Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
I’m sure that you, like me, have been closely following the heartrending story about the Texas floods.
A new round of heavy rain over the weekend halted the search for the more than 160 people who are still missing after the Guadalupe River raged over its banks in the early morning hours of July 4th, causing significant devastation and loss of life.
The main focus, of course, has been on recovering the people – many of them young children – who haven’t been seen or heard from for well over a week now, and the extremely difficult reality that it’s highly unlikely anyone else will be found alive, if they’re found at all.
But, as with any natural disaster, the impact is far broader than just on humans and their infrastructure, but also on animals – both wild and domesticated. By and large, we do not have much control over the weather, though arguably we are, as a species, impacting it through our choice of fuels.
This is why preparedness is so important. Being ready for the unexpected helps improve your chances of survival (not to mention your pets’ chances, speaking of animals, if you have furry, feathered, scaly, or fin-covered members of your family).
This includes, but is not limited to, having extra medications, water, and food on hand – including pet food, if applicable – knowing where your important documents are and how to get at them quickly, and establishing an evacuation plan with which all family members are familiar.
Equally important is trying to reduce your exposure to risk.
What does that mean? Well, if you live in a flood prone area, there are steps you can take to mitigate the impact of rushing water on your property. You can also invest in fire-smart landscaping if you happen to liven an area that is prone to wildfires.
Inside the house, you should, of course, have smoke alarms and test them periodically to make sure they’re working. Also, avoid overloading your outlets and extension cords, keep flammable items (like curtains and rugs) away from heating sources and open flames, use space heaters with extreme caution, keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and never, NEVER smoke in bed.
And here’s one more tip: Keep an eye on those pets, which are responsible for starting about 1,000 house fires every year. They do this by knocking over candles and/or space heaters, chewing electrical chords, and even accidentally turning on the stove. (This is not a joke; consider child-proof covers to protect knobs from being inadvertently moved in the wrong direction).
Most important: When you practice your family escape plan, make sure to include your pet(s). Experts say that you should not delay to save an animal if it puts your life at risk, but if you’re anything like me, that advice is falling on very deaf ears. Better to get in the habit of taking them with you in the first place than be forced to make an agonizing choice about going back for them.
Pet alert window stickers are a thing, too, in case you’re wondering how to help first responders know where to find a stranded fur baby. And always, ALWAYS microchip your pets – just in case they get out and need help finding their way home.
Today, in case you hadn’t yet figured it out, is National Pet Fire Safety Day, which was created in 2009 by the Kennel Club and ADT Security.
It’s going to be hot today, with temperatures peaking in the low 90s. Clouds in the morning will give way to sunny skies in the afternoon.
In the headlines…
Most of the Mid-Atlantic remained under severe weather warnings early this morning, as a series of slow-moving storms unleashed heavy rains and flash flooding from New York to Virginia.
The National Weather Service said the eastern seaboard would continue to experience heavy rainfall today, likely causing disruptions to millions of commuters, especially in the New York area, which saw flash flooding overnight.
Heavy rain pummeled New York City and its suburbs last night, flooding parts of the subway system, inundating major roads and causing long flight delays.
New Yorkers in basement apartments were told to be ready to leave their homes and New Jersey’s governor declared a state of emergency after heavy rains in the northeast caused flash flooding.
“I am declaring a State of Emergency given flash flooding and high levels of rainfall in parts of the state,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a social media post. “Please stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel. Stay safe, New Jersey.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York’s next mayor, said on social media after the flooding that the city’s infrastructure must be upgraded for “this new climate reality.”
NASA said that it would not host on its website the National Climate Assessments — reports mandated by Congress that detail the ways climate change is affecting every part of the country and how communities can respond.
The Supreme Court agreed that the Trump administration can proceed with dismantling the Education Department by firing more than a thousand workers.
The order is a significant victory for the administration and could ease President Donald Trump’s efforts to sharply curtail the federal government’s role in the nation’s schools.
Trump said that Education Secretary Linda McMahon will begin the process of dismantling the Education Department in the wake of the Supreme Court decision allowing the administration to resume layoffs at the agency.
Trump said that he would help Europe speed more weapons to Ukraine and warned Russia that if it did not agree to a peace deal within 50 days, he would impose a new round of punishing sanctions.
Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene harshly criticized Trump’s new plan to help speed weapons deliveries to Ukraine, saying it breaks a key promise that he and many in his party made to voters to end U.S. entanglement in conflicts overseas.
Trump also threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” on Moscow’s business partners in 50 days if no peace is agreed to end the 40-month-old war.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refuted the existence of Medicaid cuts due to Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, saying there’s “there’s a diminishment of the growth rate of Medicaid, which is bankrupting our country.”
The new law cuts about $1 trillion from Medicaid, primarily through stringent work requirements as well as reductions to how states can fund their Medicaid programs through provider taxes and state-directed payments.
Former President Barack Obama issued a call to action for Democrats at a private fundraiser in New Jersey on Friday evening, urging those frustrated by the state of the country under Trump to “stand up for the things that you think are right.”
“I think it’s going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it’s going to require Democrats to just toughen up,” Obama said at the fundraiser, according to excerpts of his remarks.
