Good morning, it’s Thursday, which puts us one day closer to Friday. We can’t get there fast enough for my taste, to be honest, because the sooner we’re through this latest storm situation, the better.
The up and down weather, swinging wildly from historic warmth to snow and ice, wreaks havoc with my immune system. I don’t want to delve too deeply into the political here, but climate change IS, in fact, contributing to the increase in extreme weather events, which, in turn, has an impact on our health.
I’m not talking through my hat here. Research indicates that the immune system, which is a delicate balance to begin with, is highly sensitive to the stressors associated with climate change-induced weather events. For the record: we’re not out of the woods yet when it comes to flu season. Though the peak months for flu activity are December and February, it can last into late May.
And, of course, Covid is still with us. Apparently, bird flu is back, too – with a vengeance.
All this to say that it’s more important than ever to do what you can to help your body fight off germs. It helps to do all the things – stay hydrated; get enough sleep; maintain a healthy diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and limited sugar, alcohol, etc.; avoid smoking. You know the drill.
There’s also a wide variety of supplements one can take – some of them truly useful, and others more or less snake oil. “Dietary supplements” is a catch phrase that includes both vitamins and minerals. You may or may not be aware that NONE of these, no matter how reputable a location you source them, are formally approved by the FDA for safety, effectiveness, or labeling.
If you read the labels closely – and who does that, really? (I know, I know, we SHOULD, of course) – you probably have seen the disclaimers noting that none of the claims in terms of health impacts, weight loss, sleep improvement, etc. and so forth have been approved or codified by the FDA.
But that does not prevent people from taking them – a LOT. The dietary supplement business in North America alone was worth more than $50 million in 2020 and estimated to grow by 5.6 percent annually through 2028. The FDA itself this year valued the market at more than $60 billion, with as many as 100,000 different products available. About 75 percent of Americans take some sort of dietary supplement.
And I am one of them. I try to do my research and still with things that have been clinically proven to work, though it’s a bit hit or miss since so much information – good and bad – is available online these days. One thing that I think is more or less a foregone conclusion, however, is that Vitamin C, which we are unable to synthesize on our own, can help support immune function.
We’ve known for many years that Vitamin C is critical for optimal human health. (Sailors on long sea voyages in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries found that out the hard way when they contracted scurvy due to the lack of access to fresh food). But it wasn’t until 1928, through the work of Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian biochemist, that Vitamin C was isolated in the body.
Vitamin C can also help control infections, heal wounds, and is a powerful antioxidant that can neutralize harmful free radicals. It is necessary to make collagen in the body, as well as a number of chemicals and hormones used by the brain and the nerves. The recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C is 90 mg daily for adult men over the age of 18 and 75 mg for women.
You can take a lot more than that because Vitamin C is water soluble, (meaning you pee out what you don’t use). But way too much of it can make you unwell.
For the record, you don’t have to take a supplement to increase your Vitamin C intake, as it’s present in plenty of whole foods – from the obvious (citrus) to the less-so (brussels sprouts, potatoes, and broccoli). Happy Vitamin C Day!
Snow is in the forecast this morning, ( I can’t believe I’m even writing that – it’s MAY, for goodness’ sake, but again, it’s not the first time we’ve seen this sort of thing), giving way to rain in the afternoon. Temperatures will reach a high of about 40 degrees.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden has received positive polling news seven months before the election, with a survey putting him ahead of Donald Trump for the first time. According to a Morning Consult poll, Biden is leading with 44 percent of the vote share.
In a race expected to be razor-tight, a handful of battleground states will likely determine the winner.
Democrats are fearful that Israel’s war in Gaza is turning into a major political liability for Biden and candidates down the ballot, and one that could get worse if it rages on into the summer and attention turns to his match-up with Trump.
Biden spent yesterday rhetorically and literally embracing one of his fiercest critics on the war in Gaza, hosting an event at the White House where he and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders celebrated a recent victory over the prescription drug lobby.
Though the president was privately enraged by the incident, the Biden administration has no plans to change its policy toward Israel after the ally’s forces killed seven humanitarian aid workers.
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak on the phone today – their first call since the strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy. The call is expected to be tense.
The deadly Israeli strike is setting back attempts to address a hunger crisis in the territory, with aid groups saying they are being more cautious about making deliveries and at least two suspending operations.
The Israeli military said an initial investigation into the strike found its forces had wrongly identified their vehicles as hostile targets, as Israel responds to international condemnation and tries to contain the fallout from a hunger crisis in the enclave.
When the White House invited Muslim community leaders for a dinner this week celebrating the holy month of Ramadan, the responses started coming in fast: Decline. Decline. Decline.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to Biden, has postponed a planned trip to Saudi Arabia to discuss the turmoil in the Middle East after an accident that left him with a cracked rib, a National Security Council spokesman said.
One of the strongest voices inside the White House urging an end to civilian casualties in Gaza is the person closest to the president: Jill Biden.
Donald Trump failed to delay the Stormy Daniels trial until the Supreme Court rules on whether his former presidency places him above the law, with Judge Juan Merchan saying he brought up the issue far too late, raising “real questions” about why.
Merchan ruled that his trial did not need to wait for the Supreme Court. He denied Trump’s effort as “untimely,” ruling that he had failed to request the delay by a legal deadline.
