Good morning, it’s Friday. We made it to the end of another week. This one seemed particularly long to me – driving out to Buffalo and back will do that a person, I guess. I don’t know how people do that on the regular. It’s a LONG haul, with nothing much going on in the distraction department.
I’ve been traveling a lot lately – all of it for work – and have a few more trips on the horizon (also for work). I did recently get to spend some extended time with my Dad, which was unusual because he’s living outside the state at the moment.
Though the circumstances of our visit were less than ideal, it was a blessing to be able to have that uninterrupted stretch with him. We had a lot of conversations, some of them hard, some silly, some going deep into the recesses of New York government and politics, which, if you know my Dad, is a pretty routine thing.
I was lucky to be able to have that time with him because we won’t be together for Father’s Day. Traditionally, we have a meal and go for a long walk – usually in New Paltz, which is a very special place to both of us.
Though I’m sort of bummed we won’t be able to keep that tradition, I am reminding myself that Father’s Day is just a construct. It provides an opportunity to recognize dads and the important role they play in our lives, but that’s also something we should probably just do on the regular.
Father’s Day was conceived in 1909 by a woman named Louise Smart Dodd, who had been raised by a single father, Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, along with her five siblings on a rural farm in Spokane, Washington. William Smart was actually twice widowed, but after the death during childbirth of his second wife, proceeded to parent his kids alone without seeking a third spouse.
At the time, Mother’s Day was already a thing. In 1905, the daughter of Ann Jarvis, an Appalachian activist who had organized “Mother’s Work Days” to promote sanitation and health, sought to memorialize her mother’s work by pushing Congress to make “Mother’s Day” an official holiday.
The story goes that Louise heard a Mother’s Day sermon and was inspired to create a day that would honor fathers, too, specifically her own, who was born on June 5. Apparently, the local minister with whom Louise conceived of Father’s Day, felt he needed more time to prepare, which is why the first Father’s Day ended up being celebrated on June 19, 2010 at the Spokane YMCA.
Not everyone was on board with the idea of Father’s Day, with some pushing back out of concern that it was born of an effort to commercialize the bond between fathers and their children. Some people even advocated scrapping both Mother’s Day AND Father’s Day altogether in favor of a more general Parents’ Day.
Then whole de-commercialization push was, ironically, derailed by the Great Depression, when struggling retailers sought any potential avenue to try to drum up business President Woodrow Wilson publicly expressed support for a Father’s Day (not in June) in 1918. A few years later, in 1942, President Calvin Coolidge called on state governments to observe Father’s Day. President Lyndon Johnson issued an executive order in 1966 that designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.
It wasn’t until 1972, however, that President Richard Nixon, while running for re-election, signed Joint Resolution 187, passed by Congress in 1970, making Father’s Day a federal holiday. Since then, the holiday has become very big business; Americans are expected to spend $24 billion this year on gifts for the dads in their life.
Enjoy the sunshine while you can today (actually, a mix of sun and clouds) because the weekend is – again – looking rather dreary. Today will be a bit on the cooler side, with temperatures rising only into the mid-70s. Saturday will bring clouds and temperatures in the low 70s, while Sunday will be much the same, with the chance of showers developing later in the day.
Boo hiss.
In the headlines…
Israel attacked Iran’s capital early today in strikes that targeted the country’s nuclear program and killed at least two top military officers, raising the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel described the attack as a last resort to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, which Israel views as an existential threat. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq.
The strikes came amid simmering tensions over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and appeared certain to trigger a reprisal, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warning that “severe punishment” would be directed at Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States had no involvement in Israel’s unilateral strikes on Iran but had been told that Israel considered the attack necessary for its self-defense.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that directed President Trump to return control of National Guard troops to California after he deployed them there following protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had ruled that Trump’s action was “illegal,” but stayed his order from taking effect until 3 p.m. today to allow the Trump administration to appeal his decision, which the White House promptly did.
The ruling keeps in place Trump’s directives authorizing the deployment of at least 4,000 California National Guard troops and several hundred Marines pending further litigation, even as state leaders cast the military presence as unnecessary and escalatory.
A U.S. senator from California, Alex Padilla, was forced to the floor, handcuffed and removed by federal agents after interrupting a news conference by the homeland security secretary yesterday in Los Angeles.
California Democrats expressed outrage at the treatment of Padilla after he was forced to the floor and handcuffed by federal law enforcement officials in what the former Vice President Kamala Harris called “a shameful and stunning abuse of power.”
Democratic Rep. John Mannion erupted at fellow New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler on the House floor yesterday, with no shortage of f-bombs, in apparent outrage over Padilla’s incident with law enforcement earlier in the day.
Trump’s sprawling budget plan would cost low-income Americans $1,600 a year while boosting wealthy households by $16,000, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated.
The legislation dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by Trump would increase resources for middle and top earners at the expense of lower-income Americans, the CBO found.
The lowest-earning 10% of U.S. households are likely to see their financial resources reduced by $1,600 per year, or almost 4% of their annual income, according to the CBO report.
Trump acknowledged that his immigration policies are hurting the farming and hotel industries, making a rare concession that his crackdown is having ripple effects on the American work force.
The House of Representatives narrowly approved legislation to claw back two years of federal funding for public media outlets. Trump, who has attacked the mainstream media more broadly, has accused NPR and PBS of bias against conservative viewpoints.
An Air India passenger plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed into a medical college after takeoff in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad, officials said, in one of India’s worst airline disasters in decades. A single passenger survived.
“I don’t know how I am alive,” the passenger, Viswash Kumar Ramesh, said, according to his younger brother, Nayan Ramesh, 27.
A passenger who reportedly flew on the doomed Air India jet two hours before it crashed, killing more than 200 people, posted video in which he says “nothing” was working in the cabin — including lights, air conditioning and the seat-back display screens.
