Good morning, it’s Wednesday.
A number of years ago – back when we were a single dog family – I took Henry for a walk at Overlook Mountain. If you’re not familiar with this trail outside Woodstock, you absolutely should be.
It’s a 2.5-mile out-and-back carriage trail with a steady incline that is completely manageable in sneakers. The trail itself is nothing to write home about. But just shy of the peak are the ruins of an old hotel, which make for great exploring. At the peak itself, there’s a fire tower that provides amazing views of the Hudson Valley.
Because this peak is 1) very accessible and located outside a highly popular destination town, and 2) short enough that it doesn’t take up the whole day, the rather small parking lot located across from a Buddhist monastery fills up very fast. Get there early to snag a spot. Do NOT make the mistake of parking along the road, because it IS patrolled and you WILL be ticketed.
When I lived in Greens County and felt in need of a quick hike that would leave me winded but not exhausted, I used to make the drive down to Woodstock pretty frequently. (When I wanted a real workout, I opted for Hunter, but that’s a post for a different day). I have done the Overlook hike in all seasons and all weather, running into a wide range of people and wildlife along the way.
On this particular day, I had Henry off leash. He has very good recall, which is the result of his separation anxiety and not his training (as my husband will tell you, this is a big failing of mine when it comes to dogs). Hen was nosing around the edge of the trail and flushed a rattlesnake, which, thankfully, was just as surprised as he was and opted to slither away to safety instead of sticking around and attacking.
This experience was almost enough to make me bag the whole hike, because I HATE snakes. Really, I’m just flat-out terrified of them, and everything about them gives me the shivers. The way they move, their beady little eyes, just…no. But we were already halfway up the trail, so I put Hen back on leash for safety’s sake and we continued.
When we reached the top, we spotted a knot of people at the fire tower’s base taking selfies with…something. It was hard to see until we got closer and were able to discern a very large – and pissed off – rattlesnake coiled against one of the tower’s concrete footings.
People were quite literally squatting inches away from this snake and smiling into their cameras. There was no ranger on duty at the time, but I can’t see how these folks needed someone to professionally inform them of what a bad idea this was.
Timber rattlesnakes were once prevalent throughout the Catskills, but their population declined considerable due to loss of habitat and human persecution. They have been making a comeback in recent years. This is positive from an ecological perspective, but perhaps not so great for the avid hikers and campers who frequent the area, which relies heavily on tourism to keep local communities afloat.
There are actually 13 different kinds of snakes living in the Catskills and only two of them – including the rattlers – are venomous. As an aside, I was today years old when I learned that you shouldn’t touch a dead timber rattler, because you can still be bitten as their nervous system continues to work after they die. Also, if you so much as scrape your finger along their fangs, you can be envenomated.
So, the best rule of thumb is to keep a healthy distances from rattlesnakes – alive or dead – and to try to remember the important role they – and all snakes – play in the ecosystem, keeping the pest population under control while serving as food for other, larger, animals (notably birds of prey), and helping to maintain the overall biodiversity of the Earth.
Today is World Snake Day, a “global awareness day dedicated to appreciating the diversity, beauty, and ecological importance of snakes.”
I personally will be taking a moment to be thankful for the existence of the more than 3,400 species of snakes that exist worldwide, making their homes on every continent except Antarctica – though I will be doing it from the safety of my (snake-free) home. For the record, there ARE snakes in my backyard, I have personally seen them, and run screaming from them.
I heat advisory is in place from noon to 8 p.m. today, with heat index values of 95 to 100, thanks to a combination of hot temperatures (in the low 90s) and high levels of humidity. Skies will be partly cloudy. Stay indoors in the AC if you can, keep those fluids up, and if you have to go outside, wear sunscreen and long-sleeved, light-colored clothing, and a hat, too, while you’re at it.
In the headlines…
President Trump suggested that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s handling of renovations to the central bank’s headquarters could be a fireable offense, seizing on an issue that has become a mounting point of criticism among Powell’s critics.
“I think he’s terrible. I think he’s a total stiff. But the one thing I didn’t see him is a guy that needed a palace to live in,” Trump told reporters in Pennsylvania when asked if he would fire Powell.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during an interview with Bloomberg Television that Trump has no plan to fire Powell.
Powell has asked the central bank’s inspector general to review its $2.5 billion headquarters renovation project, which has become a key focus of Trump administration attacks.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, a frequent critic of Trump’s first term, has been more conciliatory this time around, but went out of his way to take exception to Trump’s posture toward Powell.
