-Israel rally.
Two days after 5-year-old twins were discovered by their mother lifeless and foaming at the mouth in their Bronx apartment, the authorities still do not know how they died.
New York’s population plunged more than any other state in the country over the past year, according to sobering new statistics – as fed-up lawmakers and ex-New Yorkers blame crime and the sky-high cost of living.
New York could lose three congressional seats in 2030 if the state’s population continues to decline, a new report says.
Dick Wolf, the “Law & Order” creator, has made a promised gift of more than 200 works — paintings, sculptures and drawings among them — for the Met’s collections of Renaissance and Baroque art. He is also donating a substantial sum of money.
Details about a planned renovation of the State Museum have yet to be made public and appear delayed – again.
Floyd Slater, the former superintendent of Schenectady trash collection who resigned a day after being arrested in March for allegedly possessing cocaine while on the job in a city truck, recently pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation.
Saratoga County Judge James A. Murphy III will not run for reelection next year.
Harvard University’s embattled President Claudine Gay is the subject of a fresh complaint outlining more than 40 allegations of her plagiarizing others’ works.
Harvard, in the face of mounting questions over possible plagiarism in Gay’s scholarly work, said that it had found two additional instances of insufficient citation in her work.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
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