Trump had the best fund-raising month of his 2024 campaign now that he’s working in tandem with the Republican National Committee, pulling in $65.6 million in March, the party said.
Documents for Trump’s $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case were rejected by a court because a current financial statement was not included.
The California billionaire Don Hankey made his fortune by offering high-interest auto loans to buyers with bad credit. This week, he signed up a new client in need of urgent help: Trump.
Even as Biden easily won Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary vote in New York, supporters of the “Leave it Blank” campaign celebrated the number of apparent protest votes cast in the election.
“What we know is that about 12% of New York voters sent a very powerful message to President Biden,” said Ana Maria Archila, a co-director of the WFP. “They want him to take a very different position on this war.”
As state budget negotiations rage on, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said an extension of mayoral control over New York City public schools sought by Mayor Eric Adams will not be included in the final spending plan.
While the state Legislature has recognized the need to crack down further on illicit cannabis operators, only Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Senate have expressed a desire to address it through the budgeting process.
New York lawmakers want to pull state licenses from retailers who sell cannabis illegally, cutting off their ability to make money from sales of liquor, cigarettes and the lottery.
A housing deal taking shape in Albany is likely to provide a larger increase in rents for landlords who renovate apartments, lift the density limits in residential buildings in many areas of the city and provide renter protections more like those in other states.
As the negotiations over a housing deal continue, several community groups and a union representing construction workers want to codify a $40 minimum wage into state law for all construction workers who would work on projects receiving a new tax benefit.
A bill that would decriminalize the act of adultery, which is still a crime in New York, is in Hochul’s hands after the state Senate approved it yesterday,
Republicans in the state Assembly blasted what they see as soft-on-crime Democrats, demanding they pass a package of bills to keep career criminals behind bars in the wake of hero NYPD cop Jonathan Diller’s slaying last week.
Lawmakers and criminal justice advocates are pushing legislation that would bring major changes to telecommunications in New York prisons.
Senate Democrats are leading a push to repeal a private plane tax break and a similar — albeit slightly less generous — exemption for luxury yachts, both of which were enacted in 2015.
Good government groups are pushing the state to do more when it comes to political “deepfakes” generated by artificial intelligence.
Hochul will be going home to Western New York for the eclipse next week. Her office confirms that she will be in Niagara Falls for the celestial event on April 8.
Adams skipped a banquet honoring Taiwan’s president after a top Chinese diplomat sent him a letter warning that his attendance at the March 2023 function could cost New York its “friendship” with China.
The NYPD released updated statistics for the first quarter of the year, showing major crimes are trending down, but “serious” crime spiked again last year to levels unseen in nearly two decades, according to internal department data obtained by The NY Post.
Adams and NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban announced that the city saw continued reductions in overall crime through the first quarter of 2024, both above ground, on streets throughout the five boroughs, and below ground.
After reports that the city chatbot powered by generative artificial intelligence was providing residents with incorrect information on a range of topics — from housing rights to worker protections — officials have added a “beta” emblem to the software’s logo.
Three “clubhouses” that offer services to mentally ill New Yorkers are poised to lose city funding, under a new plan.
A closely watched New Jersey lawsuit could block or upend the city’s new congestion pricing program, which will charge most vehicles for entering the busiest parts of Manhattan.
A man was struck and killed by a Manhattan subway train yesterday, according to police. Cops responded to the 28th St. station on the No. 1 line in Chelsea at around 4:05 p.m. for calls of a person struck by a train, authorities said.
The NYPD is failing to enforce city workers’ violations of the system that gives them thousands of free parking permits each year, with city servants allowed to park illegally across the five boroughs without facing consequences, according to a new report.
Failing to ticket illegally parked cars with officially issued permits is “a form of corruption that erodes the public trust,” the Department of Investigation said.
Fast delivery grocery app Gopuff introduced a 20-minute delivery promise – and Big Apple pols just as quickly vowed to push back because of safety concerns.
New York City has never been immune to heated education fights, but in recent months they have taken on a new level of vitriol and aggression, and expanded to a broader menu of divisive issues.
Much of New Yorkers’ trash could be recycled in some way, a recent city Department of Sanitation study found. While there’s less trash than in previous years, there was a jump in new discarded items like lithium-ion batteries and vape pens, the study said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s politics have shaped New York City’s current immigration debate from more than 1,700 miles away. He’s in town today to headline the annual New York state Republican Committee gala and fundraiser.
Eight Bronx men were charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of beer, mostly Modelo and Corona imported from Mexico, by robbing train yards and warehouses in dozens of thefts across the Northeast over the past two years.
A complaint alleging antisemitism at Union College that launched a federal civil rights investigation was released by the U.S. Department of Education.
The Troy Public Library reopened its Lansingburgh branch Monday as it continues to seek payment from its insurance coverage to pay to repair the children’s room.
Despite mixed reviews from residents and business owners, the Saratoga Springs City Council unanimously approved seasonal paid parking at $2 an hour in all city garages and lots beginning Memorial Day.
The state Education Department is finally allowing SUNY Adirondack students in Wilton to finish their entire degree in town, rather than requiring them to take some classes at the college’s Queensbury campus.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