Trump’s steep tariffs have started to weigh on consumers’ wallets, sending prices higher as the White House readies a more drastic — and potentially costly — expansion of its global trade war.
The risks in Trump’s economic strategy began to show yesterday, with the release of data that found inflation had accelerated in June.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada, in a reversal, said yesterday that “there’s not a lot of evidence right now” that his country can get a trade deal with the United States that does not impose tariffs.
The Senate voted to take up legislation to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting, signaling that the Republican-led Congress is poised to acquiesce to Trump in a simmering battle with the White House over spending powers.
The 51-to-50 vote came after Republican leaders agreed to a handful of concessions to win the votes of holdouts who were uneasy with the proposed rescissions.
Vice President Vance had to break the 50-50 tie vote after three Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — voted against a motion to discharge the package out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, who lead the rescissions effort in concert with the White House, said Republicans will remove a $400 million cut to the global AIDS program known as PEPFAR, bringing the total amount of cuts in the package down to $9 billion.
The conservative hard-liners who tanked a procedural vote to block the House from taking up a slate of cryptocurrency bills yesterday have agreed to flip their votes to “yes” after meeting with Trump about the issue.
Trump’s disapproval rating hit its highest level since the start of his second term in office, according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll. The survey shows 55 percent disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job, compared to 41 percent who approve.
The Trump administration is sending home 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles after the president authorized their deployment to the area last month following days of protests against an increase in immigration enforcement actions.
The end of the deployment comes a week after federal authorities and National Guard troops arrived at MacArthur Park with guns and horses in an operation that ended abruptly.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called on Israeli authorities to “aggressively investigate” a 20-year-old Palestinian-American citizen’s death in a West Bank clash with Israeli settlers, calling his killing a “murder” and a “criminal and terrorist act.”
Republican lawmakers grilled university leaders – including from the City University of New York – yesterday over accusations that they failed to do enough to combat antisemitism on their campuses, assertions that the educators strongly rejected.
North Country GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik shredded the City University of New York (CUNY) chancellor over the institution’s response to antisemitism and faculty ties to Mahmoud Khalil.
Stefanik zeroed in on Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez over the hiring of a chief diversity officer who previously worked for a pro-Hamas, Israel-bashing group — saying that if the CUNY boss doesn’t step down, Hochul should fire him.
Columbia University announced that it will make additional reforms to combat antisemitism on campus, including by formally adopting a contentious definition of antisemitism that classifies some criticisms of the state of Israel as antisemitic.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York has reportedly moved closer to potentially entering the 2026 New York gubernatorial race, seeking a meeting with Trump to discuss his prospects.
A worker with the firm at the center of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s scandal-plagued Medicaid homecare program allegedly siphoned off cash from potentially thousands of participants.
A group of Republican state senators is calling on Hochul to declare a statewide energy emergency, citing what they describe as growing concerns over grid reliability and soaring utility costs tied to New York’s climate policies.
A coalition of New York state agencies is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in many aspects of public life.
State Attorney General Letitia James is pushing Congress to pass legislation barring immigration agents from wearing masks to conceal their identities.
Funding for Hochul’s pledge to put NYPD officers on every overnight subway train could be at risk amid a game of budgetary chicken between her administration and Mayor Adams’ City Hall, and the department has already begun scaling back patrols.
Zohran Mamdani has said Hochul appeases racists, is “disgusting” and demonstrates why people don’t trust politicians. Now he’s playing nice — and so is she.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is scrambling to reinvent himself in an uphill general election bid for New York City mayor.
Cuomo spent part of yesterday talking to voters at a Harlem coffee shop as part of his reinvention as an independent candidate seeking a do-over after his primary loss. He was tailed by a social media crew, and insisted he will step aside if need be.
The shift in approach served a very particular mission: portray Mamdani as a socialist enemy of New York City, and convey Cuomo’s regret for neither effectively nor energetically delivering that message during the campaign.
Cuomo said that he is a “Democrat, running on an independent line,” while Mamdani is “a socialist on the Democratic line.”
Asked about Cuomo’s decision to stay in the contest after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, Trump said yesterday that the former governor can still win in the general election in November.
“I think he should stay,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn when asked about Cuomo’s newly relaunched campaign as an independent. “I think he has a shot.”
