Good morning, it’s Friday!
February, of course, is a big month for hearts. Stores all full of all manner of heart-shaped ephemera – cards, candy boxes, trinkets, stuffed animals, jewelry etc. – all in preparation for Valentine’s Day, which is February’s biggest “holiday” (if you can officially call it that, we’ll address this as we get closer to the big day itself).
It’s curious how the heart came to be synonymous with love. Why not, for example, the liver? Or the spleen? These are not terribly romantic organs, to be sure, though they play an equally important role in the symbiosis of the body. And once upon a time, the heart was not romantic, either.
Ancient philosophers came to believe that the heart was the seat of passion, emotion, and even the soul, in part because it would beat faster when an individual was aroused or excited, thanks to the adrenaline surges that often accompany these feelings. The Egyptians noticed that veins, arteries and nerves all radiate away from the heat, which caused them to conclude that it must then be central to everything – from bodily function to reason to emotion.
Falling in love does have an effect on more than just your heart rate, of course, notably it causes a surge of hormones (as a reminder, despite everything that we might like to think about soulmates etc., love can be also viewed as little more than any elaborate biological trick from a purely scientific perspective).
If you’ve ever seen an actual heart – human or otherwise – you know that it looks nothing like the stylized version that is seemingly everywhere right now. That now-iconic shape (two bumps on top, tapering to a point at the bottom) is believed to perhaps have originated from a plant – either the fig leaf or an ancient and now-extinct North African fennel plant known as the Silphium, which was used as both a flavoring and an early form of contraceptive.
I don’t mean to downplay the importance of the heart from an anatomical perspective. It is the foundation of the cardiovascular system, moving up to 6 quarts of blood throughout the body every minute, delivering oxygen and nutrients to all our tissues and organs.
Taking care of your heart – physically AND emotionally – should be a top priority. Unfortunately, too many people – especially women – are falling short when it comes to this critical task.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, accounting for one in three fatalities, yet it is often overlooked, under diagnosed or, worse yet, mistaken for other conditions. Women’s symptoms of heart problems are often different from what men experience, though the risk factors – obesity, smoking, stress, high blood pressure diabetes – are the same.
Women often don’t get the telltale chest pain, but rather experience something far more sublet – like extreme fatigue; pain in the jaw, neck, or upper stomach area; nausea; back pain; and shortness of breath, which, let’s face it, could be the result of a lot of things. The risk of heart problems increases when a women gets into menopause, thank to a decline in estrogen.
Today is National Wear Red Day, held on the first Friday in February to raise awareness about heart disease and the particular risks women face. If you happen to notice a lot of people sporting red clothes, jewelry and/or other accessories, now you know why.
You should enjoy the near-30 degree highs today, because there’s not a lot more of that in our immediate future. It will be cloudy today and also tomorrow, with the chance of snow showers on Saturday morning.
Things will start out comparatively warm – in the high teens – and then steadily drop back into the single digits as the daytime progresses. Sunday will bring clear and mostly sunny skies, but it will be bitterly cold, with highs only around 9 degrees.
In the headlines…
Bipartisan Senate talks aimed at reining in President Trump’s immigration crackdown appeared to sputter yesterday before they had even started, raising the risk of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security in a little over a week.
The Trump administration’s promised direct-to-consumer drug platform TrumpRx has officially gone live, with President Trump calling it “one of the most transformative health care initiatives of all time.”
The website TrumpRx.gov currently features a collection of 43 prescription drugs treating various different conditions at varying discounts. Medications for asthma, infertility and obesity are among those available on the website.
TrumpRx is aimed at helping patients use their own money to buy medicines. But researchers who study drug pricing warned that many patients could pay too much if they use the site.
A federal jury in Phoenix yesterday ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to Jaylynn Dean, a passenger who said one of its drivers had raped her, setting the stage for thousands of similar cases around the country.
The case was the first trial – known as a “bellwether” – of more than 3,000 similar lawsuits against Uber that have been consolidated in U.S. federal court.
The Guthrie family shared a second personal plea aimed at the potential kidnappers who left a purported ransom note demanding millions in bitcoin for their mother’s safe return.
Cameron Guthrie, the eldest of Nancy Guthrie’s three children, spoke on behalf of the family in a prepared statement after the note’s first deadline passed.
A doorbell camera was disconnected from Nancy Guthrie’s home on the night she was kidnapped, the police said, depriving investigators of crucial evidence as they search for the mother of the “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie.
Two years after the Paris Summer Olympics drew record attendance and viewership with events that unfolded beneath a twinkling Eiffel Tower, the Winter Games are coming to the scenic alps of Northern Italy today.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is already facing blowback — including from the Jewish community and some unions — over her running mate, former Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, with others calling the pick “underwhelming” and warning it could “backfire.”
The entire state Democratic congressional delegation is set to endorse Hochul today, including Reps. Tom Suozzi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City’s most prominent progressive leader, who did not make a primary endorsement in 2022.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman fired at state and local Democrats over Hochul’s proposal to blow up the county’s cooperation deal with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, a central New York Republican, will step down from his post in the coming days and will not seek reelection this fall, he announced yesterday.
