Good morning, it’s Tuesday masquerading as Monday. A four-day workweek is upon us. It will be hectic, yes, but also short. I’m here for it.
I was most certainly NOT here for the disappointing weather we experienced over the holiday weekend. WHAT IN THE HOLY HECK WAS THAT MOTHER NATURE? So much for a summer kickoff; it felt more like early spring. And just in time for us all to go back to work, things will warm up considerably today, with the thermometer flirting with 80 degrees.
I’m not sure what we did to collectively piss off the weather gods, but let me be the first to offer a most sincere apology on behalf of us all.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the drawbacks of technology. (No, this is not going to devolve into an anti-social media rant, though there may yet be a time and a place for that in this space). I wrote recently about being forced to look things up as a child. This included spelling, which was sort of a nest trick because how DOES one effectively look something up when one doesn’t actually know how it’s spelled?
There’s a question for the ages. Anyway. I am admittedly not the world’s strongest speller, but these days it doesn’t matter because autofill takes care of that for me by helpfully correcting all but the most egregious of my errors and typos. And in the case of the latter, there is always Spellcheck.
This is very helpful for tricking people into thinking I’m more intelligent than I truly am, but I’m certainly not becoming a better speller as a result.
Spelling is a skill, and since it’s one I never truly mastered I am completely in awe of those who have – especially if the spellers in question aren’t even out of middle school.
I am not certain if you’ve ever tuned into the Scripps National Spelling Bee, known to its many fans and followers and participants as simply “The Bee.” If you haven’t, you should. It is some of the most compelling, dramatic and nail biting TV out there. The preliminaries start today through and the finals take place on Thursday.
The Bee is celebrating its 100th year, though it did take a hiatus during COVID. (For the record, I did not correctly spell hiatus there). For the record, last year’s Bee winner, Bruhat Soma, 12, won in a “spell-off” correctly spelling 29 of 30 attempted words in a mere 90 seconds. The word that won him the title was “abseil”, which is a “descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above.”
To be eligible to compete in the Bee, once must be under the age of 15 and/or have not completed 8th grade. (A fair number of very strong spellers are home schooled, which explains the and/or options there). They also must not be past competition winners, and cannot have any first, second, or third-degree relatives who are employees of The E.W. Scripps Company, which runs the Bee on a non-profit basis.
In 2019, the Bee had eight co-champions. Basically, the kids out-spelled all the hard words in the dictionary. Talk about smart. I am not worthy. Also, if you’re from the Capital Region, tune in to cheer on the local favorite: Krrisha Agrawal, 10, of Colony.
Before I go, I was be seriously remiss if I did not take a moment to acknowledge two somber anniversaries that took place over the weekend.
Four years ago this past Saturday, 19 students and two teachers died in a shooting committed by an 18-year-old gunman at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX – the worst K-12 school shooting since the the December 2012 Newtown, CT massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 20 people were killed. Law enforcement officers took more than an hour to engage with the shooter, who was barricaded inside the school. Two former officers are expected to go on trial later this year.
Five years ago this past Sunday, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and audibly declaring, “I can’t breathe!” A bystander captured the incident on video, which, when it became public sparked worldwide protests and reignited debate over racism and policing and birthed one of the largest social movements in U.S. history.
May their memories be a blessing.
We already dealt with the weather, so let’s get down to business.
In the headlines…
President Trump memorialized fallen U.S. soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, recognizing the families of those who died fighting for their country hours after airing grievances and attacking his political opponents on social media.
He also used the occasion, traditionally a solemn day of tributes, to indirectly criticize his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for his border policies while valorizing his own return to office.
Trump granted another pardon yesterday for a former official he claimed was the victim of a “weaponized” Justice Department (DOJ) during the Biden administration, granting clemency to former Sheriff Scott Jenkins.
Jenkins, who had been convicted of federal bribery charges and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, was set to report to jail today.
“This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail,” Trump claimed in a Truth Social post.
Trump said that he would delay imposing 50 percent tariffs on all imports from the European Union until July 9 to allow more time for trade negotiations.
Trump said that he had spoken to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, about his recent threat to enact the tariffs on June 1 if a trade deal could not be reached in the next week.
“I received a call today from (von der Leyen)…requesting an extension on the June 1st deadline on the 50% Tariff with respect to trade and the European Union. I agreed to the extension—July 9, 2025,” Trump said. “It was my privilege to do so.
Volvo announced it plans to cut 3,000 positions as Trump’s tariffs continue to rattle the auto market.
The Sweden-based car company said in a release that the move is part of its “cost and cash action plan” that is designed to build a stronger company as the industry faces “considerable challenges in its external environment.”
Trump condemned the decision by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to unleash one of the largest offensives in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and said he was considering imposing more sanctions on Russia in response.