Obama also urged Democrats to “stop looking for the messiah” and embrace the “great candidates running races right now,” pointing to upcoming elections in New Jersey and Virginia.
Gov. Kathy Hochul wants the federal government to act on the threat presented by drones, also known as unmanned aerial systems.
Hochul called on Trump to boost federal defenses against drone attacks, saying events like the World Cup and the U.S. 250th anniversary celebrations are “prime targets.”
“I am writing to you with respect to the critical need for federal action regarding the threat posed by unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly known as drones,” Hochul said in a letter to Trump last week.
Members of New York State Police, alongside state Sen. Jeremy Cooney, joined forces to urge Hochul to promptly sign a crucial piece of legislation into law.
Hochul grew her massive campaign war chest in the first half of the year to $17.5 million, as GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, a potential challenger, boasted a massive fundraising haul of her own.
Hochul raked in more than $11.8 million during the first half of 2025, according to her campaign. More than $4 million of the haul will go to Hochul’s reelection campaign and more than $7 million will go to the state Democratic Committee.
In the six weeks since announcing his bid for governor, Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado raised $1.48 million to take on incumbent Hochul in a primary fight for the Democratic line, according to his campaign, which said most donations were $100 or less.
Hochul’s recent embrace of new nuclear energy and growing openness to gas pipelines has exhilarated many in the labor movement — particularly those who have long worried the state’s transition to clean energy would harm their members.
A report released from research organization Leapfrog found that New York state’s C-section rate for low-risk mothers is 28.3%, the second highest in the U.S.
The company that was chosen by New York to manage a popular Medicaid home care program has a new CEO, who also operates a private equity firm with a share of its ownership.
State education officials have scrapped New York’s race-based admissions policy for advanced STEM classes for middle- and high-school students after a lawsuit by Asian parents.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has decided to run in the general election for mayor, urged on by supporters anxious that his withdrawal would nearly guarantee Assemblyman Mamdani’s victory and put New York City in the hands of the far left.
The decision by Cuomo, who had been questioning whether to run after his crushing Democratic primary defeat by Mamdani, a state assemblyman and a democratic socialist, was announced yesterday afternoon in a 90-second video.
“Only 13 percent of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November, and I am in it to win it. My opponent, Mr. Mamdani, offers slick slogans, but no real solutions,” Cuomo said in the video.
“I am truly sorry that I let you down,” Cuomo also said in a video posted on X, making a rare apology as he thanked the 440,000 New Yorkers who voted for him in the primary election.
“This is one of the least compelling campaign videos that I have ever seen. No message. No charisma. No compelling visuals,” former Obama staffer Dan Pfeiffer said in a post on the social platform X in response to a campaign video from Cuomo.
In response to the campaign video Cuomo posted on X, Mamdani posted a link to donate money to his campaign. Mamdani’s response had earned 95,000 likes by last night, with Cuomo’s original video at 2,900 likes.
On an episode of the podcast “Pod Save America”, Mark Cuban said that both Mamdani and Trump successfully focused on issues that immediately impact voters’ lives during their campaigns, regardless of whether their promises are realistic.
Mayor Eric Adams slammed Cuomo as having gone back on his word, saying that as the former governor weighed jumping into the mayoral race, he told community leaders he wouldn’t be taking on the mayor.
A leader of the super PAC supporting Adams hopes to raise upwards of $10 million from the cryptocurrency community — and has alarmed government ethics groups in the process.
Adams opened his new campaign headquarters in a building owned by SL Green, the city’s largest commercial landlord and one of his biggest political backers — the latest example of Adams shoring up his ties with the powerful firm as he seeks re-election.
New York City subway ridership is up, though not yet at pre-pandemic levels, So far this year, the number of people riding the subway is up 8% since last year and has risen 31% compared to 2022.
The NYPD’s “Quality of Life” division expanded to all of Manhattan in an effort to crack down on everyday complaints irritating Big Apple residents and businesses.
New York City hasn’t had any measles outbreaks yet this year, even as cases nationwide hit a 33-year high. But individual cases continue to be reported and officials are urging vaccination and caution in a city that helped drive a major spike in cases in 2019.
City pet shops would be barred from hawking birds under a new local bill that’s pitting animal activists against mom-and-pop peddlers.
A panel of federal judges announced they had declined to permanently appoint interim U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III to the position, three days after he told a television news station the panel had extended his tenure.
“The Board of Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York declines to exercise the authority granted pursuant to (U.S. Code) to appoint a United States attorney for the Northern District of New York,” the panel said in a statement.
The announcement could mean the end of Sarcone’s fractious tenure in Albany, though Trump could reappoint him on an interim basis.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation yesterday issued an air quality health advisory for the Adirondacks and Central New York as fine particles from smoke caused by wildfires in Canada move through the region.
A Bethlehem business owner who was accused last year of installing a spy camera under the desk of a female employee entered an agreement with authorities in February that could lead to the dismissal of the charges.
Ray Gillen will stay on in his unpaid leadership role as chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority, the county’s main redevelopment arm, even though he has retired from his high-profile paid position as county planning commissioner.
Jennifer Saunders, who for the past 14 years has been director of the Washington State History Museum and Washington State Historical Society, will lead the New York State Museum through what are expected to be the biggest changes in its history.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