Officials have been trying to reassure travelers that flying remains the safest mode of transportation, and statistics support that. But the steady stream of headlines about things going wrong on planes and helicopters is unnerving.
The crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. Although the cause remains unclear, some analysts doubt it will affect global demand for Boeing planes, which have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft.
The Trump administration sued New York over a state law that largely blocks immigration agents from conducting arrests in state or local courthouses, arguing that the measure is an unconstitutional effort to stymie immigration enforcement efforts.
Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, cast the state law as a left-wing measure that shielded criminals and endangered public safety.
Rep. Elise Stefanik and Gov. Kathy Hochul faced off over New York’s migrant crisis during a fiery congressional hearing on sanctuary policies — as the congresswoman stumped the governor in questions about high-profile migrant crimes.
During the hearing, Hochul could not recall the details of several high-profile cases involving illegal immigrants charged with violent offenses in her home state.
Hochul said New York is committed to assisting U.S. immigration and Border Patrol agencies in pursuing criminals, noting her administration turned over some 1,300 “non-citizen” migrants to federal authorities after they were released from state prisons.
In a heated exchange, Stefanik accused Hochul of running a “sanctuary state” that shields illegal immigrants from deportation, listing off violent crimes perpetrated under her governorship.
When Stefanik said Hochul is “shielding illegals,” Hochul retorted: “That is not true. Rather than going after the viral moment, I suggest you look at the facts.”
New York lawmakers are considering legislation to increase the regulation of food manufacturers’ use of chemicals not explicitly deemed safe by the federal FDA, a move they say would promote greater transparency across the country’s major food suppliers.
Frontrunners Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani got into a number of heated spats over the importance of age, experience and personal integrity during last night’s second and final Democratic mayoral primary debate.
The fiery exchanges between the universally known Cuomo and fast-rising Mamdani reflected how many see the race as increasingly competitive — and how the two view each other as a threat.
Attacks on the frontrunner Cuomo — who took the stage with six other Dem primary candidates at John Jay College — landed more forcefully than in the first debate last week.
As New Yorkers head to the polls to determine the future of their city, the two men have risen to the top of a crowded field by adopting a strikingly similar posture: that of a brawler eager to take on not only Trump but also his own party.
If Mamdani wants to tax the rich, he’ll have to convince someone who has been unwilling to budge: Gov. Hochul.
A pro-Cuomo super PAC produced a flier featuring a manipulated photo of Mamdani with a darker, thicker beard, prompting the mayoral candidate to accuse the former governor of Islamophobia.
Cuomo admitted that he not only saw a controversial report on nursing home COVID deaths while he was governor, but may have doctored the document – a bombshell confession that contradicts his sworn Congressional testimony.
Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn who is running for mayor, visited The New York Times for an interview.
A vandal torched 11 NYPD police cars in a Brooklyn parking lot just down the street from a police station house early yesterday, police said. Mayor Eric Adams tied the incident to the ongoing anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.
The Adams administration reportedly floated a “doomsday scenario” where probation officers would be called on to don riot gear and back up the police during the mushrooming protests against President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told a cheering crowd at a Manhattan protest that “white supremacists” are thrilled with the way the country’s headed under Trump’s leadership, while questioning where Mayor Adams was during ICE raids in the city.
The 20-year-old Bronx high school student who was detained after an immigration hearing last month has released his first statement, describing being taken into custody and thanking his classmates for their support.
Time Again, the Chinatown bar that became a sensation for its outdoor dining scene last summer, has withdrawn its application to recreate that scene with an Open Streets permit for this year, according to co-owner Alec Reinstein.
The NYPD has agreed to make major changes to the unit that investigates sex crimes as part of a million-dollar settlement with alleged sexual assault survivors who said the department mishandled their cases.
Harvey Weinstein’s sex crimes retrial ended with no verdict on a rape charge as the jury foreperson refused to continue deliberating due to alleged threats from another juror one day after the disgraced mogul was convicted on a more serious sex rap.
Weinstein’s retrial jurors dished on the behind-the-scenes drama that led to their bombshell verdict — including allegations that one of them was “bought” by the convicted sex pest and that a “sneaky” foreman set a deadline for the deliberations.
Chaos in the jury room led a Manhattan judge to call a mistrial for former actress Jessica Mann’s rape case against Weinstein — but Mann and Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg said that they’re ready for another trial.
City Council member Keith Powers — who is running for Manhattan borough president — unveiled a bill to tweak the city health code to allow the ubiquitous, but surprisingly illegal, bodega cats.
The father of a 2-year-old boy whose body was discovered this week in New York City’s East River was charged with his son’s murder, the police said.
Many sightings of the same bull moose shared on social media prompted the state Department of Environmental Conservation to close the Goodman Mountain trail starting June 6.
A portion of the Albany County jail’s facade fell off yesterday before dawn, resulting in some inmates having to be relocated as construction occurs to fix the wall.
Defense attorney Jasper Mills is suing former Albany County DA David Soares, several assistant district attorneys and a State Police investigator, alleging they abused the legal process to prompt a criminal investigation against Mills and defamed him.
Fearing the loss of trees in a wetland area will flood basements and ruin wells and leach fields, a group of residents on Louden, Edie and Ruggles roads in Wilton have asked the town to stop a forester from taking down trees on an adjoining 51 acres.
To tackle rising retail theft rates, Colonie police announced that a new retail theft crime unit has been established to investigate and deal with large-scale theft.
The Court of Appeals unanimously upheld an appellate court’s decision to reinstate a murder charge against a former state trooper accused of killing an 11-year-old girl when he rammed his cruiser into her family’s vehicle during a high-speed Thruway chase.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
