Good morning, it’s Wednesday masquerading as Thursday on this short, four-day workweek.
In two days, we will celebrate America’s 249th birthday. There will be cookouts and beach days and parades and fireworks and much merrymaking. This happens reliably every year. But if one of the founding fathers, specifically John Adams, had his way, TODAY – July 2 – would be Independence Day.
You didn’t know that, did you? Me neither, until this morning.
It was on this day in 1776 that the Second Continental Congress voted to declare the colonies independent from Great Britain. Interestingly, that vote was not unanimous; only 12 of the 13 colonies cast “yes” votes and one delegation abstained. And which one was that? New York, of course.
It turns out that the representatives from New York had not yet received instructions from back home on how to vote. We just couldn’t get our shit together in time. Typical.
New York did eventually cast its “yes” vote, but not for well over a week. On July 9, the New York Provincial Congress formally approved the Declaration of Independence, but, correspondence being what it was at the time (in other words, slow), the Continental Congress didn’t get the news until July 15.
Putting side New York’s tardiness, the vote on what was initially a resolution for independence, presented by Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, actually was delayed by a month because a few states – ours included – were’t yet fully ready to get on board with independence, though they signaled they wanted to break with England, generally speaking.
Anyway, back to today, July 2. Adams predicted that the day of the Declaration of Independence’s signing would be celebrated annually as a “great anniversary festival.” In a letter to his wife, Abigail, penned on July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote:
“It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by Solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be Solemnized with Pomp and Parade with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.“
As we now know, his prediction did not come to pass. Why? Well, the July 2 wasn’t actually the end of debate on the matter of independence. Members of the Continental Congress spent two days revising the draft that was written by Thomas Jefferson, and then finally adopted the wording on which they could all agree on July 4.
The resulting document, with the date “July 4” prominently displayed on its top, was widely circulated among the colonies. As a result, Jay 4 – and not the second – became the day that members of the new nation associated with – and celebrated – its birth.
Interestingly, though July 4 was widely observed as the day the nascent United States had declared independence from Britain, the day wasn’t designated a national holiday by Congress for many years – 1870, to be exact. A provision to grant paid leave on July 4 to all federal employees was added in 1941.
We’ll have clouds in the morning, giving way to partly sunny skies in the afternoon. The high temperature will be somewhere in the mid-80s – a generally nice enough summer day. Enjoy.
In the headlines…
A divided Senate narrowly passed Republicans’ marquee bill to slash taxes and social safety net programs, sending it to an uncertain fate in the House amid deep G.O.P. divisions that still threatened to derail President Trump’s first-year domestic agenda.
The House is planning to vote on the Senate-passed version of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” as soon as today morning, though a sizable contingent of Republican critics could still sink the legislation.
The measure narrowly survived the Senate after a marathon session ended with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
The bill would massively increase funding for federal immigration enforcement as the Trump administration pursues an aggressive deportation agenda.
Several members of Congress jumped into their cars and set off on hourslong road trips to make it to Washington by tosday ahead of an expected vote on Trump’s domestic policy bill, after severe weather snarled air travel.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski cast the deciding vote for the sprawling bill to slash taxes and social safety net programs, embracing a measure she acknowledged would harm Americans after securing carve outs to protect her constituents from its harshest impacts.
Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat quipped that Murkowski was a “cheap date” for voting for Trump’s giant tax and spending package, seemingly for a tax break for fishermen, during a House Rules Committee hearing.
While the fate of his entire legislative agenda was being decided, Trump traveled a thousand miles away from Washington to hang out in a makeshift detention center for migrants that had been thrown together on an old airstrip in the Florida Everglades.
Paramount said that it has agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization.
As part of the settlement, Paramount said that it had agreed to release written transcripts of future “60 Minutes” interviews with presidential candidates. The company said that the settlement did not include an apology.
The payment includes Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to his future presidential library.
The president of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, was forced out of her post this week, the latest shock wave to hit the news division amid an ongoing showdown involving Trump, “60 Minutes” and CBS’s parent company, Paramount.
Some of the California National Guard troops deployed by Trump to Los Angeles last month will be released from the deployment to fight wildfires as the state prepares for another fire season.
The top military commander in charge of troops deployed to Los Angeles to respond to protests against immigration raids has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if 200 of those forces could be returned to wildfire fighting duty.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed victory after the announcement in a post to X that called on the administration to release all troops from federal duties in LA.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has a strong lead over her potential challengers in the 2026 race for governor, according to a new poll from the Siena Research Institute.
Hochul is favored over the two Democrats who’ve openly called for her ouster and would handily defeat any of the three Republicans most likely to run against her, the Siena poll predicts.