“He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters. “I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”
With diplomatic efforts to reach a cease-fire appearing remote, and Trump apparently abandoning the process, Russia has been escalating its assaults on Ukrainian cities and on the battlefield.
An American citizen was charged with trying to firebomb a U.S. Embassy office in Tel Aviv, after he approached the building with Molotov cocktails and had threatened to kill Trump in a series of social media posts, federal prosecutors said.
A driver slammed a car into a crowd celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League victory, seriously injuring a child and an adult and sending more than two dozen people to hospitals, officials in England said yesterday.
The crash created chaos at the end of a festive day in which hundreds of thousands of sports fans had gathered for a parade through the Liverpool city center to celebrate their team.
Describing the collision as an “isolated incident,” police said they were not looking for any other suspects and were not treating the incident as terrorism.
Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died yesterday at age 94.
The lone surviving member of Harlem’s “Gang of Four“, Rangel was first elected to Congress in 1970, toppling Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a 13-term incumbent. He went on to serve in the House longer than any other New Yorker but one: Emanuel Celler.
Rangel retired in 2016 after winning a 23rd term despite an ethics allegation — making him the ninth-longest continuously serving member of the House in American history.
Current New York leaders paid tribute to Rangel in statements, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who said, “I am so sad to lose a dear friend and exemplary model of devotion and courage.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced modifications to the New York State Veterans Tuition Award, expanding qualifications to welcome new recipients in honor of Memorial Day.
This expansion now allows veterans who served at least four years on active-duty to qualify for full-tuition awards, even if they did not serve in combat or a specific combat theater.
Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres is running neck and neck with Hochul among New York City Democrats in a hypothetical party primary for the statehouse next year, a poll conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for the Jewish Voters Action Network shows.
The State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is beginning a formal review process to determine which three prisons should close, an effort the recently enacted state budget gives final approval to the governor to undertake.
A political Rorschach test centered on New York state’s latest push to fund the MTA is coming to a campaign trail near you.
Mayor Adams appears to be all in on his long shot reelection bid, while Democratic front-runner Andrew Cuomo has pulled in a substantial amount of cash, per new campaign finance reports.
Adams has seen a significant surge in campaign fundraising, but Cuomo and socialist Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani head into the final stretch of the Democratic primary boasting the biggest war chests with millions in hand, records show.
Cuomo is the front-runner in the New York City mayor’s race. His critics say his mayoralty would be similar to a second term for the incumbent, Eric Adams.
Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani denounced India Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “war criminal” — and is now being ripped by other city leaders for spreading “hate” about the Hindu head of state.
Ex-New York Rep. Joe Crowley’s 25-year-old son, Cullen, a Marine and Naval Academy grad, has died from a rare cancer, his grieving dad revealed over the Memorial Day weekend.
The panel that sets the rent for tenants in roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments is meeting this week to vote on a revised range of potential increases — possibly leading to a lower final rent hike on new 2-year leases.
The city had 280 lifeguards certified as of Saturday, according to the Parks and Recreation Department. That’s well short of full staffing for the city’s beaches and pools, but 50 more than were available on Memorial Day weekend last year.
Helicopter tours around New York City would be banned under a federal bill recently introduced by local Congress members — less than a month after a fatal crash killed a Spanish family and their pilot.
New York City’s public hospital system may have to scale back services — likely starting with specialty care — if Congress passes the federal Medicaid cuts approved by the House , according to Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of NYC Health and Hospitals.
Public advocate candidate Jenifer Rajkumar’s social media ads say she once “fought a mega landlord and won a $100M lawsuit for freezing families.” But records show her involvement in the lawsuit was fraught with controversy and accusations of plagiarism.
Trump’s cuts to the federal AmeriCorps agency have forced a Brooklyn nonprofit to scramble for money to cover living expenses for the idealistic young people who help care for children with working parents.
A city worker with the Department of Environmental Protection was killed and two others were injured early Saturday in an explosion aboard a tanker on the Hudson River near the city sewage treatment plant in Upper Manhattan, city officials said.
The city worker killed in a freak raw sewage boat explosion on the Hudson River has been identified as Raymond Feige, 59, a “beloved” veteran New York City Department of Environmental Protection engineer.
Manhattanhenge, when the sunset exactly lines up with Manhattan’s street grid, is coming back tomorrow and Wednesday, and then again on July 12.
Playland amusement park in Rye opened with only limited rides this past weekend after politicians handed out a $1.7 million no-bid “emergency” contract – with Westchester County taxpayers on the hook for mounting bills.
Roughly 32,000 people recently cast their ballots in school board elections in Monroe County using a controversial voting machine that’s been a source of controversy in New York for years.
The push to get an animal shelter up-and-running in Rensselaer County isn’t stalled. It has just taken a detour.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
