Good morning, it’s Friday.
We should get a reprieve from the heat, which is a relief. Unfortunately, that looks like it also means a lot of rain in the forecast. We can get to that later. I just thought you should know now, in case you’re thinking ahead to the weekend and hadn’t yet checked what the weather gods have in store for us.
Some more cool astronomical news: The first full moon of summer is upon us, and it will be reaching peak illumination tonight shortly after 9 p.m. The full moon lasts about three days. It started Thursday, so you should be able to catch it through Sunday if you haven’t already spotted it.
I happened to catch the tail end of it as it was setting around 3:30 a.m. yesterday morning (don’t ask). It was orange in color and fairly spectacular.
Full moons are always pretty cool, but this one is special – it’s the Strawberry Moon, also known as the Flower, Hot, Hoe, or Planting Moon; the Mead or Honey Moon; the Rose Moon; Vat Purnima; Poson Poya; and the LRO Moon, according to NASA.
And yes, that’s where some people think the term “honeymoon” might come from – it corresponds with the first month of marriage and was dubbed as such because June is such a popular time for weddings. Another theory, though, is that newlyweds were traditionally gifted mead, which is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey.
Really all this means is that the full moon corresponds with the fairly short strawberry season. This is a particularly favorite and nostalgic time of mine, because it reminds me of my annual childhood trip to the strawberry patch with my dad, who didn’t cook much but was a fabulous jam maker.
Dad used the boil and wax method to seal his jars, which is really quite a production. He also did not skimp on the sugar when making his jam. We sometimes went blackberry picking, which was even more of an adventure, because it entailed hiking into the woods to hit “secret” berry patches, and used this haul to augment the berries that grew on bushes at the side of our house.
There’s a small blackberry patch across the street from my current house, and another around the corner that I noticed just recently while walking the dog (at 3:30 a.m.). Apparently, some of these are considered invasive. I don’t think there’s nearly enough berries available in these two patches to make jam, but I might forage some when they’re ripe – just for old time’s sake.
Anyway, what’s special about this year’s strawberry moon is that it corresponds with the summer solstice – a fairly rare confluence of events that only occurs once every 19 to 20 years or so. (For the record, a full moon occurs when the earth is directly between the moon and the sun.
Also, there are a lot of “named” moons – including, but not limited to, the Wolf Moon (January), which is the first full moon of a new year, and the Blue Moon (Aug. 19, 2024). If you want to go deep on moon phases, click here.
It will be warm today – in the upper 80s – but not as warm as in previous days, with a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms that may contain high, gusty winds.
Tomorrow is looking more or less like a bust with scattered thunderstorms predicted for the morning that become more likely as the day progresses. Temperatures will be in the mid-80s. We’ll be back into the low 90s on Sunday, with more thunderstorms that could again bring gusty winds and this time a new addition: Hail!
Be careful out there.
In the headlines…
The heat is expected to peak over the weekend in the Northeast, but not until early next week in the South and the Great Plains, according to the National Weather Service.
Meteorologists warned that the high-pressure system that scorched the country for the past four days would linger through the weekend in many places.
Melinda French Gates, a philanthropist and the former wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, announced that she will vote for President Joe Biden in the 2024 election, writing in an op-ed that “the stakes for women and families couldn’t be higher.”
“I’ve never endorsed a presidential candidate before. My work on gender equality and global health often requires me to work with leaders on both sides of the aisle, so I’ve avoided talking publicly about who I voted for in past elections,” French Gates wrote.
In her explanation of her endorsement, French Gates focused on the two candidates’ track records when it comes to women’s issues — the subject of much of French Gates’ philanthropic work.
Michael R. Bloomberg, who is the former mayor of New York City and a Democratic megadonor, has donated nearly $20 million to support Biden’s re-election campaign, a Bloomberg representative said.
The former mayor gave $19 million to Future Forward, the main super PAC supporting Biden, and $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund, a joint Biden-DNC fundraising committee. “I stood with Joe Biden in 2020, and I am proud to do so again,” Bloomberg said.
These are the first public donations in the 2024 presidential race from the wealthy Republican turned Democrat, who has become a reliable source of major funding for Democrats in recent campaign cycles.
The Biden campaign raised $85 million in May and entered June with $212 on hand, a formidable war chest even as the Trump campaign significantly outraised them last month.
Biden’s haul trailed significantly behind the $141 million that Trump’s political operation and the Republican National Committee claim to have raised the same month.
Democrats keep doing surprisingly well in special elections. The party’s most vulnerable Senate incumbents are running ahead of their rivals in key battleground states. Yet Biden is struggling to pull even with Trump.
Biden begins an intense period of private preparations Friday at Camp David for what may be the most consequential presidential debate in decades, while Trump will remain engaged in somewhat more informal preparations.
In some ways, aides to Biden and Trump describe similar goals heading into next Thursday’s presidential debate: painting their opponent as presiding over disorder and wholly unfit for office.
Trump is raising his debate expectations for Biden a week ahead of the two men facing off, and after spending months describing him as a weak, mentally unfit leader.
The White House and the Israeli prime minister traded barbs over the support the United States is providing Israel for its military operations in Gaza, in the latest sign of tensions between the two allies over the conduct of the war.
US officials believe that as few as 50 of the 116 hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are still alive, according to mediators in the hostage talks and a US official.
Israel uses an expert committee of medical experts that reviews classified intelligence in order to determine the hostages’ status.
When Judge Aileen M. Cannon presides over a hearing today in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case, she will spend the day considering well-trod arguments about an arcane legal issue in an unorthodox manner.
Two federal judges in South Florida privately urged Cannon to decline the case when it was assigned to her last year, according to two people briefed on the matter. She chose to keep it.
