Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
I’m not sure about you, but I cannot remember the last time I saw an elephant – like, a real one. Granted, they’re not native to the Northeast, and I’m not a big fan of zoos or circuses, so I’m not sure where I would be encountering one.
This is not to say I’m not interested in the largest land mammal on the planet. I spent a lot of time around elephant likenesses as a child because my dad was an active member of the Republican Party at the local level in Ulster County. It turns out when you’re a GOP elected official, people gift you with a lot of elephant memorabilia.
Two notes here before we move on. If you want to go deep on how and why the elephant became the symbol of the GOP while the Democrats got the donkey, click here or here. And I feel compelled to mention that dad is no longer a registered Republican, but rather has become – like a growing number of Americans these days – a small-i independent.
OK, now back to the topic of the day: Elephants. Today, by the way, is World Elephant Day, which is why I’ve landed here.
There are three different species of elephants: the African savanna (also known as the bush elephant), the African forest, and the Asian. According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), there are about 415,000 African elephants and 40,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants on the planet, all told.
This is about a 77 percent decline in both species – a loss largely driven by reduction in habitat and ivory poaching. Additionally, illegal poaching for the ivory trade has dramatically impacted elephant populations. In 1989, the international commercial trade of elephant ivory was banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but some domestic ivory markets continued – particularly in Japan – which has fueled illegal poaching.
Elephants are, sadly, easy targets for those who want to do them ill due to their sheer size, though they can run up to speeds of 25 mph. The African elephants are the largest, growing to stand as much as 13 feet tall at the shoulder and weighing as much as 24,000 pounds. For reference, this is about the same weight as an empty semi truck.
The average African elephant usually weighs somewhere between 5,000 and 14,000 pounds. Again, for reference, a Ford F-250 truck weighs about 14,000 pounds. Asian elephants are, by contrast, “smaller” – about 11.5 feet tall and 12,125 pounds.
Another interesting difference between the African and Asian elephants is that the former has two of those sensitive finger-like projections at the end of their trunk, allowing then to pinch small objects together, while the later only has one.
This makes for a slight variation in the way the animal eats, which, by the way is a largely vegetarian diet. It takes a LOT of food to sustain something so large, which is why elephants spends about 18 hours a day eating (mostly grasses and roots, tree bark, and fruit).
If you know anything about elephants, it’s probably the whole “never forget thing.” This turns out actually to be somewhat true. Elephants are known for having very good memories, enabling them to recall, for example the location of water sources that are few and far between in their typically dry habitats.
Another fun thing about elephants? Their herds are matriarchal in structure, which means they’re led by the oldest and most experienced female, who are at the center of a complex social network and make decisions for the entire group based on their prodigious experience.
There are a lot more worthy facts about elephants to share, but sadly I’m running out of time and space. If you’re interested in learning more about them on their special day – especially about how you can help conserve them – click here, here, or here.
One last mention, though – while elephants can thrive in hot climates, they only do so successfully thanks to a variety of cooling strategies like flapping their ears to dissipate eat while bathing and mud wallowing. I don’t suggest covering yourself in cool mud, per se, but perhaps take a cue from the elephants and pay attention to staying cooling today. More heat and sunshine are on the agenda for today, weather-wise, with temperatures topping out in the low 90s.
In the headlines…
President Donald Trump yesterday delayed high U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from snapping back into place for another 90 days. Those tariffs were set to resume today. But Trump signed an executive order that extends the deadline until mid-November.
The delay was the expected outcome from the latest round of talks between U.S. trade negotiators and their Chinese counterparts, which took place in Stockholm in late July.
Trump announced he would make Washington “great again”, cracking down on crime and homelessness with a “public safety emergency” and deploying 800 National Guard troops to bolster federal law enforcement officers deployed this past weekend.
The president said Washington is overrun by “bloodthirsty criminals”, even though violent crime numbers in the city are falling.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser described Trump’s order as “unsettling and unprecedented”, but added: “I can’t say we’re totally surprised”.
D.C.’s mayor acknowledged local officials could do little to block what was expected to be a 30-day takeover of the capital’s policing. while Trump suggested his action might be expanded to other cities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Guardsmen from DC and “other states” will be deployed to the district “this week and in coming weeks” and act as “force multipliers” for local and federal law enforcement.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said that sending the National Guard into his city would “only serve to destabilize” it, adding: “From my first day in office, public safety has been my top priority. In just two years we have made historic progress.
Trump will nominate E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying in a Truth Social post that “E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE.”
Dr. Antoni, who would need to be confirmed by the Senate, has previously criticized the bureau and questioned its methods and reports. His nomination underscored Trump’s attempts to place his own allies in control of a key repository of economic data.
Steve Bannon, a senior adviser to Trump in his first term, had been pushing hard for Antoni’s nomination. Antoni, a contributor to the Project 2025 policy rubric, has been a longtime skeptic of BLS data.
Trump’s tax and spending law will result in less income for the poorest Americans while sending money to the richest, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported.
Trump confirmed that he and his administration are considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, telling reporters that it was early in the process but that he hoped to make a decision on the matter within the coming weeks.
“It’s a very complicated subject base,” he said during a press briefing. “I’ve heard great things having to do with medical and bad things having to do with just about everything else.”
The move, which the Biden administration considered but did not ultimately enact, is controversial among some in Trump’s base. Charlie Kirk, an ally of the president, conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, said he hopes “this doesn’t happen.”
A Manhattan federal judge denied the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from its investigation into Ghislaine Maxwell, a companion of Jeffrey Epstein who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sexually exploiting and abusing teenage girls.
