Good morning, it’s Thursday.
We haven’t done any religious content around her for a while, so I guess we’re due. Historically speaking, today is the Feast of the Ascension, which is, according to those who believe, the day that Jesus ascended into Heaven after his resurrection.
I say “historically speaking” because traditionally, Ascension Day was observed 39 days – or six weeks – after Easter Sunday on a Thursday. However, over the past decade or so, there has been a shift in the U.S. to celebrate this day on Sunday instead of Thursday, in which case it has already passed (May 25).
The reason behind the change by some Catholic dioceses was pretty simple: Church leaders believed that parishioners would be more likely to attend services on a weekend than a workday. (Ascension Day is a holy day of obligation for Catholics, which means the faithful are obliged to attend mass). Changing the date is no simple process, however, as it requires approval from the Holy See.
Another factor is that some people also confuse this Holy Thursday with another one that occurs the day before Good Friday. According to one website, only the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha (the state of Nebraska) continue to celebrate the Ascension on Thursday.
Those who are unfamiliar with this feast day might wonder why Jesus hung around for so long on earth after his resurrection. The purpose, the belief goes, is that he wanted to demonstrate to his followers that he had actually risen from the grave, prove his physical presence, and prepare them for the mission of the Church by teaching them about the Kingdom of God.
There doesn’t seem to be any universal way to celebrate Ascension Day, though there are a number of interesting traditions out there. One that I particularly like calls for hiking up a mountain to represent Jesus’s ascent to Heaven. That’s the same idea behind a similar, though far less strenuous, practice of releasing balloons, (which, for the record, is not good for the environment), and also the idea of enjoying a picnic on a hillside.
It was at one time traditional to eat birds on Ascension Day – we’re talking back in the Middle Ages now – again, to commemorate Jesus’s rise into Heaven. Some German bakeries sell bird-shaped pastries called Gebildbrot, which means “shaped bread” on this day.
The next holy day of note is Pentecost, which falls 10 days after Ascension Day. This day comes 50 days after Easter and marks the descent of the Holy Spirt on the Apostles.
This also happens to correspond with the Jewish holiday Shavuot, which takes place June 1 through June 3, and is also known as the Feast of Weeks. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai. Shavuot was originally a harvest festival, but these days is better known for its heavy emphasis on eating dairy products.
There’s more rain in the forecast today, with showers expected in the morning that will give way to overcast skies in the afternoon. Temperatures will be on the cooler side, topping out in the mid-60s.
In the headlines…
Elon Musk expressed gratitude to President Trump in a message marking the end of his special government employee status, the latest sign of his declining involvement in the White House.
In a post on X, Musk thanked Trump for the opportunity to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a panel focused on dramatically slashing the size of the federal budget and workforce.
“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk added. The billionaire has made clear he is frustrated with the obstacles he encountered as he tried to upend the federal bureaucracy.
Trump defended the sweeping tax and policy bill he is pushing through Congress after Musk said he was “disappointed” in the package’s price tag.
A federal judge in New Jersey ruled yesterday that the Trump administration’s effort to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil on foreign policy grounds is most likely unconstitutional but stopped short of releasing him from detainment.
In a lengthy order, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz said Khalil was “likely to succeed” in his claim that the administration’s determination that he is a threat to U.S. foreign policy is “unconstitutionally vague.”
On a rainy day in New York City, hundreds of protesters rallied for Khalid’s release during his immigration hearing yesterday afternoon.
A panel of federal judges blocked Trump from imposing some of his steepest tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, finding that federal law did not grant him “unbounded authority” to tax imports from nearly every country around the world.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last night that the Trump administration would work to “aggressively revoke” visas of Chinese students, including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or who are studying in “critical fields.”
Rubio said in a statement that visa criteria would also be revised to “enhance scrutiny” of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” he said.
The Trump administration’s efforts to halt Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students has sown “profound fear, concern, and confusion,” the university’s director of immigration services said in a court filing.
The Trump administration has suspended some sales to China of critical U.S. technologies, including those related to jet engines, semiconductors and certain chemicals and machinery.
Pope Leo XIV reiterated his call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of all hostages and for leaders on both sides of the war to “fully” respect international humanitarian law.
“From #Gaza, the cries of parents rise to heaven ever more intensely as they clutch the lifeless bodies of their children, searching for food and shelter from bombs,” the pontiff said in a post on social media platform X.
Trump nominated Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official who previously worked as one of Trump’s criminal defense attorneys, to a federal appeals court.
Trump used his pardon power to grant clemency to a wave of individuals this week who had been convicted of crimes that range from public corruption, guns and even maritime-related offenses, according to multiple officials.