The Supreme Court upheld a tax on foreign income that helped finance the cuts Trump imposed in 2017 in a case that many experts had cautioned could undercut the nation’s tax system.
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote for five justices in the 7-to-2 decision. He was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberals.
An appeals court in Washington, D.C., denied Steve Bannon’s attempt to avoid prison. Bannon is scheduled to start a four-month prison term on July 1 unless the Supreme Court intervenes.
A solid plurality of voters approve of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to pause the implementation of congestion pricing, a new Siena College Research Institute poll found.
But that doesn’t make them any more favorable to the Democratic governor, whose approval numbers fell slightly from the last Siena poll, to a record low.
A total of 45 percent of registered New York voters told pollsters they support the tolling plan’s indefinite delay, while 23 percent said they oppose it.
A federal judge has dismissed a key argument behind a set of lawsuits against New York’s congestion pricing plan, renewing hope among supporters of the tolling program after Hochul decided to indefinitely pause its implementation earlier this month.
Thirty-eight percent of voters polled said they had a favorable opinion of the governor, with 49 percent reporting they had an unfavorable impression of Hochul, an uptick from 46 percent in a May Siena College poll.
Hochul signed legislation with the goal of reducing the harmful effects of social media on New York’s children.
The unprecedented move makes New York the first state to pass a law regulating social media algorithms amid nationwide allegations that apps such as Instagram or TikTok have hooked users with addictive features.
New York’s law will be enacted 180 days after New York Attorney General Letitia James finalizes guidelines. After that, social media platforms that violate the law will face a $5,000 fine per violation. Enforcement, however, remains an open question.
There are potential legal issues in implementing some of these regulations, with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union calling previous, similar social media bills a restriction to minors’ freedom of speech.
The Court of Appeals ruled that New York school districts are not required to supply busing for private school students on days that public schools are closed.
A key licensing tool with the Office of Addiction Services and Supports has been faulty for weeks, frustrating prospective addiction counselors and their employers amid a shortage of workers in the substance abuse field.
New York State prisons have been illegally holding prisoners too long in solitary confinement, despite a law that limited the practice, according to a decision this week from Justice Kevin R. Bryant.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams wouldn’t rule out that this year’s municipal budget could be late amid continued friction between her Democratic majority and Mayor Adams’ administration.
Speaker Adams said that negotiations over the nearly due city budget are in a “holding pattern” — co-opting Mayor Adams’ frequent description of the spending plan as a plane he will land.
New York City won’t face a full-blown catastrophe if budget talks crash and the city’s burns past the July 1 deadline. The city simply will revert to the mayor’s most recent proposed budget until a new deal for fiscal year 2025 can be struck.
Mayor Adams has made flag-raising ceremonies a signature symbol of his tenure since ascending to City Hall in 2022, but one banner he hasn’t hoisted is the one favored by Palestinians. But he says that could change and the process is “open to everyone.”
A conservative journalist said she was “blindsided” when a posh members-only nightlife spot in NoHo frequented by Adams booted her for posting a controversial Father’s Day screed about gender on social media.
Adams announced the city’s first-ever community hiring effort, which will leverage more than $1.2 billion in city contracts to create job opportunities for underserved New Yorkers.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has reportedly been bombarded with death threats and harassing messages in the three weeks since his office secured Donald Trump’s conviction.
Nearly all the protesters charged with occupying Columbia University’s campus during heated anti-Israel demonstrations won’t face criminal charges, Manhattan prosecutors announced, drawing outrage from law enforcement and Jewish advocates.
A scathing report from city Comptroller Brad Lander found that ShotSpotter, the NYPD’s highly touted gunfire location system, accurately identifies shootings only about 13% of the time.
The report concludes that inaccurate identifications of gunfire eat up police resources at a time when the NYPD is already strapped for personnel.
The Police Department has spent more than $45 million on ShotSpotter since it started using it in 2015, even as cities around the country have stopped using the system.
Air conditioning outages at the city-designated cooling centers in the middle of a heat wave laid bare the financial problems facing the New York Public Library.
Manhattan families will soon be prioritized for competitive seats at some of the most sought-after high schools, Schools Chancellor David Banks said – a move integration advocates called a step back for boosting diversity in the deeply segregated school system.
After years of stops and starts, New York City is finally moving forward with plans to install bus lanes on a busy stretch of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, where gridlock regularly creates hellish commutes for thousands of riders.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music, a haven for international artists and the avant-garde that has been forced to reduce its programming and lay off workers in recent years, unveiled plans for a reorganization as it announced its fall season.
Justin Timberlake has no plans to go to rehab following his drunken-driving bust in the Hamptons — but has since issued an apology to his behind-the-stage crew and “acted like a boss” taking accountability for himself, according to reports.
Pro-Israel political groups have transformed a Democratic primary on the outskirts of New York City, overwhelming the race with record-shattering outside spending to take down one of Israel’s most outspoken detractors, Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
A power failure shut down all train service along the Northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and New Haven, Conn., yesterday afternoon, threatening to create a chaotic evening commute on one of the hottest days of the year.
State regulators and Central Hudson Gas & Electric have reached a settlement over the utility’s botched 2021 rollout of a new billing system that resulted in missed and erroneous bills as well as inappropriate termination notices.
The NY Post endorsed Albany County DA David Soares in the upcoming Democratic primary, calling him a “voice of reason.”
A 38-year-old Schenectady man admitted he bought the shotgun used in the December 2023 shooting on Temple Israel property and lied on federal paperwork while making the purchase.
Schenectady police are continuing to investigate a shootout at the basketball courts in Central Park early Wednesday morning that happened hours before the inaugural opening of the new city pool.
Rosenblum Cos. has launched Launchbox – the area’s first coworking warehouse space – in Colonie.
With two weeks left in its regular season, the relaunched Arena Football League has lost another team.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