Unsealing the transcripts would be an exception to the secrecy of grand juries, wrote the judge supervising Maxwell’s case, Paul A. Engelmayer. Permitting it “casually or promiscuously” would erode confidence in people called to testify before future panels.
A gunman killed three people who were outside a Target store in Austin, Texas, yesterday afternoon and then stole a succession of cars before he was apprehended, local police officials said.
An explosion at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh left two dead and sent at least 10 to hospitals and heavily damaged the sprawling facility, officials said.
Witnesses described feeling a shock wave and then seeing black smoke spew into the sky shortly before 11 a.m. Part of a building appeared to have been sheared off, and debris littered the area.
The Food and Drug Administration has announced the recall of hundreds of boxes of sugar cookies sold at Target stores because they could contain pieces of wood.
North Country GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik says she supports the president’s crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., and she used the news to take a stab at her potential 2026 rival, Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The remaining 100 or so New York schools and districts that have not submitted a school cellphone ban policy for students are expected to finalize their plans at school board meetings this month, Hochul said during a swing through the Hudson Valley.
Trump is not the only elected leader to deploy National Guard troops in response to a supposed crime wave that many have questioned. In March 2024, Hochul announced she would deploy 750 members of the Guard to New York’s subway system.
A popular subway station in the heart of an iconic Manhattan neighborhood has been renamed to honor racial justice advocate and prominent civil rights leader Malcolm X, Hochul and other elected officials announced over the weekend.
Reading test scores climbed seven points for New York City public school students who took state exams in the spring, a substantial increase over previous years that comes after efforts to change the way students learn to read.
The increase is a sign that the Adams administration’s overhaul of literacy and math instruction is beginning to pay off.
Mayor Eric Adams might be lagging far behind Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the polls, but on social media he’s killing it.
Every New York City borough but Staten Island now has police units called quality-of-life teams, a rapidly expanding program meant to crack down on nuisances like loud music, motorized scooters on sidewalks and double-parked cars. Not everyone is happy.
The Adams administration is using its flagship broadband program to give police real-time access to NYCHA camera feeds — without telling anyone.
Federal prosecutors recommend a year of probation and a $9,500 fine for Erden Arkan, a Brooklyn construction company owner who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud by using employees as straw donors to support Adams’ 2021 campaign.
Big-time Adams backer John Catsimatidis hosted Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa for an impromptu Hamptons fundraiser — as the billionaire businessman pushes an “Anyone But Zohran” movement targeting the socialist frontrunner.
Cuomo is resuscitating his moribund mayoral campaign with a catty new social media presence and a populist housing policy proposal favored by opponents of rent regulations: kick the “wealthy” out of rent-stabilized apartments.
Cuomo is pitching hundreds of millions worth of plans for the city if elected mayor, including a public safety proposal that targets hiring 5,000 more cops — but the ex-governor offered few details on how he plans to pay for it.
Howard Glaser, a former top Cuomo aide, unleashed a series of vicious social media slapdowns on his former boss — even linking the mayoral candidate to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“The attacks on (Mamdani’s) family are ironic given Andrew’s own family values,” Glaser said in X. “Remember, Andrew, when your ex-wife (Kerry Kennedy) locked herself IN the bathroom to avoid your abuse, according to your biographer?”
Mamdani kicked off a weeklong, citywide tour in Manhattan yesterday, slamming Trump for enacting policies that he claims are “dire threats” to New Yorkers – and used the platform to again try to link the Republican to Cuomo.
Mamdani began the tour with endorsements from three Democrats: Ruth Messinger, a former Manhattan borough president; Keith Powers, a City Council member; and Harvey Epstein, a state assemblyman.
Democratic Manhattan Rep. Jerry Nadler campaigned with Mamdani, slamming both Trump and Cuomo, saying: “New York has always stood up to bullies and defended what’s right, even when it’s difficult.”
Mamdani wants to retain the power to name the schools chancellor but would like parents and teachers to have a greater voice.
If a politician’s inner circle reflects the kind of government he or she would create if elected, then the group around Mamdani, a 33-year-old assemblyman and the Democratic nominee, foreshadows a very different City Hall from previous mayors.
Mamdani blasted the “petty vindictiveness” of Cuomo’s proposed “Zohran’s Law” that would target privileged New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized homes — but gave no sign he’ll move out.
Public health experts have expressed concern over a dramatic decline in inspections for legionella bacteria preceding a recent outbreak in Harlem that’s killed three people and hospitalized more than 20 others.
New city data suggests the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Central Harlem may be waning, although city health officials say it’s too soon to say definitively whether it has passed its peak.
Adams misrepresented conversations with public health officials after coming under scrutiny for not sharing information about the deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that has killed three people and sickened more than 80 in central Harlem, City Hall said.
Revel rideshare, a powerhouse in the rideshare industry, rivaled primarily by Uber and Lyft, ceased its rideshare operations yesterday to focus on building electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in major cities, including the Big Apple.
A historic Black church in Washington, D.C., is suing the Hudson Valley chapter of the Proud Boys and its leader for trademark infringement, arguing in federal court that the far-right militant group can no longer use the term “Proud Boys.
Two men have been charged with attempted murder after a woman was shot and wounded early Sunday morning on a rural road in southern Albany County.
Taylor Swift relishes announcing her albums in dramatic fashion. Yesterday, she did it again, revealing the name of her 12th original studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” when a countdown clock on her website ticked down to 12:12 a.m. Eastern.
The announcement coincided with the news that Swift would be making a rare media appearance on the podcast “New Heights,” which is hosted by her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his brother, Jason Kelce. The episode is slated to post tomorrow.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