The president is increasingly using his clemency powers to undermine Justice Department cases against his supporters.
Trump pardoned Michael G. Grimm, a former New York representative who pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony tax evasion, according to a White House official.
The Republican lawmaker, who represented Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn from 2011 to 2015, pleaded guilty in December 2014 to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return. He was seriously injured in a polo event last fall.
A White House spokesman compared Grimm’s prosecution to the president’s own legal troubles, which Trump has long derided as a witch hunt.
In addition to Grimm, Trump commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, who co-founded the Gangster Disciples and had been serving multiple life sentences in prison.
George Santos’s campaign treasurer and right-hand woman, Nancy Marks, was sentenced to probation for her role in the former congressman’s campaign finance schemes after pleading guilty to one count of criminal conspiracy.
Sixteen states sued the Trump administration, asking a federal court to block cuts in programs and funding for the National Science Foundation that they argue are critical to maintaining the US’s position as a global leader in science, tech, engineering and math.
Racial disparities in parole decisions continue to worsen across New York state, with new data showing a widening gap from a year ago.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the launch of the I LOVE NY summer tourism and travel campaign, featuring new domestic and international advertising efforts.
Trump and Hochul disagree on what was in their agreement to resume construction on Empire Wind 1.
Developers of two left-for-dead natural-gas pipeline projects in New York are preparing to file permitting paperwork with federal energy regulators to move forward with the projects, according to people familiar with the matter.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner in the New York City mayor’s race, announced a plan to raise the city’s minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2027.
“New York City needs to be a place where working families can afford to live and thrive and right now that’s out of reach for far too many in what is supposed to be the greatest city in the world,” Cuomo said. “When we say opportunity for all, we mean opportunity for all.”
In Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s four-plus years in Albany, only three of his bills have become law. His influence is comparatively greater, his colleagues say.
A new Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey of New York City’s Democratic Primary for Mayor finds that 35% of voters support Cuomo on the first round of the ballot, while 23% support Mamdani.
Adams called for the end of the BitLicense at Bitcoin 2025, urging crypto businesses to return to New York City, and also proposed the creation of a BitBond, a municipal bond backed by bitcoin, to raise capital and offer tax advantages.
“New York is the Empire State. We don’t break empires—we build empires. We’re saying to you: come back home,” Adams told the crypto community during a stop at the Bitcoin 2025 conference.
The New York City Council approved a major plan to open 21 blocks in central Brooklyn to new development, a transformation that aims to address the city’s worsening housing crisis by making way for some 4,600 new apartments.
The vote comes just a couple of weeks after two key Council panels approved the plan following years of community engagement on the future of the borough’s historic “Main Street.”
A “parade” of vintage New York City subway trains is returning next month, giving New Yorkers a chance to ride some of the transit system’s oldest subway cars.
Several migrants were arrested – as was a Queens pastor who tried to intervene – when federal agents descended on a federal immigration courthouse in Lower Manhattan yesterday afternoon, according to a report.
Riders on the northern half of the G train between Court Square and Hoyt-Schermerhorn will get 5G cell service as early as the fall, MTA officials announced.
A new TikTok show tackles a perennial New York City problem: what to do about a tricky roommate.
Construction of a new 7-mile greenway is underway in the Bronx, including 4 miles of protected bike lanes that will help New Yorkers connect with the Harlem River waterfront and other boroughs, city transportation officials said.
The 1980s musical “Chess,” about a love triangle set in the geopolitically charged world of top-level chess tournaments at the height of the Cold War, will be revived on Broadway for the first time this fall, with Lea Michele playing one of the three starring roles.
The state attorney general’s office has fined Walmart $16,000 after it said it found third-party sellers on the company’s website sold realistic toy guns and shipped them to addresses across the state.
Two Ecuadorian men who were arrested by federal immigration agents at a police checkpoint in Cohoes last week had entered the U.S. illegally multiple times and were deported.
After nine years under its namesake chef-owner, the beloved Osteria Danny has been sold to one of its former servers, whose primary career has been with corporations including Walmart and TJ Maxx.
The City of Troy is poised to hire a comptroller – Albany County Chief Accountant Michael McNeff – after having three people in the role over less than a year.
State Police are investigating after an off-duty Colonie police officer allegedly struck a pedestrian while driving along Old Loudon Road Tuesday evening.
RIP Tom Robbins, a journalistic bulldog who spent more than four decades exposing crooked politicians, ruthless landlords and violence in New York prisons for The Village Voice, The New York Times and other publications, who died yesterday at 76.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