Hochul last week announced plans for New York state to build a nuclear power facility. While many harbor safety concerns associated with nuclear power, some experts point to questions about affordability.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from executing its plan to shrink and restructure the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in response to a lawsuit filed by New York and 19 other states.
“The Executive Branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress,” Judge Melissa R. DuBose wrote in her decision.
Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist whose blend of populist ideas and personal magnetism catapulted his upstart candidacy, won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City by a significant margin.
The race was called for Mamdani yesterday afternoon, shortly after New York City’s Board of Elections released its tabulation of ranked-choice ballots.
Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, won with 56 percent of the vote. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo came in second with 44 percent. The board will certify the final vote in mid-July.
Mamdani picked up 99,069 votes, and Cuomo added 53,493 votes, with 52,919 ballots exhausted, meaning voters had ranked neither Mamdani nor Cuomo.
Trump threatened Mamdani with arrest if he is elected mayor in November and then defies Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. The president also continued to allege the 33-year-old Democratic socialist is a “communist”.
“The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city,” Mamdani said in response.
Trump praised New York City Mayor Eric Adams this week, describing him as a “very good person” as Adams faces an uphill reelection battle.
Trump said he “helped out” Adams, who was the subject of a federal corruption probe, which the president claimed stemmed from his criticism of the migrant crisis and was politically motivated.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand apologized to Mamdani after she falsely claimed in a radio interview that he had made “references to global jihad.”
On his campaign website, Mamdani said he supports “an end to mayoral control” — the long-running system where the mayor directs education policy and appoints a schools chancellor to run the department. He hasn’t detailed his plans for an alternative.
Mamdani’s promise of freezing rents in New York City if elected mayor hinges on his appointments to a powerful board that could easily buck his wishes — just ask Eric Adams.
Adams will be feted at a power Hamptons fundraiser on Saturday as he gains momentum following Cuomo’s stunning defeat in the NYC Democratic Mayoral Primary.
Adams credited his experience, and not, in his words, an “experiment,” for the city’s ongoing drop in crime, in what appeared to be a dig at one of his 2025 challengers.
As part of his “Ur In Luck” initiative, Adams announced that five brand new bathrooms across the city are now open to the public.
Three blocks of protected bike lane will remain in place on Bedford Avenue for at least another week after a Brooklyn judge maintained a temporary restraining order on Adams’ bid to rip it up.
The fate of Midtown South will be a test of the new powers the Adams administration won in its broad City of Yes rezoning last year and new tools the legislature granted it to deal with New York City’s housing crisis.
The daughter of former longtime New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney declared victory in seizing the Democratic nomination for an Upper East Side City Council seat.
The cyberattack that caused a widespread shutdown of Columbia University’s computer systems last week appears to be the work of a “hacktivist”, a hacker who stole student data with the apparent goal of furthering a political agenda, a Columbia official said.
Columbia University has agreed to pay $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by students who claimed they had been overcharged for their educations as a result of incorrect data that they said the school had provided to U.S. News & World Report.
The House Education Committee is probing Columbia University leaders over messages that appeared to downplay fears of antisemitism on the Ivy League campus last year.
Jurors at the bombshell trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs’ reached a partial verdict yesterday, but won’t be allowed to deliver their decision yet.
The panel of eight men and four women was ordered to keep deliberating by federal court Judge Arun Subramanian after reporting it had reached a verdict on four out of five counts — but couldn’t agree on the top charge of racketeering conspiracy.
Minutes after being told to return to the jury room, the jurors sent a note to the judge alerting him that they were done for the day.
The new month of July at Lower Manhattan immigration court saw the same experience seen in recent weeks: Masked-up federal agents working on ICE’s behalf roaming the halls looking to forcibly detain immigrants.
An Albany auto shop that provides transportation services allegedly bilked more than $2 million from Medicaid over the course of a five-year scheme, according to a lawsuit filed this week by the state attorney general’s office.
A Capital Region couple pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct to settle charges alleging they removed roadside memorials without permission that were set up for a 24-year-old man who was killed when his speeding motorcycle crashed into a car two years ago.
Crews began construction on the long-awaited $7.1 million pool complex project at Troy’s Thomas A. Knickerbacker Park.
A City of Saratoga Springs judge has dismissed three tickets issued to Saratoga Black Lives Matter leader Lexis Figuereo for allegedly not submitting documents to City Hall for two Rally for Palestine protests in 2024.
Albany County Sheriff deputies twice used pepper-spray to break up fights that erupted after Albany High School’s graduation ceremony at MVP Arena ended on Sunday.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