State legislators grilled agency commissioners on their budgetary requests, pressing for answers on workforce shortages, youth crisis services and whether the state is doing enough to support a behavioral health system still recovering from Covid-era strains.
State Assemblyman Robert Smullen, a Republican congressional candidate, announced that he has launched a website that functions less like a campaign platform and more like a digital burn book that has cataloged his opponent’s alleged missteps.
Several bills intended to rein in rates charged by utility companies for the delivery of electricity and gas in New York cleared the state Senate Wednesday evening but still face an unclear future at the state Capitol.
Low morale continues to plague the ranks of the State Police, according to an internal poll conducted by the union that represents thousands of troopers.
New York’s pension funds, which have exposure to $900 million of Palantir Technologies Inc. stock, are questioning the software company over its business dealings with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
One of America’s largest construction projects began closing up shop yesterday due to Trump’s order to withhold funding for the work — but it’ll take mountains of cash just to wind down the operation and secure the five construction sites.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected an offer from Trump to release $16 billion in federal funds for the Gateway tunnel project in exchange for backing the renaming of New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles International Airport after him.
Simmering anger over Trump’s expansive deportation strategy has roiled the Empire State’s bellwether suburbs, upending crucial House races and complicating Republicans’ uphill bid to retake the governor’s office.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani found himself on a different side of some of his closest allies in Albany after officially endorsing Hochul for governor.
The endorsement, while widely anticipated, could nevertheless lend a needed jolt of progressive energy to Hochul’s campaign and underscored the strength of her political position heading into the Democratic Party’s nominating convention in Syracuse today.
In an essay published by The Nation, Mamdani acknowledged the two Democrats had clear policy differences, but he said Hochul had shown she was interested in governing in a transformative way.
“We must be able to disagree honestly while still delivering for the people we serve. Over the past 6 months, Governor Hochul and I have done exactly that,” Mamdani wrote.
Mamdani’s endorsement decision risks undermining his ongoing efforts to convince Albany lawmakers to raise taxes on the rich and appease his left-leaning base.
Mamdani said he is accountable for a communication breakdown over warming buses for homeless people during the ongoing stretch of dangerously cold weather that has killed at least 17 people.
A top U.S. Senate Republican is launching an inquiry into Mamdani’s decision last month to shelve a pair of executive orders addressing antisemitism and boycotts of Israel.
Mamdnai announced the first step toward a new citywide child care program for two-year-olds — opening a request for information to recruit providers for both the existing 3K system and a new “2K” program.
Mamdani tapped the head of a left-leaning Jewish organization as his antisemitism czar yesterday, and she’s already facing the ire of some Orthodox Jewish leaders.
Mamdani’s ascension to mayor has given Muslim organizers and faith leaders the impetus to insert themselves into more formal political alliances and networks.
A bombshell memo made public yesterday proves the city knew about the potential risks of Sept. 11, 2001 toxins weeks after the terror attacks — as officials told New Yorkers it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan, local pols said.
A Holocaust survivor who was rejected from speaking to Brooklyn middle schoolers because of the war in the Middle East finally gave his talk yesterday, but got no apologies for being snubbed.
A dozen Columbia University faculty and staff members and students were taken into custody after blocking traffic on Broadway as they protested Trump’s immigration crackdown and demanded that Columbia provide more protections for international students.
A Brooklyn day care center closed in January after the city began investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect.
Ronald Hicks will be installed today as the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York.
Kathryn Garcia, the former director of state operations for the governor’s office and new head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, pledged to increase enforcement on illegal taxi hustlers at airports.
A group of 13 striking New York nurses were arrested yesterday after they linked arms and refused to budge from in front of a midtown Manhattan skyscraper, according to cops and witnesses.
Schumer announced that he and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had secured $194 million to start building the next-generation LC-130H Skibird cargo planes used by the 109th Airlift Wing of the Air National Guard.
Dozens of skiers were dramatically rescued from stalled gondola cabins at Gore Mountain after a mechanical problem left them stranded several feet in the air for hours.
The executive deputy commissioner of the state DOH and other top administrators met with employees at an aging office facility in Albany this week, which some employees felt did little to address their concerns about air quality and its impact on their health.
Brad Karp, the high-powered lawyer who serves on Union College’s Board of Trustees, resigned as the chair of one of the nation’s biggest law firms days after the release of emails with convicted sex offender Epstein.
This year’s Puppy Bowl, filmed in Glens Falls, will feature 150 dogs from 72 shelters across the nation who will attempt to cross a goal line to score touchdowns on a gridiron carpet with a toy in their mouths.
A human chain of volunteers lined a sidewalk at Stuyvesant Plaza yesterday, forming a ceremonial Book Brigade to mark The Book House’s move to a new storefront within the plaza.
Fire damaged the Texas Roadhouse on Wolf Road. Fuller Road Fire District Chief Michael Romano Jr. said employees getting ready to open the restaurant realized they had a fire in one of the ventilation hoods in the kitchen.
National Grid crews restored power to 8,800 customers who lost service yesterday morning in Schenectady and Rotterdam.
Photo credit: George Fazuio.