Mamdani stuck to his socialist guns during a highly anticipated powwow with some (but not all) Big Apple business leaders yesterday, doubling down on his plan to raise their taxes, if elected.
Mamdani did tell the business leaders that he would not use the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been seen as a call to violence against Jews, and would “discourage” others from doing so, according to three people familiar with his comments.
Another labor union endorsed Mamdani – District Council 37, which represents nearly 250,000 municipal workers and retirees – as he prepared to take meetings with skeptical business leaders and centrist Democrats.
Mamdani’s supporters in Congress are calling for the Democratic Party to unite behind its nominee for New York City mayor, but they’re also not pressuring party leaders to endorse him — yet.
A sprawling coalition of law enforcement unions will endorse Adams’ campaign this week — in what is a major win in the early days of the mayor’s independent re-election bid.
New York City’s Campaign Finance Board yesterday again denied Adams public matching funds for his reelection effort — but the panel switched up the reason for depriving him of the critical cash after a key judicial ruling.
The CFB said that the mayor’s team still had not provided the necessary documents, some of which were requested in November, to receive funds. Board Chair Frederick P. Schaffer said that Adams’s campaign had requested an extension until Aug. 1.
A state appellate judge again blocked the Adams administration from tearing out a protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue, just hours before crews were set to begin construction.
Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas is launching a primary challenge against state Sen. Jessica Ramos, her neighbor in western Queens. The tentative plan is for González-Rojas to formally launch her Senate campaign with a fundraiser on July 21.
Instead of keeping its current system of closed party primaries or switch to a confusing California-style “Top Two” primary system, New York City should implement single-round, nonpartisan, ranked choice elections, Councilmember Frank Morano says.
The torrential rains that inundated the New York City area left at least two people dead, officials said yesterday, as road closures and transit disruptions lingered across the region.
The field of competitors for up to three new casino licenses that state officials expect to award by year’s end appeared to shrink this week after the New York City Council rejected zoning changes essential to one applicant’s proposal in the Bronx.
The City Council voted to reject a land-use change for Bally’s to open a casino at the Bronx golf property formerly operated by President Trump’s company — effectively killing the bid for a gaming license.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs the transit system, has already invested billions of dollars into climate resiliency measures. But there is no easy fix for subway flooding.
A Queens high schooler held in a Texas immigration detention center since early June is expected to be released in the coming days, according to attorneys with the New York Legal Assistance Group.
A Manhattan judge yesterday appeared skeptical as lawyers for the NYPD argued that police officials should have the ability to fire 30 police officers and not allow them to appeal.
Thirty-one rookie police officers who the NYPD is trying to fire because of alleged oversights by a rogue commander during the hiring process will remain on the job while their union fights for them in court, a Manhattan judge ruled.
Developers and elected officials broke ground on the first phase of a massive affordable housing project in East New York that will ultimately bring a total of 2,000 affordable apartments across 10 new buildings to the Brooklyn neighborhood.
Ex-Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin is jumping back into the political ring to take on “Sleepy Drew’’ Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who famously dozed through a vote on Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Rockslides in the aptly named Avalanche Pass closed several popular hikes in the High Peaks region of the Adirondack Mountains, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The Monroe County district attorney, whose traffic stop went viral last year after body camera footage showed her berating police officers for trying to issue her a speeding ticket, has agreed to a public censure over the interaction.
John A. Sarcone III has been appointed first assistant U.S. attorney for New York’s Northern District, a move by the Department of Justice that will enable him to serve as the acting U.S. attorney for a limited period, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Northshire Bookstore remains closed to repair damage from a water leak, but the store’s director of events said the remainder of its July events will be hosted at the Saratoga Springs Public Library.
Another ticket issued to a protester is being dismissed in Saratoga Springs City Court for a lack of documentation.
A passenger on an Allegiant jet died late Sunday night on a flight from Albany International Airport to the Punta Gorda Airport in Florida, officials said.
The owner of the local Golden Grain Pizza and Pizza Bella restaurants has agreed to a settlement of more than $1 million in a federal case over failure to pay overtime wages and altering records to cover it up for at least four years.
Even though a State Police investigation into on-call pay yielded no criminal charges, a state Supreme Court justice ruled that Saratoga Springs officials are not entitled to have their legal fees paid.
Albany County is seeking to create what officials are calling a “housing accelerator fund” to address affordable housing shortfalls.
The dystopian workplace drama “Severance” picked up 27 Emmy nominations yesterday, the most of any series. Here’s the full list of nominees.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
